LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST. 2ol 



Since then I have had further opportunities of seeing them, and still 

 continue in the same opinion. To an English eye the small size of 

 the men is a prominent defect. Not that I would have an army of 

 giants, nor do I think strength, activity, and the power of enduring 

 fatigue are qualities to be looked for in very tall men (and surely 

 these are absolutely necessary in a soldier) ; but the majority of the 

 French army are what in England we should call undersized men ; 

 and, indeed, I believe the standard height of the French army is four 

 feet ten inches French, which is rather less than five feet two inches 

 English ; and many of them do not appear to pass these dimensions. 

 The cavalry and artillery are for the most part larger men, and have 

 a soldierly appearance. Continual changes take place in the mode 

 of arming and equipping them, but they do not seem to have im- 

 proved on the fashion of ten years since. The national guard is an 

 object of much interest to a stranger, though the Parisians find the 

 duty very harassing. However, they keep things quiet; for they are 

 the parties who are most interested in the preservation of internal 

 tranquillity. I was much surprised at the military air and freedom 

 from restraint and awkwardness in managing the accoutrements 

 which appeared in these warlike shopkeepers. I do not mean to 

 say that they march with the regularity of trained soldiers, but few I 

 think, unless aware of the fact, would suspect them to be any thing 

 else. They mount guard at the palace, and wherever else the 

 regulars are, dividing the duty with them, and being better dressed, 

 and for the most part a superior class of men, certainly do not suffer 

 b y comparison. 



I went the other night to one of the salons de danse in the Champs 

 Elysees, to which, as the admission was only sixpence, you may sup- 

 pose the company was not very select. I believe the women were 

 servant girls, and the inferior ouvrieres ; the male part shop-boys, 

 and such others. I went in the hope of seeing the cancan danced, 

 but was disappointed. The original cancan was a revel of so dis- 

 orderly a nature that the police stopped it; but they have preserved 

 the air, and adapted another dance to it, which, though not objection- 

 able, is, I am told, very curious. I was, however, very much 

 amused, for you are not to suppose there was any thing like the 

 stamping, floundering, jumping, and rollocking of the same class in 

 our country. O ! no ; nothing but quadrilles aye, and those too 

 performed after a fashion far superior to any thing we usually meet 

 with in a London drawing-room. They gallope and waltz with a 

 spirit and neatness that quite astonished me. They alter the figure a 

 little, for they are unwilling to lose any time; and so, where usually 

 but one or two couple are in motion, they continue to move two and 

 four couples at a time. Altogether it was a very pleasing sight, and 

 quite national and characteristic two qualities much to be sought 

 for by all travellers. 



The present fashion at Paris, that is, the extreme point of puppyism, 

 is to wear long hair hanging on the shoulders, a pointed beard, like a 

 goat, large mustachios, and a straw hat with a black ribbon ; this, 

 with a pale thin face and an air of gravity and suffering, forms the 

 ne plus ultra of a Parisjan dandy. Mind, I do not mean a French 



