68 Mr AmottV Tour to the South of France 



bruary, I had occasion to be much in the streets. " The whole 

 of to-day I every where encountered the masqueraders of the 

 carnival. One says the Enghsh are attached to raree-shows and 

 wonders ; but all is nothing to what I have to-day witnessed. 

 Every one here turned out, some in carriages or cabriolets, others 

 on foot, others on horseback, — all to look on a few fools with masks 

 on their faces and tawdry clothes on their backs. There was nei- 

 ther spirit nor character in their costumes ; their caps being prin- 

 cipally of tw^o sorts, — one like a fool's cap, the other like a turban. 

 They did nothing, said nothing, but paraded the streets and 

 boulevards in open landavis and carriages. To me all in cos- 

 tume appeared to be of the lower classes, mixed with a few 

 hired troops of rope-dancers. Yet so important a business is 

 the Caraival, that the king of these fools was introduced on 

 Sunday last to his Majesty King Charles X. ; and was yesterday 

 again introduced into the Court of the Tuilleries. One almost 

 expected to hear them cry out " Vivent les 7'ois.'''' All this 

 mummery has no doubt meaning, but — I am no Roman Ca- 

 tholic." 



***** 



" The French may talk of politeness, but, in some respects 

 they are entirely devoid of it. The military hold the civilians 

 (as our own East India nabobs, who, to say the best of them, 

 sell their services for money, do the merchants at Madras and 

 Calcutta) quite beneath them ; and farther, those who can ride 

 on horseback, in carriages, cabriolets or Jiacres, seem to consi- 

 der those on foot as the very canaille. This spirit pervades 

 even the drivers of these vehicles : the streets are naiTow, and 

 if one is not somewhat nimble, he is sure to be run down. To- 

 day I was squeezed into a shop-door to avoid a cabriolet trund- 

 ling along at six or eight miles an hour ; and had T not taken re- 

 :fuge, the brutality or incivility of the driver would not have al- 

 lowed him to rein up his horse. The last time I was in Paris, 

 a horse patrole came galloping through a street crowded with 

 people, and a porter close to where I was, who could not get 

 quickly out of the way with the load he carried, was literally 

 rode down ; and although a few sacres were bestowed on the 

 gens d'armes, and cries to stop bawled out, he never deigned to 

 look over his shoulder, laughing, I have no doubt, at the noble 



