108 PARIS. 



sitioii which induced the capitalist now to enter into a business 

 with which he was wholly unacquainted, now to transport his 

 capital, suddenly and without reflection, from one branch of 

 industry to another; — impatient of delay, uncalculating of conse- 

 quences, and incessantly tormented by the unproductive appetite 

 for novelty and adventure. Du reste, Paris might still pass for 

 a vast hotel. There are eight hundred * cafes,' and one thousand 

 ' restaurants/ and here you are served on silver, amidst gilding, 

 and painting, and glass : while the * garfon' who says, * Que 

 voulez'vous, Monsieur?^ presents a 'carte' with upwards of two 

 hundred articles, and lo ! there are still ' cafes' and * estaminets,' 

 taverns cind the frequenters of taverns ; and it is at night, as you 

 see these places brilliant with light, filled with guests, surrounded 

 by loungers, that you catch the character of Paris, such as it is, 

 s»2ch as it was a century ago, when tempted by Law with those 

 prints of Louisiana, in which a people, as the * beau idtaV of 

 happiness, were represented as indulging themselves in the sun; 

 rich without labour, and deriving most of their pleasures from 

 their senses. In this city there are one hundred and ninety-two 

 places of public amusement, — of amusement for the people, 

 without counting the innumerable * guinguettes' at the barriers, 

 where the populace usually hold their Sunday revels. To those 

 who are fond of facts the manners of Paris may be thus des- 

 cribed : — 



There are twenty- thou sand persons every night at the theatres : 

 five public libraries are constantly full : and one hundred cabinets 

 de lecture. You will find about an equal number of celebrated 

 dancing-masters, and of celebrated teachers of mathematics; 

 and the municipality pays one-third more for its fetes than it 

 does for its religion. 



A passion for enjoyment, a contempt for life without pleasure, 

 a want of religion and morality fill the gambling house, the 

 morgue and the *enfans trouves.' Have such been the effects of 

 the revolution? .... No ; the revolution has had little to do 

 with these misfortunes. Before the revolution there were forty 

 thousand prostitutes; there are now six thousand. Before the 

 revolutions there were fifteen licensed * maisons de jeu,' there are 

 now eight. " Before the revolution," observes Mercier, ** all the 

 money of the provinces passed to the capital, and all the money 

 of the capital passed to its courtezans." **Before the revolution," 

 says Chamfort, *'I remember to have seen a man who quitted the 

 ladies at the opera, because they had no more honor than the 



