106 PARIS. 



in affliction. The young men are perpetually in the racket-court 

 — the old men pass their time at cards, at dice, and in talking 

 over the news of the day. The Tuilleries are the resort of the 

 idle and those who wish, without taking any trouble about it, to 

 be amused. It is there that you laugh, joke, make love, talk of 

 what is doing in the city, of what is doing in the army ; decide, 

 criticise, dispute, deceive. Chocolate, tea, and coffee are very 

 much in vogue ; but coffee is preferred to either tea or chocolate ; 

 it is thought a remedy for low spirits. A lady learnt the other 

 day that her husband had been killed in battle. * Ah, unhappy 

 that I am ! ' said she, * quick, bring me a cup of coffee ! ' 



" The inhabitants of Paris are lodged upon the sides of the 

 bridges, and even upon the tops and tiles of the houses . Although 

 it does not rain often, you cannot help walking in the mud, for 

 all the filth of the town is thrown out into the streets, which it is 

 impossible for the magistrates, however strict, to keep clean. 

 The ladies never go out but on mules — the gentlemen walk in 

 large high boots. The hackney-coaches are old, battered, and 

 covered with mud. The horses which draw them have no flesh 

 on their bones. The coachmen are brutal; they have a voice so 

 hoarse, and so terrible, and the smacking of their whips so horribly 

 increases the noise, that no sooner is the rattling machine in 

 movement, than you imagine all the furies at work in giving to 

 Paris the sounds of the infernal regions.'* 



Such was Paris above century ago; let any one reflect upon the 

 immense changes that have taken place since that time. Let any 

 one reflect that we have had since then, Law, Voltaire, Rousseau 

 — the orgies and bankruptcy of the Regent, the reign of Louis 

 XV., the decapitation of Louis XVL, the wars and terrors of the 

 republic, the tyranny of the empire, the long struggle of the res- 

 toration, — let any one reflect, that since then have been bom 

 the doctrines of equality and liberty, which will probably change 

 the destinies of the world. Let any one, I say, reflect on all this, 

 and tell me, as he reads the passage I have cited, whether tlie 

 resemblance is not strong between the past and the present; 

 whether in looking at Paris under Louis Philippe he cannot trace 

 all the main features of its picture taken during the time of 

 Louis XIV. 



Paris is certainly altered ; the ladies no longer ride on mules, 

 nor do the gentlemen arj-ange their head-dress in the public streets. 

 The shopkeepers have lost their extraordinary civility, the *' no- 

 blesse" have lost the exquisite polish of the ancient manners; there 



