CHARACTERS. 



761 



promise to perform It. He then re- 

 tired. As he turned round I ac- 

 costed him. — " You certainly are a 

 father," said I. " Oui, monsieur," 

 answered he, rather roughly, and 

 hastened away. I stopped some 

 time to see whether the boy would 

 keep his promise, and take the chil- 

 dren home; but he did not. That 

 the police should have suffered such 

 a scene for so many weeks, does 

 not please me. It seems almost im- 

 possible that the poor children should 

 remain in health all the winter. 



In Paris beggars seldom or never 

 ask charity. Yoa only hear at times. 

 Monsieur, je meu.-s dc faira (sir, I 

 am starving), whispered behind you. 

 Every pauper endeavours to estab- 

 lish a kind of just claim to M'hat is 

 given him. One runs with a broom 

 in his hand, when he sees a person 

 crossing a dirty part of the street, 

 and quickly sweeps away the mud ; 

 another pro.fi ts of a shower, which 

 fills the middle of the street with 

 water, lays a plank across, and in 

 a friendly manner helps you over, 

 lie judges who can afford to give 

 him something by their clothes : all 

 that he supposes to be poor he suf- 

 fers to pass gratis : and if a hand- 

 some girl appear, he escorts her 

 with the utmost gallantry. 



But it does not rain now, and I 

 had almost forgotten that we are to 

 see the bustle in the streets. Should 

 you not think that something very 

 rcmarkabli; is going forward in yon- 

 der crowded circle of people ? An 

 old rope dancer, perhaps super- 

 annuattd, has taught some idle, 

 blackguard boys to tumble head 

 over heels, A couple of his jjiipils 

 seem to have escaped, with a view 

 of carrying on business on their own 

 account. vVt the corner of yon 

 street they have spread a piece of 



carpet, so full of holes that it scarce- 

 ly hangs together. They have en- 

 deavoured to give to their own rags 

 the look of those worn by tum- 

 blers ; and while one is rolling and 

 tumbling about the carpet, the 

 other endeavours to imitate the drol- 

 lery of a buffoon. 



That fellow with his cups is as 

 little worth attention ; he is a com- 

 mon juggler. But if you step be- 

 hind the curtiin for a moment, you 

 will not repent it. You will find an 

 extraordinary female, to whom na- 

 ture has granted the oi'nament of 

 man — a long, thick, black, capu- 

 chin beard. It is no deception, for 

 I examined it closely. She is be- 

 tween twenty and thirty, has weak 

 eves, shaded by a pair of very bushy 

 and coal-black brows. If you fancy- 

 to yourself a face thqs decorated, 

 covered above with a dirty white 

 turban, with two full, white breasts; 

 and the arms, feet, and neck, thick- 

 ly overgrown with hair, you cer- 

 tainly will not think it a tempting 

 figure. Were it not for her bosom, 

 and her singing in such a clear and 

 shrill voice, as to make people run 

 away, no one would think he was 

 looking at a woman. " She is a 

 native of Norway," said her keeper, 

 " and was born five hundred leagues 

 beyond Bergen !! " 



1 pretended to be a Dane, and 

 question<d her in her native lan- 

 guage. This quite puzzfed the poor 

 bearded lady. " 1 was brought to 

 Paris by my father, when only 

 three years old," replied she, in a 

 Parisian accent. Let us quit this 

 objeet, to whom the petulance of 

 natiire has refused the usual attri- 

 butes of feminine beauty. Let us 

 rather cast a transient look on the 

 nuuifrnus articles ex|)osed to sale. 

 Wa shall often find the aio^t singu- 

 lar 



