762 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S04. 



lar contrasts : — here you are ofler- 

 ed baskets full of dogs of various 

 breeds ; there portraits of Qur Sa- 

 viour, consisting of only a sheet of 

 paper, containing the well-known 

 spurious passage in Josephus. 



In this small portable boofh, fill- 

 ed with a great variety of articles, 

 each is sold for eighteen sous — in 

 that for twenty-five ; and you find 

 many things among them which jou 

 can scarcely conceive it possible to 

 sell at so low a price. Close to 

 them are laid upon a cloth a whole 

 mountain of books of every de- 

 scription. " Buy, gentlemen ! " cries 

 the owner, " take your; choice ! 

 six sous apiece! " Another envious 

 hawker, to spoil his trade, offers his 

 heap of literary productions at four 

 sous. They generally consist of in- 

 sipid novels ; yet J have frequently 

 found many gfjod things among 

 them : such as odd volumes of 

 madame de Sevigne's Letters, &c. 

 I have put my hand on them the 

 second or third touch. If one were 

 to take time, and a little trouble, 

 a small collection of good books 

 might be formed for a tew livres. 



The old books on the ballustrade 

 of (he Pont Neuf, and on several of 

 the quays, are more conveniently ex- 

 posed, butdearer, though dog-cheap, 

 according to the vulgar phrase. Ta 

 judge from the very hamisome man- 

 ner in which'niostof them are bound, 

 they are the remains of libraries that 

 have been destroyed j Here the most 

 valuable works are often found com- 

 plete, in excellent condition, aiul 

 at very moderate prices. 



I perceive that the jewellers glit- 

 tering shop attracts your eyes : — 

 your taste is good. More elegant 

 workmanship is found neither at 

 Augsburgh nor Vienna. I have 

 po where m^t with works of art that 



can be compared with these, except 

 in the manufactory of the excellent 

 counsellor of state De Busch, at 

 Petersburgh. It is difficult to leave 

 tliis place without jiurchasing some- 

 thing. It is here that you feel temp- 

 ted to envy the rich. But you 

 doubtless perceive something cha- 

 raderi^tic of the present time in 

 France, in the contents of that win- 

 dow, which is full of gold or gilt 

 shrines fof the host ; a proof that 

 there is now a great demand for this 

 sacred article. Who has gained most 

 by the temporary suppression of the 

 Roman catholic religion ? — The 

 goldsmiths. 



I entreat you to go a step farther ; 

 for the man who exposes such a 

 variety of stufied animals, deserves 

 admiration as an artist, and has cer- 

 tainly attained perfection in his art. 

 Every thing lives and seems to move. 

 You stretch out your hand to res- 

 cue the fowl from that fox, which 

 is carrying it off in his jaws : you 

 fe«l pain at seeing that hawk stick 

 his talons in the defenceless fieldfare : 

 you stop delighted before the cage 

 in which the canaries are hatching, 

 and the hens feeding their brood : 

 you smile at the fine shaggy spaniel 

 carrying a lanthorn in his mouth ; 

 you fancy he stops only because 

 the person whom he is lighting is 

 not quite close enough to him. A 

 great number of single birds deco- 

 rate the back part of the shop. This 

 charming art affords the Pariaans 

 this advantage, that a person who 

 possessed a faithful dog, a favourite 

 bird, or any other animal he was 

 fond of, does not lose it entirely 

 after its death. For a trilling con- 

 sideration he preserves its exterior 

 figure as natural as life. The prices 

 of these curiosities are very low. 

 The stuffing of a small bird, for in- 

 stance* 



