764, ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



ibe next to him offers a game at bil- 

 liards ; and a thiid olFers capital 

 March beer. But all in vain : we 

 will walk on. Nor will we suffer 

 ourselves to be tempted by t!ie ches- 

 nuts roasted in the streets, nor the 

 apples and grapes, nor the dirty 

 ganyiT>edes, who fill tin pots M'ith 

 an insipid beverage resembling the 

 sMf in Russia. Such a potful costs 

 indeed only one sons ; but I shall 

 advise you rather to drink clean 

 •water, wiiich you may have for no- 

 thing. Ah! how lively is the street 

 which leads along the Seine ! To 

 the ielt is a row of elegant shops, 

 where the productions of every part 

 of the world, nay, even those of 

 other worlds (for even the celebrat- 

 ed stones which dropped from the 

 moon C;in be bought here) are ex- 

 posed for sale. And then the mot- 

 ley multitude of people, hackney 

 coaches, and cursed cabriolets ! — 

 Now look down the river on the 

 right. All the washerwomen in the 

 •world seem to be colle6led here. 

 Ranged in rows, in long boats co- 

 Tered with roofs ; they are employ- 

 ed in mercilessly beating each sepa- 

 rate piece of linen, which they af- 

 terwards throw into heaps. They 

 brandish their thick muscular arms, 

 and deal powerful blows, yet little 

 noise is heard from their strokes, 

 fcecause they drown it with their 

 charming prattle. 



What this group wants in beauty 

 is supplied by the difl'erent floating 

 baths on the Seine, of which those 

 cf Vigie are particularly %vorthy of 

 notice. In point of order and ele- 

 igance, they arc, however, in my 

 opinion, far 

 bath at Berlin 



inferior to the floating 



but the superior 



masnitnde of the Parisian is more 



5, and some of them arc ren- 



striking 



dercd more agreeable by being sur- 

 rounded by odoriferous flowers and 

 shady trees. 



Let us, for a moment, ascend this 

 new bricige, of which the govern- 

 ment have made a superb present 

 to the Parisians for their conveni- 

 ence and pleasure. Its pavement 

 is as even and level as the floor of an 

 apartment. As a flight of steps leads 

 up to it at each end, so that neither 

 horsemen nor carriages can annoy 

 the pedestrians, it will become one 

 of the most pleasant promenades in 

 spring and autumn for the fashion- 

 able world. It possesses another 

 advantage, which is, that one sous 

 must be paid for the liberty of 

 walking on it, so that vou are cer- 

 tain of not being moIestCTl by beggars. 



What a charming view on botfe 

 sides of this bridge! Everj' morn- 

 ing yon may here see the curious 

 spectacle of fiat-bottomed boats, in- 

 tended for the invasion of England, 

 manoeuvring on the Seine. The sol- 

 diers, it is true, are still very indif- 

 ferent hands at rowing ; and if the 

 drummer, who is stationed on an 

 elevated part of the boat, does not 

 beat time, the vessel, with its nume- 

 rous oars on each side, sometimes 

 resembles a waggon going over a 

 bridge composed of loose planks, 

 which successively rise and fall as the 

 vehicle proceeds. With a little 

 more practice the men will do bet. 

 ter, if the sea be only as patient an 

 element as the Seine. 



Industry and a6tivity eveiy where 

 accompany this river. Here it turns 

 mills to furnish the inhabitants with 

 food: higher up it carries vessels 

 laden with charcoal, to warm them ; 

 farther down the water is drawn 

 from its centre to the shore, and 

 there pumped through linen strain- 

 ers 



