CHARACTERS. 



77 1 



height of three stories to decorate it 

 with columns and statues, and all 

 this on account of the two lions' 

 fceads below, a few feet above the 

 ground, which you do not even per- 

 ceive, because there is no stream of 

 water; but what little remains must 

 be brought up by pumping. 



Of the inscription, which is for 

 the most part erased, only these 

 words remain: " For the use of 

 the citizens, and for the ornament of 

 the city." The conclusion alone is 

 true, and that only in part. This 

 tnd might have been obtained much 

 more splendidly in another manner. 



We have still a long way to the 

 other fountain in the market of the 

 Innocents, (tnarclie des Innocens) I 

 shall therefore qillckly conduct you 

 by the infamous Abbaye, which you 

 will recognize by its sn^^ll distant 

 turrets at the corners. In the inner 

 part of the court the windows are 

 secured in a manner so singular, and 

 cruelly inventive, that the prisoner 

 can absolutely sec nothing, though 

 a little light comes in at the top. 

 The windows resemble a box iil 

 •which caterpillars or cockchafers are 



shut 



up. 



the covers of which are 



placed slanting, that these animals 

 may have just a little air. Here is 

 the door, out of which the viflims 

 •were thrown during the cjjoch of 

 terror ; here we stand on the spot, 

 •where the lurking cannibals rcceiv- 

 cd and tore them to pieces; this is 

 the kennel where human blood flow- 

 ed like vvater. O ! let us hasten 

 away ! it is a terrible spot ! and I 

 ■Would not even accept of ajjalace as 

 a gift, if it were facing the Abbaye, 

 though a Biorc modern inscription 

 ■ays that it Ls now used only as a 

 military prison. 



Now we are in the tnarche iks 

 Innocgna. Ttje fowitsyp may b« 



fine when the water flows ; but it is 

 still worse than that in the Ru» 

 Grenelie, as not a single drop caa 

 be pumped out, it being quite dry. 

 The large bason, which stands at % 

 considerable height in the centre, 

 looks like a round tea-table, which 

 has just been placed there, and forms 

 an odd contrast with the surround.;, 

 ing objects. Upon the whole, this 

 monument is altogether extremely 

 filthy, and out of repair. To in- 

 demnify you, however, for being 

 disappointed in your expet^tation, 

 please "co cast a look on tiic fine 

 market-place, which, by its spa- 

 ciousness and bustling scenes, is far 

 more interesting than that useless 

 piece of architecture. There, in 

 numerous rows, monstrous fat wo- 

 men, called Poissardcs, or fish-wo- 

 men, are seated under large um* 

 brejlas, between eight and ten feet 

 in diameter, forming, if viewed froni 

 above, a roof resembling that of the 

 ancicn* Roman soldiers, when ad- 

 vancing with their shields thrown 

 over their heads, in a manoeuvre, 

 called the testudo. These umbrel- 

 las are not the property of those 

 women, but hired in the market for 

 a few sous. Thus screened from 

 the rain and the sun, you may here 

 admire mountains of butter, shoals o£ 

 fish, stores of eggs, towers of apples 

 and pears, gardens of flowers, ami 

 great quantities of grapes and other 

 sorts of fruits, together with a party- 

 coloured mixture of vegetables, 

 among wliich, the large dazzling, 

 white, and ifeatly raised heaps of 

 cauliflowers, afibrd a spectacle par- 

 ticularly pleasing. Lislon a little, 

 meanwhile, to the energetic patois 

 (gibberish) of the stout market wo- 

 men, an energy from which )'ou 

 have now nothing to fear; and if 

 the view of so many dainties hasf 

 2D2 creitted 



