THE FILTH OF PARIS. 411 



more offensive than a book written upon roses.&quot; In some 

 respects, the habits of the French, both in their houses and the 

 streets, are execrable and abominable. No familiarity in any 

 degree reconciles a delicate mind to them ; and exposures are 

 frequently witnessed in the public streets, which are absolutely 

 brutal, and which in England, (not in Scotland,) and in most 

 parts of the United States, would be regarded as indictable. Yet 

 Paris, in other respects, is an eminently clean city ; and even in 

 these matters is evidently improving, and is, with the exception 

 of Milan, Turin, and Genoa, vastly in advance of the Italian 

 cities. Rome, Florence, and Naples can hardly be considered 

 other than as three great public necessaries, where the most 

 sacred places are scarcely free from nuisances, which shock all 

 decency and reverence ; and the old town of Edinburgh, and 

 Glasgow, and Dundee, may fairly claim an unenviable position 

 in the same rank. 



This subject, considered in a philosophical and practical view, 

 is of the first importance. It would be altogether a false, in 

 truth, a mere affectation of delicacy, to hesitate to treat it as its 

 importance demands. In all the arrangements of Divine Provi 

 dence, nothing strikes the reflecting mind with more force than 

 the beautiful circle of mutual dependence and reciprocity in 

 which every thing proceeds ; so that the humble elements per 

 form their part, and the most elevated and brilliant can do no 

 more ; and the part of the former is as essential to the common 

 well-being as that of the latter. 



Look at a heap of manure, composed of every offensive sab- 

 stance which can be congregated together, reeking with detes 

 table odors, and presenting a mixed mass of objects utterly 

 disgusting to the touch, the smell, and the sight. Yet this is 

 the food of the vegetable world ; containing all the elements of 

 richness, nourishment, health, and beauty. All these the plants 

 know how to separate, to analyze, to digest, and appropriate, and 

 with a skill distancing the sagacity of science, they will return it 

 purified and sublimated in bread, and wine, and oil; in flowers 

 of exquisite coloring and beauty ; in perfumes the most odorous 

 which nature s toilet can furnish ; in fruits luscious to the taste ; 

 and, above all, in products indispensable to life, and full of health 

 and strength. The farmer standing in his barn-yard, knee-deep 

 in its offensive accumulations, may proudly say, &quot; Here is the 



