the Champs Ely sees. 64-7 



the scene is uncommonly lively and brilliant : the ladies sitting 

 under the trees are generally gaily dressed* with all those 

 varieties of colour and redundancy of ornaments which usually 

 characterise the Parisian belles ; the centre road is filled with 

 equestrians and carriages ; and a number of flower-girls, and 

 itinerant venders of eau de groseille (currant water) and the 

 thin wafer-like cakes called les plaisirs des dames, are walking 

 up and down, endeavouring to sell their respective wares, and 

 dividing the public attention with intelligent dogs and monkeys, 

 and various musical performers, some of whom are really very 

 far beyond mediocrity. The great avenue of the Champs 

 Elysees is very fine, being terminated at one end by the Bar- 

 riere de Neuilly, sometimes called the Barriere de l'Etoile, a 

 grand triumphal arch, which has a magnificent effect when 

 seen at a distance ; and on the other by the Place Louis 

 Quinze, with its four pedestals, surmounted by fine statues of 

 horses, beyond which are seen the palace and gardens of the 

 Tuilleries. 



The Champs Elysees was always the principal scene of 

 the festivities which took place under the reign of the elder 

 branch of the Bourbons on all great occasions of national re- 

 joicings. The most remarkable of these were those celebrated 

 on the birthdays of the kings Louis XVIII. and Charles X. ; 

 on which occasions the Champs Elysees used to resemble 

 a great fair, with swings, roundabouts, rocking ships, con- 

 jurers, and puppet-shows, calculated, as we should suppose in 

 England, only to amuse children. The most striking feature 

 of these days of festivity was, however, the distribution of 

 sausages, bread, and wine to the populace, by the royal family 

 in person. For this purpose booths were erected, in which 

 the different members of the royal family and the nobles of 

 the court were assembled, to throw the sausages (they being 

 first carefully wrapped in paper, to prevent them from soiling 

 the gloves of the ladies) and pieces of bread to the people, 

 who scrambled for them like dogs fighting for a bone ; the 

 chief amusement of the august personages present being derived 

 from the struggles and awkward efforts of the candidates, each 

 trying to get as much as possible for himself. The wine (the 

 common red Bourdeaux) was distributed by proper attendants, 

 from large barrels placed in front of the booths; and the 

 people, from their frequent falls and tumbles over one another, 

 to get each a fitting share, became soon besmeared with it : 

 and this, joined to the grease and dust they had acquired by 

 their struggles for the sausages, made them look more like 

 demons than men, and occasioned frequent bursts of laughter 



t t 4 



