86 THE SQUARES, PLACES, CHURCH GARDENS, ETC. 



appropriately quoted here, dealing as they do fairly with 

 both sides of the question. 



" It has been often remarked, and with great reason, that 

 the English have carried their material civilization further 

 than we have. Comparisons have frequently been made 

 between Paris and London that were not at all to our ad- 

 vantage, and we are obliged to allow that the sort of accu- 

 sation brought against us was not wanting in justice. It is 

 not many years since the boundaries of Paris inclosed an 

 old city that was a disgrace to our civilization ; streets, or 

 rather fissures, without ventilation, and unhealthy districts 

 where an entire population of poor people were languishing 

 and dying. Now, however — thanks to the useful and im- 

 portant works that have been lately carried out — the sun 

 shines everywhere ; streets have been enlarged, and every 

 one has sufficient air to breathe. Paris contains but few 

 unhealthy alleys, whilst in London the existence of such 

 localities as Bermondsey, Soho, St. Giles's, Spitalfields, 

 Whitechapel, &c, &c, is still to be deplored. 



" We are far from forgetting the immense development of 

 material civilization in England. We simply mean to say 

 that our neighbours frequently invent for the sake of privi- 

 lege, and that when their ideas are good we take advantage 

 of them and popularize them. We will take a single ex- 

 ample : every one knows how justly the English pride them- 

 selves on their gardens called squares, which are the admira- 

 tion of every foreigner. Our unfortunate public places that 

 the pedestrian cannot cross in summer without being grilled 

 by the sun or blinded by the dust only serve as examples 

 of our inferiority in this respect. The square, that is to 

 say, a little park surrounded by a railing, is the representa- 

 tion at once of a question of health — a question of morality, 

 and perhaps even of national self-respect. We certainly 

 could boast of the Place Royale, which, however, much more 

 closely resembled an unsuccessful attempt than the first step 

 in a happy way. At present, however, Paris need envy London 

 for nothing. The Emperor, who understands that for an 

 idea to be adopted in France it is not indispensable that it 

 should be French, was struck with the happy results that 



