THEATRE AT PARIS, 42* 



For the fake of the contrail, I refolved to go from 

 the Baftille to the Ambigu comique ; but I juft em- 

 ployed fo much time in examining the various coun- 

 tenances of fuch as prefented themfelves on the boule- 

 vards either for paftime or profit, as to be at the begin- 

 ning of the reprefentation of the Baron de Trenck, or 

 le prifonnier Pruffien. This little piece took its rife 

 from the general fenfation caufed by the printed life of 

 this famous oddity. 



Near the theatre of the Ambigu comique, I faw the 

 likenefs of a huge ox, under which the following tole- 

 rably incorrect invitation to the fpeclators was written : 

 " Je me flate d'etre 1' unique de mon efpece, je fuis age 

 de quatre ans et je pefe 5447 Hvres ; venez me voir 9 

 meffieurs I" I could not refill this Unking addrefs* 

 and accordingly went in to fee the prodigy. And in 

 t eaiity I never faw in my life a finer, nobler, and ftron- 

 ger animal of the kind than this ox, which his owner, 

 as the keeper told us, had brought from the interior 

 parts of Hungary, purely for the fake of mewing him 

 to the curious parifians. His keeper fpoke a fort of 

 gibberifh to him, which neither I nor another honeft 

 man who Hood by me could comprehend. A pare m- 

 ment, faid the latter to me, il ne comprend que Talle- 

 mand ? — Sans doute, returned I, not without fear left 

 the ox mould attend to my accent : Sans doute, comme 

 il ell de la Hongrie. — He gave a fhrug of the fhoul- 

 ders, and fo did I. 



A hundred fuch firange things daily prefent them- 

 felves to a man who lives among the French. 



But a great bill polled up againil the wall termed this 

 animal a boeuf cy elope, and this circumftance firft 



drew 



