44-S PALAIS ROYAL. 



Now the attention is arrefted by the confufed mur- 

 murs of an elegant coffee- houfe. The hurry and buttle 

 within, and the diverfe expreffion of jarring opinions 

 among the wife and the foolifh, the agreeable familiarity 

 of the fpruce and powdered waiters, who twift and 

 wind themfelves among the croud without fpilling a 

 drop of the liqueurs or coffee they are handing about, 

 and without injuring the tender towers and monuments 

 of ice they prefent to the feveral guefls ; the ferious 

 mien with which the landlady from her bar furveys the 

 throng, hearkens to every requefl, obferves every 

 comer-in, and watches every goer-out, and the facility 

 with which me comprehends and anfwers the handfome 

 things her cuftomers occasionally addrefs to her. All 

 thefe objects entice you in ; and what you find you may 

 drink without thirfl, you may eat without hunger, you 

 may fee without coveting, and you may hear without 

 approving. 



Beyond this you come to the fhop of an artift, whofe 

 principal bulinefs it is to difguife every production 

 of nature. He is a confectioner. He makes you houfes 

 of flour, he models fruits and flowers in fugar, gives them 

 their natural tafte and fmell, turns ice into butter and 

 cream, makes it tafce, at his pleafure, either of coffee, 

 of chocolate, of rafoerries, occ. exorcifes the univerfal 

 fpirit of corruption and decay, by effences and fweet 

 rinds, and gives you almonds to drink and milk to chew. 

 There is nothing in nature from which he cannot ex- 

 tract a fyrop, or change and difguife it at his will. 



You now approach a fpacious arch containing every 

 thing that a man can wifh to poffefs in furniture of the 

 larger and fmaller kinds, in the moft exquilite tafle, 

 i and 



