438 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 



the neceflaries of life, than in any other fpot in the 

 kingdom. The former is a guard and benefit to the 

 fovereign, as it guards and benefits his fubjects ; the 

 latter guards the king againft his own fubjects, is ad- 

 vantageous only to him, and mifchievous to them. It 

 is the triumph of oppreflion when the intereft of kings 

 is in oppofition to tftfc interefl of their fubjects. 



The wall is eighteen feet high, and two ells and a 

 half in thicknefs. I wifh I could tell you how much 

 this mafonry coft by the fathom, for making a calcu^ 

 lation of the whole expence. Certain it is, that it coffcs 

 the public three times as much as it would any private 

 perfon, fince the contractors for the feveral kinds of 

 materials, the infpector of the workmen, the paymaf- 

 ter, the furveyor of the building and the architect, 

 have all made fortunes by it ; as alfo have the money- 

 brokers and the capitalifts who furnifhed cafh when- 

 ever the caifi'e was empty. The patriots beftow their 

 curfes upon this undertaking, the citizens figh at it, 

 and the wits make it the fubject of their lampoons. 

 Theft latter call the wall, with allufion to the nouvelle 

 enceinte, the ceinture d'or de la tres chafte ville de 

 Paris. 



Perhaps the bureaux, the fentry-boxes and obferva* 

 tories will come to more than even the wall itfelf, on 

 which they project at all the different entrances of the 

 city or the barrieres. On each barriere one, two, or 

 even three of them, all adorned with pillars and fta* 

 tues, which muft neceffarily communicate a high idea, 

 of the city to every comer, unlefs he have already the 

 other idea that it is all built from the taxes impofed 

 upon him and others. Some of thefe are actually 



enormous;. 



