PARIS. 
482 
Their time is entirely at their own difpofal. They may 
even employ themfelves in any lucrative occupation, pro¬ 
vided it does not interfere with the quiet and general 
rules of the houfe. Several females very profitably en¬ 
gage in needle-work for their friends and families. What 
little pecuniary emoluments they may acquire by their 
induftry fupply them with pocket-money. The men 
ufually pafs their time in reading, walking in the neigh¬ 
bouring fields, or occafionally working in the garden. 
There are f'everal other excellent eftablilhments of this 
nature, among which are the Hojpice des Men ages. Rue 
de la Chaife; and the Maifon de Retraite, on the road to 
Orleans, near the Barriere d’Enfer. The firft of thefe was 
formerly called Les Petit.es MaiJ'ons, from the lownefs of 
the building. 
Hojpice des Incurables Femmes, Hofpital for Incurable 
Women;Ruede Sevres.— Cardinal Rochefoucault founded 
this hofpital in 1637. Five hundred and ten aged women, 
lame, palfied, or blind, are comfortably lodged, fed, and 
clothed, here. 
Hojpice des Incurables Ilommes, Hofpital for Incurable 
Men ; Faubourg St. Martin.—This building was formerly 
a convent. In 1790 it was devoted to its prefent and 
better purpofe. Four hundred infirm old men find here 
a comfortable retreat. 
Ho/pice de la Salpetricre, near the Garden of Plants.— 
This immenfe pile of building was begun by Louis XIII. 
in 1656, and finifhed in the year following. It derives 
its name from a faltpetre manufaflory in the neighbour¬ 
hood. The building is fine, prefenting a majeftic fagade; 
and its boundaries are fo extenlive, that it is almoft a 
little city. Here 1600 girls are employed in making 
linen and in working lace. Old married men, young 
■women affected with madnefs, and female idiots, here re¬ 
ceive thofe little comforts of which their relpeitive fitua- 
tions ftill allow them to partake. A part of this building 
is for proftitutes. There are ufually about 8000 perfons 
in this place, molt of whom are employed in tome ufeful 
■works. Here are 600 infane perfons under the care of 
the celebrated Pinel, from whofe works we largely bor¬ 
rowed under our article Insanity. 
The Ricelre, which has already been noticed as a prifon, 
is a fimilar inftitution to the Salpetricre, but confined to 
men only. At a dillance it has the appearance of an im¬ 
menfe pile of fortifications. On a nearer approach the 
hofpital is found to be unufually lofty, and furrounded by 
a foffe. The proportion of old men in this inftitution is 
great, and almoft incredible. It is faid that there are often 
more than two hundred who are upwards of 70 years 
of age. The accommodations for the infane are not fo 
convenient as humanity requires. They are damp and 
ill ventilated; but the infirmary is remarkably well ar¬ 
ranged. The immenfe kitchens, and the well, 207 feet 
deep, are generally fhown to ftrangers. 
Socie'te' Philanthropioue, the Philanthropic So¬ 
ciety—fupplies the poor with foup at a low price, vifits 
the lick and indigent, and affords them relief in food, 
money, and medicine, and adminifters to them the con- 
folations of religion. There are four Difpenfaries belong¬ 
ing to this fociety, which is compofed of the principal 
people in Paris. Two hundred thoufand francs, more 
than 8400I. were diftributed in this way in 1813. It bears 
fome refemblance to the Strangers’ Friend Society of Lon¬ 
don, conducted by the Wefleyan Methodifts. 
Secours a Domicile , Relief to the Poor at their own 
Habitations.—The relief diftributed by the benevolent 
committees of the 48 diftrifts of Paris, from the general 
funds of the different hofpitals, is deftined for old men 
and women of more than 70 years of age, the infirm, and 
poor women with large families; it confilts of bread, meat, 
milk, flour, and, in winter, wood for firing. It alio in¬ 
cludes gratuitous advice and medicines in cafe of illnefs. 
We have been thus particular in defcribing the prin¬ 
cipal hofpitals and benevolent eftablilhments of Paris, (a 
place which, exclufive of ftrangers, does not contain more 
than half the population of London,) for the benefit of 
the philanthropic traveller, as well as for the information 
of our prejudiced countrymen, who are too apt to fall in 
with the common cant of the day, and aflert that benevo¬ 
lence and religion are to be found in no country but their 
own. Benevolence and human kindnefs flourifli and 
fpread their friendly fhade in every climate under heaven; 
and we are too often led to doubt their exiftence, only 
becaufe we are unacquainted with the place of their 
growth. 
It is a remarkable circumftance, that, notwithftanding 
this long lift of charitable inftitutions, and the numerous 
public and gratuitous fchools which exift, the poor of 
Paris are more in number, and more idle, than in any 
other city in Europe. This arifes from theeafe with which 
relief is obtained, without charafler and without exertion, 
and from the means of diflipation which the pooreft perfon 
always finds in that gay metropolis. 
Much has been faid for and againft the fyftetn of poor- 
laws that prevails in our own country. By many they 
are confidered to be “ the refult of a humane but miftaken 
policy, grown into an intolerable abufe.” Yet we muff 
be permitted to obferve, that there have been laws for the 
compulfory relief of the poor in all countries; and we 
find them at this moment in full operation in Swifferlandl 
At Paris, however, the evil feesns at its height; public 
documents ftiow, that there are in that city confiderably 
more than 100,000 individuals, or more than one-feventh 
of the whole population, who receive fupport from public 
charity; and it is, if poflible, a ftill more appalling faff, 
that one-third of the inhabitants of that fplendid and 
luxurious metropolis dies in its hofpitals. The number 
of common beggars about the ftreets of Paris, and on the 
high-roads of France, is beyond all Comparifon greater 
than with us. 
The Rapport au Confcil General des Hofpices, &c. 
ftates the number of fick admitted into the different 
hofpitals of Paris, in ten years, from 1804 to 1814, to have 
been .... 352.,g 13 dead 47,861 
Thofe admitted into the dif- 
ferent hdj'pices during the fame ;■ 50,464 dead 12,577 
period - J --- 
403,377 60,438 
A more recent report fliows a great increafe: 42,442. 
individuals have been admitted in the different hofpitals 
and hofpices of the capital in the year 1818: 7043 have 
died; and the total number of deaths at Paris has been 
22,382. In 1819, 7310 have died in the hofpitals and hof¬ 
pices, out of a total number of deaths at Paris of 22,137. 
The number of individuals more or lefs affifted at public 
expenfe at Paris, has been for the firft period of ten years, 
104,000 annually; in 1818, the number was 108,742, 
including 17,247 foundlings. 
PLACES of AMUSEMENT. 
It has already been ftated that the French are a drama¬ 
tic people. The numerous theatres which are open and 
crowded every night, and the fupericr manner in which 
the bulinefs of each theatre is conduced, are fufficient 
proofs of this. At one period of the revolution not lefs 
than thirty houfes were nightly filled ; and it is faid that 
two thoufand new pieces were offered to the public in 
one year, of which not more than a twentieth part lur- 
vived the firft reprefentation. Government, at length, 
prudently interfered, and limited the number of the great 
theatres to four, and the minor houfes to fix. 
In one refpeff the French ftage is certainly fuperior to 
the Englifh. Very few of the plays have an immoral ten¬ 
dency ; and vulgar and grofs double-entendres would ex¬ 
cite univerfal difapprobation. It is a problem which we 
leave to the metaphyfician or the moralift to elucidate, 
that, while in France all the principles of private and do- 
meftic virtue are plainly and proverbially loofe, their 
theatrical pieces breathe the pureft fentiments, and in¬ 
culcate the nobleft maxims; yet, in England, where the 
domeftic 
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