THE 
MONTHLY. 
No. qe: 
MARCH 1, Teor, 
MAGAZINE. 
[No. 2.0f Vou. 11. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
An accurate accouNT of the, PRESENT 
STATE of the FRENCH REPUBLIC. 
(Continued from page 4 of our laft Number.) 
MODE ¢f LIVING, 
HE ufual mode of living at Paris is at 
the Reftaurateur’s : a name which has 
not been known (I believe) above thirty 
or forty years. Beauvillier’s, in the Palais 
Royal, is the mof elegant and complete 
place of the kind I ever faw. The bill of 
fare ufually contains at leaft 250 different 
articles, with the prices annexed to each of 
them. The fame may be faid of the dif- 
ferent kinds ef wines, which vary in their 
price from thirty fous (15d.) to feven or 
eight livres (from 5s. 10d. to 6s. 8d.) a 
bottle. I had many reafons for preferring 
the Table d’Hate to a Reftaurateur: and 
I had the luck (for fuch things are not 
common in Paris) to find a good and 
cheap one at the Maifon d’Hambourg, 
Rue des Filles de St. Thomas, where I 
ufually dined for fifty fous (2s. 1d.) in- 
cluding the deflert and half a bottle of 
wine. 
Opera Houfe.—-I never was more charm- 
ed with a fight than that of the perfor- 
mance (I mean the dancing) at this the- 
atre. The ballet is filled up with the 
firt dancers in the world, and the /pec- 
tacle is mof ftriking and magnificent. 
‘The price of admiffion to the firft boxes is 
gs. rod. part of which (about rod.) is 
allotted tothe poor. The finging is far 
inferior to that of our opera, and it is to 
be lamented, that, in their ardour for the 
advancement of the arts, the French fhould 
have neglected to purify their tafte by an 
importation from the Italian fchool. No- 
thing can be worfe than the ftyle of Anging 
which ufed to characterize, and ftill conti- 
nues to mark, the French fchool. This 
cannot be faid of their inftrumental mufic ; 
for in that branch of the art they are very 
far advanced, if I may except the piano- 
forte, which is an inftrument very imper- 
feétly underftood at Paris. The manu- 
fa&ture of that inftrument is much in ar- 
rear. Mr. Pleyel told me that he could 
eafily fell a good inftrument of Clementi’s 
or Broadwood’s manpfacture for more than 
300 Louis. 
Dancing.—Dancing (if I may be al- 
MontuLy Mas, No, 70, 
lowed to fay fo) is the ffaple art of France. 
It is juft as neceflary and as general an 
accomplifhment as writing or reading. [I 
remember feeing the crew of a privateer, 
which was lying in Calais harbour, amufe 
themfelves on board the fhip in teaching 
each other to dance: and on ihe 14th of 
July the Champs Elyfees were filled with 
dancing-groupes, fome of which would 
not have difgraced the opera. 
Price of Provifions.—At the Table 
d’Hote, heard fome perfons fay that meat 
was 12d. a pound, and others that it was 
2d. apound, in their refpective provinces. ] 
did not find itfo cheap any where: but Ire- 
member having been fhewn by an Englifi 
landlady at Boulogne a quarter of remark- - 
ably fine mutton, which the faid coft 34d 4 
pound; at Calais it is fomewhat dearer— 
about 4d. Fowls are from 6d. to od. a 
piece; eggs three a-penny ; butter about 
6id.; bread about 12d. a pound, 
In the beginning of September I left 
Paris, having obtained a paffport from 
the Minifter of Police, enabling me to 
make the tour of Holland, and to return 
by way of Calais, Many of my French 
acquaintance were amazed at my ra/hue/s 
in venturing to make fuch,a requeft at a 
time when the journals were filled with 
accounts of debarkations from the Englifh 
fleets on the coaft of Flanders, circum- 
ftances which would naturally excite fome 
fufpicions of my views. I was not de- 
terred by the feeming difficulty of the at. 
tempt ; and in a few days, through the in- 
terceffion of Baron Sandoz, I obtained the 
paffport which I folicited, I accordingly 
took my paffage in the Little Diligence, 
which leaves Paris every day at two inthe 
afternoon. My vehicle did not appear 
much calculated for expedition; but in 
that refpect it at leaft equalled my expec- 
tations. _ We were about forty-eight 
hours on the road, including a few hours 
(from eleven to five) which were allowed 
for repofe at Arras. The public carriages 
throughout France are in general better 
conduéted than they were in former times; 
and, I may add, their horfes, which are 
of the fhort ftiff kind, are remarkably 
well kept. The roads as far as Arras 
were very good; but from that place to 
Courtray they are almoft impaffable: the 
dire&t and ordinary road from Paris to 
Bruxelles is quite fo; and it is a general 
complaint 
