THE 
———— 
No. 168. | 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
=] MARCA, 1k 
S* As long as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving to their Opinions a Maximum oF 
1808. f2 of Vox. 25. 
*S Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greateQ Effect the 
** Curiofity of thufe who read either for Amufement or Intruction.” JOHNSON, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly, Magazine. 
A VIEW of MODERN PARIS, with a GLANCE 
at the present STATE Of SOCIETY and 
of PUBLIC CHARACTERS tm that CaPr- 
TAL, in @ LETTER from an ANGLO-AME- 
RICAN resident there. 
SIR, 
OU have earnestly requested me to 
give you some general ideas upon 
the present state of society in Paris, and - 
I shall proceed to gratify you as well as 
my limited ability and restricted obser- 
vation will allow. 
In reply to your question upon the pre- 
sent State of the National Character of 
the People, 1 will observe, that they are 
not, generally speaking, so urbane and 
alluring in their manners, as they were 
‘twenty-two years since, when you and I 
‘first visited that metropolis, Froma gay, 
lous, and foppish community, they 
metamorphosed ito a serious, plain- 
sing people, whose manners are, com- 
atively, repulsive, and sometimes 
img upon brutahty. Those dreadful 
ses which were perpetrated during 
my periods of their Revolution, 
roughened their deportment, and 
the gentler qualities of their hearts: 
1 their endeavours to imitate John Bull, 
“they haye assumed his bluntness, without 
the accordant sincerity of his nature, 
Every thing here is externally anglicised : 
the dresses of the men and women are 
altogether in the English mode; you must 
recollect that I am speaking of the capi- 
tal, and*not of the provinces, where the 
habits of the people are nearly the same 
as heretofore. Such an animal as a 
petit-maitre is very rarely to be seen, yet 
the principle of a coxcomb is not wholly 
extinguished, as it is frequently yisible m 
oung men, who use spectacles and op- 
tical glasses.in public, without any imper- 
fection in the visual-organs. In the 
breed and management of their horses 
they are much improved, and great en- 
couragement is given by the French go-~ 
vernment to this material point of social 
“Improvement. All persons of either Sex, 
who haveany pretensions to fashion, ride 
in the English manner; the ladies on side 
saddles, and the gentlemen in close hoots: 
® Mowzary Mac. No, 169, . 
7 
the enormous jack-boot, which we for- 
merly thought so ridiculous, is now abo- 
lished, or confined to the postilions of the 
heavy diligeices, or the couriers of the 
government. | 
In the ceremonies and pleasures of the 
table, the French are not much changed, 
except that they admit more natural, 
or unsophisticated, dishes at dinner, 
than formerly, and dine at a later hour in 
the day. They have their potage, bou-_ 
ili roast meats, ragouts, entremets, 
cakes, fruit, coffee, and ‘iqueurs; taking 
each about four or five glasses of wine 
before the introduction of the cofee; and 
when they bave drauk the liqueur, the 
whole party separates, to prepare for the 
further duties or amusements of the even- 
ing. It is not the-custom of France, as _ 
it is in England, to have the ladies with. 
draw ito a saloon, while the gentlemen 
enjoy (as they phrase it) the bottle ; for 
your Gallic neighbours very properly bes 
lieve, in this instance at least, that no en- 
joyment can be heightened by the ab- 
sence of beauty, and that the deticate 
authority of female influence keeps the 
ruder passions in subordination. 
_ In answer to your question about the 
present state of Memale Morals in this 
capital, I am compelled to observe that 
they are in a state of great relaxation, 
not only here, but almost m every part 
of France, that [ haye visited ; and, indeed, 
the ceremony of marriage had become 
of little weight, from the ease and irre- 
sponsibility with which its holy ordinances 
were eluded or subverted by either of the 
contracting parties. Divorces were ob- 
tained upon the most trivial pretexts, but 
the government have instituted an ex- 
amination into the abuses of the sacred 
obligations of wedlock; and it is proba- 
ble that divorces will not be obtained in 
future but upon a basis of serious neces~ 
sity. Before any persons can marry now: 
in France, their naunes are exhibited by 
the magistrate in a conspicuous part of 
the. Town-Hall, or Hotel de Ville, of 
the place where they reside, in order 
that ajl interested persons may have an 
Opportunity to forbid the union, upon 
proper and weil-founded representations: 
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