104 
not. The-surprising Furioso, the tumbler, 
dances before you on the tight and slack 
rope, with more boldness and _ agility 
than Richer, but not so easy and pleas- 
ing; whilst on the other hand you may see 
feats of horsemanship by Franconi, al- 
though very inferior to the graceful ex- 
értions of the younger Astley. Here are 
conjurors, who sell fortunate numbers in 
the lottery for two sols each, who have 
hot interest enough with Fortune to pro- 
cure a decent coat for themselves; and 
prophecying Sybils, who cannot divine at 
what moment the police will dissolve their 
spells, and chain their own persons in 
durance vile. In the evening you hear 
a concert in every avenue, and are.re- 
 galed at the corner of a street by a rug- 
ged minstrel, singing “ the delights of 
rural love,” who bas crawled from a starv- 
ing family in the-tauxbourg Samt Denis, 
to. gather sustenance for ~ his offspring. 
You are stunned with vociferation “ to 
walk in,’ and see the facetious Mr. 
Punch of his accommodating spouse ; 
the Giant and the Dwarf; the celebrated 
Fire-eater from Lapland; Dutch Birds 
taking a fort by storm; the Court of 
King Solomon im all its glory; and the 
Monkey shaving the Cat. 
When you are disposed to retire from 
this noisy scene, you are civilly desired 
to occupy a chair, for one sol, where you 
may lounge and meditate, or participate 
in the conversation of surrounding belles; 
as the ladies in France will engage in 
discourse with a well-bred man, without 
the dread of contamination from the in- 
terchange of polished sentiments. 
To sum up all in a few words, the Bou- 
tevards of Paris is one continued fair, 
where all ages, sexes, conditions, and na- 
tions, appear to unite, to pass the vacant 
hours in chequered gaiety, and reduce 
the claims of want through the medium 
of pleasure. 
I have now conveyed to you a tolera- 
bly correct idea of the present state of 
Paris, but here the pleasant part of the 
description ends; the departinents of 
France are truly ‘miserable, on a cem- 
parison with the counties of England. 
ir is impossible to stop at a town, or vil- 
lage, in the interior of Franée, without 
being nearly overwhelmed with beggars, 
“who i importune you for money with un- 
ceasing yells; and whose squalid ap- 
pearance shocks your feelings. Nor is 
the appearance of France 80 beautifully 
variegated, nor so luxuriantly fruitful, as 
England. The climate is fine and mode- 
Tate, and, in the southern parts, mere 
4, 
View of Modern Paris. 
[March 1, 
genial than in England, at least for a va- 
letudinarian; but for rural imagery, su- 
perb pleasure-grounds, wholesome beve- 
rage, excellent viands, free argument, 
and honest manners, give me old Eng- 
land, which is, and | hope ever will be, 
the seat of independence, and the garden 
of the world. 
You have desired me to give you an 
idea respecting the general character.of 
the present Mmperor of the French, and 
of the leading personages of St. Cloud, 
and I will endeavour to present you with 
a slight sketch of the parties. 
Napoleon is about five feet five jupher 
in height, well made, and somewhat mus- 
cular: it has been observed that, not-- 
withstanding his fatigues, he has a tens 
dency to be corpulent., His complex- 
ion is a pale olive; his eyes piercing; 
his hair brown, cut short, and uniformly 
unpowdered. He seldom smiles, and is, 
in the natural disposition of his mind, 
impetuous; but he corrects this habi- 
tude bya powerful command of his pas- 
sions. He is very abstemious, takes snuff 
abundantly, and remains at dinner with 
the imperial family but thirty minutes, — 
when they, dine en fumille. He eats of 
the’ plainest food, drinks four or fiy 
glasses of wine, takes his coffee (of wh 
he is extremely fond), and departs. 
passes the evening in visiting the ] 
ceums, or places of public gratuitous § 
cation (of which Paris and its environs 
full); examines the scholars personall 
enters newly-establisbed manufactori 
and, when he deems the inventor w 
thy, invests him with the insignia of the 
legion of honour, which he “frequently _ 
takes from bis own coat, for thatpurpose, 
On his return to St, Clone. if in the coun- - 
try,.or to the Tuileries, if in town, he 
hears 2. concert, converses with his fa= 
mily, takes a slight repast, and retires to 
bed about eleven o’clock.. In the morn- 
ing he rises commonly with the lark, 
goes to his private cabinet, and ex~- 
amines written documents upon the affairs 
of state, or representations from all the 
ministers, both domesticand foreign: in- 
scribes a concise resolution upon each; 
to be delivered to the proper officers ~ 
in the course of the morning. In all 
these duties he is as regular as Time it- 
self; and even when encamped in the — 
field of battle, I am informed that he 
pursues the same system upon a narrow- 
er basis. At six or seven o'clock he rings — 
for his coffee, and then dresses himself 
for the day: his dress, on ordinary occa= ~ 
sions, is a blue undress Unienan wit. 
