Paris As It Was and As It Is | Page 7

most complete typographical establishment in being.
LETTER LXXXV. Present State of Society in Paris--In that city are three very distinct kinds of society--Description of each of these--Other societies are no more than a diminutive of the preceding--Philosophy of the French in forgeting their misfortunes and losses--The signature of the definitive treaty announced by the sound of cannon --In the evening a grand illumination is displayed.
LETTER LXXXVI. Urbanity of the Parisians towards strangers--The shopkeepers in Paris overcharge their articles--Furnished Lodgings--Their price--The Milords Anglais now eclipsed by the Russian Counts--Expense of board in Paris--Job and Hackney Carriages--Are much improved since the revolution--Fare of the latter--Expense of the former --Cabriolets--Regulations of the police concerning these carriages --The negligence of drivers now meets with due chastisement--French women astonish bespattered foreigners by walking the streets with spotless stockings--Valets-de-place--Their wages augmented--General Observations--An English traveller, on visiting Paris, should provide himself with letters of recommendation--Unless an Englishman acquires a competent knowledge of the manners of the country, he fails in what ought to be the grand object of foreign travel--Situation of one who brings no letters to Paris--The French now make a distinction between individuals only, not between nations--Are still indulgent to the English--Animadversion on the improper conduct of irrational British youths.
LETTER LXXXVII. Divorce--The indissolubility of marriage in France, before the revolution, was supposed to promote adultery--No such excuse can now be pleaded--Origin of the present laws on divorce--Comparison on that subject between the French and the Romans--The effect of these laws illustrated by examples--The stage ought to be made to conduce to the amelioration of morals--In France, the men blame the women, with a view of extenuating their own irregularities--To reform women, men ought to begin by reforming themselves.
LETTER LXXXVIII. The author is recalled to England--Mendicants--The streets of Paris less infested by them now than before the revolution--Pawnbrokers --Their numbers much increased in Paris, and why--_Mont de Piété_ --Lotteries now established in the principal towns in France--The fatal consequences of this incentive to gaming--Newspapers--Their numbers considerably augmented--Journals the most in request--Baths --Bains Vigier described--School of Natation--Telegraphs--Those in Paris differ from those in use in England--Telegraphic language may be abridged--Private collections most deserving of notice in Paris --_Dép?t d'armes_ of _M. Boutet_--_M. Régnier_, an ingenious mechanic --The author's reason for confining his observations to the capital --Metamorphoses in Paris--The site of the famous Jacobin convent is intended for a market-place--Arts and Sciences are become popular in France, since the revolution--The author makes amende honorable, or confesses his inability to accomplish the task imposed on him by his friend--He leaves Paris.

NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE.[1]
On the 3d of Pluvi?se, year XI (23d of January, 1803), the French government passed the following decree on this subject.
Art. I. The National Institute, at present divided into three classes, shall henceforth consist of four; namely:
_First Class_--Class of physical and mathematical sciences.
_Second Class_--Class of the French language and literature.
_Third Class_--Class of history and ancient literature.
_Fourth Class_--Class of fine arts.
The present members of the Institute and associated foreigners shall be divided into these four classes. A commission of five members of the Institute, appointed by the First Consul, shall present to him the plan of this division, which shall be submitted to the approbation of the government.
II. The first class, shall be formed of the ten sections, which at present compose the first class of the Institute, of a new section of geography and navigation, and of eight foreign associates.
These sections shall be composed and distinguished as follows:
MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES.
Geometry six members. Mechanics six ditto. Astronomy six ditto. Geography and Navigation three ditto. General Physics six ditto.
PHYSICAL SCIENCES.
Chemistry six ditto. Mineralogy six ditto. Botany six ditto. Rural Economy and the Veterinary Art six ditto. Anatomy and Zoology six ditto. Medicine and Surgery six ditto.
The first class shall name, with the approbation of the Chief Consul, two perpetual secretaries; the one for the mathematical sciences; the other, for the physical. The perpetual secretaries shall be members of the class, but shall make no part of any section.
The first class may elect six of its members from among the other classes of the Institute. It may name a hundred correspondents, taken from among the learned men of the nation, and those of foreign countries.
III. The second class shall be composed of forty members.
It is particularly charged with the compilation and improvement of the dictionary of the French tongue. With respect to language, it shall examine important works of literature, history, and sciences. The collection of its critical observations shall be published at least four times a year.
It shall appoint from its own members, and with the approbation of the First Consul, a perpetual secretary, who shall continue to make one of the sixty members of whom the class is composed.
It may elect twelve of its members from among those of the other classes of the Institute.
IV. The