Paris As It Was and As It Is | Page 3

to the precise
character peculiar to each century, and the monuments arranged in
them in historical and chronological order--Tombs of Clovis,
Childebert, and _Chilperic_--Statues of Charlemagne, Lewis IX, and of
Charles, his brother, together with those of the kings that successively

appeared in this age down to king _John_--Tombs of Charles V, Du
Gueselin, and _Sancerre_--Mausolea of _Louis d'Orléans_ and of
_Valentine de Milan_--Statues of Charles VI, _Rénée d'Orléans_,
Philippe de Commines, Lewis XI, Charles VII, Joan of Arc, _Isabeau de
Bavière_--Tomb of _Lewis XII_--Tragical death of Charles the Bad.
LETTER XXV. Museum of French Monuments continued--Tombs of
Francis I, of the Valois, and of _Diane de Poitiers_--Character of that
celebrated woman--Statues of Turenne, _Condé_, Colbert, La Fontaine,
Racine, and _Lewis XIV_--Mausolea of Cardinals Richelieu and
_Mazarin_--Statues of Montesquieu, Fontenelle, Voltaire, Rousseau,
Helvetius, _Crébillon_, and _Piron_--Tombs of Maupertuis, Caylus,
and Marshal _d'Harcourt_--This museum contains a chronology of
monuments, both antique and modern, from 2500 years before our era
down to the present time, beginning with those of ancient Greece, and
following all the gradations of the art from its cradle to its
decrepitude--Sepulchre of _Héloïse_ and _Abélard_.
LETTER XXVI. Dinner at General _A----y's_--Difference in the
duration of such a repast now and before the revolution--The General's
ancestor, _François A----y_, planned and completed the famous canal
of Languedoc--_Dépôt de la guerre_--Such an establishment much
wanted in England--Its acknowledged utility has induced Austria,
Spain, and Portugal, to form others of a similar nature--Geographical
and topographical riches of this _dépôt_.
LETTER XXVII. _Boulevards_--Their extent--Amusements they
present--_Porte St. Denis_--Anecdote of Charles VI--_Porte St.
Martin_--La Magdeleine --Ambulating conjurers--Means they employ
to captivate curiosity.
LETTER XXVIII. French funds and national debt--Supposed
liquidation of an annuity held by a foreigner before the war, and yet
unliquidated--Value of a franc.
LETTER XXIX. Grand monthly parade--Etiquette observed on this
occasion, in the apartments of the palace of the
_Tuileries_--_Bonaparte_--His person --His public character in
Paris--Obstruction which the First Consul met with in returning from
the parade--_Champs Elysées_--Sports and diversions there
practised--Horses, brought from Marly to this spot, the master-pieces of
the two celebrated sculptors, Costou --Comparison they afford to

politicians.
LETTER XXX. _Madonna de Foligno_--Description of the method
employed by the French artists to transfer from pannel to canvass this
celebrated master-piece of Raphael.
LETTER XXXI. _Pont Neuf_--Henry IV--His popularity--Historical
fact concerning the cause of his assassination brought to light--The
Seine swollen by the rains--It presents a dull scene in comparison to the
Thames--Great number of washerwomen--_La
Samaritaine_--Shoe-blacks on the _Pont Neuf_--Their trade
decreased--Recruiting Officers--The allurements they formerly
employed are now become unnecessary in consequence of the
conscription--Anecdote of a British officer on whom a French recruiter
had cast his eye--Disappointment that ensued.
LETTER XXXII. Balls now very numerous every evening in
Paris--_Bal du Salon des Étrangers_--Description of the
women--Comparison between the French and English ladies--Character
of Madame _Tallien_--Generosity, fortitude, and greatness of soul
displayed by women during the most calamitous periods of the
revolution--Anecdote of a young Frenchman smitten by a widow--An
attachment, founded on somewhat similar circumstances, recorded by
historians of Henry III of France --Sympathy, and its effects.
LETTER XXXIII. Pont National, formerly called the _Pont
Royal_--Anecdote of Henry IV and a waterman--_Coup d'oeil_ from
this bridge--Quays of Paris --Galiot of St. Cloud--_Pont de la
Concorde_--Paris besieged by the Swedes, Danes, and Normans, in
885--The Seine covered with their vessels for the space of two
leagues--A vessel ascends the Seine from Rouen to Paris in four
days--Engineers have ever judged it practicable to render the Seine
navigable, from its mouth to the capital, for vessels of a certain
burden--Riches accruing from commerce pave the way to the ruin of
States, as well as the extension of their conquests.
LETTER XXXIV. French literature--Effects produced on it by the
revolution--The sciences preferred to literature, and for what
reason--The French government has flattered the literati and artists; but
the solid distinctions have been reserved for men of science--Epic
Poetry --Tragedy--Comedy--Novels--Moral Fable--Madrigal and
Epigram--Romance --Lyric Poetry--Song--Journals.

LETTER XXXV. _Pont au Change_--_Palais de Justice_--Once a royal
residence --Banquet given there, in 1313, by Philip the Fair, at which
were present Edward II and his queen Isabella--Alterations which this
palace has undergone, in consequence of having, at different times,
been partly reduced to ashes--Madame La Motte publicly whipped--In
1738, Lewis XVI here held a famous bed of justice, in which
_D'Espresmenil_ struck the first blow at royalty--He was exiled to the
_Ile de St. Marguerite_--After having stirred up all the parliaments
against the royal authority, he again became the humble servant of the
crown--After the revolution, the Palais de Justice was the seat of the
Revolutionary Tribunal--Dumas, its president, proposed to assemble
there five or six hundred victims at a time--He was the next day
condemned to death by the same tribunal--The Palais de Justice, now
the seat of different tribunals--The grande chambre newly embellished