Paris As It Was and As It Is | Page 6

correspondence with the old, and also with those of England.
LETTER LXVII. _Dépôt de la Marine_--An establishment much
wanted in England.
LETTER LXVIII. _Théâtre Louvois_--Picard, the manager of this
theatre, is the _Molière_ of his company--_La Grande Ville, ou les
Provinciaux à Paris_--Principal performers at this theatre--Picard,
Devigny, Dorsan, and _Clozel_--Mesdemoiselles Adeline, _Molière_,
Lescot, and Madame _Molé_--_Théâtre du Vaudeville_--Authors who
write for this theatre--Principal performers--Public malignity, the main
support of this theatre.
LETTER LXIX. _Hôtel de la Monnaie_--Description of this
building--_Musée des Mines_--Formed by M. _Sage_--The
arrangement of this cabinet is excellent--_Cabinet du Conseil des
Mines_--Principal mineral substances discovered in France since the
revolution.
LETTER LXX. _Théâtre Montansier_--Principal performers--_Ambigu
Comique_--The curiosity of a stranger may be satisfied in a single visit
to each of the minor theatres in Paris.
LETTER LXXI. Police of Paris--Historical sketch of it--Its perfections
and imperfections--Anecdote of a minister of police--Mouchards
--Anecdote which shews the detestation in which they are held--The
Parisian police extends to foreign countries--This truth exemplified by
two remarkable facts--No habeas corpus in France.
LETTER LXXII. The savans saved France, when their country was
invaded --Astonishing exertions made by the French on that
occasion--Anecdote relating to _Robespierre_--Extraordinary resources
created by the men of science--Means employed for increasing the
manufacture of powder, cannon, and muskets--The produce of these
new manufactories contrasted with that of the old ones--Territorial
acquisitions of the French--The Carnival revived in Paris.
LETTER LXXIII. Public gaming-houses--_Académies de jeu_, which
existed in Paris before the revolution--Gaming-houses licensed by the
police--The privilege of granting those licences is farmed by a private
individual--Description of the _Maisons de jeu_--Anecdote of an old
professed gambler--Gaming prevails in all the principal towns of

France--The excuse of the old government for promoting gaming, is
reproduced at the present day.
LETTER LXXIV. Museum of Natural History, or _Jardin des
Plantes_--Is much enlarged since the revolution--One of the first
establishments of instruction in Europe--Contrast between its former
state and that in which it now is--Fourcroy, the present director--His
eloquence--Collections in this establishment--Curious articles which
claim particular notice.
LETTER LXXV. The Carnival--That of 1802 described--The Carnival
of modern times, an imitation of the Saturnalia of the ancients--Was for
some years prohibited, since the revolution--Contrast between the
Carnival under the monarchy and under the republican government.
LETTER LXXVI. _Palais du Sénat Conservateur_, or Luxembourg
Palace--Mary of Medicis, by whom it was erected, died in a garret--It
belonged to Monsieur, before the revolution--Improvements in the
garden of the Senate--National nursery formed in an adjoining piece of
ground --_Bastille_--_Le Temple_--Its origin--Lewis XVI and his
family confined in this modern state-prison.
LETTER LXXVII. Present slate of the French Press--The liberty of the
press, the measure of civil liberty--Comparison, between the state of
the press in France and in England.
LETTER LXXVIII. Hospitals and other charitable
institutions--_Hôtel-Dieu_--Extract from the report of the Academy of
Sciences on this abode of pestilence--Reforms introduced into it since
the revolution--The present method of purifying French hospitals
deserves to be adopted in England--Other hospitals in Paris--_Hospice
de la Maternité_--_La Salpêtrière_--_Bicêtre_--Faculties and Colleges
of Physicians, as will as Colleges and Commonalties of Surgeons,
replaced in France by Schools of Health--School of Medicine of
Paris--France overrun by quacks--New law for checking the serious
mischief they occasion --Society of Medicine--Gratuitous School of
Pharmacy--Free Society of Apothecaries--Changes in the teaching and
practice of medicine in France.
LETTER LXXIX. Private seminaries for youth of both sexes--Female
education --Contrast between that formerly received in convents, and
that now practised in the modern French boarding-schools.
LETTER LXXX. Progressive aggrandisement of Paris--Its

origin--Under the name of Lutetia, it was the capital of Gaul--Julian's
account of it--The sieges it has sustained--Successively embellished by
different kings --Progressive amelioration of the manners of its
inhabitants--Rapid view of the causes which improved them, from the
reign of Philip Augustus to that of Lewis XIV--Contrast between the
number of public buildings before and since the revolution--Population
of Paris, from official documents--Ancient division of Paris--Is now
divided into twelve mayoralties--_Barrières_ and high wall by which it
is surrounded--Anecdote of the _commis des barrières_ seizing an
Egyptian mummy.
LETTER LXXXI. French Furniture--The events of the revolution have
contributed to improve the taste of persons connected with the
furnishing line --Contrast between the style of the furniture in the
Parisian houses in 1789-90 and 1801-2--Les Gobelins, the celebrated
national manufactory for tapestry--La Savonnerie, a national
manufactory for carpeting--National manufactory of plate-glass.
LETTER LXXXII. Academy of Fine Arts at the _ci-devant Collège de
Navarre_ --Description of the establishment of the _Piranesi_--Three
hundred artists of different nations distributed in the seven classes of
this academy--Different works executed here in Painting, Sculpture,
Architecture, Mosaic, and Engraving.
LETTER LXXXIII. Conservatory of Arts and Trades--It contains a
numerous collection of machines of every description employed in the
mechanical arts --Belier hydraulique, newly invented by
_Montgolfier_--Models of curious buildings--The mechanical arts in
France have experienced