The Cockaynes in Paris

The Cockaynes in Paris

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cockaynes in Paris, by Blanchard Jerrold This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Cockaynes in Paris 'Gone abroad'
Author: Blanchard Jerrold
Illustrator: Gustave Dor��
Release Date: May 6, 2006 [EBook #18327]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COCKAYNES IN PARIS ***

Produced by Carlo Traverso, Janet Blenkinship, and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net

[Illustration: MI LORD ANGLAIS AT MABILLE.
_He is smiling, he is splendid, he is full of graceful enjoyment; on the table are a few of the beverages he admires; but above all he adores the ease of the French ladies in the dance._]

THE
COCKAYNES IN PARIS
OR
"GONE ABROAD."
BY
BLANCHARD JERROLD.
[Illustration]
WITH SKETCHES BY
GUSTAVE DOR��,
AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ENGLISH ABROAD FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW.

LONDON: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 74 & 75, PICCADILLY.
[All Rights Reserved.]

PREFACE.
The story of the Cockaynes was written some years ago,--in the days when Paris was at her best and brightest; and the English quarter was crowded; and the Emperor was at St. Cloud; and France appeared destined to become the wealthiest and strongest country in the world.
Where the Cockaynes carried their guide-books and opera-glasses, and fell into raptures at every footstep, there are dismal ruins now. The Vend?me Column is a stump, wreathed with a gigantic immortelle, and capped with the tri-color. The Hall of the Marshals is a black hole. Those noble rooms in which the first magistrate of the city of Boulevards gave welcome to crowds of English guests, are destroyed. In the name of Liberty some of the most precious art-work of modern days has been fired. The Communists' defiling fingers have passed over the canvas of Ingr��s. Auber and Dumas have gone from the scene in the saddest hour of their country's history. The Anglo-French alliance--that surest rock of enduring peace--has been rent asunder, through the timorous hesitation of English ministers, and the hardly disguised Bourbon sympathies of English society. We are not welcome now in Paris, as we were when I followed in the wake of the prying Cockaynes. My old concierge is very cold in his greeting, and carries my valise to my rooms sulkily. Jerome, my particular waiter at the Grand Caf��, no longer deigns to discuss the news of the day with me. Good Monsieur Giraudet, who could suggest the happiest little menus, when I went to his admirable restaurant, and who kept the Rappel for me, now bows silently and sends an underling to see what the Englishman requires.
It is a sad, and a woful change; and one of ominous import for our children. Most woful to those of my countrymen who, like the reader's humble servant, have passed a happy half-score of years in the delightful society and the incomparable capital of the French people.
BLANCHARD JERROLD.
RUE DE ROME, PARIS, July, 1871.
[Illustration]

CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. MRS. ROWE'S 13
II. HE'S HERE AGAIN! 30
III. MRS. ROWE'S COMPANY 39
IV. THE COCKAYNES IN PARIS 45
V. THE COCKAYNE FAMILY 62
VI. A "GRANDE OCCASION" 91
VII. OUR FOOLISH COUNTRYWOMEN 104
VIII. "OH, YES!" AND "ALL RIGHT!" 111
IX. MISS CARRIE COCKAYNE TO MISS SHARP 122
X. "THE PEOPLE OF THE HOUSE" 129
XI. MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLERS 140
XII. MRS. DAKER 154
XIII. AT BOULOGNE-SUR-MER 174
XIV. THE CASTAWAY 192
XV. THE FIRST TO BE MARRIED 210
XVI. GATHERING A FEW THREADS 231
[Illustration: MAMMA ANGLAISE. (A French design.)]

ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE MY LORD ANGLAIS AT MABILLE Frontispiece
CROSSING THE CHANNEL--A SMOOTH PASSAGE 13
CROSSING THE CHANNEL--RATHER SQUALLY 14
ROBINSON CRUSOE AND FRIDAY 16
PAPA AND THE DEAR BOYS 18
THE DOWAGER AND TALL FOOTMAN 20
ON THE BOULEVARDS 42
A GROUP OF MARBLE "INSULAIRES" 46
BEAUTY AND THE B---- 68
PALAIS DU LOUVRE.--THE ROAD TO THE BOIS 72
MUSEE DU LUXEMBOURG 77
THE INFLEXIBLE "MEESSES ANGLAISES" 105
ENGLISH VISITORS TO THE CLOSERIE DE LILAS--SHOCKING!! 109
SMITH BRINGS HIS ALPENSTOCK 114
JONES ON THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE 118
FRENCH RECOLLECTION OF MEESS TAKING HER BATH 125
THE BRAVE MEESS AMONG THE BILLOWS HOLDING ON BY THE TAIL OF HER NEWFOUNDLAND 125
VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH STOCK.--COMPATRIOTS MEETING IN THE FRENCH EXHIBITION 126
A PIC-NIC AT ENGHIEN 147
EXCURSIONISTS AND EMIGRANTS 152
BOIS DE BOULOGNE 164
[Illustration: CROSSING THE CHANNEL--A SMOOTH PASSAGE]

THE
COCKAYNES IN PARIS.
CHAPTER I.
MRS. ROWE'S.
The story I have to tell is disjointed. I throw it out as I picked it up. My duties, the nature of which is neither here nor there, have borne me to various parts of Europe. I am a man, not with an establishment--but with two portmanteaus. I have two hats in Paris and two in London always. I have seen everything in both cities, and like Paris, on the whole, best. There are many reasons, it seems to me, why an Englishman who has the tastes of a duke and the means of a half-pay major, should prefer the