Paris and its People

Preface

. In appearing once more before the public, it is unnecessary for the Author to say, that he has, on this occasion, gone over entirely new ground, — ground which, for the most part, has been untrodden by any previous English writer. He trusts, therefore, that notwith standing all that has been written about Paris, much that is at once new and interesting will be found in these volumes. The Author has not attempted to enter into philosophical dis quisitions on the state of society in France : his visit to that country was not sufficiently

PREFACE.

. protracted for that He has simply sought to describe what he has seen, and to bring before his countrymen the result of his personal inquiries. He believes he may with confidence say, that no one ever saw, in the same space of time, more than he did, of " Paris and its People." He devoted himself wholly to the object he had in view, during his stay in the French Capital, and spared no pains to procure such information as he thought likely to prove most interesting to the English reader. It remains with the public to decide with what success he has prosecuted his literary labours in France. London, Nov. 1843. Page CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Historical Retrospect

Origin and early history of Paris — When first made the residence of the Kings of France — Incidents in its annals in the middle ages — The monarchs who contributed most largely to improve its appearance . . 1

Chapter II. The Streets External Aspects

Entering the town — The Tuileries — Height of the houses — Their appearance— Shops — Shopwomen — Narrowness of the streets — The pavements— Sights offensive to the eye — The streets imperfectly lighted — Windows and window-blinds — Supply of Water — The river Bridges, &c. .... .9

Chapter III. Public Vehicles Private Equipages

Public vehicles deficient in elegance — Slow rate at which they are driven — Mode in which matters are managed — Scale of charges — Hints to strangers — New class of cabs — Private carriages and cabriolets . . VI CONTENTS. Page

Chapter IV. General Remarks On The Place

Form of Paris — Its size as compared with London — Architectural aspects — The Boulevards — Palais Royal — Arcades — Class localities . . . . 51

Chapter V. General Remarks On The People

Their dress — Beards and mustaches — French women as compared with English women — Cheerfulness of the Parisians — French politeness — Their social disposition — Prejudices against the English — French quickness of perception — Englishmen speaking bad French — The French misconceiving the English language . . 80

Chapter VI. State Of

POLrTICAL FEELING. Difficulty at particular times of ascertaining it — Prevalence of Republican principles — Legitimacy — Radicalism — The Juste Milieu party . . .138

Chapter VII. System Of Government

Despotic state of things — The Soldiers, the National Guard, and the Police — No public meetings — Means of expressing public opinion — Miscellaneous remarks , 163 CHAFTER VIII. THE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBERS. The Chamber of Peers — Origin and history — Qualifications of Peers — General remarks. — Chamber of Deputtes — Origin and history — Description of the exterior — Description of the interior — Mode of procedure during the sittings — Miscellaneous observations contents. VII Page

Chapter I. Historical Retrospect

Origin and early history of Paris — When first made the residence of the Kings of France — Incidents in its annals in the middle ages — The monarchs who contributed most largely to improve its appearance. The origin and early history of Paris, unlike the origin and early history of the metropolis of England, are so completely enveloped in obscu rity, that we rarely meet with any writer of note who even hazards a conjecture on the subject. The first mention of the French capital occurs in Cæsar's Commentaries, written about fifty years before the birth of Christ. That distinguished Vol. I. b writer refers to it under the name Lutetia. It was then the principal town of the Parisii, one of the numerous Celtic tribes which at that time inhabited Gaul. The references which Cæsar makes to the Paris of his day are exceedingly slight and unsatisfactory.

All that can be gleaned from them is, that it was an inconsiderable town, built on La Citie, one of the then five islands in the Seine. This island was at the period referred to, much smaller than it now is ; two other islands of limited dimen sions having been since incorporated with it. From this time, until the middle of the fourth century, scarcely any notice is taken of Paris. The geographers of the intervening period make some passing allusion to it, under a variety of names; but they leave us in the dark as to the extent or importance of the place. The very fact, indeed, of their not being more copious in their details, may be regarded as a presumptive proof, that Paris was at this period neither extensive nor important. In the year 858, the emperor Julian informs us that he spent a winter in Paris, and he seems to have been quite delighted with it for he speaks of it as his dear Lutetia, the little capita1, of the Parish.

It was in this " dear Lutetia," the Paris of the present day, that he was, two years afterwards, recalled from the govern ment of Gaul, and compelled by his soldiers to assume the imperial office. Seven years pos terior to Julian's assumption of kingly power, the emperors Valentinian and Valens spent the winter in Paris. The son of the former emperor fought beneath the walls of Paris the cele brated battle with Maximinus, which not only terminated entirely in his defeat, but, subse quently, in the loss both of his empire and his life. In the year 486, Paris was wrested from the dominion of the Romans by the Franks, under the auspices of Clovis. In about a quarter of a century afterwards, the Franks made it the capital of their country, having some time before changed its name from b Lutetia to Parisii, or Parisea.

When the latter two letters were first dropped, and the name adopted which it now bears, is a point on which I have not been able to obtain any information. Great diversity of opinion exists among the earlier historians of England, as to the period at which Christianity was introduced into our country. There seems to be no such diversity among the accredited historians of France, respecting the time when the Christian faith was first promulgated in that part of Europe. They all concur in the statement, that St. Denis in troduced Christianity among the Parisians about the year 250. Whether the majority of them renounced paganism and embraced the religion of Jesus, on the introduction of the latter, is a point on which the French historians are silent; but the presumption is, that at least a goodly number must have adopted the new faith, as a bishopric was established in Paris a few years after St. Denis promulgated the truths of Christianity among its people.

Clovis, who, as already mentioned, had dispos sessed the Romans, and taken possession of Paris for himself about six years before the close of the fifth century, chose it as the place of his permanent residence in the year 508 ; from which time it continued to be the residence of the Kings of the Franks, till 567, when the seat of royalty was transferred to another part of the country. The successors of Clovis were called the Merovingian race of Princes ; and they con tinued to occupy the throne of France, until about the year 750, when Pepin, the father of the celebrated Charlemagne, overthrew their dynasty and possessed himself of the sovereignty of the country. Under his reign, and that of his descendants, who are known in history as the Carlovingian kings, Paris, which had been hitherto steadily growing in extent and import ance, ceased to make any further progress.

During their dynasty, the entire kingdom was in a state of constant disturbance ; and Paris itself was ever and anon subjected to predatory attacks from the Normans. In the short period which intervened between 845 and 885, it was four times besieged or ravaged by them. On the accession of Hugh Capet, the founder of the Bourbon dynasty, to the throne of France, he selected Paris as the seat of his court. From that period, namely, 987, till the present day, Paris has been the capital of France. It has continued gradually to rise, with the exception of a few short intervals of slight retrogression, to the importance, extent and celebrity of which it can now boast, and which make it the second capital of Europe. It is much to be regretted that there is so great a paucity of authentic information, relative to the size, population, wealth, and importance of Paris, at particular periods of its history.

Among the monarehs of a remoter period, who contributed much to improve the appearance and add to the extent of Paris, Philip Augustus, son of Louis the Seventh, is entitled to greatest praise. He succeeded his father in 1180, and was constantly employed in making improvements in the capital. Before his time most of the churches and public edifices were built of mud. He caused a great manyof them to be rebuilt of stone. He also ordered a number of new places of worship to be erected of the same material, and in a superior style of architecture. To the same monarch Paris is indebted for having first provided it with public fountains, paved its streets, and sur rounded it with a wall of surpassing strength. The estimate given of the amount of the population in the reign of Henry the Third, which closed in the year 1589, is 200,000, — being about a fifth part of the number of its present inhabitants.

The greatest extension of Paris took place under the reigns of three of the Louises, — namely, the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth ; but so far as regards the mere beautifying of the city, Paris owes more to Napo leon than to any three or four of the previous sovereigns. In the short space of twelve years, he gave an entirely new aspect to some of its more important parts, by the number of tasteful improvements which he made. And even those numerous and great improvements which have been made since the accession of Louis Philippe, are, in almost every instance, to be ascribed to Napoleon ; for they are either the completion of the improvements which he had commenced, or the adoption of suggestions which he had made for beautifying and adorning Paris

Chapter II. The Streets

— EXTERNAL ASPECTS. Entering the town — The Tuileries — Height of the houses — Their appearance — Shops — Shopwomen — Narrowness of the streets— The pavements — Sights offensive to the eye — Tinstreets imperfectly lighted — Windows and window-blinds — Supply of water — The river — Bridges, &c. The first impression of Paris which a stranger receives depends on the part of the town at which he makes his entrance. The impression of most Englishmen is unfavourable, because they mostly enter by the Boulogne road. Nothing could be more fitted to create a feeling of disappointment, after all that we have read and heard of the gaiety and grandeur of this cele- E — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. brated city, than the small, dingy, half ruinous houses, which crowd on the stranger's eye wher ever he turns it, as he passes along this part of the Parisian suburbs.

If, on the other hand, he enter by the Champs Elysees, his expectations of architectural taste and magnificence, blended with rural beauty, will be raised to a pitch which the city itself will hardly realise. It were difficult to imagine a more imposing entrance into a city, than the entrance into Paris by the Champs Elysees. You there pass the Barrier de l'Etoile, which is, perhaps, the most majestic arch of the kind in the world. Englishmen are accustomed to admire the grand entrance into Hyde Park, at Apsley House, but it is un worthy the name of architectural magnificence compared with the majestic barrier of l'Etoile. And just as the stranger passes it, a singularly beautiful prospect opens to his view. He sees a considerable portion of Paris in the distance, with all the magnificence of the Tuileries in the fore-ground ; while on either side, extending — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. nearly a mile and a half, are many rows of trees of stately size and ample foliage, all planted with perfect regularity, and producing an effect on the mind of the spectator far too pleasing to admit of description.

As you proceed farther on this beautiful road, you near the gardens of the Tuileries, which never yet has been beheld for the first time by an intelligent person with out confounding him with their surpassing beauty. The place embraces an extent of nearly seventy acres, all laid out in the most tasteful and variegated manner. We have nothing approach ing to it in this .country ; and it may be doubted whether the ingenuity of man has produced any thing, of a similar kind, equal to it, in any part of the world. The Tuileries are divided into several departments, each differing in appear ance from the other, but all complete in them selves. Trees, shrubs, flowers, fountains, statues, and gilded columns of richest workman ship, are all intermingled together with an effect of which it were impossible for the most graphic — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. description to convey an idea — an effect which is greatly heightened by the adjoining pavilions and terraces.

The Tuileries are inconceivably beautiful ; but in a fine moonlight night in summer they possess all the enchantment of a fairy scene. In the months of August and September last, I stood in the centre of the Tuileries, and felt myself literally bewildered with the glories around me. In this part of Paris are some of the finest specimens of architecture in the place. On the left is the beautiful Rue Rivoli ; on the right are the Chamber of Depu ties, and the Hospital of Invalids ; while in front are the palace and other celebrated edi fices. If asked whether the workmanship of nature or that of man be more worthy of admiration, as you look at the lovely combination of both in the Tuileries, you are constrained to admit your incompetency to speak with any confidence on the point. Few and far between are the instances in which nature and man so harmoniously and effectively co-operate together THt STREETS EXTERNAL ASPECTS. as in this charming locality.

It is no won der, then, that the Parisians should be so anxious that all illustrious visitors should enter their city by the Champs Elysees and the Tuil eries. When the Duchess of Orleans, on her marriage with the late lamented Duke, made her entrance into Paris, it was arranged, for the purpose of inspiring her with exalted notions of the place, that she should enter at this part of Paris, though it was quite out of her way. But I must not linger any longer in this spot, surpassingly delightful though it be : I must at once plunge into the very heart of Paris, and view the city in its diversified aspects. Nothing more forcibly strikes the stranger, the first few days he has been in Paris, than the height of the houses and the narrowness of the streets. The houses in all the leading streets range from five to seven stories in height.

In most cases they have a lively, because a very variegated appearance. Though all built of stone, the fronts are covered over with plaster — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. of Paris, similar to the houses in Regent Street, and other places in London : they have, consequently, a perfectly smooth surface. Most of them are painted in fancy colours ; and as these colours not only differ on different houses, but frequently even on the front of the same house, there is something very pleasing, as well as strange to the eye of the visitor, in the aspect of many of the streets. I am here speaking of those streets in the most busy parts of the city. In these, the very large size of the houses, and the exorbitance of the rents, render it impossible for one individual to occupy the whole of the premises. Every such house is occupied by a number of individuals, and as each individual has a right to paint the front of that part of the house which he rents, in any way he pleases, that circumstance will account for the various hues which the aspect of particular houses presents.

Another circumstance which gives the leading thoroughfares in Paris a peculiarly lively appearance, is the number of signs, — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. 15 and the variety and size of the letters. Most of these signs consist of the name and business of the parties painted, as with us, on a board which is affixed to the wall : in other cases, the letters are painted on the walls themselves, — the smooth surface, to which I have already referred, being peculiarly adapted for this. The signs usually extend over the whole breadth of the front; and the gigantic proportions of the letters will be understood, when I mention that they are often two feet in length and one foot in breadth. The shops are not, as with us, con fined to the ground-floor ; many of them are on the first and second floors, to which there is access through a broad gateway from the street, and an exceedingly wide stair-case.

What may appear to the English reader more extraordinary still, is the fact, that some of the shops doing the largest amount of business in fancy articles, are situated in obscure courts and localities, up one, two, three, and sometimes even four pair of stairs. — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. The shops of Paris will not ln reference to size and splendour, bear a moment's comparison with those of London. Much as the Parisian prides himself on the gaiety and splendour of his favourite city, he cannot help being struck with the great superiority of London shops to his own, as he passes along Regent Street and other parts of our metropolis. The Paris shops are very small ; nor, though tastefully fitted up in the interior, have they any pretensions to an imposing appearance. The fancy articles in the jewellery, drapery, and other lines of business, are of the best quality and of the most exquisite workmanship : still there is a want of that magnificence in the appearance of Paris shops, which is so characteristic of the higher order of shops in London.

The fronts are plain, and the windows are small. Were it possible to transfer one of the first class of shops from Regent Street, or Ludgate Hill, or St. Paul's Church yard, to Paris, it would be constantly visited by crowds of people as one of the wonders of the — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. place. But though the shops of Paris can not be compared, in point of size, with those of London, the Parisian shop-keepers dis play immeasurably more taste than the shopkeepers in our metropolis, in the fitting up of their premises and the display of their articles. The Paris shops are remarkable for the number and the size of their mirrors. Look in what direction you may, after you have entered, and you see your person reflected at full length. In some cases, indeed, you can hardly see anything but mirrors. And the entire fitting up displays corresponding taste.

Then, as regards the ar rangement and grouping of the articles for sale, nothing could be more tasteful. Everything in the shop is seen, and everything is seen to the best advantage. But the Parisian shopkeeper remembers that every passer by does not enter his shop, and therefore he very wisely bestows his special attention on his windows. The quantity of articles he contrives to place in his windows, and the effect with which he displays — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. them, are the wonder and admiration of all strangers. The window of a Parisian shop — I am assuming, of course, that it is in the fancy line — is a sight worth going a day's journey to witness ; it is quite a study — a perfect picture. It affords an exhibition of artistical skill, of which the people of no other country can have any conception.

I never looked at a French shopkeeper's window without the conviction forcing itself on my mind, that he who arranged its contents must be an artist, though he may himself be unconscious of it ; and that had he turned his attention to any department of art, requiring a combination of the imaginative faculty with an exquisite taste in the practical embodiment of his notions, he must have at tained a celebrity of no common order. A Frenchman's window may, indeed, be often said to be his shop. Look at his window, and you see all the valuable property he possesses in the world. It is often valuable in reality, but its worth frequently appears to be greater than it EXTERNAL ASPECTS. 19 is, from the surpassing taste displayed in the arrangement of the various articles. In whatever is tasteful and fanciful, indeed, the Parisians are incomparably our superiors: they stand alone and unapproachable among the nations of the world in everything in which the fancy is concerned.

Their mode, too, of light ing up their shops is incomparably superior to ours. It is not only that they are more abun dantly lighted than the shops of London, but they are lighted up with infinitely greater taste. The shops in the more fashionable and best frequented parts of Paris, present a scene of liveliness and beauty which it were wholly im possible to describe. Perhaps I might here remark, that in the eye of many, the pleasing effect produced by the Parisian shops is very considerably heightened by the number of beau tiful and well-dressed young women that are to be found in them. It is a curious fact that there is scarcely a shop in any of the principal thoroughfares in Paris, in which are not to be — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. seen one or more handsome young women : very generally there are three, four, five, and some times as many as six or seven.

They are all employed either in selling, sewing, or making up fancy articles. No matter what the business is which is followed in the shop, there you are sure to see some young women. They are ge nerally good-looking; and to whatever nature has done for them, they themselves make great additions by the singularly tasteful manner in which they always dress. They are as neat and tidy as if they were so many wax figures dressed up for an exhibition. The taste they display in the adjustment of their hair, particularly strikes an Englishman, and leads him to contrast the appearance, in this respect, of young women in the same station of life in his own country. To the moral character of these young women in the shops of Paris, I shall have occasion to refer in another part of this work. In the summer season, several of the leading streets of Paris have, in particular parts, much — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. 21 of a horticultural aspect.

Most of the windows in the upper stories are filled with flowers of various kinds, and along the fronts of many of the houses are balconies so abundantly laden with every diversity of flowers, as to have the appearance of so many little gardens. This particularly struck me in the middle of the Rue St. Honore. The streets in the centre of the city are exceedingly narrow. Put the two pavements in some of our streets — Holborn Hill, for in stance, together — and their width will be as great as that of many of the leading streets in Paris. There is barely room for two vehicles, such as omnibuses of the larger class, to pass each other with safety and ease. The pavements, too, are very narrow; they are rarely more than four or five feet in width : many of them are narrower still. In most of the principal streets, it is with difficulty two persons walking arm-in-arm can meet a third person, without one of the three being jostled off the pavement. — EXTERNAL ASPECTS.

The narrowness of the pavements no doubt follows as a necessary consequence of the narrowness of the streets, but it is a curious circum stance that the pavements, such as they are, should not be continuous along the principal thoroughfares. In several of the leading streets, the continuity is repeatedly broken by patches of causeway, such as we see in the middle of our streets. In many of the streets, indeed, and some of them of no small consideration, there is no pavement at all along the sides of the houses. Hence, the circumstance which strikes the Englishman as so strange, that so many pedestrians are to be seen walking in the middle of the streets. With us, a pedestrian has no business in the centre of the streets, except in crossing : in Paris, you see numbers of persons constantly in the middle of the streets, walking along on rough causeway, the best way they can.

In most cases, where there is no pavement, the centre of the street is, on more accounts than one, to be preferred to a nearer contiguity to the — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. houses. Within a few feet of the houses, there is a gutter, which, even in the driest and finest weather has the appearance of a small rivulet; and, in rainy weather, presents a most muddy and unpleasant sight. This rivulet of muddy water, is often still more ungrateful to the sense of smelling. Even in the very finest streets, where the pavements are continuous, the absence of un der-ground conduits for the water causes a per petual puddle before the best shops in Paris. That this should be tolerated by a people so advanced in civilization as the French, must strike every foreigner as surprising. In some of the streets there is a gutter in the middle, with out a foot of pavement on either side; but I am not so surprised at this, as these streets are for the most part the lowest and least frequented.

A lady walking along the ordinary streets of Paris, cannot retain the arm of a gentleman for a couple of minutes at a time — not even in the finest weather in summer — in consequence of the necessity she is under of attending to her — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. dress. You see ladies, indeed, in the most de lightful weather, walking along some of the streets of Paris, with their dresses taken up as in England when the pavements have been covered with mud, after a heavy rain. It is along the curb stone that these puddles, or miniature rivers of mud, assail the eye, and another organ which it is needless to name. The entrance to the houses is not, as in England, by a small private door, but by a large double door re sembling a gateway. From most of these gate ways, and from all of them at times, there issues a quantity of water, which very soon acquires all the disagreeable qualities of a stagnant pool.

With this ever-recurring nuisance, — which, how ever, I ought to remark, is much worse in some streets than others — the pedestrian has to contend. A fine lady tries to step over it without soiling the extremity of her dress. She is successful in the attempt, but then, the very next moment she may be jostled off the narrow pavement, and step into the gutter along EXTERNAL ASPECTS. 25 the kerbstone, up to the ankles in water which has neither the attribute of purity nor fragrance to reconcile her to a contact with it. The narrowness of the streets of Paris is an evil which cannot be easily cured. To pull down the whole of the houses in front, and also a con siderable portion of those at the back, would be the only effectual remedy; but where the houses are so large and commodious (and it is to be remembered that nearly one half of Paris is in this predicament) this would be a rather ex pensive expedient to which to resort.

But though the inconvenience of exceedingly nar row streets must therefore be submitted to for generations to come (with the best philosophy the Parisians can bring to bear on the point), there surely can be no excuse for tolerating a little rivulet of water, or a stagnant pool on a small scale, in the gutter, before the houses and doors. The remedy for that evil is simple, cheap, efficacious. Let conduits be formed un der ground, and the thing is done. Vol. I. c — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. But, bad as the evil referred to is, there are nuisances of a still more offensive kind, which are hourly, indeed almost momentarily witnessed ; and (which is more unfortunate still) which you cannot fail to witness as you pass along the principal streets of Paris. In England, warnings are given, by perpetual inscriptions, against committing the indecencies to which I allude ; and delicacy is, in consequence, but seldom shocked in this way.

In Paris, so far are the civic or other authorities from putting down these offences against all sense of decency, that they actually, by small exposed construc tions, invite the passers by to their commission. And this, too, in what Frenchmen tell us is the finest, the fairest, and most fashionable city in the world ! The principal streets are lighted with gas. Until within the last few years the mode of lighting the French capital, was, in every in stance, by lamps suspended from ropes extend ing across the streets, at a height of fifteen — EXTERNAL ASPECTS. or sixteen feet Nothing could be more gloomy than the appearance of the streets at night, before the introduction of gas-light. They wore a sepulchral aspect. They would have inspired less terror, had there been no other light than that emitted by the windows of the houses and the shops.