Paris as It Was and as It Is Part 26

Martin_ to the _Theatre Favart_, was the rendezvous of the _elegantes_, who, on Sundays and Thursdays, used to parade there slowly, backward and forward, in their carriages, as our belles do in Hyde Park; with this difference, that, if their admirers did not accompany them, they generally followed them to interchange significant glances, or indulge in amorous parley. I understand that the summer lounge of the modern _elegantes_ has, of late years, been from the corner of the _Rue Grange Bateliere_ to that of the _Rue Mont-Blanc_, where the ladies took their seats. This attracting the _muscadins_ in great numbers, not long since obtained for that part of the Boulevard the appellation of _Pet.i.t Coblentz_.

Nearly about the middle of the North Boulevard stand two edifices, which owe their erection to the vanity of Lewis XIV. In the gratification of that pa.s.sion did the _Grand Monarque_ console himself for his numerous defeats and disappointments; and the age in which he lived being fertile in great men, owing, undoubtedly, to the encouragement he afforded them, his display of it was well seconded by their superior talents. Previously to his reign, Paris had several gates, but some of these being taken down, arcs of triumph, in imitation of those of the Romans, were erected in their stead by _Louis le Grand_, in commemoration of his exploits. And this too, at a time when the allies might, in good earnest, have marched to Paris, had they not, by delay, given Marshal Villars an opportunity of turning the tide of their victories on the plain of Denain. Such was the origin of the

PORTE SAINT DENIS.

The magnificence of its architecture cla.s.ses it among the first public monuments in Paris. It consists of a triumphal arch, insulated in the manner of those of the ancients: it is seventy-two feet in diameter as well as in elevation, and was executed in 1672, by BULLET from the designs of BLONDEL.

On each side of the princ.i.p.al entrance rise two sculptured pyramids, charged with trophies of arms, both towards the faubourg, and towards the city. Underneath each of these pyramids is a small collateral pa.s.sage for persons on foot. The arch is ornamented with two bas-reliefs: the one facing the city represents the pa.s.sage of the Rhine; and the other, the capture of Maestricht.

On the frieze on both sides LUDOVICO MAGNO was formerly to be read, in large characters of gilt bronze. This inscription is removed, and to it are subst.i.tuted the word _Liberte, egalite, Fraternite_.

On arriving from Calais, you enter Paris by the _Porte St. Denis_. It was also by the _Porte St. Denis_ that kings and queens made their public entry. On these occasions, the houses in all the streets through which they pa.s.sed, were decorated with silk hangings and tapestry, as far as the cathedral of _Notre-Dame_. Scented waters perfumed the air in the form of _jets d'eau_; while wine and milk flowed from the different public fountains.

Froissard relates that, on the entrance of Isabeau de Baviere, there was in the _Rue St. Denis_ a representation of a clouded heaven, thickly sown with stars, whence descended two angels who gently placed on her head a very rich crown of gold, set with precious stones, at the same time singing verses in her praise.

It was on this occasion that Charles VI, anxious for a sight of his intended bride, took a fancy to mix in the crowd, mounted on horseback behind Savoisi, his favourite. Pushing forward in order to approach her, he received from the serjeants posted to keep off the populace several sharp blows on the shoulders, which occasioned great mirth in the evening, when the circ.u.mstance was related before the queen and her ladies.

Proceeding along the Boulevard towards the east, at a short distance from the _Porte St. Denis_, you arrive at the

PORTE SAINT MARTIN.

Although this triumphal arch cannot be compared to the preceding in magnificence, it was nevertheless executed by the same artists, having been erected in 1674. It is pierced with three openings, the centre one of which is eighteen feet wide, and the two others nine.

The whole structure, which is fifty-four feet both in height and breadth, is rusticated, and in the spandles of the arch are four bas-reliefs; the two towards the city represent the capture of Besancon, and the rupture of the triple alliance; and those towards the faubourg, the capture of Lomberg, and the defeat of the Germans under the emblem of an eagle repulsed by the G.o.d of war. These bas-reliefs are crowned by an entablature of the Doric order, surmounted by an attic. The _Porte St. Martin_ is the grand entrance into Paris from all parts of Flanders.

At the west extremity of this _North_ Boulevard, facing the _Rue de la Concorde_, stands an unfinished church, called _La Magdeleine_, whose cemetery received not only the bodies of Lewis XVI, his consort, and his sister, but of the greater part of the victims that perished by guillotine.

In the s.p.a.ce comprised between _La Magdeleine_ and the _Vieille Rue du Temple_, I speak within compa.s.s when I say that there are sometimes to be seen fifty ambulating conjurers of both s.e.xes. They all vary the form of their art. Some have tables, surmounted by flags, bearing mysterious devices; some have wheels, with compartments adapted to every age and profession--One has a robe charged with hieroglyphics, and tells you your fortune through a long tube which conveys the sound to your ear; the other makes you choose in a parcel, a square piece of white paper, which becomes covered with characters at the moment when it is thrown into a jug that appears empty. The secret of this is as follows:

The jug contains a little sulphuret of potash, and the words are written with acet.i.te of lead. The action of the exterior air, on, the sulphuret of potash, disengages from it sulphurated hydrogen gas, which, acting on the oxyd of lead, brings to view the characters that before were invislble.

Here, the philosophic Parisians stop before the movable stall of an astrologer, who has surmounted it with an owl, as an emblem of his magic wisdom. Many of them take this animal for a curiosity imported from foreign countries; for they are seldom able to distinguish a bat from a swallow.

"Does that bird come from China, my dear?" says a l.u.s.ty dame to her elderly husband, a shopkeeper of the _Rue St. Denis_.--"I don't know, my love," replies the other.--"What eyes it has got," continues she; "it must see a great deal better than we." "No;" cries a countryman standing by; "though its eyes are so big, it can't, in broad day, tell a cow from a calf."

The lady continues her survey of the scientific repository; and the conjurer, with an air of importance, proposes to her to draw, for two _sous_, a motto from Merlin's wheel. "Take one, my dear," says the husband; "I wish to know whether you love me." The wife blushes and hesitates; the husband insists; she refuses, and is desirous of continuing her walk, saying that it is all foolishness.--"What if it is?" rejoins the husband, "I've paid, so take a motto to please me."

For this once, the lady is quite at a nonplus; she at last consents, and, with a trembling hand, draws a card from the magic wheel: the husband unrolls it with eagerness and confidence, and reads these words: "_My young lover is and will be constant_."--"What the devil does this mean?" exclaims the old husband; quite disconcerted.

--"'Tis a mistake," says the conjurer; "the lady put her hand into the wrong box; she drew the motto from the wheel for _young girls_, instead of that for _married women_. Let _Madame_ draw again, she shall pay nothing more."--"No, Mr. Conjurer," replies the shopkeeper, "that's enough. I've no faith in such nonsense; but another time, madam, take care that you don't put your hand into the wrong box."

The fat lady, with her face as red as fire, follows her husband, who walks off grumbling, and it is easy to see, by their gestures, that the fatal motto has sown discord in the family, and confirmed the shopkeeper's suspicions.

Independently of these divers into futurity, the corners of streets and walls of public squares, are covered with hand-bills announcing books containing secrets, sympathetic calculations of numbers in the lottery, the explanation of dreams in regard to those numbers, together with the different manners of telling fortunes, and interpreting prognostics.

At all times, the marvellous has prevailed over simple truth, and the c.u.maean Sibyl attracted the inquisitive in greater crowds than Socrates, Plato, or any philosopher, had pupils in the whole course of their existence.

In Paris, the sciences are really making a rapid progress, notwithstanding the fooleries of the pseudo-philosophers, who parade the streets, and here, on the _Boulevards_, as well as in other parts of the town, exhibit lessons of physics.

One has an electrifying machine, and phials filled with phosphorus: for two _sous_, he gives you a slight shock, and makes you a present of a small phial.

Farther on, you meet with a _camera obscura_, whose effect surprises the spectators the more, as the objects represented within it have the motion which they do not find in common optics.

There, you see a double refracting telescope: for two _sous_, you enjoy its effect. At either end, you place any object whatever, and though a hat, a board, or a child be introduced between the two gla.s.ses, the object placed appears not, on that account, the less clear and distinct to the eye of the person looking through the opposite gla.s.s. _Pierre_ has seen, and cannot believe his eyes: _Jacques_ wishes to see, and, on seeing, is in ecstacy: next comes _Fanchon_, who remains stupified. Enthusiasm becomes general, and the witnesses of their delirium are ready to go mad at not having two _sous_ in their pocket.

Another fellow, in short, has a microscope, of which he extols the beauty, and, above all, the effects: he will not describe the causes which produce them, because he is unacquainted with them; but, provided he adapts his lessons to the understanding of those who listen to him, this is all he wants. Sometimes he may be heard to say to the people about him: "Gentlemen, give me a creeping insect, and for one _sou_, I will shew it to you as big as my fist." Sometimes too, unfortunately for him, the insect which he requires is more easily found among part of his auditors, than the money.

P.S. For the preceding account of the Parisian conjurers I am indebted to M. Pujoulx.

LETTER XXVIII.

_Paris, December 4, 1802_.

In one of your former letters you questioned me on a subject, which, though it had not escaped my notice, I was desirous to avoid, till I should be able to obtain on it some precise information. This I have done; and I hasten to present you with the following sketch, which will afford you a tolerably-correct idea of the

FRENCH FUNDS, AND NATIONAL DEBT.

The booked or consolidated debt is called

TIERS CONSOLIDe,

from its being the consolidated third of the national debt, of which the remaining two-thirds were reimbursed in _Bons de deux Tiers_ in 1797 and 98. It bears interest at five per Cent. payable half yearly at the _Banque de France_. The payment of the interest is at present six months in arrear. But the intention of the government is, by paying off in specie the interest of one whole year, to pay in future as soon as due.

The days of payment are the 1st of Germinal (23d of March) and the 1st of Vendemiaire (23d of September).

This stock purchased at the present price of from 55 to 60 would produce from eight to nine per cent. The general opinion is, that it will rise to 80; and as it is the chief stock, and the standard of the national credit, it is the interest, and must be the constant object of the government to keep up its price.

There is a _Caisse d'amortiss.e.m.e.nt_ or Sinking Fund, for the special purpose of paying off this stock, the effect of which, though not exactly known, must shortly be very considerable. The _Tiers Consolide_ is saleable and transferable at a moment's warning, and at a trifling expense. It is not subject to taxation, nor open to attachments, either on the princ.i.p.al or interest.

For purchasing, no sort of formality is required; but for receiving interest, or selling, it is necessary to produce a power of attorney.

An established rule is, that the seller always retains his right to half a year's interest at the succeeding stated period of payment, so that he who purchases in the interval between March and September, is ent.i.tled to the interest commencing from the 23d of the latter month only; and he who buys between September and March, receives not his first dividend till the 23d of the following September.

TIERS PROVISOIRE.

This is the debt, yet unbooked, which is composed of the provisional claims of the creditors of the emigrants, the contractors, and various other holders of claims on the government.

The _Tiers Provisoire_ is to be booked before the 1st of Vendemiaire, year XII of the Republic (23d of September, 1803), and will from that day bear interest of five per cent; so that, setting aside the danger of any retrospect in the interval, and that of any other change, it is at the present price, of from 15 to 50, cheaper than the _Tiers Consolide_ to which, in about eighteen months, it will, in every respect, be a.s.similated.

BONS DE DEUX TIERS,

Is paper issued for the purpose of reimbursing the reduced two-thirds of the National Debt, and in the origin rendered applicable to the purchase of national houses and estates in the French Colonies, since ordered to be funded at five per cent; so that the price of this species of paper is entirely subordinate to that of the _Tiers Consolide_ and supposing that to be 60 francs per cent, the _Bon de deux Tiers_ would be worth 3 francs. There are no hopes, however distant, that the government will ever restore the _Bons de deux Tiers_ to their original value.

BONS DE TROIS QUARTS,

So called from having been issued for the purpose of reimbursing the three-fourths of the interest of the fifth and sixth years of the Republic (1797 to 1798). They are, in all respects, a.s.similated to the preceding stock.

COUPONS D'EMPRUNT FORCe.

These are the receipts given by the government to the persons who contributed to the various forced loans. This paper is likewise a.s.similated to the two last-mentioned species, with this difference, that it is generally considered as a less sacred claim, and is therefore liquidated with greater difficulty. The holders of these three claims are hastening the liquidation and consolidation of them, and they are evidently right in so doing.

QUARTS AU NOM ET QUART NUMeRAIRE.