Paris As It Was and As It Is | Page 3

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 _Hélo?se_ 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, _Fran?ois A----y_, planned and completed the famous canal of Languedoc--_Dép?t 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 _dép?t_.
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 in the antique style--La Conciergerie, the place of confinement of Lavoisier, Malsherbes, Cordorcet, _&c._--Fortitude displayed by the hapless _Marie-Antoinette_ after her condemnation--_Pont St. Michel_--_Pont Notre-Dame_--Cathedral of _Notre-Dame_--Anecdote of Pepin the Short--Devastations committed in this cathedral--Medallions of _Abélard_ and _Hélo?se_ to be seen near _Notre-Dame_ in front of the house where Fulbert, her supposed uncle, resided--_Petit Pont_--_Pont au Double_--_Pont Marie_--Workmen now employed in the construction of three new bridges--Pont de la Tournelle.
LETTER XXXVI.