The Paris Sketch Book | Page 4

works. A part of the text of one tale, and the
plots of two others, have been borrowed from French originals; the
other stories, which are, in the main, true, have been written upon facts
and characters that came within the Author's observation during a
residence in Paris.
As the remaining papers relate to public events which occurred during
the same period, or to Parisian Art and Literature, he has ventured to
give his publication the title which it bears.
LONDON, July 1, 1840.

AN INVASION OF FRANCE.
Caesar venit in Galliam summâ diligentiâ."
About twelve o'clock, just as the bell of the packet is tolling a farewell
to London Bridge, and warning off the blackguard-boys with the
newspapers, who have been shoving Times, Herald, Penny Paul- Pry,
Penny Satirist, Flare-up, and other abominations, into your face--just as
the bell has tolled, and the Jews, strangers, people-
taking-leave-of-their-families, and blackguard-boys aforesaid, are
making a rush for the narrow plank which conducts from the paddle-
box of the "Emerald" steamboat unto the quay--you perceive,
staggering down Thames Street, those two hackney-coaches, for the
arrival of which you have been praying, trembling, hoping, despairing,
swearing--sw--, I beg your pardon, I believe the word is not used in
polite company--and transpiring, for the last half- hour. Yes, at last, the
two coaches draw near, and from thence an awful number of trunks,
children, carpet-bags, nursery-maids, hat- boxes, band-boxes,
bonnet-boxes, desks, cloaks, and an affectionate wife, are discharged
on the quay.
"Elizabeth, take care of Miss Jane," screams that worthy woman, who
has been for a fortnight employed in getting this tremendous body of
troops and baggage into marching order. "Hicks! Hicks! for heaven's
sake mind the babies!"--"George--Edward, sir, if you go near that
porter with the trunk, he will tumble down and kill you, you naughty

boy!--My love, DO take the cloaks and umbrellas, and give a hand to
Fanny and Lucy; and I wish you would speak to the hackney-coachmen,
dear, they want fifteen shillings, and count the packages,
love--twenty-seven packages,--and bring little Flo; where's little
Flo?--Flo! Flo!"--(Flo comes sneaking in; she has been speaking a few
parting words to a one-eyed terrier, that sneaks off similarly, landward.)
As when the hawk menaces the hen-roost, in like manner, when such a
danger as a voyage menaces a mother, she becomes suddenly endowed
with a ferocious presence of mind, and bristling up and screaming in
the front of her brood, and in the face of circumstances, succeeds, by
her courage, in putting her enemy to flight; in like manner you will
always, I think, find your wife (if that lady be good for twopence) shrill,
eager, and ill-humored, before, and during a great family move of this
nature. Well, the swindling hackney-coachmen are paid, the mother
leading on her regiment of little ones, and supported by her auxiliary
nurse-maids, are safe in the cabin;--you have counted twenty-six of the
twenty-seven parcels, and have them on board, and that horrid man on
the paddle- box, who, for twenty minutes past, has been roaring out,
NOW, SIR!-- says, NOW, SIR, no more.
I never yet knew how a steamer began to move, being always too busy
among the trunks and children, for the first half-hour, to mark any of
the movements of the vessel. When these private arrangements are
made, you find yourself opposite Greenwich (farewell, sweet, sweet
whitebait!), and quiet begins to enter your soul. Your wife smiles for
the first time these ten days; you pass by plantations of ship-masts, and
forests of steam-chimneys; the sailors are singing on board the ships,
the bargees salute you with oaths, grins, and phrases facetious and
familiar; the man on the paddle- box roars, "Ease her, stop her!" which
mysterious words a shrill voice from below repeats, and pipes out,
"Ease her, stop her!" in echo; the deck is crowded with groups of
figures, and the sun shines over all.
The sun shines over all, and the steward comes up to say, "Lunch,
ladies and gentlemen! Will any lady or gentleman please to take
anythink?" About a dozen do: boiled beef and pickles, and great red
raw Cheshire cheese, tempt the epicure: little dumpy bottles of stout are
produced, and fizz and bang about with a spirit one would never have
looked for in individuals of their size and stature.

The decks have a strange, look; the people on them, that is. Wives,
elderly stout husbands, nurse-maids, and children predominate, of
course, in English steamboats. Such may be considered as the
distinctive marks of the English gentleman at three or four and forty:
two or three of such groups have pitched their camps on the deck. Then
there are a number of young men, of whom three or four have allowed
their moustaches to BEGIN to grow