Four Years in France: or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion of the Author to the Catholic FaithBeste, Henry Digby
Religion
Four Years in France: or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion of the Author to the Catholic Faith
Beste, Henry Digby
France -- Description and travel
Still it is a pity that the elephant is not to be erected: he would
have been at once a curious and majestic figure; and his absence will
not deprive cruelty, if the disposition to it should unhappily again
exist, of the means of inflicting vengeance. It is always an easy
matter, says the English proverb, to find a stick to beat a dog; and
when one portion of society become dogs to the other and more powerful
portion, of course the dogs must be beaten.
The model of the elephant drew me into the neighbourhood of the Marais:
this quarter of Paris was once the court end of the town, and Vincennes
was what St. Cloud has since become. The streets of the Marais are much
wider and cleaner, and better built than the other ancient streets of
Paris; and this quarter, with the Place Royale, is well worth visiting,
though seldom visited: it is inhabited by an old-fashioned set of
gentry, who prefer Paris, as a residence, to any country town, but take
no part in its amusements; who go to church, and do not go to the opera;
who persist obstinately in the more ancient mode of dining at one
o'clock; who gave no assistance or encouragement to the revolution, it
may be, because it brought in so many innovations. I am assured that,
during the most tumultuous scenes of that period, the Marais was always
tranquil. Strangers who mean to spend some time in Paris, and who have a
carriage, or can do without one, would do well to establish themselves
in the Marais: they would indeed be at a great distance from their
astonished friends and from the places of amusement, but the line of the
Boulevards would lead them any where.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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