A large but ugly room, with an alcove and a bed at the end (owing to
the crowded state of the houses on Sundays they were compelled to
put up with it); two windows from which the quay and river could be
contemplated through the elm-trees; a magnificent autumn sun illumining
the windows; two tables, on one of them a triumphal mountain of
bottles, mixed up with hats and bonnets, at the other four couples
joyously seated round a mass of dishes, plates, bottles, and glasses,
pitchers of beer, mingled with wine-bottles; but little order on the
table, and some amount of disorder under it.
"Ils faisaient sous la table
Un bruit, un trique-trac de pieds épouvantable,"
as Molière says. Such was the state of the pastoral which began at
5 A.M.; at half-past 4 P.M. the sun was declining and appetite was
satisfied.
The Champs Élysées, full of sunshine and crowd, were nought but
light and dust, two things of which glory is composed. The horses of
Marly, those neighing marbles, reared amid a golden cloud. Carriages
continually passed along; a squadron of splendid guards, with the
trumpeter at their head, rode down the Neuilly avenue; the white flag,
tinged with pink by the setting sun, floated above the dome of the
Tuileries. The Place de la Concorde, which had again become the Place
Louis XV., was crowded with merry promenaders. Many wore a silver
_fleur de lys_ hanging from a black moiré ribbon, which, in 1817, had
not entirely disappeared from the buttonholes. Here and there, in
the midst of applauding crowds, little girls were singing a royalist
_bourrée,_ very celebrated at that time, intended to crush the hundred
days, and which had a chorus of,--
"Rendez nous notre père de Gand,
Rendez vous notre père."
Heaps of suburbans, dressed in their Sunday clothes, and some wearing
_fleur de lys_ like the cits, were scattered over the squares, playing
at quintain or riding in roundabouts; others were drinking; some who
were printers' apprentices wore paper caps, and their laughter was the
loudest. All was radiant; it was a time of undeniable peace, and of
profound royalist security; it was a period when a private and special
report of Anglès, prefect of police to the King, terminated with these
lines: "All things duly considered, Sire, there is nothing to fear from
these people. They are as careless and indolent as cats, and though the
lower classes in the provinces are stirring, those in Paris are not so.
They are all little men, Sire, and it would take two of them to make
one of your grenadiers. There is nothing to fear from the populace of
the capital. It is remarkable that their height has decreased during
the last fifty years, and the people of the suburbs of Paris are
shorter than they were before the Revolution. They are not dangerous,
and, in a word, are good-tempered _canaille._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account