Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
The conversation at an end, General Bugeaud stood up, and the emir
remained seated; whereupon the former, stung to the quick, seized the
emir's hand and jerked it, saying "Come, get up." The French were
delighted at this characteristic act of an imperious and intrepid
nature, and the Arabs could not conceal their astonishment. As for the
emir, seized with an involuntary confusion, he turned round without
uttering a word, sprang on his horse and rode back to his own people;
his return being a signal for enthusiastic cries of "God preserve the
Sultan!" which echoed from hill to hill. A violent thunder-burst added
to the effect of this strange scene, and the Arabs vanished among the
mountain gorges.
Until 1860 the Boulevard du Temple was noted for a number of little
theatres, where marionettes might be seen dancing on the tight-rope, or
where pantomimes in the Italian style were performed. Then there was
the cabinet of wax figures, together with other little shows, difficult
to class: all destined in that year to disappear. The reconstruction
of this portion of Paris caused the removal of many theatres, which
were built again at other points. The site of the former circus was now
occupied by the Imperial Theatre of the Châtelet. The circus reappeared,
for winter performances, in the Boulevard des Filles de Calvaire, for
the summer season in the Champs Élysées. In connection with the winter
circus the Popular Concerts started by the late Pasdeloup must not be
forgotten. Here the finest symphonic music of the French and other
composers, chiefly modern, was performed in admirable style. Here the
French public were familiarised with the works of Berlioz, and, in spite
of a certain opposition at the outset, with selections from some of the
operas of Wagner. Pasdeloup, who after thirty years' unremitting work
died in poverty, used to find worthy imitators and successors in M.
Colonne and M. Lamoureux, both renowned among the musical conductors of
the period.
Number forty-two of the Boulevard du Temple marks the house, formerly
number fifty, whence the notorious Fieschi, on the 28th of July, 1835,
exploded his infernal machine which was intended to kill Louis Philippe
and his sons, and which, in fact, struck down by their side one of the
veterans of the Empire, Marshal Mortier, Duc de Trévise, and several
other superior officers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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