The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh — John Shaqi
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. TitmarshThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Paris (France) -- Description and travel
But all this is promiscuous, and not to the purpose. If,—to continue on
the subject of hotel choosing,—if you love quiet, heavy bills, and the
best table-d’hôte in the city, go, O stranger! to the “Hôtel des
Princes;” it is close to the Boulevard, and convenient for Frascati’s.
The “Hôtel Mirabeau” possesses scarcely less attraction; but of this
you will find, in Mr. Bulwer’s “Autobiography of Pelham,” a faithful
and complete account. “Lawson’s Hotel” has likewise its merits, as also
the “Hôtel de Lille,” which may be described as a “second chop”
Meurice.
If you are a poor student come to study the humanities, or the pleasant
art of amputation, cross the water forthwith, and proceed to the “Hôtel
Corneille,” near the Odéon, or others of its species; there are many
where you can live royally (until you economize by going into lodgings)
on four francs a day; and where, if by any strange chance you are
desirous for a while to get rid of your countrymen, you will find that
they scarcely ever penetrate.
But above all, O my countrymen! shun boarding-houses, especially if you
have ladies in your train; or ponder well, and examine the characters
of the keepers thereof, before you lead your innocent daughters, and
their mamma, into places so dangerous. In the first place, you have bad
dinners; and, secondly, bad company. If you play cards, you are very
likely playing with a swindler; if you dance, you dance with a ——
person with whom you had better have nothing to do.
Note (which ladies are requested not to read).—In one of these
establishments, daily advertised as most eligible for English, a friend
of the writer lived. A lady, who had passed for some time as the wife
of one of the inmates, suddenly changed her husband and name, her
original husband remaining in the house, and saluting her by her new
title.
A CAUTION TO TRAVELLERS.
A million dangers and snares await the traveller, as soon as he issues
out of that vast messagerie which we have just quitted: and as each man
cannot do better than relate such events as have happened in the course
of his own experience, and may keep the unwary from the path of danger,
let us take this, the very earliest opportunity, of imparting to the
public a little of the wisdom which we painfully have acquired.
And first, then, with regard to the city of Paris, it is to be
remarked, that in that metropolis flourish a greater number of native
and exotic swindlers than are to be found in any other European
nursery. What young Englishman that visits it, but has not determined,
in his heart, to have a little share of the gayeties that go on—just
for once, just to see what they are like? How many, when the horrible
gambling dens were open, did resist a sight of them?—nay, was not a
young fellow rather flattered by a dinner invitation from the Salon,
whither he went, fondly pretending that he should see “French society,”
in the persons of certain Dukes and Counts who used to frequent the
place?
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