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
A set of Malays drunk with bhang and running amuck, a company of
howling dervishes, may possibly, in our own day, go through similar
frantic vagaries; but I doubt if any civilized European people but the
French would permit and enjoy such scenes. Yet our neighbors see little
shame in them; and it is very true that men of all classes, high and
low, here congregate and give themselves up to the disgusting worship
of the genius of the place.—From the dandy of the Boulevard and the
“Café Anglais,” let us turn to the dandy of “Flicoteau’s” and the Pays
Latin—the Paris student, whose exploits among the grisettes are so
celebrated, and whose fierce republicanism keeps gendarmes for ever on
the alert. The following is M. de Bernard’s description of him:—
“I became acquainted with Dambergeac when we were students at the Ecole
de Droit; we lived in the same Hotel on the Place du Panthéon. No
doubt, madam, you have occasionally met little children dedicated to
the Virgin, and, to this end, clothed in white raiment from head to
foot: my friend, Dambergeac, had received a different consecration. His
father, a great patriot of the Revolution, had determined that his son
should bear into the world a sign of indelible republicanism; so, to
the great displeasure of his godmother and the parish curate,
Dambergeac was christened by the pagan name of Harmodius. It was a kind
of moral tricolor-cockade, which the child was to bear through the
vicissitudes of all the revolutions to come. Under such influences, my
friend’s character began to develop itself, and, fired by the example
of his father, and by the warm atmosphere of his native place,
Marseilles, he grew up to have an independent spirit, and a grand
liberality of politics, which were at their height when first I made
his acquaintance.
“He was then a young man of eighteen, with a tall, slim figure, a broad
chest, and a flaming black eye, out of all which personal charms he
knew how to draw the most advantage; and though his costume was such as
Staub might probably have criticised, he had, nevertheless, a style
peculiar to himself—to himself and the students, among whom he was the
leader of the fashion. A tight black coat, buttoned up to the chin,
across the chest, set off that part of his person; a low-crowned hat,
with a voluminous rim, cast solemn shadows over a countenance bronzed
by a southern sun: he wore, at one time, enormous flowing black locks,
which he sacrificed pitilessly, however, and adopted a Brutus, as being
more revolutionary: finally, he carried an enormous club, that was his
code and digest: in like manner, De Retz used to carry a stiletto in
his pocket by way of a breviary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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