[85] The proverb is, "Ventre affamé n'a pas d'oreilles."—Editor.
[86] The Arab kuskus generally consists of a piece of mutton baked in a paste with the vegetables of the season, flavoured with herbs; and the addition of half a dozen hard-boiled eggs. The whole of the flesh is boned.—Editor.
[87] Five hundred French grammes make seventeen ounces English, and a fraction.—Editor.
[88] A similar measure had been decided upon in 1814, under analogous circumstances, but the maximum was twenty francs instead of fifty francs.—Editor.
[89] A curious feature in connection with the pledging of tools and implements may be recorded here. At the termination of the siege, a committee in London transmitted 20,000 francs (£800) for the express purpose of redeeming these. The Paris committee entrusted with the task, while grateful for the solicitude shown, rightly considered that it would not go very far, considering that, at the time, the Mont-de-Piété held a total of 1,708,549 articles, representing loans to the amount of 37,502,743 francs. The authorities took particular pains to publish the receipt of the 20,000 francs, and the purposes thereof. Within a given time, they returned 6,430 francs to the committee. Only 2,383 tools (or sets of tools) had been redeemed, representing a lent value of 13,570 francs.
[90] Here are the two English readings, as far as I am able to give them:—
"WINE AT EIGHTEEN SOUS THE LITRE
AND UPWARDS.
Roast Beef.
Ragout of Mutton."
"WINE AT EIGHTEEN SOUS THE LITRE
AND WATER ATOP.
Old Crock's Flesh.
Rat Tasting of Mutton."—Editor.
[91] The word "Godillot" has passed into the French language, and, at present, means the soldier's shoes.—Editor.
[92] During my stay in Paris, 1881-86, as the correspondent of a London evening paper, I had occasion to see a great deal of M. Maxime Lisbonne, who is a prominent figure at nearly every social function, such as premières, the unveiling of monuments, the opening of public buildings, etc. The reason of this prominence has never been very clear to me, unless it be on the assumption that the Paris journalists, even the foremost of whom he treats on the footing of equality, consider him "good copy." Only as late as a few years ago, he made a considerable sensation in the Paris press by appearing at one of M. Carnot's receptions in evening dress, redolent of benzine, "because the dress had been lying perdu for so many years." It was he who started the famous "taverne du bagne," on the Boulevard Rochechouart, to which "all Paris" flocked. Previous to this, he had been the lessee of the Bouffes du Nord, at which theatre he brought out Louise Michel's "Nadine." Though by no means an educated man, he can, on occasions, behave himself very well, and truth compels me to state that he is very good-natured and obliging. One day, on the occasion of an important murder trial, I failed to see Commandant Lunel at the Palais de Justice, and was turning away disconsolately, when, at a sign from M. Lisbonne, the sergeant of the Gardes de Paris, who had refused to admit me on the presentation of my card, relented. That same afternoon, at the mere expression of his wish, the manager of the Jardin de Paris, which had just been opened, presented me with a season ticket, or, to speak correctly, placed my name on the permanent free list. In short, I could mention a score of instances of a similar nature; all tending to show that M. Maxime Lisbonne's "participation in the events of the Commune" has had the effect of investing him with a kind of social halo.—Editor.