[17] The large vestibule gallery of the Palais Bourbon.—Trans.
[18] This picture of the Cité de Naples is by no means overdrawn. Some years ago (1880-85) I well remember visiting the Cités tenanted by rag-pickers and street hawkers round about the Rue Marcadet and the Route de la Révolte, and their condition fully corresponded with the description given by M. Zola above. When M. Zola visited England last autumn, and I accompanied him round the East-end of London, he remarked to me that even the worst dens shown to him contrasted favourably with the abodes of many of the Parisian poor. And such undoubtedly is the case. But, on the other hand, there is quite as much depravity among the poor of London as among the poor of Paris.—Trans.
[19] The date of Louis Napoleon's coup d'état.—Trans.
[20] As witness Mirès and the Caisse des Chemins de Fer, Pereire and the Crédit Mobilier, Bontoux and the Union Générale, Lesseps and Panama, &c., &c.—Trans.
[21] This reminds one of a reverend gentleman who in a similar way extolled the blessings and benefits of the Liberator Society.—Trans.
[22] Five o'clock tea was not then, as now, an institution in Parisian society. Tea, when drunk at all, made its appearance in the drawing-room some hours after dinner.—Trans.
[23] One can imagine these words in the mouth of a certain eminent financier whose victims are at the present time (January 1894) supplicating their countrymen for a trust to relieve their need.—Trans.
[24] Pius IX.
[25] 'It is the will of God.' The cry of the old Crusaders.—Trans.
[26] Between France and the new kingdom of Italy with regard to the independence of the Papal States.—Trans.