With respect to the ameliorations which have already been effected in Paris, one may say that wonders have been accomplished, particularly in regard to cleansing and paving the streets, and in all possible cases opening and widening every available spot of ground, whereby a freer air could be admitted. I cannot conceive how people formerly could exist in such dirty holes emitting horrible odours, of which there still remain too many specimens, wherein even the physical appearance of persons one would imagine certainly must be affected, yet I have often remarked in the midst of the narrowest and most unsightly looking streets of Paris, numbers of persons with fresh colours and having a most healthy appearance; it is true that there are now open spaces in all quarters, from which a person cannot live more than about two hundred yards, the Boulevards encircling Paris, and the Seine running through it with its large wide quays, afford a free current of air all through the heart of the city, then there are such a number of spacious markets, of places, or, as we call them, squares, and of large gardens, which all afford ample breathing room; whereas in London that is not the case, in many parts, such as the city end of Holborn, Cheapside, Cornhill, Leadenhall street, Whitechapel, etc., where you must go a long way to get any thing like fresh air. That part of Paris termed La Cité, was the worst in that respect, but such numbers of houses have been swept away round Notre-Dame, that they have now formed delightful promenades with trees and gravelled walks.
The French are extremely fond of anything in the shape of a garden, and you come upon them sometimes where you would least expect to find them at the backs of houses, in the very narrow nasty little streets to which I have alluded, but if they have no space of ground in which they can raise a bit of something green, they will avail themselves of their balconies, their terraces, their roofs, parapets, and I have often seen a sort of frame-work projecting from their windows, containing flowers and plants. They evince the same partiality for animals, to whom they are extremely kind, and in several parts of Paris there are hospitals for dogs and cats, where they are attended with the utmost care. I was much amused the first time I heard of such an establishment; I went with a lady to pay a visit to a friend, and after the usual enquiries, the question of how is Bijou was added, in a most anxious manner: the answer was given with a sigh. "Oh! my dear, he is at the hospital," and then continued the lady in a somewhat less doleful tone, "but fortunately he is going on very well, and in another week we hope he will be able to come out." I thought all the while that they must be alluding to a servant of the family, who had been sent to the hospital, when the lady I had accompanied exclaimed, "Poor dear little creature." This somewhat puzzled me, and whilst I was pondering on what it could all mean, the other lady observed, "It is such a nice affectionate animal," and at last I found out it was a dog which excited so much sympathy.
I have also observed the same kind consideration towards their horses, and remember once seeing the driver of a cabriolet take off his great coat to cover his horse with it, and certainly at present I do not perceive any practical proof of what used to be said of Paris, that it was a "hell for horses, and a heaven for women," and as to the latter case it is very evident that the females work much more than they do in England, particularly amongst the middle-classes; accounts being strictly attended to in the course of their education, enables them to render most important aid in the establishments either of their husbands or brothers, to which they devote themselves with much cheerfulness and assiduity, arising from the manner in which they are brought up. Indeed the general system observed in female boarding-schools in Paris is very commendable, and as there are numbers of the English whose circumstances will not permit of their residing in France, yet are extremely desirous that their children should acquire a perfect knowledge of the French language, I know not any service that I can render such persons more important than that of recommending a seminary, in which I can confidently state that they will not only receive all the advantages of an accomplished education, but also be treated with maternal care; of such a description is the establishment of Madame Loiseau. Having known several young ladies who had been there brought up, and hearing them always express themselves in the most affectionate manner of its mistress, whilst the parents added their encomiums to those of their children, I was tempted to pay Madame Loiseau a visit, that I might be empowered to recommend her establishment, by having the advantage of ocular demonstration added to that of oral testimony.
I have known several boarding-schools in my own country, but never any one which was superior in regard to the extreme of neatness and cleanliness, or possessing a more perfect system of regularity, which appears to prevail in that of Madame Loiseau; although mine was rather an early morning call, yet all was in the nicest order. The house, which is in the Rue Neuve de Berri, No. 6, just close to the Champs Elysées, the favourite quarter of the English, is most advantageously situated, facing a park, and at the back is a good sized garden, with shaded walks, well calculated for the recreation of the pupils, and there is besides a spacious gymnasium, where the young ladies can always practise those exercises so much recommended for the promotion of health, when the weather will not permit of taking the air. The premises are so extensive, that different rooms are appropriated for different studies, the one for drawing, another for writing, several for music, etc., etc.; there is a chapel attached to the establishment, which is adapted to those who are of the Catholic persuasion, whilst the English Protestant pupils are sent with a teacher of their own country, either to the Ambassador's or to the Marbœuf English chapel, both of which are near to the residence of Madame Loiseau. The masters for the different accomplishments are judiciously selected, and although much attention is devoted to enriching the minds of the pupils with the beauties of literature, and elegant acquirements, Madame Loiseau takes still more pains in instructing them in every social duty, towards rendering them exemplary, either as daughters, wives, or mothers. In case of any pupils proving unwell, apartments are appropriated to them, separated from the dormitories, where they receive the most assiduous attention; baths are amongst other conveniences contained within the establishment. The table is most liberally supplied, and on those days which are observed as fasts by the catholics, joints are prepared for the protestants, the same as upon other days. The terms are moderate, proportioned to the advantages which are offered.
The physical appearance of the French strikes me as having undergone a considerable change; when I was a child, I can remember a host of emigrants who used to live mostly about Somers Town, and impressed me with the idea of their being tall and meagre, exactly as I was accustomed to see them represented in the caricatures; I remember particularly remarking that they had thin visages, hollow cheeks, long noses and chins, that I used to observe they were all features and no face, they had besides a sort of grouty snuffy appearance; of the females I have less recollection, except that I thought they looked rather yellow, and generally took snuff. When I came to France, therefore, I was very much struck with the change, particularly in the young men, whom I found with small features, and generally round faces, of the middle height, and well made, not so dark or so pale as I expected to find them. The same description applies to the females; there is not so much red and white as we are accustomed to see in England, nor the soft blue eye, nor flaxen nor golden hair, nor generally speaking such fine busts, and I know not why, but the French women have almost always shorter necks, but they have mostly very pretty little feet and ankles, and although their features may not be regular or handsome, taken separately, yet the ensemble is generally pleasing; their eyes are fine and expressive, and after all, in my opinion, expression is the soul of beauty. The female peasantry of France take no pains in guarding against the sun and wind, but merely wear caps, consequently get very much tanned, and look old very soon: whereas the Englishwomen preserve their appearance much longer by wearing bonnets, and particularly pokes, which effectually shelter the face. The sun also has more power in most parts of France, and the women work harder than in England, therefore cannot wear so well.
Proportioned to the price of provisions, wages are higher in France than in England; you cannot have an able bodied man in Paris, for the lowest description of work, for less than 40 sous a day, those who are now working at the fortifications have 50, that being the minimum, and if a person understand any trade, 3, 4, and 5 francs are the usual prices, and those who are considered clever at their business often get more. But many a young man's advancement in life is impeded by the conscription; it often occurs that an industrious shopman, or artisan, has with economy saved some hundred francs, when he is drawn for the army, and glad to appropriate his little savings towards procuring him some comforts more than the common soldier is allowed; the troops generally are very quiet and orderly behaved, in the different towns where they are quartered, but the infantry have not a very brilliant appearance, having found small men so very active and serviceable in climbing the rocks, enduring fatigue, and braving all kinds of impediments, men two inches shorter than would have before been received, were admitted into the ranks, the consequence is that the regiments of the line now make but a poor display, as regards the height of the men, and indeed in their manner of marching, and carrying their muskets, some nearly upright others more horizontally, they have not a regular orderly appearance, like many of the other troops on the Continent; most of the largest sized men are taken up for the cavalry, and very well looking fellows they many of them are, particularly in the Carabineers, which, in regard to the height of the men, is a remarkably fine regiment, but might be much more so, if the government paid that attention which is devoted by other powers to the selections for their choice regiments; in the Carabineers there are men as much as six feet three, and four, and others as short as five feet ten, whilst in other regiments, such as the Lancers and Dragoons, they have here and there men above six feet, which if placed in the Carabineers, and those who were the shortest in that corps removed into the others, all those regiments would be improved, as being rendered more even, whilst the Carabineers would then be equal in appearance, with regard to the men, to any regiment in the world. With respect to the horses, it would be more difficult to render it as perfect as our Life Guards, and as to their bridles and equipments in general (except their regimentals) there is often an inequality and want of care and attention as to uniformity of appearance, but throughout all the French cavalry, the men have an excellent command over their horses. I have been at many grand reviews both in France and in England, and in the former I never saw a man thrown, whereas in the latter it has frequently occurred, either from the horse falling or other circumstances.
With regard to the French army in general, the effect is that of the men having individually a degree of independent appearance, or as if each man acted for himself, instead of being as one solid machine set in motion as it were by a sort of spring, which moving the whole mass, all the parts must operate together. The French infantry, in point of marching, are an exact contrast to the most highly disciplined troops of Russia and Prussia, who pretend to assert that they have regiments who can march with such extreme steadiness and regularity, that every man may have a glass of wine upon his head and not a drop will be spilt; attempt the same thing with a French regiment, and wine and glass would soon be on the ground, and in all their military proceeding there is an apparent slovenliness and irregularity, a want of closeness and compactness in their movements; with regard to outward appearance, the National Guard have the advantage on a field day, as there is a sort of esprit du corps between the legions, which causes them to take great pains with regard to the tenue of their respective battalions; but after all, the great force of the French army is enthusiasm, and that would be excited to a much greater degree in a war with England, than with any other power, because they have been so taunted by the English press, with the old absurd doctrine, viz., that one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen, and several papers lately raked up the battles of Cressy, Poitiers, Agincourt, etc., but the reply of the French is indisputable, that those successes were most efficiently revenged, when it is remembered that England was in possession of the whole of the provinces of Guienne, Normandy, great part of Picardy and French Flanders, some portions of which were under England for nearly 500 years, but that we were overcome in such a succession of battles, that ultimately we were beaten out of every acre we had left in France; Calais, which surrendered to the Duke de Guise, in the reign of Mary, being the last place which we retained. These of course, as historical facts, cannot be denied. But I certainly do consider that portion of the English press much to blame, in recurring to events so distant, for the purpose of wounding national feeling; the effect has been to provoke reply on the part of the French press, and in all the virulence of party spirit, in defending their country against the odium cast upon her, they have been led into some of the most illiberal statements which have had a very baneful effect upon many persons, in exciting an extreme irritation against England; but generally speaking, the French people, if left alone, do not desire war with the English; if it were only for the sake of their interests, it is natural for the French to wish for peace with England, as her subjects are amongst the most liberal purchasers of the produce of the soil and manufactures of France.
The party the most anxious for war with England, is the navy, and they bitterly feel the sting which goads within them, of their having been so beaten by our fleets, and pant for an opportunity to efface the stain which they certainly do feel now tarnishes the honour of their flag. They consider, also, that the circumstances under which they were opposed to the forces of England, were so disadvantageous, that no other result could have been expected than such as occurred, as when the war broke out in 1793, France had not one experienced admiral in the service; all possessing any practical knowledge of naval affairs, being staunch adherents to the royal cause, had either quitted France, or retired from the navy, de Grasse, d'Éstaing, Entrecasteux, d'Orvilliers, Suffren, Bougainville and several others. The consequence was, that the command of the fleets were given to men who acquitted themselves very ably in the management of a single vessel, but were not at all competent to the office with which the necessity of circumstances invested them, and although there were several encounters between the frigates of the two nations, in which the reputation of both were well sustained, yet of the power of so doing, the French were soon deprived, by Napoleon, who at one period in his ardour for military glory, sacrificed the navy, by taking from it the best gunners in order to supply his artillery; also the choicest and ablest men were selected wherever they could be found, to fill up the ranks of the army, which were being constantly thinned by the universal war which he was always waging with the greater part of Europe. The ships were then manned with whatever refuse could be picked up, and a Lieutenant Diez told me, that the crew of the vessel to which he belonged was such, that they had not above twenty men who could go aloft, and had they met with an English vessel of the same size, they must have been taken without the least difficulty. But the officers in the present French navy know that the case is now very different, for the last twenty years the greatest attention has been devoted to that arm, which is candidly acknowledged on the part of our naval officers, of which I remember an instance at Smyrna, whilst dining at the English consul's with eight or ten of them, being the commanders of the ships which composed the English fleet, then lying at Vourla, when the conversation falling upon the French navy, it was observed that nothing could be more perfect than its state at that period, every man, down to a cabin boy, knowing well his duty, and all the regulations and manœuvres being carried on with such perfect order and regularity. There are however some advantages which we still maintain, afforded by our foreign commerce being the most extensive, enabling us always to have a greater number of sailors, and generally speaking more experienced seamen, and a French naval captain who has seen a good deal of service, once observed that there was another point in which we had a superiority, and that was with respect to our ship's carpenters, which was particularly illustrated in the combat at Navarin, as the morning after the action the English were far in advance of the French, with regard to the repairs which had been rendered necessary from the damages which had been sustained.
The French now have several officers who are experienced practical men, in whom the navy has great confidence, as, Admirals Duperré, Hugon, Rosamel, Lalande, Beaudin, Roussin, Bergeret, Mackau, Casey, etc., all of whose names have been before the public in different affairs in which they have created their present reputation. During the present reign, every means has been adopted to infuse within the minds of the French an interest for naval affairs, hence apartments have been fitted up in the Louvre, as before stated, with models, and representations of all connected with a ship, whilst the best artists have been employed to paint different naval actions, which have reflected honour on the French flag, and really I had no idea that they could have cited so many instances, in regard to encounters with our shipping, but on reference to James's Naval History, they will be found mainly correct, giving some latitude for a little exaggeration in their own favour, a habit to which I believe every nation is more or less prone. The government have certainly succeeded beyond their wishes, in engendering an extreme anxiety in the people with regard to the navy, which has just been elicited, in the singular anomaly of the opposition voting on the motion of M. Lacrosse a greater sum by three millions of francs for the navy than the minister demanded. With an eye also to the marine, Louis-Philippe has made some sacrifices to the promotion and extension of foreign commerce, and not without a considerable degree of success.
There is not at present any branch of art, science, or industry, that the French are not making great exertions to encourage, for that object many societies and companies are formed, of which I will state a few of the most important. There are four societies styled Athenæum, the Royal, which is at the Palais-Royal, No. 2, devoted to literature, and three others at the Hôtel de Ville for music, for medicine, and for the arts. The Geographical Society, Rue de l'Université, 23. Royal Antiquarian Society, Rue des Petits-Augustins, No. 16. Asiatic Society, and for elementary Instruction, Agriculture, Moral Christianity, No. 12, Rue Taranne. Society for universal French Statistics, Place Vendôme, 24. The Protestant Bible Society of Paris, Rue Montorgueil. Geological Society, Rue du Vieux-Colombier, No. 26. Philotechnic Society, No. 16, Rue des Petits-Augustins. Philomatic Society, Entomological, and for natural History, No. 6, Rue d'Anjou, Faubourg St. Germain. Society for intellectual Emancipation, No. 11, Rue St. Georges, as also a variety of other medical, surgical, phrenological, etc., etc., a number of schools besides those I have already alluded to, veterinary, for mosaic work, technography, and other purposes.