and ices.
Upon this spot, in the early part of the revolution, the celebrated
Camille Desmoulins used to declaim against the abuses of the old
government, to all the idle and disaffected of Paris. It is said that
the liveries of the duc d'Orleans gave birth to the republican colours,
which used to be displayed in the hats of his auditors, who in point of
respectability resembled the motley reformers of Chalk Farm. From the
carousing rooms under ground, the ear was filled with the sounds of
music, and the buzzing of crowds; in short, such a scene of midnight
revelry and dissipation I never before beheld.

Upon my return to my hotel, I was a little surprised to find the streets
of this gay city so meanly lighted. Lamps placed at gloomy distances
from each other, suspended by cords, from lofty poles, furnish the only
means of directing the footsteps of the nocturnal wanderer.

CHAPTER IX.

_French Reception.--Voltaire.--Restaurateur.--Consular
Guard.--Music.--Venetian Horses.--Gates of the Palace.--Gardens of
the Thuilleries.--Statues.--The faithful Vase.--The Sabine
Picture.--Monsieur Perregaux.--Marquis de Chatelet.--Madame
Perregaux.--Beaux and Belles of Paris._

I forgot, in my last chapter, to mention that I paid for my place, and
luggage in the diligence, from Rouen to Paris, a distance of ninety
miles, twenty-three livres and eighteen sols. The next morning after my
arrival, and a good night's repose in a sopha bed, constructed after the
french fashion, which was very lofty, and handsome, and very
comfortable, I waited upon my accomplished friend, Madame H----, in the
Rue Florentine. I had the honour of knowing her when in England, from
very early years; I found her with her elegant and accomplished
daughter, in a suite of large rooms, very handsomely furnished after the
_antique_, which gives to the present fashionable furniture of France,
its form and character. These rooms composed a floor of a noble stone
built house, which contained several other families; such is the
customary mode of being lodged in the capital. She received me in the
most charming manner, and had expected me for some days, previous to my
arrival, and was that evening going to her country house at Passi, a few
miles from Paris, whither she pressed me to accompany her, but I
declined it, on account of the short time which I had before me to
spend in Paris. Madame H---- was not only a beauty, but a woman of