ucien Bonaparte's
Hotel.--Opera.--Consular Box.--Madame Bonaparte's Box.--Feydeau
Theatre.--Belle Vue.--Versailles.--The Palace of the Petit
Trianon.--The Grounds._

The people of Paris, who keep horses in stables at the back of their
houses, have a singular mode of keeping their hay in the lofts of their
dwelling houses. At the top of a spacious and elegant hotel, is to be
seen a projecting crane in the act of raising loads of winter provision
for the stable. When I first saw this strange process, my surprise would
scarcely have been increased, had I beheld the horse ascending after the
hay.

I must not forget to offer some little description of the opera, where,
during my stay, through the politeness of Madame H----, I had free
access to a private box.

This spacious and splendid theatre is lighted from above by an immense
circular lustre of patent lamps. The form of this brilliant light is in
the antique taste, and it is said to have cost two thousand pounds
sterling. The effect which it produces in the body of the theatre, and
upon the scenery, is admirable. It prevents the sight from being
divided, and distracted by girandoles. This establishment is upon so
vast a scale, that government, which is the proprietor, is always a
loser upon balancing the receipts and disbursements of each night. The
stage and its machinery have for many years occupied a great number of
the subordinate classes of people, who, if not employed in this manner,
would in all probability become burdensome, and unpleasant to the
government. To this circumstance is attributable the superiority of the
machinery, and scenery, over every other theatre which I ever saw. In
the english theatres, my eye has often been offended at the
representations of the internal parts of houses, in which not a chair,
or table is introduced, for the purpose of carrying on the ingenious
deception. Upon the stage of the french opera, every scene has its
appropriate furniture, and distinctive appendages, which are always
produced as soon as the scene drops, by numerous attendants. From this
attention to the minute circumstances of the drama, the illusion becomes
enchanting. The orchestra is very fine, and is composed of ninety
eminent musicians. The corps de ballet consists of between eighty and
ninety fine dancers, of whom Monsieur Deshayes is the principal. His
movements are more graceful, his agility more surprising, and his step
more light, firm