objects which
present themselves in various forms at M. de Braux's atelier.

The shopkeepers and proprietors of coffee-houses, restaurants, etc.,
also have afforded much occupation to artists of moderate talent, having
reliefs and paintings introduced upon their walls, that are by no means
contemptible, and it is quite an amusement, in walking the streets of
Paris, to observe to what an extent it is carried; many of the new
houses in the most frequented thoroughfares, above the shops, are now so
handsome that if they were appropriated for national purposes would be
admired as public monuments, some of these may be remarked even in
several of the narrow shabby streets, only (as already stated) they are
compelled, by the Municipality, to build them a few feet farther back,
to give greater width to the street. One of the beauties and attractions
of Paris at the present period, is the Passages, in which are to be
found some of the most splendid assortments of every article which the
most refined luxury can desire; of such a description are the Passages
des Panoramas, Saumon, Choiseul, Vero-Dodat, Vivienne, Opera and
Colbert; in the latter is a Magasin de Nouveaute, styled the Grand
Colbert, which peculiarly merits the attention, both of the amateur and
the connaisseurs of such merchandise as will be found there displayed.
In Paris there are many establishments of this nature on the most
colossal scales, even surpassing in extent the far famed Waterloo House,
but in none is the public more honourably served, or treated with a
greater degree of courtesy and attention, than at the Grand Colbert; the
taste and discernment with which their stock is selected, does the
highest credit to the proprietors, and their premises being arranged and
decorated so as to resemble a Moresque temple, as the purchasers behold
spread around them in gay profusion all the rich and glowing tints which
Cashmere can produce, they may almost fancy that they are in some
oriental Bazaar, where the costly manufactures of those climes are
displayed for the admiring gaze of the delighted spectator. In the
choice of silks is developed the beau ideal of all that the genius, art,
and industry of Lyons can effect, which has been selected as regards the
tints and designs, with an artistical tact. A great advantage of this
establishment is that one partner is French, possessing that degree of
taste for which his countrymen are so justly celebrated in all that
re