, the theatres well
attended, some private and a great number of public carriages to be
met with; all this brought to my reflection how very difficult a
matter it must be to destroy a great country, considering that all
the pains which have been taken to ruin this have left so much
undone. But the first fortnight we lived in the most populous part
of the town, near the Palais Royal, and therefore the last place
where distress would be evident.

There are few parts of Paris I have not since been in, and I find
in many of them, the outlets particularly, the greatest
wretchedness to prevail, and to be very thin of inhabitants. A
great part of the Faubourg St. Germain, near the Boulevards, is in
a great measure deserted; but this quarter was formerly inhabited
principally by the noblesse. There is scarcely a street in Paris
where there are not several houses written upon, _Propriete
nationale a vendre_, and sometimes in addition, _ou a louer_; and
in many places a great part of the street is in the same manner
advertised for sale.

The names of many of the streets are, as your Lordship must know,
entirely changed; but where they are not, and began with _Saint_,
that word is invariably defaced, and the remainder of the name is
left untouched. But, notwithstanding that, most places are commonly
called as formerly; and this practice is becoming more general
every day.

The hotels of many of the _ci-devant_ noblesse are inhabited by the
Ministers and other members of the Government. Many of them are
converted into public offices and others of them into _hotels
garnis_, &c.; besides, a prodigious number of them remain
unoccupied, and offered for sale by the nation.

The Luxembourg is divided into five separate habitations for the
Directory, besides the apartments that are used for their sittings,
audiences, and other public business.

The Council of Ancients hold their sittings in the Palace of the
Tuileries, and the Council of Five Hundred meet in what was
formerly the riding-house of the King; but this is considered as
merely a temporary chamber for this last body, until the Palais
Bourbon, which is now undergoing great alterations and additions,
is ready for their reception. This building is in the Faubourg St.
Germain, in front of t