Quai Voltaire, thought I--ay, and sumptuously too, with coffee and
chestnuts, and a slice of melon, and another of cheese, and a _petite
goutte_ to finish, for five sous. The panther, at the corner of the
Pont Neuf, costs but a sou; and for three one can see the brown bear
of America, the hyaena, and another beast whose name I forget, but whose
image, as he is represented outside, carrying off a man in his teeth, I
shall retain to my last hour. Then there is the panorama of Dunkirk,
at the Rue Chopart, with the Duke of York begging his life from a
terrible-looking soldier in a red cap and a tricoloured scarf. After
that, there's the parade at the 'Carrousel'; and mayhap something more
solemn still at the 'Greve'; but there was no limit to the throng of
enjoyments which came rushing to my imagination, and it was in a kind of
ecstasy of delight I set forth on my voyage of pleasure.

CHAPTER V. THE CHOICE OF A LIFE

In looking back, after a long lapse of years, I cannot refrain from a
feeling of astonishment to think how little remembrance I possess of the
occurrences of that day--one of the most memorable that ever dawned for
France--the eventful 29th of July, that closed the reign of terror
by the death of the tyrant! It is true, that all Paris was astir at
daybreak; that a sense of national vengeance seemed to pervade the
vast masses that filled the streets, which now were scenes of the most
exciting emotion. I can only account for the strange indifference that I
felt about these stirring themes by the frequency with which similar, or
what to me at least appeared similar, scenes had already passed before
my eyes.

One of the most remarkable phases of the revolution was the change
it produced in all the social relations by substituting an assumed
nationality for the closer and dearer ties of kindred and affection.
France was everything--the family nothing; every generous wish, every
proud thought, every high ambition or noble endeavour, belonged to the
country. In this way, whatever patriotism may have gained, certainly
all the home affections were utterly wrecked; the humble and unobtrusive
virtues of domestic life seemed mean and insignificant beside the grand
displays of patriotic devotion which each day exhibited.

Hence grew the taste for that 'life of the streets' then so
popular--everything should be en _evidence_. All the emotions which
delicacy would render sacred to the seclusion of home were now to b