could not trust him. And thus, alike by its own strength and
by its enemies' divisions, the safety of the Republic is assured.

XVI.

PARIS, SOCIAL AND MORAL.

PARIS, Thursday, June 12, 1851.

A great Capital like this is not seen in a few days; I have not yet seen
a quarter of it. The general magnitude of the houses (usually built
around a small quadrangular court near the street, whence the court is
entered by a gate or arched passage) is readily remarked; also the
minute subdivisions of Shop-keeping, many if not most sellers confining
their attention to a single fabric, so that their "stores" and stocks of
goods are small; also, the general gregariousness or social aptitudes of
the people. I lodge in a house once famous as "Frascati's," the most
celebrated gaming-house in Europe; it stands on the corner of the Rue
Richelieu with the Boulevards ("Italian" in one direction and
"Montmartre" in the other). My windows overlook the Boulevards for a
considerable distance; and there are many of the most fashionable shops,
"restaurants," "cafes," &c. in the city. No one in New-York would think
of ordering his bottle of wine or his ices at a fashionable resort in
Broadway and sitting down at a table placed on the sidewalk to discuss
his refection leisurely, just out of the ever-passing throng; yet here
it is so common as to seem the rule rather than the exception. Hundreds
sit thus within sight of my windows every evening; dozens do likewise
during the day. The Frenchman's pleasures are all social: to eat, drink
or spend the evening alone would be a weariness to him: he reads his
newspaper in the thoroughfare or the public gardens: he talks more in
one day than an Englishman in three: the theaters, balls, concerts, &c.
which to the islander afford occasional recreation are to him a nightly
necessity: he would be lonely and miserable without them. Nowhere is
Amusement more systematically, sedulously sought than in Paris; nowhere
is it more abundant or accessible. For boys just escaped from school or
paternal restraint, intent on enjoyment and untroubled by conscience or
forecast, this must be a rare city. Its people, as a community, have
signal good qualities and grave defects: they are intelligent,
vivacious, courteous, obliging, generous and humane; eager to enjoy, but
willing that all the world should enjoy with them; while at the same
time they are impulsive, fickle, sensual and irreverent. Paris is the
Par