ilt by Louis XIV in commemoration of his
victories, as I have before stated; the _bas-reliefs_ with which it is
adorned represent pyramids, and colossal allegorical figures of Holland
and the Rhine, the capture of Maestricht, the passage of the Rhine at
Tolhuys, which with two lions are its most conspicuous ornaments. Whilst
the mind is still occupied in reflecting upon this noble monument,
another awakens attention at a short distance from the last; it is the
_Porte St-Martin_, _Boulevard St-Martin_, which has been represented as
a copy of that of St-Severus at Rome; it owes its erection to the same
founder and was raised for the same purpose, that of publishing to
posterity the fame of his victories; he is allegorically represented as
Hercules defeating the Germans, the taking of Limburg, Besancon, etc. I
shall not attempt to enter into a minute detail of these objects, it
would only tire me to do so, and perhaps fatigue my reader still more; I
shall therefore content myself by stating that, taken as a whole, it has
an extremely fine effect. A few paces farther is the Theatre of the
_Porte St-Martin_, which was never a fashionable resort, but has often
produced me much entertainment, particularly when the celebrated
Mademoiselle George afforded it the benefits of her talents; proceeding
a few hundred yards distance, the Theatre of the _Ambigu-Comique_
presents itself as worthy of remark; although of a minor rank, I
remember being much amused at the long trains of persons waiting,
according to the custom in France, at the doors of this Theatre for
admission when a popular piece was played, called Nostradamus; as two
persons can only pay at once no more are suffered to enter at a time;
hence they form in pairs behind each other until they extend sometimes,
the length of a furlong; they remain very quiet occasionally for hours,
the first comers standing close to the doors, and as others arrive they
regularly take their station behind the last persons of the _queue_, as
it is styled. I remember an Englishman coming up when the tail had
attained rather an inconvenient length, and he did not relish placing
himself at the end of it, and endeavoured to slip into one of the joints
as it was much nearer the door; but a _gendarme_, perceiving his drift,
very unceremoniously marched him to the end of the queue, as precedence
is allotted to persons in proportion as they arrive earlier or later and
the most perfect order is by that m