eans preserved; how much better is
such an arrangement than that which prevails in England at the entering
of the theatres, where physical strength alone gives priority, and the
bigger the brute the sooner he enters, whilst screams and murmurs attest
the treading upon toes, squeezing of ribs, etc.

The fountain of _St-Martin_ in front of the _Ambigu-Comique_ is one of
the most beautiful objects in Paris; a handsome font rises in the middle
from which the water falls in sheets of silvery profusion, whilst
around, lions disgorge liquid streams which all unite in the _grand
basin_; this sight is most beautiful to behold by the light of the moon.
We next enter the _Boulevard du Temple_, where there is such a number of
theatres and coffee-houses all joining each other, that there is really
some difficulty of ascertaining which is the one or the other. The
Theatre _de la Gaiete_, the resort principally of the middle or lower
classes, is one of the most conspicuous, as also the _Cirque Olympique_,
or Franconi's Theatre, where the performances resemble those at
Astley's. There is always an immense crowd on these _Boulevards_ amusing
themselves around a number of shows; or playing or looking at various
games which are constantly going forward, singers, musicians, conjurors,
merry andrews, fortune tellers, orators, dancers, tumblers, etc., are
all exerting their powers, to gain a little coin from the easily pleased
multitude; these _boulevards_ have in fact the appearance of a perpetual
_fete_ or fair, but the curious ideas that appear to me to have entered
the heads of these people in the nature of their performances, are such
as I should imagine none would ever have thought of but the French; nor
any lower orders but of that nation could have been found to appreciate
such singular exhibitions. One of this description particularly excited
my notice; a man came up with another man in his arms and popped him
down just as if he was a block; he had no sooner deposited his burden
than he began a long harangue upon the talents of the individual whom he
had just deposited before us, in acting a machine or automaton, he then
to prove his assertion gave him a knock on the back of the head, when it
fell forward just as if it had belonged to a figure made with joints; he
then gave it a chuck of the chin so violent that it sent the head back
so as to lean on the coat collar; at last he put it in its proper
position, he then operated upon the