the heat of the
climate), to build the houses very large; to repair a French house,
therefore, is very expensive: and it will generally be seen, that in
most, houses only one or two rooms are kept in repair, and furnished,
while the rest of the house is crumbling to pieces. This is the case
with all the great houses; in those of the common people we should
expect more comfort, as they are small, and do not need either expensive
repair or gay furniture; but comfort is unknown in France. On entering a
small house in one of the villages, we find the people huddled together
as they are said to do in some parts of England and Scotland. Men,
women, dogs, cats, pigs, goats, &c.--no glass in the windows--doors
shattered--truckle-beds--a few earthen pots; and with all this filth, we
find, perhaps, half a dozen velvet or brocade covered chairs; a broken
mirror, or a marble slab-table; these are the articles plundered in
former days of terror and revolution. All caffes and hotels in the
villages are thus furnished.

The streets in almost every town in France are without pavement. Would
any one believe, that in the great city, as the French call it, there is
a total want of this convenience? On this subject, Mercier, in his
Tableaux de Paris, has this remark: [42]"Des qu'on est sur le pave de
Paris, ou voit que le peuple n'y fait pas les loix;--aucune commodite
pour les gens de pied--point de trottoirs--le peuple semble un corps
separe des autres ordres de l'etat--les riches et les grands qui ont
equipage ont le droit de l'ecraser ou de le mutiler dans les rues--cent
victimes expirent par annee sous les rues des voiture."

Besides the want of pavement to protect us from the carriages, and to
keep our feet dry, we have to encounter the mass of filth and dirt,
which the nastiness of the inhabitants deposits, and which the police
suffers to remain. The state of Edinburgh in its worst days, as
described by our English neighbours, was never worse than what you meet
with in France. The danger of walking the streets at night is very
great, and the perfumes of Arabia do not prevail in the morning.

The churches in all the villages are falling to ruin, and in many
instances are converted into granaries, barracks, and hospitals;
manufacturing establishments are also in ruins, scarcely able to
maintain their workmen; their owners have no money for the repair of
their buildings. The following description of the changes that have
taken place