Chapter I: Front Matter

THE AMERICAN

IN

PARIS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1838.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY,
OLD BAILEY.

CONTENTS.

LETTER XII.

Mass at St. Roch for Admiral de Rigny.--The Abbé Lacordaire at Notre Dame.--State of the French Church.--St. Genevieve.--St. Etienne du Mont.--The American child at Prayers.--St. Medard.--Its Miracles.--Chapelle de St. Nicholas.--The Madelaine.--Notre Dame.--St. Denis.--St. Sulpice.--The Church Service.--Celibacy of the Clergy.--American Churches.--Manner of keeping Sunday p. 1-30

LETTER XIII.

Père la Chaise.--Funeral of Bellini.--Grave-Merchants.--Description of the Cemetery.--Graves of the Rich and the Poor.--The Fête des Morts.--Tomb of Abelard and Heloise.--Remarkable personages buried there.--The Aristocracy of the Grave.--Monument of Foy.--Inscription.--Grave yards in Cities and Towns.--French regulations for the inhumation of the dead p. 31-71

LETTER XIV.

The Louvre.--Patronage of the Fine Arts.--The Luxembourg.--The Palais des Beaux Arts.--The Sêvres Porcelain.--The Gobelins.--Manners of the common People in Paris.--A fair Cicerone.--Her remarks on Painting.--The French, Flemish, and Italian Schools.--English Patronage of Art.--The New National Gallery.--Sir Christopher Wren.--A tender Adieu p. 72-98

LETTER XV.

The Schools.--State of Literature.--Minister of Public Instruction.--Education in France.--Prussian System.--Parochial Schools.--Normal Schools.--Institutions of Paris.--Public Libraries.--Machinery of French Justice.--The Judges.--Eloquence of the Bar.--Medicine.--Corporations of Learning.--Their Evils.--The French Institute.--Pretended New System of Instruction.--Professors of Paris p. 99-138

LETTER XVI.

Ladies’ Boarding Schools.--Names of Professors in the Prospectus.--System of Education.--American Schools.--Preference for Science.--High Intellectual Acquirements not approved.--Learned Women.--American Girls.--Comparison of French and American Society.--The care to preserve Female Beauty.--Expression of the Mouth.--Dress of American Women.--Notions of the Maternal Character.--Studies in Ladies’ Schools.--Literary Associations.--Société Geographique.--French Lady Authors.--Living Writers.--Chateaubriand--Beranger--Lamartine--Victor Hugo--Casimir de la Vigne--Alfred de Vigny--Guizot--Thiers--Thièrry Ségur--Lacretelle--Sismondi p. 139-163

LETTER XVII.

The Theatres.--Mademoiselle Mars.--Théatre Royal.--Italien.--Grisi.--Académie Royal de Musique.--Taglioni.--Miss Fanny Elsler.--The Variètés.--The Odéon.--Mademoiselle George.--Hamlet.--Republican Spirit of the Age.--Character of the French Stage.--Machinery of the Drama.--The Claqueurs.--Supply of New Pieces.--The Vaudevillists.--M. Scribe.--The Diorama.--Concerts.--Music p. 164-187

LETTER XVIII.

Parisian habits.--The Chaussée d’Antin.--Season of Bonbons.--Jour de l’An.--Commencement of the Season.--The Carnival.--Reception at the Tuileries.--Lady Granville.--The Royal Family.--Court Ceremonies.--Ball at the Hotel de Ville.--French Beauty.--A Bal de Charité.--Lord Canterbury.--Bulwer.--Sir Sydney Smith.--The Court Balls.--Splendid Scene.--The Princess Amelia.--Comparison between Country and City Life p. 188-210

LETTER XIX.

Execution of Fieschi.--The French House of Commons.--French Eloquence.--Thiers.--Guizot.--Berryer.--Abuse of America.--The Chamber of Peers.--Interior of the Madelaine.--Bribery.--False Oaths.--The Middle Classes.--America and England.--Opinions of America.--English Travellers in America.--Mrs. Trollope.--Captain Basil Hall.--Miss Fanny Kemble.--Test of good breeding in America.--American feelings towards England.--Their mutual Interests p. 211-234

LETTER XX.

The Dancing Fever.--The Grand Masquerade.--Fooleries of the Carnival.--Mardi Gras.--Splendid Equipages.--Masquerades.--An Adventure.--Educated Women.--The Menus-Plaisirs.--A Fancy Ball.--Porte St. Martin.--The Masked Balls.--Descente de la Courtille.--End of the Carnival.--Birth-Day of Washington p. 235-252

LETTER XXI.

Evening Parties at the Duchess d’Abrantes.--Mode of Admission.--The Weather.--Suicides.--Madame le Norman the Sibyl.--Parisian Réunions.--Manners of Frenchwomen.--American Soirées.--Furniture.--Hints on Etiquette.--Manners in Parisian High Life.--Conversation.--Dress.--Qualifications for an Exquisite.--Smoking.--Rules for Dinner p. 253-283

LETTER XXII.

The Lap-Dog.--The Dame Blanche.--The Beauty in a Gallery.--The Lingère.--Madame Frederic.--Fête de Longchamps.--Parisian Fashions.--Holy Concerts.--Pretty Women.--Empire of Fashion.--Reign of Beauty.--The Fashionable Lady p. 284-303

LETTER XXIII.

Return of Spring.--A New Venus.--The Artesian Well.--Montmartre.--Donjon of Vincennes.--St. Ouen.--St. Germain.--The Pretender.--Machine de Marli.--Versailles.--The Water-works.--The Swiss Garden.--Trianon.--Races at Chantilly.--Stables of the Great Condé--Lodgings in a French Village.--A Domestic Occurrence.--The Boots.--The Alarm.--The Bugs.--Extract from Pepys.--Delights of Chantilly.--Unlucky Days.--Solitude in a Crowd.--The Cure.--The King’s Birth-day.--The Concert.--The Fire-works.--The Illuminations.--The Buffoons.--Punch.--The Eating Department.--The Mat de Cocagne p. 304-340

THE AMERICAN IN PARIS.