The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Realities of Paris Life. By the Author of " Flemish
Interiors," &c. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
Those who anticipate a series of photographs of
the brilliant society. of Parisian saloons, or the po-
litical conclaves and secret meetings of the disaf-
fected Republicans, or a description of the Court
fetes and military mancouvres, will be disappointed
in these volumes. The author, thinking, perhaps,
that such scenes and subjects are depicted by every
tourist who gives an account of his excursion to
the public, has turned from the brilliancy and tur-
moil of the surface to the sterner and darker " rea-
lities " which may be found in all great cities. He
leads us chiefly among the poor, the afflicted, and
the destitute; the petty tradesmen and hawkers,
the inhabitants of the " Cite Dore" and the " Fau-
bourg Souffrant ;" giving us at the same time full
details of what charity and self-devotion accom-
plish for the alleviation and reformation of crime
and misery. The following passage from the' pre-
face will best explain the writer's intentions :
There are guide books innumerable to enlighten the super-
ficial traveller as to the public amusements, the gay sights
and the magnificent monuments of the queen of cities : to
their pages we refer him.
That to which we propose to introduce our readers is the
result of personal investigation, among those classes, and
in those quarters of Paris which are not only wholly unfre-
quented, but studiously shunned by strangers. We might -
write volumes on the " Realities" of Paris life, upon its
realities—undoubtedly—of worldliness, of pleasure, of
luxury, on the one hand ;—of poverty, abandonment and
despair, on the other, and as the inevitable result of both
extremes, the sad realities of vice, of infidelity, and of
crime.
Nevertheless we find at the same time that we can fill
pages with a no less startling amount of realities of gene-
rosity, of self-sacrifice, and of good works—but we must
take the trouble to search them out, for Charity has never
borrowed the trumpet of Fame, and veils herself with
all the precautions which modesty and humility can sug-
gest.
Yes, if there be realities of luxury, and realities of vice,
there are also in Paris realities of self-sacrifice, of holiness,
of charity. May we not hope that the latter may go far to
redeem the former, and that for the sake of the " tdh
righteous" the city may be saved. " Together let us beat
this ample field ;" let us ascertain, first, what is the actual
condition of our fellow beings, in those near, and yet remote
localities, at the present hour, and how in the various
chances through which they must pass, they contrive to
maintain themselves and their families by honest but pre-
carious industry.
We will, secondly, pursue our inquiries in another direc-
tion, and penetrate the arena of those classes who are less
scrupulous in procuring means of existence, not content
unless they can obtain likewise means of enjoyment; and
we will—after glancing at the military type of that essen-
tially military nation—proceed to make acquaintance with•
those institutions to the durance of which, criminals render
themselves liable, and whose penal regulations it is neces-
sary they should undergo, whether for their punishment
and reformation, or for the security of society.
We shall, thirdly, treat of associations and CEuvres sug-
gested by benevolence, and administered by charity, des-
tined to form, to improve, and to reclaim, no less than to
assist and console the neglected and suffering classes.
The author is evidently thoroughly familiar with the
French tongue in all its varieties of correct and in-
correct phraseology, and gives many amusing ex-
tracts from conversations in the market-place or
byeway full of the national wit and sprightliness.
His chapter on the streets of Paris is one of the
most entertaining in the volumes. In it he gives
us a history of the destiny and adventures of the
old clothes, which are so largely bought in Paris
end other cities. Old military and naval uniforms,
we are told, are sure of a market in South America
and the Gulf of Mexico. Those warlike races who,
as the author quaintly observes, are richer in glory
than in tailors, being glad to purchase their uni-
forms ready made. Old headgear is despatched to
St. Domingo, the blacks being very ambitious of
the honour of possessing a European hat, especially
if it be white, from the old adage of extremes meet,
we presume. Shoes and boots are forwarded to
California. Old French gloves, cleaned and scented,
are packed off to Jamaica and the Philippines in
extraordinary numbers, if our author's statistics be
correct. He says :—" Will it be believed that
6,000,000 pairs are annually shipped for these
facile customers ?" With regard to the oetroi
duties he gives some amusing anecdotes :
It is not very long since, a clever attempt was detected
by the vigilance of the officers of the octroi.
A respectable-looking carriage, drawn by a pair of
horses, used to go out at the Barrie' e de Fontainebleau
every afternoon, containing one or two persons, and
with a livery servant standing behind after a drive of
a couple of hours, the vehicle would return, about dusk,
apparently in statu quo. The door was opened as usual,
the question was asked in duo form, and the party pur-
sued their way unmolested. This went on for some
time ; at length, the perfect immobility of the footman,*
one day, struck the searcher • he resolved to observe
more closely, and the next day accordingly, after he
had shut the carriage door, he called out to the coachman,
whose wont it was to whip up his horses, and drive off at a
rapid pace :—Halte la cocher' ; then, turning to the ser-
vant,. he addressed him with :—" Et TOW, mon brave,
n'aunez vous, par hazard, rien a declarer ?'' No answer
was returned, and not a whisker moved, when the officer
thought it time to come to a closer personal acquaintance
with this supercilious and dignified official. His astonish-
ment may be conceived when the supposed valet was dis-
mounted, and proved to be a tin case, painted and dressed,
and containing several dozen bottles of choice wine
But, more curious stratagems than these have been at-
tempted, and have succeeded too.
The cab and omnibus system of our continental neigh-
bours, which has been so highly spoken of, appears
to possess its drawbacks. The traveller complains of
the distance of the stations and the inconvenience and
delay arising from the omnibus system. Of the
improvements recently made in Paris by the demo-
litions and alterations in some of the rookeries, the
author speaks warmly. "Of course," he remarks,
in speaking of the improvements in the Faubourg
St. Marceau, " the classes who now swarm here
must lodge somewhere, and will doubtless create
new "Fosses aux-Lions" and " Champs des Alou-
ettes," yet it will be a vast improvements. At all
events the fresh air with which these hamlets, hors
barriere, are surrounded, must be preferable to the
atmosphere of close and narrow streets, whose in-
habitants, densely packed in houses sometimes
reaching eight or nine stories, are impervious to
ventilation." The author, who is evidently a man
of sincere piety and benevolence, and deeply inte.
rested in the welfare of the poor, speaks most en-
thusiastically of the efforts of the priests and chari-
table societies, the members of the society of St.
Vincent de Paul, and the " Soeurs do la Chaiite."
While joining him heartily in his admiration of
these noble and self-denying efforts, we cannot but
regret that he loses no opportunity of disparaging
similar efforts in his own country. He is continu-
ally holding up some instance of Catholic charity
(of which there are many), and placing by its side
some fragment of a police report, or Registrar's re-
turn in London, on the misery of the poor. He
appears to forget one point that shows that the
maligned Londoners are not totally indifferent, as
he would have us suppose, to the sufferings around
them—the charities of London are all dependant
upon voluntary support, while those of Paris are
supported by the State. We should imagine the
noble edifices which meet us in the metropolis,
bearing the words, "supported by voluntary con-
tributions," and the numerous ragged schools, and
similar institutions for the training of the young,
would prove, to the most prejudiced, that the
wealthy classes of England are not all insensible to
the wants of their fellow creatures. We are far
front disparaging the merits of similar institutions
in Paris. Doubtless the devotion of time and
labour among the " Soeurs de la Char its " is such
as no money can equal ; but we are objecting to the
tone of the writer, who seems to think there can be
no such thing as self-devotion and unobtrusive
charity on this side of the Channel. We are quite
ready tojoin him in demurring to the wholesale asser-
tions of French superficiality and heartlessness, and
had he been equally laudatory, and left his own coun-
trymen alone, we should have been satisfied, but when
we find that in charity, in religion, in laws, in re-
formatories, in prisons and workhouses, in juvenile
offenders, in ganzins and street boys, in murder and
infanticide, in every benevolent institution, such
dark comparisons are drawn, we begin to question
whether the sympathies of creed have not fairly
over-balanced the symplth ies of country and con-
siderably biassed the readers judgment. What is
admirable humility and Christian charity in the
Archbishop of Paris is only worthy of a sneer in
the Bishop of London. We quote the following
passages from the same page—we cannot ourselves
see the extraordinary discrepancy of the acts. Car-
dinal Moratt, the benevolent prelate of Paris, has
been visiting a poor woman whose case had been
represented to him as one of extreme distress :
Up five pair of stairs, and those by no means of the
' cleanest description, did the Cardinal ascend into the low
and narrow garret of this poor widow, where he adminis-
tered all the consolation in his power, and left her pene-
trated with his affability and condescension. But this was
not all ; the house was occupied by characters of the worst
description. So overcome were they, however, with the
go3dness of the Archbishop, that every man, woman, and
child came out of their nooks and dens, and, kneeling be-
fore him, begged his blessing as he passed.
" On Sunday, Bishop Tait opened a room for public wor-
ship in one of the vilest parts of London. There is no pul-
pit ; and to see the Bishop of London standing on the floor"
(not on the ceiling), " and inviting the poor degradeed in-
habitants" (we thought the successors of the apostles were
sent to call sinners to repentance) "of the neighbourhood
to take their places as worshippers in an apartment like the
upper-chamber at Jerusalem, is so unlike all that we have
been accustomed to expect from the lordly prelates of the
Establishment, that we wonder whereto these things tend.
His lordship is dealing a more deadly blow at Tractarianism
in his diocese, by such pious, sensible, and simple work as
this" (can his object be only spite after all ?) "than any
evoking of legal authority, verdicts in the law courts, re-
bukes, suspensions, or dismissals could possibly do."—Court
Journal.
We are inclined to ask ourselves if this be not a roguish
hit at the Establishment. If not-6, Save me from my
friends."
Considering, however, that the author evidently
looks upon Protestants and Atheists as much the
same, we must not be surprised at his expressions.
In speaking of the anniversary of the " Jour des
Morts," he says, naively, " There are—and that for