New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-08-12
SUMMER IN FRANCE.
LETTER FROM HENRY JAMES, JR.

IRON A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT TIE tribune
HAvRE, July 22.-It Is quite Ill the nature
Of things that Pari,ian correspondence
should have tagged during the last lew
weeks for the most brilliant OF capitals
when the Simmer has fairly marked her for its owi
affords few topics TO the chroncler. To chronicle
of small beer such correspondence almost literally
finds itself reduced. The correspondent consumes
goodly number of these mugfuls of this fluid,
known in Paris as books" and from the shadlcst
corner of the coolest cafe he can discover watches
the glazing asphalt grow more largely interspaccd
There is little to do to see, and therefore little to
write about There is in fact only one thing
to do, namely, to get out of Paris The lively
imagination of the correspondent anticipates
his departure and takes its flight to one of the IN
Vulnerable wateTng-places whose charms az TINS
season are set forth in large yellow and pink
placards affixed to all the empty walls. They order
this matter like so many Others much better in
France. Here you have not, with us, to hunt up
the Summer retreat" about which you desire IN
formation in dense alphabetical list in the columns
of a newspaper; you familiar with its merits
for three weeks before you start-you have seen
them half dozen times n day emblazoned along the
fine of your customary walk, as vivid and substan-
tal as the hand and seal of the corporation of the
Casino can make them. IL You are detained in Paris,
however after luckier mortals have departed-yOur
reflections upon the fate of the luckless mortals
who do not depart at all are quite another
question. demanding another chapter-l don't
know that it makes You much happier
to peruse these heightened posters, which
seem to flutter with the breezes of Houlgate and
Etretat. You must take your consolation where
you find it, and it must be added that OF all
great cities Paris is the most tolerabe IN hot
weather 1t is true that the asphalt has way of
nnIf ton
perature of molten lava. and it is true that the
brilliant limestone of which the city is built reflects
the sun with uncomfortable fierceness. 1t is also
true that of a Summer evening you pay penalty
for living in the best lighted capital i'll the world
The nordnate amount of gas in all the thorough
fares heats and thickens the atmosphere, and makes
you feel of a July night if you were in a vast
concert hail. If you look down at such time upon
the central portions of Paris from high window IN
a remoter quarter you them wrapped in sort OF
lurid haze of the devils own brewing. But, on the
other hand, there are a hundred persuasions to
keeping out of doors. You not obliged to sit on
"stoopD or on curb-stonc, as in New-York.
The BoulevaTds are q long chain of cafes,
each one with its little promontOry of chairs and
battles projecting into the of asphalt. These
promontories doubtless not exactly islands OF
the blessed, peopled though some of them may be
with sirens addicted to beer, but they NAV help you
TO pass a hot evening. Then you may dine III the
Champs Elys6cs at table spread under the trees,
beside an ivied wall, and almost believe you are in
the country. This illusion, imperfect as 1t Is, is
luxury and must be paid for accordingly; the dinner
is not so good as at a restaurant the Boulevard,
and is considerably dearer, and there is after all not
much difference in sitting with ones feet i'll dusty
gravel or OH a sauded floor. But the whole situation
is more idylic INDUCED in q cheap idyl the other
day by taking tho penny steamer down the Seine to
Arteuil n very short sain, and dining at what Is
called in Partisan parlance gHiR9cc on the balN Oh
tie stream Ii was Il very humble style of enter
tcinIe,t but the most frantic pursuit of pleas
urc con DO no more than succeed, and
this was a success. The Seine at Auteul is wide and
is spanned by stately vaduct of two tiers of arches
which stands NJ against the sky i'll picturesque
and monumental manner. Your table Is spread under
a trclls which scratches your head-spread chiefly
with fried ashland an oil man who looks like a
very heightened political exile comes and stands
before it and sings dolefu dity on the respect due
TO white hairs You testify by the bestOwal OF a
couple Of coppeTs TO the esteem with which his own
iIispre you and he is speedily replaced by lad
with one arm, who treats you to something liyelier
"a Ia bonnie hcure Pdrle--Hoide ca"
You eventually return to Paris on the top of horse
car. 1t is very different affair to 20 out and dino
at the Bots de Boulogne at the charming restaurant
course Here are no ballad-sngers, but stately
trees picturesquely grouped and making long even
ing shadows on lawn, and irrcpToachable tables.
and carriages rolling up behind gl-sopplng horses,
and depositilg all sorts of ladies. The drive back
through the wood at night is most charming, and
the GOODNESS Of the air extreme, however hot you
may be still certain to find the city.
The best thing therefore, is not to go back. |
write these lines at an inn at Hayre, before win
dow which frames the picture OF the scaward path
of the transatlantic steamers. One of the great
black ships is at this moment painted OH the canvas,
very near and beginning its outward journey. l
watch it TO the right-hand ledge of the window,
which i as far as poor sailor need be expected to
follow IT, The hotel at Havre is called for mysteri-
Gus reasons, FraScati reasons which L give up
the attempt to fathOm so undiscOyerable are Its
points of analogy with the lovely village of the
same name which ncstes among the olives OF the
Roman hills The locality has its charms however.
Ii is very agreeable for instance at the end of hot
Journey to sit down to dinner in great open cage,
hung over the Atlantic, and, while the sea breeze
cools your wine, watch the swiftly-moying ships
pass before yOu like the figures on the field OF a
magic lantern II is pleasant also to open your eyes IN
the early dawn before the light is intense, and with
ont moving your head Oh the pillow enjoy the same
clear outlook on the ocean highway. In the vague
dusk with their rapid gliding, the sailing vessels
look like the ghosts Of wrecked ships. Most sea-
ports are picturesque. and ayre is not the least so
but my enjoyment has been not of my goal, but OF
my Journey. Nv head is full of the 81 hours have
just passed at Rouen. and of the charming SAIL
down the Seine to Honneur. Rouen is city
of very ancient rcnown, and yet confess was not
prepared 10 find 50 magnificent little town. The
L.. of tbp pra-t