The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-10-18
LETTER FROM PARIS.
Editorial Correspondence
. PARIS, Sept. 29th, 1882.

think about lt) here In Europe is, that
when one crosses an imaginary line, he
passes at single step from one world
into another-from one race into the pre-
sence of new language and new ply
siogomy. When we step on the steamer
at Folkestone and steam for an hour and
quarter across the channel, we meet
Immediately different costume, differ
ent sounds to express the same thoughts,
different faces, different houses, different
vehicles, different landscapes, different
ideas. Or if one crosses the Rhine-all
is in moment changed again. What
are the causes which have traced SO deep
ly these differences between contiguous
nations? Is it all blood? or is it reli-
gion? or is it the physical geography? or
is it the form of government? or is it the
literature? If one will take walk in
the Latin quarter of Paris along the
quays on the river, between the Pont de
la Concorde and the Pont Neuf, or along
the Boulevard St. German, or in the vi
cinity of the Luxembourg, he will see in
the book-stalls and in the windows of the
libraries (as the book stores are called)
thousands and thousands of books (some
Of them beautiful editions), with the
prices marked on them. l have been
struck with the character of what seems
to constitute the standard authors in
France. The books exposed for sale are
very largely such authors as Voltaire,
Button, Rousseau, Hume, Diderot, Cha
teaubriand, Victor Hugo, lola, and in
Vulnerable plays and novels, with vol
umes relating to the Revolution and to
Love. There are also great numbers of
scientific books. But the standard au-
thors read by the mass of the French
people contrast strongly with the books
one sees exposed in the bookstores in
London. The reading of such books
would of itself form different race of
people. There are no religious books, of
course, but, apart from this, there is want
ing the pure, sweet tone of our English
literature. Such literature is, of course,
both cause and effect.
The very landscape in France is totally
different from the English landscape.
You see no oaks and elms, but long rows
of poplars and naples, trimmed up to the
top. The parks and gardens are very
beautiful but nature in France is ALWAYS
touched by an artificial hand, and the
effect is like the impressions made by art
rather than like those which one receives
away from the habitations of man. The
fields are beautifully cultivated, but they
lack the gentleness and tenderness of an
English landscape The architecture is
the same. Louis XIV. spent $2OO,O0O,-
900 on the Palace of Versailles equal to
81 ,00O,00O,0OO now), and what is the re-
suit? All is cold-and the immense pile
of buildings there merely strikes you by
its uniformity and its spacious areas of
stone pavement.
The gardens of the Tuileries in Paris,
and the Champs Elys6es, with all their
neatly trimmed trees and beautiful
statues, do not offer blade of grass.
And yet Paris is the most beautiful
city in Europe There is nothing in
Paris in the way of stately grandeur
equal to the aristocratic quarter in Lon
don-Grosvenor Gardens and Belgravia
generally; but there is nothing in Europe
that can compare as vista, and for
architectural effect, with the scene from
the Place de la Concorde. This, you
know, was the Place de la Revolution, and
an Egyptian obelisk in its centre marks
now the spot where the guillotine stood.
The view up the Avenue des Champs
Elys6es to the Arc de Triomphe and
down the Rue Rivoli on the right, with
the Madeleine at the end of the Rue
Royale in front, and the Chamber of Dep
uties behind-the long line of splendid
structures on the north side of the Rue
Rivoli, and the succession of the Tuileries
"a blackened ruin now, the Place du
Carrousel, and the Louvre, on the south
side of the et,-London has nothing
like this. From one Of the boats, too, Oh
the Seine, the view is superior, I think,
TO anything from the Thames. By the