I Need Not Mention The Machine At
This Place For Raising Water, Because I Know You Are Well
Acquainted With
Its construction; nor shall I say any thing more
of the city of Paris, but that there is a new
Square, built upon
an elegant plan, at the end of the garden of the Thuilleries: it
is called Place de Louis XV. and, in the middle of it, there is a
good equestrian statue of the reigning king.
You have often heard that Louis XIV. frequently regretted, that
his country did not afford gravel for the walks of his gardens,
which are covered with a white, loose sand, very disagreeable
both to the eyes and feet of those who walk upon it; but this is
a vulgar mistake. There is plenty of gravel on the road between
Paris and Versailles, as well as in many other parts of this
kingdom; but the French, who are all for glare and glitter, think
the other is more gay and agreeable: one would imagine they did
not feel the burning reflexion from the white sand, which in
summer is almost intolerable.
In the character of the French, considered as a people, there are
undoubtedly many circumstances truly ridiculous. You know the
fashionable people, who go a hunting, are equipped with their
jack boots, bag wigs, swords and pistols: but I saw the other day
a scene still more grotesque. On the road to Choissi, a fiacre,
or hackney-coach, stopped, and out came five or six men, armed
with musquets, who took post, each behind a separate tree.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 139 of 535
Words from 37293 to 37557
of 143308
