of classical form. A man on horseback next presented himself, carrying in his arms a boy, accoutred as Cupid appears on the stage of the Opera-house, and, lastly, the long expected beuf gras or fatted Ox; his horns were gilt, and he was led by four men, each of whom wore the costume of a Hercules, and carried in his hand a colossal club. On the back of the Ox, and reclining on a velvet cushion, sat a young child, and a second detachment of soldiers completed the cavalcade. I cannot even conjecture what this ceremony is meant to represent; though I suppose it is of heathen origin. And, if so, it is not the least curious part of the business that it should be revived in the 19th century, and on one of the festivals of the Catholic Church. in However absurd it may appear the judgment of a phlegmatic Englishman, that an exhibition so paltry as the one which I have just described, should bring together so large a proportion of the citizens of this great city, I must confess, that if it is wise to lose no opportunity, however tifling, of making ourselves innocently happy, and if the merry faces which I met in such vast numbers on this occasion did not deceive me with false appearances, the Parisians are rather to be envied than censured for being so easily amused. Indeed, one of the best traits in your national character is the facility with which you find agreeable pursuits, and the good sense you display in welcoming pleasure wherever it presents itself, no matter how humble may be the attire which it assumes. Not only on such periods of peculiar festivity as those of which I have been speak- At the gardens of Tivoli, Frescati, LETTER XXII. From the Marquis de VerMONT to SIR CHARLES DARNLEY, Bart. that whenever an expression is addressed to a Frenchman of equivocal meaning, and it is doubtful whether a compliment or a censure is meant to be conveyed, he always puts on it the most agreeable interpretation; I shall do so on this occasion, and conclude that you really think us wise in being amused with trifles. Indeed, so large a proportion of human happiness depends on the enjoyment of " cheap plea sures," that those who retain a taste for them, (particularly amidst the corruptions and dissipations of a great city) are rather to be envied, than laughed at, or condemned. Viewing the question as one in political economy, there can be no I doubt that the observance of frequent holy-days is extremely injurious to the industry, and therefore to the wealth and independance of the community; on that account I lament that our government has ́revived so many of those fetes, which the revolution had abolished; but there is a trait in the French character which renders the idleness, which such gay moments occasion, less injurious to my countrymen than to your's; I mean the extreme sobriety of all classes, generally accompanied by a natural cheerfulness of disposition, and early acquired habits of the strictest economy. unimpaired health and redoubled spirits. How differently do your good citizens of London conduct themselves on similar occasions? Here the ideas of amusement and expense are inseparable; and it never occurs to an Englishman, whatever his situation in life may be, that he can give himself the slightest gratification without a considerable drain on the contents of his purse. I lately overheard a mechanic conversing in barbarous English with a brother of the same trade, and I noted down the following words: "I spends as much on a Sunday as I gets on all the days of the week besides." Now this speech seems to express very accurately, if not very elegantly, the feelings and habits, not only of the poorer class of people, to which this man belonged, but of many of a higher order. I am assured that journeymen tailors, journeymen shoemakers, and all other persons of similar description, who receive the price of their weekly exertions on a saturday night, seldom return home to their wives and families till they have wasted a considerable portion of what they had just received at some neighbouring pot-house: the expense of the Sunday dinner, and concomitant punch or porter, makes another heavy deduction from their little stock; and when the following day appears (which is technically called St. Monday) they are too innervated, by the excesses committed in the interval, to return to work. Four and twenty hours more are devoted to idleness and barbarous excess; and while scarcely any of them begin their professional labours till Tuesday, not a few postpone their accustomed tasks till the week is far advanced. If holy-days are less frequent in London than at Paris, and if, at such times, your streets assume a less cheerful ap"Ici on danse," and where for a pearance than our's, I must beg leave few pence they may enjoy for several to remind you that Exhibitions, and hours this innocent and favourite exhibitions of no very rational kind, amusement, he makes himself and have their attractions even in Engthose around him as happy as if he land. happy as if he land. Your Lord Mayor's-show, had spent ten louis in an expensive with the barges and their flags on entertainment; and returning home the river, and the gilt coaches in the by moonlight, well pleased with his street; the man in armour and the day's excursion, he resumes his la- rest of the absurdities of that annual bours on the following morning with ceremony collect no less a crowd When a Bourgeois of Paris gives his family and himself a holy-day he only loses the time so devoted to relaxation, while he often redeems its value by greater exertion on the preceding, or following, days. A loaf of bread, a bunch of grapes, a little cold meat, (the relics of a former meal) and a bottle of 10 sous wine, packed up in a light basket, and carried by la fille (his only female servant, who accompanies and shares the pleasures of her employer) affords a delicious repast, after their morning's walk, to the merry little party, seated under the shade of an ancient oak in the Bois de Boulogne, or in the Parc of St. Cloud. And if the master of the family can afford to take his companions in the evening to one of those merry salons or public rooms, over the entrance to which appear those words, so tempting to a Frenchman's eye, in this capital than does the beuf gras at Paris; and I think you will confess that, to the eye of reason, the one pageant is just as interesting as the other. The religious rites of Christmas are performed with becoming respect; but the custom of giving on that day a plentiful dinner of roasted beef, plum pudding, and mince pies, accompanied by copious libations of punch, ale, porter, and port wine, is not less generally or less strictly observed. The Jour de l'An at Paris does not bring more people into our shops, of all descriptions, than the morning of Twelfth-day attracts into those of your London pastrycooks; and so numerous are they, and so ample is the provision of frosted cakes, covered with ornamental figures, that I really believe more money is wasted in the purchase of such indigestible articles, than we spend in procuring those elegant etrennes, or new year's gifts, which friends exchange in France, and which often consist of jewellery, china, or lace. Allow me also to remark, that British curiosity on these occasions is fully equal to our's, and that the crowds of idle gazers at the windows of your confectioners, on Twelfth-day, are not less numerous than those which you observed in the Palais Royal on the 1st of January. f Easter Monday is another festival on which the lower ranks of this great city delight to make holy-day; and on which, not satisfied with abstaining from work, they indulge in the most wanton excesses. Besides the indecent scenes exhibited by both sexes in tumbling down Greenwich-hill, and the aukward and often dangerous zeal of your citizens in joining the jovial chase on that occasion, when a stag is turned out for their amusement, the public houses of London, and the numerous inns of its environs, are thronged with riotous parties, drink ing spirits and smoking tobacco; when, after spending the morning in this manner, they adjourn to one of the theatres in the evening, where, instead of listening to the play, they amuse themselves by interrupting the performance with loud vociferations, by pelting the actors with orange-peel, or by insulting the more respectable part of the audi ence. May-day, which I shall next mention, receives honours of a peculiar kind in England, and again affords an apology for idleness and dissipation. There is such a charm in the appearance of Spring and in the ideas connected with it, that I was not surprised at remarking that on this occasion your countrymen threw off much of the gravity which they commonly mix up with their pleasures. The chimney-sweepers, decked out with pieces of gilt paper, with faded flowers and other fineries of some lady's cast apparel, playing a barbarous tune with their brushes and shovels, and dancing round a portable May-pole, presented indeed a most grotesque appearance in the centre of a civilized capital. Nor did I witness without a considerable degree of interest that singular kind of charitable hospitality, which a lady of great wealth, and distinguished literary talent, first instituted, and which her son continues to observe: I mean the dinner, al fresco, given on the occasion, in a garden attached to one of the most splendid mansions in the British metropolis, to the younger members of that sooty community, who are thus allowed to enjoy, once a year, the luxuries of the great. The smart and self-satisfied appearance of your stage-coachmen pleased me much when, in entering London, they displayed on their own bosoms, and on the heads of their horses, those numerous nosegays, which the belles of the rustic inns, at which they are in the habit of stopping, make it a practice to May day seems always to have been a day dedicated to gaiety in England. Miss Benger, in her late very interesting Life of Ann Boleyn, tells us, that on May-day it was King Henry the Eighth's pride to rise with the lark, and with a train of Courtiers, splendidly attired in white and silver, to hasten to the woods, from whence he bore home the fragrant bough in triumph. Eur. Mag. July, 1823. C present to them on that day. If the inorning of Spring was only welcomed in this manner by its proper emblem of beautiful flowers, one should scarcely complain of the idleness which it occasions; but Mayday, like every other festival in England, is celebrated not only in the open air, and with innocent pas times, but also (and much oftener) in public houses, amidst smoke, drunkenness, and noisy riot. The fairs in the neighbourhood of London, particularly that of St. Bartholomew, (which is kept in Smithfield, and consequently in the centre of the commercial part of this great city,) are not only the occasion of lost labour; but likewise of every possible excess, of every vice, and frequently of bloodshed. But in addition to the holy-days indiscriminately observed by all the natives of Great Britain, I find that the Scotch have their St. Andrew's; the Welsh their St. David's; the Irish their St. Patrick's day; and that every good patriot thinks it necessary on the return of his national festival, not only to put a thistle, a leak, or a shamrock, in his hat, but also to get drunk in honour of his patron saint. But, besides these appointed periods, I perceive that your people, in spite of all their industry, greedily seize on every opportunity of giving themselves a holy-day. On the day kept in honour of the King's Birth-day loyalty requires that they should cease from labour, and spend some hours at the public house, either in drinking long life to his Majesty, or d-n to his ministers, according to their respective politics.Apropos, on the last anniversary I know not which I most admired, the brilliant display of elegant carriages, which conveyed the great and rich to the Court of their Sovereign, or the equally splendid string of mailcoaches, drawn by the finest horses in the world, which in the evening paraded St. James's-street. When the King meets his parliament, when the anniversary of a battle gained, or a proclamation for a fast in humiliation of your sins, offers an excuse, your labouring classes throw aside their work, and making their appearance in the street, in the Park, or at the pub 66 lic house, (to repeat the phrase of my friend the mechanic) spend twice as much as they get all the week beside." But when no public solemnity occurs, a bull-bait, or a boxing match is quite sufficient to draw half the population of London to one of those barbarous sights; and whenever an Englishman goes abroad he never thinks of returning till the day is spent and his money exhausted. It grieves me to add that, though bull-baiting and boxing are both forbidden by your laws, means are found of evading them, and that such unchristian sports are not only attended and enjoyed by the lower orders of your people, but often sanctioned by the presence of peers and other persons of importance. I am aware that a distinguished statesman, now dead, who was fond of exercising his great talents in the defence of paradoxes, used to contend that the continuance of pugilism was necessary to the maintenance of your national courage; but all that his ingenuity could prove was, that it is better that two angry Britons should vent their fury in an exchange of blows, than that they should, like the fiery natives of a more southernly climate, seek revenge in the cowardly prac tice of assassination. But surely this negative kind of defence, if allowed at all, cannot justify the custom of encouraging, by pecuniary rewards, professional combatants to try their comparative strength_in pitched battles, which often end in the loss of life; a custom no less derogatory to the honour of the 19th century, than contrary to the clear precepts of that religion which we all profess. Let it be remembered also, that it was only in the decline and fall of Rome, that her tyrants taught a servile people to take delight in the effusion of human blood, by exhibiting frequently before them the horrid feats of hireling gladiators. Your races in general, and particularly those of Epsom and Egham, in consequence of their vicinity to the capital, are in their effects very injurious to your morals. I shall not go the length of saying that there is a want of humanity in teaching the generous horse to exhaust his vigour in overstrained competi tion, for it seems the nature of that noble animal to feel the love of fame and to struggle for victory; but this diversion, like every other in England, is attended with ruinous expenses. While your noblemen and gentry spend vast sums in rearing and training these beautiful but delicate creatures, and are sometimes tempted to risk the full value of a large estate, which has descended to them from a long line of ancestry, on the hazardous achievements of a favourite colt, others, who are not rich enough to keep horses themselves, are still fond of being present on these occasions as spectators; and after cheating, or being cheated on the ground, spend the rest of the day at some of the neighbouring inns in jovial parties, or in gaming at the EO. tables. In short, I think the English are just as fond of holydays as the French; but while they pay more dearly for them, they enjoy them less. A similar remark is applicable to all the convivial habits of the two countries: with us society is so essential a part of our happiness, that it requires no adventitious charm. We seek it for itself, and are led to the pursuit by no secondary consideration. You accuse us of vanity, yet, in your manner of receiving company, you shew that that passion has a much greater influence on you than on us. In deed, according to the usages of England, it seems that a man has but one alternative; to live in solitude, or to squander immense sums in giving sumptuous banquets. Need I tell you how differently we feel and act in these respects. Not only in our chateaux and provincial towns, but also in the capital, the proudest noble is not ashamed to see his relations and intimate friends at his ordinary and frugal meal; and could you come unseen into the dining-rooms of our finest hotels you would find many a cheerful party assembled round the social board, though perhaps the only dishes it contains are the usual soup and bouilli, a roast fowl, or a plate of cutlets. Now contrast this fare with the nominal family dinner of a man of small fortune in England, to which he invites those with whom he lives on terms of the closest intimacy. Though he knows they are all acquainted with his circumstances, and are aware how ill he can afford the expense, he loads his table with every costly rarity, while, in doing so, he exposes himself to very serious difficulties, and is perhaps obliged, a few days afterwards, to ask a temporary loan of one of those very guests, in receiving whom so extravagantly he wasted a larger sum than that which he is now compelled to borrow. Nor is this fault confined to their higher classes;— your tradesmen are scarcely less prodigal than your nobility and gentry. Even your mechanics are occasionally forgetful of the golden rules of economy and moderation. Scarcely a shopkeeper is to be found in London who, on a Sunday, does not either give a handsome dinner at home, partake of a similar one at a friend's house, or take a country excursion, conveying his wife or his mistress in a gig, for the driving of which one or two horses are regularly kept; while some persons of no higher station think themselves rich enough to change this humble vehicle for a barouche and four.— Such follies certainly contribute to those frequent bankruptcies which your Gazette announces, but their existence shews how difficult it is for an Englishman to separate his ideas of pleasure from those of expense. But, lest I should tire you, I will now take my leave. I think I have shewn pretty clearly, that if the Parisians spend too much time in the observance of public festivals, they share that weakness with their graver neighbours; who, not content with wasting their hours in this manner, are equally lavish of their health and money. DE VERMONT. |