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Paris As It Was and As It Is

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MARTIN. In the parts of valets, MARTIN cannot be better placed than
near ELLEVIOU, whom he seconds with skill and taste. This has led the
composers here to an innovation. Formerly, duets in the graceful
style between men were seldom heard; but the voices of ELLEVIOU and
MARTIN being perfectly adapted to each other, almost all the
composers have written for them duets in which the _cantabile_
prevails, and concerted cadences are very conspicuous. This, I
understand, is unprecedented in Paris.

MARTIN made his _début_ in 1783 at the _Théâtre de Monsieur_ in the
company of Italian buffoons. In this school he acquired that taste
which he has since propagated with zeal, if not with success. At the
present day, he is accused of loading his singing with superfluous
embellishments, or of placing them without judgment in passages or
situations where they are ill-suited. However, in _morceaux
d'ensemble_ he is quite at home, and, of course, shews himself to
great advantage. As an actor, he is by no means remarkable, though he
sometimes displays intelligence.

RÉZICOURT. He may justly be called a good comedian, without examining
his merits as a singer.

JULIET. In the newspapers, this performer is called _inimitable_. His
manner is his own; yet, perhaps, it would be very dangerous to advise
any one to imitate it. He is not deficient in intelligence, and has
the habit of the stage; but his first quality is to be extremely
natural, particularly in the parts of Peasants, which he performs
with much truth. He seems to be born a player, and though he is not a
musician, he always sings in tune and in time.

MOREAU. An agreeable person, open countenance, animation, an
ingenuous manner, and an unerring memory. He is very well placed in
young Peasants, such as _Le Bon André_ and _Lubin_ of FAVART, as well
as in the parts of Valets.


_Mixed characters of every sort_.--Tenors.

SOLIÉ, and ST. AUBIN.

SOLIÉ. He first appeared in the parts of young lovers with a tall
stature and a handsome face, but neither of them being fashioned for
such characters, he met with no applause. His voice was not very
brilliant, but his method of singing was replete with grace and
taste. For this, however, he obtained no credit; the Parisian public
not being yet accustomed to the modern or Italian style. CLAIRVAL,
the first singer at the old _Opéra Comique_, happening to be taken
suddenly ill one night, SOLIÉ undertook his part at a moment's
warning. Success crowned his temerity, and from that moment his merit
was appreciated. His best character is _Micheli_ in _Les deux
Savoyards_, in which he established his reputation. In the pieces of
which MÉHUL has composed the music, he shines by the finished manner
in which he executes it; the _cantabile_ is his fort. As an actor,
his declamation is not natural, and his deportment is too much that
of a mannerist. However, these defects are compensated by his
singing. To the music of others, he does every justice, and that
which he composes himself is extremely agreeable.

ST. AUBIN. This performer once had a good voice as a counter-tenor;
but as he now plays no other than secondary parts, one might imagine
that he is retained at the theatre only in consideration of his
wife's talents.


_Caricatures and Simpletons_.

DOZAINVILLE, and LESAGE.

DOZAINVILLE. The person of this actor is very favourable for
caricatures and the characters of simpletons, which he fills. The
meagreness of his countenance renders it very flexible; but not
unfrequently he carries this flexibility to grimace. As a singer, he
must not be mentioned.

LESAGE. He is a musician, but has little voice. He performs the parts
of simple peasants in a natural manner, but with too much uniformity.
This is is a general defect attached to those characters.--Let me
next introduce the female performers.


_First female Singers and Parts of Lovers_.

Mesdames ST. AUBIN, SCIO, LESAGE, CRÉTU,
PHILIS the elder, GAVAUDAN, and PINGENET.

Madame ST. AUBIN. She is a capital actress, though chiefly in the
parts of young girls; yet she is the main pillar of the _Opéra
Comique_. She never has been handsome, at least when closely viewed,
and is now on the wane, being turned of forty-five; but her graceful
little figure and delicate features make her appear pretty on the
stage. Neatness and _naïveté_ characterise her acting. She has
scarcely any voice, but no other songs than romances or ballads are
assigned to her. She formerly played at the Grand French Opera, where
she was applauded in noble and impassioned parts, though they are
not, in general, suited to her manner. But an actress, high in favour
with the public, is always applauded in whatever character she
appears. The pieces in which Madame ST. AUBIN excels are _Le
Prisonnier, Adolphe et Clara_, and _L'Opéra Comique_, which is the
title of a piece, as I have already mentioned.

Madame SCIO. Although she is said not to be well versed in music, she
has a very extensive and powerful voice, but its tones have little
variety. As an actress, she is very indifferent. Without being mean,
she has no nobleness of manner. Like almost all the performers
belonging to the _Opéra Comique_, she delivers ill the dialogue, or
such sentences as are not set to music. As she frequently strains her
acting, persons deficient in taste are pleased to bestow on her the
epithet of _great_ as an actress. However, she played _Médée_ in a
lyric tragedy of that name; but such a Medea was never seen! As a
singer, Madame Scio is a valuable acquisition to this theatre. In
point of person, she is neither ordinary nor handsome.

Mademoiselle LESAGE. Her singing is chaste, but destitute of that
musical energy which distinguishes great singers. She plays _les
ingénuités_ or innocent characters; but is rather a mannerist,
instead of being childish. She then employs a false voice, not at all
suited to this line of acting, in which every thing should be
natural.

Madame CRÉTU. This actress came to Paris from Bourdeaux, preceded by
a great reputation. She has been handsome: a clear voice, a good
method of singing, a becoming manner of acting, insured her success.
She is very useful at this theatre, in pieces where the _vis comica_
does not predominate.

Mademoiselle PHILIS the elder. This is a pretty pupil of the famous
GARAT. She has a clear pipe, a charming countenance, a quick eye, an
agreeable person, and some taste. She possesses as much merit as an
actress as a singer.[2]

Madame GAVAUDAN. She is admired for her pretty person, pretty voice,
and pretty carriage. No wonder then that she has greatly contributed
to the success of the little pieces in the style of _Vaudeville_,
which have been performed at this theatre.

Mesdemoiselles PINGENET. These two sisters are nothing as actresses;
but seem to aspire to the title of singers, especially the elder, who
begins to distinguish herself.


_Noble Mothers and Duennas_.

Mesdames DUGAZON, PHILIPPE, and GONTHIER.

Madame DUGAZON. Twenty years ago she enjoyed a great name, for which
she was indebted to the bad taste that then prevailed. With large
prominent eyes, and a broad flat nose, she could not be really
handsome; but she had a very animated countenance. In lyric _drames_,
she personated country-girls, chambermaids, and princesses. In the
first-named cast of parts, she had an ingenuous, open, but rustic
manner. She played chambermaids in a style bordering on effrontery.
Lastly, she represented princesses, but without any dignity, and also
women bereft of their reason. The part in which she had the most
vogue was that of _Nina_ in _La Folle par amour_. Her madness,
however, appeared not to be occasioned by the sensibility of her
heart. It was too much inclined to the sentimental cast of Sterne's
Maria.

Madame DUGAZON, who ought to have been in possession of a
considerable fortune, from the vast sums of money lavished on her by
Englishmen, is at this day reduced to perform the parts of mothers,
in which she acquits herself so as to deserve neither praise nor
censure.

Madame PHILIPPE. Under the name of DESFORGES, she shone formerly in
the part of _Marguerite_ in _Richard, coeur de lion_. Without being a
superior singer, she executes her songs with feeling.

Madame GONTHIER. This actress still enjoys the benefit of her former
reputation. She is excellent in a cast of parts become hacknied on
the stage; namely, gossips and nurses.

I have said nothing of the _doubles_ or duplicates of all these
ladies, as they are, in general, bad copies of the originals.

The choruses of the _Opéra Comique_ are not very numerous, and have
not the strength and correctness which distinguish those of the Grand
French Opera. Nor could this be expected. The orchestra has been
lately recomposed, and at present consists of a selection of
excellent performers. The scenery, decorations, and dresses are
deserving of commendation.

[Footnote 1: Or HALE, an Englishman, who wrote _Le Jugement de
Midas_, _l'Amant Jaloux_, and _Les Évenemens Imprevus_, pretty lyric
comedies, especially the last. Notwithstanding the success of his
pieces, this author is said to have died in the greatest distress.]

[Footnote 2: Not long since she set off for Russia, without apprizing
any one of her intention.]

[Footnote 3: The commissioner, appointed by the government to
superintend the proceedings of this theatre, has since been replaced
by a _Prefect of the Palace_, whose authority is much the same as
that exercised when each of the principal theatres in Paris was under
the inspection of a _Lord of the Bedchamber_.]



LETTER LIX.

_Paris, January 29, 1802._

Whenever the pen of an impartial writer shall trace the history of
the French revolution, through all its accompanying vicissitudes, it
will be seen that this country owed its salvation to the _savans_ or
men of science. The arts and sciences, which were revived by their
zeal and courage, united with unceasing activity to pave the way to
victories abroad, and repair mischiefs at home. Nor can it be denied,
that every thing which genius, labour, and perseverance could create,
in point of resources, was employed in such a manner that France was
enabled, by land, to make head against almost all Europe, and supply
her own wants, as long as the war lasted.

The _savans_ who had effected such great things, for some time
enjoyed unlimited influence. It was well known that to them the
Republic was indebted for its safety and very existence. They availed
themselves of this favourable moment for insuring to France that
superiority of knowledge which had caused her to triumph over her
enemies. Such was the origin of the

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.

This establishment had a triple object; namely, to form engineers for
the different services; to spread in civil society enlightened men,
and to excite talents which might promote the sciences. Nothing was
neglected that could tend to the accomplishment of a destination so
important.

It was, in fact, time to reorganize the instruction of corps destined
for public services, the greater part of which were wholly deficient
in this respect. Some of them, it is true, had particular schools;
but instruction there was feeble and incomplete. That for military
engineers at _Mézieres_, the best conducted of all, and which
admitted twenty pupils only, had suspended its exercises, in
consequence of the revolution. Necessity had occasioned the formation
of a provisionary school, where the pupils received rapidly the first
notions of the attack and defence of places, after which they were
sent to the armies.

Such institutions neither answered the exigencies of the State, nor
conduced to its glory. Their weakness was, above all, likely to be
felt by men habituated to general ideas, and whose minds were still
more exalted, and views enlarged, by the revolution. Those men wished
that the new _School for Public Works_ should be worthy of the
nation. Their plan was extensive in its object, but simple in its
execution, and certain in its results.

The first law concerning the _Central School for Public Works_, since
called the _Polytechnic School_, was made on the 20th of Ventôse year
II. (10th of March 1794). From that moment, much zeal was manifested
in making the necessary arrangements for its formation. On the report
made to the National Convention respecting the measures taken on this
subject, on the 7th of Vendémiaire year III (28th of September 1794)
a decree was passed, directing a competition to be opened for the
admission of four hundred pupils into this school. The examination
was appointed to take place in twenty-two of the principal towns. The
candidates were to answer in arithmetic and the elements of algebra
and geometry. Those admitted received the allowance of military
officers for their travelling expenses to Paris. They were to have
annually twelve hundred francs, and to remain in the school three
years, after which they were to be called to the different Public
Services, when they were judged capable of performing them; and
priority was to depend on merit. These services were the duty of
military engineers, naval engineers, or ship-builders, artillerists,
both military and naval, engineers of bridges and highways,
geographical engineers, and engineers of mines, and to them were
added the service of the pupils of the school of aërostation, which
GUYTON MORVEAU had caused to be established at Meudon, for the
purpose of forming the aërostatic company destined for manoeuvring
air-balloons, applied to the art of war, as was seen at _Maubeuge_,
_Fleurus_, _Aix-la-Chapelle_, &c.

However, the conception of this project was far more easy than its
execution. It was doing little to choose professors from among the
first men of science in Europe, if their lessons were not fixed in
the mind of the pupils. Being unable to communicate them to each
pupil in private, they stood in need of agents who should transmit
them to this numerous assemblage of youth, and be, as it were, the
nerves of the body. To form these was the first object.

Among the young men who had presented themselves at the competition,
twenty of the most distinguished were selected. Philosophical
instruments and a chemical laboratory were provided for them, and
they were unremittingly exercised in every part of the plan which it
was resolved to execute. These pupils, the greater part of whom had
come from the schools for Public Service, felt the insufficiency of
the instruction which they had there received. Eager to learn, their
mind became inflamed by the presence of the celebrated men who were
incessantly with them. The days sufficed not for their zeal; and in
three months they were capable of discharging the functions for which
they were intended.

Nor was this all. At a time when opinion and power might change from
one moment to another, much risk was incurred if a definitive form
was not at once given to the _Polytechnic School_. The authors of
this vast project had seen the revolution too near not to be sensible
of that truth. But they wished first, by a trial made on a grand
scale, to insure their method, class the pupils, and shew what might
be expected from them. They therefore developed to them, in rapid
lectures, the general plan of instruction.

This plan had been drawn up agreeably to the views of men the best
informed, amongst whom MONGE must be particularly mentioned. He had
been professor at _Mezières_, and had there given the first lessons
of descriptive geometry, that science so useful to the engineer. The
enumeration of the various parts of instruction was reduced to a
table, printed by order of the Committee of Public Safety. It
comprehends mathematics, analysis applied to descriptive geometry and
to the mechanism of solids and fluids, stereotomy, drawing, civil
architecture, fortification, general physics, chymistry, mineralogy,
and their application to the arts.

In three months, the work of three years was explained. A real
enthusiasm was excited in these youths on finding themselves occupied
by the sublimest ideas which had employed the mind of man. Amidst the
divisions and animosities of political party, it was an interesting
sight, to behold four hundred young men, full of confidence and
friendship, listening with profound attention to the lectures of the
celebrated _savans_ who had been spared by the guillotine.

The results of so great an experiment surpassed the most sanguine
expectations. After this preliminary instruction, the pupils were
divided into brigades, and education took the course it was intended
should follow.

What particularly distinguishes this establishment, is that the
pupils not only receive oral lessons, but they must give in written
solutions, present drawings, models, or plans for the different
parts, and themselves operate in the laboratories.


On the 1st of Germinal year III (22d of March 1795) the annual
courses were commenced. They were then distributed for three years,
but at this day they last two only. At the same time a decree was
passed, regulating the number of professors, adjuncts, ushers, the
holding of the meetings of the council of instruction and
administration, the functions of the director, administrator,
inspector of the studies, secretary of the council, librarian,
keepers of the collection of drawings, models, &c.

Since that epoch, the _Polytechnic School_, often attacked, even in
the discussions of the _Legislative Body_, has maintained its ground
by the impression of the reputation of the men who act there as
professors, of the depth of the knowledge which makes the object of
their lessons, and of the youths of superior talent who issue from it
every year. The law which after many adjournments, has fixed its
existence is dated the 25th of Frimaire year VIII (16th of December
1799.)

The most important changes introduced, are the determination of the
age to be received into this school, which is from sixteen to twenty,
the reduction of the pupils to the number of three hundred, the rank
which is given them of serjeant of artillery of the first class,
their pay fixed on the same footing, together with a fund of
assistance for those labouring under difficulties, the obligation to
wear a uniform, the establishment of a council of improvement,
composed of three members of the National Institute, of examiners, of
a general-officer or superior agent of each of the branches of the
Public Service, of the director, and four commissioners taken from
the council of instruction.

This council assembles every year, inquires into the state of the
school, proposes its views of amelioration, respecting every
department, and makes a report to the government. One of its
principal functions is to harmonise the instruction with that of the
Schools of Engineers, Artillery, &c. into which the pupils enter
after the final examination they undergo previously to their
departure.

After this, to judge of the advantages of the _Polytechnic School_,
it is sufficient to cast an eye on the printed reports, which present
an account of the persons it furnishes to the different services, of
those who have been taken from it for the expedition to Egypt, for
the corps of _aspirans de la marine_ or midshipmen, for entering into
the line vith the rank of officers, or into the department of
commissaries of war, (into which they are admitted after their
examination if no places are vacant in the Schools for Public
Service), of those who have been called on to profess the sciences in
the central schools (Lyceums) of the departments, some to fill the
first professors' chairs in Paris, such as at the _Collège de France_
and the _École Polytechnique_, of those, in short, who have quitted
this school to introduce into the manufactories the knowledge which
they had acquired. The last-mentioned circumstance has always been a
consideration for carrying the number of pupils beyond the presumable
wants of the different Public Services.

You see that this is no more than a summary of what might be said
and collected from the journals of the _Polytechnic School_, (which
already form four volumes in 4to. independently of the classic works
published by the professors), for giving a complete history of this
interesting establishment, which attracts the notice of foreigners of
all nations. BONAPARTE takes no small interest in the labours of the
_Polytechnic School_, and has often said that it would be difficult
to calculate the effects of the impulse which it has given towards
the mathematical sciences, and of the aggregate of the knowledge
imparted to the pupils.

The _Polytechnic School_, which is under the authority of the
Minister of the Interior, occupies an extensive range of building,
formerly known by the name of _Le petit Palais Bourbon, contiguous to
the _Palais du Corps Legislatif_. The different apartments contain
every thing necessary for the elucidation of the arts and sciences
here taught; but the pupils reside not at the school: they lodge and
board with their friends, on the salary allowed them by the nation,
and repair thither only for the prosecution of their studies.



LETTER LX.

_Paris, January 30, 1802._

To judge from the records of the Old Bailey, one would conclude that,
in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, London must contain a
greater number of dishonest persons of both sexes than any metropolis
in Europe. But, though more notorious thieves and daring robbers may
perhaps, be found in London than in many other great cities, yet I
will venture to affirm that Paris contains more

PICKPOCKETS AND SHARPERS.

However superior too our rogues may be in boldness, I apprehend that,
in dexterity, they are far inferior to those to be met with among our
neighbours. To elude a more vigilant inspection, the latter are
compelled to exert more art and cunning. In this dissipated capital,
which is a grand theatre where they can display all their talent, and
find a greater number of dupes, adventurers and swindlers of every
description have long been famous; but it should seem that the
females here of that stamp deserve to be no less celebrated.

Not many years ago, I heard of an English lady of quality being
detected in the very act of secreting a quantity of valuable lace, to
which she had taken a particular fancy at a great haberdasher's in
Pall-Mall. It was said that she endeavoured to exculpate herself for
this inadvertency on the ground of being in a pregnant state, which
had produced an irrisistible longing. However this may be, she might
here have got a lesson, as will appear from the following instance of
ingenuity very lately practised by one of her own sex.

In the _ci-devant Palais Royal_, a haberdasher of note keeps a shop
where the highest-priced articles of female wear are exhibited,
immediately on coming from the hands of the manufacturer or inventor.

The other day, a lady somewhat turned of thirty, of genteel
appearance and engaging address, entered this shop, and asked to see
some white lace veils. Several were shewn to her at the price of from
twenty-five to fifty louis each. These not being sufficiently rich to
please her taste, others more costly were produced, and she fixed on
one of eighty louis in value. Standing before a glass, she
immediately put on this veil _à la réligieuse_, that is, in the form
of the hood of a nun's dress. Then taking from her bosom her little
purse, she found it to contain no more than twenty louis in
bankpaper, which she paid to the haberdasher as a deposit for the
veil, at the same time desiring him to send one of his men with her
to her _homme d'affaires_ or agent, in order that he might bring back
the other sixty.

As a Parisian tradesman is always extremely glad to get rid of his
goods, she had no difficulty in carrying her point; and, having
selected from among the shopmen a shamefaced youth of eighteen, took
him with her in the hackney-coach which she had kept in waiting. She
gave the coachman her orders, and away he drove to a famous
apothecary's, in the _Rue St. Honoré_. "This," said she to the
shopman, "is the residence of my _homme d'affaires_: follow me, and
you shall have your money." She accordingly alighted, and, after
saying a few words in the ear of the doctor, on whose credulity she
had already exercised her genius, desired him to take the young man
to his private room, and settle the business, while she remained to
chat with his wife.

The unsuspecting youth, seeing the lady on such terms of intimacy in
the family, made no hesitation to follow the doctor to a
back-parlour, where, to his extreme surprise, he was closely
questioned as to his present state of health, and the rise and
progress of the disorder which he had caught through his own
imprudence. The more he denied the circumstance, the more the
doctor persisted in his endeavours to procure ocular demonstration.
The latter had previously locked the door, having been apprized by
the lady that her son was exceedingly bashful, and that stratagem,
and even a certain degree of violence, perhaps, must be employed
to obtain evidence of a complaint, which, as it injured her
_dear boy's_ constitution, disturbed her own happiness and peace
of mind. The doctor was proceeding to act on this information,
when the young shopman, finding his retreat cut off, vociferously
demanded the sixty louis which he was come to receive in payment
for the veil. "Sixty louis in payment for a veil!" re-echoed the
doctor. "Your mother begged me to examine you for a complaint which
you have inconsiderately contracted in the pursuit of pleasure." The
_dénouement_ now taking place, the two dupes hastened back to the
shop, when they found that the lady had decamped, having previously
discharged the coach, in order that she might not be traced by the
number.

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