- Knights
Knights and Men-at-arms cased in Mail, in the Reign of Louis le Gros, from a Miniature in a Psalter written towards the End of the Twelfth Century. - an incident
An incident - The Cook and Co Agency Cars ( Vendôme column )
For several years several agencies have been founded, which, for a modest remuneration, transport foreigners through Paris and make them aware of its monuments, its particularities, its beauties and its ugliness. - Packing ( Avenue du Bois de Boulogne)
Suddenly, without us knowing which fly bit it, one of the horses in the procession suddenly took on a disorderly pace as the combined efforts of his coachman and of his tiller's comrade failed to moderate. He does not gallop, he flies, sowing fear in timid souls, arousing the noblest inclinations of devotion in generous natures. - Results ( The Breakdown Club)
The expected shock has occurred. A carelessly driven cab, it was seen, emerging from the rue de Presbourg, did not have time to avoid the avalanche with four wheels which rolled towards him. The rear wheel of the carried tank (it broke suddenly) struck hers so that the two vehicles were instantly stopped. The lighter cab was thrown to the side while his driver was launched on the back alley. - A fire ( Place of the School of Medicine )
An impressionable porter saw smoke on his staircase. — In his zeal, he went to smash the windows of all the warnings in the neighborhood, and from all points of the horizon the firefighters rushed to the scene of the disaster, a little unsure of his exact situation. All the kids they met escorted them with long strides, while the city sergeants stopped the traffic, under the fallacious pretext of ensuring it. - An omnibus station ( Place de la Madeleine )
It is an open-air circle, without subscription, and with this advantage that women are admitted to it. It is undoubtedly for this reason that we see regulars there, who, although provided with numbers, never decide to take their place in the vehicles which succeed one another, however, without interruption. - An electric tramway ( Rue Tronchet )
The horses had scarcely begun to get used to the steam trams, their smoke and their whistles, which it was thought fit to use electricity. — It was doubtless with good intention, since these new vehicles run noiselessly and smoke-free. Nevertheless they cause the Parisian cavalry an invincible terror. — The animals, who are only half stupid, are always wary of what they cannot explain, and the sight of this car that nothing apparently does not set in motion, and which stirs however, inspires them with a distrust which does not seem completely unintelligent to me. - Midnight past ( New boulevards )
This is a serious problem. — Is the night rate applicable when you arrive home after 12:30 am, or is it necessary that the driver was picked up after that hour to be allowed to claim the price? In the current circumstance, the coachman claims the opposite, the bourgeois claims that he owes only the ordinary race, the agents are in an extreme perplexity, and the female part of the loading of the cab is moping while waiting for the solution of the conflict. - Men-posters ( Place de la Concorde )
It is noon. It's lunch time, and, as La Réclame knows that a hungry stomach has no more eyes than ears, it rests. Illuminated vehicles park lined up at the bottom of the sidewalks, while their hitches stretch their tired limbs and light the comforting cigarette. — To be immobile, these vehicles nevertheless retain their motley appearance for all, terrifying for quadrupeds, and like their daily station coincides with the return of the rides, it puts desperation the squires responsible for watching over the first steps of young Amazons, whose dismayed mounts manifest in various ways their invincible repugnance. - A refuge ( Line of large boulevards )
It is certainly the most important step that has been taken towards social reform since the new era. — The refuge adds to human rights that of being crushed only when it wants to, when it is lacking of patience, or that his physiognomy is unfriendly to the peacekeeper responsible for interrupting the movement of devices to crush the members of the poor people. - At the confectioner ( Boulevard de la Madeleine )
Foresighters did not wait until January 1 to send their gifts, but the latecomers who waited until the last moment pile up at the confectioner's and go jostle to get the obligatory bag. The unfortunate thing is that in these extreme times the supplies of renowned specialists are often exhausted, and that to meet "the requirements of the public", they sometimes find themselves in the need to replace their usual products poisonous sweets and adulterated chocolates from the nearest grocer.— " Tarde venientibus ossa, " said the poet on forgotten New Years. - At the bookstore ( Boulevard des Italiens )
Here, it is the meeting place for gourmets of intelligence, who prefer to the satisfaction of vulgar gluttony the feast of the spirit. No indigestion to fear if the chance of the title has misled you; the heaviest products have never had more serious effects than bringing sleep, sometimes anticipated, but always calm and often deep. The great advantage of this kind of gift is for the donor that it is not forced to taste it; the danger is to give, without having read it, a book which demolishes the political, religious and social tendencies of the important personage to whom he offers it for the sole purpose of making himself a protector as devoted as it is persevering. - Meeting ( Champs-Élysées )
The cyclist is generally daring — it comes from his age, his confidence in his address, the little space he needs to evolve, the speed he can get. — As a result, he throws himself with all his might, and that, if he encounters an unforeseen obstacle, he tumbles. — As long as it does not occur under the omnibuses, there is only half harm. in extreme cases, it is not yet said that it will not get away unscathed. — The Binger brake is so powerful! - An accident ( Rue de Rivoli )
The wooden pavement is sometimes slippery, - this is often the result of natural humidity; - more frequently still, this dangerous state of the roadways results from an insufficient watering which does not remove any of the refuse on which the horses skate. - These days, there are as many animals lying as standing, and without the spirit of brotherhood that leads our fellow citizens to help each other, the circulation would become decidedly impassable. - A show ( Place Vendôme )
The downpour, so impatiently awaited during certain summers, sometimes multiplies in such a way that this cataclysm becomes the daily event. — Despite this regularity, the phenomenon varies so much the hours of its appearance, and occurs with such instantaneousness, that 'he succeeds each time in surprising and flooding a satisfactory number of walkers, who had thought they could profit from a fallacious clearing. - Monceau Park
The instruction that cars must pass through this oasis intended for the recreation of children and nannies is perfectly legitimate, and we find it natural that we seek to protect future generations from any accident. But would it not be fair to demand a certain reciprocity for the safety of teams that venture there, and to prohibit these young men, so paternally protected by municipal by-laws, from launching horses such a wide variety of projectiles? - Ambulant Merchants ( Rue Montmartre )
Very sympathetic to the housewives of the district who support them against all odds, they are the masters of the road, and the heaviest vehicles are obliged to give way to them. — If an unfortunate coachman has the audacity to walk at the smallest trot , or the awkwardness of passing too close to a customer installed in the middle of the street, he is in the grip of a vocabulary which reveals the neighborhood of the halls. - Suburban train ( Gare Saint-Lazare )
Everyone, after a hard day's work, is anxious to find the freshness of a more or less vast garden, but where one has the freedom to put oneself in shirt sleeves. — It is the hour when additional edibles abound in the nets of the wagons, and where the melons combine their perfumes with those of the marolles and the emanations of the cigars expensive or cheap, but also smelly, of our national factories. - Parisian fishermen ( Quai d'Orsay )
The case sometimes arises that one of them takes a fish, - generally small; - the physiognomy of colleagues immediately expresses all the nuances of astonishment much more than the symptoms of jealousy, - which would tend to prove that no illusion supports them during their long stations, and that, far from coveting imaginary fries, they know what to expect from the probable results of their platonic passion. - The waterer of the Louis XV bridge
Few horses are driven there for the sole purpose of quenching their thirst, but the number of tired hocks that we hope to strengthen by staying in cold water is large enough for the trough to be sufficiently populated, and the hope of seeing some clumsy groom fall into the water keeps a certain number of fans of free shows on the parapets. - Bicyclists ( Carrefour d'Ermenonville )
While at the Potinière we admire the velocemen and velocewomen in possession of all the secrets of art, we only meet here the laggards studying under the eye of professionals. It is assured that the ordinarily gifted people are, after ten lessons, in a condition to direct themselves properly. But just as some students take a long time to do their law far beyond the statutory years, so we find certain temperaments refractory to equilibrium which persist in capsizing at every turn of the wheel beyond all expectations. - Return of the Races
From the weighing gate of Longchamps to the top of avenue du Bois, there is everywhere the same accumulation of cars, horses and bicycles. The lines follow one another without interruption, the noses of the horses touching the hood of the previous car and the drawbars threatening the rear of the footmen sitting behind the phaeton. Despite the impatience of some, the general resignation means that, in a relatively short time, this mass of spectators ends up flowing, which, first of all, seemed to be absolutely implausible. - A Wedding ( La Madeleine )
The crowd is generally sympathetic to weddings. The hour at which they are accomplished generally coincides with that of the lunch of the milliners and other dressmakers of the district, which their lack of dowry maintains in the state of celibates without depriving them of the desire and the hope of going up in `rank`. They constitute the fund of spectators, and their special knowledge enables them to estimate with precision the probable resources of the new spouses and their entourage. - Distributing Bread
Water-color by George Rochegrosse. - Fragment of roman aqueduct
Fragment of roman aqueduct - Remains of roman amphitheatre
Remains of roman amphitheatre, Rue Monge, discovered in 1869. - Death of Sainte-Geneviève
Sainte-Geneviève, the patron saint of the Parisians, also perpetuated with her legend on the walls of the Panthéon, originally her church but now dedicated to the Grands Hommes of the nation, was born at Nanterre, near Paris, in 422, and guarded in the fields the flocks of her parents, Sévère and Gérontia. - A Merovingian Queen
A Merovingian Queen - Armed Parisians meeting the king
Armed Parisians meeting the king, 1383 From an illuminated manuscript in the National Library, Paris. - Caroche
Caroche, covered with leather, studded with gold-headed nails, percherons; period, end of sixteenth century. - Assassination of Henry IV
Assassination of Henry IV, Rue de la Ferronnerie, may 14, 1610. - Statuette of a Gaul
Greek Statuette of a Gaul - Francis I
Charles realized that his great empire was in very serious danger both from the west and from the east. On the west of him was his spirited rival, Francis I; to the east was the Turk in Hungary, in alliance with Francis and clamouring for certain arrears of tribute from the Austrian dominions. - Louis XIV
On such terms of unrighteousness what we may call “Grand Monarchy” established itself in France. Louis XIV, styled the Grand Monarque, reigned for the unparalleled length of seventy-two years (1643-1715), and set a pattern for all the kings of Europe. At first he was guided by his Machiavellian minister, Cardinal Mazarin; after the death of the Cardinal he himself in his own proper person became the ideal “Prince.” He was, within his limitations, an exceptionally capable king; his ambition was stronger than his baser passions, and he guided his country towards bankruptcy through the complication of a spirited foreign policy, with an elaborate dignity that still extorts our admiration. - M. Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was an old journalist politician, a great denouncer of abuses, a great upsetter of governments, a doctor who had, while a municipal councillor, kept a free clinic, and a fierce, experienced duellist. None of his duels ended fatally, but he faced them with great intrepidity. He had passed from the medical school to republican journalism in the days of the Empire. In those days he was an extremist of the left. - Napoleon as Emperor
He was scheming to make himself a real emperor, with a crown upon his head and all his rivals and school-fellows and friends at his feet. This could give him no fresh power that he did not already exercise, but it would be more splendid—it would astonish his mother. What response was there in a head of that sort for the splendid creative challenge of the time? But first France must be prosperous. France hungry would certainly not endure an emperor. - Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign
Says Holland Rose, quoting Thiers, this Egyptian expedition was “the rashest attempt history records.” Napoleon was left in Egypt with the Turks gathering against him and his army infected with the plague. Nevertheless, with a stupid sort of persistence, he went on for a time with this Eastern scheme. He gained a victory at Jaffa, and, being short of provisions, massacred all his prisoners. Then he tried to take Acre, where his own siege artillery, just captured at sea by the English, was used against him. Returning baffled to Egypt, he gained a brilliant victory over a Turkish force at Aboukir, and then, deserting the army of Egypt—it held on until 1801, when it capitulated to a British force—made his escape back to France (1799), narrowly missing capture by a British cruiser off Sicily. - Napoleon’s Empire, 1810
Napoleon’s Empire, 1810 - The Flight to Varennes
One June night in 1791, between eleven o’clock and midnight, the king and queen and their two children slipped out of the Tuileries disguised, threaded their palpitating way through Paris, circled round from the north of the city to the east, and got at last into a travelling-carriage that was waiting upon the road to Chalons. They were flying to the army of the east.[439] The army of the east was “loyal,” that is to say, its general and officers at least were prepared to betray France to the king and court. Here was adventure at last after the queen’s heart, and one can understand the pleasurable excitement of the little party as the miles lengthened between themselves and Paris. Away over the hills were reverence, deep bows, and the kissing of hands. Then back to Versailles. A little shooting of the mob in Paris—artillery, if need be. A few executions—but not of the sort of people who matter. A White Terror for a few months. Then all would be well{v2-323} again. Perhaps Calonne might return too, with fresh financial expedients. He was busy just then gathering support among the German princes. There were a lot of chateaux to rebuild, but the people who burnt them down could hardly complain if the task of rebuilding them pressed rather heavily upon their grimy necks.... All such bright anticipations were cruelly dashed that night at Varennes. The king had been recognized at Sainte Menehould by the landlord of the post house, and as the night fell, the eastward roads clattered with galloping messengers rousing the country, and trying to intercept the fugitives. - Lamarck when old
Portrait of Lamarck, when old and blind, in the costume of a member of the institute, engraved in 1824. - Lamarck - Aged 35
Lamarck - Aged 35 - Birthplace of Lamarck
Birthplace of Lamarck - Lamarck
Although there has been and still may be a difference of opinion as to the value and permanency of Lamarck’s theoretical views, there has never been any lack of appreciation of his labors as a systematic zoölogist. He was undoubtedly the greatest zoölogist of his time. Lamarck is the one dominant personage who in the domain of zoölogy filled the interval between Linné and Cuvier, and in acuteness and sound judgment he at times surpassed Cuvier. His was the master mind of the period of systematic zoölogy, which began with Linné—the period which, in the history of zoölogy, preceded that of comparative anatomy and morphology. - Paris street scene
Paris street scene - Map of France, corrected by order of the king
Map of France, corrected by order of the king Desborough Cooley in his "History of Voyages," says, "They deprived her (France) of several degrees of longitude in the length of her western coast, from Brittany to the Bay of Biscay. And in the same way retrenched about half a degree from Languedoc and La Provence." These alterations gave rise to a "bon-mot." Louis the XIV., in complimenting the Academicians upon their return, remarked, "I am sorry to see, gentlemen, that your journey has cost me a good part of my kingdom!" - Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis We must now speak of two important expeditions, which ought to have settled the animated discussion as to the shape of the earth. The Academy of Sciences had despatched a mission to America, to compute the arc of the meridian at the Equator. It was composed of Godin, Bouguer, and La Condamine. It was decided to entrust a similar expedition to the North to Maupertuis. - Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc - Steel Corset worn in Catherine's time.
The most extensive and extreme use of the corset occurred in the 16th century, during the reign of Catherine de Medici of France and Queen Elizabeth of England. With Catherine de Medici a thirteen-inch waist measurement was considered the standard of fashion, while a thick waist was an abomination. No lady could consider her figure of proper shape unless she could span her waist with her two hands. To produce this result a strong rigid corset was worn night and day until the waist was laced down to the required size. Then over this corset was placed the steel apparatus shown in the illustration on next page. This corset-cover reached from the hip to the throat, and produced a rigid figure over which the dress would fit with perfect smoothness. - The ascension of Montgolfier’s balloon
It was on June 5, 1783 that Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, two French brothers, sent up the first balloon. You can just imagine the amazement it caused when it arose from the ground. - Louis XIV, for the first time, receiving his ministers
This moral depravation, naturally, extended downward to the whole court. M. Brentano, who is one of the few French historians who venture to lay disrespectful hands on the grand Roi-soleil, says: "Charles VII was the original source of the crapulous debauchery of the last Valois; he traced the way for the crimes of Louis XIV, and the turpitudes of Louis XV." This, although the higher clergy of the reigns both of Charles and of Louis Quatorze did not fail in their duty, and did denounce openly from the pulpit the sins of these all-powerful monarchs. - A Lady at Play
The court of France was, at this period, the most depraved in morals, the grossest and most unpolished in manners, of any in Europe. The women of the bourgeoisie, envious of the great ladies, called them dames à gorge nue; and the latter retaliated by designating the women of the people as grisettes, because of their gray (grises) stockings,—a name retained almost down to the present day. In the sittings of the États Généraux, the President, Miron, complained bitterly of the excesses of the nobility, the contempt for justice, the open violences, the gambling, the extravagance, the constant duels, the "execrable oaths with which they thought it proper to ornament their usual discourse." - Louis XVI on the leads of the temple
After an engraving of the period. - Femme-de-la-cour and foundling
Femme-de-la-cour (Lady of the Court) and foundling - Bonaparte and the grenadier
Bonaparte and the grenadier - Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821 - Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816
Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816 - The fifteen joys of marriage
Illustration from 'LES QUINZE JOIES DE MARIAGE,' PARIS, TREPEREL, C. 1500. - Besnier's flying apparatus
Reproduction by heliogravure of the figure from the Journal des sçavans (1678). Extract from a letter written to Mr. Toynard on a Machine of a new invention to fly in the air. A, right front aisle. — B, left rear aisle. — C, left front aisle. — D, right rear aisle. — E, fissure of the left foot which lowers the D aisle, when the left hand lowers the Aisle C. — F, fissure of the right foot which lowers the D-pin when the left hand lowers the C-pin. - Electric flying machine depicted in Le Philosophe sans pretension (1775)
We reproduce as a curiosity this charming vignette, where we see the inventor Scintilla driving his machine.