coffee, surmounted by a bell--which "ever and anon" is sounded for the sake
of attracting customers. He is here copied to the life.

[Illustration]

As you pass along this animated scene, by the side of the rapid Seine, and
its _Bridge of Boats_, you cannot help glancing now and then down the
narrow old-fashioned streets, which run at right angles with the
quays--with the innumerable small tile-fashioned pieces of wood, like
scales, upon the roofs--which seem as if they would be demolished by every
blast. The narrowness and gloom of these streets, together with the bold
and overwhelming projections of the upper stories and roofs, afford a
striking contrast to the animated scene upon the quays:--where the sun
shines with full freedom, as it were; and where the glittering streamers,
at innumerable mast-heads, denote the wealth and prosperity of the town. If
the day happen to be fine, you may devote half a morning in contemplating,
and mingling with, so interesting a scene.

We have had frequent thunder-storms of late; and the other Sunday evening,
happening to be sauntering at a considerable height above the north-west
Boulevards, towards the _Faubourg Cauchoise_, I gained a summit, upon the
edge of a gravel pit, whence I looked down unexpectedly and precipitously
upon the town below. A magnificent and immense cloud was rolling over the
whole city. The Seine was however visible on the other side of it, shining
like a broad silver chord: while the barren, ascending plains, through
which the road to Caen passes, were gradually becoming dusk with the
overshadowing cloud, and drenched with rain which seemed to be rushing down
in one immense torrent. The tops of the Cathedral and of the abbey of St.
Ouen were almost veiled in darkness, by the passing storm; but the lower
part of the tower, and the whole of the nave of each building, were in one