_Rue de la Grosse-Horloge_, No. 12: but at present carries on trade in one
of the out-skirting streets of the town. I was told that the premises he
now occupies were once an old church or monastery, and that a thousand
fluttering sheets are now suspended, where formerly was seen the solemn
procession of silken banners, with religious emblems, emblazoned in colours
of all hues. I called at the old shop, and supplied myself with a dingy
copy of the _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque Bleue_--from which catalogue
however I could purchase but little; as the greater part of the old books,
several of the _Caxtonian stamp_, had taken their departures. It was from
this Catalogue that I learnt the precise character of the works destined
for common reading; and from hence inferred, what I stated to you a little
time ago, that _Romances, Rondelays_, and chivalrous stories, are yet read
with pleasure by the good people of France. It is, in short, from this
lower, or _lowest_ species of literature--if it must be so designated--that
we gather the real genius, or mental character of the ordinary classes of
society. I do assure you that some of these _chap_ publications are
singularly droll and curious. Even the very rudiments of learning, or the
mere alphabet-book, meets the eye in a very imposing manner--as in the
following facsimile.

[Illustration]

_Love, Marriage_, and _Confession_, are fertile themes in these little
farthing chap books. Yonder sits a fille de chambre, after her work is
done. She is intent upon some little manual, taken from the _Bibliothèque
Bleue_. Approach her, and ask her for a sight of it. She smiles, and
readily shews you _Catéchisme à l'usage des Grandes Filles pour être
Mariées; ensemble la manière d'attirer les Amans_. At the first glance of
it, you suppose that this is entirely, from beginning to end, a wild and
probably somewhat indecorous manual of instruction. By no means; for read