the side of it. It is really a stupendous affair.[15] On entering the
temporary shed erected for its construction, on the site of the Bastille, I
was almost breathless with astonishment for a moment. Imagine an enormous
figure of the unwieldy elephant, _full fifty feet high!_ You see it, in the
front, foreshortened--as you enter; and as the head is the bulkiest portion
of the animal, you may imagine something of the probable resulting effect.
Certainly it is most imposing. The visitor, who wishes to make himself
acquainted with the older, and more original, national character of the
French--whether as respects manners, dresses, domestic occupations, and
public places of resort--will take up his residence in the _Rue du Bac_, or
at the _Hotel des Bourbons_; within twenty minutes walk of the more curious
objects which are to be found in the Quartiers Saint André des Arcs, du
Luxembourg, and Saint Germain des Près. Ere he commence his morning
perambulations, he will look well at his map, and to what is described, in
the route which he is to take, in the works of Landon and of Legrand, or of
other equally accurate topographers. Two things he ought invariably to bear
in mind: the first, not to undertake too much, for the sake of saying how
_many_ things he has seen:--and the second, to make himself thoroughly
master of what he _does_ see. All this is very easily accomplished: and a
fare of thirty sous will take you, at starting, to almost any part of
Paris, however remote: from whence you may shape your course homewards at
leisure, and with little fatigue. Such a visitor will, however, sigh, ere
he set out on his journey, on being told that the old Gothic church of _St.
André-des-Arcs_--the Abbey of _St. Victor_--the churches of the
_Bernardins_, and of _St. Etienne des Près_, the _Cloisters_ of _the
Cordeliers_, and the _Convent of the Celestins_ ... exist no longer ... or,
that their remains are mere shadows of shades! But in the three quarters of
Paris, above mentioned, he will gather much curious information--in spite
of the havoc and waste which the Revolution has made; and on his return to
his own country he will reflect, with pride and satisfaction, on the result