Tableau de Paris is a popular book, even in Paris itfelf; and that Frenchmen fhould acknowledge, that though the description be exaggerated, the fatire is juft. It is impoffible for criticifm fully to defcribe the rich vein of -Tony that runs through the whole of this entertaining performance, of which we shall endeavour to give our Readers fome idea, by tranflating a few paffages which principally fixed our attention on the perufal. In Vol. II. p. 40, the Author expatiates on what he calls, "the idol of Paris, le joli," which we muft tranflate by a word very inadequate "the pretty.". I undertake to prove that the pretty forms, in art as well as in nature, the perfection of the beautiful and fublime; that the advantage of being amiable exceeds all other advantages; and that the people who are intitled to the denomination of the pretty, ought to be regarded, without oppofition, as the first na tion of the univerfe. I write for the men-women of Paris. The world have hitherto entertained a very fallacious notion concerning the univerfal object of human admiration. They admire nature; which is not, however, really admirable till corrected and embellished by art. The works of nature are fometimes mutilated; but this, it is well known, only renders them more graceful. Grace is the laft quality that can be given to fine things. Would we finish an edifice, a picture, an inftrument, we add thefe ornaments from which it receives its worth. It is the fame in manners; which only become agreeable in proportion as they become refined. Barbarous nation's naturally catch the fublime, as the ardent eye of the Arab feizes the fhade of a tree in the midst of the burning defert. In the rude ages of fociety men do great things; but without knowing what they do they act only from inftinct. In effect, what is the fublime a perpetual exaggeration, a Coloffus built by ignorance, and admired by folly. The most favage people produce, without effort, this wonderful fublime fo much talked of by the vulgar; the rudenefs of pathon is alone fufficient to create it. They defcribe, with rapture, the rifing and fetting fun; they view, with extafy, the ftarry heaven; they flowly walk along the shore of the fea, and admire the majestic waves which beat the founding beach; they adore the phantom of liberty, for which their folly is ready to fight and to die; they reject a fmiling fervitude, the mother of enchanting pleafure; delightful flate! which confines us with golden and filken cords, only to keep us within the circle of ever varying amufements. In thofe rude times, men ignorantly reject the defpotifm of kings, and ftupidly forego the fight of a brilliant court, which unites the most ingenious gallantry to the most elegant productions of art and tafte. They pafs their infipid life without painters, fta tuaries, tuaries, muficians, cooks, and confectioners; their manners difplay a gigantic courage, and all the pedantry of fevere virtue; their houfes are more fpacious than convents; their diverfions, public and private, bear the impreffion of a mafculine character; all is great and tire fome, Women are banished from fociety, and kindle the flame of love only in the breast of their husbands. Inftead of difputing the favour of the other fex, they are fatisfied with giving children to the republic, with guarding their tender years, and with governing the domeftic economy of their families. The authority of parents and bufbands (names juftly ridiculous among us) enjoys its ftern privileges. Marriages are fruitful; in fine, a ferious uniformity of living is the prevailing character of fuch a people, who can fcarcely be diftinguished from Bears, But when a ray of reafon brightens their ignorance, they quit this impofing and filent gravity; they begin to cut, to fhape, and to form judgment creates rules, delicacy creates the pretty, which is above them. Our tables are no longer loaded with enormous chines of oxen, boars, and tags. Our princeffes do not wash linen, neither do they fpin. Our heroes (if perchance they eat) flightly graze the wing of a pheasant or a partridge; feveral live intirely on chocolate and fweatmeats, The vulgar joys of wine they defpife; and, instead of quaffing the generous bowl, fip delicate liquors, whofe tafte is ennobled by a delightful and refined poifon. The nervous arm, the oftrich stomach, the brawny mufcle, are only to be found in the fair St. Germain, In this happy age, a certain eafe is diffufed over the whole. commerce of life; every object is embellifhed, and every day produces new diverfions to difpel the horrors of eternal liftle nefs. The tone of good company is, in fine, introduced, that laft accomplishment of whatever is moft perfect; and the head-drefs becomes the capital and important business of fociety. Love is not that confuming flame which extorted tears from Achilles, and impelled the wandering heroes of Romanà over mountains and forefts. That dangerous paffion is now only a matter of vanity; and the merit of our females is appreciated by the num ber and rank of their lovers. The fentiments which inflamed the imagination of our melancholy ancestors, are fcarcely thought deferving even of ridicule. Thote fublime ideas, that daring enthusiasm, which is connected with bold thoughts, and which forms great mes, is confined to antiquated books, whofe value is estimated, not by their intrinfic elevation and force; but by the external ornaments of ftyle and expreffion. M. de la Harpe *The French is ennui, for which we have, happily, no adequate explanation. Q 3 will will tell us, that the works of Milton, Danté, Shakspeare, &e. are monftrous writings. The writings of the Academician, it is true, have nothing of this monftrofity. • The beautiful itself, that polished, but cold and inanimate beauty, which never fpeaks to the heart, is regarded as an intellectual image, framed only to please the dreams of philofophers. But the pretty is fubftituted in its place. The pretty touches all the fenfes; is always agreeable; its caprices are moft charming. Behold thofe exquifite miniatures; those brittle wonders; which owe their worth to their weakness; the eye contemplates them with timid anxiety, and the fancy conceives nothing more precious. Let our imagination transport into the middle of our city one of thofe men who formerly peopled the forefts of Germany, and who fometimes appear, to our aftonishment, under the name of Tartars and Hungarians, you will perceive a lofty ftature, brawny limbs, a broad and firm cheft, a face covered with the auguft marks of virility. The agility of fuch a man is equal to his ftrength; his fortitude defpifes hunger and thirft; he braves the enemy, the seasons, and death. By way of contraft, let us place by his fide that amiable coxcomb, whom the Graces careffed at his birth. He exhales, at a diftance, an `ambrofial odour; his fmile is fweet, his eyes are lively; his chin fcarcely wears the impreffion of manhood; his limbs are elegantly deli cate, and the nimble agility of his flender arms is adapted, not to endure the labours of Mars, but to pillage, with dexterity, the treasures of love. The sparkling fally mantles on his rofy lips; he flutters like the bee around the cup of flowers, and fhudders at the breeze, which difcomposes the lofty edifice of his creft; his impatience scarcely fixes on an idea, and his fancy is ftill more frisking and airy than his form. Pronounce, then, my gentle countrymen, which of the two deserves your preference? Acknowledge that the former would throw you into con vulfions of fear, while the latter daily affords you transports of pleasure. 'Let us proceed to the arts. The faithful representation of ftrong paffions may be allowed to vary the majestic monotony which reigns in our public theatres. But in our private entertainments, we employ the time more agreeably than in reciting the tragic scenes of the frightful Shakspeare or the plaintive Euripides. The rhyming trifler, the fportive fongfter, are juftly preferred to all the other natives of Parnaffus. Light Anacreons of the day! who rival, or think you rival, the old encomiast of Bathyllus, pour forth your frivolous ftrains, and extinguith the divine fire of Plato, the fublimity of Homer, and of all who would catch the flame of inspiration from those fuperior minds. Happy nation! who have pretty apartments, pretty furniture, pretty pretty trinkets, pretty women, and pretty productions in verse and profe; and who know to fet a juft value on this accumulation of prettiness. May you long profper in your pretty ideas, and bring to perfection that pretty perfifflage which has gained you the esteem of all the petits-maitres in Europe! Soft be your repose; and always combed and powdered with propriety, may you never wake from that pretty dream which composes the flimfy texture of your frivolous existence !' Vol. 261, in the article Nouvellifies, or newsmongers, we have the following obfervations: A group of newfmongers, canvaffing the political interefts of Europe, form a common picture in the fhady walks of the Luxemburgh garden. They fettle the affairs of kingdoms, regulate the finances of fovereigns, and diftribute fleets and armies over the north and fouth. What muft aftonish every fenfible and well-informed man is, the shame. ful ignorance of thefe loquacious idlers, in the character, force, and political fituation of England. It is true, that, in gilded palaces, the converfation on this fubject is not lefs abfurd. The French, in general, treat Englishmen, when abfent, with a degree of infolence and contempt which renders themselves contemptible. They believe, as an article of faith, whatever is faid in the Gazette of France; although that Gazette, by its continual omiffions, lies most impudently in the face of all Europe. A Parifian will maintain that France, when the pleafes, may fubdue England; make a defcent on London; and prohibit the natives from the navigation of the Thames. This is the style of men who reason well enough on other fubjects. Nobles, princes, men of letters, all adopt the prejudices of the vulgar; and when they talk of the British conftitution, argue as abfurdly as the journalist, who criticises Milton and Shakspeare without understanding a word of the English language.' M. Mercier is the declared enemy of Neckar. Under the chapter ANNUITANTS (Vol. I. p. 143), a clafs of men greatly increased by that minifter, he defines a rentier, or annuitant, one who has made the King his univerfal legatee, and fold his friends and his pofterity at the rate of 10 per cent. How can a wife government encourage the numerous and incredible evils which refult from this practice? Idlenefs rewarded, friendfhip diffolved, the ties of blood broken asunder, celibacy authorifed, and selfishness triumphant.' We could tranflate with pleasure our Author's obfervations on ftyle, conversation, the tone of good company, the French Academy, and many other fubjects, which we would recommend to the perufal of fuch of our Readers as would complete themselves in the education recommended by Lord Chefterfield, and learn (what is the perfection of good breeding) to treat trifles with importance, and matters of importance as trifles.. Q4 trifles. To them who doubt the foundnefs of his Lordship's ideas, and the juftness of his principles, the Picture of Paris, faithfully delineated, will afford an agreeable entertainment, by fhowing, with the torch of ridicule, the littlenefs of vanity, the meanness of pride, the emptiness of affectation; and by explaining the reafon of a fact univerfally acknowledged in Europe, that a French Fat is only ridiculous, while an English coxcomb is deteftable.' GJ MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For SEPTEMBER, 1781. POETICAL. Art. 9 A Perfian Epiftle from Solim, Chief Eunach at the T is obvious to every serious and impartial Reader that the max. ims of Thelyphthora agrée infinitely better with the Koran of Mohammed than the Gofpel of Jefus Chrift, and would better fuit the warm climates of the Eaft than the more temperate regions of the weflern world. They agree better too with the defpotifm of Turkey and Perfia, than the equitable conftitution of a free country; and will only be adopted where women are confidered as the flaves, and not the companions, of men. Our ingenious Poet hath caught this idea, and, in our opinion, made a good ufe of it, in order to expofe the licentious and tyrannic principles of Thelyphthora. To you who graft on Christian plan The doctrines of our Alcoran, And unembarrass'd, unperplext, Start from the fenfe to prove your text, With lowly reverence I bend : Thrice bail, Mohammed's learned friend! |