Old and New Paris Part 35

One day M. Vedl, treasurer of the Theatre Francais, went to the Salle Moliere to see a soubrette whom his manager thought of engaging. He was about to leave the theatre, when Saint-Aulaire begged him to remain in order to see a pupil who had not yet appeared, and of whom he entertained the greatest hopes. This, of course, was little Rachel, who was about to play the part of Hermione in _Andromaque_. She resembled none of the other pupils whom the emissary from the Theatre Francais had seen. She was small in stature and had a hard, almost a harsh voice; which, however, was firm and impressive, and, when the young girl became excited, almost musical. After the performance, M. Vedl complimented the young actress, and promised to do his best for her at the important theatre with which he was connected. He at once spoke of her to M.

Jouslin de La Salle, director of the Francais, who, after seeing her in _Tancrede_, arranged a special performance, which was attended, in the character of judges, by M. Samson and Mlle. Mars. "She is too short," objected one of the party. "She will grow," replied Mlle. Mars significantly; and on the recommendation of the manager of the Theatre Francais she was admitted to the Conservatoire.

Rachel entered the cla.s.s directed by M. Samson, one of the princ.i.p.al actors of the Theatre Francais, and under his tuition made rapid progress. Tempted, however, by an engagement offered to her at the Gymnase, she soon left the Conservatoire for that theatre, where she achieved a certain success as Suzette in Scribe's _Mariage de Raison_.

The experiment, however, was not altogether satisfactory, and she returned to the Conservatoire, and remained until May, 1838, when, on the recommendation of M. Samson, she was engaged at the Theatre Francais. Her first appearance there, as Camille in _Les Horaces_, took place on the 12th of June in this same year. She was then but sixteen years old, and only moderately pretty. Short for her age, she had the further disadvantage of being marked with the small-pox. With narrow chin, high cheek-bones, and a projecting forehead, she had brilliant, expressive eyes, at once thoughtful and full of fire. The pose of her head was admirable, and all her gestures were marked by dignity and distinction. Calm and self-contained throughout the greater part of the performance, she never abandoned herself to her emotion even while expressing the most ardent pa.s.sion. There was intensity in all she did, and so novel, so individual was her style that she inspired her audience with the strongest personal admiration. She had now established her position at the greatest theatre in Europe; but it was at the little Salle Moliere that she had first learned to act.

In the immediate neighbourhood, on the ancient territory of the Abbaye Saint-Martin, stands the Church of St. Nicholas-in-the-Fields, where the mayor or bailiff of the abbaye resided. Dating from the twelfth century, this church was rebuilt in 1420, and underwent various processes of modification and reconstruction until it received its definite form in 1576. Every style, from the Gothic of Charles VI. to the Neo-Roman of Henri III., has left its imprint in the highly composite architecture of this church, said to be the longest and the broadest in all Paris.

In one of the chapels of the nave, dedicated to Saint Martin, is a picture which represents Saint Martin curing the leper by taking him in his arms; and the inscription sets forth that the priory of Saint Nicholas-in-the-Fields was founded on the spot where this miracle took place. In the fields of this church lie buried the philosopher Ga.s.sendi, and the historians Henri and Adrien de Valois, together with Malle de Scudery, who wrote the once celebrated novels, "Le Grand Cyrus" and "Clelie."

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUE DE VENISE.]

Under the Revolution the Church of Saint Nicholas-in-the-Fields was converted into "The Temple of Hymen." Most of the property belonging to the religious community of Saint-Martin was sold by the Revolutionary Government. On a portion of what remained was built the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, which was created by a decree of the year 1794, though it did not finally take form until four years afterwards. The building, as it now exists, was partly restored, partly reconstructed, between the years 1852 and 1862, by M. Vandoyer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. NICHOLAS-IN-THE-FIELDS.]

The "arts and crafts," until the time of the Revolution, formed close corporations of their own. The origin of these unions and guilds was very remote. In the middle ages the rules on the subject of apprentices.h.i.+p were most severe; and after seven years' subjection to a master the artisan became only a "companion" or varlet, and could still work only under the direction of a full member of the guild. To pa.s.s as master it was necessary for a "companion" to produce a masterpiece and to pay, moreover, certain dues, onerous for a mere workman; which forced a great number of these varlets to remain in their original condition. The corporations of arts and crafts were governed by a number of edicts which regulated not only the quality and quant.i.ty of the work to be done, but prescribed methods of manufacture, and provided for the settlement of disputes between artisans and merchants, or artisans and private persons engaging their services. These strange organisations had the worst effect in an economical sense, and many endeavours were made long before the Revolution to destroy the monopolies they created. In 1776, thirteen years previously to the Revolution, the corporations of arts and crafts were abolished by the famous Minister, Turgot. But the edict was evaded, and it was not until the Revolution, when things that were abolished were abolished for ever, that the French guilds finally disappeared.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CONSERVATOIRE DES ARTS ET MeTIERS.]

The "Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers," established soon after the Revolution, had no direct connection with the "arts and crafts," whose organisation into guilds and close corporations had been suppressed.

It was thought desirable, however, to form a central depot where newly invented machines, together with machines whose utility had been tested, might be placed together for public inspection. Vaucanson, chiefly remembered by his ingenious automatic contrivances, had formed a collection of machines, which during his lifetime he threw open to working men, and at his death bequeathed to the monarchical government.

Thus the nucleus of the important collection formed by the Republic already existed under Louis XVI.

That the exhibition of machines, as superintended during the last days of the monarchy by M. Vandermond, was a sight worth seeing is shown by Arthur Young having gone to see it when he was making, throughout France, that tour of inquiry which was destined to become famous. "I visited," he writes in 1789, just one month before the taking of the Bastille, "the repository of royal machines, which M. Vandermond showed and explained to me with great readiness and politeness. What struck me most was M. Vaucanson's machine for making a chain which, I was told, Mr. Watt, of Birmingham, admired very much, at which my attendants seemed not displeased. Another for making the cogs intended in iron wheels. There is a chaff-cutter from an English original; and a model of the nonsensical plough to go without horses. These are the only ones in agriculture. Many ingenious contrivances for winding silk, etc."

The Convention took steps for keeping the Vaucanson machines when so many treasures of one kind and another were being dispersed, and it seized the earliest opportunity of enlarging the collection, to which, from 1785 to 1792, 500 new machines were added. In 1792 a commission had been appointed to "catalogue and collect in suitable places books, instruments, and other objects of science and art in view of public instruction"; and a few months later in the same year the Convention published a new decree const.i.tuting the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers on a solid basis, and a.s.signed to it the buildings of the former "abbey of Saint-Martin."

At present this Conservatoire is under the authority of the Minister of Commerce. Fifteen courses of lectures, public and gratuitous, are delivered within its walls on subjects connected with the application of art to manufactures; and for these, three amphitheatres, the largest of which can accommodate an audience of 750, have been provided. The ancient abbey of Saint-Martin is still represented by two edifices connected with the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, and containing the library of the inst.i.tution. One of these buildings was formerly the chapel, the other the refectory of the abbey.

At the corner of the Rue Saint-Martin and the Rue de Vertbois is an ancient tower in pepper-caster form, which once marked the junction of the fortified part of the abbey and its prison. This tower, bearing the name of Vertbois, was given, in 1712, to the City of Paris on condition that a public fountain should be constructed there; and the fountain, adorned with the arms of Paris, still exists, bearing a somewhat enigmatic inscription, thus: "This tower, which formerly const.i.tuted part of the fortified enclosure of the abbey of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, constructed about the year 1150, and the fountain erected in 1712, have been preserved and restored by the town and the State on the demand of the Parisian archaeologists, 1880." There was, in fact, a question of destroying both tower and fountain in 1877 in view of certain architectural improvements, or at least changes, then projected. The lovers of antiquity protested, and Victor Hugo is said to have exclaimed, in the very words likewise attributed to him in connection with the proposed destruction of the tower of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, "Demolish the tower? No! Demolish the architect? Yes!" The architect in the case of the tower of Vertbois was the poet's own nephew. Like the tower, however, he was not demolished.

In front of the princ.i.p.al entrance to the Conservatoire a large square was made in 1860; its sides being formed by the Rue Saint-Martin, the Boulevard Sebastopol, the Rue Solomon de Caus, and the Rue du Caire. On the south side of the square, in the Rue du Caire, is seen the facade of the Theatre de la Gaiete, which less deserves its t.i.tle than our own Gaiety Theatre in London. Originally known by the name of Nicolet, its founder, and afterwards called, during the influence of Mme. du Barry, the Theatre of the King's Dancers, it at length received, towards the end of the last century, the inappropriate t.i.tle which still belongs to it. There was a time, it must be presumed, when at the Gaiete gay pieces were performed. But since the beginning of the century this house has been chiefly a.s.sociated with spectacular and melodramatic productions.

Here the famous fairy piece, _Le Pied de Mouton_, was produced with striking success in 1806. Some twenty years ago it was revived at the Porte Saint-Martin, where it ran nearly a year.

Reconstructed in 1808, the Gaiete was burnt to the ground in 1835.

No sooner had it been built up again than it was pulled down to make way for the Boulevard du Prince Eugene. The Gaiete, which now, as already mentioned, stands on the southern side of the square of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, is one of the four theatres belonging to the Town of Paris. Here were produced some of the best pieces of Auguste Maquet, the most renowned of Alexandre Dumas' numerous collaborateurs, and one of the very few who have shown themselves able, unaided, to produce first-rate work.

Since its removal to the square of the Arts et Metiers, the Theatre de la Gaiete has confined itself to no particular style. Here were represented Sardou's drama _La Haine_; Jules Barbier's _Jeanne d'Arc_, with music by Gounod; Offenbach's operettas revived on a large scale, with _Orphee aux Enfers_ prominent among them; Victor Ma.s.se's _Paul et Virginie_, Saint Saen's _Timbre d'Argent_, and the _Dmitri_ of Joncieres. The last strikingly successful piece produced at this theatre was a dramatic version of Alphonse Daudet's _Tartarin sur les Alpes_.

The first street parallel to the Rue Saint-Martin is the Rue du Temple, which, much increased in length by the demolition and reconstruction of 1851, is now one of the longest streets in Paris. It owes its name to the ancient habitation of the Order of Templars. After the violent suppression of this fraternity, the property pa.s.sed to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, who fixed upon it for their Paris headquarters.

The Grand Prior of this Order had, by rule, to be a prince of the blood; and the last to hold the office was the Duke of Angouleme, eldest son of the Count of Artois, afterwards Charles X. Particulars of the captivity of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and the Dauphin in the Temple have already been given. It may here be added, however, that after being used for some years as a State prison, the old building was demolished in 1811. Finally the Palace of the Grand Prior, with its majestic colonnade, which had been allowed to remain untouched until 1854, was pulled down, and the land made over to the Town of Paris on condition of its planting trees on the site and erecting a monument to the memory of Louis XVI. This latter condition was never fulfilled.

Nothing now remains of the fortress which Louis XVI. quitted, on the 21st of January, to be taken to the scaffold, but an old willow, dating from four or five centuries back, beneath whose shadow the king, during his confinement, loved to walk. The monument in the centre of the square is a statue of Beranger; "the divine Beranger," as Heine calls him, and of whom Benjamin-Constant said one day, when the poet was yet unknown: "He writes magnificent odes and calls them songs." Close to the spot marked to-day by his statue, in the Rue Vendome, now re-named Rue Beranger, died this most poetical of popular song-writers, this most popular of poets. He was honoured by a public funeral at the expense of the State.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE VERTBOIS TOWER AND FOUNTAIN.]

The Temple Market dates from a remote period; not, however, in its present form, which was given to it by the First Consul in 1802. It was made to include the Rotunda, built in 1788 for the accommodation of debtors without means or without intention to pay, who came to the Temple to enjoy the privileged security of all who there sought refuge.

Men's clothes and women's dresses are the articles chiefly in demand at the Temple Market. To the ancient dealers in second-hand garments belonged a reputation for strong language, which has now faded away.

Under the conditions of modern life, character perishes, and even the representatives of Mme. Angot and her celebrated daughter are well-behaved and even polite.

Close at hand is the Synagogue of the Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth.

The neighbouring Rue des Archives contains the eglise des Carmes, consecrated since 1812 to the Lutheran rite, but formerly a Dominican church erected on the ground previously occupied by a chapel dating from the year 1295. On this site had previously stood the house of Jonathan, the Jew, convicted (or at least accused and declared guilty) of having profaned the sacred host, miraculously preserved from his fury. Of this strange legend, one of many similar ones invented in hatred of the unhappy Jews, an account may be found in Dulaure's "Singularites Historiques."

The whole of the right side of the Rue des Archives is taken up by the imposing edifice in which the national archives are preserved. It was formerly the Hotel de Soubise. On the western portion of the ancient property of the Guises was erected the Palais Cardinal, built by Armand Gaston de Rohan, Prince Archbishop of Strasburg, which has long been occupied by the National Printing Office. Up to the time of the Revolution the archives were preserved by the particular establishment, political, judicial, civil or ecclesiastical, to which they belonged; so that in 1782 there were upwards of a thousand different places where doc.u.ments of national importance were preserved. In the midst of the general uprising, when convents were being pillaged and manor-houses burnt, an immense number of valuable papers were either torn up or given to the flames. At last special commissions were organised for the collection and preservation of all State papers; which in the first instance were deposited at the Tuileries with the official reports of the a.s.sembly which there held its sittings. In 1808 Napoleon ordered that all archives of whatever kind should be kept in one place provided specially for them. He at the same time bought for State purposes, and for the sum of 690,000 francs, the Hotel de Soubise and the Hotel de Rohan; the first for the archives, the second for the Imperial printing office.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GAIETe THEATRE.]

The national archives, whose importance is yearly increasing, and which form an historical collection unrivalled elsewhere, are under the care of a Director-General who belongs to the Ministry of Public Instruction. The Director-General is a.s.sisted by three chiefs of section, who overlook the reception, cla.s.sification, and preservation of State doc.u.ments in the following order: 1. Historical section. 2.

Administrative section. 3. Legislative and judicial section. Many very interesting doc.u.ments relating to the history of France are exhibited in gla.s.s cases. The most ancient of these is dated 625, under the reign of Clotaire II. The most modern are of the year 1821. In connection with the national archives a reading-room is kept open every day from 10 to 5 for persons who have sought and obtained permission to consult doc.u.ments in view of their studies. Attached to the National Archives is the School of Maps, under the direction of a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and of Belles Lettres, a.s.sisted by a council. The French, too, have invented a profession unknown in England--that of archivist.

To become an archivist it is necessary to follow for three years a course of lectures, each of which is followed by an examination. To pa.s.s finally the student writes an essay on some appropriate subject, and, if successful, receives the name of archivist or palaeographer, which ent.i.tles him to employment in connection with the archives, or with one of the libraries under the direction of the Ministry of Public Instruction. By reason of the exceptional importance of their duties, the archivists are liberated from military service, like the pupils of the superior normal schools and of the School of Oriental Languages. The School of Maps was, together with so many other inst.i.tutions of which France is justly proud, founded by Napoleon I.; who wished, at the time, to establish a lay Order of Benedictines devoted to the study of French history. Without const.i.tuting themselves into an order, the students of the School of Maps have, by their conscientious and disinterested labours, done much to throw light on the history and literature of ancient France.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE TEMPLE MARKET.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TEMPLE MARKET.]

On the south side of the Rue des Francs Bourgeois, opposite the School of Maps, stand the buildings of the Mont-de-Piete, established by Louis XVI. in 1771. After the revolution in 1796, the profits of the Mont-de-Piete were a.s.signed to the hospitals, and the inst.i.tution is now under the direction of the _a.s.sistance Publique_, or Charity Board, presided over by the Prefect of the Seine. Besides the princ.i.p.al establishment, at No. 55, Rue des Francs Bourgeois, there are two district establishments and twenty-one auxiliary ones dispersed through the different quarters of the capital. The Mont-de-Piete of Paris lends no less than six million francs a year; and it obtains whatever working capital it requires by the issue of bonds bearing interest at five per cent., which are much in favour with investors. The capital of the Comedie Francaise is all permanently invested in bonds of the Mont-de-Piete. It was not without serious opposition that the first projectors of the Mont-de-Piete succeeded in getting it authorised; though Mercier, writing only a few years after the publication of the King's edict on the subject, regards this inst.i.tution as of the greatest benefit to the poor.

"The establishment of the Mont-de-Piete or p.a.w.n-warehouse," he says, "was long wished for in vain, but is at last perfected, notwithstanding the opposition it met with from several interested beings who live by the distress of their fellow creatures. At this place the poor may be supplied with money, upon any p.a.w.n whatever that they can leave for security, at a very trifling interest; for it is not here in the hands of private individuals, as I am told is the case in London, where a p.a.w.nbroker charges no less than 30 per cent. for the loan. I hear they are authorised to do so by law. So much the worse. In Paris the Mont-de-Piete is under the immediate inspection of the Government, and has. .h.i.therto proved of the greatest service by giving the mortal wound to usury and its infamous votaries. The greatest proof that can be given of the usefulness of this inst.i.tution, and how needful it was in Paris, is the great concourse of people who daily resort there to raise temporary sums. It is said, but I will not vouch for the truth of the a.s.sertion, that in the s.p.a.ce of a few months there were forty tuns filled with gold watches; this I rather take to be an exaggeration, meant only to give an idea of the very great number that were then in the warehouse. Certain it is that I have seen at one time four score people a.s.sembled; who, waiting for their turn, came there for the purpose of raising loans not exceeding six livres a head. The one carries his s.h.i.+rts, another a piece of furniture, this an old picture, that his shoe-buckles or a threadbare coat. These visits, which are renewed every day, are the most forcible proofs of the extreme want and poverty to which the greatest number of the inhabitants is reduced. Opulence itself is often obliged to have recourse to the public p.a.w.n-warehouse, and the contrast between extreme misery and indigent richness is nowhere better exemplified. In one corner a lady, wrapped up in her cloak, her face half covered, and just stepped out of her coach, deposits her diamonds to a large amount, to venture it in the evening at a card-table; whilst in the other a poor woman, who has trudged it on foot through the muddy streets, p.a.w.ns her lower garment to purchase a bit of bread. The best regulation prevails in this place; a sworn appraiser stands there to estimate upon oath the real value of the pledge offered. Yet, as the best inst.i.tution is liable to much abuse, it is said that the poorer sort of people are not always treated with that humanity which they are more justly ent.i.tled to than their betters; this evil, with a little attention from the magistrate who presides over this undertaking, may easily be remedied. I make no doubt but the Mont-de-Piete will prove as advantageous an establishment as it is useful and commendable."

Some houses were being pulled down in 1878 for the enlargement of the Mont-de-Piete when a tower belonging to the wall of Philip Augustus was brought to light. This was one of the four towers which flanked the circ.u.mvallation of the king just named. The old tower was consolidated and repaired. Near this spot stood, in 1258, the Convent of the White Cloaks, founded by the serfs of the Virgin Mary; to be replaced, in the same century, by the hermits of Saint William, who, in 1816, joined the congregation of the reformed Benedictines. The name of Blancs Manteaux is still connected with a street and a market in the neighbourhood.

The Benedictines constructed their church and their monastery in 1695; and it was here that these learned men composed many of their works, imperishable monuments of their erudition. "The Art of Verifying Dates"

and "The Collection of the Historians of France" may in particular be mentioned. Sold as national property in 1797, the Benedictine Church was bought back by the Town in 1807 and made the second parochial church of Saint-Merry, under the name of Notre Dame des Blancs Manteaux.

At the south-east corner of the Rue des Blancs Manteaux, in the Rue Vieille du Temple, stands, under the t.i.tle of Hotel de Hollande, all that remains of the ancient Hotel de Rieux, at one time occupied by the Dutch amba.s.sadors.

The turret at the corner of the Rues Vieille du Temple and Francs Bourgeois is remarkably picturesque.

Just to the right of the Rue Barbette is the ancient Palais Cardinal, forming the rear part of the Hotel de Soubise, and containing the National Printing Office, there established by a decree of 1808. In the centre of the great courtyard a statue of Guttenberg, by David d'Angers, may be seen. On the first storey of the princ.i.p.al building is the bedroom of the Cardinal who played so sad a part in the "Affaire du Collier"--the affair, that is to say, of Marie Antoinette's necklace, which caused such scandal immediately before the Revolution. Here is now housed the library of the National Printing Office, called the Hall of the Monkeys, by reason of its being decorated with scenes from monkey life, attributed to Boucher.

The Royal Printing Office, destined also to be called National and Imperial, according to the Government in power, was founded by King Louis XIII., and dates from 1640. Until that time the King employed private printers; Conrad Naebor, printer in Greek, with an annual allowance of 100 gold crowns, and Robert Estienne, printer in Latin and Hebrew. Though they printed for the King, both Naebor and Estienne had their own private printing offices. The Royal Printing Office was established by Louis XIII. at the Louvre, where it remained until the time of the Revolution--directed from 1691 to 1789 by Jean Anisson and members of his family. Then all kinds of printing offices were established under national control: a national legislative printing office, a national printing office of laws, a national executive printing office, etc. The Directory brought them all together in 1795, under the t.i.tle of Printing Office of the Republic, which was established in the Rue de la Vrilliere, at the Hotel de Toulouse, afterwards occupied by the Bank of France. Since 1808 the National Printing Office ("Imperial" as it was called at the time) has not moved from the Palais Cardinal. It is governed by a director belonging to the Ministry, placed beneath the authority of the Minister of Justice.

It prints for the State _Le Bulletin des Lois_, and all the papers, formulas, registers, and cards required by the different Ministries.

It also prints--and in this resides its special importance--either at the expense of the State or of the authors, scientific and artistic works for which particular signs or characters, especially Oriental characters, are needed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIXTEENTH CENTURY CLOISTERS, RUE DES BILLETTES.]

The scientific and artistic publications of the National Library are counted among the masterpieces of typography. Pierre Corneille's edition of the "Imitation of Jesus Christ," printed expressly for the Exhibition of 1867, was universally admired. Indeed, from 1809, when, after considerable delay, "The Description of Egypt," based on the observations made during Bonaparte's famous campaign, was published, until the present day, the National Printing Office of France has produced a large number of perfectly printed editions. In war, as in peace, this office received important benefits at the hands of the first Napoleon, who, to enrich it, deprived the Italians of a fine collection of Arabic and Persian characters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PALACE OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.]

At the time of the Restoration, the National, now Royal Printing Office, was placed under the direction of a member of the Anisson family, lineally descended from the Anisson of 1690, who, while working for the Government, carried on a printing office as a private enterprise, and made immense profits. After the Revolution of 1830 it was taken over by the State; and the Government of Louis Philippe purchased for the Royal Printing Inst.i.tution all kinds of Oriental characters. Now, too, were for the first time acquired fonts of Russian, Servian, and other Slavonian type. At the request of the Government, moreover, a complete set of Chinese characters was sent from Pekin. Under various changes of government the National Printing Office has, from Louis Philippe until now, remained a State establishment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOTEL DE HOLLANDE.]

It was calculated twenty years ago that the National Printing Office, with its one hundred hand-presses and a good number of presses worked by steam, prints every year about 200,000 reams of paper in different forms, or altogether about 100,000,000 sheets. Reducing these sheets to octavo volumes, each of thirty sheets, the National Printing Office produces every year 3,330,000 volumes; and reckoning 300 working days in the year, 11,100 volumes per day.

Beneath the statue of Guttenberg, cast from the statue by David d'Angers which adorns Strasburg, Guttenberg's birthplace, is buried an historical account of the National Printing Office, with two commemorative medals.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TURRET AT CORNER OF RUES VIEILLE DU TEMPLE AND FRANCS BOURGEOIS.]