And ere
four o'clock had chimed from all the towers of the city, the Hotel
Poitiers was deprived of its honoured guest,--the Cardinal,
accompanied by his foundling, had departed, and the black, smoky,
snake-like train had rushed with them through the smiling peace of
the Normandy pasture-lands on towards the brilliant "city enthroned
in wickedness," which sparkles like a jewel on the borders of the
Seine as gloriously as ever Babylon sparkled on the shores of
Euphrates. As godless, as hollow to the very core of rottenness, as
her sister of ancient days, wanton "Lutetia" shines,--with the
ghastly and unnatural lustre of phosphorescent luminance arising
from old graves--and as divinely determined as the destruction of
the old-time city splendid, is the approaching downfall of the
modern capital. To the inhabitants of Rouen, the very name of Paris
carries with it a kind of awe,--it excites various emotions of
wonder, admiration, longing, curiosity and even fear,--for Paris is
a witches' cauldron in which Republicanism, Imperialism, Royalism,
Communism and Socialism, are all thrown by the Fates to seethe
together in a hellish broth of conflicting elements--and the smoke
of it ascends in reeking blasphemy to Heaven.
Pages:
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148