File:The American in Paris, during the summer - being a companion to the "Winter in Paris;", or Heath's picturesque annual for 1844 (1844) (14595169040).jpg

Identifier: americaninparisd00jani (find matches)
Title: The American in Paris, during the summer : being a companion to the "Winter in Paris;", or Heath's picturesque annual for 1844
Year: 1844 (1840s)
Authors: Janin, Jules Gabriel, 1804-1874
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
Contributing Library: The Centre for 19th Century French Studies - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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t moderate, the air is clear and transparent; youwill certainly be able to see the cavaliers from a distance.This is the reason why so many await their arrival, why theanxiety is so general. After an hour of this delightful expectation, do you not atlast see in the distance, through the weeping willows, throughthe white branches of the poplars in the meadow, do you notsee coming, a light red or blue mist ? . . . . Yes, here they are, it is they, it is the racers of the day, allgentlemen riders, they have already, in five minutes, shot overa league and a half of slippery and difficult ground; twice theyhave crossed the giacefuUy winding Bievre, they have leaped,without hesitation, more than twenty barriers; they run, willyou applaud ? . . . . But their task is not finished; after all the barriers whichthey have leaped, a far more difficult one remains. Did I saya barrier ? it is a terrible ditch ! This ditch is at the end ofthe race, upon the Bceuf Couronne road, and full of water; the
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ENTHUSIASM OF THE FRENCH. 119 ascent to it is perpendicular, then, when you have reachedthe top of the acclivity, you must leap downwards across aformidable ravine, so much the more dangerous, because it isimpossible for the horses to discover it. Thus all the interestis centered in this last trial; upon that, is fixed every look,every mind ; there is the peril, there is the glory, there is thetriumph. Would you not say that these eager minds, thesecurious looks, the kind of alarm that all seem to feel, areindications of some great catastrophe which is about to hap-pen ? What an enthusiastic people, who throw into the mosttrifling objects, all the energy, all the instincts, all the dramaticvivacity of passion! CHAPTER VIII. THE CIRCUS IN THE CHAMPS ELYSEES. But If you admire perilous leaps, feats of strength, and allthe dangers of horsemanship,—above all, if you enjoy, on amild summers evening, an amusement without fatigue, go tothe Olympic Circus. It is the favorite resort of all t

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