Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/134

118 during the years which elapsed between 1783 and 1789. Magnificent residences stood then in the Marais quarter and in the He Saint-Louis. What is the Faubourg Saint-Germain of to-day compared with the Faubourg Saint-Germain of that period? And then with regard to outdoor luxury, let those who can remember a field day or a race day at Longchamps, or merely the appearance of the boulevard, ask themselves if the stream of equipages with two, four, or six horses, all vying in magnificence, and closely packed together at these places of rendezvous, did not leave far behind the string of private or livery coaches, among which appear a few well-appointed turn-outs, that are to be seen in the same localities nowadays?"

Similarly, Pasquier holds that the exactions of the Crown, and the abuses of power, were much exaggerated; and summing up the answer to the question, "Whence came that passion for reform, that desire to change everything?" he says, "it was due rather to a great stirring up of ideas than to actual sufferings.," a statement I can hardly think correct. It is a statement, besides, in direct conflict with Taine, another very strong Conservative writer, one of whose points against the Revolution is the invasion of Paris by hordes of hungry and desperate men. Hungry and desperate men do not rush to a metropolis merely because there is "a great stirring up of ideas."