Note 6 — LETTER III.

Spectacle.—This is so important a word, and of such general use in french conversation, that I cannot too soon introduce it to the notice of my english reader. It means, first, all the theatres, puppet-shows, pantomimes, horse exercises, and other motley amusements of this gay capital.

It is also perpetually in the mouths both of gentlemen and ladies. If you ask one of the former, whether he were pleased with the opera, he replies, “Oui, enchanté; le spectacle étoit magnifique.” (Yes, delighted; the spectacle was magnificent.) And if you put a similar question about a ball to one of the latter, you receive a similar answer.

If you speak with enthusiasm of the picture gallery, a parisian coldly observes, “C’est bien vrai, c’est un très beau spectacle.” (Yes, it is a very fine spectacle, or sight.)

If a stranger inquire, whether the monthly parade of Bonaparte’s troops deserve its celebrity, he is told, “Oui, c’est un très beau spectacle.” (Yes, it is a fine spectacle.)

It is also the favourite theme of conversation; and a parisian compelled to talk with a foreigner, is sure to begin with the following words: “Allez vous souvent, monsieur, au spectacle? Ne sont ils pas bien beaux nos spectacles?” (Do you often go to the spectacles? Are not our spectacles very fine?)

A similar observation forms likewise the hospitable kind of consolation which an englishman sometimes receives, if he complain, that he has not seen much of french society. “Mais cependant, vous ne pouvez pas manquer d’amusement; à Paris les spectacles sont si beaux.” (You cannot want amusement, however; the spectacles at Paris are so fine.)

In consequence of the general application of this word in France to every thing relating to the stage, a parisian, on his arrival in London, wishing to go to the play, supposed that he had only to look for the word spectacle in a french and english dictionary; and, having found that the literal translation gave him the same word, with perfect confidence directed his hackney coachman to drive to the spectacle. The fellow, supposing that he wanted to purchase a pair of spectacles, conducted him to the celebrated shop at Charing-cross. The frenchman flew into a passion, and by his gestures conveyed, that this was not the place where he desired to go. The coachman, imagining that this was not the optician’s, to which he wished to be taken, carried him to several others in different parts of the town. After a long round, during which the favourite oaths of the two countries were mutually exchanged between monsieur and his charioteer, the former was compelled to pass his evening in the hackney coach instead of the play-house, and thus learnt the difference between french spectacles and english spectacles.