Note 18 — Chapter V

This picture of the Cité de Naples is by no means overdrawn. Some years ago (1880-85) I well remember visiting the Cités tenanted by rag-pickers and street hawkers round about the Rue Marcadet and the Route de la Révolte, and their condition fully corresponded with the description given by M. Zola above. When M. Zola visited England last autumn, and I accompanied him round the East-end of London, he remarked to me that even the worst dens shown to him contrasted favourably with the abodes of many of the Parisian poor. And such undoubtedly is the case. But, on the other hand, there is quite as much depravity among the poor of London as among the poor of Paris.—Trans.