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Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"Roundabout Papers"


"By the sergeants of the watch, who eyed him sternly as he passed near
their halberds.
"But he passed on unmoved by their halberds,
"Unmoved by the cries of the roysterers,
"By the market-women coming with their milk and eggs.
"He walked through the Rue St. Honore, I say:--
"By the Rue Rambuteau,
"By the Rue St. Antoine,
"By the King's Chateau of the Bastille,
"By the Faubourg St. Antoine.
"And he came to No. 29 in the Rue Picpus--a house which then stood
between a court and garden--
"That is, there was a building of one story, with a great coach-door.
"Then there was a court, around which were stables, coach-houses,
offices.
"Then there was a house--a two-storied house, with a perron in front.
"Behind the house was a garden--a garden of two hundred and fifty French
feet in length.
"And as one hundred feet of France equal one hundred and six feet of
England, this garden, my friends, equalled exactly two hundred and
sixty-five feet of British measure.
"In the centre of the garden was a fountain and a statue--or, to speak
more correctly, two statues. One was recumbent,--a man. Over him, sabre
in hand, stood a woman.
"The man was Olofernes. The woman was Judith.


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