This was a very pretty sight; the crowd
was not too thick, so they easily got away; and the dragoons only
gave blows with the back of the sword, which hurt but did not
wound. I was as close to them as I am now to the other side of the
table; it was rather impressive, however. At the second charge
they rode on the pavement and knocked the torches out of the
fellows' hands; rather a shame, too - wouldn't be stood in England.
. . .
[At] 'ten minutes to ten . . . I went a long way along the
Boulevards, passing by the office of Foreign Affairs, where Guizot
lives, and where to-night there were about a thousand troops
protecting him from the fury of the populace. After this was
passed, the number of the people thickened, till about half a mile
further on, I met a troop of vagabonds, the wildest vagabonds in
the world - Paris vagabonds, well armed, having probably broken
into gunsmiths' shops and taken the guns and swords. They were
about a hundred. These were followed by about a thousand (I am
rather diminishing than exaggerating numbers all through),
indifferently armed with rusty sabres, sticks, etc.
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