2 SEPTEMBER 1837, Page 9

The railway from Paris to St. Germain was opened on

Saturday. It was a gay dny for the Parisians, and came very seasonably to relieve the dulness of the season. A correspondent of the Times has given a lively description of the doings, and delight of our neighbours on this grand occasion ; and we quote freely from his letter- " Paris has put on her seven-leagued boots, and reached St Germain in a -J.! The chateau of Louis le Grand, aml the fine terrace sweeping through

en

f r,st until it is lost in distance, have kindly consented to approach the me- t e uliepolis for the gratification of the nun-tennis quidnuncs who inhabit it; and

st: Germain, with all its interesting scenety, although, if we are to credit the

map, it is twelve good English miles from Patis, is now more accessible than the wirchuills of Montmartre. This triomphe merveilleuse, as the Parisians de light to call it, is the work of that grand miracle-monger of the nineteenth century—steam ; a trip on the railway is now the *fair ineonnu,' the 'emo- tion sass egal;' and if there be throughout the length and breadth of Paris a finale cafe or coterie, or in the faubourgs a marchand de yin,' alias ' dram- Chop,' whete the praises of railroads iu general, and of the railway to St. Ger- main in particular. has not formed the inexhaustible topic of conversation for the jot four-and-twenty hours, I will suffer myself to be impaled alive like a fog in a gourmand's clutches, and fricaseed without mercy."

EveryLody was prepared for a very brilliant affair, but the reality ex- ceeded expectation-

" Saturday is everywhere a busy day ; less so certainly at Paris than at Lon- don' because every description of business is here transacted sans ceremonie on the Sunday. Nevettheless, the crowds of boutgeoisie, as well as yens contrite il fast, who swarmed to the Place de l'Europe, where the railway opens, filled to ore flowing each successive train of carriages; and, having accomplished their rapid journey, fluttered in habiliments as gay as the plumage of Eastern birds thtough the forest of St. Germain, were almost literally innumerable. The one thing necessary to the existence of a Parisian is an sensation. Of these he must have a rapid succession, whether in the shape of fetes or assassi- iatious—of love or of murder. A conspiracy is to him a bonne-boucke; an in- fernal trachin a pis ciaus little pate, which he swallows with infinite ease; and a hip on a newly-opened railway, on which he can whirl along at the rate of thirty English miles an hour, is (punning apart) a delicious vol-au-vent ! To be asked by any one of his fitends whether he has been to Sc. Germain by the railway, aid to be obliged to answer in the negative, would reduce him to a state of more complete despair than even if he happened to be ignorant of the name of the last new debutant at the Opera, of the famous passages in Victor Hugo's most recent production, or o; the principal characters in Frederic Souliins latest novel. The marriage fetes having lost their ephemeral interest, and the am- nesty having ceased to be a nine-days' wonder, the affairs of England came very oppertunely to supply the gap in Monsieur's longing after new sensations. The demise of William the Fourth, with the accession of Queen Victoria, and all the wonderful occurrences which took place thereanent, succeeded by the vast interest attached to the result of the general elections, were sufficient to keep thousands Ilf voluble tongues in a state of perpetual motion. But the tumult which these events created had at length subsided ; and the Morgue had pro- bably burns evidence to a fatal increase in the number of suicides, if some new tad piquant food, equivalent at least to a little assassination, or a trifling at- tempt at regicide, had not presented itself to titillate the quidnunc's palate. Behold the secret of the grand success which has crowued the opening of this railway."

The train started at twelve o'clock-

" And then was the clatter of voices raised tenfold. ' II part—ce coursier eh feu et de famt'e ! Ile snorts ! he snorts! His prodigious tail of vapour floats in the firmament ! La told!' Even when the engine had attained its extreme velocity, the rattling of tongues was continued one person shouting Leto a secoaLl's ear, and a third shrieking at the extreme pitch of his voice, ' Cheval mognifique ! Noble awl intrepid horse, which nothing can stop ! He devours the way before him— he snorts! vraintent, he Snorts! Ile is clothed with thunder, like the horse of Job ! Corbleu I what a delicious motion— West cc past.— Oui c'est le plus grand plaisir the monde ! ' Away clattered engines and voices to the same tune, to the end of the journey. If you wish for a genuine specimen of an enthusiast. you have only to clap a Parisian for the first time in his life in a flying locomotive. In the carriage in which I fixed myself, were some half-dozen piquantly-dressed soubrettes and grisettes, distinguishable by the extreme neatness of their floe/ins de dentelles it la pay. sanne, and their mietionne lace•eaps. 01 these, no fewer than three affected dirtiness, faintness,'&e. and finished par s'etre ivannouies on the bosoms of the gallants by whom they were accompanied. Altogether it was a most pre- Cious living comedy, worthy of a place in Paul de Kock's • Tourlourou our lea nueurs Parisiennes."

St. Germain was in all its glory— "iii no direction could you turn without meeting elegantly.dressed Paiisian ladies, (and all other dressing is out of the question,) moving along as grace- fully as swans in the Cydnus, to which their white muslin dresses, which are very much the rage here in no small degree assimilated them. What charm- ing bonnets, admired with waving feather s, or with those less ambitious but not less elegant wreaths of flowers, which are only made to perfection here, and ex- hibit the rely acme of taste! And ticri, the eye is so pleasingly relieved by the graceful contrast presented by an unbonnetted girl wearing one of those exqui- site little caps, or by the outlandish helmet-shaped casquette which some rustic belle delights to select for her coiffure. The Bois de Boulogne never presented a mere animated scene."

The letter concludes with a few statistical details-

" The materiel is composed of 105 vehicles, capable of containing 4,070 per- sons, and of transporting the entire population of Paris to St. Germain in the course of one fine Sunday. The railway, four and a half leagues in length, passes through is beautiful country ; traversing no fewer than eighteen bridges, three of which are across the Seine. The vehicles are all intended for the transport of rusengers, and will be occupied principally on Sundays. There is a tunnel at Katignolles, which is divided into two galleries, being about 400 metres, or a quarter of an English mile long. The construction is very solid, the rails being fifteen times heavier than those upon the Liverpool and Manchester road."