Explore "The Parisians, Book XI" by Edward Bulwer-lytton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The warning announcement of some great effort on the part of the besieged, which Alain had given to Lemercier, was soon to be fulfilled.
For some days the principal thoroughfares were ominously lined with military _convois_. The loungers on the Boulevards stopped to gaze on the long defiles of troops and cannons, commissariat conveyances, and, saddening accompaniments! the vehicles of various ambulances for the removal of the wounded. With what glee the loungers said to each other "_Enfin_! " Among all the troops that Paris sent forth, none were so popular as those which Paris had not nurtured -- the sailors. From the moment they arrived, the sailors had been the pets of the capital. They soon proved themselves the most notable contrast to that force which Paris herself had produced -- the National Guard. Their frames were hardy, their habits active, their discipline perfect, their manners mild and polite. "Oh, if all our troops were like these! " was the common exclamation of the Parisians.