These aerial mountains were the chief madness
of the day ; every quarter of Paris had by degrees
its mountains^ which were offered with pride to the
concourse of amateurs. They were raised in the
Faubourg Poissoni^re, at the Barri^re des Trois-
Couronnes, at the Champs- Ely sdes, on the Boule-
vard Montpamasse. Everywhere the crowd
flocked with an eagerness which justified the cal-
culations of the managers. The taste for moun-
tains reached even the lowest classes of society ;
the artisan and the grisette rolled down in hope
the whole week long, and compensated them-
selves on Sunday with the reality. The Russian
mountains were imitated, Swiss mountains were



U8 THE MIRROR OF FASHIONS

made. Fashion followed the managers for a
long while, and dramatic authors brought that
madness of the day upon the stage, and it dis-
appeared not till the beginning of 1835. The
Russian Mountains were played, sung, even
eaten ; they inspired the songmaker Oury with
some very gay couplets and a curious tableau
for the theatre of the Vaudeville ; finally they
baptized a new bonbon of an exquisite taste,
which made the fortune of two confectioners
whose fame flew from mouth to mouth.
