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Title: A Trip to Paris in July and August 1792
Author: Twiss, Richard
Language: English
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[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE EXECUTIONS _at_ PARIS _with a Beheading Machine_.
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A
TRIP
TO
P A R I S,
IN
JULY and AUGUST, 1792.
_LONDON_:
PRINTED AT THE
Minerva Press,
AND SOLD BY WILLIAM LANE,
LEADENHALL-STREET,
AND BY MRS. HARLOW, PALL-MALL.
M.DCC.XCIII.
PRICE THREE SHILLINGS
Entered at Stationers Hall.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
Road from Calais, Unneccessary Passports. Chantilly. 1
Expenses 6
Miscellaneous observations. Chess-men. Tree of
Liberty. Crucifixes. Virgins. Saints. Bishops, Old Women 8
Wall round Paris. New Bridge. Field of the Federation. Bastille 15
Coins and Tokens 19
Theatres 24
Pantheon. Jacobins. Quai Voltaire. Rue Rousseau. Cockades 27
Execution of two criminals with a beheading machine 32
Versailles. Botany, Sounding meridians 38
Dogs and Cats. Two-headed Boy 50
Miscellanies. Books burnt. Chess, Convents 54
Dress. Inns 65
Assignats 66
Battle and massacre at the Tuileries 71
Statues pulled down. New names 84
Beheading. Dead naked bodies 90
Courage and curiosity of the fair sex. Massacre in 1572 93
Miscellanies. Number of slain 99
Breeches. Pikes. Necessary Passports 105
Miscellanies. Dancing. Poultry, Taverns. Wig 111
Extent, Population, &c. of France 116
Emendations and Additions. Return to Calais 123
Epilogue 129
* * * * *
A
TRIP
TO
PARIS.
ROAD FROM CALAIS. UNNECESSARY PASSPORTS. CHANTILLY.
THE following excursion was undertaken for several reasons: the first of
which was, that though I had been many times in Paris before, yet I had
not once been there since the Revolution, and I was desirous of seeing
how far a residence of a few years in France might be practicable and
agreeable; secondly, a Counter-Revolution, or, at least, some violent
measures were expected, and I was willing to be there at the time, if
possible; and lastly, I wanted to examine the gardens near Paris.
I must here premise that I sent for a passport from the Secretary of
State's office, which I knew could do no harm if it did no good,
thinking I should have it for nothing, and obtained one signed by Lord
Grenville, but at the same time a demand was made for _two guineas and
sixpence_ for the fees; now, as I have had passports from almost all the
European nations, _all and every one_ of which were _gratis_, I sent the
pass back; it was however immediately returned to me, and I was told
that, "A passport is never issued from that office without that fee,
even if the party asking for it changes his mind." _I paid the money,
and that is all I shall say about the matter._
_Mr. Chauvelin_ (the minister from France) sent me his pass _gratis_;
those which I afterwards received in Paris from _Lord Gower_, and the
very essential one from _Mr. Petion_, were likewise _gratis_.
That of _Mr. Chauvelin_ has at the top a small engraving of three
_Fleurs de Lys_ between two oak branches, surmounted by a crown: at the
bottom is another small engraving, with his cypher F. C. it was dated
London, _17th_ July, 1792, 4th year of Liberty.
_No passport of any kind is necessary to enter France._ At Calais one
was given to me by the magistrates, mentioning my age, stature,
complexion, &c. and this would have been a sufficient permit for my
going out of France by sea or by land, if the disturbances in Paris, of
the 10th of August, had not happened.
I embarked at Dover on the 25th July, at one in the afternoon, and
landed at Calais after a pleasant passage of three hours and a half.
I immediately procured a national cockade, which was a silk ribband,
with blue, white, and red stripes; changed twenty guineas for forty
livres each, in paper, (the real value is not more than twenty-five
livres) hired a _cabriolet_, or two wheeled post-chaise of _Dessin_,
(which was to take me to Paris, and bring me back in a month) for three
_louis d'ors_ in money, bought a post-book, drank a bottle of Burgundy,
and set off directly for _Marquise_ (about fifteen miles) where I passed
the night.
The next day, 26th, I proceeded only to _Abbeville_, and it was ten at
night when I got there, because a gentleman in the chaise with me, and
another gentleman and his wife, who had not been in France before, and
who accompanied us all the way to Paris, wished to see Boulogne. We
accordingly walked round the ramparts, and then went on.
The 27th we remained a few hours at _Amiens_, and saw the cathedral and
the engine which supplies the city with water, called _La Tour d'Eau_.
We slept at _Breteuil_ which is a paltry town (_Bourg_.)
The 28th. We were five hours occupied in seeing _Chantilly_. This palace
is the most magnificent of any in Europe, not belonging to a sovereign.
In the cabinet of natural history, which has lately been very
considerably augmented, by the addition of that of _Mr. Valmont de
Bomare_ (who arranged the whole) I observed the _foetus_ of a whale,
about fourteen inches long, preserved in spirits; and the skin of a wolf
stuffed. I saw this identical wolf at _Montargis_, a palace beyond
_Fontainebleau_, in 1784, soon after it had been shot. The carp came, as
usual, to be fed by hand. Some of them are said to have been here above
a century. As to the gardens, they are well known; all that I shall say
is, that they do not contain a single curious tree, shrub, or flower. We
hired a landau, at the inn, to drive us about these gardens, and in the
evening proceeded to _St. Denis_, which is only a single post from
Paris, where we remained, as it would not have been so convenient to
seek for a lodging there at night.
The next day, Sunday 29th, early in the morning, we entered Paris, and
put up at the _Hôtel d'Espagne_, _Rue du Colombier_, and in the evening
went to the opera of _Corisandre_.
EXPENCES.
THE whole expences of our journey from Calais to Paris was as follows.
The distance is thirty-four posts and a half, the last of which must be
paid double.[1] The two chaises were each drawn by two horses, at 30
sous per horse, and 20 sous to each postillion per post, is 35 and half
posts, at eight _livres_, is _Livres_ 284.
[Note 1: A post is about two leagues, or between four and six miles,
as the posthouses are not exactly at the same distance from each other.]
Greasing the wheels and extra gratifications to drivers, about 32
The fees for seeing _Chantilly_, including the hire of a carriage, 24
Inns on the road, four days and four nights, about 200
------
_£._ 540
This, at 40 livres per guinea, amounts to thirteen guineas and a half;
to which must be added, for the hire of the two chaises to Paris, three
_Louis_ in money, adequate to three pounds sterling, which altogether
does not amount to four guineas each person, travelling post above two
hundred miles, and faring sumptuously on the road, drinking Burgundy and
Champagne, and being as well received at the inns as if the expences had
been quadrupled. One hot meal a day, at three _livres_ a head, one
_livre_ for each bed, and the wine paid for apart, was the customary
allowance. After this manner I have travelled several times all over
France, to _Bourdeaux_, _Toulouse_, _Montpelier_, _Marseille_, _Toulon_,
_Hieres_, _Avignon_, _Lyon_, _&c._
Had the exchange been at par, the expence would have been doubled, in
English money; but even then would have been very reasonable, compared
to the cost of a similar journey in England.
At Paris I received 42 livres 15 sous for each guinea; soon after which
I was paid forty-two livres for every pound sterling which I drew on
London: on my return to Calais I found the exchange to be forty-four
livres per guinea, and once it was as high as forty-nine. This, of
course, very much injures the trade between England and France; but, for
the same reason, English families residing in France at present, more
than double their income, by drawing bills on London for such income,
and it will probably be many years before the exchange will be at _par_
again.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. CHESSMEN. TREE OF LIBERTY.
CRUCIFIXES,VIRGINS. SAINTS. BISHOPS. OLD WOMEN, &C.
THE whole way from Calais to Paris the land was in the highest state of
cultivation.
The sandy soil near the gates of Calais abounded with the _Chelidonium
Glaucium_, or common yellow horned poppy.
The first vines on this road are about a mile on this side of Breteuil.
Between St. Just and Clermont is a magnificent _château_ and garden
belonging to the _ci-devant Duc de Fitzjames_: this seat has never been
described; it is not shewn to strangers at present, as the proprietor is
emigrated.
The country all around Chantilly, consists of cornfields; formerly it
appeared barren, because the immense quantity of game which infested and
over-ran it devoured all the crops and ruined the farmers, who were sent
to the gallies if they shot a bird.
I passed this way in 1783 and 1784, and saw vast numbers of pheasants,
partridges, and hares cross the road, and feed by the side of it, as
tame as poultry in a farm-yard; but at present the game is all
destroyed; neither are there any more wild boars in the forest, which is
of 7600 acres. These animals still inhabit the forest of
_Fontainebleau_. This forest (which covers almost four times as much
ground as that of _Chantilly_)[2] contains a greater number of trees, of
a more enormous size, than I have seen in any other part of Europe,
growing amongst rocks and stones equally remarkable for their
dimensions. I know not of any parallel to the _sublime-beautiful_, and
to the wild and romantic grandeur of the scenery here displayed. The
landscapes of _Salvator Rosa_ appear to have been taken from natural
objects, similar to those which are here seen. It is only forty miles
from Paris.
[Note 2: It is about five square miles, or rather, eight miles in
length from two to four miles in breadth.]
In the treasury of the Abbey at _St. Denis_ were formerly preserved the
Chess-men of _Charlemagne_; these I described in the first volume of
_Chess_, published in 1787; they are now either _stolen or strayed_, and
will probably never more be heard of.
All the horses (many of which were stone-horses) we had occasion to make
use of along this road were very gentle, and so were the cattle which
were feeding on the grass growing on the borders of the cornfields,
(without any inclosure) which they were prevented from entering by a
string tied to their horns, one end of which was sometimes held by a
child of five or six years old. The people here are very merciful and
kind to their beasts. I have seen droves of oxen walking leisurely
through the green markets in the cities, smelling at the vegetables, and
driven to the slaughter-house by children. There are no instances here
of mad oxen, mad dogs, or run-away horses.
In every one of the towns between Calais and Paris a full-grown tree
(generally a poplar) has been planted in the market-place, with many of
its boughs and leaves; these last being withered, it makes but a dismal
appearance; on the top of this tree or pole is a red woollen or cotton
night-cap, which is called the _Cap of Liberty_, with streamers about
the pole, of red, blue and white ribbands.
I saw several statues of saints, both within and without the churches
(and in Paris likewise) with similar caps, and several crucifixes with
the national cockade of ribbands tied to the left arm of the image on
the cross, but not one with the cockade in its proper place; the reason
of which I know not.
I was both surprised and sorry to see the wooden images, many of them as
large as the life, on crosses, painted with the natural colours, to the
amount of perhaps twenty between _Calais_ and _Paris_, still suffered to
remain nuisances on the side of the road. The _perpendicular_ of each
cross being seasoned, by having been exposed many years to the open air,
might make a couple of excellent pike staves;[3] but the remainder
would, as far as I know, be of no other use than for fuel.
[Note 3: This was written after I had become familiarized to pikes.]
Another absurdity which has not been attended to as yet is, that most of
the almanacks, even that which is prefixed to Mr. _Rabaut's_ Account of
the Revolution, contains against every day in the year, the name of some
saint or other, male or female; some of them martyrs, and others not,
others archangels, angels, arch-bishops, bishops, popes, and virgins, to
the number of twenty-four, and of these, four were martyrs into the
bargain; and this at a time when churches are selling by auction and
pulling down, when the convents are turned into barracks, when there is
neither monk nor nun to be seen in the kingdom, nor yet any _Abbe_, and
when no priest dares appear in any sacerdotal garment, or even with any
thing which might mark him as an ecclesiastic. It must however be
acknowledged, that the saints have lost all their credit in France, and
of course so have the _Bienheureux_, or _Blessed_. In order to arrive at
saint-hood, the candidate must first have died _en odeur de Sainteté_,
which, were it not too ludicrous, might be translated _smelling of
holiness_; he was then created a _Bienheureux_, and after he had been
dead a century, the pope might canonize him if he pleased; after which
he, the saint, might work miracles if he could, or let it alone.
France formerly contained eighteen arch-bishopricks, and one hundred and
thirteen bishopricks; the _Arch ones_ are all abolished, and likewise
forty-seven of the others; there are, however, plenty remaining, no less
than seventy-three, which includes seven new ones, and one in _Corsica_.
The churches in Paris are not much frequented on the week days, at
present; I found a few old women on their knees in some of them, hearing
mass; and, at the same time, at the other end of one of these churches
commissaries were sitting and entering the names of volunteers for the
army.
The iron rails in the churches which part the choir from the nave, and
also those which encompass chapels and tombs, are all ordered to be
converted into heads for pikes.
On Sundays, before the 19th of August, the churches were still resorted
to, but by no means crowded; I know not whether this be the case now.
All the _jours de fête_, holidays, are very judiciously abolished, and
likewise _les jours gras, et maigres_, (Flesh and meagre days.)
All shops are allowed to be open, and every trade carried on on Sundays,
notwithstanding which, few are open excepting those where provisions are
sold; the inhabitants choosing to have one day's relaxation in seven, to
take a little fresh air, and to appear well dressed.
WALL ROUND PARIS. NEW BRIDGE. FIELD OF THE FEDERATION. BASTILLE.
THERE is a Wall which encompasses Paris, of about twelve feet high and
two feet thick, about nine miles long on the North side, and five on
the South side; this was built just before the Revolution, and was
intended to prevent goods from being smuggled into Paris. On the North
side are thirty-six barriers, and on the other side eighteen; of these
fifty-four I saw only ten. They were intended for the officers of the
customs; at present they are used as guardrooms. Most of them are
magnificent buildings, of white stone, some like temples, others like
chapels; several of these are described in the new _Paris Guides_; but
views of none of them have as yet been engraven.[4]
[Note 4: The _Rotunda D'Orleans_, in this wall, at the back of the
gardens of the _ci-devant_ Duke of that name is worthy of observation.]
A bridge of white stone was just finished and opened for the passage of
carriages; it was begun in 1787, it is of five arches, the centre arch
is ninety-six feet wide, the two collateral ones eighty-seven feet each,
and other two seventy-eight, each of these arches forms part of a
circle, whose centre is considerably under the level of the water; it is
thrown over the river from the _Place de Louis XV._ to the _Palais
Bourbon_.
The _Champ de la Federation_, formerly _Champ de Mars_, is a field which
served for the exercises of the pupils of the Royal Military School; it
is a regular parallelogram of nine hundred yards long, and three hundred
yards broad, exclusive of the ditches by which it is bounded, and of the
quadruple rows of trees on each side; but if these are included the
breadth is doubled. At one extremity is the magnificent building
above-mentioned,[5] and the river runs at the foot of the others. In
this field is formed the largest _Circus_ in the world, being eight
hundred yards long and four hundred broad; it is bordered by a slope of
forty yards broad, and of which the highest part is ten feet above the
level ground; the lower part is cut into thirty rows, gradually elevated
above each other, and on these rows or ridges a hundred and sixty
thousand persons may fit commodiously; the upper part may contain about
a hundred and fifty thousand persons standing, of which every one may
see equally well what is doing in the _Circus_. The National
confederation was first held here, 14th July, 1790, and at that time a
wooden bridge was thrown on boats over the river for convenience.
[Note 5: In 1788 the school was suppressed, the scholars were placed
in the army, or in country colleges, and the building is intended, when
the necessary alterations are completed, to be one of the four hospitals
which are to replace that of the _Hôtel-Dieu_. This hospital is in such
a bad situation, being in the midst of Paris, that a quarter of the
patients die. It contains only two thousand beds; each of the four new
hospitals is to contain twelve hundred beds.]
Of the _Bastille_ nothing remains but the foundations; it was demolished
and levelled with the ground in about eleven months; the expences at the
end of the first three months amounted to about twenty thousand pounds
sterling. The materials were sold for half that sum, and the nation paid
the remainder. And on the 14th of July, 1790, the anniversary of the day
of its having been taken, a long mast was erected in the middle of the
place where it stood, crowned with flowers and ribbands, and bearing
this simple and expressive inscription; _Ici on Danse_. Here is
dancing.
COINS AND TOKENS.
IN the _Hôtel de la Monnoye_ (the Mint) I procured some new coins. The
silver crown piece of six livres has on one side the king's head in
profile, round which is _Louis XVI. Roi des François_, 1792; over this
date is a small lion passant, being a Mint mark. The reverse, is a human
figure with an enormous pair of wings,[6] holding a book in its left
hand, which book rests on an altar, and with its other is represented as
if writing in it; the word _Constitution_ is already seen there. The
figure is naked, except a slight drapery on the left arm; behind the
figure is a bundle of staves, like the Roman Fasces, surmounted by the
cap of liberty, and behind the altar is a cock standing on one leg; the
inscription is _Regne de la Loi_. _L'An 4 de la Liberté._ Besides this,
there are two other Mint marks, one a small lyre, and the other the
letter A; at the foot of the altar is _Dupre_, the name of the person
who engraved the die; and on the edge is _La Nation_, _La Loi_, _et le
Roi_, in _Relievo_.
[Note 6: There is to be a new coinage without the king's profile,
and it is to be hoped these wings, or rather the whole figure, will be
left out.]
There are no new half crowns. The dies of the new thirty and fifteen sol
pieces are just like that of the crown, except that their value is
stamped on them 30 _Sols_, 15 _Sols_, and that there is no inscription
on the edge.
There are two other coins, made of a sort of bell-metal; one of two
_Sols_, with the king's profile; inscription and date like those on the
silver coin, and on the reverse the _Fasces_ and cap, between two oak
branches, and the inscription, _La Nation, Le Loi, Le Roi. L'an_ 4 _de
la Liberté. 2 S_. The other of half this size, and with the same
impressions, except that its value is specified thus, 12 D. or
_Deniers_, equal to one _Sol_.
I have not seen any new Louis. No paper money or assignats is known in
the Mint; I bought some coins here, and paid for them in guineas, which
are currant for twenty-five livres. There are twelve or fourteen mills,
which were all at work in coining crown pieces, and likewise several
hammering machines, one of which was coining 2 _Sols_ pieces.
Besides the national coins, several tradesmen have been permitted to
fabricate silver and copper medals or _tokens_, for public convenience,
the most beautiful of which are those of _M. Monneron_. The largest is
of almost pure copper, exactly of the size and thickness of the crown
piece; in an oval is represented a female figure with a helmet on,
sitting on an elevated place, on which is _Dupre f._ (or fecit) holding
a book, inscribed _Constitution des François_; at her side is a shield
with the arms of France, and at her feet an altar, on one side of which
is the profile of the king; several soldiers are represented extending
their right arms, as if taking the oath; at top is _Pacte Federatif_; at
bottom 14 _Juillet_, 1790; round the oval _vivre libres ou mourir_,
which is repeated in one of the banners carried by a soldier. On the
reverse, in a circle, is _Medaille de confiance de cinq-sols
remboursable en assignats de_ 50L _et au dessus_. _L'An IV. de la
Liberté_; round this is _Monneron Freres Negocians à Paris_, 1792; and
on the edge is cut _Departemens de Paris_, _Rhone et Loire_. _Du Gard_.
I have another of these pieces, not quite so large nor so well executed;
one of the sides is similar to that already described; on the other is
_Medaille qui se vend_ 5 _Sols à Paris chez Monneron patenté_. _L'An IV.
de la Liberté_. Round this is, _Revolution Française_, 1792; and on the
edge, _Bon pour les_ 83 _Departemens_. I am told this was made at
Birmingham.
The other token of the same merchant is rather larger and thicker than
our halfpenny. On one side is a woman sitting, with a staff in her right
hand with the cap of liberty; her left arm leans on a square tablet, on
which are the words, _Droits de l'Homme. Artic. V._[7] the sun shines
just over her head, and behind her is a cock perched on half a fluted
column; round the figure, _Liberté sous la Loi_, and underneath, _L'An
III. de la Liberté_. On the reverse, _Medaille de confiance de deux sols
à echanger contre des assignats de 50L et au dessus. 1791_. Round
this the merchant's name, as in the first; and on the edge, _Bon pour
Bord. Marseil. Lyon. Rouen. Nant. et Strasb_.
[Note 7: This article is, "The law has the right of prohibiting only
those actions which are hurtful to society."]
I have seen a silver token almost as big as a shilling. On one side is
represented a woman sitting, leaning with her left arm on a large open
book, at her right is a cock perched on half a fluted column; and the
inscription round these figures is, _Le Fevre, Le Sage et Compie.
ngt. à Paris_. On the reverse is _B.P._ (bon pour) 20 _Sols à
echanger en assignats_ de 50L and round this, _et au dessus l'an 4 me
de la Liberté_, 1792.[8]
[Note 8: This and the former _echanger_, &c. and _remboursable_, &c.
appear to be superfluous.]
In this Hôtel is the cabinet of the royal school of mineralogy, which
Mr. Le Sage has been four and twenty years in forming and analyzing; it
is contained in a magnificent building, with a dome and gallery almost
entirely of marble.
THEATRES.
AT this time there were ten regular theatres open every evening. The
first and most ancient of which is the Opera, or Royal Academy of Music.
The old house which was in the Palais Royal, was burnt in 1781, and the
present house, near St. Martin's Gate, was built in seventy-five days.
The number of performers, vocal and instrumental, dancers, &c. employed
in this theatre is about four hundred and thirty. The price of admission
to the first boxes is seven livres ten sous, about six shillings and
eight pence, (or three shillings and four pence as the exchange then
was.)
2. The _French_ playhouse is at present called _Theatre de la Nation_.
In the vestibule or porch is a marble statue of _Voltaire_, sitting in
an arm chair; it is near the Luxembourg.
3. The Italian theatre behind the _Boulevart Richelieu_. Notwithstanding
the name, nothing but French pieces, and French music, are performed
here.
4. Theatre _de Monsieur_. _Rue Feydeau_. Comedies and operas are
performed here, three times a week in the Italian, and the other days in
the French language; for which purpose two sets of players are engaged
at this house.
5. Theatre Français. Rue de Richelieu. At these four theatres the price
of admission into the boxes was a crown.
6. Theatre de la Rue de Louvois.
7. Theatre Français. Rue de Bondy.
8. Theatre de la Demoiselle Montansier, au Palais Royal. The box price
of these three last was half a crown.
9. Theatre du Marais, quartier St. Antoine.
10. Theatre de Moliere. Rue St. Martin.
To these must be added about five and twenty more; the best of which is
the _Theatre de l'ambigu comique_, on the _North Boulevarts_;[9] the
box price was half a crown. The others were rope dancers, and such kind
of spectacles as _Sadler's Wells, &c._ and the prices were from two
shillings down to sixpence. The French themselves, laughing at the great
increase of their theatres, said, "We shall shortly have a public
spectacle per street, an actor per house, a musician per cellar, and an
author per garret."
[Note 9: These _Boulevarts_ were made in 1536, and planted with four
rows of trees in 1668; these beautiful walks are too well known to be
described here; they are 2400 _Toises_ (4800 yards, or almost three
miles) long. The South Boulevarts are planted in the same manner, were
finished in 1761, and are 3683 _Toises_, or fathom (above four miles) in
length.]
PANTHEON. JACOBINS. QUAI VOLTAIRE. RUE ROUSSEAU. COCKADES.
THE new church of _Sainte Genevieve_ was begun in 1757; but the building
was discontinued during the last war; in 1784 it was resumed, and is at
present almost finished. The whole length of the front is thus inscribed
in very large gilt capitals: _Aux grands hommes: la Patrie
reconnoissante_. To great men: their grateful country. And over the
entrance: _Pantheon Français. L'An III de la Liberté_.
As to the size of Paris, I saw two very large plans of that city and of
London, on the same scale, on which it was said, that Paris covered
5,280,000 square _Toises_, and London only 3,900,000. A _Toise_ is two
yards; and from the plan it appeared to be near the truth.
The new buildings which surround the garden of the Palais Royal form a
parallelogram, that for beauty is not to be matched in Europe. They
consist of shops, coffee-houses, music rooms, four of which are in
cellars, taverns, gaming-houses, &c. and the whole square is almost
always full of people. The square is 234 yards in length, and 100 in
breadth; the portico which surround it consists of 180 arches.
The celebrated _Jacobins_ are a club, consisting at present of about
1300 members, and so called, because the place of meeting is in the
hall which was formerly the library of the convent of that name, in the
_Rue St. Honoré_, about 300 yards distant from the National Assembly.
The proper name of the club is, _Society of the Friends of the
Constitution_. There are three or four other societies of less note.
The _Quai_, which was formerly called _des Theatins_ is at present named
_Quai Voltaire_, in honor of that philosopher, who died there in the
house of the Marquis de _Villette_, in 1778.
The street which was formerly called _Platriere_, and in which the
general post-office is situated, is called _Rue Jean Jaques Rousseau_,
in honour of this writer, who resided some time in this street. I found
him here in 1776, and he copied some music for me; he had no other books
at that time than an English _Robinson Crusoe_ and an Italian _Tasso's
Jerusalem_. He died 1st July, 1778, very soon after Voltaire, at the
country seat of le Marquis _de Girardin_ about ten leagues from Paris;
and is buried there, in a small island.
And the street which was formerly called _Chaussée d'Antin_ is now named
_Rue de Mirabeau_, in honour of the late patriot of that name.
The church _des Innocens_ was pulled down in 1786, and the vast
_cimetiére_ (burying ground) was filled up. Every night, during several
months, carts were employed in carrying the bones found there, to other
grounds out of Paris; it is now a market for vegetables. Very near this
place was a fountain, which is mentioned in letters patent so long ago
as 1273. It was rebuilt with extraordinary magnificence in 1550,
repaired in 1708, and at last, in 1788, carefully removed to the center
of the market, where it now stands.
The new _Quai de Gesvres_ was constructed in 1787, and all the shops
which formed a long narrow alley for foot passengers only, were
destroyed.
At this time no person was permitted to walk in any other part of the
_Tuileries_ gardens than in the terrace of the _Feuillans_, which is
parallel to the _Rue St. Honoré_, and under the windows of the _National
Assembly_; the only fence to the other part of the garden was a blue
ribband extended between two chairs.
Hitherto cockades of silk had been worn, the _aristocrats_ wore such as
were of a paler blue and red, than those worn by the _democrats_, and
the former were even distinguished by their carriages, on which a cloud
was painted upon the arms, which entirely obliterated them, (of these I
saw above thirty in the evening _promenade_, in the _Bois de Boulogne_:)
but on the 30th of July, every person was compelled by the people to
wear a linen cockade, without any distinction in the red and blue
colours.
EXECUTION OF TWO CRIMINALS, WITH A BEHEADING MACHINE.
ON the 4th of August a criminal was beheaded, in the _Place de Grêve_. I
did not see the execution, because, as the hour is never specified, I
might have waited many hours in a crowd, from which there is no
extricating one's self. I was there immediately after, and saw the
machine, which was just going to be taken away. I went into a
coffee-house and made a drawing, which is here engraven. It is called
_la Guillotine_, from the name of the person who first brought it into
use in Paris: that at _Lisle_ is called _le Louison_, for a similar
reason. In English it is termed a maiden.[10]
[Note 10: Mr. Pennant, in the second volume of his Tour in Scotland,
has given a long account of such a machine, from which the following
particulars are taken. "It was confined to the limits of the forest of
Hardwick, or the eighteen towns and hamlets within its precincts. The
execution was generally at Halifax; Twenty five criminals suffered
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth; the records before that time were
lost. Twelve more were executed between 1623 and 1650, after which it is
supposed the privilege was no more exerted.----This machine is now
destroyed, but there is one of the same kind, in a room under the
Parliament house, at Edinburgh, where it was introduced by the Regent
Morton, who took a model of it as he passed through Halifax, and at
length suffered by it himself. It is in form of a painters easel, and
about ten feet high: at four feet from the bottom is a cross-bar, on
which the felon laid his head, which was kept down by another placed
above. In the inner edges of the frame are grooves; in these is placed a
sharp axe, with a vast weight of lead, supported at the summit by a peg;
to that peg is fastened a cord, which the executioner cutting, the axe
falls, and beheads the criminal. If he was condemned for stealing a
horse or a cow, the string was tied to the beast, which pulled out the
peg and became the executioner."]
I have seen the following seven engravings of such an instrument. The
most ancient is engraven on wood, merely outlines, and very badly drawn;
it is in _Petrus de Natalibus Catalogus Sanctorum, 1510_.
There was a German translation of some of _Petrarch's_ Works, published
in 1520; this contains an engraving in wood, representing an execution,
with a great number of figures, correctly drawn.
_Aldegrever_, in 1553, published another print on this subject.
The fourth is in _Achillis Bocchii Quæstiones Symbolicæ_, 1550.
There is one in _Cats's_ Dutch Emblems, 1650.
And the two last are in _Golfrieds's_ Historical Chronicles, in German,
folio, 1674. These five last are engraven on copper.
In all these representations the axe is either straight or semicircular,
but always horizontal. The sloping position of the French axe appears to
be the best calculated for celerity.
Machines of this kind are at present made use of for executions
throughout all France, and criminals are put to death in no other
manner.
The following is the account of an execution, which I had from an
eye-witness.
The crowd began to assemble at ten in the morning, and waited, exposed
to the intense heat of the sun in the middle of July, till four in the
afternoon, when the criminals, a Marquis and a Priest, were brought, in
two coaches; they were condemned for having forged _assignats_.
The Marquis ascended the scaffold first; he was as pale as if he had
already been dead, and he endeavoured to hide his face, by pulling his
hair over it; there were two executioners, dressed in black, on the
scaffold, one of which immediately tied a plank of about 18 inches
broad, and an inch thick, to the body of the Marquis, as he stood
upright, fastening it about the arms, the belly, and the legs; this
plank was about four feet long, and came almost up to his chin; a priest
who attended, then applied a crucifix to his mouth, and the two
executioners directly laid him on his belly on the bench, lifted up the
upper part of the board which was to receive his neck, adjusted his
head properly, then shut the board and pulled the string which is
fastened to the peg at the top of the machine, which lifted up a latch,
and down came the axe; the head was off in a moment, and fell into a
basket which was ready to receive it, the executioner took it out and
held it up by the hair to show the populace, and then put it into
another basket along with the body: very little blood had issued as yet.
The Priest was now taken out of the coach, from which he might have seen
his companion suffer; the bloody axe was hoisted up and he underwent the
same operation exactly. Each of these executions lasted about a minute
in all, from the moment of the criminal's ascending the scaffold to that
of the body's being taken away. It was now seen that the body of the
Marquis made such a violent expiration that the belly raised the lid of
the basket it was in, and the blood rushed out of the great arteries in
torrents.
The windows of the _Place de Grêve_ were, as usual on such occasions,
filled with ladies.[11] Many persons were performing on violins, and
trumpets, in order to pass the time away, and to relieve the tediousness
of expectation.
[Note 11: Mrs. Robinson tells me, that when she was at Paris, a few
years ago, her _valet de place_, came early one morning, informing her
there would be a _grand spectacle_, and wanted to know if he should hire
a place for her. This superb spectacle was no other than the execution
of two murderers, who were to be broken alive on the wheel, in the Place
de Grêve, on that day. She however says, that she declined going.]
I have on several other days seen felons sitting on stools on this
scaffold, with their hands tied, and their arms and bodies fastened to a
stake by a girth, bareheaded, with an inscription over their heads,
specifying their crimes and punishment; they are generally thus exposed
during five or fix hours, and then sent to prison, or to the gallies
according to the sentence.
VERSAILLES. BOTANY. SOUNDING MERIDIANS.
I went once to Versailles; there is hardly any thing in the palace but
the bare walls, a very few of the looking-glasses, tapestry, and large
pictures remaining, as it has now been near two years uninhabited. I
crossed the great canal on foot; there was not a drop of water in it.
In the _Menagerie_ I saw the Rhinoceros, which has been 23 years there;
there is likewise a lion, with a little dog in the same den, as his
companion, and a zebra.
The collection of orange trees cannot be matched in any country where
these trees do not grow naturally; the number is about six hundred, the
largest trunk is about fifteen inches in diameter, and the age of the
most ancient of these trees exceeds three centuries.
The _Jardin Potager_, or kitchen garden, is of fifty acres, divided into
about five or six and twenty small gardens, of one, two, or three acres,
walled round, both for shelter to the plants, and for training fruit
trees against. One of these gardens, of two acres, was entirely allotted
to the culture of melons, and these were all of the warty _rock
cantalupe_ kind, and were growing under hand-glasses, in the manner of
our late cucumbers for pickling.
The season had been so unfavourable for wall-fruit, that (as the
gardener told me) all these gardens had yielded less than a dozen
peaches and nectarines.
The fruit was sent regularly to the Royal Family in Paris.
There is a botanical garden at the _Petit Trianon_ in the park of
Versailles, but the person who shews it was out of the way, so that I
did not see it.
I passed several mornings in the Botanical National Garden, (_ci-devant
Jardin du Roi_.) That part of the garden which contains the botanical
collection is separated from the other part, which is open to the public
at large, by iron palisades. The names of the plants are painted on
square plates of tin, stuck in the ground on the side of each plant. I
saw a _Strelitzia_, which was there called _Ravenala_, (probably from
some modern botanist's name) _Mr. Thouin_, who superintends this garden,
said to me, "We will not have any aristocratic plants, neither will we
call the new Planet by any other name than that of its discoverer,
_Herschel_." I neglected to ask him why the plant might not retain its
original and proper name of _Heliconia Bihai_?
[Illustration: ANASTATICA or ROSE of JERICHO]
I here found the _Anastatica Hierochuntica_ or _Rose of Jericho_, which
I sought for in vain for several years, and advertised for in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, for January 1791, and in the newspapers. Many
descriptions and figures of this plant are to be found in old books, and
the dried plants are frequently to be met with. Old _Gerard_ very justly
says, "The coiner spoiled the name in the mint, for of all plants that
have been written of, there is not any more unlike unto the rose." The
annexed figure represents a single plant; it had been transplanted into
a deep pot, which had been filled with earth, so as to make it appear
like two plants. The stalks are shrubby, the leaves are fleshy, and of a
glaucous or sea-green colour. The _corolla_ consists of four very small
white petals. Its scientific description may be found in _Linnæus_[12].
One of the _silicles_ is drawn magnified.
[Note 12: _Genera plantarum_, 798.]
Mr. Thouin pointed out to me a new and very beautiful species of
_Zinnia_, of which the flower is twice the size of that of the common
sort, and of a deep purple colour: a new _verbascum_, from the Levant;
it was about four feet high, the leaves were almost as woolly as those
of the _Stachys lanata_, and terminated in a point like a spur; it had
not yet flowered. And a new _solanum_, with spines the colour of gold.
He recommended the flower of the _spilanthus brasiliana_, which our
nurserymen call _Verbesina_ _acmella_ as an excellent dentifrice.
I also found here the _amethystea, coerulea_: this annual has been lost
in England above twenty years.[13]
[Note 13: The seeds which are sold in the London shops, for those of
this plant, are those of the _hyssopus bracteatis_.]
The _datura fastuosa_, the French call _Trompette du jugement à trois
fleurs l'une dans l'autre_; I have myself raised these with triple
flowers, both purple and white, though some of our nurserymen pretended
the flowers were never more than double. The _anthemis arabica_, a very
singular and pretty annual. A _zinnia hybrida_, which last has not yet
been cultivated in England. Twenty-two sorts of _medicago polymorpha,
(snails and hedgehogs_) of these I had seen only four in England.
Here was a small single moss-rose plant, in a pot, which is the only one
I ever saw in France. The air is too hot for those roses, and for the
same reason none of the American plants, such as the _magnolia_ (tulip
tree) _kalmia_, &c. thrive in France, though kept in pots in the shade
and well watered; the heat of the atmosphere dries the trunk of these
trees. But there are many other plants, to the growth of which the
climate is much more favourable than it is in England. In the open part
of this garden are a great number of _bignonia-catalpa_ trees, which
were then in flower, resembling horse-chesnut flowers at a distance, but
much larger and more beautiful; and many _nerium oleander_ trees, in
wooden chests; several of these trees are about eight feet high and the
trunk a foot in diameter; they were then full of flowers of all the
sorts, single and double, red and white; these are placed in the
green-house in the winter.
On a mount in this garden is a _meridien sonnant_ (sounding meridian)
this is an iron mortar which holds four pounds of gunpowder, it is
loaded every morning, and exactly at noon the sun discharges the piece
by means of a burning glass, so placed that the _focus_ at that moment
fires the powder in the touch-hole. The first meridian that was made of
this kind is in the garden of the _Palais Royal_, at the top of one of
the houses; I could not see it, but it is thus described in the _Paris
Guide_: "The touch-hole of the cannon is two inches long and half a line
(the twentieth part of an inch) broad, this length is placed in the
direction of the meridian line. Two _transoms_ or _cross-staves_ placed
vertically on a horizontal plane, support a _lens_ or burning glass,
which, by their means, is fixed according to the sun's height monthly,
so as to cause the _focus_ to be exactly over the touch-hole at noon. It
is said to have been invented by _Rousseau_." Small meridians of this
sort are sold in the shops; these are dials of about a foot square,
engraven on marble, with a little brass cannon and a _lens_.
The market for plants and flowers in pots, and for nosegays, is kept on
the _Quai de la Megisserie_, twice a week, very early in the morning;
the following were the most abundant: _Nerium_ double flowering
pomegranate, _vinca rosea_, (Madagascar periwinkle) _prickly lantana,
peruvian heliotropium_ (turnsole) tuberoses, with very large and
numerous single and double flowers, and very great quantities of common
sweet basil, which is much used in cookery.
I visited the apothecaries garden, and also two or three nursery gardens
in that neighbourhood, but found nothing remarkable in them.
There are many gardens in the environs of Paris which are worthy of
notice, but I was prevented from seeing them in consequence of the
disturbances hereafter mentioned. In the books which describe these
places, I find the village of _Montreuil-sous-le-Bois_ particularly
mentioned on account of its fertility. In the _Tableau de Paris_ it is
said, "Three acres of ground produce to the proprietor twenty thousand
livres annually, (near 800 guineas.) The rent of an acre is six hundred
livres, and the king's tax sixty (together about six and twenty
guineas.) The peaches which are produced here are the finest in the
world, and are sometimes sold for a crown a piece. When a prince has
given a splendid entertainment, three hundred Louis d'ors worth of these
fruits have been eaten." It is situated on a hill, just above
_Vincennes_, about three miles from the fauxbourg _Saint Antoine_, and
is likewise celebrated for its grapes, strawberries, all sorts of wall
fruit, pease, and every kind of esculent vegetables. In the garden
called _Mouceaux_ which belongs to the _ci-devant Duke of Orleans_; at
the extremity of the _fauxbourg du Roule_ are, it is said, magnificent
hot-houses, of which I have no recollection, though I was in the garden
in 1776. There is a description of these gardens in print, with sixteen
copper plates. In the _Luxembourg_ gardens only common annuals were
growing, such as marigolds, sun-flowers, &c. probably self sown; neither
were there in the _Tuileries_ gardens, which I afterwards saw, any
remarkable plants.
I bought very large peaches in the markets at 30 _sous_ each, the
ordinary ones were at 10 _sols_. The melons (which are brought to market
in waggons, piled up like turnips in England) were all of the netted
sort, and of so little flavor, that they would not be worth cultivating,
were it not for the sake of cooling the mouth in hot weather; they were
sold at 15 or 20 sous each. Strawberries were still plentiful (second
week in August.) _Cerneaux_, which are the kernel of green walnuts, were
just coming into season.
I had now no opportunity of acquiring any more knowledge of the plants
in France, and shall only add, that I passed the winter of 1783 and
1784, at _Marseille_ and at _Hieres_; and that besides oranges, lemons,
cedras,[14] pistachios, pomegranates, and a few date palm trees, I
found several species of _geranium_, myrtles, and _cactus opuntia_,
(Indian fig) growing in the soil, and likewise the _mimosa farnesiana_,
sweet scented sponge tree, or fragrant acacia, the flowers of which are
there called _fleurs de cassier_; these flowers, together with those of
the jasmine, and those which fall from the orange and lemon trees, are
sold to the perfumers of _Provence_ and _Languedoc_.
[Note 14: These trees are planted as close together as possible,
hardly eight feet asunder, and no room is left for any walks, so that
these gardens are, properly speaking, orange orchards. The oranges were
then sold at the rate of ten for a penny English.]
Among the small plants, the _arum arisarum_, (friar's cowl) and the
_ruscus aculeatus_ (butcher's broom) were the most conspicuous, this
latter is a pretty ever-green shrub, and the berries were there as large
as those of a common _solanum pseudo capsicum_, (Pliny's _amomum_, or
winter cherry) and of a bright scarlet colour, issuing from the middle
of the under surface of the leaves; I never saw any of these berries any
where else. _Parkinson_, in his _Theater of Plants_, 1640, says, after
describing three or four species of this genus, "They scarse beare
flower, much lesse fruite, in our land." Perhaps the berries might
ripen in our hot-houses.
Many _arbutus_, or strawberry-trees, grow here, but they are not equal
in size and beauty to many which I saw both in Portugal and in Ireland.
In 1784, _M. J. J. de St. Germain_, a nurseryman in the _Fauxbourg St.
Antoine_, published a book in 8vo of 400 pages, entitled _Manuel des
Vegetaux_, or catalogue in Latin and French, of all the known plants,
trees, and shrubs, in the world, arranged according to the system of
_Linnæus_; those plants which grow near Paris are particularly
specified, and a very copious French index is added to the Latin one.
The author died a few years ago; the plants were sold, and the nursery
ground is at present built upon.
DOGS AND CATS. TWO-HEADED BOY.
LION Dogs and Cats are common in Paris.
The lion-dog greatly resembles a lion in miniature; the hair of the fore
part of its body is long, and curled, and the hinder part short; the
nose is short, and the tail is long and tufted at the extremity; the
smallest are little larger than guinea-pigs; these are natives of Malta,
and are the most valuable; those which are produced in France are
considerably larger, and the breed degenerates very soon. Their general
colour is white; they are frequently called _Lexicons_, which word is
derived, not from a dictionary, but from a French compound word of
nearly the same sound, descriptive of one of their properties.
The lion-cat comes originally from _Angora_, in _Syria_. It is much
larger than the common cat; its hair is very long, especially about the
neck, where it forms a fine ruff, of a silvery whiteness and silky
texture, that on the tail is three or four inches long; these cats
frequently spread their tails on their backs, as squirrels do. The
colour is generally white, but sometimes light brown; they do not catch
mice. This beautiful species does not degenerate speedily, and it
appears to thrive better in Paris than in any other part of Europe. The
figures of both these animals are in _Buffon's Natural History_.
About the _Palais Royal_ persons are frequently found who offer for sale
white mice in cages; these are pretty little animals, their fur is snow
white, and their eyes are red and sparkling. Other persons carried for
sale canary-birds, linnets, and two or three other sorts of small birds,
perched on their fingers; these birds had been rendered so tame that
they did not attempt to fly away.
But the greatest curiosity in Natural History which I saw there, was a
male child with two heads and four arms; it was then three months old,
the two faces were perfectly alike, the noses aquiline, the eyes blue,
and the countenances pleasing; the two bodies were joined together at
the chest, and the remainder was just like that of a common male child;
one navel, one belly, one _penis_ one _anus_, and two legs. The two
bodies were face to face, so that they could embrace and kiss each
other; in their natural position they formed an angle of 65 degrees,
like the letter Y. I remained above an hour with this child, it's mother
and the nurse, and saw it suck at both breasts at the same time. It was
tolerably strong, the skin was very soft, and almost transparent, the
arms and legs were very lean, and the latter were crossed, and appeared
incapable of being extended voluntarily; so that if the child should
live two or three years, which I do not think probable, it is not likely
it will ever be able to walk. One head would laugh while the other
cried, one head would sleep whilst the other was awake; the inspiration
and expiration of the breath, in each, was alternate, that is to say,
one inspired while the other expired its breath. There was nothing
remarkable in the mother (a peasant's wife) except her obstinacy in
refusing to disencumber these two poor heads from a couple of thick
quilted blue sattin caps with which they had dressed them, and which I
endeavoured to convince both her and the nurse would heat the heads, so
as to be the means of shortening the child's life, and consequently of
curtailing the profits arising from this _unique_ exhibition.
To this description an English physician, who likewise saw it, adds, "It
must have had two brains, as motion and sensation were equal, and
apparently perfect, in each head and chest, and in all the four arms. It
had two hearts, and two sets of lungs; it had also two passages into the
stomach, but, as was supposed, only one set of _abdominal viscera_, as
the belly was not larger than that of a common child of that age usually
is. The hearts and arteries beat more strongly than was consistent with
a long continuance of health. The action of the arteries was plainly
seen under the skin."
Mr. Buffon, in the Supplement to his Natural History, has given the
figure and description of a monster something similar to this, part of
which description I shall give in a note, as a parallel to that of the
living child.[15]
[Note 15: "In 1701 there were born in Hungary two Girls who were
joined together by the loins; they lived above twenty-one years. At
seven years old they were shown almost all over Europe; at nine years of
age a priest purchased them, and placed them in a convent at Petersburg,
where they remained till their death, which happened in 1723. An account
of them was found among the papers of the surgeon who attended the
convent, and was sent to the Royal Society of London in 1757. In this
account we are told, that one of these twins was called _Helen_, the
other _Judith_. _Helen_ grew up and was very handy, _Judith_ was smaller
and a little hump-backed. They were joined together by the reins, and in
order to see each other they could turn their heads only. There was one
common _anus_, and of course there was only one common need of going to
stool, but each had her separate urinary passage, and separate wants,
which occasioned quarrels, because when the weakest was obliged to
evacuate, the strongest, who sometimes would not stand still, pulled her
away; they perfectly agreed in every thing else, and appeared to love
each other. When they were seen in front, they did not differ apparently
from other women. At six years old _Judith_ lost the use of her left
side by a paralytick stroke; she never was perfectly cured, and her mind
remained feeble and dull; on the contrary, _Helen_ was handsome,
intelligent and even witty. They had the small-pox and the measles at
the same time, but all their other sicknesses indispositions happened to
each separately. _Judith_ was subject to a cough and a fever, whereas
_Helen_ was generally in good health. When they had almost attained the
age of twenty-two _Judith_ caught a fever, fell into a lethargy and
died. Poor _Helen_ was forced to follow her fate; three minutes before
the death of _Judith_ she fell into an agony, and died nearly at the
same time. When they were dissected it was found, that each had her own
entrails perfect, and even, that each had a separate excretory conduit,
which however terminated at the same _anus_." _Linnæus_ has likewise
described this monster. Many figures of double children of different
kinds may be seen in _Licetus de Monstris_, 4to. 1665; and in the
_Medical Miscellanies_, which were printed in Latin at Leipzig, in
several quarto volumes, in 1673.]
I went several times to the National Assembly; the _Tribunes_, or
_Galleries_, (of which there are three) entered warmly, by applauses
and by murmurs and hisses, into the affairs which were treated of.
Letters are franked by the assembly as far as the frontiers, by being
stamped with red printers ink, _Ass. Nationale._
About this time many hundreds of folio volumes of heraldry, and of the
registers of the nobility, were publicly burnt in _la Place Vendôme_,
after due notice had been given of the time and place by advertisements
pasted against the walls. A wicked wag observed, that it was a pity all
their books of divinity, and almost all those of law and physic, were
not added to the pile but he comforted himself with reflecting that _ça
viendra_.
All the coats of arms which formerly decorated the gates of _Hôtels_ are
taken away, and even seals are at present engraven with cyphers only.
_The Chevaliers de St. Louis_ still continue to wear the cross, or the
ribband, at the button-hole; all other orders of knighthood are
abolished. No liveries are worn by servants, that badge of slavery is
likewise abolished; and also all corporation companies, as well as
every other monopolizing society; and there are no longer any _Royal_
tobacco nor salt shops.
I went once to the _Café de la Regence_,[16] with the intention of
playing a game at chess, but I found the chess-men so very little
different in colour, that I could not distinguish them sufficiently to
be able to play. It seems it is the fashion for chess-men at present to
be made of box-wood, and all nearly of the same colour. I then went to
another coffee-house frequented by chess-players, and here the matter
was worse; they had, in addition to the above-mentioned fashion,
substituted the _cavalier_, or _knight_, for the _fou_, or _bishop_, and
the _bishop_ for the _knight_, so that I left them to fight their own
battles.
[Note 16: Rousseau used to play at chess here almost every day,
which attracted such crowds of people to see him, that the _Lieutenant
de Police_ was obliged to place a sentinel at the door.]
Books of all sorts are printed without any _approbation_ or _privilêge_.
Many are exposed on stalls, which are very improper for the public eye.
One of these was called the _Private Life of the Queen_, in two volumes,
with obscene prints. The book itself is contemptible and disgusting, and
might as well have been called the _Woman of Pleasure_. Of books of this
sort I saw above thirty, with plates. Another was on a subject not fit
even to be mentioned.
I read a small pamphlet, entitled "_le Christ-Roi_, or a Parallel of the
Sufferings of Lewis XVI. &c." I can say nothing in favor of it.
I found no new deistical books, the subject has already been exhausted,
and every Frenchman is a philosopher now; it may be necessary here to
recollect, that there are gradations in philosophy.
Since the Revolution, monarchs and courts are not quite so respectfully
mentioned in books as they were formerly. The following few examples are
taken from _Mr. du Laure's_ Curiosities of Paris, in two volumes, 1791,
third edition. [17] "Louis XIV. has his bust in almost every street in
Paris. After the most trifling reparation of a street it was customary
to place his great wig-block (_tête à perruque_) there. The saints have
never obtained such multiplied statues. That bully (_Fanfaron_) as
_Christina_, Queen of Sweden, used to call him, wanted to be adored even
in turn-again alleys (_culs-de-Sac._") Courtiers are here termed
_canaille de la cour_ (the rabble of the court;) the former aldermen of
Paris (_echevins_) _machines à complimens_ (complimenting machines;) and
monks _des bourreaux encapuchonnés_ (cowled executioners.)
[Note 17: The same author has likewise published, _Historical
Singularities_ of Paris, in a single volume, and a Description of the
Environs, in two volumes, 1790.]
All the following articles of information are taken from the same work:
The colossal statue of _St. Christopher_ is no longer in the church of
_Notre-Dame_; "He was, without doubt, the greatest _Saint Christopher_
in all France. This ridiculous monument of the taste and devotion of
our ancestors has lately been demolished."
"The court before the porch of this church was considerably enlarged in
1748, and at the same time a fountain was destroyed, against which
leaned an old statue, which had successively been judged to be that of
_Esculapius_, of _Mercury_, of a Mayor, and of a Bishop of Paris, and
lastly, that of J.C."
"Entering the street which leads to the _Pont-rouge_, by the cloisters
of this church, the last house on the right, under the arcades, stands
where the canon _Fulbert_, uncle to _Eloisa_, lived. Although it has
been several times rebuilt during 600 years, there are still preserved
two stone medallions, in _basso-relievo_, which are said to be the busts
of _Abelard_ and _Eloisa_."
The number of inhabitants in Paris is computed at one million, one
hundred and thirty thousand, (including one hundred and fifty thousand
strangers) two hundred thousand of which are, through poverty, exempt
from the poll-tax, and two hundred thousand others are servants.
In 1790 there were in Paris forty-eight convents of monks, containing
nine hundred and nine men; the amount of their revenue was estimated at
two millions, seven hundred and sixty thousand livres; five abbeys or
priories, estimated at six hundred and twelve thousand livres;
seventy-four convents of nuns, containing two thousand, two hundred and
ninety-two women, their income two millions and twenty-eight thousand
livres. When to these we add the revenue of the archbishoprick, and of
the fifteen collegiate churches, of one million, six thousand and five
hundred livres, we shall have a total of upwards of seven millions of
livres for the former ecclesiastical revenue in Paris only.[18]
[Note 18: Almost £300,000 sterling, about a tenth part of the Church
income of the whole kingdom. The establishment for the Royal Family, or
Civil List, is said to have been forty millions of livres. Thus the
Religion and the Monarch cost one hundred and ten millions of livres
annually (about five millions sterling) the greater part of which sum is
now appropriated to other uses. The convents are converted, or
perverted, into secular useful buildings, and their inhabitants have
been suffered to spend the remainder of their lives in their former
idleness, or to marry and mix with society. Annuities have been granted
to them from thirty-five to sixty louis per annum, according to their
age.]
There are about six hundred coffee-houses in Paris.
In the saloon of the _Louvre_ every other year is an exhibition of
pictures, in the months of August and September.
The Pont-neuf is one hundred toises in length and twelve in breadth.[19]
[Note 19: 1020 feet by 72. Westminster-bridge is 1220 feet long, but
only 44 feet wide.]
The cupola of the _Halle au Bled_, or corn and flour market, is one
hundred and twenty feet in diameter; it forms a perfect half circle,
whose centre is on a level with the cornice, forty feet from the ground.
The vault or dome is composed merely of deal boards, four feet long, one
foot broad and an inch thick.[20]
[Note 20: The inner diameter of the dome of St. Peter's, at Rome,
138 feet, which is the same size as that of the pantheon in Rome. St.
Paul's in London 108. The Invalids in Paris 50.]
Describing the church of _St. John of the Minstrels_, so called, because
it was founded by a couple of fidlers, in 1330. _M. du Laure_ says,
"Among the figures of saints with which the great door is decorated, one
is distinguished who would play very well on the fiddle, if his
fiddle-stick were not broken."
There is a parcel-post as well as a letter penny-post in Paris.
The salary of the executioner was eighteen thousand livres _per annum_;
[21] his office was to break criminals on the wheel, and to inflict
every punishment on them which they were sentenced to undergo.
[Note 21: £750 sterling; I know not the present salary.]
There are no longer any _Espions de Police_, or spies, employed by
government. "That army of thieves, of cut-throats, and rascals, kept in
pay by the ancient police, was perhaps a necessary evil in the midst of
the general evil of our old administration. A body of rogues and
traitors could be protected by no other administration than such a one
as could only subsist by crimes and perfidy. Those were the odious
resources of despotism. Liberty ought to make use of simple and open
means, which justice and morality will never disavow."
There is a school at the point of the isle of St. Louis, in the river
_Seine_, to teach swimming; persons who chuse to learn in private pay
four _louis_, those who swim among others, half that sum, or half-crown
a lesson; if they are not perfect in that art in a season, (five summer
months) they may attend the following season _gratis_.
DRESS. INNS.
THE common people are in general much better clothed than they were
before the Revolution, which may be ascribed to their not being so
grievously taxed as they were. An English Gentleman who has gone for
many years annually from Calais to Paris, remarks, that they are almost
as well dressed on working days at present, as they were on Sundays and
holidays formerly.
All those ornaments which three years ago were worn of silver, are now
of gold. All the women of the lower class, even those who sit behind
green-stalls, &c. wear gold ear-rings, with large drops, some of which
cost two or three _louis_, and necklaces of the same. Many of the men
wear plain gold ear-rings; those worn by officers and other gentlemen
are usually as large as a half-crown piece. Even children of two years
old have small gold drops in their ears. The general dress of the women
is white linen or muslin gowns, large caps which cover all their hair,
excepting just a small triangular piece over the forehead, pomatumed, or
rather plaistered and powdered, without any hats: neither do they wear
any stays, but only _corsets_ (waistcoats or jumps.) Tight lacing is not
known here, nor yet high and narrow heeled shoes. Because many of the
ladies _ci-devant_ of quality have emigrated or ran away, and that those
which remain in Paris, keep within doors, I saw no face that was
painted, excepting on the stage. Most of the men wear coats made like
great-coats, or in other words, long great-coats, without any coat: this
in fine weather and in the middle of summer made them appear to me like
invalides. There is hardly any possibility of distinguishing the rank of
either man or woman by their dress at present, or rather, there are no
ranks to distinguish.
The nation in general is much improved in cleanliness, and even in
politeness. The French no longer look on every Englishman as a lord, but
as their equal.
The inns on the road from _Calais_ to _Paris_, are as well furnished,
and the beds are as clean at present as almost any in England. At
_Flixcourt_ especially, the beds are remarkably excellent, the furniture
elegant, and there is a profusion of marble and of looking-glasses in
this inn. The plates, dishes, and basons which I saw in cupboards, and
on shelves in the kitchen, and which are not in constant use, were all
of silver, to which being added the spoons and forks of the same metal,
of which the landlord possesses a great number; the ladies and gentlemen
who were with me there, going to and returning from Paris, estimated the
value at, perhaps, a thousand pounds sterling. Now, if we allow only
half this sum to be the value, it is, notwithstanding, considerable.
Every inn I entered was well supplied with silver spoons, of various
sizes, and with silver four pronged forks; even those petty
eating-houses in Paris, which were frequented by soldiers and
_sans-culottes_.
There are no beggars to be seen about the streets in Paris, and when the
chaise stopped for fresh horses, only two or three old and infirm people
surrounded it and solicited charity, whereas formerly the beggars used
to assemble in hundreds. I did not see a single pair of _sabôts_
(wooden-shoes) in France this time. The table of the peasants is also
better supplied than it was before the revolution.
ASSIGNATS.
EXCEPTING the coins which I purchased at the mint in Paris, I did not
see a piece of gold or silver of any kind; a few brass sols and two sols
were sometimes to be found in the coffee-houses, and likewise
_Mouneron's_ tokens.
The most common _assignats_ or bills, are those of five _livres_, which
are printed on sheets; each sheet containing twenty of such _assignats_,
or a hundred _livres_; they are cut out occasionally, when wanted for
change. I do not know that there are any of above a thousand _livres_.
The lowest in value which I saw were of five _sols_, and these were of
parchment. Those of five _livres_ and upwards, have the king's portrait
stamped on them, like that on the coins.
Besides the national _assignats_, which are current all over France,
every town has its own _assignats_, of and under, but not above five
_livres_; these are only current in such town and its neighbourhood.
The _assignats_ of and above five _livres_ are printed on white paper,
those which are under, are for the convenience of the lower class of
people, of which few can read, printed on different coloured paper
according to their value; for instance, those of ten _sols_ on blue
paper, those of thirty on red, &c. though this method is not correctly
adhered to.
I had projected many excursions in the neighbourhood of Paris, which
were all put a stop to, in consequence of the events of the tenth of
August, of which I shall give a true and impartial narrative, carefully
avoiding every word which may appear to favour either party, and writing
not as a politician, but as a spectator.
I had written many anecdotes, as well aristocratical as democratical,
but as I was unable properly to authenticate some of them, and that
others related to excesses which were inevitable, during such a time of
anarchy, I thought it not proper to prejudice the mind of the public,
and have accordingly expunged them all. I have only recounted facts, and
the readers may form their own opinion.
Some particulars relative to the massacre in August, 1572, are inserted
to corroborate the description of the similar situation of Paris, in
August, 1792, though not from similar causes. The execrable massacre
above-mentioned was committed by raging fanatics, cutting the throats of
their defenceless fellow-creatures, merely for difference in religious
opinion.
BATTLE AND MASSACRE AT THE TUILERIES.
ON Thursday, the 9th of August, the legislative body completed the
general discontent of the people, (which had been raised the preceding
day, by the discharge of every accusation against _la Fayette_) by
appearing to protract the question relative to the king's _déchéance_
(forfeiture) at a time when there was not a moment to lose, and by not
holding any assembly in the evening.
The fermentation increased every minute, in a very alarming manner. The
mayor himself had declared to the representatives of the nation, that he
could not answer for the tranquillity of the city after midnight. Every
body knew that the people intended at that hour to ring the alarm-bell;
and to go to the _château_ of the _Tuileries_, as it was suspected that
the Royal Family intended to escape to Rouen, and it is said many trunks
were found, packed up and ready for taking away, and that many carriages
were seen that afternoon in the court-yard of the _Tuileries_.
At eight in the evening the _generale_,(a sort of beat of drum) was
heard in all the sections, the _tocsin_ was likewise rung, (an alarm, by
pulling the bells of the churches, so as to cause the clappers to give
redoubled strokes in very quick time. Some bells were struck with large
hammers.)
All the shops were shut, and also most of the great gates of the hotels;
lights were placed in almost every window, and few of the inhabitants
retired to their repose: the night passed however without any other
disturbance; many of the members of the National Assembly were sitting
soon after midnight, and the others were expected. _Mr. Petion_, the
mayor, had been sent for by the king, and was then in the _château_; the
number of members necessary to form a sitting, being completed, the
_tribunes_ (galleries) demanded and obtained a decree to oblige the
_château_ to release its prey, the mayor; he soon after appeared at the
bar, and from thence went to the _commune_ (mansion-house.)
It was now about six o'clock on Friday morning (10th) the people of the
_fauxbourgs_ (suburbs) especially of _St. Antoine_ and _St. Marcel_,
which are parted by the river, assembled together on the _Place de la
Bastille_, and the crowd was so great that twenty-five persons were
squeezed to death.[22] At seven the streets were filled with-armed
citizens, that is to say, with _federates_ (select persons sent from the
provinces to assist at the _Federation_, or confederacy held last July
14) from _Marseille_, from _Bretagne_, with national guards, and
Parisian _sans-culottes_, (_without breeches_, these people have
_breeches_, but this is the name which has been given to the mob.) The
arms consisted of guns, with or without bayonets, pistols, sabres,
swords, pikes, knives, scythes, saws, iron crows, wooden billets, in
short of every thing that could be used offensively.
[Note 22: According to the _Journal de la seconde legislature_,
_seance de la nuit_ II _Août_.]
A party of these met a false patrol of twenty-two men, who, of course,
did not know the watch-word. These were instantaneously put to death,
their heads cut off and carried about the streets on pikes (_on promena
leurs têtes sur des piques._) This happened in _la Place Vendôme_; their
bodies were still lying there the next day. Another false patrol,
consisting of between two and three hundred men, with cannon, wandered
all night in the neighbourhood of the _theatre français_: it is said
they were to join a detachment from the battalion of Henri IV. on the
_Pont-neuf_, to cut the throats of _Petion_ and the _Marseillois_, who
were encamped on the _Pont St. Michel_ (the next bridge to the
_Pont-neuf_) which caused the then acting parish assemblies to order an
honorary guard of 400 citizens, who were to be answerable for the
liberty and the life of that magistrate, then in the council-chamber.
_Mandat_, commander-general of the National Guard, had affronted _M.
Petion_, when he came from the _château_ of the _Tuileries_, to go to
the National Assembly; he was arrested and sent to prison immediately.
The insurrection now became general; the _Place du Carrousel_ (square of
the _Carousals_, a square in the _Tuileries_, so called from the
magnificent festival which Lewis XIV. in 1662, there gave to the queen
and the queen-mother) was already filled; the king had not been in bed;
all the night had probably been spent in combining a plan of defence, if
attacked, or rather of retreat; soon after seven the king, the queen,
their two children (the dauphin, seven years old, and his sister
fourteen) Princess Elizabeth, (the queen's sister, about 50 years old)
and the Princess _de Lamballe_, crossed the garden of the _Tuileries_,
which was still shut, escorted by the National Guard, and by all the
Swiss, and took refuge in the National Assembly, when the Swiss
returned to their posts in the _château_.
The alarm-bells, which were incessantly ringing, the accounts of the
carrying heads upon pikes, and of the march of almost all Paris in arms;
the presence of the king, throwing himself, as it were, on the mercy of
the legislative body; the fierce and determinate looks of the
_galleries_; all these things together had such an effect on the
National Assembly, that it immediately decreed the suspension of Lewis
XVI. which decree was received with universal applause and clapping.
At this moment a wounded man rushed into the Assembly, crying, "We are
betrayed, to arms, to arms, the Swiss are firing on the citizens; they
have already killed a hundred Marseillois."
This was about nine o'clock. The democrats, that is to say, the armed
citizens, as beforementioned, had dragged several pieces of cannon, six
and four pounders, into the _carousel_ square, and were assembled
there, on the _quais_, the bridges, and neighbouring streets, in immense
numbers, all armed; they knew the king was gone to the National
Assembly, and came to insist on his _déchéance_ (forfeiture) or
resignation of the throne. All the Swiss (six or seven hundred) came out
to them, and permitted them to enter into the court-yard of the
Tuileries, to the number of ten thousand, themselves standing in the
middle, and when they were peaceably smoking their pipes and drinking
their wine, the Swiss turned back to back, and fired a volley on them,
by which about two hundred were killed;[23] the women and children ran
immediately into the river, up to their necks, many jumping from the
parapets and from the bridges, many were drowned, and many were shot in
the water, and on the balustrades of the _Pont-royal_, from the windows
of the gallery of the _Louvre_.
[Note 23: This is asserted on the authority of all the French
newspapers, and of several eye-witnesses. It will never be possible to
know the exact truth, for the people here said to be the aggressors are
all slain.--These Swiss had trusted that they would have been backed by
the National Guard, who, on the contrary, took the part of the people,
and fired on the Swiss (who ran into the château as soon as they had
discharged their pieces) by which several were killed.]
The populace now became, as it were, mad, they seized on five cannon
they found in the court yard, and turned them against the château; they
planted some more cannon on the _Pont-royal_ and in the garden,
twenty-two pieces in all, and attacked the château on three sides at
once. The Swiss continued their fire, and it is said they fired seven
times to the people's once; the Swiss had 36 rounds of powder, whereas
the people had hardly three or four. Expresses were sent several miles
to the powder-mills, for more ammunition, even as far as _Essonne_,
about twenty miles off, on the road to _Fontainebleau_. The people
contrived however to discharge their twenty-two cannon nine or ten
times.[24] From nine to twelve the firing was incessant; many waggons
and carts were constantly employed in carrying away the dead to a large
excavation, formerly a stone quarry, at the back of the new church _de
la Madeleine de la ville l'Eveque_ (part of the _Fauxbourg St. Honoré_,
thus called.)
[Note 24: The balls did no other damage to the palace than breaking
the windows, and leaving impressions in the stones, perhaps an inch in
depth.]
Soon after noon the Swiss had exhausted all their powder, which the
populace perceiving, they stormed the _château_, broke open the doors,
and put every person they found to the sword, tumbling the bodies out of
the windows into the garden, to the amount, it is supposed, of about two
thousand, having lost four thousand on their own side. Among the slain
in the _château_, were, it is asserted, about two hundred noblemen and
three bishops: all the furniture was destroyed, the looking-glasses
broken, in short, nothing left but the bare walls.
Sixty of the Swiss endeavoured to escape through the gardens, but the
horse (_gendarmerie nationale_) rode round by the street of _St.
Honoré_, and met them full butt at the end of the gardens; the Swiss
fired, killed five or six and twenty horses and about thirty men, and
were then immediately cut to pieces; the people likewise put the Swiss
porters at the _pont-tournant_ (turning bridge) to death, as well as all
they could find in the gardens and elsewhere: they then set fire to all
the _casernes_ (barracks) in the _carousel_, and afterwards got at the
wine in the cellars of the château, all of which was immediately drank;
many citizens were continually bringing into the National Assembly
jewels, gold, louis d'ors, plate, and papers, and many thieves were, as
soon as discovered, instantly taken to lamp irons and hanged by the
ropes which suspend the lamps. This timely severity, it is supposed,
saved Paris from an universal pillage. Fifty or sixty Swiss were hurried
by the populace to the _Place de Grêve_, and there cut to pieces.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon every thing was tolerably quiet,
and I ventured out for the first time that day.[25]
[Note 25: The whole of the foregoing account is taken from verbal
information, and from all the French papers that could be procured.]
The _quais_, the bridges, the gardens, and the immediate scene of battle
were covered with bodies, dead, dying, and drunk; many wounded and drunk
died in the night; the streets were filled with carts, carrying away the
dead, with litters taking the wounded to hospitals; with women and
children crying for the loss of their relations, with men, women, and
children walking among and striding over the dead bodies, in silence,
and with apparent unconcern; with troops of the _sans-culottes_ running
about, covered with blood, and carrying, at the end of their bayonets,
rags of the clothes which they had torn from the bodies of the dead
Swiss, who were left stark naked in the gardens.[26]
[Note 26: Although I was not an eye-witness, I was however an
ear-witness of the engagement, being only half a mile distant from it.]
One of these _sans-culottes_ was bragging that he had killed eight Swiss
with his own hand. Another was observed lying wounded, all over blood,
asleep or drunk, with a gun, pistols, a sabre, and a hatchet by him.
The courage and ferocity of the women was this day very conspicuous; the
first person that entered the _Tuileries_, after the firing ceased, was
a woman, named _Teroigne_, she had been very active in the riots at
_Brussels_, a few years ago; she afterwards was in prison a twelvemonth
at _Vienna_, and when she was released, after the death of the Emperor,
went to _Geneva_, which city she was soon obliged to leave; she then
came to _Paris_, and headed the _Marseillois_; she began by cleaving the
head of a Swiss, who solicited her protection, and who was
instantaneously cut in pieces by her followers. She is agreeable in her
person, which is small, and is about twenty-eight years of age.
Many men, and also many women, as well of the order of _Poissardes_
(which are a class almost of the same species and rank with our
fishwomen, and who are easily distinguished by their red cotton bibs and
aprons) as others, ran about the gardens, ripping open the bellies, and
dashing out the brains of several of the naked dead Swiss.[27]
[Note 27: At the taking of the Bastille, on the day of which only
eighty-three persons were killed on the spot, though fifteen died
afterwards of their wounds, these _Poissardes_ were likewise foremost in
bravery and in cruelty, so much, that the Parisians themselves ran away
from them as soon as they saw them at a distance. They are armed, some
with sabres and others with pikes.]
At six in the evening I saw a troop of national guards and
_sans-culottes_ kill a Swiss who was running away, by cleaving his skull
with a dozen sabres at once, on the _Pont-royal_, and then cast him into
the river, in less time than it takes to read this, and afterwards walk
quietly on.
The shops were shut all this day, and also the theatres; no coaches were
about the streets, at least not near the place of carnage; the houses
were lighted up, and patroles paraded the streets all night. Not a
single house was pillaged.
The barracks were still in flames, as well as the houses of the Swiss
porters at the end of the gardens; these last gave light to five or six
waggons which were employed all night in carrying away the dead
carcases.
STATUES PULLED DOWN. NEW NAMES.
THE next day, Saturday the 11th, about an hundred Swiss who had not been
in the palace placed themselves under the protection of the National
Assembly. They were sent to the _Palais Bourbon_ escorted by the
Marseillois, with _Mr. Petion_ at their head, in order to be tried by a
court-martial.
The people were now employed, some in hanging thieves, others with
_Mademoiselle_ _Teroigne_ on horseback at their head, in pulling down
the statues of the French Kings.
The first was the equestrian one in bronze of Lewis XV. in the square of
the same name, at the end of the _Tuileries_ gardens; this was the work
of _Bouchardon_, and was erected in 1763. At the corners of the pedestal
were the statues, also in bronze, of strength, peace, prudence, and
justice, by _Pigalle_. Many smiths were employed in filing the iron bars
within the horse's legs and feet, which fastened it to the marble
pedestal, and the _sans-culottes_ pulled it down by ropes, and broke it
to pieces; as likewise the four statues above-mentioned, the pedestal,
and the new magnificent balustrade of white marble which surrounded it.
The next was the equestrians statue of _Lewis XIV._ in the _Place
Vendôme_, cast in bronze, in a single piece, by Keller, from the model
of Girardon; twenty men might with ease have sat round a table in the
belly of the horse; it stood on a pedestal of white marble of thirty
feet in height, twenty-four in length, and thirteen in breadth. This
statue crushed a man to pieces by falling on him, which must be
attributed to the inexperience of the _pullers-down_.
The third was a pedestrian statue of _Lewis XIV._ in the _Place
Victoire_, of lead, gilt, on a pedestal of white marble; a winged
figure, representing victory, with one hand placed a crown of laurels on
his head, and in the other held a bundle of palm and olive branches. The
king was represented treading on _Cerberus_ and the whole group was a
single cast. There were formerly four bronze slaves at the corners of
the pedestal, each of twelve feet high; these were removed in 1790. The
whole monument was thirty-five feet high, and was erected in 1689, at
the expence of the Duke _de la Feuillade_, who likewise left his duchy
to his heirs, on condition that they should cause the whole group to be
new gilt every twenty-five years; and who was buried under the
pedestal.
On Sunday the 12th, at about noon, the equestrian statue, in bronze, of
_Henry IV._ which was on the _Pont-neuf_, was pulled down; this was
erected in 1635, and was the first of the kind in Paris. The horse was
begun at Florence, by _Giovanni Bologna_, a pupil of _Michael Angelo_,
finished by _Pietro Tacca_, and sent as a present to _Mary of Medicis_,
widow of _Henry IV._ Regent. It was shipped at _Leghorn_, and the vessel
which contained it was lost on the coast of Normandy, near _Havre de
Grace_, the horse remained a year in the sea, it was, however, got out
and sent to Paris in 1614.
This statue used to be the idol of the Parisians; immediately after the
revolution it was decorated with the national cockade; during three
evenings after the federation, in 1790, magnificent festivals were
celebrated before it.
It was broken in many pieces by the fall; the bronze was not half an
inch thick, and the hollow part was filled up with brick earth.
The fifth and last was overthrown in the afternoon of the same day; it
was situated in the _Place Royale_; it was an equestrian statue in
bronze, of Lewis XIII. on a vast pedestal of white marble; it was
erected in 1639. The horse was the work of _Daniel Volterra_; the figure
of the king was by _Biard_.
The people were several days employed in pulling down all the statues
and busts of kings and queens they could find. On the Monday I saw a
marble or stone statue, as large as the life, tumbled from the top of
the _Hôtel de Ville_ into the _Place de Grêve_, at that time full of
people, by which two men were killed, as I was told, and I did not wish
to verify the assertion myself, but retired.
They then proceeded to deface and efface every crown, every _fleur de
lis_, every inscription wherein the words king, queen, prince, royal, or
the like, were found. The hotels and lodging-houses were compelled to
erase and change their names, that of the _Prince de Galles_ must be
called _de Galles_ only; that of _Bourbon_ must have a new name; a sign
_au lys d'or_ (the golden lily) was pulled down; even billiard tables
are no longer _noble_ or _royal_.
The _Pont-royal_, the new bridge of _Lewis XVI._ the _Place des
Victoires_, the _Place Royal_, the _Rue d'Artois, &c._ have all new
names, which, added to the division of the kingdom into eighty-three
departments, abolishing all the ancient noble names of _Bourgogne,
Champagne, Provence, Languedoc, Bretagne, Navarre, Normandie, &c._ and
in their stead substituting such as these: _Ain, Aube, Aude, Cher,
Creuse, Doubs, Eure, Gard, Gers, Indre, Lot, Orne, Sarte, Tarne, Var,
&c._ which are the names of insignificant rivers; to that of Paris into
forty-eight new sections, and to all titles being likewise abolished,
makes it very difficult for a stranger to know any thing about the
geography of the kingdom, nor what were the _ci-devant_ titles of such
of the nobility as still remain in France, and who are at present only
known by their family names.
BEHEADING. DEAD NAKED BODIES.
BUT to return to those "active citizens, whom aristocratic insolence has
stiled _sans-culottes, brigands_."[28]
[Note 28: These are the words of a French newspaper, called,
_Journal universel, ou Revolutions des Royaumes, par J. P. Audarin_. No.
994, for Sunday, 12 August, 4th year of Liberty, under the motto of
Liberty, Patriotism and Truth.]
On Sunday, they dragged a man to the _Hôtel de Ville_, before a
magistrate, to be tried, for having stolen something in the _Tuileries_
as they said. He was accordingly tried, searched, and nothing being
found on him, was acquitted; _n'importe_, said these citizens, we must
have his head for all that, for we caught him in the act of stealing.
They laid him on his back on the ground, and in the presence of the
judge, who had acquitted him, they sawed off his head in about a quarter
of an hour, with an old notched scythe, and then gave it to the boys to
carry about on a pike, leaving the carcase in the justice-hall.[29]
[Note 29: This is inserted on the authority of a lady, a native of
the French West-India isles, who resided in the same hotel with me, and
who, with two gentlemen who attended her, were witnesses to this
transaction, which they told to whoever chose to listen.]
At the corner of almost every chief street is a black marble slab,
inserted in the wall about ten feet high, on which is cut in large
letters, gilt, _Loix et actes de l'autorité publique_ (laws and acts of
the public authority) and underneath are pasted the daily and sometimes
hourly decrees and notices of the National Assembly. One of these
acquainted the citizens, that _Mandat_ (the former commander-general of
the national guards) had yesterday undergone the punishment due to his
crimes; that is to say, the people had cut off his head.
During several days, after _the day I_ procured all the Paris
newspapers, about twenty, but all on the same side, as the people had
put the editors of the aristocratic papers, _hors d'état de parler_
(prevented their speaking) by beheading one or two of them, and
destroying all their presses.
They, about this time, hanged two money changers (people who gave paper
for _louis d'or_, crowns, and guineas) under the idea that the money was
sent to the emigrants.
On the Saturday morning, at seven, I was in the _Tuileries_ gardens;
only thirty-eight dead naked bodies were still lying there; they were
however covered where decency required; the people who stript them on
the preceding evening, having cut a gash in the belly, and left a bit of
the shirt sticking to the carcase by means of the dried blood. I was
told, that the body of a lady had just been carried out of the
_Carousel_ square; she was the only woman killed, and that probably by
accident. Here I had the pleasure of seeing many beautiful ladies (and
ugly ones too as I thought) walking arm in arm with their male friends,
though so early in the morning, and forming little groups, occupied in
contemplating the mangled naked and stiff carcases.
The fair sex has been equally courageous and curious, in former times,
in this as well as in other countries; and of this we shall produce a
few instances, as follows:
COURAGE AND CURIOSITY OF THE FAIR SEX. MASSACRE IN 1572.
ON the 24th of August, St. Bartholemew's day, 1572, the massacre of the
Hugonots or or Calvinists, began by the murder of Admiral _Coligni_ the
signal was to have been given at midnight; but _Catherine of Medicis_,
mother to the then King Charles IX. (who was only two and twenty years
of age) _hastened the signal more than an hour_, and endeavoured to
encourage her son, by quoting a passage from a sermon: "What pity do we
not shew in being cruel? what cruelty would it not be to have pity?"
In _Mr. Wraxall's_ account of this massacre, in his _Memoirs of the
Kings of France of the Race of Valois_, compiled from all the French
historians, he says, _Soubise_, covered with wounds, after a long and
gallant defence, was finally put to death under the queen-mother's
windows. The ladies of the court, from a savage and horrible curiosity,
went to view his naked body, disfigured and bloody.
"An Italian first cut off _Coligni's_ head, which was presented to
_Catherine of Medicis_. The populace then exhausted all their brutal and
unrestrained fury on the trunk. They cut off the hands, after which it
was left on a dunghill; in the afternoon they took it up again, dragged
it three days in the dirt, then on the banks of the _Seine_, and lastly
carried it to _Montfaucon_ (an eminence between the _Fauxbourg St.
Martin_ and the _Temple_, on which they erected a gallows.) It was here
hung by the feet with an iron chain, and a fire lighted under it, with
which it was half roasted. In this situation the King and several of the
courtiers went to survey it. These remains were at length taken down
privately in the night, and interred at _Chantilly_."
"During seven days the massacre did not cease, though its extreme fury
spent itself in the two first."
"Every enormity, every profanation, every atrocious crime, which zeal,
revenge, and cruel policy are capable of influencing mankind to commit,
stain the dreadful registers of this unhappy period. More than five
thousand persons of all ranks perished by various species of deaths. The
_Seine_ was loaded with carcases floating on it, and _Charles_ fed his
eyes from the windows of the _Louvre_, with this unnatural and
abominable spectacle of horror. A butcher who entered the palace during
the heat of the massacre, boasted to his sovereign, baring his bloody
arm, that he himself had dispatched an hundred and fifty."
"_Catherine of Medicis_, the presiding demon, who scattered destruction
in so many shapes, was not melted into pity at the view of such
complicated and extensive misery; she gazed with savage satisfaction on
the head of _Coligni_ which was brought her."
_Sully_ only slightly mentions this massacre of which he was
notwithstanding an eye-witness, because he was but twelve years of age.
_Mezeray_ gives the most circumstantial account of it; he says, "The
streets were paved with dead or dying bodies, the _portes-cochêres_,
(great gates of the hotels) were stopped up with them, there were heaps
of them in the public squares, the street-kennels overflowed with
blood, which ran gushing into the river. Six hundred houses were
pillaged at different times, and four thousand persons were massacred
with all the inhumanity and all the tumult than can be imagined."
"Among the slain was _Charles de Quelleue Pontivy_, likewise called
_Soubise_, because he had married _Catherine_, only daughter and heiress
of _Jean de Partenay_ Baron _de Soubise_: this Lady had entered an
action against him for impotence; His naked dead body being among others
dragged before the _Louvre_, there were ladies curious enough to examine
leisurely, if they could discover the cause or the marks of the defeat
of which he had been accused."
_Brantome_, in his memoirs of _Charles IX._ says, "As soon as it was day
the king looked out of the window, and seeing that many people were
running away in the _fauxbourg St. Germain_, he took a large hunting
_arquebuse_, and shot at them many times, but in vain, for the gun did
not carry so far."[30]
[Note 30: The king was shooting from the _Louvre_, and the
_Fauxbourg_ St. _Germain_ is on the other side of the river.]
"He took great pleasure in seeing floating in the river, under his
windows, more than four thousand dead bodies."
A French writer, _Mr. du Laure_, in a Description of Paris, just
published, says, "About thirty thousand persons were killed on that
night in Paris and in the country; few of the citizens but were either
assassins or assassinated. Ambition, the hatred of the great, of a
woman, the feebleness and cruelty of a king, the spirit of party, the
fanaticism of the people, animated those scenes of horror, which do not
depose so much against the French nation, at that time governed by
strangers, as against the passions of the great, and the ill-directed
zeal of the religion of an ignorant populace."
A few more modern instances of female fortitude are given in a note.[31]
[Note 31: On the 28th of March, 1757, _Damiens_, who stabbed _Lewis_
XV. was executed in the _Place de Grêve_, four horses were to pull his
arms and legs from his body: they were fifty minutes pulling in vain,
and at last his joints were obliged to be cut: he supported these
torments patiently, and expired whilst the tendons of his shoulders were
cutting, though he was living after his legs and thighs had been torn
from his body; his right hand had previously been cut off. I was in
Paris in 1768, and then, and at various times since have been assured by
eye-witnesses, that almost all the windows of the square where the
execution was performed were hired by ladies, at from two to ten _louis_
each.
Mr. Thicknesse in his "_Year's journey through France and Part of
Spain_," in a letter dated _Dijon_,_ in Burgundy_, 1776, mentions a man
whom he saw broke alive on the wheel by, "the executioner and _his
mother_, who assisted at this horrid business, these both seemed to
enjoy the deadly office."
I have formerly given an account of the Spanish ladies enjoying the
barbarities of the bull-fights.]
MISCELLANIES. NUMBER OF SLAIN.
ON that same Saturday morning the dead Swiss, the broken furniture of
the palace, and the burning woodwork of the barracks, were all gathered
together in a vast heap, and set fire to. I saw this pile at twenty or
thirty yards distance, and I was told that some of the women who were
spectators took out an arm or a leg that was broiling, to taste: this I
did _not see_, but I see no reason for _not believing it_.
On the afternoon of this day, the coffee-houses were, as usual, filled
with idle people, who amused themselves with playing at the baby-game of
_domino_.
No coaches except fiacres (hackney-coaches) were now to be seen about
the streets; the theatres continued on the following mornings to
advertise their performances, and in the afternoon fresh advertisements
were pasted over these, saying, there would be _relâche au theatre_
(respite, intermission.) A few days after, some of the theatres
advertised to perform for the benefit of the families of the slain, but
few persons attended the representation, through fear; because the
_sans-culottes_ talked of pulling down all the theatres, which, they
said, _gataient les moeurs_, (corrupted the morals) of the people.
Ever since the 10th, I knew the barriers had been guarded, to prevent
any person from leaving Paris, but I now was informed that that had been
the case, three days previous to that day, which may seem to imply that
some apprehensions were formed, that violent measures would take place
somewhere.
About this time the officers were obliged by the _sans-culottes_ to wear
worsted instead of gold or silver shoulder-knots; and no more _cloudy_
carriages were to be seen in the streets.
Portraits of the king, with the body of a hog, and of the queen, with
that of a tygress were engraven and publicly sold. A book was published,
entitled, _Crimes of Louis_ XVI. the author of which advertised that he
was then printing a book of the _Crimes of the Popes_, after which he
intended to publish the crimes of all the potentates in Europe.
As I could not get out of Paris, to make any little excursions to
nursery and other gardens, to _Vincennes_, to _Montreuil_, and as the
inhabitants of Paris were too much alarmed to retain any relish for
society, (public places out of the question,) I was desirous of getting
away as soon as possible, and applied first to the usual officers for a
pass, which was refused. That of _Lord Gower_ (the ambassador) was at
this time of no use, but it became so afterwards, as shall be mentioned.
On the Monday (13th August) I wrote a letter of about ten lines to the
President of the National Assembly, soliciting a pass. This I carried
myself, and sent it in by one of the clerks. The President immediately
read the letter, and the Assembly decreed a pass for me; but the next
day, when I applied for it to the _comité de surveillance_, (committee
of inspection) it, or they, knew nothing of the matter. I then went to
the _mairie_ (mayoralty house) but in vain.
Here an officer of the national guard who had been present during the
whole of the battle of the 10th, said to me, "La journeé a _eté un peu
forte, nous avons eu plus de quinze cens des notres de tués_," (the day
was rather warm; we have had more than fifteen hundred of our own people
killed.) This was confirmed by many more of the officers there, with
whom I had a quarter of an hour's conversation, and they all estimated
the number of the slain at above six thousand, which may probably be
accounted for in the following manner, but a demonstration is
impossible.
Some assert that there were eight hundred Swiss soldiers in the
_château_ of the _Tuileries_; others but five hundred: let us take the
medium of six hundred and fifty. They had, as every one allows, six and
thirty charges each, and they fired till their ammunition was expended.
This makes above three and twenty thousand shot, every one of which must
have taken place, on a mob as thick as hailstones after a shower: but
allowing for the Swiss themselves, who were killed during the
engagement, which diminishes the number of shot, and then allowing
likewise, that of two thousand persons who were in the palace, we here
say nothing of the remaining thirteen or fourteen hundred, most of whom
were firing as well as they could, perhaps it may not appear exaggerated
to say, that out of above twenty thousand shot, four thousand must have
taken place mortally; and this includes the fifteen hundred of the
national guard, which were _certainly_ known to be missing. Of the other
two thousand five hundred slain, the number could not so correctly be
ascertained, as they consisted of citizens without regimentals or
uniform, and of _sans-culottes_, none of whom were registered. All the
persons in the palace were killed; of these, few, if any, were taken
away immediately, whereas when any of the adverse party were killed,
there were people enough who were glad of the opportunity of escaping
from this slaughter, by carrying away the corpse. We must then reflect
on the number of waggons and carts employed all night in the same
offices, and then we shall see great reason to double the number of the
slain, as has been done in various publications.
No idea of this number could be formed by seeing the field of battle,
because several bodies were there lying in heaps, and of the others not
above two or three could be seen at a time, as the streets were after
the engagement filled with spectators, who walked among and over the
carcases.
Of the feelings of these spectators, I judge by my own: I might perhaps
have disliked seeing a single dead body, but the great number
immediately reconciled me to the sight.
BREECHES. PIKES. NECESSARY PASSPORTS.
ANOTHER particular relative to the _sans-culottes_ is their standard,
being an old pair of breeches, which they carry on the top of a pike,
thrust through the waistband: the _poissardes_ likewise use the same
standard, though it so happened that I never saw it. On the memorable
20th of June last, a pike-man got on the top of the Tuileries, where he
waved the ensign, or rather shook the breeches to the populace.
The pike-staves for the army are of different lengths; of six, nine, and
twelve feet: by this means three ranks of pike-bearers can use their
arms at once, with the points of the three rows of pikes evenly
extended.
The letter which I had written to the President, notwithstanding its
eventual ill success, caused several English persons jointly to write a
somewhat similar letter; in which, after having represented that their
_wives_ and children _wanted_ them, they said, they hoped their reasons
would appear _vrai-semblables_, or have the semblance of truth. The
Assembly on hearing this burst into a laugh, and passed on to the order
of the day.
On the 16th I carried a passport from _Lord Gower_ to the office of _Mr.
le Brun_, the minister for foreign affairs; here I was told to leave
it, and I should have another in its stead the next day. The next day I
applied for it, and was told, no passports could be delivered.
The matter now appeared to me to become serious, as the courier who had
carried the account of the affair of the 10th to London was not yet
returned, and that rumours were spread, that the English in Paris were
almost all _grands seigneurs & aristocrates_; so that I saw only two
probable means of safety; one of which was, to draw up a petition to the
National Assembly, in behalf of all the British subjects, to get it
signed by as many as I could find, and who might chuse to sign it, and
to carry it to the Assembly in a small body, which might have been the
means of procuring a pass; and in case this was refused, the other plan
would have been for all the British to have incorporated themselves into
a _Legion Britannique_, and offered their services according to the
exigence of the case.[32] This petition was accordingly, on the 18th,
drawn up by a member of the English Parliament; translated into French,
and carried about to be signed; when at the bankers we fortunately met
with a person who informed us, that our passes were ready at the moment,
at _Mr. Le Brun's_: thither we went; I obtained my pass at two o'clock
afternoon, the petition was torn and given to the winds; I took a
hackney coach that instant, to carry me to the _Poste aux chevaux_,
ordered the horses, and before three I was out of the barriers of Paris.
[Note 32: Before, and on the 10th of August, there were not above
thirty British travellers in Paris, but after that day, in less than a
week it was supposed that above two thousand had from all parts of the
kingdom resorted to the capital, in order to obtain passports to get
away.]
Here follows a copy of my passport.
At the top of the paper is an engraving of a shield, on which is
inscribed _Vivre libre ou mourir_ (live free or die,) supported by two
female figures, the _dexter_ representing _Minerva_ standing, with the
cap of liberty at the end of a pike; the _sinister_, the French
constitution personified as a woman sitting on a lion, with one hand
holding a book, on which is written _Constitution Française, droits de
l'homme_, and with the other supporting a crown over the shield, which
crown is effaced by a dash with a pen.
Then follows:
_La nation, la loi, le roi_; this is also obliterated
with a pen, and instead is written:
_Liberté, Egalité_
_Au nom de la nation_.
À tous officiers, civils et militaires, chargés de surveiller et de
maintenir l'ordre public dans les differents departemens du Royaume, et
à tous autres qu'il appartiendra il est ordonné de laisser librement
passer _T---- anglais retournant en angleterre, porteur d'un certificat
de son ambassadeur_.[33] Sans donner ni souffrir qu'il lui soit donné
aucun empéchement, le present passe-port valable pour _quinze jours_
seulement.
Donné à _Paris_ le 16 aoust l'an 4 de la liberté
_Vû à la Mairie le_ 17 _aoust_ 1792.
_L'an 4e de la liberté._
_Petion_.
[Note 33: What is here in italics is in manuscript in the original.
There is no _Monsieur_ nor _Madame_, the word _anglais_ showing the
gender of the person to whom the pass was granted, and is sufficient for
the purpose.]
Here is an impression, in red wax, of the arms of Paris, which are
_gules_, a three-mast ship in full sail, a chief _azur_, _semé_ with
_fleurs de lis, or_, the shield environed with oak branches and the cap
of liberty as a crest. The inscription underneath is _Mairie de Paris_,
1789. On one side of this seal is an escutcheon with the arms of France,
crowned, and over the crown there is a dash with a pen. And underneath,
Gratis. Le ministre des affaires etrangeres.
_Vu passer Abbeville en Le Brun_.
_Conseil permanent le_ 20
_Aoust_ 1792.
Signed by a municipal officer.
And on the back of the passport,
_Vû au comité de la section poissonniere_ _ce 18 aoust_ 1792.
Signed by two commissaries at the barriers of St. Denis, at Paris.
_Permis d'embarquer à Calais le 22 aoust_ 1792.
Signed by a Secretary.
MISCELLANIES. DANCING. POULTRY. TAVERNS. WIG.
SOME days before the demolition of the statue of _Henri_ IV. on the
_Pont-neuf_, there was a flag placed near that statue, on which was
painted _citoyens la Patrie est en danger_; (citizens, the
mother-country is in danger) and it still remained there when I came
away.
On the Monday after _the_ Friday, I saw a paper on the walls, among
those published by authority, wherein a person acquainted the public,
that on the preceding Saturday, in consequence of some suspicions which
had been entertained of his principles, his house had been visited by
above thirty thousand persons;[34] and that notwithstanding masons and
smiths had been employed in pulling down, breaking open and
scrutinizing, the people had _found nothing_ to criminate him, and he
had _found nothing_ missing in consequence of their scrutiny. I had the
pleasure of reading this aloud to an assemblage of elderly ladies, not
one of whom could see to read it, as it was placed out of their _focus_,
or too high, as they said.
[Note 34: _Poco más o menos_,(a little more or less) as the
Spaniards say when they are complimented with _Viva V. S. mil años_ (may
you live a thousand years.)]
Before the 10th I saw several dancing parties of the _Poissardes_ and
_sans-culottes_ in the beer-houses, on the _Quai des Ormes_ and the
_Quai St. Paul_, and have played the favourite and animating air of _ça
ira_, on the fiddle, to eight couple of dancers; the ceiling of these
rooms (which open into the street) is not above ten feet high, and on
this ceiling (which is generally white washed) are the numbers 1 2 to 8,
in black, and the same in red, which mark the places where the ladies
and gentlemen are to stand. When the dance was concluded I requested the
ladies to salute me (_m'embrasser_) which they did, by gently touching
my cheek with their lips. But a period was put to all these amusements
by the occurrences of the 10th; after which day, most of my time was
employed in endeavouring to obtain a passport.
On the _Quai des Augustins_, at six or seven in the morning, may be seen
a market of above a quarter of a mile long, well stocked with fowls,
pigeons, ducks, geese and turkies: these birds are all termed
_Volaille_. Rabbits are likewise sold in this market. I also saw here a
few live pheasants, red-legged partridges and quails in cages, for
sale.
I did not see a _louis d'or_ this time in Paris, it is probable that a
new golden coin may be struck of a different value and name, and
_without_ the name of the die-engraver.
There are few, if any, _tables d'hôte_ (ordinaries) in Paris at present,
except at the inns. I have not seen any for many years, because the hour
of dining at them is about one o'clock, and that is customary to be
served in those coffee-houses which are kept by _restaurateurs and
traiteurs_ (cooks) after the English manner, at small tables, and there
are bills of fare, with the prices of the articles marked. The most
celebrated of these houses is called _la Taverne de Londres_, in the
garden of the _Palais-Royal_: here are large public rooms, and also many
small ones, and a bill of fare printed on a folio sheet, containing
almost every sort of provision, (carp, eels, and pickled salmon are the
only fish I have seen there.) An Englishman may here have his
beef-steak, plum-pudding, Cheshire cheese, porter and punch just as in
London, and at about the same price, (half the price as the exchange
then was.) Thirty-five sorts of wine are here enumerated. That of
_Tokay_ is at two _livres_ for a small glass, of which a quart-bottle
may contain about fifteen. _Rhenish, Mountain, Alicante, Rota,_ and red
_Frontignan_ at 6 livres. _Champagne, Claret, Hermitage,_ 4 _l._ 10_f._
_Port_ 3_l._ 10_f._ _Burgundy_ 3_l._ _Porter_ 2_l._ 10_f._ Most of the
dishes are of silver, and I dined at two or three other taverns where
all the dishes and plates were of silver.
The barbers or hair-dressers have generally written on their sign _Ici
on rajeunit: rajeunir_ means properly to colour or die the hair, but in
this instance it only expresses, here people are made to look younger
than they are, by having their hair dressed. I saw a peruke-maker's sign
representing the fable of _the man and his two wives_, thus: A
middle-aged gentleman is fitting in a magnificent apartment, between an
old lady and a young one, fashionably dressed. His head is entirely
bald, the old lady having just pulled out the black hairs, as the young
one did the grey: and Cupid is flying over his head, holding a nice
periwig ready to put on it.
EXTENT, POPULATION, &C. OF FRANCE.
THE authorities for a great part of what follows are _Mr. Rabaut's_
History of the Revolution, 1792; _Mr. du Laure's_ Paris, 1791,
_Geographie de France_, 1792, second edition, and _Voyage dans les
Departemens de la France_, 1792.
France is a country which extends nine degrees from North to South, and
between ten and eleven from East to West, making six and twenty thousand
square leagues, and containing twenty-seven millions of people. In 1790,
"There were four millions of armed men in France; three of these
millions wore the uniform of the nation." The number of warriors, or
fighting men is very considerably increased since that time.
"In this immense population is found at least three millions of
individuals of different religions, whom the present catholicks look
upon with brotherly eyes. The protestant and the catholick now embrace
each other on the threshold where _Coligni_ was murdered; and the
disciples of _Calvin_ invoke the Eternal after their manner, within a
few paces[35] of the balcony from whence _Charles IX._ shot at his
subjects."
[Note 35: The church of _St. Louis du Louvre_ is at present made use
of as a place of worship by protestants.
All the church lands are reverted to the nation.
In a speech which the Abbé _Maury_ made in the National Assembly, about
two years ago, he estimated the value of the property belonging to
ecclesiasticks in France at two thousand two hundred millions of livres,
_(Deux milliards deux cens millions_) near ninety-two millions sterling,
the interest or produce of which, at 3-1/4 per cent. per annum, amounts
to the three millions beforementioned.
France suffices to itself; it contains all the indigenous productions of
Europe.
The French hope, that the number of foreigners who will resort to their
country, after it shall be more settled, will abundantly compensate the
loss of the emigrants.]
The capital, when compared to London, for extent is as 264 to 195,
(nearly as 7 to 5) that is to say, according to the calculation
beforementioned (p. 28) Paris stands on 6-99/121 square miles of ground,
and London on 5-35/968.
It contains a million and 130 thousand inhabitants, which is fifty
thousand more than it did two years ago; these formerly inhabited
_Versailles_, and left it at the time the court did.
_Lyon_ contains 160 thousand persons.
_Marseille_, the most populous, in proportion to the size, of any city
in Europe, contains, in a spot of little more than three miles in
circumference, 120 thousand persons, which includes about 30,000
mariners on board of the ships in the harbour.[36]
[Note 36: I was there in 1768, and again in 1783 and 1784, above
four months. People of all nations are there seen in their proper
habits; all languages are spoken; it is a free port, and the staple of
the Levant trade, as well as of the West-Indian commerce.--There are
regular vessels which sail monthly to Constantinople.]
_Bordeaux_, 100,000. The population of many more cities is given in a
note,[37] besides which there are others, the number of whose
inhabitants I cannot learn, such as _Toulouse, Toulon, Brest, Orange,
Blois, Avignon_, &c.
[Note 37: _Thousand_ must be read after all the following figures.
_Dunkerque_ - 80|_Besançon_ - - 26|_La Rochelle_ - 16
_Rouen_ - - - 73|_Aix_- - - - - 25|_Poitiers_ - - 16
_Lille_ - - - 65|_Bourges_- - - 25|_Auxerre_ - - 16
_Nantes_- - - 60|_Tours_ - - - 22|_Perpignan_- - 16
_Nismes_- - - 50|_Arras_ - - - 22|_Chalons_ - - 15
_Strasbourg_- - 46|_Limoges_- - - 22|_Beauvais_ - - 15
_Amiens_- - - 44|_Abbeville_- - 20|_Riom_ - - - 15
_Metz_ - - - 40|_Verdun_ - - - 20|_Nevers_- - - 14
_Caen_ - - - 40|_Arles_- - - - 20|_Boulogne_ - - 12
_Orleans_ - - 40|_Dijon_- - - - 20|_Bayonne_ - - 12
_Rennes_- - - 35|_Valenciennes_ 20|_Soissons_ - - 12
_Nancy_ - - - 34|_St. Malo_ - - 18|_Angoulême_- - 11
_Montpellier_ - 32|_Beziers_- - - 18|_Pau_- - - - 11
_Reims_ - - - 30|_Sedan_- - - - 18|_Alby_ - - - 10
_Clermont_ - - 30|_Carcassonne_- 18|_Alais_ - - - 10
_Troyes_- - - 30|_Havre de Grace_18|_Grasse_- - - 10
_Grenoble_ - - 30|_Moulins_- - - 17|_Versailles_ - 10]
The nation gains five millions sterling _per annum_ by the reduction of
its expences, and by not having any unnecessary clergymen to
maintain,[38] and the forfeited estates of the emigrants are estimated
at immense sums.[39]
[Note 38: By a decree in November, 1789, no curate is to have less
salary than fifty _Louis_ per annum, not including his house and garden.
Many of the French at present think that clergymen should be retained
like physicians, and paid by those only who want them. By this means,
they say, religious quarrels would be avoided; of all quarrels the most
absurd, because nobody can understand any thing about the matter.
"Personne n'y entend rien."]
[Note 39: The civil list mentioned in page 62, was according to the
old establishment. In January, 1790, the king was requested to fix a sum
for the civil list himself, and in June following he sent a letter to
the National Assembly, demanding five and twenty millions of livres. It
was decreed that instant.]
The heavy taxes on salt (_la gabelle_) and on Tobacco are suppressed,
and those two articles are allowed to be objects of commerce.[40]
[Note 40: Salt, which was formerly sold at fourteen _sols_ per
pound, is now at a single sol. Tobacco is permitted to be cultivated by
"whoever will."]
"No city in the world can offer such a spectacle as that of Paris,
agitated by some great passion, because in no other the communication is
so speedy, and the spirits so active. Paris contains citizens from all
the provinces, and these various characters blended together compose the
national character, which is distinguished by a wonderful impetuosity.
Whatever they will do is done." Witness the taking of the _Bastille_ in
a single day, which had formerly withstood the siege of a whole army
during three and twenty days. And witness the 10th of August.
I have been frequently told by persons in England, that a regular and
disciplined army may easily crush a herd of raw and inexperienced
rabble, such as they supposed the French were, although ten times more
numerous. This may possibly be the event in small numbers, but if we
state the case with large numbers, for instance fifty thousand men of
the greatest courage, and of the most perfect discipline, and who are
fighting for pay, without any personal motive, against five hundred
thousand men, whom we shall suppose utterly ignorant of the art of war,
but who conceive they are fighting for their liberty and their country,
for their families and their property, and then reflect on the courage
and bravery of these very men, on their impetuosity, their
_acharnement_, or desperate violence in fight, which may be compared to
the irresistible force of water-spouts, and of whirlwinds, it may not
appear too partial to conjecture, that such persons may perceive some
little reason for suspending, if not for altering, their opinion,[41]
and may now estimate the degree of danger this nation may apprehend
from the attacks of extraneous powers, _provided its own people are
unanimous_.
[Note 41: I saw many thousands of these men (from my windows) on
their way to the _Tuileries_, early on _the_ Friday morning; their march
was at the rate of perhaps five miles an hour, without running or
looking aside; and this was the pace they used when they carried heads
upon pikes, and when they were in pursuit of important business, rushing
along the streets like a torrent, and attending wholly and solely to the
object they had in view. On such occasions, when I saw them approaching,
I turned into some cross street till they were passed, not that I had
any thing to apprehend, but the being swept along with the crowd, and
perhaps trampled upon. I cannot express what I felt on seeing such
immense bodies of men so vigorously actuated by the same principle. I
saw also many thousands of volunteers going to join the armies at the
frontiers, marching along the _Boulevarts_, almost at the same pace,
accompanied as far as the Barriers by their women, who were carrying
their muskets for them; some with large sausages, pieces of cold meat,
and loaves of bread, stuck on the bayonets, and all laughing, or singing
_ça ira_.
The French writers themselves say, "In all popular commotions the women
have always shown the greatest boldness."]
EMENDATIONS AND ADDITIONS. RETURN TO CALAIS.
THE paragraph at the bottom of page 11, is intended to be merely
descriptive, but not ludicrous, so that the reader is requested to
expunge the word _night_.
In the enumeration of the Bishopricks (page 14) I unaccountably omitted
the ten metropolitan sees, which are those of _Paris, Lyon, Bourdeaux,
Rouen, Reims, Besançon, Bourges, Rennes, Aix_ and _Toulouse_: Thus there
are eighty-three bishopricks, or one for each department.
After what is said (in page 89) relative to the division of the country,
there should, in justice, be added: "To the confused medley of
_Bailiwicks, Seneschal-jurisdictions, Elections, Generalities, Dioceses,
Parliaments, Governments, &c._ there succeeded a simple and uniform
division; there were no longer any provinces, but only one family, one
nation: France was the nation of eighty-three departments."
Notwithstanding this, I regret the ancient _names_ of the provinces. The
old _Atlas_ of France is become useless, as the whole of its geography
is altered. The land is at present divided into nine regions, and each
of these into nine departments; Paris and the country about ten miles
around (24 square leagues) forms one, and the Island of _Corsica_
another department. In the modern _Atlas_, after every new name, is put
_ci-devant_, and then the old name, thus: _Region du Levant, departement
de la côte d'or, ci-devant Bourgogne_. I called one day, after dining in
a tavern, for a bottle of wine of the _Departement de l'Aube, Region des
Sources,_ the landlord consulted his _Atlas_, and then brought the
bottle of _Champagne_ I required. It will be some time before foreigners
are sufficiently familiarized to the new phrases which must be used for
_Gascon, Normand, Breton, Provençal, Picard, &c._[42]
[Note 42: The author of the _Voyage de France_ says, "The actual
division of France may appear to geographers as defective as the ancient
one. Perhaps artists should have been more consulted. Then there would
not have been shown in it so much of the spirit of party, which, in
great assemblies, too often smothers the voice of reason, nor so many
effects of the ignorance of political measurers, who lightly stride over
barriers which nature has opposed to them, and who appear to have
forgotten the necessity of communications."]
The following paragraphs are taken from the new _Voyage de France_.
"During fourteen hundred years, priority in follies, in superstition, in
ignorance, in fanaticism, and in slavery, was the picture of France. It
was just, therefore, that priority in philosophy, and in knowledge,
should succeed to so many odious pre-eminences."
"The French people, to whom liberty is now new, are like the waves of
the sea, which roll long after the tempest has ceased: and of which the
agitation is necessary to depose on the shores the scum which covers
them."
"The confusion inseparable from a new order of things, has necessarily
caused Paris to swarm with vagabonds; so that far from being surprized
that some crimes have been committed, we ought rather to wonder that
they are not more frequent."
"When _Louis XVI._ was brought back to Paris (25 June, 1791) the
inhabitants of _fauxbourgs_ pasted a placard (advertisement) against the
walls, saying, 'Whoever applauds him shall be cudgelled, whoever attacks
him shall be hanged.' An awful silence was observed."
After the account of the Pantheon (p. 28) should be added: In April,
1791, the body or _Mirabeau_ was deposited here; and in July following
that of _Voltaire_. Soon after this it was decreed, that _Rousseau_ had
merited the honours due to great men, but that his ashes should remain
where they were.
To the lift of engravings of the _Maiden_ must be added another,
prefixed to a little tract, called _Gibbet-Law_.
By _premier An de l'Egalité_,(first year of Equality) it is not to be
understood that every person in France is equal, but that as they have
no sovereign, no person is above, but every person is equally under the
protection of the law. This matter has been both misunderstood and
misrepresented in England.
On the 18th I was out of the barriers of Paris by three in the
afternoon, and proceeded to _Chantilly_, where we[43] arrived at nine,
and remained for the night. We were informed that two hundred
_Sans-culottes_ and _Marseillois_ had walk'd here from Paris, (28 miles)
two or three days before, had pulled down an equestrian statue,
(probably that of the Constable _de Montmorenci_) cut off a man's head,
carried it about the streets on a pike, _à la mode de Paris_, caught and
eat most of the carp which had been swimming in the ponds which surround
the palace above a hundred years, were then in the stables and intended
to return to Paris the next day. They did no other damage to the
building than breaking the _Condé_ arms, which were carved in stone.
[Note 43: The Gentleman who came with me, an English and an Irish
Gentleman, with their Ladies, in their own chaises.
There is an octavo Description of _Chantilly_ just published, with a
map, and twenty _mezzotinto_ views of the gardens.]
The night of the next day we passed at _Flixcourt_, and that of the
Monday at the Post-house, at the foot of the hill on which _Boulogne_ is
situated.
On Tuesday the 21st we arrived at Calais in the morning; the wind was so
violent and unfavorable that we were detained here till the 24th, when
we failed, and had a passage of seven hours to Dover.
There was nothing to remark on the road from Paris to Calais, except
that the harvest was not yet got in, for want of hands, that the corn
was _lodged_, and sowing itself again; that every person and thing was
as quiet as if nothing had happened in Paris, and that no one knew the
particulars of what _had_ happened.
At Calais many person wore trowsers, after the fashion of the
_Sans-culottes_.
EPILOGUE.
SOON after my return to London the two following paragraphs appeared in
the newspapers.
"T. has been over to France, botanizing, and has gotten what he
went to seek."
"I'll tell you, my Lord Fool, From this Nettle danger we pluck the
_Flower_ safety."
This I insert merely on account of the Bêtise of the quotation. The
Dutch inscription on sticks of sealing-wax would have been as
applicable.
"T. the Tourist was the first to fly from Paris on the prospect of
the tumults of the 10th of August. He is now writing a History of
the Bloody Murders which distinguished that day."
I suspect that the ingenious Genius who wrote this knew he was mistaking
as to the former part of this paragraph. He may say _Trippist_ now.
I should not have seen either of these, had they not been pointed out to
me by some of my "damned good-natured friends." I am in hopes of seeing
a number of very pretty criticisms on the foregoing pages; many passages
were written purposely to catch critics, as honey catches gnats; if
just, they shall be attended to, should there be another edition; and
if they are merely absurd, they shall be collected, and faithfully
presented to the gentle reader. I have told the truth, and have not "set
down aught in malice."
THE END.
*** There are a few trifling typographical errors in the foregoing
sheets, which I shall leave to the correction of the reader, as not one
of them affects the sense.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A Trip to Paris in July and August 1792" ***
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