Chapter 1

Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr)

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."]