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diff --git a/16994-8.txt b/16994-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5329e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16994-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4469 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Year's Journey through France and Part of +Spain, Volume II (of 2), by Philip Thicknesse + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II (of 2) + + +Author: Philip Thicknesse + + + +Release Date: November 4, 2005 [eBook #16994] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE +AND PART OF SPAIN, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Robert Connal, Leonard Johnson, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from +page images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de +France (http://gallica.bnf.fr/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has Volume I of this work. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16485 + + Images of the original pages are available through the + Bibliothèque nationale de France. See + http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-102009 + + + + + +A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE, AND PART OF SPAIN. + +by + +PHILIP THICKNESSE. + +VOLUME II + + + + + + + +Dublin +Printed by J. Williams, (No. 21.) Skinner-Row. + +M,DCC,LXXVII. + + + + +A + +JOURNEY, &c. + + +LETTER XXXIV. + + +NISMES + +SIR, + +I am very certain that a man may travel twice through Spain, and half +through France, before he sees a woman of so much beauty, elegance, and +breeding, as the mistress of the house I lodge in near this city. I was +directed to the house, and recommended to the lady, as a lodger; but +both were so fine, and superior in all respects to any thing I had seen +out of Paris, that I began to suspect I had been imposed upon. The lady +who received me appeared to be (it was candle-light) about eighteen, a +tall, elegant figure, a beautiful face, and an address inferior to none: +I concluded she was the daughter, till she informed me, that _Mons. +Saigny_, her husband, was gone to _Avignon_. What added, perhaps, to +this lady's beauty in my eyes, or rather ears, was her misfortune,--she +could not speak louder than a gentle whisper. After seeing her sumptuous +apartments, I told her I would not ask what her price was, but tell her +what I could afford only to give; and observed, that as it was winter, +and the snow upon the ground, perhaps she had better take my price than +have none. She instantly took me by the hand and said, she had so much +respect for the English nation, that my price was her's; and with a +still softer whisper, and close to my ear, said, I might come in as soon +as I pleased--"_Quand vous voudrez, Monsieur_," said she. We accordingly +took possession of the finest apartments, and the best beds I ever lay +on. The next day, I saw a genteel stripling about the house, in a white +suit of cloaths, dressed _en militaire_, and began to suspect the virtue +of my fair hostess, not perceiving for some hours that it was my hostess +herself; in the afternoon she made us a visit in this horrid +dress,--(for horrid she appeared in my eyes)--her cloaths were white, +with red cuffs and scarlet _lappels_; and she held in her straddling lap +a large black muff, as big as a porridge-pot. By this visit she lost all +that respect her superlative beauty had so justly entitled her to, and I +determined she should visit me no more in man's apparel. When I went +into the town I mentioned this circumstance, and there I learnt, that +the real wife of _Mons. Saigny_ had parted from him, and that the lady, +my hostess, was his mistress. The next day, however, the master arrived; +and after being full and finely dressed, he made me a visit, and +proffers of every attention in his power: he told me he had injured his +fortune, and that he was not rich; but that he had served in the army, +and was a gentleman: he had been bred a protestant, but had just +embraced the true faith, in order to qualify himself for an employment +about the court of the Pope's _Legate_ at _Avignon_. After many +expressions of regard, he asked me to dine with him the next day; but I +observed that as he was not rich, and as I paid but a small rent in +proportion to his noble apartments, I begged to be excused; but he +pressed it so much, that I was obliged to give him some _other reasons_, +which did not prove very pleasing ones, to the lady below. This fine +lady, however, continued to sell us wood, wine, vinegar, sallad, milk, +and, in short, every thing we wanted, at a very unreasonable price. At +length, my servant, who by agreement made my soup in their kitchen, said +something rude to my landlord, who complained to me, and seemed +satisfied with the reprimand I had given the man; but upon a repetition +of his rudeness, _Mons. Saigny_ so far forgot himself as to speak +equally rude to me: this occasioned some warm words, and so much +ungovernable passion in him, that I was obliged to tell him I must fetch +down my pistols; this he construed into a direct challenge, and +therefore retired to his apartments, wrote a card, and sent it to me +while I was walking before the door with a priest, his friend and +visitor, and in sight of the _little female captain his second_, and all +the servants of the house; on this card was wrote, "_Sir, I accept your +proposition_;" and before I could even read it, he followed his man, who +brought it in the true stile of a butler, rather than a butcher, with a +white napkin under his arm. You may be sure, I was no more disposed to +fight than _Mons. Saigny_; indeed, I told him I would not; but if any +man attacked me on my way to or from the town, where I went every day, I +would certainly defend myself: and fortunately I never met _Mons. +Saigny_ in the fortnight I staid after in his house; for I could not +bear to leave a town where I had two or three very agreeable +acquaintance, and one (_Mons. Seguier_) whose house was filled as full +of natural and artificial curiosities, as his head is with learning and +knowledge. Here too I had an opportunity of often visiting the +Amphitheatre, _the Maison Carree_, (so Mons. Seguier writes it) and the +many remains of Roman monuments so common in and about _Nismes_. I +measured some of the stones under which I passed to make the _tout au +tour_ of the Amphitheatre, they were seventeen feet in length, and two +in thickness; and most of the stones on which the spectators sat within +the area, were twelve feet long, two feet ten inches wide, and one foot +five inches deep; except only those of the sixth row of seats from the +top, and they alone are one foot ten inches deep; probably it was on +that range the people of the highest rank took their seats, not only for +the elevation, but the best situation for sight and security; yet one of +these great stones cannot be considered more, in comparison to the +whole building, than a single brick would be in the construction of +Hampton-Court Palace. When I had the sole possession (and I had it +often) of this vast range of seats, where emperors, empresses, Roman +knights, and matrons, have been so often seated, to see men die wantonly +by the hands of other men, as well as beasts for their amusement, I +could not but with pleasure reflect, how much human nature is softened +since that time; for notwithstanding the powerful prevalency of custom +and fashion, I do not think the ladies of the present age would _plume_ +their towering heads, and curl their _borrowed_ hair, with that glee, to +see men murdered by missive weapons, as to die at their feet by deeper, +tho' less visible wounds. If, however, we have not those cruel sports, +we seem to be up with them in prodigality, and to exceed them in luxury +and licentiousness; for in Rome, not long before the final dissolution +of the state, the candidates for public employments, in spite of the +penal laws to restrain it, _bribed openly_, and were chosen sometimes +_by arms_ as well as money. In the senate, things were conducted no +better; decrees of great consequence were made when very few senators +were present; the laws were violated by private knaves, under the colour +of public necessity; till at length, _Cæsar_ seized the sovereign power, +and tho' he was slain, they omitted to recover their liberty, forgetting +that + + "A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty + Is worth a whole eternity of bondage." + _Addison's_ CATO. + +I can almost think I read in the parallel, which I fear will soon be +drawn between the rise and fall of the British and Roman empire, +something like this;--"Rome had her CICERO; Britain her CAMDEN: Cicero, +who had preserved Rome from the conspiracy of _Catiline_, was banished: +CAMDEN, who would have preserved Britain from a bloody civil war, +removed." The historian will add, probably, that "those who brought +desolation upon their land, did not mean that there should be no +commonwealth, but that right or wrong, they should continue to controul +it: they did not mean to burn the capitol to ashes, but to bear absolute +sway in the capitol:--The result was, however, that though they did not +mean to overthrow the state, yet they risqued all, rather than be +overthrown themselves; and they rather promoted the massacre of their +fellow-citizens, than a reconciliation and union of parties,"--THUS FELL +ROME--Take heed, BRITAIN! + + + + +LETTER XXXV. + +ARLES. + + +I left _Nismes_ reluctantly, having formed there an agreeable and +friendly intimacy with Mr. _D'Oliere_, a young gentleman of Switzerland; +and an edifying, and entertaining acquaintance, with Mons. _Seguier_. I +left too, the best and most sumptuous lodgings I had seen in my whole +tour; but a desire to see _Arles_, _Aix_, and _Marseilles_, &c. got the +better of all. But I set out too soon after the snow and rains, and I +found part of the road so bad, that I wonder how my horse dragged us +through so much clay and dirt. When I gave you some account of the +antiquities of _Nismes_, I did not expect to find _Arles_ a town fraught +with ten times more matter and amusement for an antiquarian; but I found +it not only a fine town now, but that it abounds with an infinite number +of monuments which evince its having once been an almost second Rome. +There still remains enough of the Amphitheatre to convince the beholder +what a noble edifice it was, and to wonder why so little, of so large +and solid a building, remains. The town is built on the banks of the +Rhone, over which, on a bridge of barges, we entered it; but it is +evident, that in former days, the sea came quite up to it, and that it +was a haven for ships of burden; but the sea has retired some leagues +from it, many ages since; beside an hundred strong marks at _this_ day +of its having been a sea-port formerly, the following inscription found +a century or two ago, in the church of _St. Gabriel_, will clearly +confirm it: + + M. FRONTONI EVPOR + IIIIIIVIR AVG. COL. JVLIA. + AVG. AQVIS SEXTIIS NAVICVLAR. + MAR. AREL. CVRAT EJVSD. CORP. + PATRONA NAVTAR DRVENTICORVM. + ET VTRICVLARIORVM. + CORP. ERNAGINENSIUM. + JULIA NICE VXOR. + CONJVGI KARISSIMO. + +Indeed there are many substantial reasons to believe, that it was at +this town _Julius Cæsar_ built the twelve gallies, which, from the +cutting of the wood to the time they were employed on service, was but +thirty days.--That it was a very considerable city in the time of the +first Emperors, is past all doubt. _Constantine_ the Great held his +court, and resided at _Arles_, with all his family; and the Empress +_Faustina_ was delivered of a son here (_Constantine_ the younger) and +it was long before so celebrated for an annual fair held in the month of +August, that it was called _le Noble Marche de Gaules_. And _Strabo_, in +his dedication of his book to the Emperor, called it "_Galliarum +Emporium non Parvum_;" which is a proof that it was celebrated for its +rich commerce, &c. five hundred years before it became under the +dominion of the Romans. But were I capable of giving you a particular +description of all the monuments of antiquity in and near this town, it +would compose a little book, instead of a sheet or two of paper. I +shall therefore only pick out a few things which have afforded me the +most entertainment, and I hope may give you a little; but I shall begin +with mentioning what must first give you concern, in saying that in that +part of the town called _la Roquette_, I was shewn the place where +formerly stood an elevated Altar whereon, three young citizens were +sacrificed annually, and who were fattened at the public expence during +a whole year, for the horrid purpose! On the first of May their throats +were cut in the presence of a prodigious multitude of people assembled +from all parts; among whom the blood of the victims was thrown, as they +imagined all their sins were expiated by that barbarous sacrifice; which +horrid practice was put a stop to by the first Bishop of _Arles_, ST. +TROPHIME. The Jews, who had formerly a synagogue in _Arles_, were driven +out in the year 1493, when that and their celebrated School were +demolished. There were found about an hundred after, among the stones +of those buildings some Hebrew characters neatly cut, which were copied +and sent to the Rabbins of Avignon, to be translated, and who explained +them then thus: + + Chodesh: Elvl. Chamescheth, lamech, nav. Nislamv. Bedikoth. + Schradai. + +i.e. they say, + + "In the month of August five thousand and thirty--the Visitation + of God ceased." + +Perhaps the plague had visited them.--There was also another Hebrew +inscription, which was on the tomb of a famous Rabbin called Solomon, +surnamed the grandson of David. + +The Amphitheatre of _Arles_ was of an oval form, composed of three +stages; each stage containing sixty arches; the whole was built of hewn +stone of an immense size, without mortar, and of a prodigious thickness: +the circumference above, exclusive of the projection of the +architecture, was 194 toises three feet, the frontispiece 17 toises +high and the area 71 toises long and 52 wide; the walls were 17 toises +thick, which were pierced round and round with a gallery, for a +convenience of passing in and out of the seats, which would conveniently +contain 30,000 men, allowing each person three feet in depth and two in +width; and yet, there remain at this day only a few arches quite +complete from top to bottom, which are of themselves a noble monument. +Indeed one would be inclined to think that it never had been compleated, +did we not know that the Romans left nothing unfinished of that kind; +and read, that the Emperor _Gallus_ gave some superb spectacles in the +Amphiteatre of _Arles_, and that the same amusements were continued by +following Emperors. Nothing can be a stronger proof than these ruins, of +the certain destruction and corruption of all earthly things; for one +would think that the small parts which now remain of this once mighty +building would, endure as long as the earth itself; but what is very +singular is, that this very Amphitheatre was built upon the ruins of a +more mighty building, and perhaps one of a more substantial structure. +_Tempus edax rerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas omnia destruis_. In the +street called _St. Claude_, stood a triumphal arch which was called +_L'Arche admirable_; it is therefore natural to conclude, that the town +contained many others of less beauty. There are also within the walls +large remains of the palace of _Constantine_. A beautiful antique statue +of _Venus_ was found here also, about an hundred and twenty years +ago.--That a _veritable_ fine woman should set all the beaux and +_connoisseurs_ of a whole town in a flame, I do not much wonder; but you +will be surprized when I tell you that this cold trunk of marble, (for +the arms were never found) put the whole town of _Arles_ together by the +ears; one _Sçavant_ said it was the goddess _Diana_, and wrote a book to +prove it; another insisted upon it, that it was the true image of +_Venus_; then starts up an Ecclesiastic, who _you know has nothing to +do with women_, and he pronounced in dogmatical terms, it was neither +one nor the other; at length the wiser magistrates of the town agreed to +send it as a present to their august monarch Lewis the XIVth; and if you +have a mind to see an inanimate woman who has made such a noise in the +world, you will find her at _Versailles_, without any other notice taken +of her or the quarrels about her, than the following words written (I +think) upon her pedestal, _La Venus d'Arles_. This ended the dispute, as +I must my letter. + + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + + +I have not half done with _Arles_. The more I saw and heard in this +town, the more I found was to be seen. The remains of the Roman theatre +here would of itself be a sufficient proof that it was a town of great +riches and importance. Among the refuse of this building they found +several large vases of baked earth, which were open on one side, and +which were fixed properly near the seats of the audience to receive and +convey the sounds of the instruments and voices of the actors distinctly +throughout the theatre, which had forty-eight arches, eleven behind the +scenes of ten feet wide, three grand arches of fourteen feet wide, and +thirty-one of twelve feet; the diameter was thirty-one canes, and the +circumference seventy-nine; and from the infinite number of beautiful +pieces of sculpture, frizes, architraves, pillars of granite, &c. which +have been dug up, it is very evident that this theatre was a most +magnificent building, and perhaps would have stood firm to this day, had +not a Bishop of _Arles_, from a principle of more piety than wisdom, +stript it of the finest ornaments and marble pillars, to adorn the +churches. Near the theatre stood also the famous temple of _Diana_; and, +as the famous statue mentioned in my former letter was found beneath +some noble marble pillars near that spot, it is most likely _La Venus +d'Arles_ is nevertheless the Goddess _Diana_. + +I never wish more for your company than when I walk, (and I walk every +day) in the Elysian fields. The spot is beautiful, the prospect far and +near equally so: in the middle of this ancient _Cimetiere_ stands a +motly building, from the middle of which however rises a cupola, which +at the first view informs you it is the work of a Roman artist; and here +you must, as it were, thread the needle between an infinite number of +Pagan and Christian monuments, lying thick upon the surface in the +utmost disorder and confusion, insomuch, that one would think the Day of +Judgment was arrived and the dead were risen. Neither _Stepney_ +church-yard, nor any one in or near a great city, shew so many +headstones as this spot does stone coffins of an immense size, hewn out +of one piece; the covers of most of which have been broken or removed +sufficiently to search for such things as were usually buried with the +dead. Some of these monuments, and some of the handsomest too, are still +however unviolated. It is very easy to distinguish the Pagan from the +Christian monnments, without opening them, as all the former have the +Roman letters DM (_Diis Manibus_) cut upon them. It is situated, +according to their custom, near the high-way, the water, and the +marshes. You know the ancients preferred such spots for the interment of +the dead. + +The tombs of _Ajax_ and _Hector_, HOMER says, were near the sea, as well +as other heroes of antiquity; for as they considered man to be composed +of earth and water, his bones ought to be laid in one, and near the +other. + +I will now give you a few of the most curious inscriptions; but first I +will mention a noble marble monument, moved from this spot into the +_Cimetiere_ of the great Hospital. This tomb is ornamented with +Cornucopiæ, _Pateræ_, &c. and in a shield the following inscription: + + CABILIAE D.F. APPRVLLAE FLAM + D DESIGNATAE COL. DEA. AUG. VOC. M + O. ANNOS XIIII, MENS II. DIES V. + MARITVS VXORI PIENTISSIMAE. + POSUIT. + +This poor girl was not only too young to die, but too young to marry, +one would think; I wish therefore her afflicted husband had told us how +many years he had been married to a wife who died at the age of +fourteen, two months, and five days. The cornucopiæ, I suppose, were to +signify that this virtuous wife, I was going to say maid, was the source +of all his pleasure and happiness. The _Pateræ_ were vases destined to +receive the blood of the victims. + + Supponunt alij cultros, tepidumque cruorem + Suscipiunt Pateris,--_Says the Poet_. + +On each side of the tomb are the symbols of sacrifice. It is very +evident from the fine polish of this monument, that her husband had +obtained the Emperor's particular leave to finish it highly. + +Rogum _ascia ne Polito_ says the law of the twelve tables. + +On another tomb, which is of common stone, in the middle of a shield +supported by two Cupids, is the following inscription: + + M IVNIO MESSIANO + ----VTRICI. CORP. ARELAT. + D EIVS D. CORP. MAG. III. F M + QUI VIXIT ANN. XXVIII. + M. V. D. X. IVNIA VALERIA. + ALVMNO CLARISSIMO. + +The first word of the second line is much obliterated. + + +There are an infinite number of other monuments with inscriptions; but +those above, and this below, will be sufficient for me to convey to you, +and you to my friend at _Winchester_. + + L DOMIT. DOMITIANI + EX TRIERARCHI CLASS. GERM. + D PECCOCEIA VALENTINA M + CONIUGI PIENTISSIMA. + +Before I leave _Arles_, and I leave it reluctantly, whatever you may do, +I must not omit to mention the principal monument, and pride of it, at +this day, i.e. their Obelisque. I will not tell you where nor when it +was dug up; it is sufficient to say, it was found here, that it is a +single piece of granite, sixty-one feet high, and seven feet square +below; yet it was elevated in the Market-place, upon a modern pedestal, +which bears four fulsome complimentary inscriptions to _Lewis_ the XIV. +neither of which will I copy. In elevating this monstrous single stone, +the inhabitants were very adroit: they set it upright in a quarter of an +hour, in the year 1676, just an hundred years ago, amidst an infinite +number of joyful spectators, who are now all laid in their lowly graves; +for though it weighed more than two thousand hundred weight, yet by the +help of capsterns, it was raised without any difficulty. The great King +_Harry_ the IVth had ordered the houses in the arena of the Amphitheatre +to be thrown down, and this obelisk to be fixed in the center of it; but +his death, and _Lewis_'s vanity, fixed it where it now stands; it has +no beauty however to boast of but its age and size, for it bears neither +polish, characters, nor hieroglyphicks, but, as it seems to have been an +Egyptian monument, the inhabitants of _Arles_ have, like those people, +consecrated it below to their King, and above to the sun: on the top is +fixed a globe of azure, sprinkled with _fleurs de lis d'or_, and crowned +with a radiant sun, that is to say, as the sun was made by GOD to +enlighten the world, so LEWIS LE GRAND was made to govern it. + + +I am sure now, you will excuse my mentioning what is said of this great +man _below_; but speaking of light, I must not omit to mention, that +there are men of veracity now living in this town, who affirm, that they +have seen, upon opening some of the ancient monuments here, the eternal +lamps burning. The number of testimonies we have of this kind puts the +matter past a doubt, that a flame has appeared at the lip of these +lamps when first the tombs have been opened; one was found, you know, on +the _Appian_ way, in the tomb of _Cicero_'s daughter, which had burnt +more than seventeen centuries; another at _Padua_, which had burnt eight +hundred years, and which was found hanging between two little phials, +one of gold, the other of silver, which were both quite full of liquor, +extremely clear, as well as many others; but as it is impossible to +believe that flame can exist, and not consume that which feeds it, is it +not more natural to conclude that those lamps, phials, &c. contained a +species of phosphorus, which became luminous upon the first opening of +the tombs and the sudden rushing in of fresh air; and that the reverse +of what is generally supposed is the fact, that they are not +extinguished, but illuminated by the fresh air they receive? I have seen +several of these lamps here and elsewhere, most of which are of baked +earth. It has been said, that there is an oil to be extracted from gold, +which will not consume, and that a wick of _asbestos_ has burnt many +years in this oil, without consumption to either. I have seen a book +written by a German Jesuit, to confirm this fact; so there is authority +for you, if not conviction. + + +As I know your keen appetite after antiquities, I will send you a few +other inscriptions, and leave you to make your own comments; and +_voila_. + + D M + L. HOSTIL. TER. + SILVANI. + ANN. XXIIII. M. II. D. + XV MATER FIL PIJSSIMI + MISERA ET IN LVCIV. + AETERNALI BENIFICI. + O NOVERCAE. + +The following inscription is cut upon a marble column, which stands near +the Jesuits' church: + + SALVIS D.D.N.N. THEODOSIO, ET VALENTINIANO. + P.F.V. AC TRIVM. SEMPER AUG. XV. + CONS. VIR. INL. AUXILIARIS PRÆ. + PRÆT, GALLIA. DE ARELATE MA, + MILLIARIA PONI. S. + M.P.S. + +In the ancient church of _St. Honore_, which stands in the center of all +these Heathen and Christian monuments, are to be seen nine Bacchanalians +of very ancient workmanship; where also is the tomb of _St. Honore_, +employed as the altar of the church; and beneath the church are +catacombs, where the first Christians retired to prayer during the +persecution by the Emperors, and where is still to be seen their altar +and seven ancient sepulchres, of beautiful marble, and exquisitely +worked; the first is the tomb of _St. Genet_; the second of _St. +Roland_, Archbishop of _Arles_; the third of _St. Concord_, with an +epitaph, and two doves with olive branches in their beaks, cut in bass +relief, and underneath are the two letters X and P; on this tomb is the +miraculous cross seen in the heavens by _Constantine_, who is +represented before it on his knees; and on the cover of this tomb are +the heads of _Constantine_, _Faustina_, and his son; and they say the +Emperor saw this miracle in the heaven from the very _Cimetiere_ in +which this monument stands, i.e. in the year 315; the fifth is the tomb +of _St. Dorothy_, Virgin and Martyr of _Arles_; the sixth _St. Virgil_, +and the seventh _St. Hiliare_, (both Archbishops of _Arles_,) who has +borrowed a Pagan sepulchre, for it is adorned with the principal +divinities of the ancients in bass relief.--It seems odd to see on a +Christian Bishop's tomb _Venus_, and the three Destinies. The people +here say, that this tomb represents human life, as the ancients believed +that each God contributed something towards the being. Be that as it +may, the tomb is a very curious one, and much admired by the +_Connoisseurs_, for its excellent workmanship; but what is more +extraordinary than all these, is, that this catacomb, standing in the +middle of the others, with its cover well and closely fixed, has always +water in it, and often is quite full, and nobody can tell (_but one of +the priests perhaps_) from what source it comes. There is also in this +church the tomb and a long Latin Epitaph of _St. Trophime_, their first +Bishop; but the characters are very Gothic, and the Cs are square, +[Image: E E with no mid bar]; he came here in the year 61, and preached +down that abominable practice of sacrificing three young men annually. +He died in the year 61, at 72 years of age. On the front of the +Metropolitan church of _Arles_, called _St. Trophime_, are the two +following lines, in Gothic characters, cut above a thousand years: + + Cernitur eximius vir Christi Discipulorum, + De Numero Trophimus, hic Septuaginta duorum. + + +This church was built in the year 625, by _St. Virgil_, and is a curious +piece of antiquity within, and particularly without; but I will not +omit to give you one of its singularities within; it is an ancient and +curious inscription in large Gothic letters, near the organ: + + Terrarum Roma Gemina de luce majistrA. + Ros Missus Semper Aderit: velut incola IoseP + Olim Contrito Letheo Contulit OrchO. + +To read this you will see you must take the first letter of each verse: +TRO, _Trophemus_; GAL, _Galliæorum_; and APO, _Apostolus_. The letter H, +belonging to the word _Joseph_, must be carried to the word _Orcho_, and +the P must stand by itself. + +_Trophimus Galliarum Apostolus, ut ros missus est, ex urbe Romæ rerum +Dominæ Gemina de luce, scilicet a Petro et Paulo, Ecclesiæ luminaribus; +Contrito orcho Letheo, nempe statim post Christi Passionem qua Dæmonis & +orchi caput contrivit, semper animos nostras nutriet, cibo illo, divinæ +fidei quem nobis contulit: ut alter Joseph qui olim Ægypti populum same +pereuntem liberavit._ + + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + +MARSEILLES. + + +Soon after we left the town of _Arles_, on our way to _Aix_, and this +city, we entered upon a most extraordinary and extensive plain; it is +called the _Crau_, and is a principal and singular domain, belonging to +and situated on the south side of that city; it is ten leagues in +diameter; on which vast extent, scarce a tree, shrub, or verdure is +visible; the whole spot being covered with flint stones of various +sizes, and of singular shapes. _Petrarch_ says, as _Strabo_, and others +have said before him, that those flint stones fell from Heaven like +hail, when _Hercules_ was fighting there against the giants, who, +finding he was likely to be overcome, invoked his father _Jupiter_, who +rained this hard shower of flint stones upon his enemies, which is +confirmed by _Æschylus_. + + "Jupiter Alcidem quando respexit inormem, + Illachrymans, Ligures saxoso perpluit imbre." + +But as this account may not be quite satisfactory to you, who I know +love truth more than fable, I am inclined to think you will consider +_Possidonius_'s manner of accounting for it more feasible: He says, that +it was once a great lake, and having a bed of gravel at the bottom, +those pebble stones, by a succession of ages, have grown to the size +they now appear; but whether stones grow which lie upon the surface of +the earth and out of their proper strata, I must leave you and other +naturalists to determine, without repeating to you what _Aristotle_, and +others, have said upon that subject; and therefore, instead of telling +you either what they say, or I think, I will tell you what I know, which +is, that barren as the _Crau_ appears to be, it not only feeds, but +fattens an infinite number of sheep and cattle, and produces such +excellent wine too in some parts of it, that it is called _Vin de +Crau_, by way of pre-eminence: it has a poignant quality, is very +bright, and is much esteemed for its delicious flavour. The herb which +fattens the sheep and feeds such quantities of cattle is a little plant +which grows between and under the flint stones, which the sheep and +other animals turn up with their feet, to come at the bite; beside +which, there grows a plant on this _Crau_ that bears a vermilion flower, +from which the finest scarlet dye is extracted; it is a little red +grain, about the size of pea, and is gathered in the month of May; it +has been sold for a crown a pound formerly; and a single crop has +produced eleven thousand weight. This berry is the harvest of the poor, +who are permitted to gather it on a certain day, but not till the Lord +of the Manor gives notice by the sound of a horn, according to an +ancient custom and privilege granted originally by King RENE.--On my way +over it, I _gathered_ only a great number of large larks by the help of +my gun, though I did not forget my _Montserrat_ vow: It was a fine day, +and therefore I did not find it so tedious as it must be in winter or +bad weather; for if any thing can be worse than sea, in bad weather, it +must be this vast plain, which is neither land or sea, though not very +distant from the latter, and in all probability was many ages since +covered by the ocean. + +The first town we came to after passing this vast plain, I have forgot +the name of; but it had nothing but its antiquity and a noble and +immense old castle to recommend it, except a transparent agate statue of +the Virgin in the church, as large as the life, with a _tin crown_ upon +her head. Neither the town nor the inhabitants had any thing of the +appearance of French about them; every thing and every body looked so +wild, and the place was in such a ruinous condition, that I could scarce +believe I was not among the Arabs in _Egypt_, or the ruins of +_Persepolis_. Without the town, in a fine beautiful lawn stands a most +irregular high and rude rock, perpendicular on all sides, and under one +side of it are ruins of a house, which I suppose was inhabited by the +first _Seigneur_ in the province. I looked in, and found the ruins full +of miserable inhabitants, I fancy many families; but it exhibited such a +scene of woe, that I was glad to get out again; and upon inquiry, I +found it had been in that state ever since it had been used as an +hospital during the last plague. + + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + +MARSEILLES. + + +As the good and evil, which fall within the line of a road, as well as a +worldly traveller, are by comparison, I need not say what a heavenly +country _France_ (with all its untoward circumstances) appeared to us +_after_ having journeyed in _Spain_: what would have put me out of +temper before, became now a consolation. _How glad I should I have been, +and how perfectly content, had it been thus in Spain_, was always +uppermost, when things ran a little cross in France. + +Travellers and strangers in France, in a long journey perhaps, have no +connection with any people, but such who have a design upon their purse. +At every _Auberge_ some officious coxcomb lies in wait to ensnare them, +and under one pretence or other, introduces himself; he will offer to +shew you the town; if you accept it, you are saddled with an impertinent +visiter the whole time you stay; if you refuse it, he is affronted; so +let him; for no gentleman ever does that without an easy or natural +introduction; and then, if they are men of a certain age, their +acquaintance is agreeable and useful. An under-bred Frenchman is the +most offensive civil thing in the world: a well-bred Frenchman, quite +the reverse.--Having dined at the table of a person of fashion at _Aix_, +a pert priest, one the company, asked me many questions relative to the +customs and manners of the English nation; and among other things, I +explained to him the elegance in which the tables of people of the first +fashion were served; and told him, that when any one changed his dish, +that his plate, knife and fork, were changed also, and that they were as +perfectly bright and clean as the day they came from the silver-smith's +shop. After a little pause, and a significant sneer,--Pray Sir, (said +he) and do you not change your napkins also? I was piqued a little, and +told him we did not, but that indeed I had made a little mistake, which +I would rectify, which was, that though I had told him the plate, knife, +and fork, were so frequently changed at genteel tables in England, there +was one exception to it; for it sometimes happened that low under-bred +priests (especially on a Sunday) were necessarily admitted to the tables +of people of fashion, and that the butler sometimes left them to wipe +their knife upon their bread, as I had often seen _Lewis_ the Fifteenth +do, even after eating fish with it.--As it was on a Sunday I had met +with this fop of divinity, at a genteel table, I thought I had been even +with him, and I believe he thought so too, for he asked me no more +questions; yet he assured me at his going out, "_he had the honour to be +my most obedient humble servant_." This over-strained civility, so +unlike good-breeding, puts me in mind of what was said of poor Sir WM. +ST. Q----N, after his death, by an arch wag at _Bath_: Sir William, you +know, was a polite old gentleman, but had the manners and breeding +rather of the late, than the present age, and though a man deservedly +esteemed for his many virtues, was by some thought too ceremonious. +Somebody at the round table at _Morgan_'s Coffee-house happened to say, +alas! poor Sir William! he is gone; but he was a good man, and is surely +gone to Heaven, and I can tell you what he said when he first entered +the holy gates! the interrogation followed of course: Why, said he, +seeing a large concourse of departed souls, and not a soul that he knew, +he bowed to the right and left, said he begged pardon,--he feared he was +troublesome, and if so, he would instantly retire.--So the Frenchman, +when he says he would cut himself in four pieces to serve you, only +means to be very civil, and he will be so, if it does not put him to +any expence. + +_Aix_ is a well built city; the principal street called the _Course_, is +very long, very broad, and shaded by stately trees; in the middle of it +are four or five fountains, constantly running, one of which is of very +hot water, at which man and beast are constantly drinking. The city +abounds with a great deal of good company, drawn to it from all parts of +Europe by the efficacy of the waters, and to examine its antiquities, +for it has in and about it many Greek as well as Roman monuments. + +Some part of the country between _Aix_ and this populous city is very +beautiful, but near the town scarce any vegetation is seen; on all sides +high hills and broken rocks present themselves; and one wonders how a +city so large and so astonishingly populous is supported. When I first +approached the entrance gate, it opened a perspective view of the +_Course_, a street of great extent, where the heads of the people were +so thick together, that I concluded it was a FAIR day, and that the +whole country was collected together; but I found it was every day the +same. I saw a prodigious quantity of game and provisions of all kinds, +not only in the shops, but in the streets, and concluded it was not only +a cheap, but a plentiful country; but I soon found my mistake, it was +the evening before Lent commenced, and I could find no provisions of any +kind very easily afterwards, and every thing very dear. You may imagine +the price of provisions at _Marseilles_ when I tell you that they have +their poultry from _Lyons_; it is however a noble city, crouded with men +of all nations, walking in the streets in the proper habits of their +country. The harbour is the most secure sea-port in Europe, being +land-locked on all sides, except at a verry narrow entrance; and as +there is very little rise or fall of water, the vessels are always +afloat. Many of the galley slaves have little shops near the spot where +the galleys are moored, and appear happy and decently dressed; some of +them are rich, and make annual remittances to their friends. In the +_Hotel de Ville_ are two fine large pictures, which were taken lately +from the Jesuits' college; one represents the dreadful scenes which were +seen in the _Grand Course_ during the great plague at _Marseilles_; the +other, the same sad scene on the Quay, before the doors of the house in +which it now hangs. A person cannot look upon these pictures one minute +before he becomes enthralled in the woes which every way present +themselves. You see the good Bishop confessing the sick, the carts +carrying out the dead, children sucking at the breasts of their dead +mothers, wives and husbands bewailing, dead bodies lowering out of the +higher windows by cords, the slaves plundering, the Priests exhorting, +and such a variety of interesting and afflicting scenes so forcibly +struck out by the painter, that you seem to hear the groans, weepings, +and bewailings, from the dying, the sick and the sound; and the eye and +mind have no other repose on these pictures but by fixing it on a dead +body. The painter, who was upon the spot, has introduced his own figure, +but armed like a serjeant with a halberd. The pictures are indeed +dreadfully fine; one is much larger than the other; and it is said the +town Magistrates cut it to fit the place it is in; but it is impossible +to believe any body of men could be guilty of such an act of +_barbarism_! There is still standing in this town, the house of a Roman +senator, now inhabited by a shoe-maker. In the cathedral they have a +marble-stone, on which there is engraved, in Arabic characters, a +monumental inscription to the following effect: + + "GOD is alone permanent. + This is the Sepulchre of his servant and Martyr, + who having placed his confidence in the Most + High, he trusts that his sins will be forgiven." + + JOSEPH, son of ABDALLAH, of the town of _Metelin_, + died in the moon _Zilhage_. + + +I bought here an Egyptian household _God_, or _Lar_ of solid metal, +which was lately dug up near the city walls; it is about nine inches +high, and weighs about five pounds. Several of the hieroglyphic +characters are visible on the breast and back, and its form is that of +an embalmed mummy. By a wholesome law of this city, the richest citizen +must be buried like the poorest, in a coffin of nine livres value, and +that coffin must be bought at the general Hospital. The sale of these +coffins for the dead, goes a great way towards the support of the poor +and the sick. + +At this town I experienced the very reverse in every respect of what I +met with at _Barcelona_, though I had no better recommendation to Mr. +BIRBECK, his Britannick Majesty's Agent here, than I had to the Consul +of _Barcelona_; he took my word, at first sight, nay, he took my notes +and gave me money for them, and shewed me and my family many marks of +friendly attention: Such a man, at such a distance from ones own +country, is a cordial to a troubled breast, and an acquisition to every +Englishman who goes there either for health or curiosity. Mr. _Birbeck_ +took me with him to a noble Concert, to which he is an annual +subscriber, and which was performed in a room in every respect suitable +to so large a band, and so brilliant an assembly: He and his good wife +were the only two British faces I had seen for many months, who looked +like Britons. I shall, indeed I must, soon leave this town, and shall +take _Avignon_ on my way to _Lyons_, from whence you shall soon hear +from me again. + +I had forgot to mention, when I was speaking of _Montpellier_, that the +first gentry are strongly impressed with the notion of the superiority +of the English, in every part of philosophy, more especially in the +science of physic; and I found at _Montpellier_, that these sentiments +so favourable to our countrymen, had been much increased by the +extraordinary knowledge and abilities of Dr. MILMAN, an English +physician, who resided there during the winter 1775. This gentleman, who +is one of Doctor RADCLIFFE'S travelling physicians, had performed +several very astonishing cures, in cases which the French Physicians had +long treated without success: And indeed the French physicians, however +checked by interest or envy, were obliged to acknowledge this +gentleman's uncommon sagacity in the treatment of diseases. What I say +of this ingenious traveller, is for your sake more than his; for I know +nothing more of him than the fame he has left behind him at +_Montpellier_, and which I doubt not will soon be verified by his deeds +among his own countrymen. + + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + +AVIGNON. + + +There is no dependence on what travellers say of different towns and +places they have visited, and therefore you must not lay too much stress +upon what I say. A Lady of fashion, who had travelled all over France, +gave the preference to the town I wrote last to you from (_Marseilles_); +to me, the climate excepted, it is of all others the most disagreeable; +yet that Lady did not mean to deceive; but people often prefer the town +for the sake of the company they find, or some particular or local +circumstance that attended their residence in it; in that respect, I too +left it reluctantly, having met with much civility and some old friends +there; but surely, exclusive of its fine harbour, and favourable +situation for trade, it has little else to recommend it, but riot, mob, +and confusion; provisions are very dear, and not very good. + +On our road here we came again through _Aix_. The _Mule blanche_ without +the town, is better than any auberge within, and Mons. _L'Abbe Abrard +Prætor, de la ordre de St. Malta_, is not only a very agreeable, but a +very convenient acquaintance for a stranger, and who is always ready to +shew the English in particular, attention, and who had much attention +shewn him by Lord A. PERCY and his Lady. + +From _Aix_ we passed through _Lambresque_, _Orgon_, and _Sencage_, a +fine country, full of almond trees, and which were in full blossom on +the 7th of March. At _Orgon_ the post-house was so bad, that after my +horse was in the stable, I was obliged to put him to, and remove to the +_Soleil d'Or_, without the town, and made a good move too. The situation +of _Notre Dame de St. Piere_, a convent on a high hill, is worthy of +notice, and the antiquity of the town also.--Five leagues from _Orgon_ +we crossed a very aukward passage in a ferry-boat, and were landed in +the Pope's territories, about five miles from _Avignon_. The castle, and +higher part of the town, were visible, rising up in the middle of a vast +plain, fertile and beautiful as possible. If we were charmed with the +distant view, we were much more so upon a nearer approach; nothing can +be more pleasing than the well-planted, and consequently well-shaded +coach and foot roads all round this pretty little city; all shut in with +the most beautiful ancient fortification walls I ever beheld, and all in +perfect repair; nor were we asked any questions by the Pope's soldiers, +or Custom-house Officers. I had a letter to Dr. POWER, an English +Physician in this town, who received me with great civity, and made me +known to LORD MOUNTGARRET, and Mr. BUTLER, his son, with whom I had the +honour to spend some very agreeable hours: his Lordship has an +excellent house here, and keeps a table, truly characteristic of the +hospitality of his own country.--And now I cannot help telling you of a +singular disorder which attacked me the very day I arrived; and the +still more singular manner I got well: the day before I arrived, we had +been almost blown along the road to _Orgon_ by a most violent wind; but +I did not perceive that I had received any cold or injury from it, till +we arrived here, and then, I had such an external soreness from head to +foot, that I almost dreaded to walk or stir, and when I did, it was as +slow as my feet could move; after continuing so for some days, I was +much urged to dine with Lord MOUNTGARRET, on St. Patrick's day; I did +so, and by drinking a little more than ordinary, set nature to work, +who, without any other Doctor, did the business, by two or three nights' +copious sweats. I would not have mentioned this circumstance, but it may +be the _mal du pais_, and ought to be mentioned for the _method of +cure_. + +There was not quite so good an understanding between the Pope's +_Legate_ and the English residing here, as could be wished; some +untoward circumstance had happened, and there seemed to be faults on +both sides; it was carried, I think, to such a length, that when the +English met him, they did not pull off their hats; but as it happened +before I came, and as in our walks and rides we often met him airing in +his coach, we paid that respect which is everywhere due to a first +magistrate, and he took great pains to return it most graciously; his +livery, guards, &c. make a very splendid appearance: he holds a court, +and is levee'd every Sunday, though not liked by the French. At the +church of St. _Didier_, in a little chapel, of mean workmanship, is the +tomb of the celebrated _Laura_, whose name _Petrarch_ has rendered +immortal; the general opinion is, that she died a virgin; but it appears +by her tomb, that she was the wife of _Hugues de Sade_, and that she +had many children. About two hundred years after her death, some curious +people got permission to open her tomb, in which they found a little +box, containing some verses written by _Petrarch_, and a medallion of +lead, on one side of which was a Lady's head and on the reverse, the +four following letters, M.L.M.E. + +_Francis_ the First, passing thro' _Avignon_, visited this tomb, and +left upon it the following epitaph, of his own composition: + + "En petit lien compris vous pouvez voir + Ce qui comprend beaucoup par renommèe + Plume, labour le langue & le devoir + Furent vaincus par l'aimant de l'aimée + O gentille ame, etant tant estimée + Qui le pourra louer quen se laissant? + Car la parole est toujours reprimée + Quand le sujet surmonte le disant." + +This town is crowded with convents and churches. The convent of the +_Celestines_, founded by _Charles_ the VIth, is richly endowed, and has +noble gardens: there are not above fourteen or fifteen members, and +their revenue is near two thousand pounds sterling a year. In their +church is a very superb monument of Pope _Clement_ the VIIth, who died +here in the year 1394, as a long Latin inscription upon it announces. +They shew in this house a picture, painted by King _Renee_; it +represents the frightful remains of his beloved mistress, whose body he +took out of the grave, and painted it in the state he then found it, +i.e. with the worms crawling about it: it is a hideous figure, and +hideously painted; the stone coffin stands on a line with the figure, +but is above a foot too short for the body; and on the other side is a +long scrole of verses, written in Gothic characters, which begin thus: + + "_Une fois fus sur toutes femmes belle + Mais par la mort suis devenue telle + Machair estoit tres-belle fraische & tendre + O'r est elle toute tournee en cendre._" + +There follow at least forty other such lines. + +There is also in this convent, a fine monument, on which stands the +effigies of _St. Benezet_, a shepherd of _Avignon_, who built (they say) +the bridge from the town over the Rhone, in consequence of a dream, in +the year 1127: some of the noble arches are still standing, and part of +a very pretty chapel on it, nearly in the middle of the river; but a +great part of the bridge has been carried away, many years since, by the +violence of the river, which often not only overflows its banks, but the +lower part of the town. In 1755, it rose seventeen feet higher than its +usual flowing, and I saw marks in many of the streets, high above my +head, against the sides of houses, which it had risen to; but with all +my industry, I could find no _mark upon the house where Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu dwelt_, though she resided some time here, and though I +endeavoured to find it. + +I need not describe the celebrated fountain of _Vaucluse_, near this +town, where _Petrarque_ composed his works, and established Mount +Parnassus. This is the only part of France in which there is an +Inquisition, but the Officers seem content with their profits and +honours, without the power. + +One part of the town is allotted to the Jews, where about six or seven +hundred live peaceably and have their synagogue; and it was here the +famous rabbin _Joseph Meir_ was born; he died in the year 1554; he was +author, you know, of _Annals des Rois de France_, and _de la Maison +Ottomane_. + +Not far from _Avignon_, on the banks of the same rapid river, stands +_Beaucaire_, famous for its annual FAIR, where merchandize is brought +from all parts of Europe, free of all duties: it begins on the 22d of +July; and it is computed that eight million of livres are annually +expended there in eight days. _Avignon_ is remarkable for the No. Seven, +having seven ports, seven parishes, seven colleges, seven hospitals, +and seven monasteries; and I may add, I think, seven hundred bells, +which are always making a horrid jingle, for they have no idea of +ringing bells harmoniously in any part of France. + + + + +LETTER XL. + +LYONS. + + +After a month's residence at _Avignon_, where I waited till the weather +and roads amongst the high _Dauphine_ mountains were both improved, I +sat out for this city. I had, you know, outward bound, dropt down to +_Port St. Esprit_ by water, so it was a new scene to us by land, and I +assure you it was a fine one; the vast and extensive rich vales, adorned +on all sides with such romantic mountains, could not be otherwise, in +such a climate. Our first stage was only four leagues to _Orange_; this +is the last town in the Pope's territories; and within a quarter of a +mile of it stands, in a corn field, a beautiful Roman triumphal arch, so +great in _ruins_, that it would be an ornament even in Rome. The _Palais +Royal_ at this town, has nothing to recommend it, but that it affords a +prospect of this rich morsel of antiquity. + +From _Orange_ we passed through _Pierlaite, Donzeir_, and several +smaller towns, and we lay one night at a single house, but an excellent +auberge, called _Souce_, kept by an understanding sensible host. + +At a little village called _A'tang_, on the banks of the Rhone, we +stopped a day or two, to enjoy the sweet situation. Just opposite to it, +on the other side of the river, stands a large town, (_Tournau_,) which +added to the beauty of our village, over which hangs a very high +mountain, from whence the best Hermitage wine is collected: I suppose it +is called _Hermitage_, from a Hermit's cell on the top of it; but so +unlike the _Montserrat_ Hermitages, that I contented myself with only +tasting the Hermit's wine; it was so good indeed, that though I did not +see how it was possible to get it safe to the north side of France, I +could not withstand the temptation of buying a cask, for which I was to +pay twelve guineas, and did pay one as earnest, to a very sensible, and +I believe honest and opulent wine merchant, who, however, made me a +present of two bottles when I came away, almost worth my guinea; it is +three livres a bottle on the spot; and he shewed me orders he had +received from men of fashion in England, for wine; among which was one +from Mr. _Ryder_, Sir _Dudley Ryder_'s son I fancy, who, I found, was +well satisfied with his former dealings. Do you know that Claret is +greatly improved by a mixture of Hermitage, and that the best Claret we +have in England is generally so _adulterated_? + +The next towns we passed were _Pevige_ and _Vienne_, the latter only +five leagues from this city. It is a very ancient town, and was formerly +a Roman colony. The cathedral is a large and noble Gothic structure, and +in it is a fine tomb of Cardinal _Mountmoin_, said to be equal in +workmanship to _Richlieu_'s in the _Sorbonne_, but said to be so, by +people no ways qualified to judge properly; it is indeed an expensive +but a miserable performance, when put in competition with the works of +_Girrardeau_. About half a mile without the town is a noble pyramidal +Roman monument, said to have stood in the center of the Market-place, in +the time of the Romans. There is also to be seen in this town, a Mosaic +pavement discovered only a few years since, wonderfully beautiful +indeed, and near ten feet square, though not quite perfect, being broken +in the night by some malicious people, out of mere wantonness, soon +after it was discovered. + +At this town I was recommended to the _Table Round_; but as there are +two, the _grande_ and the _petit_, I must recommend you to the _petit_ +where I was obliged to move; for, of all the dreadful women I ever came +near, Madam _Rousillion_ has the _least mellifluous_ notes; her ill +behaviour, however, procured me the honour of a very agreeable +acquaintance, the _Marquis DeValan_, who made me ashamed, by shewing us +an attention we had no right to expect; but this is one, among many +other agreeable circumstances, which attend strangers travelling in +France. French gentlemen never see strangers ill treated, without +standing forth in their defence; and I hope English gentlemen will +follow their example, because it is a piece of justice due to strangers, +in whatever country they are, or whatever country they are from; it is +doing as one would be done by. That prejudice which prevails in England, +even among some people of fashion, against the French nation is +illiberal, in the highest degree; nay, it is more, it is a national +disgrace.--When I recollect with what ease and uninterruption I have +passed through so many great and little towns, and extensive provinces, +without a symptom of wanton rudeness being offered me, I blush to think +how a Frenchman, if he made no better figure than I did, would have +been treated in a tour through Britain.--My Monkey, with a pair of +French jack boots, and his hair _en queue_, rode postillion upon my +sturdy horse some hours every day; such a sight, you may be sure, +brought forth old and young, sick and lame, to look at him and his +master. _Jocko_ put whole towns in motion, but never brought any affront +on his master; they came to look and to laugh, but not to deride or +insult. The post-boys, it is true, did not like to see their fraternity +_taken off_, in my _little Theatre_; but they seldom discovered it, but +by a grave salutation; and sometimes a good humoured fellow called him +comrade, and made _Jocko_ a bow; they could not laugh at his bad seat, +for not one of them rode with more ease; or had a handsomer laced +jacket. Mr. _Buffon_ says, the Monkey or _Maggot_, (and mine is the +latter, for he has no tail) make their grimace or chattering equally to +shew their anger or to make known their appetite. With all due deference +to this great naturalist, I must beg leave to say, that his observation +is not quite just; there is as much difference between the grimace of my +_Jocko_, when he is angry or hungry, and when he grins to shew delight, +as there is in a man, when he gnashes his teeth in wrath, or laughs from +mirth. + +Between _Avignon_ and this town I met a dancing bear, mounted by a +_Maggot_: as it was upon the high road, I desired leave to present +_Jocko_ to his grandfather, for so he appeared both in age and size; the +interview, though they were both males, was very affecting; never did a +father receive a long-lost child with more seeming affection than the +_old gentleman_ did my _Jocko_; he embraced him with every degree of +tenderness imaginable, while the _young gentleman_ (like other young +gentlemen of the present age) betrayed a perfect indifference. In my +conscience I believe it, there was some consanguinity between them, or +the reception would have proved more mutual. Between you and me, I +fear, were I to return to England, I might find myself a sad party in +such an interview. It is a sad reflection; but perhaps Providence may +wisely ordain such things, in order as men grow older, to wean them from +the objects of their worldly affections, that they may resign more +readily to the decree of fate. That good man, Dr. ARBUTHNOT, did not +seem to dread the approach of death on his own account, so much as from +the grievous affliction HE had reason to fear it would bring upon his +children and family. + + + + +LETTER XLI. + +LYONS, + +_The Harangue of the_ Emperor CLAUDIUS, _in the_ SENATE. _Copied from +the original Bronze plate in the Hotel de Ville, of_ Lyons. + + +FIRST TABLE. + +MOERERUM . NOSTR ::::: SII ::::::::: Equidem · primam · omnium · illam +· cogitationem · hominum · quam · maxime · primam · occursuram · mihi · +provideo · deprecor · ne · quasi · novam · istam · rem · introduci · +exhorrescatis · sed · illa · potius · cogitetis · quam · multa · in · +hac · civitate · novata · sint · et · quidem · statim · ab · origine · +vrbis · nostræ · in · quod · formas · statusque · res · P · nostra · +diducta · sit. + +Quandam · reges · hanc · tenuere · vrbem · nec tamen · domesticis · +successoribus · eam · tradere · contigit · supervenere · alieni · et · +quidam · externi · vt · Numa · Romulo · successerit · ex. Sabinis · +veniens · vicinus · quidem · se · tunc. + +Sed · tunc · externus · ut · Anco · Marcio · Priscus · Tarquinius · +propter · temeratum · sanguinem · quod · Patre · Demaratho · Corinthio · +natus · erat · et · Tarquiniensi · Matre · generoso · sed · inopi · ut · +quæ · tali · marito · necesse · habuerit · succumbere · cum · domi · +repelleretur. A · gerendis · honoribus · postquam · Roman · migravit · +regnum · adeptus · est · huic · quoque · et · filio · nepotive · ejus · +nam · et · hoc · inter · auctores · discrepat · insertus · Servius · +Tullius · si · nostros · sequimur · captiva · natus · ocresia · si · +tuscos · coeli · quandam · vivennæ · sodalis · fidelissimus · omnisque +· ejus · casus · comes · post · quam · varia · fortuna · exactus · cum · +omnibus · reliquis · cæliani · exercitus · Etruria · excepit · mentem · +cælium · occupavit · et · a · duce · suo · cælio · ita · appellitatus · +mutatoque · nomine · nam · Tusce · mostrana · ei · nomen · erat · ita · +appellatus · est · ut · dixi · et · regnum · summa · cum · rei · p · +utilitate · optinuit · deinde · postquam · Tarquini · superbi · mores · +invisi · civitati · nostræ · esse · coeperunt · qua · ipsius · qua · +filiorum · ejus · nempe · pertæsum · est · mentes · regni · et · +ad·consules. + +Annuos · magistratus · administratio · rei · p · translata · est · quid +· nunc · commemorem · dictatu · valentius · repertum · apud · majores · +nostros · quo · in · asperioribus · bellis · aut · in · civili · motu · +difficiliore · uterentur · aut · in · auxilium · plebis · creatos · +tribunos · plebei · quid · a · latum · imperium · solutoque · postea · +Decemvirali · regno · ad · consules · rursus · reditum · quid · +indecoris · distributum · consulare · imperium · tribunosque · militum · +consulari · imperio · appellatos · qui · seni · et · sæpe · octoni · +crearentur · quid · communicatos · postremo · cum · plebe · honores · +non · imperi · solum · sed · sacerdotiorum · quoque · jam · si · narrem +· bella p · quibus · coeperint · majores · nostri · et · quo · +processerimus · vereor · ne · nimio · insolentior · esse · videar · et · +quæsisse · jactationem · gloria · prolati · imperi · ultra · oceanum · +sed · illoc · potius · revertor · civitatem. + + +SECOND TABLE. + +:::::::::::::::::: SANE ::: NOVO :: DIVVS :: AUG ::: LVS. et · Patruus · +Ti · Cæsar · omnem · florem · ubisque · coloniarum · ac · municipiorum +· bonorum · scilicet · virorum · et · locupletium · in · hac curia · +esse · voluit · quid · ergo · non · Italicus · senator · Provinciali · +potior · est · jam · vobis · cum · hanc · partem · censuræ · meæ · ad · +probare · coepero · quid · de · ea · re · sentiam · rebus · ostendam · +sed · ne · provinciales · quidem · si · modo · ornare · curiam · +poterint · rejiciendos · puto. + +Ornatissimæ · ecce · colonia · volentissimaque Viennensium · quam · +longo · jam · tempore · senatores · huic · curiæ · confert · ex · qua · +colonia · inter · paucas · equestris · ordinis · ornamentum L · vestinum +· familiarissime · diligo · et · hodieque · in · rebus · meis · detineo +· cujus · liberi · tiorum · gradu · post · modo · cum · annis · +promoturi · dignitatis · suæ · incrementa · ut · dirum · nomen · +latronis · taceam · et · odi · illud · palæstricum · prodigium · quod · +ante · in · domum · consulatum · intulit · quam · colonia · sua · +solidum civitatis · Romanæ · beneficium · consecuta · est idem · de · +patre · ejus · possum · dicere · miserabili · quidem · invtilis · +senator · esse · non · possit tempus · est · jam · ri · CÆSAR · +Germanice · detegere · te · patribus · conscriptis · quo · tendat · +oratio · tua · jam · enim · ad · extremos · fines · Galliæ · Narbonensis +· venisti. + +Tot · ecce · insignes · juvenes · quot · intuetor · non · magis · sunt · +poenitendi · senatores · quam · ænitet · Persicum · nobilissimum · +virum · amicum · meum · inter · imagines · majorum · suorum · +Allobrogici · nomen · legere · quod · SL · hæc · ita · esse · +consentitis · quid · ultra · desideratis · quam · ut · vobis · digito · +demonstrem · solum · ipsum · ultra · fines · provinciæ · Narbonensis · +jam · vobis · senatores · mittere · quando · ex · Luguduno · habere · +nos · nostri · ordinis · viros · non · poenitet · timide · quidem · P +· C · vobis · provinciarum · terminos · sum · sed · destricte · jam · +comatæ · Galliæ · causa · argenda · est · in · qua · si · quis · hoc · +intuetur · quod · bello · per · decem · anno · exercuerunt · divom · +Julium · diem · opponat · centum · armorum · immobilem · fidem · +obsequiumque · multis · trepidis · rebus · nostris · plusquam · expertum +· illi · patri · meo · druso · Germaniam · subi · genti · tutam · quiete +· sua · securamque · a · tergo · pacem · præstiterunt · et · quidem · +cum · AD · census · novo · tum · opere · et in · adsueto · gallis · ad · +bellum · avocatus · esset · quod · opus · quam · arduum · sit · nobis · +nunc · maxime · quam · vis · nihil · ultra · quam · ut · publice · notæ +· sint · facultates · nostræ · exquiratur · nimis · magno · experimento +· cognoscimus. + +The above harangue, made by CLAUDIUS, in favor of the LYONOISE, and +which he pronounced in the Senate, is the only remains of the works of +this Emperor, though he composed many. _Suetonius_ says he composed +forty-three books of a history, and left eight compleat of his own life; +and adds, that he wrote more elegantly than judiciously. + + + + +LETTER XLII. + +LYONS. + + +I have now spent a month in my second visit to this great and +flourishing city, and fortunately took lodgings in a _Hotel_, where I +found the lady and sister of _Mons. Le Marquis De Valan_, whose +politeness to us I mentioned in a former letter at _Vienne_, and by +whose favour I have had an opportunity of seeing more, and being better +informed, than I could have been without so respectable an acquaintance. +At _Vienne_ I only knew his rank, here I became acquainted with his good +character, and fortune, which is very considerable in _Dauphine_, where +he has two or three fine seats. His Lady came to _Lyons_ to lye-in, +attended by the Marquis's sister, a _Chanoinesse_, a most agreeable +sensible woman, of a certain age; but the Countess is young and +beautiful. + +You may imagine that, after what I said of _Lyons_, on my way _to_ +Spain, I did not associate much with my own country-folks. On my return, +indeed, my principal amusement was to see as much as I could, in a town +where so much is to be seen; and in relating to you what I have seen, I +will begin with the _Hotel De Ville_; if it had not that name, I should +have called it a Palace, for there are few palaces so large or so noble; +on the first entrance of which, in the vestibule, you see, fixed in the +wall, a large plate of Bronze, bearing stronger marks of fire than of +age; on which were engraven, seventeen hundred years ago, two harangues +made by the Emperor _Claudius_ in the senate, in favour of the +_Lyonoise_, and which are not only legible at this day, but all the +letters are sharp and well executed; the plate indeed is broke quite +through the middle, but fortunately the fraction runs between the first +and second harangues, so as to have done but little injury among the +the letters. As I do not know whether you ever saw a copy of it, I +inclose it to you, and desire you will send it as an agreeable exercise, +to be well translated by my friend at Oxford. + +On the other side of the vestibule is a noble stair-case, on which is +well painted the destruction of the city, by so dreadful a fire in the +time of the Romans, that _Seneca_, who gives an account of it in a +letter to his friend, says, + + "_Una nox fuit inter urbem maximam et nullum._" + + i.e. One night only intervened between a great city and nothing. + +There is something awful in this scene, to see on one side of the +stair-case the conflagration well executed; on the other, strong marks +of the very fire which burnt so many ages ago; for there can be no +doubt, but that the Bronze plate then stood in the _Roman Hotel de +Ville_, and was burnt down with it, because it was dug up among the +refuse of the old city on the mountain called _Fourvire_, on the other +side of the river, where the original city was built.--In cutting the +letters on this large plate of Bronze, they have, to gain room, made no +distance between the words, but shewn the division only by a little +touch thus < with the graver; and where a word eroded with a C, or G, +they have put the touch within the concavity of the letter, otherwise it +is admirably well executed. + +Upon entering into the long gallery above stairs, you are shewn the late +King and Queen's pictures at full length, surrounded with the heads of +some hundred citizens; and in one corner of the room an ancient altar, +the _Taurabolium_, dug up in 1704, near the same place where +_Claudius's_ harangue was found; it is of common stone, well executed, +about four feet high, and one foot and a half square; on the front of +it is the bull's head, in demi relief, adorned with a garland of corn; +on the right side is the _victimary_ knife[A] of a very singular form; +and on the left the head of a ram, adorned as the bull's; near the point +of the knife are the following words, _cujus factum est_; the top of the +altar is hollowed out into the form of a shallow bason, in which, I +suppose, incense was burnt and part of the victims. + + [A] The knife, which is cut in demi relief, on the _Taurobolium_, + is crooked upon the back, exactly in the same manner, and form, as + may be seen on some of the medals of the Kings of Macedonia. + +The Latin inscription under the bull's head, is very well cut, and very +legible, by which it appears, that by the express order of CYBELE, the +reputed mother of the Gods, for the honour and health of the Emperor +_Antoninus Pius_, father of his country, and for the preservation of his +children, children, _Lucius Æmilius Carpus_[B] received the horns of +the bull, by the ministration of _Quintus Samius Secundus_, transported +them to the Vatican, and consecrated, at his own expence, this altar and +the head of the bull[C]; but I will send the inscription, and a +model[D] of the altar, as soon as I can have it made, as I find here a +very ingenious sculptor and modeller; who, to my great serprize, says +no one has hitherto been taken from it. And here let me observe, lest I +forget it, to say, that _Augustus_ lived three years in this city. + + [B] _Lucius Æmilius Carpus_ was a Priest, and a man of great + riches: he was of the quality of _Sacrovir_, and probably one of + the six Priests of the temple of Angustus.--_Sextumvir Augustalii_. + + [C] Several inscriptions of this kind have been found both in Italy + and Spain, but by far the greater number among the Gauls; and as + the sacrifices to the Goddess Cybele were some of the least ancient + of the Pagan rites, so they were the last which were suppressed on + the establishment of Christianity. Since we find one of the + Taurobolian inscriptions, with so recent a date as the time of the + Emperor Valentinian the third. The silence of the Heathen writers + on this head is very wonderful; for the only one who makes any + mention of them is Julius Firmicus Maternus, in his dissertation on + the errors of the Pagan religion; as Dalenius, in his elaborate + account of the Taurobolium, has remarked. + + The ceremony of the consecration of the High Priest of Cybele, + which many learned men have mistaken for the consecration of the + Roman Pontifex Maximus; which dignity, from the very earliest + infancy of the Roman Empire, was always annexed to that of the + Emperor himself. + + The Priests who had the direction of the Taurobola, wore the same + vestments without washing out the bloody stains, as long as they + would hold together. + + By these rites and baptisms by blood, they thought themselves, as + it were re-born to a life eternal. Sextilius Agefilaus Ædesius + says, that he was born a-new, to life eternal, by means of the + Taurobolium and Criobolium. + + Nor were the priests alone initiated in this manner, but also + others, who were not of that order; in particular cases the + regenerations were only promised for twenty years. + + Besides the Taurobolia and Criobolia, which were erected at the + expence of whole cities and provinces, there were others also, + which were founded by the bounty of private people. We often meet + with the names of magistrates and priests of other Gods, who were + admitted into these mysteries, and who erected Taurobolia as + offerings for the safety of the Emperor, or their own. The rites of + the Taurobolia lasted sometimes many days. + + The inscription, on the Taurobolium, which is on the same side with + the head of the bull, we have endeavoured to explain by filling up + the abbreviations which are met with in the Roman character. + + TAUROBOLIO MATRIS DEUM MAGNÆ IDÆÆ + QUOD FACTUM EST EX IMPERIO + MATRIS IDÆÆ DEUM + PRO SALUTE IMPERATORIS CÆSARIS + TITI ÆLII + ADRIANI ANTONINI AUGUSTI PII PATRIS PATRIÆ + LIBERORUMQUE EJUS + ET STATUS COLONIÆ LUGDUNENSIS + LUCIUS ÆMILIUS CARPUS SEXTUMVIR + AUGUSTALIS ITEM DENDROPHORUS + VIRES EXCEPIT ET A VATICANO + TRANSTULIT ARAM ET BUCRANIUM + SUO IMPENDIO CONSECRAVIT + SACERDOTE + QUINTO SAMMIO SECUNDO AB QUINDECEMVIRIS + OCCABO ET CORONA EXORNATO + CUI SANCTISSIMUS ORDO LUGDUNENSIS + PERPETUITATEM SACERDOTIS DECREVIT + APPIO ANNIA ATILO BRADUA TITO + CLODIO VIBIO VARO CONSULIBUS + LOCUS DATUS DICRETO DECURIONUM. + + [D] _The Model is now in the possession of the ingenious_ Dr. + HARRINGTON _at Bath_. + +The _Taurobolium_ was one of the great mysteries, you know, of the +Roman religion, in the observance of which, I think, they dug a large +hole in the earth, and covered it with planks, laid at certain +distances, so as to give light into the subterranean temple. The person +who was to receive the _Taurobolio_ then descended into the theatre, and +received on his head and whole body, the smoaking hot blood of the bull, +which was there sacrificed for that purpose. If a single bull was only +sacrificed, I think they call it a simple _Taurabolio_, if a ram was +added to it, as was sometimes done, it was then called a _Torobolia_, +and _Criobolio_; sometimes too, I believe a goat was also slain. + +After all the blood of the victim animals was discharged, the Priests +and Cybils retired beneath the theatre, and he who had received the +bloody sacrifice, came forth and exposed himself, besmeared with blood, +to the people, who all prostrated themselves before him, with +reverential awe, as one who was thereby particularly sanctified, and +whose person ought to be regarded with the highest veneration, and +looked upon with holy horror; nor did this sanctification, I think, end +with the ceremony, but rendered the person of the sanctified holy for +twenty years. An inscription cited by _Gruter_, seems to confirm this +matter, who, after speaking of one _Nepius Egnatius Faventinus_, who +lived in the year of Christ 176, says, + +_"Percepto Taurobolio Criobolioque feliciter,_" + +Concludes with these words, + + _"Vota Faventinus bis deni suscipit orbis, + Ut mactet repetens aurata fronte bicornes._" + +The _bis denus orbis_ seems to imply, the space of twice ten years. + +And here I cannot help making a little comparison between the honours +paid by the Roman citizens to their Emperors, and those of the present +times to the Princes of the Blood Royal. You must know that the present +King's brother, came to _Lyons_ in the year 1775, and thus it is +recorded in letters of gold upon their quay: + + LOUIS XVI. REGNANT. + EN MEMOIRE DE L'HEUREUX JOUR CINQ. + SEPTEMBRE M,DCC,LXXV. + OU + MONSIEUR FRERE DU ROI + ET MADAME + SONT ARRIVES EN CETTE VILLE + CE QUAI + DE L'AGREMENT DU PRINCE + ET PAR ORDONNANCE DU CONSULAT + DU DOUZE DU MEME MOIS + A ETE NOMME A PERPETUITE + QUAI MONSIEUR. + +If the _Bourgeoise_ of _Lyons_, however, are not men of genius, they are +ingenious men, and they have a most delightful country to dwell in. I +think I may say, that from the high hills which hang about this city, +and taking in the rivers, fertile vales, rude rocks, vine-yards, and +country seats, far and near, that _Lyons_ and its environs, afford a +greater variety of natural and artificial beauties, than any spot in +Europe. It is, however, by no means a place for the winter residence of +a stranger. Most of the natives advanced in years, were carried off last +winter. The surly winds which come down the Rhone, with impetuous +blasts, are very disagreeable and dangerous. I found the cold +intolerable in the beginning of May, out of the sunshine, and the sun +intolerable in it. In England I never wore but one under waistcoat; in +Spain, and in the south of France, I found two necessary. The Spaniards +wear long cloaks, and we laugh at them; but the laugh would come more +properly from them. There is in those climates a _vifness_ in the air +that penetrates through and through; and I am sure that such who travel +to the southward for the recovery of their health, ought to be ten times +more upon their guard, to be well secured against the keen blasts the +south of France, than even against an easterly wind in England. + +The disorder which carried off so many last winter at _Lyons_, was +called the Gripe. In a large hotel only one person escaped it, an +English Lady. They called it the _Gripe_, from the fast hold it took of +the person it seized; nor did it let them go till April. + +On my way here, I found it sometimes extremely hot; it is now the first +of May, and I am shaking by the side of a good fire, and have had one +constantly every day for this fortnight. + + + + +LETTER XLIII. + +LYONS. + + +The _Lyonoise_ think their town was particularly honoured by the +_Taurobolium_; but it was a common practice to offer that sacrifice not +only for the Emperor's health, but for the preservation of a city. There +are two of these altars in the town of _Letoure_; one consecrated for +the preservation of the Emperor _Gordian_, on which is the following +inscription: + + PRO SALVTE IMP. ANTONINI GORDIANO PII FEL. + AVG. TOTIVSQVE DOMVS DIVINÆ PROQVE STATV CIVIT. + LACTOR TOROPOLIVM FECIT ORDO LACTOR D.N. GORDIANO + II ET POMPLIANO COS VI ID DEC CVRANTIS M + EROTIO ET FESTO CANINIS SACERD. + +And in a little village near _Marseilles_, called _Pennes_, there is a +stone, on which is engraven, + + MATRI DEVM MAGNÆ IDEÆ + +And on another, in the same town, + + MATRI DEVM TAVROPOLIVM. + +I must not omit to give you a copy of a singular inscription on the +tomb of a mint-master which was found in _Lyons_, and is preserved +entire: + + NOBILIS TIB. CÆSARIUS AVG. SER ÆQ. MONET HIC + AD QVI LOCIT JVLIA ADEPTA CONJUNX ET + PERPETUA FILIA D.S.D. + +The most ancient money which has been found in and about this city, is +the little coin of _Mark Antony_; on one side of which is represented +the Triumvirate; on the other, a Lion, with the word _Lugudani_ under +it; on each side of the Lion are the letters A and XL. The antiquarians +here think those letters marked the value of the piece, and that it was +about forty _sous_; but is it not more probable, that this was only the +mint-master's touch? + +Nothing can be a stronger proof of the importance of this city in the +time of the Romans, than the immense expence they were at in erecting +such a number of grand aquæducts, one of which was eighteen leagues in +length; many parts of them are still visible; and it appears that they +spent for the reparation of them at _one_ time, near one thousand +talents; and here it was that the four grand Roman highways divided; one +of which went directly to the sea, and another to the _Pyrenees_. + +_Agrippa_, who was the constructor of most of these noble monuments of +Roman grandeur, would not permit the _Lyonoise_ to erect any monument +among them to his memory; and yet, his memory is, in a very particular +manner, preserved to this day in the very heart of the city, for in the +front of a house on the quay _de Villeroy_, is a medallion of baked +earth, which, I think, perfectly resembles him; sure I am it is an +unquestionable antique; it is a little disfigured indeed, and disgraced +by his name being written upon it in modern characters. But there is +another monument of _Agrippa_ here; it is part of the epitaph of an +officer or soldier of the third cohort, whose duty it was to take an +account of the expence of each day for the subsistence of the troops +employed to work on the high-ways, and this officer was called _A. +Rationibus Agrippæ_. + +There are an infinite number of Roman inscriptions preserved at _Lyons_, +among which is the following singular one: + + DIIS INIQVIS QUI ANIMVLAM + TVAM RAPVERVNT. + +I have already told you of a modern monument erected by the _Lyonoise_, +and now, with grief and concern, I must tell you of an ancient one which +they have demolished! it was a most beautiful structure, called the tomb +of the Two Lovers; that, however, was a mistake; it was the tomb of a +brother and sister named _Amandas_, or _Amans_, for near where it stood +was lately found the following monumental inscription: + + D M + + ET MEMORIAE ÆTERNÆ OLIÆ TRIBVTÆ + FEMINÆ SANCTISSIME ARVESCIVS + AMANDVS FRATER SORORI KARISSMÆ + SIBIQVE AMANTISSIMÆ P.C. ET + SVB OSCIA DEDICAVIT. + +I have seen a beautiful drawing of this fine monument, which stood near +the high road, a little without the town; the barbarian _Bourgeoises_ +threw it down about seventy years ago, to search for treasure. + +But enough of antiquities; and therefore I will tell you truly my +sentiments with respect to the south of France, which is, that _Lyons_ +is quite southward enough for an Englishman, who will, if he goes +farther, have many wants which cannot be supplied. After quitting +_Lyons_, he will find neither good butter, milk, or cream. At _Lyons_, +every thing, which man can wish for, is in perfection; it is indeed a +rich, noble, and plentiful town, abounding with every thing that is +good, and more _finery_ than even in _Paris_ itself. They have a good +theatre, and some tolerable actors; among whom is the handsomest +Frenchman I ever beheld, and, a little stiffness excepted, a good actor. + +Any young gentleman traveller, particularly _of the English nation_, who +is desirous of _replenishing his purse_, cannot, even in _Paris_, find +more convenient occasions to throw himself in _fortune's way_, than at +the city of _Lyons_. + +An English Lady, and two or three gentlemen, have lately been so +_fortunate there_, as to find lodgings _at a great Hotel_, gratis; and I +desire you will particularly _recommend a long stay at_ Lyons _to my +Oxonian friend_; where he may _see the world_ without looking out at a +window. + + + + +LETTER XLIV. + + +I find I omitted to give you before I left _Nismes_, some account of +Monsieur _Seguier_'s cabinet, a gentleman whose name I have before +mentioned, and whose conversation and company were so very agreeable to +me. Among an infinite number of natural and artificial curiosities, are +many ancient Roman inscriptions, one of which is that of _T. Julius +Festus_, which _Spon_ mentions in his _Melanges D'Antiquite_. There are +also a great number of Roman utensils of bronze, glass, and +earthen-ware. The Romans were well acquainted with the dangerous +consequences of using copper vessels[E] in their kitchens, as may be +seen in this collection, where there are a great many for that purpose; +but all strongly gilt, not only within, but without, to prevent a +possibility of _verdigris_ arising. There is also a bronze head of a +Colossal statue, found not many years since near the fountain of +_Nismes_, which merits particular attention, as well as a great number +of Roman and Greek medals and medallions, well preserved, and some which +are very rare. The natural curiosities are chiefly composed of fossils +and petrifications; among the latter, are an infinite number of +petrified fish _embalmed_ in solid stones; and where one sees the finest +membranes of the fins, and every part of the fish, delineated by the +pencil of nature, in the most exquisite manner; the greater part of +these petrifications were collected by the hands of the possessor, some +from _Mount Bola_, others from _Mount Liban_, _Switzerland_, _&c._ + + [E] See Dr. FALCONER, of _Bath_, his Treatise on this subject. + +Mr. _Seguier_'s _Herbary_ consists of more than ten thousand plants; but +above all, Mr. _Seguier_ himself, is the first, and most valuable part +of his cabinet, having spent a long life in rational amusements; and +though turned of four-score, he has all the chearfulness of youth, +without any of the garrulity of old age. When he honoured me with a +visit, at my country lodgings, he came on foot, and as the waters were +out, I asked him how he _got at me_, so dry footed? He had walked upon +the wall, he said; a wall not above nine inches thick, and of a +considerable length! + +And here let me observe that a Frenchman eats his _soup_ and _bouille_ +at twelve o'clock, drinks only _with_, not _after_ his dinner, and then +mixes water with his _genuine_ wine; he lives in a fine climate, where +there is not as with us, for six weeks together, easterly winds, which +stop the pores, and obstruct perspiration. A Frenchman eats a great +deal, it is true, but it is not all _hard meat_, and they never sit and +drink after dinner or supper is over.--An Englishman, on the contrary, +drinks much stronger, and a variety of fermented liquors, and often much +worse, and sits _at it_ many hours after dinner, and always after +supper. How then can he expect such health, such spirits, and to enjoy a +long life, free from pain, as most Frenchmen do; When the negro servants +in the West-Indies find their masters call _after_ dinner for a bowl of +punch extraordinary they whisper them, (if company are present) and ask, +"_whether they drink for drunk_, or _drink for dry_?" A Frenchman never +drinks for _drunk_.--While the Englishman is earning disease and misery +at his bottle, the Frenchman is embroidering a gown, or knitting a +handkerchief for his mistress. I have seen a Lady's sacque finely +_tamboured_ by a Captain of horse, and a Lady's white bosom shewn +through mashes netted by the man who made the snare, in which he was +himself entangled; though he made it he did not perhaps know the powers +of it till she _set it_. + + + + +LETTER XLV. + + +I write to you just as things come into my head, having taken very few +notes, and those, as you must perceive, often without much regard to +_unison_ or _time_. It has this minute occurred to me, that I omitted to +tell you on my journey onwards, that I visited a little town in +_Picardie_, called _Ham_, where there is so strong a castle, that it may +be called a _petit Bastile_, and which was then and still is, full of +state prisoners and debtors. To this castle there is a monstrous tower, +the walls of which are thirty six feet thick, and the height and +circumference are proportionable thereto; it was built by the _Conetable +de St. Paul_, in order to shut up his master, _Charles_ the VIth, King +of France, and contemporary, I think, with our _Henry_ the Vth; but such +are the extraordinary turns of all human affairs, that _Mons. le +Conetable_ was shut up in it himself many years, and ended his days +there.--The fate of this constable brings to my mind a circumstance that +happened under my _administration_, at _Land-Guard Fort_, when the King +was pleased to trust me with the command of it. I had not been +twenty-four hours in possession of what I thought a small sovereignty, +before I received a letter in the following terms: + +"SIR, Having observed horses grazing on the covered way, that _hath_ +done apparent damage, and may do more, I think it my duty to inform you, +that his Majesty does not permit horses to feed thereon, &c. &c. +(Signed) + + "ANTHONY GOODE, + Overseer of the Works." + +I never was more surprized, than to find my wings were to be thus clipt, +by a civil officer of the board of ordnance; however wrong I or my +horses had acted, I could not let Mr. GOODE _graze_ so closely upon my +authority, without a reprimand; I therefore wrote him an answer in terms +as follow: "that having seen a fat impudent-looking strutting fellow +about the garrison, it was my order that when his duty led him to +communicate any thing to me relative to the works thereof, that he came +himself, instead of writing impertinent letters." Mr. _Goode_ sent a +copy of his letter and mine to Sir _Charles Frederick_; and the post +following, he received from the Office of Ordnance, several printed +papers in the King's name, forbidding horses grazing on the WORKS, and +_ordering Mr. Goode_ to nail those orders up in different parts of the +garrison! but as I had not then learnt that either he, or his _red +ribband master_, had any authority to give out, even the King's orders, +in a garrison I commanded, but through my hands, I took the liberty, +while Mr. _Goode_ and his assistant-son were nailing one up _opposite to +my parlour window_, to send for a file of men and put them both into the +Black-hold, an apartment Mr. _Goode_ had himself built, being a +Master-Mason. By the time he had been ten minutes _grazing_ under this +_covered way_, he sent me a message, that he was _asthmatic_, that the +place was too close, and that if he died within a _year and a day_, I +must be deemed accessary to his death. But as I thought Mr. _Goode_ +should have considered, that some of the poor invalids too might now and +then be as subject to the asthma as he, it was a proper punishment, and +I kept him there till he knew the duty of a soldier, as well as that of +a mason; and as I would _his betters_, had they come down and ventured +to have given out orders in a garrison under my command; but instead of +getting me punished as a _certain gentleman_ aimed at, that able General +_Lord Ligonier_ approved my conduct, and removed the man to another +garrison, and would have dismissed him the ordnance service, had I not +become a petitioner in his favour; for he was too fat and old to work, +too proud and arrogant to beg, and he and _his advisers_ too +contemptible to be angry with.--But I must return to the castle of +_Ham_, to tell you what a dreadful black-hold there is in that tower; it +is a trap called by the French _des Obliettes_, of so horrible a +contrivance, that when the prisoners are to suffer in it, the mechanical +powers are so constructed, as to render it impossible to be again +opened, nor would it signify, but to see the body _molue_, i.e. ground +to pieces. + +There were formerly two or three _Obliettes_ in this castle; one only +now remains; but there are still several in the _Bastile_.--When a +criminal suffers this frightful death, (for perhaps it is not very +painful) he has no previous notice, but being led into the apartment, is +overwhelmed in an instant. It is to be presumed, however, that none but +criminals guilty of high crimes, suffer in this manner; for the state +prisoners in the _Bastile_ are not only well lodged, but liberal tables +are kept for them. + +An Irish officer was lately enlarged from the _Bastile_, who had been +twenty-seven years confined there; and though he found a great sum of +money in the place he had concealed it in a little before his +confinement, he told Colonel C----, of Fitz-James's regiment, that +"having out-lived his acquaintance with the world, as well as with men, +he would willingly return there again." + +At _Ham_ the prisoners for debt are quite separated from the state +prisoners; the latter are in the castle, the former in the tower. + +The death of _Lewis_ the XVth gave liberty to an infinite number of +unhappy people, and to many who would have been enlarged before, but had +been forgotten. When one of these unhappy people (a woman of fashion) +was told she might go out; then, (said she) I am sure _Lewis_ the XVth +is dead; an event she knew nothing of, tho' it was a full year after the +King's death.--Things are otherwise conducted now than in his reign; a +wicked vain woman then commanded with unlimited power, both in war and +domestic concerns. In this reign, there are able, and I believe virtuous +ministers. + +I suppose you think as I did, that Madame _Pompadour_ governed by her +own powerful charms; but that was not the case; she governed as many +other women do, by borrowed charms; she had a correspondence all over +the kingdom, and offices of intelligence, where _youth_, _beauty_, and +_innocence_, were registered, which were sent to her according to order; +upon the arrival of the _goods_, they were dressed, and trained for +_use_, under her inspection, till they were fit to be _shewn up_. She +had no regard to birth, for a shoe-maker's daughter of great beauty, +belonging to one of the Irish brigades, being introduced to the King, +he asked her whether she knew him? No: she did not: But did you ever see +me before, or any body like me? She had not, but thought him very like +the face on the _gros Eccuis_ of France. Madame _Pompadour_ soon found +out which of these girls proved most agreeable to the King, and such +were retained, the others dismissed.--The expence of this traffick was +immense. I am assured where difficulties of birth or fashion fell in the +way, ten thousand pounds sterling have been given. Had _Lewis_ the XVth +lived a few years longer, he would have ruined his kingdom. _Lewis_ the +XVIth bids fair to aggrandize it. + + + + +LETTER XLVI. + +POST-HOUSE, ST GEORGE, six leagues from LYONS. + + +I am particular in dating this letter, in hopes that every English +traveller may avoid the place I write from, by either stopping short, or +going beyond it, as it is the only house of reception for travellers in +the village, and the worst I have met with in my whole journey. We had +been scurvily treated here as we went; but having arrived at it after +dark, and leaving it early, I did not recollect it again, till the +mistress by her sour face and sorry fare betrayed it; for she well +remembered _us_. As a specimen of French auberge cookery, I cannot help +serving up a dish of spinnage to you as it was served to me at this +house. We came in early in the afternoon, and while I was in the +court-yard, I saw a flat basket stand upon the ground, the bottom of +which was covered with boiled spinnage; and as my dog, and several +others in the yard, had often put their noses into it, I concluded it +was put down for _their_ food, not _mine_, till I saw a dirty girl +patting it up into round balls, and two children, the eldest of them not +above three years old, slavering in and playing with it, one of whom, +_to lose no time_, was performing _an office_ that none could _do for +her_. I asked the maid what she was about, and what it was she was so +preparing? for I began to think I had been mistaken, till she told me it +was spinnage;--not for me, I hope, said I,--'_oui, pour vous et le +monde_.' I then forbad her bringing any to my table, and putting the +little girl _off her center_, by an angry push, made her almost as dirty +as the spinnage; and I could perceive her mother, the hostess, and some +French travellers who were near, looked upon me as a brute, for +_disturbing la pauvre enfant_; nevertheless, with my _entree_ came up a +dish of this _delicate spinnage_, with which I made the girl a very +pretty _Chapeau Anglois_, for I turned it, dish and all, upon her head; +this set the house in such an uproar, that, if there had not come in an +old gentleman like _Bourgeois_ of _Paris_, at that instant, I verily +believe I should have been turned out; but he engaged warmly in my +defence, and insisted upon it that I had treated the girl just as he +would have done, had she brought such a dirty dish to him after being +cautioned not to do so; nor should I have got any supper, had I not +prevailed on this good-natured man, who never eat any, to order a supper +for himself, and transfer it to me. He was a native of _Lyons_, and had +been, for the first time after thirty years absence, to visit his +relations there. My entertainment at this house, _outward-bound_, was +half a second-hand roasted turkey, or, what the sailors call a +_twice-laid_ dish, i.e. one which is _done over_ a second time. + +I know the French in general will not like to see this dirty charge, +brought even against an _aubergiste_, and much less to hear it said, +that this disregard to cleanliness is almost general in the public inns; +but truth justifies it, and I hope the publication may amend it. + +A modern French anonymous traveller, who I conclude by the company he +kept in England, is a man of fashion, gives in general a just account of +the English nation, their customs and manners; and acknowledges, in +handsome terms, the manner he was received by some of the first families +in England. He owns, however, he does not understand English, yet he has +the temerity to say, that _Gulliver's_ travels are the _chef d'oeuvre_ +of _Dean Swift_; but observes, that those travels are greatly improved +by passing through the hands of _Desfontaines_.--This gentleman must +excuse me in saying, that _Desfontaines_ neither understood English, nor +_Dean Swift_, better than he does. He also concludes his first volume, +by observing, that what a French Ambassador to England said of that +nation, in the year 1523, constitutes their character at this day! +'Alas! poor England! thou _be'st_ so closely situated, and in such daily +conversation with the polite and polished nation of France, thou hast +gained nothing of their ease, breeding, and compliments, in the space of +two hundred and fifty years!'--What this gentleman alludes to, is the +Ambassador's letter to the _Conetable Montmorency_, previous to the +meeting of _Henry_ the Eighth and _Francis_ the First, near _Ardres_; +for, (says the Ambassador) _sur-tout je vous prie, que vous ostiez de la +Cour, ceux qui unt la reputation d'etre joyeux & gaudisseur, car c'est +bien en ce monde, la chose la plus haie de cette nation_. And in a few +lines after, he foists in an extract from a Scotchman, one _Barclay_, +who, in his _Examen of Nations_, says, _Jenenc connoit point de plus +aimable creature, qui un François chez qui l'enjoument est tempore par +le judgment, & par discretion_; to all which I subscribe: but such men +are seldom to be met with in any kingdom. + +This gentleman says, the most remarkable, or rather the only act of +gaiety he met with in _London_, was an harangue made for an hour in the +House of Lords, previous to the trial of Lord _Byron_; and that, as he +afterwards understood, it was made by a drunken member of parliament. He +says it made him and every body laugh exceedingly; but he laughed only +(I presume) because every body else did, and relates the story, I fear, +merely to make it a national laugh; for the harangue was certainly very +ill placed, and the mirth it produced, very indecent, at a time a Peer +of the realm was to be brought forth, accused of murder; and the +untimely death of a valuable and virtuous young man, revived in every +body's memory. + +This is the unfavourable side of what the gentleman says of the first +people in England. Of the peasants and lower order, he observes, that, +though they are well fed, well cloathed, and well lodged, yet they are +all of a melancholy turn.--The French have no idea of what we call _dry +humour_; and this gentleman, perhaps, thought the English clown +melancholy, while he was laughing in his sleeve at the foppery of his +_laquais_. + +These observations put me in mind of another modern traveller, a man of +sense and letters too, who observes, that the ballustrades at +_Westminster_ bridge are fixed very close together, to prevent the +English getting through to drown themselves: and of a Gentleman at +_Cambridge_, who, having cut a large pigeon-hole under his closet door, +on being asked the use of it, said, he had it cut for an old cat which +had kittens, to go in and out; but added, _that he must send for the +carpenter, to cut little holes for the young ones_. His _acute visitor_ +instantly set up a _horse_ laugh, and asked him whether the little cats +could not come out at the same hole the big one did? The other laughing +in his turn, said, he did not _think of that_. + +Though I have spoken with freedom of this French traveller's remarks, +yet I must own that, in general, he writes and thinks liberally, and +speaks highly of the English nation, and very gratefully of many +individuals to whom he was known; and, I dare say, a Frenchman will find +many more mistakes of mine, which I shall be happy to see pointed out, +or rectified: but were I to pick out the particular objects of laughter, +pity, and contempt, which have fallen in my way, in twice crossing this +great continent, I could make a second _Joe Miller_ of one, and a _Jane +Shore_ of the other. If this traveller could have understood the +_Beggars' Opera_, the _humour_ of _Sam. Foote_, or the pleasantry among +English sailors, watermen, and the lower order of the people, he would +have known, that, though the English nation have not so much vivacity +as the French, they are behind-hand with no nation whatever, where true +wit and genuine humour are to be displayed. What would he have said, +could he have seen and entered into the spirit of the procession of the +_miserable Scalds_, or Mr. _Garrick_ in _Scrub_; _Shuter_, _Woodward_, +Mrs. _Clive_, or even our little _Edwin_ at _Bath_? Had he seen any of +these things, he must have laughed with the multitude, as he did in the +House of Lords, though he had not understood it, and must have seen how +inimitably the talents of these men were formed, to excite so much mirth +and delight, even to a heavy _unpolished_ English audience. + + + + +LETTER XLVII. + + +From _St. George_ to _Macon_ is five leagues. Nothing on earth can be +more beautiful than the face of this country, far and near. The road +lies over a vast and fertile plain, not far distant from the banks of +the _Soane_ on one side, and adorned with mountains equally fertile, and +beautiful, on the other. It is very singular, that all the cows of this +part of the country are white, or of a light dun colour, and the dress +of all the _Maconoise_ peasants as different from any other province in +France, as that of the Turkish habit; I mean the women's dress, for I +perceived no difference among the men, but that they are greater clowns, +than any other French peasants. The women wear a broad bone lace ruff +about their necks, and a narrow edging of the same sort round their +caps, which are in the form of the charity girls' caps in England; but +as they must not bind them on with any kind of ribband, they look rather +_laid upon_ their heads, than _dressed upon them_; their gowns are of a +very coarse light brown woollen cloth, made extremely short-waisted, and +full of high and thick plaits over the hips, the sleeves are rather +large, and turned up with some gaudy coloured silk; upon the shoulders +are sewed several pieces of worsted livery lace, which seem to go quite +under their arms, in the same manner as is sometimes put to children to +strengthen their leading-strings; upon the whole, however, the dress is +becoming, and the very long petticoat and full plaits, have a graceful +appearance. + +At _Lyons_ I saw a _Macinoise_ girl of fashion, or fortune, in this +dress; her lace was fine, her gown silk, and her shoulder-straps of +silver; and, as her head had much more of the _bon gout_ than the _bon +ton_, I thought her the most inviting object I had seen in that city, +my delicate landlady at _Nismes_ always excepted. I think France cannot +produce such another woman _for beauty_ as _Madame Seigny_. + +I bought a large quantity of the _Macon_ lace, at about eight-pence +English a yard, which, at a little distance, cannot easily be +distinguished from fine old _pointe_. + +Between _St. George_ and _Macon_, at a time we wanted our breakfast, we +came to a spot where two high roads cross each other, and found there a +little _cabbin_, not unlike the Iron House, as to whim, but this was +built, sides, top, and bottom, with sawed boards; and as a little bit of +a board hung out at the door informed us they sold wine, I went in, and +asked the mistress permission to boil my tea-kettle, and to be permitted +to eat our breakfast in her pretty _cabbin_? The woman was knitting; she +laid down her work, rose up, and with the ease and address of a woman of +the first fashion, said we did her honour, that her house, such as it +was, and every thing in it, were at our service; she then sent a girl to +a farmer's hard by, for milk, and to a village a quarter of a league +distant, for hot bread; and while we breakfasted, her conversation and +good breeding made up a principal part of the _repas_; she had my horse +too brought to the back part of her _cabbin_, where he was well fed from +a portable manger. I bought of her two bottles of white wine, not much +inferior to, and much wholesomer than, Champaigne, and she charged me +for the whole, milk, bread, fire, _conversation_, and wine, thirty six +_sols_, about seventeen pence English! Though this gentlewoman, for so I +must call her, and so I believe she is, lived in such a small hut, she +seemed to be in good circumstances, and had _liqueurs_, tea, and a great +variety of _bons choses_ to sell. This was the only public house, (if it +maybe called by that name,) during my whole journey _out_ and _in_, +where I found perfect civility; not that the publicans in general have +not civility _in their possession_, but they will not, either from +_pride_ or _design_, _produce it_, particularly to strangers. My +_wooden-house landlady_ indeed, was a prodigy; and it must be confessed, +that no woman of the lower order in England, nor even of the middling +class, have any share of that ease and urbanity which is so common among +the lower order of the _people_ of this kingdom: but the woman I now +speak of, had not, you will perceive, the least design even upon my +purse; I made no previous agreement with her for my good fare, and she +scorned to take any advantage of my confidence; and I shewed my sense of +it, by giving her little maid eight times more than she ever received +for such services before--an English shilling. + +Let not this single, and singular woman, however, induce you to trust to +the confidence of a French _aubergiste_ especially a _female_; you may +as well trust to the conscience of an itinerant Jew. Frenchmen are so +aware of this, that have heard a traveller, on a _maigre_ day, make his +bargain for his _aumlet_ and the number of eggs to be put in it, with an +exactness scarce to be imagined; and yet the upshot was only two pence +English. + +The easy manner in which a French officer, or gentleman, can traverse +this mighty kingdom, either for pleasure or business, is extremely +agreeable, and worthy of imitation among young British officers.--In +England, if an Ensign of foot is going a journey, he must have two +horses, and a groom, though he has nothing but a regimental suit of +cloaths, and half a dozen shirts to carry; his horses too must _set both +ends well_ because he is a _Captain_ upon the road! and he travels at +about five times the expence of his pay. + +The French officer buys a little _biddet_, puts his shirts and best +regimental coat into a little _portmanteau_, buckles that behind his +saddle, and with his sword by his side, and his _croix_ at his +button-hole, travels at the expence of about three shillings a day, and +often less, through a kingdom where every order of people shew him +attention, and give him precedence. + +I blush, when I recollect that I have _rode_ the risque of being wet to +the skin because I would not _disgrace my saddle_, nor load my back with +a great coat; for I have _formerly_, as well as _latterly_, travelled +without a servant. + +I have a letter now before me, which I received a few days ago from a +French Captain of foot, who says, _sur le champ j'ay fait seller ma +petite Rossinante (car vous scavez que j'ay achete un petit cheval de 90 +livres selle et bride) et me voila a Epernay chez Monsieur Lechet_, &c. +This gentleman's whole pay does not amount to more than sixty pounds a +year, yet he has always five guineas in his pocket, and every +convenience, and some luxuries about him; he assists now and then an +extravagant brother, appears always well dressed; and last year I bought +him a ticket in the British lottery: he did not consider that he +employed an unfortunate man to buy it, and I _forgot_ to remind him of +it. + +After saying thus much of a virtuous young man (_though a Frenchman_) +there will be no harm in telling you his name is _Lalieu_, a Captain in +the regiment _du Maine_.--Before I took my last leave of him, talking +together of the horrors of war, I asked him what he would do if he were +to see me _vis-a-vis_ in an hostile manner? He embraced me, and said, +"turn the but end of my fusee towards you, my friend." I thank God that +neither his _but-end_, nor my _muzzle_ can ever meet in that manner, and +I shall be happy to meet him in any other. + +_P.S._ I omitted to say, that the _Maconoise_ female peasants wear +black hats, in the form of the English straw or chip hats; and when they +are tied on, under the chin, it gives them with the addition of their +round-eared laced cap, a decent, modest appearance which puts out of +countenance all the borrowed plumage, dead hair, black wool, lead, +grease, and yellow powder, which is now in motion between _Edinburgh_ +and _Paris_. + +It is a pity that pretty women, at least, do not know, that the +simplicity of a Quaker's head-dress, is superior to all that art can +contrive: and those who remember the elegant _Miss Fide_, a woman of +that persuasion, will subscribe to the truth of my assertion. And it is +still a greater pity, that plain women do not know, that the more they +adorn and _artify_ their heads, the more conspicuous they make their +natural defects. + + + + +LETTER XLVIII. + + +At _Challons sur la Soane_, (for there is another town of the same name +in _Champaigne_) I had the _honor_ of a visit from _Mons. le Baron +Shortall_, a gentleman of an ancient family, _rather in distress at this +time_, by being _kept out_ of six and thirty thousand a year, his legal +property in Ireland; but as the Baron made his visit _ala-mode de +capuchin Friar_, without knocking, and when only the female part of my +family were in the apartment, he was dismissed _rather abruptly_ for a +man of _his high rank_ and _great fortune in expectation_. This +dismission, however, did not dismay him; he rallied again, with the +reinforcement of _Madame la Baroness_, daughter, as he positively +affirmed, of _Mons. le Prince de Monaco_; but as I had forbad his being +_shewn up_, he desired me to _come down_, a summons curiosity induced +me to obey. Never, surely, were two people _of fashion_ in a more +pitiable plight! he was in a _russet brown black_ suit of cloaths; +Madame _la Baroness_ in much the same colour, wrapt up in a tattered +black silk capuchin; and I knew not which to admire most, their folly or +their impudence; for surely never did an _adventurer_ set out with less +_capabilities_ about him; his whole story was so flagrant a fib, that in +spite of the _very respectable certificates of My Lord Mayor, John +Wilkes, and Mr. Alderman Bull_, I was obliged to tell him plainly, that +I did not believe him to be a gentleman, nor his wife to be a relation +of the Prince of _Monaco_. All this he took in good part, and then +assured me they were both very hungry, and without meat or money; I +therefore ordered a dinner at twenty _sols_ a head; and, as I sat by +while they eat it, I had reason to believe that he told me _one plain +truth_, for in truth they eat as if they had never eaten before. After +dinner the Baron did me the honour to consult with me _how_ he should +get down to _Lyons_? I recommended to him to proceed by _water_; but, +said he, my dear Sir, I have no money;--an evil I did not chuse to +redress; and, after several unsuccessful attempts at my purse, and some +at my person,--he whispered me that even six livres would be acceptable; +but I held out, and got off, by proposing that the Baroness should write +a letter to the Prince her father, to whom I had the honour to be known, +and that I would carry him the letter, and enforce their prayer, by +making it my own. This measure she instantly complied with, and +addressed her father _adorable Prince_; but concluded it with a name +which could not belong to her either as maid, wife, or widow. I remarked +this to the _Baron_, who acknowledged at once _the mistake_, said she +had signed a false name, and she should write it over again; but when I +observed to him that, as the Prince knew the handwriting of his _own_ +dear child, and as the name of women is _often varying by marriage_, or +_miscarriage_, it was all one: to this he agreed; and I brought off the +letter, and my purse too, for forty _sols_; yet there was so much +falshood, folly, and simplicity in this _simple pair of adventurers_, +that I sorely repented I did not give them their passage in the _coche +d'eau_ to _Lyons_; for he could not speak a word of French, nor _Madame +la Baroness_ a word of English; and the only _insignia_ of distinction +between them, was, a vast clumsy brass-hilted sword which the Baron, +instead of wearing at his side, held up at his nose, like a Physician's +gold-headed cane.--When I took my leave of this _Sir James Shortall_, +(for he owned _at last_ he was _only a Baronet_) he promised to meet me +_next time_ dressed in his blue and silver. + +I verily believe my Irish _adventurer_ at _Perpignan_, is a gentleman, +and therefore I relieved him; I am thoroughly persuaded my _Challons_ +adventurer is not, yet perhaps he was a real object of charity, and his +true tale would have produced him better success than his _borrowed +story_. _Sir James_ was about sixty, _Lady Shortall_ about fifty.--_Sir +James_ too had a pretty large property in America, and would have +visited his estates on that continent, had I not informed him of the +present unhappy differences now subsisting between that and the mother +country, of which he had not heard a single syllable. + + +After having said thus much, I think I must treat you with a copy of +_Lady Shortall's_ letter, a name very applicable to their unhappy +situation, for they did indeed seem short of every thing;--so here it +is, _verbatim et literatim_: + +"_Monsieur Thickness gentilhomme anglaise_ + +"Adorable preince de monaco que tout mordonne deme, lise au de fus de +cette lette le non deun digne homme qui me randu ser visse, je suis +malade, le convan; serois preferable a mon bouneur je veux sepandant +sauve non marij mais je me meure tre seve mon derinier soupire, je ne le +doit qua vous. + + "JULIE BARONNE DE CHATTERRE. + _le 18 May 1776._" + +"_A sont altess ele preince de Monaco, dans sont hautelle rue de +Vareinne a Paris_." + + + + +LETTER XLIX. + + +From _Challons_ to _Bonne_, is five leagues. _Bonne_ is a good town, +well walled-in, pleasantly situated, and remarkable for an excellent and +well-conducted Hospital, where the poor sick are received _gratis_, +without distinction, and where the rich sick are accommodated with +nurses, physicians, medicines, food, and lodging, with every assistance +that can be wanted, for four livres a day. The apartments in which the +poor are received, are so perfectly clean and sweet, that they are fit +for people of any condition; but those provided for the better sort, are +indeed sumptuously furnished. The women who act as nurses, are of a +religious order, and wear a particular, decent, and uniform habit, to +which their modest deportment exactly coincides; yet most of them are +young, and many of them very beautiful. + +Between these two towns we met an English servant, in a rich laced +livery, conducting, behind a post-chaise, a large quantity of baggage; +and soon after, a second servant, in the same uniform; this excited our +curiosity, and we impatiently proceeded, in hopes of meeting the +equipage, which it was natural to expect would soon follow; instead of +which, it was an old English four-wheel chaise, the _contents_ of which +were buckled close up behind a pair of dirty leather curtains; and on +the coach-box sat, by the side of the driver, a man who had the +appearance of an English farmer. This contrast rather increased than +lessened our curiosity; and, therefore, at _Bonne_, I made some enquiry +about them of the post-master; who told me they came in, and set off, +separately, just as I had met them; but that one servant paid for the +horses to all the carriages, and that the woman _behind the curtain, +according to custom, did not chuse to shew herself_. Just as I was +returning with this blind account, an English servant, who I had not +perceived, but who stood near, told me, he was sure _as how_ it was +either the _Duchess_ of _Kingston_ or _Mrs Rudd_, for that he _seed_ her +very plain. I was much surprized at finding an Englishman so near me; +and the singularity of the man's observation had a very forcible effect +upon me. When the mirth which it unavoidably occasioned, was a little +subsided, I could not help correcting, in gentle terms, (though I was +otherwise glad to see even an English footman so far from _English +land_) a man in his station for speaking of people of high rank with so +much indecent levity, and then told him, that there was no such person +living as the _Duchess_ of _Kingston_, but that it was probable the Lady +he thought he had seen might be _Lady Bristol_; that there was not +however, the least resemblance between the person of her Ladyship and +the other Lady he had mentioned, the latter being young, thin, and +rather handsome; whereas _Lady Bristol_ was very fat, and advanced in +years; I therefore suspected, I told him, that he had confounded the +trials of those two Ladies, and fancied he saw a likeness in their +persons, by an association of ideas; but in reality, there was as much +difference in their crimes as in their persons. _Crimes_! did I say? +that is an improper expression, because I am informed _Mrs. Rudd_ has +been acquitted; but that, if the foreign papers might be relied on, +_Lady Bristol_ had been found guilty of BIGAMY: But as he seemed not to +understand what I meant by _Bigamy_, or the _association of ideas_, I +was unavoidably led into a conversation, and explanation, with this +young man; which nothing but my pride, and his ignorance, could justify; +but as the fellow was overjoyed to see me, I could not help giving him +something to drink, and with it a caution never to speak of people of +high rank and condition, even behind their backs, but under their proper +names or titles, and with decency and respect: he then begged my +pardon, and assured me, if he had known that either of the Ladies had +been a friend of mine, he would not have coupled them so improperly +together; and I am thoroughly convinced, the man left me with a +resolution, never to hazard a conjecture without a better foundation +than that he started to me, and which I rather believe he hit off +_extempore_, to speak to me, and shew himself my countryman, than from +really suspecting that the woman behind the curtain was either _Lady +Bristol_, or _Mrs. Rudd_; though I was inclined to think it very +probable, for I had seen _Lord Bristol_ on his way through _Lyons_ from +_Italy_ to _England_, and had been informed, _Lady Bristol_ was then on +her road to _Italy_; in which case, I, like the footman, had my +conjectures, and accounted for the leather curtains being so _closely +buckled to_. + +These are trifling remarks, you will say; but if a sign-painter can +paint only a bear, those who employ him must have a bear for their +sign; nevertheless, we have all a certain curiosity to know even the +most trifling actions, or movements of people, who by their virtues or +vices, especially if they are people of rank or condition, have +occasioned much talk in the world; and therefore, ridiculous as this +incident is, yet as we have long known one of the Ladies, and often +_admired_ both, I could not let either one or the other pass me +unnoticed, on a road too, where even an English Duchess (if she would +own the truth) would feel a secret delight in meeting of a +Hyde-park-corner groom. + +I have already mentioned what partiality and degree of notice, +countrymen take of each other when they meet far from home. That notice +is always in proportion to the distance. Had my _Bonne_ footman spoke of +_Lady Bristol_, or _Mrs. Rudd_, in such free terms as _how he seed 'em_, +&c. &c. at Hyde-park-corner, or in Tyburn-road, I should have knocked +him down with the but end of my whip; but at _Bonne_ (five hundred +miles from either of those places) he and I were _quatre cousins_; and I +could not help treating him with a bottle of _vin de pais_. + + + + +LETTER L. + + +From _Bonne_ we intended to have taken the high road to _Dijon_; but +being informed that there was another, though not much frequented, by +way of _Autun_, and that _that_ town, which was a Roman colony, still +contained many curious monuments worthy of notice, we pursued the +latter, which twisted in between a vast variety of small, but fertile +valleys, watered with brooks, bounded by romantic hills, and some high +mountains, most of which were covered with vines, which _did_ produce +the most delicious red wine in the world; I say _did produce_, for the +high _gout_ and flavour of the Burgundy grape has for many years failed, +and perhaps so as never to return again. We, however, missed the road to +_Autun_, and, after four leagues' journey through a most delightful +country, we arrived at a miserable auberge in a dirty village called +_Yozy_, which stands upon the margin of a large forest, in which, some +years since, the _diligence_ from _Lyons_ to _Paris_ was attacked by a +banditti, and the whole party of travellers were murdered: ever since +that fatal day, a guard of the _Marechaussee_ always escort the +_diligence_ through this deep and dreadful forest, (so they called it), +and we were persuaded it was right to take a couple of the +_Marechaussee_, and did so; but as we found the forest by no means so +long, deep, or dreadful, as it had been represented, we suspected that +the advice given us, was more for the sake of the men who _guarded us_, +than from any regard _to us_, two men could have made no great +resistance against a banditti; and a single man would hardly have +meddled with us. + +The next day we passed thro' _Arnay-le-Duc_, a pretty country village, +three leagues from _Yozy_, and it being their annual fair-day, we had an +opportunity of seeing all the peasantry, dressed in their best, and +much chearfulness, not only in the town, but upon the road before we +arrived, and after we passed it. Amongst the rest of the company, were a +bear and a monkey, or rather what _Buffon_ calls the _maggot_. I desired +the shew-man to permit my _maggot_, as he was the least, the youngest, +and the _stranger_, to pay a visit to _Mons. Maggot_, the elder, who +embraced the _young gentleman_ in a manner which astonished and +delighted every body, myself only excepted; but as _my young gentleman_ +seemed totally indifferent about the _old one_, I suspected he had +_really met his father_, and I could not help moralizing a little. + +From _Arnay-le-Duc_ we passed through _Maupas_, _Salou_, _Rouvray_, +_Quisse la forge_, and _Vermanton_ to _Auxerre_, the town where the +French nobleman _was said_ to live, whom Dr. _Smollett_ treated so very +roughly, and who, in return, was so _polite_ as to _help to tie_ the +Doctor's baggage behind his coach! + +About a quarter of a mile without this town, stands a royal convent, +richly endowed, and delightfully situated; the walls of which take in +near twenty acres of land, well planted on the banks of a river; and +here I left my two daughters, to perfect themselves in the French +language, as there was not one person within the convent, nor that I +could find, within the town, who could speak a word of English. And here +I must not omit to tell you, how much I was overcome with the generosity +of this virtuous, and I must add amiable, society of _religieux_. Upon +my first inquiry about their price for board, lodging, washing, cloaths, +and in short, every thing the children did, or might want, they required +a sum much beyond the limits of my scanty income to give; but before we +left them, they became acquainted with _some circumstances_, which +induced them to express their concern that the price I had offered (not +half what they had demanded) could not be taken. We therefore retired, +and had almost fixed the children in a cheaper convent, but much +inferior in all respects, within the town, when we received a polite +letter from the Lady Abbess, to say, that after consulting with her +sister-hood, they had come to a resolution to take the children at our +_own_ price, rather than not shew how much they wished to oblige us. +Upon this occasion, we were _all_ admitted within the walls of the +convent; and I had the pleasure of seeing my two daughters joined to an +elegant troop of about forty genteel children, and of leaving them under +the care of the same number of _religieux_. And yet these good people +knew nothing of us, but what we ourselves communicated to them, not +being known, nor knowing any person in the town.--The Lady-Abbess of +this convent is a woman of high rank, about twenty-four years of age, +and possesses as large a share of beauty as any reasonable woman, even +on the _outside_ of a convent, could wish for. + +_Auxerre_ is a good town, pleasantly situated, and in a plentiful and +cheap country. + +From _Auxerre_ to _Ioigni_ is five leagues. The _Petit bel Vue_ on the +banks of the river is very pleasantly situated, but a dreadful one +within side, in every respect, being a mixture of dirt, ignorance, and +imposition; but it is the only inn for travellers, and therefore +travellers should avoid it. In order to put my old hostess in good +humour, I called early for a bottle of Champaigne; and in order to put +me into a bad humour, she charged me the next day for two; but I +_charged her_ with _Mons. Le Connetable_, who behaved like a gentleman, +though I think he was only a _marchand de tonneau_: but then he was a +_wine_ not _beer_ cooper, who hooped the old Lady's barrel. + +Where-ever I was ill-used or imposed upon, I always sent a pretty heavy +packet by the post, after I had run down a hundred miles or two, by way +of _draw-back_, upon my host, and recompence to the King's high road; +for in France, + + _"Like the Quakers' by-way, + 'Tis plain without turnpikes, so + nothing to pay"_ + +An old witch, who had half starved us at _Montpellier_, for want of +provisions, when we went, and for want of fire to dry us, when we came +back, left a piece of candle in my budget, which I did not omit to +return by the post, _well packed up_, lest it should grease other +packets of more importance, by riding an hundred leagues; besides this +it was accompanied by a very civil _letter of advice_, under another +cover. + + + + +LETTER LI. + + +The next town of any note is _Sens_, a large, _ragged_, ancient city; +but adorned with a most noble Gothic cathedral, more magnificent than +even that of _Rheims_, and well worthy of the notice of strangers; it is +said to have been built by the English: With the relicks and +_custodiums_ of the host, are shewn the sacerdotal habits, in which +Archbishop _Becket_ (who resided there many years) said mass, for it was +his head-quarters, when he _left_ Britain, as well as _Julius Cæsar_'s +before he went there. The silver hasps, and some of the ornaments of +these garments, are still perfect, though it has undergone so many +darnings, as to be little else. + +_Becket_ was a very tall man; for though it has many tucks in it, yet it +is generally too long for the tallest priest in the town, who +constantly says mass in it on _St. Thomas_'s day. + +How times and men are changed! This town, which resisted the arms of +_Cæsar_ for a considerable time, was put in the utmost consternation by +_Dr. Smollett_'s causing his travelling blunderbuss to be only fired in +the air, a circumstance "which greatly terrified all the _petit monde!_" +It is very singular, that the Doctor should have frightened a French +nobleman of _Burgundy_, by shaking his cane at him, and even made him +assist in the most servile offices; and in the next town, terrify all +the common people, by only firing a blunderbuss in the air! + +I would not willingly arraign a dead man with telling two fibbs so close +upon the back of each other; but I am sure there was but that single +French nobleman, in this mighty kingdom, who would have submitted to +such insults as the Doctor _says_ he treated him with; nor any other +town but _Sens_, where the firing of a gun would have so terrified the +inhabitants; for, drums, guns, and noise of every sort, seem to afford +the common French people infinite pleasure. + +I spent in this town a day or two, and part of that time with a very +agreeable Scotch family, of the name of _Macdonald_, where Lieutenant +Colonel _Stuart_ was then upon a visit. + +I have some reason to think that _Sens_ is a very cheap town. Several +English, Scotch, and Irish families reside in it. + +From _Sens_ to _Port sur Yonne_ is three leagues, and from _Yonne_ to +_Foussart_ the same distance. + +At the three Kings at _Foussart_, suspecting there was a cat behind the +bed in wait for my bird, I found, instead thereof, a little _narrow +door_, which was artfully hid, and which opened into another room; and +as I am sure the man is a cheat, I suspect too, that upon a _good +occasion_, he would have made some _use_ of his little door. + +_Foussart_ is a small place, consisting only of three or four public +houses. From thence to _Morret_, is three leagues, on which road is +erected a noble pillar of oriental marble, in memory of the marriage of +_Lewis_ the XVth. Soon after we passed this monument, we entered into +the delightful forest of _Fontainbleau_; and passing three leagues to +the center of it, we arrived at that ancient royal palace: it stands +very low, and is surrounded by a great many fine pieces of water, which, +however, render the apartments very damp. The King and royal family had +been there six weeks, and were gone but ten days, and with them, all the +furniture of the palace was also gone, except glasses, and a few +pictures, of no great value. In a long, gallery are placed, on each +side of the wall, a great number of stags' heads, carved in wood, and +upon them are fixed the horns of stags and bucks, killed by the late, +and former Kings; some of which are very _outre_, others singularly +large and beautiful. + +_Fontainbleau_ is a good town, stands adjacent to the palace; and as the +gardens, park, &c. are always open, it is a delightful summer residence. +We staid a few days there, to enjoy the shady walks, and to see the +humours of a great annual fair, which commenced the day after we +arrived. All sorts of things are sold at this fair; but the principal +business is done in the _wine way_, many thousand pieces of the inferior +Burgundy wine being brought to this market. + +We made two little days' journey from _Fontainbleau_ to _Paris_, a town +I entered with concern, and shall leave with pleasure.--As I had +formerly been of some service to _Faucaut_ who keeps the _Hotel +d'York_, when he lived in _Rue de Mauvais Garçon_ I went to this +_famous Hotel_, which would have been more in character, if he had given +it the name of his former street, and called it, _L'Hotel de Mauvais +Garçon_ for it is an hospital of bugs and vermin: the fellow has got the +second-hand beds of _Madame Pompadour_, upon his first floor, which he +_modestly_ asks thirty _louis d'ors_ a month for! All the rest of the +apartments are pigeon-holes, filled with fleas, bugs, and dirt; and +should a fire happen, there is no way of escaping. Nothing should be +more particularly attended to in _Paris_ than the security from fire, +where so many, and such a variety of strangers, and their servants, are +shut up at night, within one _Porte Cochere_. + + + + +LETTER LII. + +PARIS. + + +I found no greater alteration in _Paris_, after ten years' absence from +it, than the prodigious difference of expence; most articles, I think, +are one-third dearer, and many double; a horse is not half so well fed +or lodged at _Paris_ as at _London_; but the expence is nearly a guinea +a week, and a stranger may drive half round the city before he can lodge +himself and his horses under the same roof.[F] + + [F] _Paul Gilladeau_ who lately left the Silver Lion, at _Calais_, + has, I am informed, opened a Livery Stable at _Paris_, upon the + _London_ plan, in partnership with _Dessein_, of the _Hotel + d'Angleterre_ at _Calais_: a convenience much wanted, and + undertaken by a man very likely to succeed. + +The beauties, the pleasures, and variety of amusements, which this city +abounds with, are, without doubt, the magnets which attract so many +people of rank and fortune of all nations to it; all which are too well +known to be pointed out by me.--To a person of great fortune in the +_hey-day_ of life, _Paris_ may be preferable even to _London_; but to +one of my age and walk in life, it is, and was ten years ago, the least +agreeable place I have seen in France.--Walking the streets is extremely +dangerous, riding in them very expensive; and when those things which +are worthy to be seen, (and much there is very worthy) have been seen, +the city of _Paris_ becomes a melancholy residence for a stranger, who +neither plays at cards, dice, or deals in the principal manufacture of +the city; i.e. _ready-made love_, a business which is carried on with +great success, and with more decency, I think, that even in _London_. +The English Ladies are _weak_ enough to attach themselves to, and to +love, one man. The gay part of the French women love none, but receive +all, _pour passer le tems_.--The _English_, unlike the _Parisian_ +Ladies, take pains to discover _who_ they love; the French women to +dissemble with those they hate. + +It is extremely difficult for even strangers of rank or fortune, to get +among the first people, so as to be admitted to their suppers; and +without that, it is impossible to have any idea of the luxury and stile +in which they live: quantity, variety, and show, are more attended to in +France, than neatness. It is in England alone, where tables are served +with real and uniform elegance; but the appetite meets with more +provocatives in France; and the French _cuisine_ in that respect, +certainly has the superiority. + +Ten years ago I had the honour to be admitted often to the table of a +Lady of the first rank. On _St. Ann's-day_, (that being her name-day) +she received the visits of her friends, who all brought either a +valuable present, a poesy, or a compliment in verse: when the dessert +came upon the table, which was very magnificent, the middle plate +seemed to be the finest and fairest fruit (_peaches_) and I was much +surprized, that none of the Ladies, were helped by the gentlemen from +_that_ plate: but my surprize was soon turned into astonishment! for the +peaches suddenly burst forth, and played up the Saint's name, (_St. +Ann_) in artificial fire-works! and many pretty devices of the same +kind, were whirled off, from behind the coaches of her visitors, to +which they were fixed, as the company left the house, which had a pretty +effect, and was no indelicate way of _taking a French leave_. + +There is certainly among the French people of fashion an ease and +good-breeding, which is very captivating, and not easily obtained, but +by being bred up with them, from an early age; the whole body must be +formed for it, as in dancing, while there is the pliability of youth; +and where there is, as in France, a constant, early, and intimate +correspondence between the two sexes. Men would be fierce and savage, +were it not for the society of the other sex, as may be seen among the +Turks and Moors, who must not visit their own wives, when other men's +wives are with them. In France, the Lady's bed-chamber is always open, +and she receives visits in bed, or up, with perfect ease. A noble Lord, +late ambassador to this country, told me, that when he visited a young +and beautiful woman of fashion, (I think too it was a first visit after +marriage) she received him sitting up in her bed; and before he went, +her _fille de chambre_ brought his Lordship _Madame le Comtesse_'s shift +elegantly festooned, which his Lordship had the honour to put over the +Lady's head, as she sat in bed!--nor was there, by that favour, the +least indecency meant; it was a compliment intended; and, as such only, +received. Marks of favour of _that_ sort, are not marks of _further +favours_ from a French Lady. + +In this vast city of amusements, among the _other arts_, I cannot help +pointing out to your particular notice, _Richlieu_'s monument in the +_Sorbonne_, as an inimitable piece of modern sculpture[G] by +_Girardeau_; and _Madame la Valliere's_ full-length portrait by _le +Brun_: She was, you know, mistress to _Lewis_ the XIVth, but retired to +the convent, in which the picture now is, and where she lived in +repentance and sorrow above thirty years.[H] + + [G] VOLTAIRE says, this monument is not sufficiently noticed by + strangers. + + [H] MADAME VALLIERE, during her retirement, being told of the death + of one of her sons, replied, "I should rather grieve for his birth, + than his death." + +The _connoisseurs_ surely can find no reasonable fault with the +monumental artist; but they do, I think, with _le Brun_; the drapery, +they say, is too full, and that she is overcharged with garments; but +fulness of dress, adds not only dignity, but decency, to the person of +a fine woman, who meant (or the painter for her) to hide, not to expose +her charms. + +If fulness be a fault, it is a fault that _Gainsborough_, _Hoare_, +_Pine_, _Reynolds_, and many other of our modern geniuses are _guilty +of_; and if it be _sin_, the best judges will acquit them for committing +it, where dignity is to be considered. + +_Madame Valliere_ appears to have been scattering about her jewels, is +tearing her hair, crying, and looking up to the heavens, which seem +bursting forth a tempest over her head. The picture is well imagined, +and finely executed. + +I found upon the bulk of a _portable shop_ in _Paris_, a most excellent +engraving from this picture,[I] and which carried me directly to visit +the original; it is indeed stained and dirty, but it is infinitely +superior to a later engraving which now hangs up in all the print shops, +and I suppose is from the first plate, which was done soon after the +picture was finished. Under it are written the following ingenious, tho' +I fear, rather impious lines: + + Magdala dam gemmas, baccisque monile coruscum + Projicit, ac formæ detrahit arma suæ: + Dum vultum lacrymis et lumina turbat; amoris + Mirare insidias! hac capit arte Deum. + + [I] In the possession of Mr. GAINSBOROUGH. + +Shall I attempt to unfold this writer's meaning? Yes, I will, that my +friend at _Oxford_ may laugh, and do it as it ought to be done. + + I. + + The pearls and gems, her beauty's arms, + See sad VALLIERE foregoes; + And now assumes far other charms + Superior still to those. + + II. + + The tears that flow adown her cheek, + Than gems are brighter things; + For these an earthly Monarch seek, + But those the KING of Kings. + +This seems to have been the author's thought, if he thought +_chastely_.--Shall I try again? + + The pearls and gems her beauty's arms, + See sad VALLIERE foregoes: + Yet still those tears have other charms, + Superior far to those: + With those she gained an earthly Monarch's love: + With these she wins the KING of Kings above. + +Yet, after all, I do suspect, that the author meant more than even _to +sneer_ a little at _poor Madam Valliere_; but, as I dislike common-place +poetry, (and poetry, as you see, dislikes _me_) I will endeavour to give +you the literal meaning, according to my conception, and then you will +see whether our _joint wits_ jump together. + +While MAGDALENE throws by her bracelets, adorned with gems and pearls, +and (thus) disarms her beauty: while tears confound her countenance and +eyes, + + With wonder mark the stratagems of love, + With this she captivates the GOD above. + +The impious insinuation of the Latin lines, is the reason, I suppose, +why they were omitted under the more modern impression of this fine +print, and very middling French poetry superseding them. + + + + +LETTER LIII. + + +PARIS. + +If you do not use _Herreis_' bills, I recommend to you at _Paris_, a +French, rather than an English banker; I have found the former more +profitable, and most convenient. I had, ten years since, a letter of +credit on _Sir John Lambert_, for £300, from _Mess. Hoares_. The +_Knight_ thought proper, however, to refuse the payment of a twenty +pound draft I gave upon him; though I had not drawn more than half my +credit out of his hands. _Mons. Mary_, on whom I had a draft from the +same respectable house, this year will not do _such things_; but on the +contrary, be ready to serve and oblige strangers to the utmost of his +power: he speaks and writes English very well, and will prove an +agreeable and useful acquaintance to a stranger in _Paris_. His sister +too, who lives with him, will be no less so to the female part of your +family. His house is in _Rue Saint Sauveur_. + +The English bankers pay in silver, and it is necessary to take a +wheel-barrow with you to bring it away; a small bag will do at the +French bankers'. + +There is as much difference between the bankers of _London_ and bankers +in _Paris_, as between a rotten apple and a sound one. You can hardly +get a word from a London banker, but you are sure of getting your money; +in _Paris_, you will get _words_ enough, and civil ones too. Remember, +however, I am speaking only of the treatment I have experienced. There +may be, and are, no doubt, English bankers at _Paris_ of great worth, +and respectable characters. + +It is not reckoned very decent to frequent coffee-houses at _Paris_; but +the politeness of _Monsieur_ and _Madame Felix, au caffe de Conti_, +opposite the _Pont neuf_, and the English news-papers, render their +house a pleasant circumstance to me; and it is by much the best, and +best situated, of any in _Paris, au vois le monde_. + +I am astonished, that where such an infinite number of people live in so +small a compass, (for _Paris_ is by no means so large as _London_) that +they should suffer the dead to be buried in the manner they do, or +within the city. There are several burial pits in _Paris_, of a +prodigious size and depth, in which the dead bodies are laid, side by +side, without any earth being put over them till the ground tier is +full; then, and not till then, a small layer of earth covers them, and +another layer of dead comes on, till by layer upon layer, and dead upon +dead, the hole is filled with a mass of human corruption, enough to +breed a plague; these places are enclosed, it is true, within high +walls; but nevertheless, the air cannot be _improved_ by it; and the +idea of such an assemblage of putrifying bodies, in one grave, so thinly +covered, is very disagreeable. The burials in churches too, often prove +fatal to the priests and people who attend; but every body, and every +thing in _Paris_, is so much alive, that not a soul thinks about the +dead. + +I wish I had been born a Frenchman.--Frenchmen live as if they were +never to die. Englishmen die all _their lives_; and yet as _Lewis_ the +XIVth said, "I don't think it is so difficult a matter to die, as men +generally imagine, when they try in earnest." + +I must tell you before I leave _Paris_, that I stept over to _Marli_, to +see the Queen; I had seen the King nine years ago; but he was not then a +King over eight millions of people, and the finest country under the +sun; yet he does not seem to lay so much stress upon his mighty power as +might be expected from so young a prince, but appears grave and +thoughtful. I am told he attends much to business, and endeavours to +make his subjects happy. His resolution to be inoculated, immediately +after succeeding to such a kingdom, is a proof of his having a great +share of fortitude. In England such a determination would have been +looked upon with indifference; but in France, where the bulk of the +people do not believe that it secures the patient from a second attack; +where the clergy in general consider it unfavourable, even in a +religious light; and where the physical people, for want of practice, do +not understand the management of the distemper, so as it is known in +England; I may venture to say, without being charged with flattery, that +it was an heroic resolution: add to this, the King knowing, that if his +subjects followed his example, it must be chiefly done by their own +surgeons and physicians, he put himself under their management alone, +though I think _Sutton_ was then at _Paris_. + +The Queen is a fine figure, handsome, and very sprightly, dresses in +the present _gout_ of head dress, and without a handkerchief, and +thereby displays a most lovely neck. + +I saw in a china shop at _Paris_, the figure of the King and Queen +finely executed, and very like, in china: the King is playing on the +harp, and the Queen dropping her work to listen to the harmony. The two +figures, about a foot high, were placed in an elegant apartment, and the +_toute ensemble_ was the prettiest toy I ever beheld: the price thirty +guineas. + +I shall leave this town in a few days, and take the well-known and +well-beaten _route Anglois_ for _Calais_, thro' _Chantilly_, _Amiens_, +and _Boulogne_, and then I shall have twice crossed this mighty kingdom. + + + + +LETTER LIV. + + +CALAIS. + +I am now returned to the point from whence I sat out, and rather within +the revolution of one year; which, upon the whole, though I met with +many untoward circumstances, has been the most interesting and +entertaining year of my whole life, and will afford me matter of +reflection for the little which remains unfinished of that journey we +must all take sooner or later, a journey from whence no traveller +returns.--And having said so much of myself, I am sure you will be glad +to change the subject from man to beast, especially to such a one as I +have now to speak of. + +I told you, when I set out, that I had bought a handsome-looking English +horse for seven guineas, but a little touched in his wind; I can now +inform you, that when I left this town, he was rather thin, and had a +sore back and shoulder; both which, by care and caution; were soon +healed, and that he is returned fair and fat, and not a hair out of its +place, though he drew two grown persons, two children, (one of thirteen +the other ten years old) a very heavy French cabriolet, and all our +baggage, nay, almost all my goods, chattels, and worldly property +whatever, outward and homeward, except between _Cette_ and _Barcelona_, +_going_, and _Lyons_ and this town _returning!_ I will point out to you +one of his day's work, by which you will be able to judge of his general +power of working: At _Perpignan_, I had, to save him, hired post-horses +to the first town in Spain, as I thought it might be too much for him to +ascend and descend the _Pyrenees_ in one day; beside sixteen miles to +the foot of them, on this side, and three to _Jonquire_ on the other; +but after the horses were put to, the post-master required me to take +two men to _Boulou_, in order to hold the chaise, and to prevent its +overturning in crossing the river near the village. Such a flagrant +attempt to impose, determined me to take neither horses nor men; and at +seven o'clock I set off with _Callee_ (that is my houyhnhnm's name) and +arrived in three hours at _Boulou_, a paltry village, but in a situation +fit for the palace of AUGUSTUS! + +So far from wanting men from _Perpignan_ to conduct my chaise over the +river, the whole village were, upon our arrival, in motion after the +JOB. We, however, passed it, without any assistance but our own weight +to keep the wheels down, and the horse's strength and sturdiness, to +drag us through it. In about three hours more we passed over the summit +of this great chain of the universe; and in two more, arrived at +_Jonquire_: near which village my horse had a little bait of fresh mown +hay, the first, and last, he eat in that kingdom. And when I tell you +that this faithful, and (for a great part of my journey) only servant I +had, never made a _faux pas_, never was so tired, but that upon a pinch, +he could have gone a league or two farther; nor ever was ill, lame, +physicked, or bled, since he was mine; you will agree, that either he is +an uncommon good horse, or that his master is a good groom! Indeed I +will say that, however fatigued, wet, hundry, or droughty I was, I never +partook of any refreshment till my horse had every comfort the inn could +afford. I carried a wooden bowl to give him water, and never passed a +brook without asking him to drink.--And, as he has been my faithful +servant, I am now his; for he lives under the same roof with me, and +does nothing but eat, drink, and sleep.--As he never sees me nor hears +my voice, without taking some affectionate notice of me, I ventured to +ask him _tenderly_, whether he thought he should be able to draw two of +the same party next year to _Rome?_ No tongue could more plainly express +his willingness! he answered me, _in French_, indeed, _we-we-we-we-we_, +said he; so perhaps he might not be sincere, tho' he never yet deceived +me. If, however, he should not go, or should out-live me, which, is very +probable, my dying request to you will be, to procure him a peaceful +walk for the remainder of his days, within the park-walls of some humane +private gentleman; though I flatter myself the following petition will +save _you_ that trouble, and _me_ the concern of leaving him without +that comfort which his faithful services merit. + + + + +_To_ SIR JAMES TYLNEY LONG, _Bart._ + +_A Faithful Servant's humble Petition_, + + +SHEWETH, + +That your petitioner entered into the service of his present master, at +an advanced age, and at a time too, that he laboured under a pulmonic +disorder, deemed incurable; yet by gentle exercise, wholesome food, and +kind usage, he has been enabled to accompany his master from _Calais_ to +_Artois_. _Cambray_, _Rheims_, _St. Dezier_, _Dijon_, _Challons_, +_Macon_, _Lyons_, _Pont St. Esprit_, _Pont du Garde_, _Nismes_, +_Montpellier_, _Cette_, _Narbonne_, _Perpignan_ the _Pyrenees_ +_Barcelona_, _Montserrat_, _Arles_, _Marseilles_, _Toulouse_, _Avignon_, +_Aix_, _Valence_, _Paris_, and back to _Calais_, in the course of one +year: And that your petitioner has acquitted himself so much to his +master's satisfaction, that he has promised to take him next year to +_Rome_; and upon his return, to get him a _sine-cure_ place for the +remainder of his days; and, as your petitioner can produce a certificate +of his honesty, sobriety, steadiness, and obedience to his master; and +wishes to throw himself under the protection of a man of fortune, honour +and humanity, he is encouraged by his said master to make this his +humble prayer to you, who says that to above three hundred letters he +has lately written, to ask a small boon for himself, he did not receive +above three answers that gave him the pleasure your's did though he had +twenty times better pretensions to an hundred and fifty. And as your +petitioner has _seen a great deal of the world, as well as his master_, +and has always observed, that such men who are kind to their +fellow-creatures, are kind also to brutes; permit an humble brute to +throw himself at your feet, and to ask upon his return from _Rome_ a +_lean-to_ shed, under your park-wall, that he may end his days in his +native country, and afford a _repas_, at his death, to the dogs of a +Man who feeds the poor, cloaths the naked, and who knows how to make use +of the noblest privilege which a large fortune can bestow,--that of +softening the calamities of mankind, and making glad the hearts of those +who are oppressed with misfortunes.--Your petitioner, therefore, who has +never, been upon his _knees before_ to any man living, humbly prays that +he may be admitted within your park-pail, and that he may partake of +that bounty which you bestow in common to your own servants, who, by age +or misfortunes are past their labour; in which request your petitioner's +master impowers him to use his name and joint prayer with + + CALLEE. + +I do hereby certify, that nothing is advanced in the above petition, but +what is strictly true, and that if the petitioner had been able to +express himself properly, his merits and good qualities would have +appeared to much greater advantage, as well as his services; as he has +omitted many towns he attended his master to, besides a variety of +smaller journies; that he is cautious, wary, spirited, diligent, +faithful, and honest; that he is not nice, but eats, with appetite, and +good temper, whatever is set before him; and that he is in all respects +worthy of that asylum he asks, and which his master laments more on his +account than his own, that he cannot give him. + + PHILIP THICKNESSE. + + _Calais, the 4th of Nov._ + 1776. + + + + +LETTER LV. + +CALAIS. + + +On our way here, we spent two or three days at _Chantilly_, one, of +fifty _Chatteaus_ belonging to the PRINCE OF CONDE: for, though we had +visited this delightful place, two or three times, some years ago, yet, +beside its natural beauties, there is always something new. One spot we +found particularly pleasing, nay flattering to an Englishman; it is +called _l'Isle d'Amour_, in which there are some thatched cottages, a +water-mill, a garden, shrubbery, &c. in the English taste, and the whole +is, in every respect, well executed. The dairy is neat, and the milkmaid +not ugly, who has her little villa, as well as the miller. There is also +a tea-house, a billiard-room, an eating-room, and some other little +buildings, all externally in the English village stile, which give the +lawn, and serpentine walks that surround them, a very pastoral +appearance. The eating-room is particularly well fancied, being covered +within, and so painted as to produce a good idea of a close arbor; the +several windows, which are pierced through the sides, have such forms, +as the fantastic turn of the bodies of the painted trees admit of; and +the building is in a manner surrounded with natural trees; the room, +when illuminated for the Prince's supper, has not only a very pleasing +effect, but is a well executed deception, for the real trees falling +into perspective with those which are painted, through the variety of +odd-shaped windows, has a very natural, and consequently a very pleasing +effect; but what adds greatly to the deception, is, that at each corner +of the room the floor is opened, and lumps of earth thrown up, which +bear, in full perfection, a great variety of flowers and flowering +shrubs. We had the honour to be admitted while the Prince of _Conde_, +the Duke and Duchess of _Bourbon_, the Princess of _Monaco_, and two or +three other ladies and gentlemen were at supper; a circumstance which +became rather painful to us, as it seemed to occasion some to the +company, and particularly to the Prince, who inquired who we were, and +took pains to shew every sort of politeness he could to strangers he +knew nothing of. The supper was elegantly served on plate; but there +seemed to me too many servants round the table. The conversation was +very little, and very reserved. I do not recollect that I saw scarce a +smile during the whole time of supper. + +The Prince is a sprightly, agreeable man, something in person like _Lord +Barrington_; and the _Duke_ of _Bourbon_ so like his father, that it was +difficult to know the son from the father. + +The _Duchess_ of _Bourbon_ is young, handsome, and a most accomplished +lady. + +During the supper, a good band of music played; but it was all wind +instruments. Mr. _Lejeune_, the first bassoon, is a most capital +performer indeed. + +After the dessert had been served up about ten minutes, the Princess of +_Monaco_ rose from the table, as did all the company, and suddenly +turning from it, each lady and gentleman's servant held them a water +glass, which they used with great delicacy, and then retired. + +The Princess of _Monaco_ is separated from the Prince her husband; yet +she has beauty enough for any Prince in Europe, and brought fortune +enough for two or three. + +The Duchess of _Bourbon_ had rather a low head-dress, and without any +feather, or, that I could perceive, _rouge_; the Princess of _Monaco's_ +head-dress was equally plain; the two other ladies, whose rank I do not +recollect, wore black caps, and hats high dressed. There were eight +persons sat down to table, and I think, about twenty-five servants, in +and out of livery, attended. + +The next day, we were admitted to see the Prince's cabinet of natural +and artificial curiosities; and as I intimated my design of publishing +some account of my journey, the Prince was pleased to allow me as much +time as I chose, to examine his very large and valuable collection; +among which is a case of gold medallions,(72) of the Kings of France, in +succession, a great variety of birds and beasts, ores, minerals, +petrifactions, gems, cameos, &c. There is also a curious cabinet, lately +presented to the Prince by the King of Denmark; and near it stood a most +striking representation, in wax, of a present said to be _served up_ to +a late unfortunate Queen; it is the head and right hand of _Count +Struensee_, as they were taken off after the execution; the head and +hand lie upon a silver dish, with the blood and blood vessels too, well +executed; never surely was any thing so _sadly_, yet so finely done. I +defy the nicest eye, however near, to distinguish it (suppose the head +laid upon a pillow in a bed) from nature; nor must Mrs. _Wright_, or any +of the workers in wax I have ever yet seen, pretend to a tythe of the +perfection in that art, with the man who made this head.--Sad as the +subject is, I could not withstand the temptation of asking permission to +take a copy of it; and fortunately, I found the man who made it was then +at _Paris_,--nor has he executed his work for me less perfect than that +he made for the Prince.--I have been thus particular in mentioning this +piece of art, because, of the kind, I will venture to say, it is not +only _deadly_ fine, but one of the most perfect deceptions ever seen. + +When you, or any of the ladies and gentlemen who have honoured this poor +performance of mine with their names, or their family or friends, pass +this way, I shall be happy to embrace that occasion, to shew, that I +have not said more of this inimitable piece of art, than it merits; nor +do I speak thus positively from my own judgment, but have the concurrent +opinion of many men of unquestionable judgment, that it is a +master-piece of art; and among the rest, our worthy and valuable friend +Mr. _Sharp_, of the _Old Jewry_. + +Before we left _Chantilly_, we had a little concert, to which _my train_ +added one performer; and as it was the only string instrument, it was no +small addition. + +The day we left this charming place, we found the Prince and all his +company under tents and pavilions on the road-side, from whence they +were preparing to follow the hounds. + +At _Amiens_, there is in the _Hotel de Ville_, a little antique god in +bronze, which was found, about four years ago, near a Roman urn, in the +earth, which is very well worthy of the notice of a _connoisseur_; but +it is such as cannot decently be described; the person in whose custody +it is, permitted me to take an impression from it in wax; but I am not +_quite so good_ a hand at waxwork as the artist mentioned above, and yet +my little houshold-god has some merit, a merit too that was not +discovered till three months after it had been fixed in the _Hotel de +Ville_; and the discovery was made by a female, not a male, +_connoisseur_. + +It is said, that a Hottentot cannot be so civilized, but that he has +always a hankering after his savage friends, and _dried chitterlins_; +and, that gypsies prefer their roving life, to any other, a circumstance +that once did, but now no longer surprizes me; for I feel such a desire +to wander again, that I am impatient till the winter is past, when I +intend to visit _Geneva_, and make the tour of Italy; and if you can +find me cut a sensible valetudinarian or two, of either sex, or any +age, who will travel as we do, to see what is to be seen, to make a +little stay, where _the place_, or _the people_ invite us to do so, who +can dine on a cold partridge, in a hot day, under a shady tree; and +travel in a _landau and one_, we will keep them a _table d'hote_, that +shall be more pleasant than expensive, and which will produce more +health and spirits, than half the drugs of Apothecary's Hall. + +If God delights so much in variety, as all things animate and inanimate +sufficiently prove, no wonder that man should do so too: and I have now +been so accustomed to move, though slowly, that I intend to creep on to +my _journey's end_, by which means I may live to have been an inhabitant +of every town almost in Europe, and die, as I have lately (and wish I +had always) lived, a free citizen of the whole world, slave to no sect, +nor subject to any King. Yet, I would not be considered as one wishing +to promote that disposition in others; for I must confess, that it is in +England alone, where an innocent and virtuous man can sit down and enjoy +the blessings of liberty and his own chearful hearth, in full confidence +that no earthly power can disturb it; and the best reason which can be +offered in favour of Englishmen visiting other kingdoms, is, to enable +them, upon their return, to know how to enjoy the inestimable blessings +of their own. + + + + +LETTER LVI. + + +For what should I cross the streight which divides us, though it were +but _half_ seven leagues? we should only meet to part again, and +purchase pleasure, as most pleasures are purchased, too dearly; I have +dropt some heavy tears, (ideally at least) over poor BUCKLE'S[J] grave, +and it is all one to a man, now with GOD! on what King's soil such a +_tribute as that_ is paid: had some men of all nations known the +goodness of his heart as we did, some men of all nations would grieve as +we do. When I frequented _Morgan's_[K] I used him as a touch-stone, to +try the hearts of other men upon; for, as he was not rich, he was out of +the walk of knaves and flatterers, and such men, who were moot +prejudiced in his favour at first sight, and coveted not his company +after a little acquaintance, I always avoided as beings made of base +metal. It was for this reason I despised that ****** ****, (you know who +I mean) for you too have seen him _snarl_, _and bite_, _and play the +dog_, even to BUCKLE! + + [J] WILLIAM BUCKLE, Esq. + + [K] MORGAN'S Coffee-House, Grove, BATH. + +Our Sunday night's tea club, round his chearful hearth, is now for ever +dissolved, and SHARPE and RYE have administered their last friendly +offices with a potion of sorrow. + +Were I the hermit of _St. Catharine_, I would chissel his name as deeply +into one of my pine-heads, as his virtues are impressed on my memory. +Though I have lost _his guinea_, I will not lose his name; he looked +down with pity upon me when here; who can say he may not do so still? I +should be an infidel, did not a few such men as he _keep me back_. + +And now, my dear Sir, after the many trifling subjects in this very long +correspondence with you, I will avail myself of this good one, to close +it, on the noblest work of GOD, AN HONEST MAN. The loss of such a +friend, is sufficient to induce one to lay aside all pursuits, but that +of following his example, and to prepare to follow him. + +If you should ever follow me _here_, I flatter myself you will find, +that I have, to the best of my poor abilities, made such a sketch of +_men and things_ on this side of the water, that you will be able to +discover some likeness to the originals. A bad painter often hits the +general features, though he fall ever so short of the graces of +_Titian_, or the _Morbidezza_ of _Guido_. I am sure, therefore, you and +every man of candour, will make allowances for the many inaccuracies, +defects, &c. which I am sensible these letters abound with, tho' I am +incapable of correcting them. My journey, you know was not made, as most +travellers' are, to indulge in luxury, or in pursuit of pleasures, but +to soften sorrow, and to recover from a blow, which came from a mighty +hand indeed; but a HAND still MORE MIGHTY, has enabled me to resist it, +and to return in health, spirits, and with that peace of mind which no +_earthly power_ can despoil me of, and with that friendship and regard +for you, which will only cease, when I cease to be + + PHILIP THICKNESSE. + + _Calais, Nov. 4, + 1776._ + +P.S. I found _Berwick's_ regiment on duty in this town: it is commanded +by _Mons. le Duc de Fitz-James_, and a number of Irish gentlemen, my +countrymen, (for so I will call them.) You may easily imagine, that men +who possess the natural hospitality of their own country, with the +politeness and good-breeding of this, must be very agreeable +acquaintance in general: But I am bound to go farther, and to say, that +I am endeared to them by marks of true friendship. The King of France, +nor any Prince in Europe, cannot boast of troops better disciplined; nor +is the King insensible of their merit, for I have lately seen a letter +written by the King's command from _Comte de St. Germain_, addressed to +the officers of one of these corps, whereby it appears, that the King is +truly sensible of their distinguished merit; for braver men there are +not in any service:--What an acquisition to France! what a loss to +Britain! + +As the _Marquis_ of _Grimaldi_ is retired from his public character, I +am tempted to send you a specimen of his private one, which flattering +as it is to me, and honourable to himself, I should have withheld, had +his Excellency continued first minister of Spain; by which you will see, +that while my own countrymen united to set me in a suspicious light, +(though they thought otherwise) the ministers politeness and humanity +made them tremble at the duplicity of their conduct; and had I been +disposed to have acted the same sinister part they did, some of them +might have been reminded of an old Spanish proverb, + + "_A las màlas lénguas tigéras_" + + "Muy S^or. mio. Por la carta de I^o del corr^te. veo su + feliz llegada a esta ciudad, en donde habia tomado una casa, y por + las cartas que me incluye, y debuelbo, reconosco los terminos + honrados y recomendables con que ha efectuado su salida de + Inglaterra, cosa que yo nunca podria dudar. + + "Deseo que a V.S. le va' ya muy bien en este Reyno, y espero que me + avifara el tiempo que se propusiere detener en Barcelona, y tambien + quando se verificara su yda a Valencia: cuyo Pais se ha creydo el mas + propio para su residencia estable, por la suavidad del clima y demas + circunstantias.--V.S. me hallara pronto a complacerle y sevirle en lo + que se le ofrezca: que es quendo en el dia puedo decirle, + referiendome ademas a mis cartas precedentes communicadas por medio + de ... Dios quiere a V.S. M^o c^o d^o S^r el 14 Nov^re. de 1775. + + "B L.M. en. S. + Su mayor fer^or. + El Marq^s de GRIMALDI, + _A Don Felipe Thickness_." + +_A Madame_ THICKNESSE. + +Voila, Madame, quelques amusemens de ma plume, vous avez paru les +desirer, mon empressement a vous obeir sera le merite de ces legeres +productions; la premiere a eu assez de succes en France, je doute +qu'elle puisse en avoir un pareil en Angleterre, parce que le mot n'a +peut-etre pas la meme signification ce que nous appellons Grelot est une +petite cochette fermee que l'on attache aux hochets des enfans pour les +amuser; dans le sens metaphysique on en fait un des attributs de la +folie: Ice je l'employe comme embleme de gaiete et d'enfance. Le Pritems +est une Epitre ecrite de la campagne a un de mes amis; j'etois sous le +charme de la creation, pour ainsi dire; les vers en font d'une +mesuretres difficile. + +La description de Courcelles est celle d'une terre qu'avoit ma mere, et +ou j'ai passe toute ma jeunesse; enchantee de son paysage, et de la vie +champetre que j'aime passion, je l'adressois a un honnete homme de +Rheims que j'appellois par plaisanterie mon Papa: ce que j'ai de +meilleur dans mon porte-feuille, ce sont des chansons pour mon mari; +comme je l'aime parfaitement mon coeur m'a servi de muse: mais cette +tendresse toujours si delicieuse aux interesses ne peut plaire a ceux +qui ne le sont pas. Quand j'auri l'honneur de vous revoir, Madame, je +vous communiquerai mon recueil, et vous jugerez. Recevez les hommages +respectueux de mon mari, et daignezfaire agreér nos voeux a Mons. +Tiennerse; je n'ai point encore reçu les jolies poches, je pars demain +pour la campagne, et j'y resterai quinze jours; nous avons des chaleurs +cruelles, Messrs. les Anglois qui sont ici en souffrent beaucoup, j'ai +l'honneur d'etre avec le plus inviolable attachement, + + Madame, + Votre tres humble + et tres obeissante servante, + _De Courcelles Desjardins._ + 28 Juillet, 1776. + + +_Epitre au Grelot._ + + De la folie aimable lot + Don plus brillant que la richesse, + Et que je nommerai sagesse + Si je ne craignois le fagot, + C'est toi que je chante ô Grelot! + Hochet heureux de tous les ages + L'homme est à toi dès le maillot, + Mais dans tes nombreux appanages + Jamais tu ne comptas le sot: + De tes sons mitigés le sage + En tapinois se rejouït + Tandis que l'insensé jouït + Du plaisir de faire tapage. + Plus envié que dédaigné + Par cette espece atrabilaire + Qui pense qu'un air refrogné + La met au dessus du vulgaire, + La privation de tes bienfaits + Seule fait naître sa satyre; + Charmante idole du François + Chez lui réside ton empire: + Tes détracteurs font les pedans, + Les avares et les amans + De cette gloire destructive + Qui peuple l'infernale rive, + Et remplit l'univers d'excès. + L'ambitieux dans son délire + N'eprouve que de noirs accès, + Le genre-humain seroit en paix, + Si les conquérans savoient rire. + Contre ce principe évident + C'est en vain qu'un censeur declame, + Le mal ne se fait en riant. + Si de toi provient l'epigrame, + Son tour heureux ne'est que plaisant + Et ne nuit jamais qu'au méchant + Que sa conscience décèle. + Nomme t-on la rose cruelle + Lorsqu'un mal-adroit la cueillant + Se blesse lui-même au tranchant + De l'epine qu'avec prudence + Nature fit pour sa défense. + Tes simples et faciles jeux + Prolongent dit-on notre enfance + Censeur, que te faut-il de mieux! + Des abus, le plus dangereux, + Le plus voisin de la démence + Est de donner trop d'importance + A ces chiméres dont les cieux + Ont composé notre existence + Notre devoir est d'être heureux + A moins de frais, à moins de voeux + De l'homme est toute la science. + Par tes sons toujours enchanteurs + Tu fais fuir la froide vieillesse + Ou plutôt la couvrant de fleurs + Tu lui rends l'air de la jeunesse. + Du temps tu trompes la lenteur, + Par toi chaque heure est une fête + _Démocrite_ fut ton Docteur + _Anacréon_ fut ton Prophête; + Tous deux pour sages reconnus, + L'un riant des humains abus + Te fit sonner dans sa retraite + L'autre chantant à la guingette + Te donna pour pomme à _Venus_ + Après eux ma simple musette + T'offre ses accens ingénus + Charmant Grelot, sur ta clochette + Je veux moduler tous mes vers, + Sois toujours la douce amusette + Source de mes plaisirs divers + Heureux qui te garde en cachette + Et se passe l'univers. + + +_Le Printems._ + +Epitre à Mons. D---- + + + Déjà dans la plaine + On ressent l'haleine + Du léger Zephir; + Déja la nature + Sourit au plaisir, + La jeune verdure + A l'eclat du jour + Oppose la teinte + Que cherit l'amour + Fuyant la contrainte, + Au pied des ormeaux; + Ma muse naïve + Reprend ses pipeaux; + Sur la verte rive + Aux tendres echos + Elle dit ces mots. + + Volupté sure + Bien sans pareil! + O doux réveil + De la nature! + Que l'ame pure + Dans nos guérets + Avec yvresse + Voit tes attraits; + De la tendresse + Et de la paix + Les doux bienfaits + Sur toute espéce + Vont s'epandant, + Et sont l'aimant + Dont la magie + Enchaîne et lie + Tout l'univers + L'homme pervers + Dans sa malice + Ferme son coeur + A ces delices, + Et de l'erreur + Des goûts factices + Fait son bonheur + La noire envie + Fille d'orgueil, + Chaque furie + Jusqu'au circueil, + Tisse sa vie. + Les vains désirs + Les vrais plaisirs + Sont antipodes; + A ces pagodes + Culte se rend, + L'oeil s'y méprend + Et perd de vuë + Felicité, + La Déité + La plus couruë + La moins connuë + Simple réduit + Et solitaire + Jadis construit + Par le mystére + Est aujourd'hui + Sa residencei + La bienveillance. + Au front serein + De la déesse + Est la Prêtresse; + Les ris badins + Sont sacristains, + Joyeux fidelles, + De fleurs nouvelles + Offrent les dons. + Tendres chansons + Tribut du Zele, + Jointes au sons + De Philoméle, + De son autel + Sont le rituel + Dans son empire + Telle est la loi, + "Aimer et rire + De bonne foy." + Cet Evangile + Peu difficile + Du vrai bonheur + Seroit auteur + Si pour apôtre + Il vous avoit; + En vain tout autre + Le prêcheroit. + La colonie + Du double mont + Du vraie génie + Vous a fait don, + Sans nul caprice + Entrez en lice, + Et de Passif + Venant actif + Pour la Déesse + Enchanteresse + Qui dans ces lieux + Nous rend heureux + Donnez moi rose + Nouvelle éclose: + Du doux Printems + Hâtez le tems + Il etincelle + En vos écrits, + Qu'il renouvelle + Mes Esprits. + Adieu beau Sire, + Pour ce délire + Le sentiment + Est mon excuse. + S'il vous amuse + Un seul moment, + Et vous rapelle + Un coeur fidelle + Depuis cent ans, + Comme le vôtre + En tous les tems + N'ai désir autre. + + + + +FABLE + + +_Les Aquilons et l'Oranger._ + + De fougeux Aquilons une troupe emportée + Contre un noble Oranger éxhaloit ses fureurs + Ils soufflerent en vain, leur rage mutinée + De l'arbre aux fruits dorés n'ôta que quelques fleurs. + + +MADRIGAL + + Du tumulte, du bruit, des vaines passions + Fuyons l'eclat trompeur: à leurs impressions + Préférons les douceurs de ce sejour paisible, + Disoit un jour _Ariste_ à la tendre _Délos_. + Soit, repart celle-ci; mais las! ce doux repos + N'est que le pis-aller d'une ame trop sensible. + + +QUATRAIN + + Telle que ce ruisseau qui promene son onde + Dans des lieux ecartés loin du bruit et du monde + Je veux pour peu d'amis éxister desormais + C'est loin des faux plaisirs que l'on trouve les vrais. + + +REVERIE SUR UNE LECTURE. + + Aux froids climats de l'ourse, et dans ceux du midi, + L'homme toujours le même est vain, foible, et crédule, + Sa devise est partout _Sottise et Ridicule_. + Le célébre Chinois, le François étourdi + De la raison encore n'ont que le crepuscule + Jadis au seul hazard donnant tout jugement, + Par les effets cuisans du fer rougi qui brule + On croyoit discerner le foible et l'innocent; + A Siam aujourd'hui pareille erreur circule, + Et l'on voit même esprit sous une autre formule: + Quand quelque fait obscur tient le juge en suspens + On fait aux yeux de tous à chaque contendant + D'Esculape avaler purgative pillule, + Celui dont l'estomac répugne à pareil mets + Est réputé coupable et paye tous les frais. + Du pauvre genre-humain telles sont les annales: + Rome porta le deuil de l'honneur des vestales, + Du Saint Pere à présent, elle baise l'ergot: + Plus gais, non plus sensés dans ce siécle falot + Nous choisissons au moins l'erreur la plus jolie: + De l'inquisition, le bal, la comédie + Remplacent parmi nous le terrible fagot; + Notre légéreté détruit la barbarie + Mais nous n'avons encore que changé de folie. + + +ENVOI A MON MARI. + + Tandis, mon cher, que tes travaux + Me procurent ce doux repos. + Et cette heureuse insouciance + But incertain de l'opulence; + Mon ame l'abeille imitant + Aux pays d'esprit élancée + Cueille les fleurs de la pensée + Et les remet aux sentiment. + Mais helas! dans ce vaste champ + En vain je cherche la sagesse, + Près de moi certain Dieu fripon + Me fait quitter l'école de _Zenon_ + Pour le charme de la tendresse; + "L'homme est crée pour être bon + Et non savant, dit il, qu'il aime, + Du bonheur c'est le vrai systême" + Je sens, ma foi, qu'il a raison. + + + + +DESCRIPTION + +_De la terre dans laquelle j'habitois, adressée à un homme très +respectable que j'appellois mon Papa._ + + +Que vous êtes aimable, mon cher Papa, de me demander une description de +ma solitude. Votre imagination est gênée de ne pouvoir se la peindre. +Vous voulez faire de _Courcelles_ une seconde étoile du matin, et y lier +avec moi un de ces commerces d'ames réservés aux favoris de Brama. Votre +idée ne me perdra plus de vue, j'en ferai mon génie tutélaire. Je +croirai à chaque instant sentir sa présence, ah! elle ne peut trop tôt +arriver, montrons lui donc le chemin. + + Quittant votre cité Rhémoise, + Ville si fertil en bons Vins, + En gras moutons, en bons humains, + Après huit fois trois mille toises + Toujours suivant le grand chemin, + On découvre enfin le village + Où se trouve notre hermitage. + Là rien aux yeux du voyageur + Ne presente objet de surprise, + Petit ruisseau, des maisons, une Eglise + Tout à côté la hutte du Pasteur; + Car ces Messieurs pour quelques Patenôtres. + Pour un surplis, pour un vêtement noir + En ce monde un peu plus qu'en l'autre + Ont droit près du bon dieu d'établir leur manoir. + +Ce début n'est pas fort seduisant; aussi ne vous ai-je rien promis de +merveilleux. Je pourrois cependant pour embellir ma narration me perdre +dans de brillantes descriptions, et commencer par celle de notre +clocher; mais malheureusement nous n'en avons point; car je ne crois pas +que l'on puisse appeller de ce nom l'endroit presque souterrain où +logent trois mauvaises cloches. Elles m'étourdissent par fois au point +que sans leur baptême, je les enverrois aux enfers sonner les diners de +_Pluton_ et de _Proserpine_. + +On apperçoit près de l'Eglise, entre elle et le curé, une petite fenêtre +grillée, ceci est une vraie curiosité; c'est un sépulcre bâti par +_Saladin d'Anglure_, ancien Seigneur de _Courcelles_ il vivoit du tems +des croisades, et donna comme les autres dans la manie du siécle. Il ne +fut pas plus heureux que ses confreres. Son sort fut d'être prisonnier +du vaillant Saladin dont il conserva le surnom. Sa captivité l'ennuyant, +il fit voeu, si elle finissoit bientôt, de bàtir dans sa Seigneurie un +sépulcre, et un calvaire à même distance l'un de l'autre qu'ils le sont +à Jérusalum. C'est aussi ce qu'il fit. + + Quand par une aventure heureuse, + Des fers du Vaillant _Saladin_ + Il revint chez lui sauf et sain; + Mais la chronique scandaleuse + Qui daube toujours le prochain, + Et ne se repâit que de blame + Pretend que trop tôt pour Madame, + Et trop tard pour le Pelerin + Dans son Châtel il s'en revint. + Ce fut, dit on, le lendemain, + La veille, ou le jour que la Dame, + Croyant son mari très benin + Parti pour la gloire éternelle + Venoit de contracter une hymenée nouvelle. + +La tradition étoit en balance sur ces trois dates; mais la malignité +humaine a donné la préférence à la derniére, ensorte qu'il paroit trés +sur que l'Epoux n'arriva que le lendemain. + + Quel affront pour un chef couronné de lauriers! + Tel est pourtant le sort des plus fameux guerriers; + Ceux d'aujourd'hui n'en font que rire + Mais ceux du tems passé mettoient la chose au pis, + Ils n'avoient pas l'esprit de dire + Nous sommes quitte, et bons amis. + +Pendant que vous êtes en train de visiter nos antiquités courcelloises, +il me prend envie de vous faire entrer dans notre réduit. + + Quoique du titre de château, + Pompeusement on le decore, + Ne vous figurez pas qu'il soit vaste ni beau. + Tel que ces Grands que l'on honore + Pour les vertus de leurs ayeux + Pour tout mérite il n'a comme eux + Qu'un nom qui se conserve encore. + +Ainsi pour vous en former une juste idée, ne cherchez votre modéle ni +dans les romans, ni dans les miracles de féerie. Ce n'est pas même un +vieux château fort, comme il en éxiste encore quelques uns dàns nos +entours. + + Point, on n'y voit fossé ni bastion + Ni demi-lune ni Dongeon, + Ni beaux dehors de structure nouvelle, + Mais bien une antique Tourelle + Flanquant d'assez, vieux bâtimens + Dont elle est l'unique ornement. + +Un Poëte de nos cantons a dit assez plaisamment en parlant de ceci. + + Sur les bords de la Vesle est un château charmant + N'allez pas chicaner, Lecteur impertinent) + (Le bâtiment à part, la Dame qui l'habite + Par ses rares vertus en fait tout le mérite. + Vous verrez tout-à l'heure s'il avoit raison. + +Je ne m'arrêterai point à vous peindre la ferme quoi qu'elle tienne au +château, ni l'attirail des animaux de toute espèce qu'elle renferme. + + Ces spectacles vraiment rustiques + Offrent pourtant plus de plaisirs + A des regards philosophiques, + Que ce que l'art et les desirs + De notre insatiable espèce + Inventent tous les jours aidés par la mollesse. + +Je vous ferai entrer tout de suite dans une grande cour de gazon où +effectivement je voudrois bien vous voir. Deux manieses de Perrons y +conduisent, l'un aux appartemens, l'autre à la cuisine. Commençons par +ce dernier quoique ce ne soit pas trop la coutume. + + Là chaque jour, tant bien que mal, + On apprete deux fois un repas très frugal, + Mais que l'appétit assaisonne. + Loin, bien loin, ces bruyans festins, + Toujours suivis des médecins + Où le poison dans cent ragoûts foisonne + Nous aimons mieux peu de mets bien choisis + De la Santé, moins de plats, plus de ris. + +Voilà notre devise, mon cher Papa, je crois qu'elle est aussi la vôtre; +notre réz de chaussée consiste en cuisine, office, salle à manger, +chambre et cabinets, rien de tout cela n'est ni élegant ni commode. + + Nos devanciers fort bonnes gens + N'entendoient rien aux ornemens + Et leurs désirs ne passoient guére + Les bornes du seul necessaire. + +Ils étoient plus heureux et plus sages que nous, car la vraie sagesse +n'est autre chose que la modération des desirs. D'après cette +definition on pourroit, je crois, loger tout notre siécle aux petites +maisons. Ce qu'il y a de plus agréable dans la notre est la vuë du grand +chemin. + + De ce chemin où chacun trotte + Où nous voyons soirs et matins + Passer toute espece d'humains; + Tantôt la gent portant calote, + Et tantôt de jeunes plumets, + Les rusés disciples d'Ignace + Puis ceux de la grace efficace, + Des piétons, des cabriolets + Tant d'Etres à deux pieds, sots, et colifichets, + Enfin cent sortes d'équipages + Et mille sortes de visages. + +Ce tableau mouvant est par fois fort récréatif, il me paroit assez +plaisant d'y juger les gens sur la mine, et de deviner leur motif, et le +sujet de leurs courses. + + Mais, Papa, qu'il est consolant + Voyant leurs soins et leur inquiétude + De jouir du repos constant + Qu'on goute dans la solitude. + +A dire vrai, le spectacle du grand chemin, est celui qui m'occupe le +moins; j'aime mille fois mieux nos promenades champêtres; avant de yous +y conduire, il faut en historien fidelle vous rendre compte de notre +chaumiére. + +Vous croyez peut-être trouver un premier étage au dessus de la façade +dont je vous ai parlé? Point du tout. Ne vous ai-je pas dit que nos +péres préferoient l'utile à l'agréable: aussi ont ils mieux aimé +construire de grands greniers que de jolis appartemens; mais en revanche +ils out jetté quantité de petites mansardes sur un autre côté du logis. +Ce dernier donne sur un verger qui fait mes délices, il est précédé d'un +petit parterre, et finit par un bois charmant. + + Une onde toujours claire et pure + Y vient accorder souo murmure + Au son mélodieux de mille et mille oiseaux + Que cachent en tous tems nos jeunes arbrisseaux. + +C'est là que votre fille se plait à rêver à vous, mon cher Papa, c'est +dans ce réduit agréable qu'elle s'occupe tour à tour de morale et de +tendresse. + + +_Epictete, Pope, Zénon._ + + Et _Socrate_, et surtout l'ingenieux _Platon_, + Viennent dans ces lieux solitaires + Me prêter le secours de leurs doctes lumiéres: + Mais plus souvent la soeur de l'enfant de Cypris + Ecartant sans respect cette foule de sages + + Occupe seule mes esprits + En y gravant de mes amis + Les trop séduisantes images. + +Je n'entreprendrai pas de vous peindre nos autres promenades, elles sont +toutes charmantes; un paysage coupé, quantité de petits bosquets, mille +jolis chemins, nous procurent naturellement des beautés auxquelles l'art +ne sauroit atteindre. + + La Vesle borde nos prairies + Sur sa rive toujours fleurie + Regne un doux air de bergerie + Dangereux pour les tendres coeurs. + Là, qui se sent l'ame attendrie + S'il craint de l'amour les erreurs + Doit vite quitter la partie. + +Quittons la donc, mon cher Papa; aussi bien ai-je seulement oublié de +vous montrer la plus piéce de l'hermitage. C'est un canal superbe. Il a +cent vingt toises de long sur douze de large, une eau courante et +crystalline en rend la surface toujours brillante, cest la digne embléme +d'un coeur ami, jugez si cette vuë me fait penser à vous. + +De grands potagers terminent l'enclos de la maison. Si j'étois méchante +je continuerois ma description, et ne vous ferois pas grace d'une +laitue, mais je me contenteraide vous dire que le ciel fit sans doute ce +canton pour des Etres broutans. Si les Israëlites en eussent mangé +jadis, ils n'auroient ni regretté l'Egypte ni desiré la terre promise. + +Voilà mon cher Papa une assez mauvaize esquisse du pays Courcellois. + + L'air m'en seroit plus doux et le ciel plus serein + Si quelque jour, moins intraitable + Et se laissant flechir, le farouche Destin + Y conduisoit ce _trio_ tant aimable + Que j'aime, et chérirai sans fin + Mais las! j'y perds tout mon latin, + Et ce que de mieux je puis faire + Est d'espérer et de me taire + + * * * * * + +I should have stopt here, and finished my present correspondence with +you by leaving your mind harmonized with the above sweet stanzas of +_Madame des Jardins_, but that it may seem strange, to give a specimen +of one French Lady's literary talents, without acknowledging, that this +kingdom abounds with many, of infinite merit.--While England can boast +only of about half a dozen women, who will immortalize their names by +their works, France can produce half an hundred, admired throughout +Europe, for their wit, genius, and elegant compositions.--Were I to +recite the names and writings only of female authors of eminence, which +France has produced, since the time of the first, and most unfortunate +_Heloise_, who died in 1079, down to _Madame Riccoboni_, now living, it +would fill a volume. We have, however, a CARTER, and a BARBAULD, not +less celebrated for their learning and genius than for their private +virtues; and I think it may, with more truth be said of women, than of +men, that the more knowledge, the more virtue; the more understanding, +the less courage. Why then is the _plume elevated to the head_? and what +must the present mode of female education and manners end in, but in +more ignorance, dissipation, debauchery and luxury? and, at length, in +national ruin. Thus it was at ROME, the mistress of the world; they +became fond of the most vicious men, and such as meant to enslave them, +who corrupted their hearts, by humouring and gratifying their follies, +and encouraging, on all sides, idleness and dissolute manners, blinded +by CÆSAR's complaisance; from his _almsmen_, they became his _bondmen_; +he charmed them in order to enslave them. When the tragedy of _Tereus_ +was acted at ROME, _Cicero_ observed, what plaudits the audience gave +with their hands at some severe strokes in it against tyranny; but he +very justly lamented, that they employed their hands, _only in the +Theatre_, not in defending that liberty which they seemed so fond of. + + + + +And now, as BAYES says, "let's have a Dance." ---- + + + + +GENERAL HINTS + +TO + +STRANGERS + +WHO + +TRAVEL IN FRANCE. + + + + +GENERAL HINTS, &c. + + +I. + +If you travel post, when you approach the town, or bourg where you +intend to lie, ask the post-boy, which house he recommends as the best? +and never go to that, if there is any other.--Be previously informed +what other inns there are in the same place. If you go according to the +post-boy's recommendation, the aubergiste gives him two or three livres, +which he makes you pay the next morning. I know but one auberge between +_Marseilles_ and _Paris_, where this is not a constant practice, and +that is at _Vermanton_, five leagues from _Auxerre_, where every English +traveller will find a decent landlord, _Monsieur Brunier_, _a St. +Nicolas_; good entertainment, and no imposition, and consequently an +inn where no post-boy will drive, if he can avoid it. + + +II. + +If you take your own horses, they must be provided with head-pieces, and +halters; the French stables never furnish any such things; and your +servant must take care that the _Garçon d'Ecurie_ does not buckle them +so tight, that the horses cannot take a full bite, this being a common +practice, to save hay. + + +III. + +If the _Garçon d'Ecurie_ does not bring the halters properly rolled up, +when he puts your horses to, he ought to have nothing given him, because +they are so constantly accustomed to do it, that they cannot forget it, +_but in hopes you may too_. + + +IV. + +Direct your servant, not only to see your horses watered, and corn given +them, but to _stand by_ while they eat it: this is often necessary in +England, and always in France. + + +V. + +If you eat at the _table d'Hote_, the price is fixed, and you cannot be +imposed upon. If you eat in your own chamber, and order your own dinner +or supper, it is as necessary to make a previous bargain with your host +for it, as it would be to bargain with an itinerant Jew for a gold +watch; the _conscience_ and _honour_ of a _French Aubergiste_, and a +travelling Jew, are always to be considered alike; and it is very +remarkable, that the publicans in France, are the only people who +receive strangers with a cool indifference! and where this indifference +is most shewn, there is most reason to be cautious. + + +VI. + +Be careful that your sheets are well aired, otherwise you will find them +often, not only damp, but perfectly wet.--Frenchmen in general do not +consider wet or damp sheets dangerous, I am sure French _Aubergistes_ +do not. + + +VII. + +Young men who travel into France with a view of gaining the language, +should always eat at the _table d'Hote_.--There is generally at these +tables, an officer, or a priest, and though there may be none but people +of a middling degree, they will shew every kind of attention and +preference to a stranger. + + +VIII. + +It is necessary to carry your own pillows with you; in some inns they +have them; but in villages, _bourgs_, &c. none are to be had. + + +IX. + +In the wine provinces, at all the _table d'Hotes_, they always provide +the common wine, as we do small beer; wine is never paid for separately, +unless it is of a quality above the _vin du Pays_; and when you call +for better, know the price _before_ you drink it. + + +X. + +When fine cambrick handkerchiefs, &c. are given to be washed, take care +they are not trimmed round two inches narrower, to make borders to +_Madame la Blanchisseuse's_ night caps: this is a little _douceur_ which +they think themselves entitled to, from my Lord _Anglois_, whom they are +sure is _tres riche_, and consequently ought to be plundered by the +poor. + + +XI. + +Whenever you want honest information, get it from a French officer, or a +priest, provided they are on the _wrong_ side of forty; but in general, +avoid all acquaintance with either, on the _right_ side of thirty. + + +XII. + +Where you propose to stay any time, be very cautious with whom you make +an acquaintance, as there are always a number of officious forward +Frenchmen, and English adventurers, ready to offer you their services, +from whom you will find it very difficult to disengage yourself, after +you have found more agreeable company.--Frenchmen of real fashion, are +very circumspect, and will not _fall in love with you_ at first sight; +but a designing knave will exercise every species of flattery, in order +to fix himself upon you for his dinner, or what else he can get, and +will be with you before you are up, and after you are in bed. + + +XIII. + +Wherever there is any cabinet of curiosities, medals, pictures, &c. to +be seen, never make any scruple to send a card, desiring permission to +view them; the request is flattering to a Frenchman, and you will never +be refused; and besides this you will in all probability thereby gain a +valuable acquaintance.--It is generally men of sense and philosophy, who +make such collections, and you will find the collector of them, +perhaps, the most pleasing part of the cabinet. + + +XIV. + +Take it as a maxim, unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, +that whenever you are invited to a supper at _Paris_, _Lyons_, or any of +the great cities, where a _little_ trifling play commences before +supper, that GREAT PLAY is intended after supper; and that you are the +marked pigeon to be plucked. Always remember _Lord Chesterfield's_ +advice to his son: "If you play with men, know with _whom_ you play; if +with women, for _what_:" and don't think yourself the more secure, +because you see at the same table some of your own countrymen, though +they are Lords or Ladies; a _London_ gambler would have no chance in a +_Parisian_ party. + + +XV. + +Dress is an essential and most important consideration with every body +in France. A Frenchman never appears till his hair is well combed and +powdered, however slovenly he may be in other respects.--Not being able +to submit every day to this ceremony, the servant to a gentleman of +fashion at whose house I visited in _Marseilles_, having forgot my name +described me to his master, as the gentleman whose hair was _toujours +mal frise_.--Dress is a foolish thing, says _Lord Chesterfield_; yet it +is a foolish thing not to be well dressed. + + +XVI. + +You cannot dine, or visit after dinner, in an undress frock, or without +a bag to your hair; the hair _en queue_, or a little cape to your coat, +would be considered an unpardonable liberty. Military men have an +advantage above all others in point of dress, in France; a regimental or +military coat carries a man with a _bonne grace_ into all companies, +with or without a bag to his hair; it is of all others the properest +dress for a stranger in France, on many accounts. + + +XVII. + +In France it is not customary to drink to persons at table, nor to drink +wine after dinner: when the dessert is taken away, so is the wine;--an +excellent custom, and worthy of being observed by all nations. + + +XVIII. + +It is wrong to be led into any kind of conversation, but what is +absolutely necessary, with the common, or indeed the middling class of +people in France. They never fail availing themselves of the least +condescension in a stranger, to ask a number of impertinent questions, +and to conclude, you answer them civilly, that they are your +equals.--Sentiment and bashfulness are not to be met with, but among +people of rank in France: to be free and easy, is the etiquette of the +country; and some kinds of that free and easy manner, are highly +offensive to strangers, and particularly to a shy Englishman. + + +XIX. + +When well-bred people flatter strangers, they seldom direct their +flattery to the object they mean to compliment, but to one of their own +country:--As, what a _bonne grace_ the English have, says one to the +other, in a whisper loud enough to be heard by the whole company, who +all give a nod of consent; yet in their hearts they do not love the +English of all other nations, and therefore conclude, that the English +in their hearts do not love them. + + +XX. + +No gentleman, priest, or servant, male or female, ever gives any notice +by knocking before they enter the bed-chamber, or apartment of ladies or +gentlemen.--The post-man opens it, to bring your letters; the capuchin, +to ask alms; and the gentleman to make his visit. There is no privacy, +but by securing your door by a key or a bolt; and when any of the +middling class of people have got possession of your apartment, +particularly of a stranger, it is very difficult to get them out. + + +XXI. + +There is not on earth, perhaps, so curious and inquisitive a people as +the lower class of French: noise seems to be one of their greatest +delights. If a ragged boy does but beat a drum or sound a trumpet, he +brings all who hear it about him, with the utmost speed, and most +impatient curiosity.--As my monkey rode postillion, in a red jacket +laced with silver, I was obliged to make him dismount, when I passed +thro' a town of any size: the people gathered so rapidly about me at +_Moret_, three leagues from _Fontainbleau_, while I stopped only to buy +a loaf, that I verily believe every man, woman, and child, except the +sick and aged, were paying their respects to my little groom; all +infinitely delighted; for none offered the least degree of rudeness. + + +XXII. + +The French never give coffee, tea, or any refreshment, except upon +particular occasions, to their morning or evening visitors. + + +XXIII. + +When the weather is cold, the fire small, and a large company, some +young Frenchman shuts the whole circle from receiving any benefit from +it, by placing himself just before it, laying his sword genteely over +his left knee, and flattering himself, while all the company wish him at +the devil, that the ladies are admiring his legs: when he has gratified +his vanity, or is thoroughly warm, he sits down, or goes, and another +takes his place. I have seen this abominable ill-breeding kept up by a +set of _accomplished_ young fops for two hours together, in exceeding +cold weather. This custom has been transplanted lately into England. + + +XXIV. + +Jealousy is scarce known in France; by the time the first child is +born, an indifference generally takes place: the husband and wife have +their separate acquaintance, and pursue their separate _amusements_, +undisturbed by domestic squabbles: when they meet in the evening, it is +with perfect good humour, and in general, perfect good breeding.--When +an English wife plays truant, she soon becomes abandoned: it is not so +with the French; they preserve appearances and proper decorum, because +they are seldom attached to any particular man. While they are at their +toilet, they receive the visits of their male acquaintance, and he must +be a man of uncommon discernment, who finds out whom it is she prefers +at that time.--In the southern parts of France, the women are in general +very _free_ and _easy_ indeed. + + +XXV. + +It is seldom that virgins are seduced in France; the married women are +the objects of the men of gallantry. The seduction of a young girl is +punished with death; and when they fall, it is generally into the arms +of their confessor,--and that is seldom disclosed. Auricular confession +is big with many mischiefs, as well as much good. Where the penitent and +the confessor happen both to be young, he makes her confess not only all +her sins, but sinful thoughts, and then, I fear he knows more than his +prudence can absolve _decently_, and even when the confessor is old, the +penitent may not be out of danger. + + +XXVI. + +Never ask a Frenchman his age; no question whatever can be more +offensive to him, nor will he ever give you a direct, though he may a +civil answer.--_Lewis_ the XVth was always asking every man about him, +his age. A King may take that liberty, and even then, it always gives +pain.--_Lewis_ the XIVth said to _Comte de Grammont_, "_Je sais votre +age, l'Eveque de Senlis qui a 84 ans, m'a donne pour epoque, que vous +avez etudie ensemble dans la meme classe_." _Cet Eveque, Sire_, (replied +the _Comte,) n'accuse pas juste, car ni lui, ni moi n'avons jamais +Etudie_.--Before I knew how offensive this question was to a Frenchman, +I have had many equivocal answers,--such as, _O! mon dieu_, as old as +the town, or, I thank God, I am in good health, &c. + + +XXVII. + +A modern French author says, that the French language is not capable of +the _jeux de mots_. _Les jeux de mots_, are not, says he, in the genius +_de notre langue, qui est grave, de serieuse_. Perhaps it maybe so; but +the language, and the men, are then so different, that I thought quite +otherwise,--though the following beautiful specimen of the seriousness +of the language ought, in some measure; to justify his remark: + + Un seul est frappé, & tous sont delivrés, + Dieu frappe sons fils innocent, pour l'amour + Des hommes coupables, & pardonne aux hommes + Coupables, pour l'amour de son fils innocent. + + +XXVIII. + +All English women, as well as women of other nations, prefer France to +their own country; because in France there is much less restraint on +their actions, than there is, (should I not say, than there _was_?) in +England. All Englishmen, however, who have young and beautiful wives, +should, if they are not indifferent about their conduct, avoid a trip to +_Paris_, &c. tho' it be but for "_a six weeks tour_." She must be good +and wise too, if six weeks does not corrupt her mind and debauch her +morals, and that too by her own sex, which is infinitely the most +dangerous company. A French woman is as great an adept at laughing an +English-woman into all contempt of fidelity to her husband, as married +English-women are in general, in preparing them during their first +pregnancy, for the touch of a man-midwife,--and both from the same +motive; _i.e._ to do, as they have done, and bring all the sex upon a +level. + + +XXIX. + +The French will not allow their language to be so difficult to speak +properly, as the English language; and perhaps they are in the right; +for how often do we meet with Englishmen who speak French perfectly? how +seldom do we hear a Frenchman speak English without betraying his +country by his pronunciation? It is not so with the Spaniards; I +conversed with two Spaniards who were never twenty miles from +_Barcelona_, that spoke English perfectly well.--How, for instance, +shall a Frenchman who cannot pronounce the English, be able to +understand, (great as the difference is) what I mean when I say _the sun +is an hour high_? May he not equally suppose that I said _the sun is in +our eye_? + + +XXX. + +When you make an agreement with an _aubergiste_ where you intend to lie, +take care to include beds, rooms, &c. or he will charge separately for +these articles. + + +XXXI. + +After all, it must be confessed, that _Mons. Dessein's a l'Hotel +d'Angleterre_ at _Calais_, is not only the first inn strangers of +fashion generally go to, but that it is also the first and best inn in +France. _Dessein_ is the decoy-duck, and ought to have a salary from the +French government: he is always sure of a good one from the English. + + +XXXII. + +In frontier or garrison towns, where they have a right to examine your +baggage, a twenty-four _sols_ piece, and assuring the officer that you +are a gentleman, and not a merchant, will carry you through without +delay. + + +XXXIII. + +Those who travel post should, before they set out, put up in parcels the +money for the number of horses they use for one post, two posts, and a +post _et demi_, adding to each parcel, that which is intended to be +given to the driver, or drivers, who are intitled by the King's +ordinance to five _sols_ a post; and if they behave ill, they should be +given no more; when they are civil, ten or twelve _sols_ a post is +sufficient. If these packets are not prepared, and properly marked, the +traveller, especially if he is not well acquainted with the money, +cannot count it out while the horses are changing, from the number of +beggars which surround the carriage and who will take no denial. + + +XXXIV. + +People of rank and condition, either going to, or coming from the +continent, by writing to PETER FECTOR, Esq; at _Dover_, will find him a +man of property and character, on whom they may depend. + + +LASTLY, + +Valetudinarians, or men of a certain age, who travel into the southern +parts of France, Spain, or Italy, should never omit to wear either a +callico or fine flannel waistcoat under their shirts: strange as it may +seem to say so, this precaution is more necessary in the south of +France, than in England. In May last it was so hot at _Lyons_, on the +side of the streets the sun shone on, and so cold on the shady side, +that both were intolerable. The air is much more _vif_ and penetrating +in hot climates, than in cold. A dead dog, thrown into the streets of +Madrid at night, will not have a bit of flesh upon his bones after it +has been exposed to that keen air twenty-four hours. + +FINIS. + + + +[List of possible typos or transcriber changes:] + +Ltr. 34 para. 2: monnments [monuments?] + +Several inscriptions were blurred or missing in this source. Educated +guesses were made in a few cases. + +Ltr. 36: This is what was visible to the transcriber: + + L DOMIT. DOMITIANI + EX TRIERARCHI CLASS. GERM. + D PECCO****A VALENTINA M + CO*****ENTISSIMA. + +Some characters blurred or missing. The full transcription was +entered from other sources. + +Some of this looks wrong--e.g. the third line should probably begin P F, +rather than PE--but it matches the text as printed. + +Ltr. 52 para. 2: Typo: that [than?] + +Ltr. 54 para. 3: Typo: hundry [hungry?] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND +PART OF SPAIN, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +******* This file should be named 16994-8.txt or 16994-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/9/16994 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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