'V:k mi mi mi '- 1 If" ^ 5 '^c/0JllV3JO'^- \\\E-UNIV[R,V/A N ^ 5^ I ijJ.Vr iU\ ^ '<'v;jj,\iN;ij\\V^ 'rO/?^ \^ ^ /lijNvyji AMiiBRARYr?/ I >i .'1]DNV-S0F^^ o-^lOSA?iG[l^. ;-n l-^J ^^^UiBRARYa^ )r-CMlFO% ,..,.OFCAiiP(%, "^Zr I , tV,[ UNIVTRS//, ,~^OfCA[lFO?i"i^ ,iv\- '^&AHVo>i!iiV'^'' '■'t'A(P''nin3^^ ; 5 i vins A!;f,r;rp, mnwi OFCAL!^0% ^V^rCAIIfO/?)^^ ^ -^A^iv, \\\[ I :N!\ ERy/A vNlOSANCflf,;,^ '^^^ g \\\[lNl\[Ri-//, J^ '^ ■■^i'Aci\}io,j]N^ '^JiUj?r,^oi^ o ''C[[fi, ^-J, V^;l OS '.';[,? ^ wi? . ,-. .-P LETTERS FROM FRANCE, WRITTEN IN THE YEARS 1803 & 1804. ../ / i LETTERS FROM FRANCE, WKITTEN IN THE YEARS 1803 & 1804. INCLUDING A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF VERDUN, AND THE SITUATION OF THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN THAT CITY. By JAMES FORBES, F.KS. and other vermin, which are so dangerous to the maintenance of those dykes, on which the very existence of the Repubhc may be said to depend. A stork is the armorial bearing of the Hague, and the laws of Holland forbid, under the severest penalties, the taking or damaging the nests of these welcome visitors, whose annual return from their migration is con- sidered as a public good. Their finely con- trasted colours, and graceful attitudes, espe- cially Avhile on their circling flight, conti- nually attracted our attention during the progress of our journey. The Dutch barns, like those in Ger- many, are very large, and the dwelling of the farmer and his animals is frequently under the same roof. There are no high trees in this part of Holland to break the straight lines presented by the long ridges of these buildings, nor to give a picturesque appearance to the country. Indeed the 14 word pictiiresque, according to its general acceptation, will, I believe, be of very little use to me, for some time to come. Amongst the appendages of these farms may be enumerated the large flocks of tur- kies and peafowls which every where grace the yards; but I saw neither dove-cotes nor bee-hives; indeed the industrious bee would scarcely be able to exist in South Holland from the want of meUifluous flowers and plants. I have not yet seen a cowslip, prim- rose, or violet; the dandelion and some aquatic flowers, springing on the margin of the water-courses, appeared to be the only ornaments of the meadows. The road, which was sufliiciently wide to allow of two carriages passing each other, generally conducted us along a dyke, or mount of earth raised through the flats. It was sometimes planted with elms or walnut- trees, but more frequently with pollard wil- lows, which abound on the banks of the rivers and canals; and the white sails of the 15 vessels passing amongst, or gliding by them, in various directions, produced a singular and pleasing effect. Here, that simple and beautiful picture exhibited by Goldsmith in his " Traveller,'' was completely realised: " To men of other minds my fancy flies, Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies : Methinks her patient sons before me stand. Where the broad ocean leans against the land j And, sedulous to stop the coming tide. Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride. Onward, methinks, and diligently slow, ' ' The firm connected bulwark seems to growj ,^.^> , Spreads its long arms amidst the wat'ry roar. Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore; ' While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile. Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile; The slow canal, the yellow-blossom'd vale, The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail. The crowded mart, the cultivated plain; A new creation rescued from his reign. Thus while around the wave-subjected soil. Impels the native to repeated toil. Industrious habits in each bosom reign. And industry begets a love of gain. ■ » " We crossed several ferries, which are well managed, and the boats possess every possible convenience. Each of them was l6 always large enough to contain our two coaches, horses, baggage-waggon, and any occasional passengers. So commodious are these boats, that we generally drove into and out of them, without the trouble of alighting. At four o'clock we reached the last ferry on the banks of the Maes, or Meuse, oppo- site to Rotterdam, which made a fine ap- pearance at the distance of about half a mile. The Boomb Quay, containing a long row of its best houses, shaded by large trees, interspersed with the masts and pendants of ships, and surmounted by the tower of the great church, and the spires of several others, occupied the northern banks of the river, as far as the eye could reach. A ferry-boat soon conveyed us to the city, where we were rowed along several ca- nals which run through the principal streets; and when no trees appeared, I was strongly reminded of Venice. We landed near the best hotel, which is called the Swine's-Hoof, 17 or Boards-Head. As this lovely month is ushered in by those boisterous winds, and cold rains, which so frequently protract the winters of Holland, we have to enumerate amongst the comforts of our hotel, an ex- cellent peat fire. The peat is cut by Ger- mans, who arrive regularly every summer from Westphalia, solely for that purpose. Probably this practice originates from a similar cause to that which produces the annual migration of Irish hay-makers into England. VOL. I. 18 LETTER IV. Rotterdam, May 2, 1803. This city, Avhich is the second in Holland, is considered as possessing a purer air than most other places in this country. Such a fortunate circumstance is occasioned chiefly by the expansive cur- rents of the Maes, and the Rotter, a smaller river, from whence the place takes its name, which supply the canals, and contribute to the beauty of the place, as well as the health of its inhabitants. Some of the streets are long, narrow, and dark; but those which are watered by the principal canals, are generall}^ of a con- siderable breadth, with a row of houses on each side, shaded by elm and horse-chesnut trees, and a sufficient space for carriages, and foot passengers. The canals, which are 19 filled with vessels of all descriptions, occupy the center, and large ships unlade at the merchants' doors. But the most agreeable place of residence in Rotterdam, is the Boomb Quay, already mentioned: the houses are here of larger dimensions, and exhibit a better style of architecture than is to be found in the other streets; the trees which overshadow the public walks, are of a more luxuriant growth ; and the Maes, which flows below the terrace, is enlivened by the trading vessels of all nations. Our hotel stands on one side of the great market-place, which is the largest space of terra-firma to be found in the city. We landed on a market-day, and this square, with the various avenues leading to it, was filled with temporary booths, abound- ing in all kinds of necessaries, and formed into divisions according to their respec- tive trades. It was extremely crowded, and afforded us an opportunity of seeing a great variety of the inhabitants, many of 20 whom were dressed in the height of the Enghsh and French fashions; and, from these, we beheld every intervening grada- tion, down to the wearers of wooden shoes. The most interesting object to be seen from our window, is a bronze statue of Erasmus, erected on the great bridge. Such were the abihties of this man, that he would have been esteemed an honour to any age and any country. He was born here in the year I467. I have paid him several visits, and admire his expressive counte- nance as he appears meditating on the contents of a book which he holds in his hand. He is habited in a doctor's robe, and bears a great resemblance to our best portraits and engravings of him. The pe- destal contains appropriate inscriptions. Opposite to us is the great church of St. Lawrence, which towers nobly above the intervening houses, though they are gene- rally six or seven stories high, terminating with the gable end to the street, and rising 21 pyramid ically to the roof, where they are finished by some unmeaning and whimsical ornament: the windows of these houses are so large, that the fronts often contain a much larger quantity of glass than of brickwork; and, if the glare of light admitted by this curious mode of building, was not softened and shaded by the trees, the inconvenience, I conceive, w^ould be as great within, as the inimense window-frames, painted in the most contrasted colours, are disgusting to the beholders without: but the Dutch have a proverb, " that paint costs nothing f and in this moist climate, where the wood might otherwise be liable to an early decay, this proverbial saying may be generally founded in truth. On Sunday morning, instead of being directed to the English Episcopal church, for which we inquired, we were conducted to the Scotch meeting-house, which is a neat building, containing a good organ, and wtiere the service was performed by a very 22 respectable minister. In the afternoon we attended the Dutcli service in the great church of St. LaAvrence, which was once adorned with painting, sculpture, shrines, and altars; but after the reformation it sunk into a desolated state, and is now, not only unadorned but altogether mean and dirty. Even in that part of the sacred edi- fice which is appropriated to public wor- ship, the men wore their hats, and at no great distance from it groupes of women were engaged in familiar conversation. The altar is separated from the nave by a brass balustrade of heavy workmanship, and near it are a few monuments; but I saw none that were calculated to interest a foreigner. The church of St. Lawrence is an an- cient gothic structure, possessing a beautiful tower, which once supported a lofty spire; but it unfortunately fell doAvn, and has never been replaced. From the battlements there is an extensive prospect over South Holland, including Amsterdam, Dort, Briel, Delft, 23 and the Hague: but the weather is at pre- sent too tempestuous to allow of our en- joying it. Here are three other churches appro- priated to Calvinistic worship, or the re- formed Dutch church; together with cha- pels for Lutherans and Roman Catholics, as well as synagogues for the Jews. About «ight thousand of the widely dispersed na- tion of Israelites, are settled at Rotterdam, the whole population of which amounts ^ to fifty-three thousand two hundred and twelve souls. The Exchange was erected in the year 1736, and is a quadrangular building of free- stone, similar to that of London, but consi- derably smaller and less ornamented. The naval store-houses are equally capacious and convenient; and the Weese, or Orphan- House, is to be ranked amongst the most useful and ornamental structures in this city : it generally maintains five or six hundred boys and girls, who receive an education 24 that is suited to their proposed situations in life. Nor are there wanting many other endowments to reheve the infirmities of age, alleviate the maladies incident to the human frame, and to promote the welfare of the rising generation. ^'^THere is also a French and Dutch theatre; butHbe latter is chiefly frequented by the low«iT orders of the people. Theatrical amusements, indeed, are not in such esteein at^obarlls, concerts, and convivial meetings. Whis last species of entertainment is natu- rally produced by the excellent society to be faund amongst the principal merchants, of various countries, who are settled in this commercial emporium. 25 LETTER V. On board a Trekschuit, between Rotterdam and Delft, May 2, 1803. Trekschuits are public water- carriages, which are passing continually on the canals through the different parts of Holland, and, like our stage-coaches, are admirably contrived for the purpose of con- veying passengers and goods, which, by their means, are conveyed, at a small ex- pence, throughout the United Provinces. At present I chose to engage one of these vessels for our sole conveyance to Delft and the Hague; which is a distance of twelve miles, or, according to the usual mode of Dutch computation, a voyage of four hours. The vessel in which I am now writing is a very elegant and commodious barge, which you may readily conceive when I tell you that I not only write in it, but take my 26 sketches with as much ease, and as Httle motion, as in a room on shore. The cen- tral apartment contains ten sash-windows, with benches and velvet cushions arranged on each side of a table fifteen feet in length. It is terminated by tw^o small rooms, one of w^hich is appropriated to our servants and baggage; while the other is fitted up with closets for china, glasses, and other neces- saries. This vessel, together with three bargemen, and a horse to tow it, we hired for twenty-five shillings. In general, all kinds of navigable con- veyance is attended with noise: but this is not the case in a trekschuit, the horse and his conductor pass quietly along their allotted path, and the man at the helm is never heard to exchange a single word with his companion. Smoaking a pipe seems alone to constitute their supreme delight; and no opening prospect, no pleasant villa, dissolves the charm of their habitual ta- citurnity. 27 Rotterdam made a fine appearance as we left it for Delft. The houses are mostly con(Ci;aled in the trees, which appear in the form of beautiful groves; over which the gothic tower of St. Lawrence, an obelisk, and a few modern buildings, rise Avith a very pleasing effect. The cut on which we are passing from Rotterdam to the Hague, forms a part of the grand junction canal that runs through- out the provinces, and we find it enlivened with vessels of various descriptions; while its banks are embellished by the villas, groves, and gardens, belonging to the wealthy citizens, and yet more enriched by farms, villages, and hamlets, with their industrious inhabitants. During ni}' leisure, and the easy mo- tion of our trekschuit, I will endeavour to give you a general idea of the extent, po- pulation, agriculture, and commerce, of the Batavian republic. For the principal part of tlic following information, I must ac- 28 knowledge myself to be indebted to a sta- tistical account, that has been published in Paris, since Holland has received thet that of the United Provinces: and in 1796, the deno- mination of the Batavian Republic. Its po- pulation is estimated at one million, eight hundred and eighty-one thousand, eight hundred and eight-one souls, and occu- pies a tract of land and water containing seventeen hundred and twenty-eight square leagues. It is divided by different canals and rivers into twenty-four cantons, which contain an hundred and twelve towns, and about two thousand villages and hamlet§. 29 Many of the towns are fortified, and most of them abound with store-houses, arsenals, gra- naries, work-houses, and hospitals of every description, proportioned to their wealth and extent of population. They have also universities, museums, and a variety of in- stitutions for the encouragement of com- merce, the improvement of navigation, and the progress of the arts and sciences. The revenues, without including those appropriated to public works, such as the preservation of dykes, high roads, sluices canals, and mills, amounted, in the year 1801, to seventy-one millions, three hundred and fifty-three thousand, three hundred and nineteen florins. • At the conclusion of the eighteenth cen- tury, the army of the republic was esti- mated at forty thousand cavalry and in- fantry: and at the peace of 1802, four ships of seventy gvms, nine of sixty, fifteen of fifty, seven of forty, fifteen of thirty-six, and nineteen smaller vessels, mounting altoge- 30 ther, two thousand live hundred guns, con- stituted their entire navy; and the above account comprizes the whole Dutch force which escaped the destruclive power of the British fleets during the very cala- mitous war, occasioned by the revolution of France. The atmosphere of Holland is thick, humid, and variable. The prevailing in- fluence of the west and south-west winds is perceived by the inclination of the trees to the contrary points. The soil, in general, and especially near the sea, is produced by different sediments left by the waters, which, in various strata, cover ancient fo- rests, houses, causeways, and towers; and there have been frequently discovered the skeletons of whales, and other large fish; together with anchors, wrecks of vessels, and curious marine substances. As Delille beautifully observes, " Ce sol que la terre etonnee a vu sortir dts ondes," gain- ed and preserved by tlie industry of its inha- 31 bitants, amply repays their toil and ex pence, by the variety and excellence of its produc- tions. No meadows and pastures are more rich and fertile than those of Holland ; no harvests more abundant, and no gardens and orchards more grateful in such fruits and vegetables as its northern climate can produce. It possesses neither vineyards, forests, quarries, nor mines, deserving the name: nor does it afford half the quantity of grain that is consumed by the inhabi- tants; yet, such is the vigilance of govern- ment, the encouragement of commerce and industry, and such the earnest endeavours to preserve the blessing of peace, that every want is well supplied, and a ready and con- stant market for every necessary, comfort, and luxury, is found throughout the re- public. The wild animals of Holland are few: boars, wolves, and foxes, are no longer to be found. Deer, hares, and rabbits, are still abundant in many parts of it. The do- 32 mestic cattle are, in general, large, healthy, and prolific, particularly the cows and sheep : it is not a very unfrequent occurrence for the latter animal to have three, and some- times four lambs at a birth. The horses are strong and serviceable, and goats are very numerous. The country is enlivened by most of the birds which are common in England, and there is an abundance of wild- geese, swans, storks, curliews, cormorants, and plover; with a great variety of aquatic fowls, which we had not an opportunity of enumerating. The different species of ex- cellent fish caught on the Dutch coasts, and the never-failing plenty of them, is among the well known advantages of this country. Notwithstanding the many endemial disorders which occasioned Haller to call Holland, " insaluhris et hrevis ctvi" it is not a rare circumstance to find individuals ex- isting in the different provinces, of eighty, ninety, and even an hundred years of age. The love of money and the love of hberly 33 ^ft^ the ruling passions of the Hollanders, and every thing here tends to their encou- ragement. The men are sober, active, pe- netrating, secret, laborious, aaid economi- cal; patient in adversity, and courageous? in danger. The women are modest, cleanly, and industrious; careful of their husbands' property, and aspiring to no higher distinc- tion, than that of being good wives, and good mothers. Children of bo'th sexes soon become useful to their parents, who always endeavour to educate them in a manner suitable to their present condition and fu- ture prospects. From the great agricultural improve- ments and the construction of so man}' thou- sand mndmills as are employed in Holland, a greater proportion of the male inhabitants can be spared for the fisheries, on the Eng- lish and Dutch coasts, which are calc^ulated to supporttwenty thousand famihes. These, ' and the whale fisheries, arc esteemed the • * p^M mines of Batavia. VOL. I. D 34 The numerous windmills which are every where presented to the eye of a traveller, are employed in draining the lands, pre- venting inundations, and supplying the ca- nals: they are also used to grind corn, saw- timber, rasp logwood and tobacco, make snuflf, draw wire, beat plates of metal, and for many other purposes by which manual labour is so happily spared. The fish that are caught on these coasts not only supply the inhabitants with food, but constitute an article of exportation, both in a salted and fresh state; they also pro- duce abundance of oil, and afford excellent manure for the land. Thus, in a country that possesses few, or, indeed, scarcely any natural advantages, the rich inhabitants live sumptuously, the middle classes plentifully^ and the poorest are seldom without the com- forts, and never without the necessaries of life. The police in this respect, as in al- most every other, is under the best regula- tions; for the wicked, the idle, and the dis- 35 orderly of both sexes, confined in the houses of correction, are kept in constant employ- ment, the men in rasping Brazil-wood for the purposes of dying, and the women in spinning: those who neglect to finish their allotted tasks are severely punished; and, if stripes fail to rouse them to exertion, they are shut into a cellar, which, by slow de- grees, is filled with water, and this situation is so contrived, that the culprit can only save himself from being drowned, by ap- plying to the pump with every possible exertion. I shall just mention the following cus- toms that are peculiar to the middle and lower classes of the Dutch community. When a married woman approaches the important period of her accouchement, her female relatives, and nearest neiglibours, are invited; and these frequently remain many days and nights in the house before the birth of the infant; they are then en- gaged to prepare the family feast, which is 36' always given upon such an interesting oc- casion. If a person who, unfortunately, chances to be destitute of the necessary comforts in a case of sickness, sends to the neighbours, they immediately come with every assistance in their power, and remain in the house until the patient recovers or death puts an end to their care. They are also invited to all weddings and funerals,^ and these ceremonies are always concluded by plentiful repasts. Thus have I endeavoured to give you a general outline of this country, which I cannot conclude in a more satisfactory manner than by quoting a passage of the statistical work which I have already men- tioned, as it contains so just and striking a comparison between the ladies of Holland and France. " Ou donne universellement le titre de bonnes menageres aux femmes de la Bata- vie; elles le meritent: une femme riche en France s'occupe rarement d'autre chose que S7 de sa toilette, et de ses plaisirs: dans la Ba^ ■tiivie c est precisement le contraire : plus il y a de fortune dans une maison, plus on en voit la maitresse sedentaire, vigilante, atten- tive a ce que rien ne se deplace, se de- truisse ou se perde. A Paris, une femine du bon ton se croirait humiliee, si celui qui lui prend la main pouvait s'appercevoir qu'elle s'occupe de son menage, ou qu'elle a touche autre chose que son chansonnier, ses romans, ses habits du bal, sa musique, ses bijoux, ses bonnets, ses dentellesy ou les innombrables objects de sa toilette. A Amsterdam, c'est encore Toppose: mieux une femme est nee, mieux elle connait This- toire et la geographic, mieux elle parle les differents langues vivantes; mieux elle sait coudre, tricoter, brader, marquer, faire de la tapisserie; coudre, plier, arranger une lessive; commander, conseiller une cuisi- niere, soigner un fruitier, dinger une basse- cour. Pour tout dire, enfin, veut on voir un menage bien ordonne, bien proprc, et 38 souvent magnifique, des domestiqiies labo- rieux et fideles; des commis assidus et dis- crets; des enfans charmans, bien vetus, bien Aleves; des epoux con tens de I'etre; une femme vertueuse au milieu de tout-cela; il faut venir a Amsterdam/' Although it may not be very interest- ing, yet by adding the following account, I render my brief description of Holland more complete. It is a statement of the modern divisions of the Batavian republic, which, by the constitution of the 18th of October 1801, instead of the ci-devant seven United Provinces, is separated into the fol- lowing eight departments. Groningen, containing 102 square leagues^Sc 93,000 inhabitants. Friesland 151 96^846 Over Yssel 2/0 1 70,330 Guelderland 265 323,282 Utrecht 65 108,820 Holland 28f) 799,979 Brabant 228 207,708 Zeland 58 81,916 Extent of sq. leagues 1425 Population 1,881,881 39 In the different provinces there are up- wards of three hundred square leagues of ground under water, in the following pro- portions. In Beveland 8 square leagues. Biesboch 12 Haarlem- Meer 15 Zuyder-Zee 268 Total 303 I shall now present you with a statement of the internal wealth of the above depart- ments. The chief town of the department of Groningen is called by the same name, and its inhabitants are computed at 23,377 of both sexes. Number of Horses in this department 1 6,000 Horned cattle and goats 45^000 Sheep 60,000 Hogs 30,000 Geese, ducks^ poultry, and pigeons 135,000 It possesses many lakes and rivers, but only one canal that is navigable, and which is called the Canal of Gronins^en. Its com- •o 40 mercial and agricultural concerns employ fifty large vessels, and between fifteen and sixteen hundred boats, of various dimensions. The proportion of revenue paid by this department to the Batavian republic is as 5 to 100. The chief town of Friesland is Leu war- den, and its population amounts to 15,525 of both sexes. Number of Horses in this department. . 20,000 Horned cattle and goats . . . 50,000 Sheep 65,000 Hogs 35,000 Poultry of all kinds 150,000 Friesland employs in commerce and agriculture about fifteen hundred boats, and six hundred larger vessels. Its proportion of general revenue, 3delded to the republic, is as 1 1 to 100. 41 The chief town of the department of Over-Yssel is Deventer, and contains 12,220 inhabitants. Its number of Horses are 1 8,000 Horned cattle and goats . S 0^000 Sheep 90,000 Hogs 50,000 Poultry ] 90,000 Bee-hives 10,000 Upon its lakes and rivers are employed five hundred boats, and forty-eight larger vessels; and its contribution to the state revenue is as 4 to 100. The names of its lakes are, Blanke- Meer, Eens-Meer, Gross-Meer, Gietersche- Meer, and Leekter-Meer. Its rivers are the Aa, Dinkel, Linde, Regge, Swarte vrater, Schip-beck, Vecht, and the Yssel. Amheim, the chief town of Guelderland* contains 10,080 inhabitants. Numberof Horses in this department , 40,000 Horned cattle and goats. . , 1 12,000 Sheep 170,000 Hogs 80,000 Poultry of all kinds 480,000 42 For the various purposes of agriculture and commerce, this department employs sixty or seventy large vessels, and nearly a thousand boats. Its contribution to the general revenue is as 5 to 100. Its rivers are the Aa, Berteel, GrifF, Yssel, Leek, Linge, Rhine, Schip-beck, Slink, Sec. Utrecht, the capital of the department of Utrechtj contains 32,294 inhabitants. Number of Horses in this department. . ] 2,00O Horned cattle and goats . . . 45,000 Sheep 60,000 Hogs 30,000 Poultry of all kinds 150,000 In the navigation of the rivers and ca- nals of this department, six hundred boats, and a few larger vessels are constantly em- ployed. The names of the rivers are the Eem, Yssel, Leek, Krome Rhyn, Oude Rhyn, and le Veclit. 43. Its proportion of the public revenue is as 5 to 100. The principal towns of Holland are, Anosterdam, containing .... 217,024 inhabitants Rotterdam 53,212 Hague 38,433 Leyden 30,055 Haarlem 21,227 Delft 13,737 Helvoetsluys 1,208 Number of Horses in this department ] 00,000 Horned cattle 350,000 Sheep 450,000 Goats 10,000 Hogs 200,000 Poultry, of all descriptions, exceed 1,000,000 The harbours and roads for shipping are Amsterdam, Briel, Dort, Enkwisen, Goree, Helvoetsluys, Hoorn, Medenbhk, Rotterdam, and Williamstadt. The rivers of this department are the Amstel, Donge, Gouwe, Yssel, Leek, Linge, Macs, Merwe, Rhyne, Roewaert, Rotte, Schic, Spul, Spaar, and Vecht. 44 Its proportion of contribution to the ge- neral revenue is as l6 to 100. Many of the lakes in this province, by means of steam-engines, wind-mills, and other useful structures, have been drained and converted into meadows and corn-fields: and their beds are now covered with flocks and herds, or repaying the expensive in- dustry of their owners, by yielding abundant harvests. Twelve lakes yet remain in their original state, though some of them are gradually undergoing the same delightful change, from comparative unprofitableness, to fertility and richness. The canals are numerous and extensive; and the number of vessels belonging to the Province of Hol- land amount to 1800 ships and trading ves- sels, 2500 sloops, barges, and luggage-boats; and about 8000 small boats, exclusive of those pleasure-boats one of which is at- tached to almost every villa that stands on the banks of the canals or rivers. 45 The chief towns of Brabant are, Bois-le-Duc, containing .... 12,627 inhabitants. Breda 8,250 Bergem-op-Zoom 4,722 Tilburg 8,532 Number of Horses in this department. . 25,000 Horned cattle and goats. . . . 6o,00O Sheep 80,000 Hogs 50,000 Pouhry 250,000 Bee-hives 20,000 Its rivers are L'Aa, Beek, Beerse, Diest, Dinkel, Dommel, Donge, Escaut, Gender, Hulver, Ley, Murk, Maes, Scheick, Weg- reyse, and Zoom. The proportion contributed to the ge- neral revenue by this department is as 4 to 100. Middleburg, the chief town of Zealand, contains 17,687 inhabitants, and the Number of Horses in this department is. 12,000 Horned cattle and goats 90,000 Sheep 20,000 Hogs 18,000 Poultry 120,000 46 Its rivers are the Escaut, east and west, the Hond, and the Eendracts. Its navigable canals are Goes, Middle- burg, and Zierikz6e, and on which 1200 small boats are employed. The trade and fisheries of this province maintain three hundred ships, besides a considerable num- ber of barges and large boats. Its proportion of contribution to the ge- neral revenue is as 9 to 100. 47 LETTER VI. Delft, May 2, 1803. Punctuality and method are amongst the principal characteristics of a Dutchman. It had been promised us that we should arrive at Delft by a certain hour; and we reached the destined place precisely at the time specified. Tiie lofty towers of the two churches, a few other buildings which appeared above the trees, and an astonish- ing number of windmills, were the princi- pal features in our first view of Delft. It is one of the fortified towns of Holland, pos- sessing seven gates, and numerous towers: yet, notwithstanding the town contains one of the grand arsenals of the republic, the works are suffered to fall into ruin. Im- mediately without the walls several large powder-magazines have been erected, which are surrounded by water. 4S The two principal streets which run parallel with each other, are nearly a mile in length, and are broad, airy, and pleasant; with a canal in the center, and a row of trees on each side, which overshadows the neat benches and marble pavements before the houses; where the inhabitants spend much of their time, sometimes, indeed, in social converse, but much more frequently in silent apathy. Whether these indolent reveries of the Dutch, or those mental absorptions so pe- culiar to the Brahmins while sitting in the sacred groves of Hindostan, are most efficacious in their nature and tendency, I shall not pretend to determine. The canals of Delft are supplied by the River Schie, which runs by the town. The town-house is an ancient and handsome structure. In the Prinsenhof, which was formerly a convent of St. Agatha, William the first Prince of Orano;e was assassinated by Ghirard, a wretch employed for that pur-* pose by Philip the Second of Spain. 49 " The two churches have been celebrated by many travellers, for the number and beauty of the monuments, erected in them to the memory of the Princes of Orange, and many other eminent personages. But my expectations respecting them were not gratified, and as an amateur,! -was greatly dis- appointed: though I was however seriously affected by those solemn, yet pleasing, emo- tions, which steal upon the mind of a think- ing being on approaching the remains of such illustrious characters as are here interred. The monument of William, the first Prince of Orange, who was the successful champion of liberty in the sixteenth cen- tury, was erected at the expence of the States-General of Holland, in the year 16O9. It is a grand composition; but, surely, he who could say with a certain French writer, ihat " Les connoisseurs mettent cet ouvrage au dessus de tout ce que I'ltalie a produit d'excellerrt en ce genre," could never have risited the classic marbles of that country, VOL. I. E 50 or have beheld the sepulchres of Westmin- ster Abbey. Near the tombs of the royal House of Orange repose the ashes of those celebrated admirals Hein and Tromp, over whose sa- cred dust appropriate monuments have been erected. The statue of Tromp represents him in a reclining attitude with his hand on a cannon, and his body resting upon the rudder of a ship: the battle in which hc^ lost his life is finely represented in basso- relievo. Leeuwenhoeck, the celebrated physician, whose microscopic researches have been so deservedly esteemed;. and Hugo Grotius, a name dear to literature, are both buried here. On the monument of the latter is a concise and beautiful latin epitaph. Both these great men were natives of Delft, as were also Pontus Heuterus the historian, Van Adrichem the Jewish antiquarian, the pensionary Heinsius, Jean Steen, the Scar- ron of Dutch painters, together with several 51 others who arrived at eminence in the va- rious departments of art and science. Delft has long been known for the ex- cellence of its earthen, or porcelain manu- facture, which has been generally known by the name of Delft-ware. But since the great importations from China, and the beautiful productions of this kind manu- factured at Dresden, Berlin, Seve, and Vienna, as well as in several parts of Eng- land, and some other countries, the trade of Delft, in this commodity, is very much, if not altogether, on the decline. 52 !w;ff LETTER VII. The Hague, May 3, 1803. Our stay, as you will readily be- lieve, was very short at Delft; and with far superior expectation we proceeded to the Hague, a course only of three miles, in which the country still continued equally flat, bvit was more abundant in foliage, than any we had seen in Holland. The canal, which is planted on each side with rows of elm- trees; and the numerous villas and gardens, belonging to the gentry at the Hague, who appeared in their carriages on a road pa- rallel with the canal, engaged our atten- tion in a very pleasing manner. In this little progress, we passed the village and chateau of Ryswdck, a place famous in his- tory for having been the spot on which a treaty of peace w^as concluded, in the year 55 1697, between England, France, Spain, Ger- many, and the United Provinces. It be- longed at that time to the Princes of Orange, but it has since been suffered to fall into decay; and the gardens, which are repre- sented to have been so beautiful and exten- sive, are now destroyed. The Hague is so encircled by trees, that very little of the town, except the spires of the churches, can be seen, at a very small distance. At length, by following the course of the canal, we entered one of the prin- cipal streets; and, turning down a smaller channel, we landed, about three o'clock yesterday afternoon, at the door of one of the principal hotels, called the Mareschal de Turenne. The Hague is generally esteemed one of the prettiest places in Europe, though it ranks not among its cities; for as it has no walls, and does not send deputies to the states, it can claim no higher title than that of a village : it is nevertheless the seat of go- 54 ment, the residence of the foreign ambassa- sadors, and the resort of strangers from all countries. It is called in French la Hai/e, the hedge; and in Dutch, Gravenhage, or Earl's grove, from a wood in which the Earls of Holland, in former ages, had a country-house. The part which is inhabited by the mer- chants and tradesmen is like most of the other Dutch towns, and consists of numer-^ ous streets of unequal breadth, and iU- shaped houses, built parallel with the ca^ nals,on which vessels are seen to lade and un • lade at the very doors. But that part which is appropriated to the residence of foreigners and the superior classes of the inhabitants, is of a very different description. There the streets, squares, and public places, con- tain a number of magnificent houses and palaces, shaded by trees which form broad and noble avenues. These groves, border- ing the canals, have a most delightful ap- pearance; and the walks, composed of sand ,55 and sea- shells, hardened by the late rains, eqpal those of the finest gravel, of which ^|j|^^"^ is none in this country: indeed, I be- ,Ueve, there is no stone of any kind that can J[)e pronounced as indigenous to Holland. ^; J, As strangers, we behold these scenes with additional delight, from their being div^r^fied and enlivened by the varied man- ners and customs of the inhabitants, who >re of all descriptions, and we consider our- selves very fortunate in seeing the Vyyer- burg (a place so called from the Vyver, which is a large piece of water near the pa- lace) in a state of simplicity, which we should not have done had we arrived a few ,days later, as the people are already busily ^employed in erecting booths, and other tem- porary structures, along the walks, on ac- .pount of the near approach of the annual fair, which commences on the next Sunday, and will continue until the Sunday fol- lowing. ^ , . The §tadtholders palace, a lai'ge irre- 56 gular pile, is situated on one side of the Vyver. The building of it began in the year 1249j by William the second, who was tlie eighteenth earl of Holland, and whose predecessors had resided at Haarlem. It was on this spot where the Stadtholder kept hi& court with such sumptuous hospitality tp foreign ambassadors and persons of dis- tinction. The Hague was then considered to be one of the most delightful places of residence in Europe, as it was found to blend, in the most agreeable manner, the gaiety of Paris with the genuine simpli- city of Holland. It has always been a re- sort of the most elegant society, and, from the foreign ministers and strangers being drawn into a smaller circle than can be done in a large metropolis, urbanity and politeness were more generally introduced, and cultivated, amongst the higher order of inhabitants. We visited the principal apartments in the palace, and especially admked those 57 which were finished about six years ago, in a good style of architecture, and faced with free-stone; the rest of this heterogeneous pile is entirely composed of brick. The drawing-room is handsome, and the adjoin- ing apartments of the princesses are ele- gantly furnished with Gobelin tapestry, and chairs and sofas of the same manufacture. This is the onlv room that has not been de- spoiled of its ornaments and furniture; for, in general, the moveables of every description were carried off as revolutionary spoil. The inhabitants univei'sally regret, in an equal degree with strangers, the loss of the prince's cabinet, which contained a most valuable collection of subjects in natural history, and many other curiosities from various parts of the globe. This museum was opened once a week to the inspection of the public. The library is still preserved, under certain regulations, as national property. The new ball-room is converted into an apartment of state for the transaction of public busi- ;58 ness. The president's chair and semicircular seats are well contrived. They are covered with green cloth, embroidered with a repre- ;^^tation pf the arms of Holland. i ..In, another state room, now called the flfall of Confederation, from the circum- stance of the late treaty between France and Holland having been signed in it, is an allegorical picture representing the union pf the Gallic and Batavian republics. From jthence we ranged through several other apartments in different parts of the palace, most of which formerly contained pictures of great merit, especially the productions of the Dutch and Flemish schools. Not one of these now remains; while the un- furnished and untenanted walls of so many spacious chambers offer to a contemplative mind a mortifying, and melancholy con- trast to the showy parade and bustle of a court. I shall not enter upon a description of the other public buildings. The churches^ J59 hospitals, schools, and charitable founda- tidris of various kinds, have given the Hague a high rank amongst the Dutch towns. Yet I must not neglect to mention the great pleasure I derived from a visit to the Fuench church, of which the good, the amialite Saurin, whose discourses have immortalised his name, was the distinguished pastor. -^ ' "In the evening I took a walk ta the House in the Wood, which was a summer palace belonging to the Princes of Orange, and where the Stadtholder generally resided several months in the year. It is situated at the extremity of a wood, at the distance of about half a league from the Hague, and is preserved with great care. During the exigencies of the country in the year 1576, the States-General resolved upon the sale of its limber for the public service; when the magistrates of the Hague purchased the trees, which then became the pro- perty of the town. It was also spared 60 upon other occasions, ' ieveii" by the elp^ess orders of Philip II. of Spain. "* * ^^ " ' Ottf morning visit to the palace had'rii^ tdfidency to enliven with any cheerful emo- tions my evening excursion. My mind was pensive, and my walk through the un- freqiiented paths of the wood was melan- choly and slow: the instability of sublunary grieatness appeared as a vision before me: a deserted palace, an exiled prince with fc^is family, seeking protection in foreign cotintries, and his faithful ministers, adhe- rents, and domestics, wandering in a state of poverty and emigration, form a com^ bination of distressing images sufficient to fill every human breast with agonizing sen- sations on the contemplating of it. The villa was despoiled of its furniture and or- naments during the revolution; and a part of it is now let to an inn-keeper who is glad to provide for the entertainment of visitors. But some characteristic utility is still at- 61 tached to the building, and the best rooms are appropriated to a national collection of those pictures which have been preserved frqtn the revolutionary wreck, and a small addition has been since made to them at tJi,^ ^^pence of the government. The wood which occasions this ed^fip;^ to ti^ i denominated La Maison du Bois, or the House in the Wood, would be esteemed as beautiful in any other country; but, in the open flats of Holland, superior cliarm^ are attached to it. It, however, does not exceed a mile in length, nor is it more than half that space in breadth, yet the bounda- ries are so well concealed, and the rides and walks so artfully conducted, that, a stranger might imagine himself to be ram- bling in a much greater extent of ground. The principal trees are oak, beech, and elm. I, measured some of the first of these species, and found them twelve feet in circum- ference; a few of the beeches were even of a larger growth and very ornamental. The 62 underwood affords shelter to the nightingales, cuckoos, and a variety of nature's choris- ters, who would otherwise be at a loss for verdant recesses in the season of incubation. Deprived of the shade which this wood offers to them, they would be in a great measure c©mpelled to leave a country so divested of their chief delight. The plants and flowei^ M0hich I observed as the most conspicuoub' i#*hu^fee shades were the wood-sorrel, violet, liJ^ df the vafley, pile wort, and anemone- ni^jh^eroBa. Xlf'-V {■;!-. ■ ti • ■ • lot ?-.) r '^LETTER Vlli: The Hague, May 5, 1803. ^,i^..^YESTERDAY moming we went in an open carriage to the small fishing town o^, Scheveling, about two miles from the Hague. It was from this place, in the midst of winter, during a stormy night, and in utki open boat, that the Prince of Orange with his family, assailed by the horrid dangers of the late revolution, embarked for Eng- land; and in this wretched and perilous situation were they exposed for thirty-six hours before they could reach the port of Harwich. Our present Valet de place accompanied the Prince in that sad reverse of fortune, and continued with him for some time in England; he is therefore enabled to relate a thousand interesting anecdotes respecting 64 his late unfortunate prince and maste^r; in which the* principles of humanity and be- nevolence always appeared to predominate.* The road to Scheveling runs in a straight line through an avenue of shorn trees, which- is terminated by the church, and was crowded ■ by numbers of fish women, of a most sin- gular appearance as to variety of dress and figure; though in vociferation they by no' means rivalled our ladies of Billingsgate. Th^ were carrying large baskets that ap- peared to be filled with cod, haddock, tur- bot, plaice, and other fish, to the Hagtte,' where this kind of provision is very cheap. This necessary article of consumption is also conveyed in carts drawn by two dogs, who are not only strong enough to drag a heavy load of fish, but very frequently the addi- tional burden of the lazy drivei*. The dogs' which are trained for this purpose often sell' for ten guineas a couple. ♦ »t Scheveling is the sea-port of the Hagoey and one of the few places which afford any 65 any amusing objects within the airings of its inhabitants. We found the beach covered with fishing boats, just amyed, and sur- rounded by the purchasers and vendei's of the cargoes, who were busied in examining lots of fish that had been previously disposed in rows for their selection. We saw three cod-fish, of unusually large dimensions, sold for nine gilders, or fifteen shilhngs, and se- venteen fine haddocks for twenty-pence, ftv On our return from Scheveling westoppeti at the villa which formerly belonged to the? Greffier Fagel; and, when in his possessions^ Avas considered as one of the prettiest build- ings of that kind in Holland. But it has since been dismantled by revolutionary frenzy, the gardens totally destroyed, and the ground planted with potatoes. A rela- tion of Mr. Fagel's now occupies the man- sion, and, being desirous of seeing the re- treat of such a man, we sent in a polite message to that effect, but had the morti- fication to be refused admittance. I should VOL. I. r 06 not have mentioned this circumstance h^d it not be^n the first instance of similar in- liospitalily which I have experienced dur- ing my travels for a .^pace of thirtj-fivi^ years in different p^rts of the globe. Thus disappointed we proceeded to the House in .the Wood hi order to t^ke an iqtqrior view pf its apartments. It is also caljed Orange Zaal, La Salle d'jOrqngc, and was built by the Princess Amelia de Solmes, widow of jFrederick Henry, Prince of Orange, f^r a country residence. It is a comfortable ipo- dern dwelling, without any claim to elegant architecture. It consists chiefly of a suite of rooms on eacli side of the great haJl for the Prince and Princess, with other apart^ ments for the rest of the family. It has J)een a favourite villa with all the Stadt;- Jiolders; and, previous to the revolution, wa^ most splendidly furnished, particularly the room called the Chinese bed-chamber, in which every ornament and utensil exhibited the finest specimens of art from Japan and 67 'China. But the best part of the building is that which procured the whole a Dutch %krrie, and has always 'attracted the atten- tion of strangers; I mean the g-rahd salooii, -or Orange Zdal, which still remains in an lihmutilated state. This very beautiful ro'omVaB *coiistrticted', as the insci'iptioii found the frieze comme- moi-dtes, by Amelia dfe Sblnles, ihe discon- solate wido\V of Prince Frederick already mentioned, as a monument of her sorrow; and inviolable attachment to her illustrious husband. The form of this iioble apart- ment is a large octagon, having a lofty cu- pola in the center. The walls are entirely covered with historical and allegorical ])aint- Ings, which record the principal events of Fi"federick's life, from liis birth to his death. They kre eiecuted by nine celebrated Diitcli and Flfemish artists, from the schools of Rubens and Vandyke. Many of the pic- tures h'a^c great merrt, artd the whole room 6S is interesting in its objects and ve^y striking in its effect. The principal apartments which hav^ been divested of their furniture are, as l have before mentioned, converted into a picture gallery under the direction of go- vernment, and each person pays two shil- lings on his admittance to a view of, it. Our venerable Cicerone bore a considerable resemblance to the good Lavater; his grey locks were covered by a small black cap, and his communications were delivered with much gravity and respect in the French Ian* guage. Though there are several good pic- tures of the Italian, Dutch, and Flemish schools, in this national collection, I have not time to particularize them, neither shall I comment on the portraits of the Stadt- holders and patriots of Holland, which hang in a separate chamber. One smalJ paint- ing only, which is covered with a green cur- tain, appeared to me so impressive, that 69 1 cannot pass it over in silence. It is the representation of a night scene, near the prison gate of the Hague, with the painter in the foreground, who is seen to hold a torcli for the purpose of throwing a strong light upon the dead bodies of Cornelius and John De Witt, those martyrs who fell in the cause of liberty, and were inhumanly murdered by an infuriate mob. Their mangled forms are represented as hanging up with their heads downwards, like car- cases in the shambles; the entrails are taken out, and the flesh cut open and scored. This picture was much too well executed, and my sensations on viewing it were those of the utmost terror. Another apartment is dedicated to the reception of a museum, in which are a few interesting subjects; particularly the Avooden cup 6ut of which the protestants drank when they took the patriotic oath to defend their religion and their country in the six- teenth century. Also a wooden ball, into TO "\yliich each of. th^.p^triots. drove a nailj as a testimqny that they, s>yore allegiance ta, William the first Prince of Orange. The, swords o£ admirals, I)e Rujter. and Van, Tromp are here preserve^^ with a curious piece of cannon and spnie othef , military, trophies. These are the only remains of a^. much larger collection that Wcls despoiled and plundered during th^ late revolution. The gardens are in great disorder, bjut they- do not appear to, haye. been at any time., remarkable for their beauty or inyiting tOj the visitor. After our excursion, w^e dinned with Mr. Liston, the English minister here. At his . house we met the Russian, Imperii:^), and • Venetian envoys, and others of, the corps diplomatique. In the evening we were . ii]troduced to a numerous circle of both;, sexes, who generally meet every Wednesday. Amongst the latter company were the French and Spanish ambassadors.. The ge- npral topic of conversation was the question^ 7V of peace or* AV'ar, arid ' upon expressing our individual apprehensions in case of war, ' Mdns.' S^monville, the French ambassador, VeVy' politely proihisetl to grant us a pass- pdi*t, which, in the eve'nt of hostilities, would ^*c*ure safetjr thi'oiigh the French republic. He has all' the exterioV of a finished gentle- ' mai^, arid is generally understood to be a gtea't favourite mth the First Consul. The investigation of chai'acter'is not, as you well kribwj among the objects of my conttnentar progr^fes.' This mot-ning we revisited th^ palace alid' olheF public buildings, and terminated obr'walk in the National Gardens, the mo- d'erri appellaLtibri" of those formerly belong- ing to the Hereditary PHnce of Orange, and which are adjoining- his Ittte palace. Now, ind'eed, ev^ry thing is riational: here ai'e not only riatiorial gardens, but national pictures, arid a Ti^tiori^Mibrary ; while many of the modcri\ patriots of Holland, fearing to have' their prin(^ipl(^s' mistaken, or unknown, have 72 bored their ekrs, and exhibit ear-tings in , token of their fraternization . ' h " The gardens are extensit^e, and the walks and plantations are laid out with some taste. The shrubberies abound with nightingales, which are almost incessantly singing, even at noon-day; and they are so very tame, that many of them warbled beside us on the sprays, while others hopped before us round the canal. Here these delightful birds are never molested; and any infringement of their choral rights is severely punished. We again dined with Mr. Liston ; and met a very agreeable party, whom we ac- companied to the French comedy. The theatre is small and shabby, and by no means corresponds with the other places of fashion- able amusement at the Hague. Our English friends are extremely im- portunate that we should make a longer stay at this charming place; and nothing can exceed the politeness and hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Liston. But I must dechne 73 ; their vfriendly invitations, and pursue the primary object of our journey, which is to reach Switzerland without delay. We are, in consequence, to receive our passports from Mons. Semonville and Mr. Liston to- morrow morning. 74" EETfEtl liJi. i J Leyde?n> May 6, ad^Si' Early this morning Mr. Listen sent our English and French passports, when we immediately hired the roof of a trek- schuit to convey us toLeyden,the next place of our destination. The distance is about Bine miles, or, according to Dutch compu- tation, a journey of three hours from the Hague. The roof is the after-cabin of the vessel, which, on an early application, may be exclusively taken. This part of it is capable of accommodating twelve persons, with a table, cushions, and other conve- niencies. The small sum of three shillings and sixpence secured this apartment to our- selves, and we saw nothing of the other pas- sengers, though we were occasionally re- galed with the flavour of their pipes, av liicli 75r penetrated; tbrou^U the. openings of the windows^ The morning w^s fii^e,. and we had a very deUghtful passage toLeyden. Nothings as. I have akeady observed, and may ob- serve again, can e.vceed the punctuahty of the Dutch; the trekschuit pro:ceeds at the rate of thtee nules an hour, neither more nor less: the clocks of. thfe Hague struck nine as we departed, and those of Ley den were striking, twelve as we landed. Near the Hague we passed several villas belonging to its inhabitants, and afterwards,; many opulent farms and '■ villages. The spires of Delft and the tower of St. Law^- rence at Rotterdam, appeared as strik- ing featnres in the horizon; while agricul- tural, scenes, catjtle„ and storks, animated the pearer • banks of the canal, which' were frequently . shaded by avenues of ancient elms; aijd. now, as an agreeable- variety, we were for the first time assailed by, the' m\isic of those X),utch nightingales deno- 76 liimafed frogs; which appeared to fci^'bf an enormous growth, and were croaking amongst the aquatic plants; but as the boat- iiieri assured us that this music was always prophetic of fine weather, we resolved to be pleased with the concert. The domes and towers of the churches', and thie university of Leyden, rising above the groves which surround them, have a good effect in the landscape on approach- ing the city; and the sides of the canal are adorned with large trees, which overshadow the villas, whose gardens are enriched with fruit-trees in full blossom, and beds of tulips and hyacinths on the very margin of the water. Leyden is one of the most celebrated cities of Holland, and is situated near the Rhine; that noble river, which, after flow- ing through such an extensive and varied part of Europe, from its source amongst the Glaciers of Switzerland, at length loses its Waters in the sands 'of Catwvk, at -i 77 about the distance of a league fron[\ thi^, plac^. Leyden, which is a walled city, is sur- rounded by a broad ditch, canals, and shady walks. The best streets consist of a canal, two side paths, and rows of trees b;^'^ fore the houses: Breestraat, the name of the principal one, is supposed to be ^he largest in Holland; but neither the tow^n- hpuse, nor any of the other public |^V^j|47^ ings, demand particular observation. The former was erected in the jea^ 15J^, ,Si^^ is[ ranked amongst the curiosities of the place. It contains a painting of the la^^ judgment by Lucas of Leyden, whicli is estimable only on account of its antiquity, j^nd because the artist is said to have Ipeen th^ first amongst the moderns who und;Qr- stood the science of perspective: he (Ji^tJ i^ the year 1533. Here, also, are preserved the arms that were used by the inhabitants in the famous siege of 1574, when they sut^j mitted to such dreadful suiferings, and so 78 jiobl}' distinguislied themselves in the catise of liberty. The inhafekaiits of Ley den amoant to thirty t/housand nine hundred and fifty^five^ They were formerly move numefrous; but ihe decline of the woollen mannfacttires^ and some other causes, have produced a decrease in its population, llic university, which was once so celebrated, and of s\xch universal resort, now maintains no mor^ than three hundred students, forty of whom are; iEnghsh: they wear no particular dress, bi3.t are runder excellent regulations. The professors are generally esteemed for theil' learning; but their renown has arisen from the science of medicine. It has produced many very eminent men, and among them the ce- lebrated Boerhaave, whose monument in the great church consists of a white marble urn, and a medallion, placed on a black pedestal, bearing this simple inscription: Salutifero Boerhavii Genio sacrum — Nat. 16'88, Den. 1738. Near it is the urn and bust of Peter ^9 Ca^ipqr, A\^bo wasboin ip l.7M,^x^,^iedm 17^9. These, witb the itpmb ^of Meef man, are the iiK^t s^triking monumeut^ ia this chinrqh ; wl^Qh ihas tlie same shabby appear? ^i^qe as most some mention is made of the Lords of Amstel; and in the beginning of the twelfth century this was a lordship, consisting of a chateau and a few fisher- men's huts, situated on the banks of the Amstel. Tliis small assemblage of human habitations gradually increased and ex- tended on each side of the river, till at lens^th population and houses multiplied, and from 107 this humble origin arose th^ present magni- ficent capital of the Batavian Republic. The Drecht and Meyert are two rivulets which meet near the village of Uithoarn, two leagues south of Amsterdam, and, unit- ing their streains, form the river Amstel, which, taking a northern direction, dis- charges itself into the Y, or Tai, an inlet or gulf of the Zujdei-Zee. * < The Zuyder-Zee itself is only an arm of the German ocean that was formed by a dreadful inundation in the thirteenth Cen- tury, when the sea suddenly broke in upon the land and made a lake of more than thirty leagues in length, and of a very considerable, though unequal, breadth, ex-* tending from the eastern coast of Hol- land to the western shores of Friesland and Overyssel. At the entrance of this vast inlet of salt water are several islands; the most fertile and populous of them is the Texjel, rendered famous by its excellent breed of sheep, which not only produce 108 abundance of wool, but afford milk of so rich and peculiar a nature, that the inha- bitants prepare from it a green cheese which is in great estimation among the Dutch epi- cures. The Friesland cheese is also a fa- vourite article for the table. Amsterdam, in many respects, resembles Venice; like her it appears to have emerged from the sea, and, being built upon mil- lions of piles, seems to defy any further en- croachments of that mighty element: like her, it is intersected by numerous canals running through the principal streets, which are united by bridges; and each city has increased from a few fishermen's huts to a magnificent capital: each has also been indebted for its splendour to a love of liberty, justice, industry, and economy, vmited to an indefatigable pursuit of com- merce. The decline of Venice, and its con- sequent degradation in the political scale of Europe, was produced by Vasco de Gaina's intrepid discovery of a passage to India by 109 the Cape of Good Hope: an important event which very materially influenced the com- mercial nations of Europe ; and Venice was among the first of those cities which suf- fered from it. An extensive trade in almost every quarter of the globe, and particularly in the oriental climes, gradually became transferred from the Venetians to the Hol- landers, whose superior industry at length enabled them to assume a prominent rank amongst the maritime powers. A most hu- miliating change has likewise been effected in both these interesting, but unfortunate cities, by the fatal progress of the French re- volution. After having experienced the bles- sings of liberty and independence for the long period of fourteen hundred years, the Venetians are now degraded from their high estate, and subjected to a foreign power: and of what species of IVeedom the Bata- vian republic may now be said to be pos- sessed, it would perhaps be diflicult to de- termine, as the sacred name of liberty has 110 of late years been so profaned and de- based, and all her glorious attributes*^ perverted and eclipsed, that the dispas- sionate and philosophic mind may look abroad in vain for the abode of independ- ence and liberty; unless, indeed, wearied with a contemplation of degraded nations, it turns to Albion's highly favoured isle, where liberty and that public happiness which is so intimately connected with it, has hitherto resisted, and will, I trust, for ever success- fully resist, the most daring attempts of its enemies. But on the commencement of this work I determined to Avave all political dis- cussions, and therefore I stay my pen on a subject which is the exclusive boast of my country. From a plan of Amsterdam tliat was made in the year 1500, and which is pre- served in the treasury, it appeal's to have been at that time a city of considerable im- portance, containing many churches, con- venls, bridges, towel's, and public edificeii. Ill Since the close of that centur}^ when the Dutch threw off the Spanish joke, and be- gan to enjoy the blessings of freedom, it has been continually increasing in wealth, extent, and population. Its circumference is now eighteen thousand, seven hundred, and ninety geometrical paces, and covers more ground than the united cities of Rot- terdam, Haerlem, Leyden, Delft, and Dor- drecht, forming a crescent on the river Y, or inlet of the Zuyder-Zee. It is fortified towards the land by a wall and twcnty-sik bastions, each of which is surmounted by a windmill and surrounded by a fosse of con- siderable breadth. Three of these mills agitate the stagnant water of the canals, and by that means alleviate, in some de- gree, the very disagreeable eftects of their fetid vapours. ' Amsterdapi has also eight gates, and a^ mnny- towers appropriated to various pur- poses, and bearing different names. Some of them have large, haud^^ome turrets, with 112 lofty belfries and public clocks, the whole being adorned with columns and sculp- ture. The most beautiful of these is the western tower, which is three hundred feet high, and contains a musical clock, together with a large bell, that weighs fifteen thou- sand pounds, and whose tolling announces the opening and the shutting of the gates* I shall mention another of these struc- tures, from the interest which it excited by its name and character. It is called La Tour des Pleureurs, or, in Dutch, Schreyers- hoekstoren. This tower of weepers stands on the quay of the river Y, and marks the spot where friends and lovers part, and all the tenderest throbbings of the heart must.be so often excited: it is the place where relatives and companions take leave of each other on embarking for dis- tant countries. On one side of this inte- resting edifice is a basso-relievo represent- ing a ship getting under sail, while a fe- male is represented as in the deepest dis- 113 tress at beholding its departure. On the same side is inscribed, " Schrayers Houek, 1569,' being the year in which this memo- rial was erected, in order to perpetuate the grief of a young woman who lost her senses on the departure of her husband, whom she most tenderly loved. According to the latest computation which has been made, Amsterdam contains two hundred and seventy-seven thousand, and twenty-four inhabitants, eleven districts, fi^ e circles, and four hundred and forty primary assemblies. Amongst many other privi- leges, every citizen is at liberty to worship the Supreme Being according to the mode he approves, provided he gives no offence to decency or public order. The Jews who are settled here amount to twenty-two thou- sand: they are less restricted than in most other countries, and have many synagogues. On their expulsion from Spain and Por- tugal, in the sixteenth century, these perse- cuted people were received in Holland with VOL. I. 114 liberality and kindness: since that period they have greatly increased, and are now considered an industrious, as they are be- come a wealthy part of the community. They are not however permitted to have any civil appointment, nor to hold any of- fice under government. This law, indeed, generally extends to all dissenters from the established church. The Christians of Amsterdam are di- vided into fifteen distinct sects or commu- nions, and they have forty-nine places of public worship: eleven of them are dedi- cated to the service of the reformed Dutch church, or Calvinism, which is the national religion, and one third of the inhabitants profess their belief in this creed. About three thousand are of the French reformed church: the English Presbyterians are about tliree hundred, while those of the Episcopal ' church do not amount to more than thirty. Lutherans, Anabaptists, Moravians, and other sectaries, are numerous, and have their 115 respective meeting-houses: the Roman Ca- tholics compute their numbers to be forty- three thousand, and have sixteen chapels; but the priests of this persuasion are not allowed to make public processions, and are also controuled by some other necessary restrictions. This religious toleration extends through- out the whole Batavian republic; with the exception of the Socinians, who arc no where permitted to exercise their profession; and all their books are prohibited, under the severest penalties. There are several monuments of eminent persons in the principal church of this city; and among the most remarkable of them is that of admiral Ilecmskerk, who was one of the greatest men of his time, and the first who attempted to discover a passage to India by the north sea; in which entcr- prizc he encountered the greatest difficul- ties: he was killed in an engagement before Gibraltar in the year 1607; and a concise 116 Latin inscription upon this monument con- tains his eulogy. The remains of Admiral de Ruyter, who was no less celebrated in the annals of Dutch history, repose in the new church: this officer died in I676. Near him are the tombs of Van Galen, another admiral who bravely fell in the service of his country in 1653, and of the famous Cap- tain Isaac Zeveers, who died in 1673. Here also is a monument erected to the memory of Van Vondel, who was one of the few poets which this country has produced. The Dutch boast, but with what truth I know not, that his tragedies rank with those of Corneille and Racine. It is however an extraordinary circumstance respecting this candidate for Parnassian honours, that his muse so far prolonged her favours, as to enable him to translate, with reputation, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, at the advanced age of eighty-five, and that she continued to assist his labours until he attained the rare age of ninety-one: he died in the year I679, 117 five years after the death of our immortal Milton. In the year 1581 Amsterdam witnessed the birth of Peter Cornelius Hooft, who was esteemed the Tacitus of Holland: he died at the Hague in 1647- This city has also produced the historians Wagenar and Brandt, the poets Brederode and Visser, Spiegel the celebrated restorer of the Dutch language, Koornhert the reformer, Episcopius the theologian, and Spinosa the atheist. But to change the scene a little, I shall quit the ashes of the illustrious dead, to contemplate the useful and superb edifices of the living. The Stadthouse of Amster- dam is considered as one of the noblest struc- tures in Europe, no expencc having been spared in order to render it, in every respect, worthy of the city which it was intended to adorn. Its erection was decreed in 1647, and, in the beginning of the following year, the first piles were driven for its founda- tion: the old Stadthouse having been de- 118 stroyed by fire in 1652, occasioned this building to be carried on with so much ra- pidity, that, notwithstanding its magnitude and extensive decorations, the magistrates were enabled to officiate in their respective chambers in the new edifice, wilhin the short space of three years. To give a mi- nute description of this superb building would occupy more time and s|)ace than I can conveniently bestow upon it; but I will endeavour, nevertheless, to give you a ge- neral idea of its architectural grandeur and municipal application. Like most of the buildings in Amster- dam, the Stadthouse is erected upon strong piles of timber, which are the only means of giving solidity to a foundation in the swamps of Holland. The number of these piles that was requisite for the work in ques- tion, amounted to thirteen thousand six hun- clred and fifty-nine, and their cost was up- wards of one hun(h'ed thousand ])ounds: upon such a foundation was erected a build- 119 ing two hundred and eightj-two feet long, bj two hundred and thirty-two broad, and one hundred and sixteen feet high. It is divided into three stories by as many ranges of pillars and pilasters of the Ionic, Corin- thian, and Composite orders. The exterior of this magnificent structure is of while stone, highly ornamented with statues, vases, and other embellishments: while the interior decorations of the apartments, which are appropriated to the transaction of public business, possess an high degree of charac- teristic splendour. I shall not attempt a description of the various chambers of this superb edifice, but as it is common in Eng- land to ridicule the taste of Dutchmen, I shall endeavour to describe the hall of jus- tice, which, as a seat of criminal judicature, is a most beautiful example of characteristic architecture and appropriate decoration. Through a marble portal and double doors of solid bronze, with an embossed re- presentation of two swords crossed, and the 120 thunderbolt of Jupiter, we entered this mag- nificent room, which is entirely composed of white marble, enriched by allegorical statues, basso-relievos, and lofty columns. Amongst the sculptures is the judgment of Solomon, the history of Zeleucus the legis- lator of the Locrians, the head of Medusa as represented on the shield of Minerva, and the affecting scene of Junius Brutus con- demning his sons to death. " Rome's forum there, warm, popular, and loud. In trembling wonder hush'd, when the great sire. As he the private father nobly quell'd. Stood up the public father of the state !" Thomson. Before the marble seat from whence sen- tence is passed upon the criminals, is a sta- tue of Silence, represented by a female figure holding her finger upon her lips, with a scull beside it. This is a most interesting apartment, and as in Holland the ceremony of trial and condemnation is conducted with the most awful and impressive solem- 121 nity, very affecting and exemplary scenes must occasionally be exhibited in it. The grand hall which leads to the dif- ferent chambers, is an hundred and twenty feet long, and fifty-seven in breadth; the whole is of white marble, with decora- tions of the Corinthian order ; while each door is surmounted with ornaments cha- racteristic of the several courts to which they belong. In the center of the marble floor is a planisphere twenty feet in dia- meter, which is much admired for the truth and beauty of its representations. There are also some good pictures in this room, but a proper light is wanted to display them to advantage. The tribunals and different courts of judicature are not the only purposes for which the Stadthouse of Amsterdam is so well adapted: in the upper apartments, and subterraneous cells are contained the treasury, bank, magazine of arms, prisons, and several other public offices of various 122 denominations. Upon the roof are placed eight large cisterns of water, from Avhich pipes are directed to every room, in order to prevent the fatal effects of future confla- grations. The whole building is crowned hy a central cupola, which is supported bj eight columns of the Corinthian order: from this eminence there is a commanding view of the city and surrounding country. The prisons which are situated in the lower apartments deserve very particular notice on account of their accommodation, cleanliness, and security: from these me- lancholy chambers it appears impossible to escape; but during confinement the un- happy situation of the prisoners is alleviated by every proper and humane attention. Humanity is indeed a striking characteristic of the Dutch throughout the whole repub- lic: nor shall I apologize for introducing the opinion of the benevolent Howard, after he had visited all the principal dungeons of Europe. 12$ " The prisons in Holland are so retired and appropriate that a visitor can hardly believe himself to be in a prison: they are always white-washed once, and sometimes twice, a year. Each prison has its own surgeon and physician; but the usual jail distempers are very rare. In most of those destined for criminals each prisoner has a separate cell, wdth a bedstead, straw mat- trass, and coverlid, from whence he is not permitted to stir. Throughout Europe, Hol- land is the country w here the fewest crimes are committed, and where justice has seldom occasion to exert her extremest rigour.'^ The patronage extended by the Dutch to every useful and benevolent institution, is an honour to the country. Hospitals under the best regulations are here endowed, for the reception and care of the poor, the sick, the aged, the lunatic, the orphan, the foundling, and every decriplion of tliose who are involved in any of the sad calami- ties which ^'flcsh is heir to!' 124 The education of youth, which is the most essential duty in every state, is here a most particular object of attention. At Amsterdam there are public schools of every denomination. The universities are placed in the provincial towns; they formerly amounted to five, and were situated at Ley- den, Utrecht, Franeker, Groningen, and Harderwick; but some of them, I believe, were suppressed on account of the institu- tion of the central schools. The policy of the Dutch government naturally induces it to pay the greatest attention to the interests of commerce, being well aware that their prosperity as a nation depends upon it: but * the arts and sciences are by no means neg- lected in this metropolis. One of the greatest encouragements that are held out to men of genius and learning, is the FelLv Meritis : this excellent institution was founded in the year 1777, by forty amateurs, under the name of the Society of Merit', it is divided into five departments: the first is commer- 125 cial, including navigation, agriculture, ma- nufactures, and trade of every kind ; the second embraces the science of physic in its most extended sense; the third painting and drawing; the fourth music; and the fifth literature in all its various branches. The number of members increased so ra- pidly, that they were soon enabled to raise a fund for its support, and to erect an ele- gant and convenient edifice for their exhi* bitions and assemblies. The entrance into this building is by a Corinthian portico, with the words Felix Mentis, inscribed in <2:olden letters on the frize. This excellent nursery of the arts meets with very great patronage, and as it has commenced on a similar plan with our national societies in England, it may, in the progress of time, diffuse the radiance of knowledge amongst a people heretofore but little celebrated in the annals of learning and science. The dramatic representations of Holland have never been held in much estimation. 12(5 The stagnant waters of their marshes, and the foggy atmosphere which hangs over them, have seldom been al^le to attract either Thalia or Melpomene from the brink of the Castahan spring. Vondel I have already mentioned; but this country has not been celebrated for having produced either fine writers or good actors. Amsterdam con- tains four licensed theatres, in which, ac- cording to their names, plays are performed in their respective languages. La Comedie Hollandoise, La Comedie Francaisc, La Co- medie Allemande, and La Comedie utile et agreable: the last-mentioned theatre is li- censed to particular persons to perform whatever they please, so that they do not violate the laws of j^ropriety and decorum. The exchange, custom-house, India- house, and other public buildings, will not be rendered interesting b}^ any particular description. The foundations of the old exchange having given way, a new one, upon an in]provcd plan, is now constructing 127 in its vicinity. After a cursory view of these edifices, we walked to the quay near the Zuyder-Zee, to enjoy the beauty of its ma- ritime prospects, when we were suddenly overtaken by such a heavy and threatening- rain, that we were very glad to meet with one of the Dutch sledge-coaches to convey us to our hotel. These arc vehicles without wheels, and are drawn on a sledge by single horses ; while the driver walks beside the carriage door to direct the tardy progress of his clumsy machine. 128 LETTER XII. Amsterdam, May 10, 1803. After another perambulation through this great city, we repaired to the trekschuit, which takes passengers every hour to Biiyk-sloot, from whence they pro- ceed by land to Broek and Saardam. The vessel departed as the clock struck eleven, and in half an hour we landed at Biti/k- sloot, in North Holland. After crossing the river Y, we were tracked up a canal to the inn door at that village, which, in the ap- pearance of the houses and dress of the in- habitants, forms a very singular contrast to those of South Holland. Its people seem almost to be a different race of human beings. The female dress consists of a cap of gauze, or very clear muslin, which, in front, is fitted close to the head by tAvo broad clasps of 129 gold, but falls gracefully behind, in long plaited folds: tliej expose but little hair except two curious ringlets on the temples, which artfully conduct the eye to a pair of large gold earrings. Their dresses abound in valuable chains, necklaces, and brace- lets of gold or other precious materials: an innkeeper told us that when his wife paid her visits, the ornaments of her person ge- nerally amounted to five or six hundred crowns. On occasions of this kind, in order to avoid attention, the ladies usually cover their heads and shoulders with large black hoods, making an appearance by no means unlike the hooded snake of Hin- dostan: these hoods are thrown off on en- tering the house. The contrasted appear- ance of the hood and jewels, with the short swelling petticoats of the lower Dutch fe- males, present a very different costume from that of the demi-nud ladies of London and Paris. Neatness and cleanliness are the general characteristics of the Dutch, but in VOL. I. K 130 North Holland these excellent qualities are carried to such an height, that one might eat from off the pavements of the streets. This excessive cleanliness struck our notice immediately upon our landing at Buyksloot, but our admiration of it was much increased at Broek, or Broeklands. This latter village was indeed our principal attraction in North Holland; and we accordingly hired a light pleasure-waggon to take us thither in our way to Saardam. The country consists en- tirely of marshy plains, without trees or hedges: but a firm, narrow road, somewhat raised, soon brought us to Broek, which is altogether the most singular and whimsical place I ever beheld. The houses, amounting to about three hundred, are entirely isolated; nor are any two of them alike. Each house generally stands in the centre of a little garden, con- taining parterres laid out in scrolls and figures, bordered by box-shrubs, shells, co- loured beads, and glass, which being inter- 131 mingled with verdant turf, produce a very curious effect: some of these beds were va- ried with the choicest flowers. The houses are built of wood, and in the most gro- tesque forms: they are painted with dif- ferent colours, but the green seemed to pre- dominate. The slates or tiles upon the roofs are glazed, and, when the sun shines they produce a dazzling, and very unplea- sant effect. The church is situated in the centre of the village, and is a neat structure, with windows of painted glass representing the cruelties that were perpetrated in this place by the Spaniards. The narrow streets, are all smoothly paved with bricks of a pale colour that are kept as clean as the floor of a drawing-room: no person is even per- mitted to spit in the streets, and they are not of a sufficient breadth to allow the pas- sage of any carriage. A little rivulet called de Havejirak, passes through the village to the Vyver, which is a lake surrounded by the best houses, and whose banks partake of the 132 general local neatness. Delighted as we were with this extraordinary place, we were absolutely astonished at the universal si- lence which every where prevailed; not the smallest noise was to be heard, nor a human form to be seen; and, though in broad day- light, the stillness and solitude of night reigned all around. We even entered the gardens, gathered the flowers, and took up the shells and beads, which composed their variegated beds, without molestation. The following quotation is from Lord Bacon, and exactly describes the style and arrangement of the Broekland gardens. " The garden should be square, encom- passed with a stately arched hedge; and over eveiy arch a little turret, with a belly enough to receive a cage of birds, and over every space between the arches, some other little figure, with broad plates of round co- loured glass gilt, for the sun to play upon: as for the making of knots of figures with divers coloured earths, that they may lie under the windows of the house on that side 133 which the garden stands, they be but toys; you may see as good sights many times in tarts/' With such gardens a lover of nature is disgusted, or at least soon satiated; and all those of Broek are of this description: al- most every tree is shorn, every hedge clipped, and every flower contrasted. We peeped through the shutters and half- drawn curtains of the windows which were next the gardens, but not a human being was to be seen. This place in reality ap- peared to us far more melancholy than did the ideal city which is described in the Ara^ bian Nights Entertainment, in whose streets all the inhabitants were turned into stone; for in the fabulous city there were at least the resemblances of men, but here we saw nothing except neatness, that could for a moment encourage the idea of its being an inhabited place, and yet its population is estimated at a thousand, men, women, and children. At the close of our pcrambula- 134 tion we could with truth assert, that we had seen but one old woman, two men, and a boy. At length, observing something like the contents of a grocer's shop painted upon a door, we resolved to attempt the purchase of a little sugar-candy, and we luckily suc- ceeded. Upon our knocking at the door a middle-aged woman, nicely dressed in the fashion of the place, appeared, and con- ducted us to her shop in the back part of the house, which was cleanliness itself, and there Ave made our little purchase. She permitted us, however, to enter it with our shoes on, a privilege very seldom allowed; for even her own son is obliged to put on slippers whenever he returns home before he is permitted to pass into the dwelling. If any dirt or sand is observed to have been left on the spot where a stranger has trod, though it should be without the house, a servant attends to wipe it away. I have since been informed that the in- 135 habitants of Broek are united by some relir gious and political opinions peculiar to them- selves. Though they are members of the established Dutch church, they profess a devotion and retirement which they think more conformable to primitive Christianity. They carefully avoid becoming victims to, or in anywise contaminated by the fascinating pleasures of the world . They appear to blend in one system the tenets of the Calvinists, Moravians, and Quakers. Many of them are wealthy, and all of them are charitable : they intermarry in their own village, and should a stranger engage the affections of a Broekland girl, he can only obtain her for- tune by consenting to settle in the place. By these means most of the families are united, and strangers in a great measure, if not altogether, excluded. Whenever the carriage of a stranger ap- proaches the window-shutters are closed, and the females retire to the back apartments: they are extremely modest and diffident, and 136 as they never associate with foreigners or strangers, they are very ignorant of those manners and customs which differ from their own: the men are said to be equally shy and reserved ; but amongst their own family circles both sexes are free, convivial, and cheerful. A gentleman addressed us as we were stepping into our carriage in order to depart for Saardam, and obligingly offered to shew us the stables and coach-house belonging to one of the most affluent families in the village. The number of horses I do not re- collect, but we saw eight summer and winter carriages, a coach, an English phaeton, a pleasure waggon, a curricle, and two smaller chaises, together with some elegant traineaus, or sledges, for excursions upon the ice in winter: these traineaus are made in various fanciful forms; sometimes they are shaped and painted like a bird or beast, with its na- tural colour; but the most elegant machine of this kind that I observed here assumed 137 the figure of a rein-deer, fixed upon the sledge in a manner not very unhke a child's rocking-horse. Upon this figure a commo- dious seat is contrived for the accommoda- tion of a lady, who, being warmly wrapped up in fur, can enjoy the conversation of a gentleman who sits behind her on the sledge, and sometimes drives the horses; which, upon these occasions, are often magnifi- cently caparisoned and adorned with a pro- fusion of small silver bells. In Holland and the northern parts of Europe, when the ground is covered with frozen snow, the gay and rich inhabi- tants of those countries form nocturnal par- ties in these traineaus, each being un- der its respective banner, drawn by two horses, and attended by several servants with flambeaus. These curious excursions constitute one of the principal amuse- ments in the long winters of the northern countries. 138 The habitation of the gentleman to whom the carriages belonged, like every other house in the village, had two doors; one of them appears in the front, and is never opened except at the wedding or the funeral of its principal inhabitants ; the other forms a small side entrance, which serves for every common purpose: thus the garden walk at the approach in front remains unimpressed, and the whole of the house being fresh painted every spring, it always has the appearance of a new building. In short, such is the singularity of Broek, that we could scarcely fancy ourselves to be in the same hemisphere with our fellow mortals whom we had left behind: every thing looked like fairy-land, or the sudden eflfect of an enchanter's wand ; particularly, as our transition from the noise and hurry of a large commercial city, to the more than cloistered silence of this extraordinary village, was with so short an interval. A 139 French traveller of reputation gives the fol- lowing very interesting description of it; which I shall not weaken by my translation. " Le joli village de Broek, est sans con- tredit le plus considerable de tons les vil- la gesde la nord Hollande. 11 semble que ce lieu soit le temple de la proprete Hol- landoise. Les maisons sont b^ties d*une facon sino-uliere; et decorees en dehors de peintures en mosaique. On croiroit qu'elles sont toutes neuves, tant ceux de Broek ont soin de les entrelenir. Le dedans repond au dehors; tout y est de la plus grande sim- plicite, mais en meme tems de la proprete la plus recherchee. La moindre vase de cuisine est tenu en aussi bon etat, qu'ailleurs les meubles les plus somptueux. Tout y respire un air de fraicheur, qui fait le plus grand plaisir. Au reste ce n'est qu' avec beaucoup de peine, qu'on se procure Tentree de ces maisons: la vue d'un etranger efFa- rouche les simples habitans de ce village qui k son aspect font retirer leurs femmes 140 et leurs filles dans rappartement le plus re- pule de la maison. Les Jardins sont ordi- nairement devant la grande porte de la maison; cette porte ne s'ouvre qu'a deux occasions extraordinaires, au marriage et a la mort des h6tes de la maison, une petite porte sert a Tusage ordinaire. Au reste les habitans de Broek sont ordinairement tr^s riches, et un paisan sous son gros habit de leure donne souvent une dot de plusieurs tonnes d'or a sa fille. Les rues se ressentent de la proprete ge- nerale, et on a soin de les entretenir tou- jours dans cet etat. On a fait ce conte. Le Pasteur de Broek etant mort, sou suc- cesseur fit longtemps les plus grands efforts pour se concilier Testime et la confiance de ses paroisieurs: mais en vain. Etonne d'avoir tente inutilement toutes sortes de mojens, il s'informa a un des anciens du village de la cause de la proideur que les paisans lui temoignoient. Apres avoir hesite quelque tems cet homme lui repondit, Monsieur le 141 ministre, vous 6tes un homme savant, vous paries' bien Grec et Latin, mais vous montes ou chaire avec des souliers, et votre pred6- cesseur se servoit de pantouffles destinees k cet usage, et que vous trouver6s dans un coin du consistoire. Les habitans de Broek font leurs prin- cipal commerce a Amsterdam, ou ils se rendent ordinairement^ Theure de laBoui'se. lis s'associent pour les grandes enterprises, qu'ils font par cette raison plus surement qu'un simple negociant. Enfin ce village est une des plus grandes singularites de toutes les Provinces Unies; d'o\^ je ne sortis qu' avec les plus vifs, re- grets. Un philosophe, un grand Seigneur degout6 du monde, ne sauroit choisir un plus agr^able retraite que ce village; mais^ il faudroit y apporter cette paix de Tame, et ce contentement interieur, qui semblent ^tre le partage des habitans de cette deli' cieuse contree." The singularity of Broekland must apo- 142 logize for my having so long detained you in its retired domain. We now proceeded to Saardam, or Zaandam, a sea-port town about six miles distant. It is situated upon the top of a dyke, which is raised above the surrounding morasses, and is now covered with verdure, affording pasturage for nu- merous herds of cattle. Amsterdam, with the vessels navigating the Y, large ships sail- ing on the Zuyder-Zee, Haerlem-Meer and its surrounding groves in the distant land- scape, together with Saardam and other towns and villages in North Holland, vary- ing in their appearance w^th every turn of the dyke, formed an ever-changeful pros- pect, until we reached Saardam. This is a village of considerable extent, and is famous for its ship-builders and wind- mills. Vessels of all descriptions are built in the dock-yards; and the number of mills is said to exceed nine hundred and ninety, though they do not quite amount to a thou- sand. Whether this statement is correct or 143 not I cannot determine, but to the sight they appear almost innumerable: they are employed for the various purposes of mak- ing paper, extracting oil, rasping log-wood, cutting tobacco, sawing timber, grinding corn, and many other useful operations. I am not able to enter into the history of each manufactory, or the particular object for which these mills are constructed; but I will just mention, that in one of them forty planks of timber are sawed at once by forty saws set in motion by one master wheel. But neither the docks nor the windmills were my principal attraction to Saardam; for I could see them in other places: but in no other spot could I have visited the humble cottage in which Peter the Great of Russia was contented to reside for two years, whilst he worked as a common ship- carpenter in the yards of Saardam. This homely dwelling consists of two rooms on the ground floor, one of which was occu- pied by the great monarch: his bed place. 144 the three chairs and a table which he used, still remain, but thej are no otherwise cu- rious than as having once belonged to so distinguished a character. The inn-keeper at Saardam purchased this litde tenement for sixty florins, at the period when its destruction was decreed by revolutionary frenzy. The consequence of making this purchase has been, that in the course of one summer since the peace he has received upwards of a thousand florins by shewing it to strangers, who are re- quested to sign their names in a book which is kept open upon the table : by its side lies the life of Peter the Great, whose naval character Voltaire thus delineates in his life of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden. " Pierre, qui vingt ans auparavant, n'avait pas une barque dans la mer baltique, se voyait alors maitre de cette mer, a la tete d'une flotte de trente grands vaisseaux de ligne. Un de ces vaisseaux avait 6te construit de ces propres mains; il 6tait le 145 meilleur charpentier, le meilleur amiral, le meilleur pilote du nord! II n'y avait point de passage difficile qu*il n'eut sonde lui- meme, depuis le fond du golfe de Bothnie jusqu'a Tocean; aiant joint le travail d'un matelot aux experiences d'un philosophe, et aux desseins d'un empereur; et etant devenu amiral par degres, et d force de victoires, com me il avait voulu parvenir au generalat sur terre!" " Immortal Peter! first of kings and men. His stubborn country tam'd, her rocks, her fens. Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sonsj And while the fierce barbarian he subdued, To more exalted soul he rais'd the man. Ye shades of ancient heroes ! ye who toil'd. Through long successive ages, to build up A labouring plan of state, behold at once The wonder done! behold the matchless prince! Who left his native throne, where reign'd, 'till then, A mighty shadow of unreal power; Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts, And roaming every land, in every port His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, Galher'd the seeds of trade, of useful arts. Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. Charg'd with the stores of Europe, home he goes : Then cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste; VOL. I. L 146 O'er joyless desarts smiles the rural reign j Far distant flood to flood is social join'dj The astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar; Proud navies ride on seas that never foam'd With daring keel before ; and armies stretch Each way their dazzling files, repressing here The frantic Alexander of the north. And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons. Sloth flies the land, and ignorance and vice. Of old dishonour proud : it glows around. Taught by the royal hand that rous'd the whole, One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade ; For what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforc'd. More potent still, his great example shew'd." Thomson, 147 LETTER XIII. Amsterc^m, May 11, 1803. Mr. Blank ENHA GEN having in- vited us to his country-house at Over-Nes, nine miles from hence, we hired a hght open carriage, and proceeded thither immediately after breakfast this morning. In our way we passed through the Httle town of Wesep, which is called the key to Amsterdam on this side, though it ap- pears to be very slightly fortified. The Dutch seem to depend more upon their sluices than their fortifications, in case of invasion, and on this account the situa- tion of Wesep derives much consequence: yet in a severe frost like that which occurred when the French armies entered Holland, even this last resource would prove of little avail. But Wesep renders a more essential ser- 148 vice to Amsterdam bj supplying its inha- bitants with good water, which is daily sent there in large boats, in general so deeply laden as to allow the deck to be only two or three inches above the surface of the canal. These vessels are towed by horses, and the water is sold in that city, which, like too many of the Dutch towns, is des- titute of this inestimable necessary of life; the water in the canals being not only brackish, but generally fetid, dirty, and abounding with animalcules. In the city of Amsterdam the canals become every day more and more offensive. The first part of our excursion to Over- Nes was between rows of villas and gardens belonging to the wealthy citizens: in many we observed that the formalities of clipped trees, strait walks, and reflecting platforms, appeared to be giving Avay to winding paths, irregular plantations, and artless clumps of shrubs and flowers, in the tatse of England and of nature. 149 A strait road and several canals, planted as usual with rows of trees, and running through verdant plains of pasture abound- ing with cows and goats, succeeded these villas until we arrived at Tie-Meer, a lake of some extent: a branch of the Rhine then presented itself in a bold navigable stream, richly fringed with wood, particu- larly near Over-Nes, where it flows imme- diately in front of the house, and adds much beauty to a spot on which the taste and fortune of its owner have been emplqyed to render it a very delightful residence. When Mr. B. purchased Over-Nes he found it formal and uninteresting, but he has en- tirely changed its former appearance into one of the most pleasing and beautiful spots I have seen. The groves and shrubberies were filled with nightingales, and in a re- tired part of the wood, upon the decayed trunk of a fine chesnut-tree, stood a stork's nest, which for many years has been the constant resort of a pair of those useful and 150 domestic birds. Seeing the hen upon her nest we silently approached, but on entering the little grove immediately surrounding it, her mate, who had been watching at a dis- tance, came flying downwards in circles, and alighting upon the nest, gently ca- ressed her with his bill, and then hovered over us until we withdrew. The same faith- ful pair regularly resort to this tree evfery spring, and depart at the appointed season to distant climes. The Dutch gardeners excel in the forcing of fruits and the cultivation of vegetables; but I cannot give equal praise to the exotic plants which are preserved in th'eir stoves and green-houses. The orchards^ poultry- yard, stables, coach-house, and offices of every kind attached to Over-Nes, are on the best plan, uniting every English convenience with Dutch neatness. The unremitted at- tentions of our hospitable host were calcu- lated to induce a longer stay than we had it in our power to make. Dr. James, an 151 English clergyman, with his wife and daughter, are on a visit at Over-Nes. This reverend gentleman officiates in the Epis- copal church at Amsterdam, which is sub- ject to the care and ordinance of the Bishop of London. After dinner we extended our walks into the adjacent country, which is every where rural and pleasant, enlivened by flocks and herds, while several large vessels sailing on the river varied the prospect. The summer- house where we drank tea is only separated from its banks by the public road; a situa- tion peculiarly pleasing to the Dutch taste, as the greatest delight of the Hollanders is to sit still themselves, and to behold other objects in motion. It was eleven o'clock when we returned to Amsterdam; nevertheless, at this late hour, I was invited to an entertainment in the city, of a very different nature from the rural pleasures in which we had passed such an agreeable day at Over-Nes. I am . 152 almost ashamed to mention this adventure, but as the Countess d'Artois, the Princess Lamballe, and many other distinguished females had graced the scene, and as I was told that few foreigners quitted Am- sterdam without paying this assembly a visit, I accepted the invitation. This enter- tainment consists of public dances, not al- together of a delicate nature : in short, there are two licensed houses, where ladies of a certain description, and from all parts of Europe, assemble every Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday nights, dressed in the cos- tume of their respective countries, and exhi- biting a singular variety of English, French, Dutch, German, Russian, Friesland, and North Holland females. These ladies dance with the young men who constantly attend upon such occasions. The dances are per- fectly correct, and not a look or action that can offend the most scrupulous delicacy is permitted, but should any temporary attach- ment take place between the parties, a 153 meeting is appointed at some other house, and the forming such engagements is all that is permitted in the public ball-room. Having satisfied my curiosity at the first of these assemblies, I repaired to the second place of rendezvous, which I found to be by no means so decent as the first, and the fe- males were of a very inferior class. A small sum of money is paid at the entrance of the upper ball-room, and the company may have ice, capillaire, or other refreshments, at certain fixed prices: but in order to gain admittance into the inferior assembly no money is given at the door, as every gen- tleman is expected to call for a bottle of wine in the room, and after drinking one glass himself, the waiter is employed to offer the rest to any of the ladies, in the circle before him, which please his taste. The lady, to whom the wine has been offered, must immediately rise and dance in the fashion of her own country; but should it be divided among several females, they 154 then join in a kind of general country dance. In order to nmke the most of my time, I desired my valet to get a bottle of claret, which, according to my direction, was presented to eight of these damsels, who immediately began to exhibit their ta- lents, and danced before me. In the first of these licensed brothels the company have the art to conceal any glar- ing features of their debauchery, so that the most virtuous female, unless previously in- formed of its character, might readily sup- pose herself to be in very proper society: but in the second assembly neither deli- cacy nor decorum are regarded; indeed, so far are they from even assuming a modesty which they do not possess, that the dress, the manners, and the actions of these women, were so very disgusting, that I was very glad to take my leave after a short visit. I do not understand the policy of the magistrates of Amsterdam, where such houses as these are actually sanctioned 155 by law; while at Delft, und several other place», public women are frequently con- fined to the spin-house, or house of correc- tion, for five or ten years, according to the number of their offences. There are also in Amsterdam certain places of legal prostitution, called Speel- houses, where poor wretched females are actually kept in a state of slavery, and sub- ject to every insult and cruelty which their owner and his visitors choose to commit: nor have these truly unfortunate creatures the power to liberate themselves from these most detestable of all mansions, without purchasing their freedom; and it is seldom, indeed, that any of them are able to make such a purchase, as the wages of their ini- quity belong to their proprietor. In the name of Christianity, by what laws, or on what pretext, can such degrading, such filthy, and such abominable practices be audiorised by government! What a painful contrast does there exist between these sinks 156 of iniquity, and those excellent institutions and regulations which I had so much sa- tisfaction in mentioning a few days ago! On what principle, or by what sophistry, can the same men profess to promote the good, while they publicly sanction the vices of their subjects ! 157 LETTER XIV. On board the Trekschuit, between Am- sterdam and Utrecht, May 1 2, 1803. As I had determined to leave Am- sterdam for Utrecht in the course of the day, I took an early walk in order to view several places I had not yet seen; amongst these was the rasp-house, which is said to be one of the best regulated prisons in Europe, and where the profligate and abandoned are chained to blocks, and employed chiefly in rasping Brazil-wood. I had a ticket of admission, but it was unfortunately one of the days when no one is permitted to see it; I was therefore obliged to content myself with admiring the great extent, and solid architecture, of its ex- ternal aspect, and with taking a hasty view of the interior of the building, as I con- 1^3 versed with the keeper. It gave me great pain to hear, even during this short conver- sation, the piercing cries and groans of those who were undergoing the punishment of flagellation; and from the voices of the wretched sufferers, who were crying aloud for mercy, I judged the greater proportion to be women and boys. I returned to the hotel through that quarter of the city which is appropriated to the Jews, wJio, as I have already mentioned^ exceed twenty thousand. The generality of Dutch towns are cleanly to an extreme ; but nothing can be more offensive than the filth of the Jewish part of Ajrasterdam : the whole of it appeai-s to be covered with rotten fish, decayed vegetables, and dis- gusting objects of every description, whilst the people who dwell there are dirty to excess. Many of their houses are however large, and the synagogues are structures of considerable extent; particularly one of them, which belongs to the Portuguese Jews, 159 who are esteemed the most wealthy and re- spectable of the Israehtes in Amsterdam. My perambulations being ended, and having engaged the roof of a trekschuit for my family and luggage, we departed for Utrecht. This stage, or rather voyage, is a distance of twenty-four miles, or an eight hours journey, and the canal upon which we are embarked, is esteemed the most beautiful throughout the whole republic, from the number of villas, gardens, faims, and villages, that appear on its banks. For some miles the passage is along the river Amstel, which runs through a country rich in rural beauty. Half way on our voy- age we arrived at the great sluices which separate the provinces of Holland and Utrecht, and, with the adjacent fortifica- tions, are thought to be of the utmost im- portance for the security of Batavia. On account of the circumstances which have occurred within these few years past, I shall be silent in regard to the political and mi- 1(50 litary departments, the public revenues, and the French requisitions: these are very un- pleasant subjects, and may be temporary, when we consider how suddenly the face of Europe has been changed by revolutions. The silence, and easy motion of a trek- schuit, allows the free use of the pen or the pencil. Whilst gently gliding along the canal I have been sitting upon the roof, and enjoying the surrounding scenery, al- though most of my present pleasures are considerably alloyed by the rumour of an approaching war. At all events, I shall not have occasion to repent that I took my route into France by the way of Holland, instead of passing over from Dover to Calais. Holland is said to have few attractions for travellers, and to derive all the interest which it possesses from its commerce alone: but I think differently. To see a coun- try, stolen as it were from the ocean, Avhose waves we behold checked in their progress by the arm of man, while the bil- 161 lows roll above his meadows, and waft the richest produce of foreign chmes to these nether- lands, apparently so little befriended by nature; to see opulent cities, towns, and villages, the abode of plenty, comfort, and elegance; chearful farms and animated land- scapes; all the offspring of liberty and in- dustry; must kindle joy in every heart that throbs for the welfare and dignity of human nature. The citizen of the world finds charms in every country; and in the just balance of reason and philosophy he weighs the solid advantages and blessings of such a country as Batavia, against the more famed delights of soft Ausonia: and few, perhaps, have felt greater pleasure in wan- dering amongst her classic scenes, than my- self. " Far shining upward to the Sabine hills. To Anio's roar, and Tiber's olive shade. To where Preneste lifts her airy brow. Or downward spreading to the sunny shore. Where Alba breathes the freshness of the main." Thomson. VOL. I. M 152 On entering the province of Utrecht the country assumes a less monotonous ap- pearance than that to which we have been of late accustomed, and though it still conti- nues its level character, the woods and groves, with the numerous villages and country- seats on each side of the canal, produce a change of effect. Many of the latter pre- sent extended elevations, and have ten or twelve windows in their front, exclusive of the offices. Maarsen is a large pleasant village, and the scenery about Breukelen is extremely beautiful, as its groves and gardens entirely skirt the canal; while the air is agreeably perfumed by the abundance of lilacs, sy- ringas, and other vernal shrubs, that are interspersed amongst the weeping-willows which overhang the waters, and adorn the banks: swans are also to be enumerated amongst the ornaments of this scenery; and here also the plantations are enriched with 163 pines and fir-trees, which are not commonly seen in other parts of Holland. The hig:h tower or dome of Utrecht is seen at a considerable distance, and by a gradual approach the tops of other churches and lofty buildings of the city, together with the vessels at anchor, present them- selves to the view, intermingled with the surrounding wood. 164 LETTER XV. Utrecht, May 13, 1803. We landed yesterday evening at the gates of Utrecht, and w ere obhged to walk about a mile before we arrived at the hotel : this circumstance, however, afforded us an opportunity of seeing the principal streets, and the costume and manners of the in- habitants, employed in their different re- creations. Early this morning I visited some of the most interesting objects in a city which has been often mentioned in the history of Europe, and is particularly known from the treaty of 1579, which effected the union of the provinces against Philip the Second of Spain ; and equally so from the congress held there in 1713, and which gave peace to Europe. 165 I found the markets abundantly sup- plied with meat, fish, and vegetables, at very moderate rates, and exhibiting a great variety of dress and manners amongst the rustics from the adjacent country. But nei- ther the Stadthouse, nor any of the other public buildings, presented any thing worthy of particular notice. I wandered, for a con- siderable time, among the solitary cloisters and gothic ruins near the cathedral, which are the remains of a very magnificent struc- ture. But as I could not then enter the part which is appropriated for public service, I shall only say that its exterior displays the same striking neglect of the Dutch, in re- spect to their places of worship, which I observed throughout Holland. Although no people have had more powerful motives to throw off the papal yoke, yet having ef- fected it, and introduced a more pure and simple practice of religion in its stead, I think that the beauty of lioliness should be 166 more respected than it generally is in this country. Our next visit was to Oost-hrook^ the cou try seat of Mr. Sawyer, a banker of Amsterdam. The distance was about a league, and that gentleman was so obliging as to accompany us in his carriage to the Moravian seminary at Zeist. Zeist is a village of considerable extent, which is chiefly inhabited by Moravians, who dwell in lofty houses, surrounding a large square, in which, according to the rules of the society, the sexes are separated from each other, and the different orders have their respective employments. The women dress in the fashion of the country, plain and neat; but here, as in all their other semi- naries, their different states are known by the ribbons worn in their caps: tiie mar- ijed women are distinguished by those of a pale blue colour, the unmarried by rose- colour, and the widows by white; black is 167 never permitted, nor is any mourning made for the dead : on the contrary, when any one dies the apartment of the deceased is strewed with flowers, and soft music an- nounces the departure of an immortal spirit to happier regions. The rules of this society are well calculated to maintain good order and piety; while industry, oeconomy, and charity, pre-eminently abound. We visited their public shops, which are in rooms separated from the more private apartments, and the price is affixed to each article. Some of them contained gold and silver plate, jewellery, watches, and trinkets; others, utensils in copper, iron, brass, and tin, sadlery, horse accoutrements, implements of husbandry and gardening tools; wdiile several are furnished with books and stationary, and none of the necessaries of life are wanting. They do not desire the company of strangers, who can only sec them together when the}" assemble in public worship, and their religious ceremonies are very solemn 168 and devout: their mode of catechizing and instructing the children offers an excellent example to every community of Christians. Zeist is one of the most considerable Moravian seminaries in Europe, and I have endeavoured to gain every information re- specting this interesting sect. In Germany they are called Hernhutters, and were first established there in the fifteenth century, on the borders of Silesia, nearLititz, which then belonged to the king of Bohemia, who at length became their patron; and as they made numerous converts, both in that coun- try and Moravia, they were styled Brethren of Bohemia and Moravia. In England thy are known only by the name of Moravians; and amongst themselves by that of the United Brethren. In Piedmont and some other countries they have suffered severe persecution. Lu- ther at first countenanced, and afterwards deserted them; but Calvin esteemed and patronized them. After the reformation 16J they were little heard of until the year 1722, when Christian David, one of the society, conducted the remnant of his church into Upper Lusatia, and recommended it to the protection of count Zinzendorrf, who granted them a small territory near the village of Ber- tholdsdorf, with permission to build a place of worship. A little colony was soon esta- blished on this spot, which took the name of Hereiihout, or, the Guard of the Lord; in less than twelve years, however, after its establishment, it could not contain the great number of converts who resorted thi- ther, so that many of them emigrated to the banks of the Rhine, and formed colonies in the Electorate of Saxony, Silesia, Bran- denburg, England, and even in America; in most of which countries they have greatly increased, and every where have been esteemed for their exemplary conduct as christians and subjects. The religious tenets, and general eco- nomy of the Moravian church, is much ad- 170 mired. They regard the holy scriptures as the volume of divine inspiration; and, as such, they believe all its contents literally, without admitting any human comments or interpretations. They look up with hum- ble hope and joy to our blessed Saviour, as to the lamb who was slain for our re- demption, and who made by his sacrifice a complete propitiation for the sins of fallen man: they admit of justification only in him, and allow of no other plea for salva- tion than that of divine grace, through faith in a crucified Redeemer. The style of their hymns and other writings is ex- tremely figurative: this circumstance, toge- ther with a misinterpretation of their Agapae, or love-feasts, has sometimes caused them to be treated Avith undeserved contempt and ridicule. Their love-feasts are nothing more than slight repasts, taken by the head of a family surrounded by his children, re- lations, and domestics; and sometimes by a larger association of the brethren and in sisters, who partake of a frugal meal, con- verse on religious subjects, and at part- ins* receive from each the embrace of peace. The rites and ceremonies of the Mora- vians differ very little from those of the Pro- testant churches. They hold genera land provincial synods, the former only once in three years, but the latter oftener; and they have an advocate who is styled their defender and protector; which is an honour that se- veral princes have been proud of deserving: two emperors, and two kings of Bohemia, have not been ashamed to boast of this rank in the society. The Moravian bishops ordain the in- ferior clergy, and give absolution: their habit is plain and simple, and is distin- guished by a cap of purple: at ordina- tions they wear a long white robe, with a red girdle. The ecclesiastical discipline of this society is very strict; but its mem- bers seldom commit crimes of sufficient 172 enormity to be cognizable by the magis- trates : their own internal regulations for the promotion of virtue, and suppression of vice, are found to operate with great suc- cess, as they are uniform, salutary, and im- pressive. At the baptismal sacrament, ex- clusive of the usual ceremony, the priest pours water three times upon the infantas breast; and the commemoration of the Lord^s supper is always performed in the evening: after consecration, a priest and deacon distribute the bread to the brethren; another priest, with a deaconess, gives it to the sisters, and all the communicants put it into their mouths at the same moment, having their faces prostrated towards the ground: the cup is tlien offered in succes- sion; after which each brother gives, and receives, the kiss of peace; and the sisters, who are always in a separate part of the church, do the same: the ceremony con- cludes with a benediction. Washing the feet of the disciples on Holy Thursday, is 173 also observed in some of the principal se- minaries. Marriages are formed by the choice of the elders, though not, I believe, in that compulsive manner which is generally as- serted; but certainly with less fore-know- ledge and attachment between the parties concerned, than amongst other persuasions, and yet it is said that unhappy marriages seldom occur. The funerals are attended by both sexes, and, as I have already ob- served, none of the parties wear black, or any other symbol of mourning ; on the con- trary, the corpse is borne to the grave ac- companied with the softest strains of music, which are designed to inspire, or at least pro- mote, the conviction, that they shall rise from the tomb to everlasting felicity. On Easter- day, at sunrise, they visit the tombs of their departed ancestors and friends, particularly of those who died in the preceding year; when they silently meditate on the sweet communion which they enjoyed togetiier on 174 earth, and pray for its renewal in heaven, where it will last for ever. The cemeteries are remarkably neat, and not unfrequently planted with trees and flowers, like a beau- tiful garden. " Thrice welcome such a death! That, after many a painful bleeding step. Conducts us to our home, and lands us safe On the long -wished for shore. Prodigious change! Our bane turn'd to a blessing! Death disarm'd Loses its fellness quite: all praise to Him Who took the venom out ! Sure the last end Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit! Night dews fall not more gently to the ground. Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft !" Blair, On our return from Zeist we accompa- nied Mr. Sawyer in a visit to his farm, con- sisting of two hundred acres, which is let to a man who resides upon the estate, with his mother, a wife, and ten children, who are all employed in its cultivation. AVe visited this family, and found every part of the house neat and comfortable, bright brass and pewter utensils abounded in the kitchen, and cheeses in every stage of their manu- 175 factory filled the dairy: upon a reading desk near the fire I observed a large family bible, which appeared to be often used : the black bread was very sweet, and the butter deli- cious; fresh meat they seldom taste; salt fish, salt beef, boiled pease, and vegetables, are the usual fare of the Dutch farmers, except when they kill a pig, when they enjoy a fresh meat regale. These animals are all regularly washed once a week, and scrubbed with soap and brushes, and their sties par- take of the general cleanliness. Their bees are occasionally shut up in the hives, and shifted from place to place according to the produce of nectareous sweets. We saw a dozen of hives just prepared for transpor- tation to the nursery gardens of Amster- dam. I have been thus particular in the description of this place, because it affords a general specimen of the Dutch farms. There is more wood, and less water, in the whole department of Utrecht, and espe- cially near Oost-brook, than wc have been 176 accustomed to see in Holland. Near the house are some very ancient elms, nearly coeval with the abbey they once shaded. The kitchen gardens are extensive, and have excellent forcing-houses : the gardener shewed me a simple method of engrafting, which seldom fails to insure a succession of the best fruit. He takes up a sucker from a wild cherry-tree in the woods, and plants it near a favourite fruit-tree, either wall or standard. When it has taken root, the top is cut off; an incision is then made of about an inch long in the stock, and a branch of the neighbouring fruit-tree is gently led towards it: the most promising shoot being then se- lected, the bark is cut away on each side so as to leave only a small channel for the sap to pass along, and it is fitted into the orifice, which is immediately covered over with a compost of bees-wax and rosin, to prevent the admission of air. In the space of two jears this becomes a flourishing tree, and is removed to its place of final destination. 177 LETTER XVI. Utrecht, May 14, I8O3. My morning walks in this city are very unproductive of information. Utrecht differs in some respects from other Dutch towns in the construction of its canals, which have double channels: the lower one is deep and narrow for the reception of water, while the other is filled with a range of subterraneous mansions, placed on each side, whose roofs are lower than the streets, with Avhich they have communication by stairs. These dwellings present a very sin- gular appearance. Some parts of the town are pleasant and airy, planted with trees, and containing many good houses. In the centre of the great square, instead of the Tree of Liberty, stands a colossal statue of the goddess her- VOL. I. N 178 self, with her emblematical cap on the point of a long spear; she rests upon a fluted column that is placed on an high pedestal: the figure is, I believe, of marble, but the column and pedestal are merely of painted w'ood. The internal appearance of the great church exactly conesponds with theexterior: it was once a very magnificent structure^ but the nave and all the western front is dila- pidated, and the choir, which is still used for public worship, is mean^ dirty, and neg- lected. The woman who was employed ta shew us the building, entertained us with cthe legendary tales of St* Martin and the beggai', and pointed out their statues and portraits, which adorn the convocation chamber; where there is also to be seen a statue of the first bishop of Utrecht, who founded this cathedral, a model of which he holds in his hands. . . Time and neglect have not proved the only enemies to this fabric: revolutionary 179 phrenzy and lawless anarchy, have, within these few years, contributed their exertions towards its final demolition, and their un- reflecting fury was particularly directed to the destmction of the beautiful monument which had been erected to the memory of Amelia, Countess of Solmes, and the widow of Frederic Henry, Prince of Orange, who built the House in the Wood, as I have al- ready mentioned . Her tomb was a large and handsome composition, situated in a sepa- rate chapel of the church, the floor of which is now covered with fragments of its statues and ornaments : the sarcophagus which con- tained the body was broken open, the coflin taken out, and the remains of the princess are publicly exposed to every visitor. On our return we observed a crowd that had assembled round a scaffold erected be- fore the Stadthouse, for the punishment of two men accused of robbery and murder. The judges were stationed at the windows, a fire was kindled on the scaffold, a num- 180 bet of rods and cords were prepared, and the inferior officers were waiting the arrival of the prisoners, who at length appeared upon the platform, and heard the particu- lars of their crime and sentence publicly tead. One of them, less guilty than the other, received forty-five strokes with a rod, and was condemned to ten years labour in the workhouse: his comrade, whose ap- pearance was indescribably savage, had been convicted of the robbery, but escaped death on account of the murder not hav- ing been sufficiently proved, though little doubt existed that he had killed his sister. Enormous crimes appeared to be heredi- tary in this man's family j for his father was hanged for a similar offence, and his mo- ther had been publicly flogged and burned in the back: this latter punishment now awaited the son, who, with a rope round his neck, was led under the gallows, and there tied up and scourged with great seve- rity. The arms of Utrecht were then stamped 181 »pon his back with a hot iron, and he was committed to hard labour for thirty years. 1 have nothing more to say of Utrecht, nor, in this time of suspense and uncer- tainty, must we think of visiting any other parts of the Batavian repubhc, which is soon seen and as easily remembered : its monotony lessens the trouble of recollec- tion. The most considerable towns are in the province of Holland, in which we have passed all the time our situation allows us. I shall take my leave of this singular country in the words of Sir William Temple, which exhibit a brief but faithful picture of it. < . *' Holland is a country where the earth is better than the air, and profit more in request than honour; where there is more sense than wit, more good-nature than good- humour, and more wealth than pleasure. Where a man would choose rather to travel than to live; will find more things to ob- serve than admire; and more persons to esteem than to love.'' 182 LETTER XVII. Antwerp, May l6, 1803. Aft ER an early dinner we left Utrecht for Antwerp, a distance of seventy-two miles, by the route of Gorcum and Breda. Here we parted with our faithful and humble friend Tromp, who accompanied us from the Hague. We found him a pleasant, in- telligent companion, who made our con- tracts for the trekschuits and carriages, and protected us from every kind of imposi- tion: he lived many years in the capacity of valet de chambre to the Prince of Orange, and attended him in his misfortunes to Eng- land, where he remained several years. Our own servant not speaking Dutch, and travelling by water being now at an end, to avoid trouble, I made an agreement with the master of the hotel at Utrecht to 183 furnish us with a carriage and four horses to Antwerp for a hundred florins, or about nine pounds sterhng, including turnpikes and ferries. Near Utrecht we passed seve- ral villas, family seats, and a few woods, which are objects of consideration in Hol- land; and in about an hour arrived on the banks of the Maes, from whence our steeds trotted nimbly with the carriage into the ferry boat. It contained also a waggon, a gentleman's coach with its horses, and several oxen. A fresh breeze carried us soon over; when we entered a very level and fertile country, abounding in corn and cattle, with the usual accompaniments of villages, farms, and hamlets. This scenery conti- nued to Gorcum, a small clean town of a very comfortable appearance, containing six thousand inhabitants, four churches, and the usual public buildings. Those parts of the ramparts which were planted with trees, formed very pleasant walks, and the Mer- wede, a branch of the Macs, flowing in a 184 bro^ stream near the town, is an important (rt)ject in the surrounding landscape. ' f [JO The next day we travelled twenty-four miles, from Gorcum to Breda; but indifferent roads and several successive ferries prevented onr accomplishing this distance in less than tMght hours. The first part was through a low marshy country, covered with a strong grass, sometimes intersected by open corn-fields, and all the villages embosomed in blooming orchards of apples, pears, and cherries. As we approached Breda the landscape changed from an entire flat to sand-hills covered with fii-s, encircling plains of broom, and fern : ihe- direction posts very properly marked the distance on these heavy roads, not by miles but hours; and we met but one car- riage during the whole journey. The road IS paved on approaching Breda, and in its immediate vicinity the country is pleasant, and fertile. This ancient city, esteemed the capital of Dutch Brabant, is strongly fortified, and 185 contains upwards of eight thousand inhabi- tants, who seem equally divided in respect to their religious opinions ; there being four Roman Catholic, and as many Lutheran and Calvinist churches. Breda is in all re- spects superior to Gorcum : many of its public buildings deserve attention, and the palace of the Prince of Orange, now con- verted into a French hospital, has been a fine structure. Near the town is a convent of Beguine nuns, and we visited another small seminary of that society within the walls: all the other religious houses have been suppressed. The public gardens, con- tiguous to the palace, are large and possess somewhat of the agreeable irregularity of English taste. Here we exchano;ed our Dutch florins for French crowns, and early this morning we departed for Antwerp, a journey of about thirty miles. We had a tolerable road during the first hour, and then entered the heavy sands which we had been prepared to expect. 186 ?(» The country from Breda to Hoorstadtj the first town in Flanders, and midway to Antwerp, presented alternate changes of cultivated farms and dreary heaths; but the latter predominated, and the diverging roads without direction posts occasion dif- ficulty and delay, as we experienced from the ignorance of our coachman, who had not been at Antwerp for thirty years. The heaths were generally skirted with groves of fir, and now and then a tolerable oak. We passed but few villages, but they were sur* rounded with corn-fields in a very luxurious state of cultivation, while the meadows were covered with cattle; but whether amid scenes of cultivation or barren heaths, the road always lay through heavy sands, and our progress proportionably tedious, nor were we often cheered by the sight of an human being. At Hoorstadt our trunks and packages were strictly examined, nor could any pe^ cuniary consideration prevent it; but the 187 French officers behaved with civihty, and detained us no longer than their official in- vestigation required. Here we left the de- partment of Dutch Brabant, and with it the last southern district belonging to the Batavian republic. We now entered the most northern territory of France, which forms a distinguished part of its late im- mense acquisitions ; and all these extensive plains, called the Low Countries, Nether- lands, or Dutch, Austrian, and Spanish Flanders, have re-assumed the ancient name of Belgium, which it possessed in the time of Julius Caesar, the conqueror of Gaul, or Gallia Transalpina, from its local situation in respect to Italy. This territory Caesar formed into three divisions; the inhabitants of the northern districts from the Seine to the Meuse, he called Belgae; those who in- habited the country from thence to the Ga- ronne were the Celtae; and the southern provinces from the G aronne to the Pyrenees, were peopled by the Aquitani; whose Ian- guage indicated a common origin with tjie Iberians or Celtiberians of Spain. >v Mo'rt» ffi These provinces continued under the Roman government from that period until ihe beginning of the fifth century, when the Ff-ancs, a warUke people of Germany, made incursions into the northern provinces of OauV conquered the Romans, estabhshed themselves in their fortresses, and, about the year 420, their great chieftain Pharamond became the first king of France; a mo^ nar?chy, which under sixty-seven princes of three different races, or families, continued until the death of Louis the Sixteenth in ^-Hie Francs formed a tribe of those people, who under the general name of J'ranc, which signifies free, inhabited that part of Germany situated between the Rhine and the Weser, comprehending Franconia, Thuringia, Friesland, and Westphalia. Like our common ancestors the Saxons and other German nations, they lived nearly in a sa- 189 vage i^tate, governed by the Druids, priefll? astrologers, and judges. The Netherlands and Picardy were their first conquests from the Romans, which Clovis, the fifth kin^ of France, greatly extended, and at length* under Charlemagne, the second king , The other ten provinces, called the Spa- nish Netherlands, remained under the do- minion of Spain until 1714, excepting a part of Brabant, which had been taken by the Dutch, and some districts in Flanders, Hainault, and Cambray, conquered by the French in the seventeenth century, and called French Flanders. At that period the Spanish provinces were ceded to the emperor of Germany, and assumed the de- nomination of the Austrian Netherlands, or Flanders, the common appellation of the whole country. The French in 1794 be- came masters of the Austrian provinces, which were formally ceded by the emperor .L u 192 of Germany to the French repubhc by the treaty of Campo Formio m 1797> and con- firmed by that of Luneville in 1801. Thus the French became masters of the Austrian Netherlands, and all that part called Dutch Flanders, excepting Brabant, which was annexed as a new department to the Batavian republic : to these were added the bishopric of Liege, formerly a part of Germany ceded to France by the congress at Radstadt in 1798; and this ex- tensive territory, under the ancient name of Belgium, or La Belgique, now forms nine departments in the French republic, whose names and distinctions it is not necessary for me to detail; as I am well aware a pro- longed account must be dry and uninte- resting to a distant reader, though extremely necessary for the information of a traveller; who, without such geographical and topo- graphical knowledge, is often led into per- })lexities from which those inhabitants are not, i!^3 in geneml, qualified to extricate him, vfMi whom it is his usual lot to communicate i«A the progress of his journies. ''••»r* On leaving Hoorstadt the country as- sumed a more agreeable appearance j but'tJife road continued to be very heavy: we tli»6fc«ir"> fore passed slowly through extensive woods of fir, sometimes diversified with oaks and beeches; the fields were generally enclosed and planted with trees and hedge-rows; a gentle swell now and then appeared, but I must not even dignify their appearance with the name of hills. Intervening heaths caused the only variety, as we had now taken lea\'^ of canals, and sails gliding between tlie ovctp shadowing willows. The country seemed less populous than Holland, and the dress of the peasants was similar to that in Utrecht and Dutch Brabant. The lofty spire of Antwerp cathedral had been a welcome object for many n}iles, and on leaving the last extensive heath, about two leagues from that city, we ciUcrcd a VOL. I. o 194 paved road, skirted with rows of lofty oaks and beeches, which screened the woodlands on either side. We passed but few towns or villages, nor did any appearance of carriages or passengers indicate our approach to this great city, Avhere we arrived eleven hours after leaving Breda, though it Avas a journey of no more than thirty miles. 195 LETTER XVIII. Antwerp, May 1 "J, \ 803. We have since our arrival been fuUj employed in visiting the most inviting objects of this celebrated place, formerly one of the largest and most populous cities in the Netherlands, and now the capital of a department in the French republic, which contains three hundred and fifty-three thou- sand inhabitants, sixty-two thousand of which reside in Antwerp. It is seventy-eight leagues from Paris, most advantageously situated on the banks of the Escaut or Scheldt, a noble river, twenty feet deep at low water, so that the vessels anchor close to the quays; while the basins or docks, which join the canals, and comnumicate with the Scheldt, are large enough to contain an hundred vessels. Tlie city assumes the form of a crescent, is about 196 seven miles in circumference, and sur- rounded by a wall and bastions. Most of the inhabitants are Roman Ca- tholics; the Protestants are chiefly mer- chants from various parts of Europe; among them are a few English families, but not more than five or six Jews reside in this city. We first visited the church of St. James, which has not been very much despoiled of its pictures. We found it crowded with worshippers, and the priests ofliciating at the different altars, adorned with images, flowers, and other decorations. But the cathedral of Notre Dame presented a very different appearance. It is one of the finest gothic structures on the continent, with a beautiful spire four hundred and seventy- six feet high, of light, elegant, and enriched architecture. All its marbles, paintings, and statues, are either destroyed or removed; and the disappointed traveller finds only white-washed walls instead of the invalu- 197 able works of Reubens, Vandyke, and other celebrated masters: amons; these was the descent from the cross by Reubens, which is universally allowed to be one of the finest pictures in Europe : it is now in the Louvre at Paris, Avhere we shall behold it with far less interest than in tlie church for which he had painted, and where he himself placed this masterpiece of his superior genius. The tomb of this great artist is in a small chapel behind the high altar in St. James's church, where a marble slab covers the re- mains of himself and family, and a small mural monument of black marble is in- scribed to his memory: this chapel was for- merly decorated wdtli one of his best pic- tures, now at Paris. We then repaired to the ci-devant church of the Dominicans, which has indeed lost its finest paintings, though it otherwise dis- covers but small marks of sacrilegious pil- lage: our principal visit, however, Avas to the adjacent chapel of Calvary, which is one of 198 the most singular and curious places I have ever seen. It consists of rock-work, in the open air,curiouslj disposed in different arches and compartments, surrounding a chapel of similar materials, which contains a model of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, made by a monk who went thither for that purpose. The body of our Saviour in marble reposes in the tomb, and on the outside are repre- sented the Roman soldiers employed to guard it previous to the resurrection. Among the rocks are groupes of figures, in their natural proportions, of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; with some of the principal pas- sages of the New Testament interspersed, which more particularly relate to our Sa- viour's miracles and crucifixion. Under a tree in the adjoining garden is a represen- tation of that interesting scene where Mary kneels to her risen Redeemer, and exclaims Rabboni! The sculpture in this strange re- pository, cannot boast of any superior me- rit: it seemed, on the contrary, to be a 199 composition resembling Coade's artificial stone. Scenes in hell, purgatory, and pa- radise, were also carved and painted on wood, and I doubt not produce the in- tended effect on ignorant and superstitious minds. The Dominicans, with all the other monkish orders, have been dispossessed of their establishments, and compelled to seek their fortunes in a world which they had once renounced. A few nunneries are still per- mitted; and we visited the society of Be- guines, similar to the sisterhood at Breda. They occupy an extensive range of buildings, where each nun is allowed three rooms, a small chapel, and a garden to herself. They may pay and receive visits, go into the city, and whenever they shall be so inclined, may quit their order, and return to the concerns and connexions of the world. Their office is to attend and nurse the sick, which they perform with unceasing care and kindness. The Exchange next claimed our atten- tion: it is constructed on a plan similar to that 200 of Amsterdam; and is now embellishing for the reception of Bonaparte and Madame, who are expected here in about a fortnight. Magnificent preparations are making in various parts of the city on this occasion; but the Exchange is to be the principal scene of festivity. The walls, within the piazzas, are painted in fresco, to represent views in Egypt, Switzerland, Italy, and other countries which have been the scenes of his exploits; and the perspective very suc- cessfully executed. One part of this build- ing is converted into a temporary theatre, and another is transformed into a ball- room. One entire side is occupied by the dinner tables, and in the area is to be a grand display of fire-works. The festival is to last five days, and on each day a dinner is to be served up of five hundred covers. This magnificent entertainment is to be given at the expence of the merchants, who, I should imagine, are much less able to afford it at present than in the reign of Charles the 201 Fifth, when its trade was so extensive and its opulence so great, that John Daens, one of its principal merchants, lent a million of ducats to the emperor to carry on his war in Hungary; and at a splendid ban- quet which he gave to his sovereign in this city, closed his sumptuous hospitality by burning the imperial bond in a fire made of cinnamon which had warmed the room. From the Exchange we proceeded to the custom-house, and the quay where the ves- sels unload on the banks of the Scheldt; but we found no more than about a dozen vessels of all descriptions, in a spot which was formerly the great mart of the Nether- lands, and the resort of the richest traders in Europe. But Antwerp has lost its former occupation, and silence reigns where the bustle of commerce and the busy hum of men once gave so mucli life and spirit to this renowned emporium. Mr. Valancey indulged us with a sight 202 of his pictures, which form a valuable col- lection bj Reubens, Rembrandt, Vandyke, Wouvermans, and other eminent Dutch and Flemish artists. In a public exhibi- tion of four hundred paintings from va- rious schools, we saw a most exquisite Ma- dona bj Carlo Dolce; it is all that paint- ing can express of tenderness and beauty, and displays one of the sweetest counte- nances I ever saw by that fascinating mas- ter: near it was a holy family by Cignani, happily executed in the manner of Raphael, and several valuable works by Ostade, De Heem, Denner, Ruysdale, Neefs, and other painters. We are just returned from an evening walk to the citadel, which is now gar- risoned by two thousand French troops, who permitted us to go where we pleased, without the least interruption or enquiry, ft suffered much in the late siege, and still remains in a ruinous state: the ravaws of war, and the wanton destruction of the 203 French soldiers, are too visible in most parts of the town : rows of ancient trees are cut down, a new church burned to the ground, and others despoiled of all their exterior beauty. 204 LETTER XIX. Eruflells, May IQ, 1803. Yesterday morning we left An- twerp for Brussells, a distance of twenty- four miles, which are equally divided by Ma- lines, or Mechlin, its Flemish denomina- tion. It is a large old town surrounded by a wall and towers, in bad repair, but with- out a garrison. The large tower of the ca- thedral is a beautiful and very lofty structure; and the dial of the clock, which is thirty-six feet in diameter, is placed at such an height as to lose all its appearance of extraordinary dimensions. This church has been also de- spoiled of its best pictures. Malines, in- deed, affords but little to attract the notice of the enquiring stranger but its delicate lace, which in its fabrication employs a great number of the female inhabitants. 205 The road from Antwerp to Malines is paved, the country flat, but highly culti- vated, and the corn very luxuriant, both in extensive open fields, and small enclosures, and variegated by vetches, potatoes, and other useful vegetables: the whole country indeed is so enriched with trees, that at a distance, it wears the appearance of a thick forest. The next six miles from Malines brought us to Vilvorde, a small uninteresting town, where Ave made no stay, but proceeded through a sweet rural plain towards Brus- sells, increasing in beauty as we approached the city. The road takes its course along the side of the canal that communicates with Antwerp, enlivened by boats, barges, and swans. The meadows and corn fields which wear a most luxuriant appearance, are sprinkled with large trees, while several villas adorned with woods enrich the ge- neral prospect. And here, for the first time, Avc beheld liills, or at least fme swelling up- 206 lands, particularly near Laeken, the villa erected by the duke of Teschen, the hus- band of the archduchess Maria Christina, when they were governors of the Low Countries. Tt is a princely mansion, en- riched by woods and lawns, adorned with various appropriate buildings, and laid out according to the taste of English gardens, and is superior to any thing we have yet seen on the continent. This magnificent edifice, and its beautiful domain, cost up- wards of nine millions of livres tournois; and is now on sale as national property. It is situate at the distance of two miles from Brussells, where we arrived about five o'clock, at the Belle- Vue hotel, which forms a part of a very fine square, adjoining the park which contains the fine public walks of this city. Brussells, formerly the capital of the Austrian Netherlands, is now the capital of the department of the Dyle, so called from one of its rivers; the whole of whose popu- 207 lation amounts to three hundred ninety-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine souls. Its other principal towns are Lou- vain, Nivelles, and Tirlemont. Brussels is situated on t]ie banks of the Senne, sixty- nine leagues from Paris, and is divided into the upper and lower towns, the latter of which near the river, is the residence of the merchants, shopkeepers, and inferior orders of the community, and has little to distin- guish it from other cities; but the former part is one of the most beautiful places in Europe, for its airy situation and elegant buildings, both public and private; parti- cularly those in the Place Royal, and the houses surrounding the public gardens called the park; a very large enclosed space, formed into three grand avenues of shady trees, adorned with busts, urns, and statues ; and between them artless shrubbery walks, leading to dells and woody glens, which have an uncommon effect in a city garden : in one of these recesses is a fountain, with 208 a latin inscription on its margin, recording a visit from Peter the Great, in 1717. These gardens are now in high beauty, and are receiving many additional embellishments for the reception of Bonaparte, in triumphal arches, preparations for fire-Avorks,and other decorations similar to those at x\ntwerp. We passed some hours at the palace, where the princes of the imperial family, as governors of the Austrian Netherlands, formerly resided with great magnificence, and kept a splendid court : but the apart- ments are now stripped of every moveable, and a melancholy silence pervades its spa- cious chambers. The tapestry, pictures, and most valuable articles, were removed to Vienna before the French beo^an their pillage, as well as the fine pictures that adorned some of the churches. The princi- pal rooms are now converted into a national library, and contain a large collection of books; among them are some early speci- mens of printing; Cicero's Ofl^ices, at Ve- 209 nice in 1470, Speculum Conscientiae, the first book printed at Brussells, in 1476, and Ovid's Metamorphoses in French, in 1480: in the manuscript room we were shewn a Virgil and Terence, of the ninth century' on vellum, in fine preservation. Another part of the palace is appro- priated to the national collection of pic- tures, which at present occupies five rooms, and consists chiefly of large paintings from the churches in different parts of Belgium; several of these are by Reubens and other Flemish masters ; but among them is a pro- duction of Vandyke^s pencil, which, from its great merit, I should have supposed would have been transported to Paris: it represents the Saviour as just nailed to the cross, with several strong men endeavouring to erect it, and consequently has afforded great opportunity to display attitude and expression: the contrast between the dy- ing Saviour, and those ministers of cruelty, is very striking; but the mingled sensations VOL. I. p 210 of agony, sorrow, dignity, meekness, and resignation, displayed in His countenance, are beyond any thing I ever beheld or could have conceived: nor did the most pathetic preacher ever awaken such emo- tions in my breast, as were produced by the contemplation of this inimitable picture. 211 LETTER XX. Mons, May 20, 1803. We left Brussells this morning at ten o'clock in an hired chariot for Paris, and travelled on an excellent road, shaded by lofty elms, with a pave in the centre, through a country pleasingly diversified with hill and dale, which gives the Flemish landscape such a decided superiority over that of Hol- land. This part of Flanders is finely wooded, highly cultivated, and abounds with villages and farms: it brought to my recollection some part of Berkshire, and wanted the Thames alone to give it a very strong re- semblance to that charming county. While the horses rested we took our cold collation, and passed two hours in a small town about half way between Brussells and Mons, where we quitted the department of 212 the Dyle, and entered that of Genap,so named from a town famous for the battle from which the French date the first success of the re- pubhcan arms: its population amounts to four hundred and eight thousand six hun- dred and sixtj-eight persons. Mons is the capita], and its other principal towns are Charleroy and Tournay on the Escaut. On resuming our journey, the country exhi- bited bold undulations of corn-fields and meadows, bounded by woody hills, and in- terspersed with comfortable villages. Mons is only ten leagues from Brussells, and we reached it long before sun-set, which afforded us sufficient time to see the little it contains. At a distance it possesses an handsome appearance from the spires of the church, and a few other public build- ings; but on a nearer approach the travel- ler finds it to be an old, dirty town: in- deed with the language of Holland we have lost its neat and cleanly character. At Brussells the lower classes spoke the native 213 language of the country, while French was that of the higher orders. At Mons the in- habitants of every description use the latter, and the general appearance of their houses, furniture, and apparel, is mean and shabby : the road leading to it was for some miles infested by little dirty beggars, who at in- tervals performed feats of tumbling, and, in a clamorous manner, ran for miles toge- ther by the side of the carriage to implore our charity. The approach to Mons is between two lofty columns of hewn stone, and a shady avenue leading to the principal gate, which is now rebuilding. We have visited all the principal parts of the town, but saw nothing remarkable except the prospect from the tower, which is situated on an eminence, and from its platform we overlooked all the other churches and every lofty building around them. The only carriage we passed in ibis day's journey was the Paris diligence, which, 214 though not inconvenient, is one of the most unsightly vehicles that can be imagined: the body of the coach accommodates six persons within; and the imperial on the roof, which is without a lid, holds five or six more, with a quantity of luggage: in front is a covered seat with leather curtains, called the cabriolet, which contains three other passengers ; and behind is an immense basket for packages : the body is not hung from springs, but fastened to the carriage by strong leather straps, strengthened by chains and ropes for general security: this unwieldy machine is drawn by six, eight, or ten horses, according to the nature of the road, all in rope harness, and generally under the care of one postillion; while a man seated on the imperial conducts the whole arrangement of this stupendous ma- chine ! 215 LETTER XXL Cambray, May 22, 1803. We left Mons at an early hour yesterday morning for Valenciennes, a distance of seven leagues; and at about two miles from Mons we came to Genap, which, as I have already mentioned, gives its name to the department, and is famous for the desperate battle between the French and the Austrians, which was fought on the fifth of November 1792. The Aus- trians posted themselves advantageously on the heights of Genap, where they formed strong redoubts, mounted with near an hun- dred pieces of artillery. Dumouricr, who commanded the French army, resolved to storm these works; and a most dreadful enirasement ensued: the Austrians behaved with great bravery; but the French, after 216 suffering an immense carnage, at length, by their superior numbers, obhged them to re- tire; and Brussells soon after received the conquerors. We met with an intelUgent person, who pointed out the respective positions of the French and Austrians, shewed us the spot where many thousand brave men were buried, and gave us much local informa- tion: it was a scene we could not be- hold with indifference. Genap is a large straggling village; and the country for se- veral miles around is blackened by the smoke of the engines at the coal-pits, with Avhich it abounds: the roads, the trees, the water, houses, and inhabitants, all partake of this sable hue. Besides the numerous waggons filled with coals, we met many hundred females laden with large baskets, full of this fuel, fastened on their backs by a leather strap tied round the forehead; and often saw carts of coals, drawn by six dogs, containing at least half a chaldron: 1^17 they sell on the spot for about fourteen florins a ton. We refreshed the horses at a small place called Cavelen, on the banks of the Renel, a rivulet which, in this place, formerly di- vided the French and Austrian Netherlands, and on crossing the bridge we entered the most northern part of French Flanders, which now extends, indeed, to the borders of Dutch Brabant, while the French in- fluence predominates throughout the Bata- vian republic. An uninteresting open country, bare of trees but fertile in com, brought us about noon to Valenciennes, which is situated on the Escaut, fifty leagues from Paris; the fortifications of the town and citadel were completed by Vauban. Louis the Four- teenth took it from the Spaniards in 1 677? and it was finally ceded to France by the treaty of Nimuguen. This town, so often the seat of war, is now recovering, by slow degrees, from the siege it sustained by the 218 duke of York in 1793, when almost every house sustained more or less damage, and the whole town exhibited a sad scene of demolition. It offers now but very little to attract attention: the large square, and the public buildings around it, present an hand- some appearance, but the houses and streets are, in general, of an uncomfortable as- pect. The staple manufactories of lace, woollen cloth, and linen of all descriptions, are on the revival; but it will be long ere Valenciennes recovers its former wealth and splendour. Troissard the historian, and Wat- teau the artist, were born in this city. Here we left the department of Ge- nap, and entered that of Du Nord, so called from its forming the most northern part of the French dominions during the monarchy: it contains several very consi- derable towns, and a population of eight hundred and eight thousand one hundred and forty-seven persons. Douay is consti- tuted tlie capital of this department. Va- 219 lenciennes having amused us for a few hours, a journey of seven leagues brought us to Cam- bray: an open, swelling country charac- terized the whole of it, fertile in corn, but bare of trees : by the numerous spires in the towns and villages I should have thought it populous, but the very few peasants we saw on the road and in the fields did not alto- gether justify such an opinion. We reached Cambray before sun-set, and strolled till supper time through the principal parts of the city, along the ramparts, and in public promenade : a more melancholy scene seldom occurs : large forsaken mansions, di- lapidated churches, ruined convents, and mouldering towers, present themselves in every part of this once populous and opu- lent city, which is situated on the Escaut, forty-three leagues from Paris, and was taken by Louis the Fourteenth in 1667- It was formerly the capital of Cambresis, and now forms one of the principal towns in the department Du Nord. The fortifications 220 appear to have been strong, but are now in a ruinous state, and the population is re- duced to fifteen thousand souls; who are chiefly employed in the manufacture of cambric, which derives its name from this place. I was extremely desirous of visiting the cathedral, to pay the tribute of silent respect at the shrine of the admirable Fenelon, the great and good archbishop of Cambray; the author of Telemachus, and other valuable works; a prelate, whose life and conversa- tion would have done honour to the purest ages of Christianity : but, when I enquired for his tomb, I was informed that not only his monument, but the very church which contained it were destroyed, with not a vestige remaining of this great man's se- pulchre. More than twenty convents and other religious edifices have shared the same fate; nor does this desolated city now ofter one object to interest a stranger, except the paintings in chiaro oscuro in one of the 221 churches, which fortunately escaped the pil- lage: a few pictures at the altars, from their small degree of merit, have kept their places; and from some other cause the eight paint- ings in imitation of basso-relievo have also escaped the hands of the destroyers. They were executed by Geeraerts of Antwerp, and represent the different passages of our Saviour's life with so much skill, as, at the proper distance, to be a complete decep- tion. There is a painting of the same kind, and by the same master, in the sa- cristy, which possesses still greater excel- lence. 222 LETTER XXII. Pont St. Maxence^ May 23, 1 803. Yesterday morning we left Cam- braj, and resumed our journey to Paris, through a fine open, undulating coun- try, fertile in corn, but without trees ex- cept in the immediate vicinity of the vil- lages. About two leagues from Cam- bray we left the department Du Nord, and entered that of La Somme, part of ancient Picardy, which takes its name from its principal river. It contains four hundred and sixty-six thousand nine hun- dred and ninet3^-eight inhabitants: Amiens is the capital, and Abbeville, Doulens, Mons, Didier, and Peronne, are the most consi- derable towns. A continuation of the same landscape accompanied us to a small vil- lage four leagues further, where it was ne- 223 cessary to refresh the horses: it rained hard, so as to prevent any amusement without doors, and there was but one small smoaky room in the inn : the stable offering better accommodation, I sat down and finished some sketches, in company with four horses, abundance of turkeys, geese, and fowls, and a talkative young Frenchman, who enter- tained me the whole time with Bonaparte's intended invasion of England, should we be rash enough to provoke his tremendous hostilities. We next proceeded four leagues further to Peronne, an ancient fortified town in Picardy, with extensive suburbs and out- works, in a very ruinous and dilapidated condition. The church appears to have been very beautiful, from the columns and arches which compose its remains. Peronne is situated upon the river Somme, and was formerly ranked among the princi- pal fortresses in France: from being often besieged, and never taken, it obtained the 224 name of la Pucelle. Charles the Simple was confined here, and on his death, in 929j was interred in the place of his confine- ment: and in 1468, that extraordinary cha- racter Louis the Eleventh was betrayed, and detained here as a prisoner, by the duke of Burgundy, until he was compelled to sign the treaty of Peronne. Our evening progress from thence to Miancourt, a distance of four leagues, pre- sented us with much rural beauty; the hills were richly wooded, and the villages em- bosomed in groves; the crops were luxu- riant, the orchards blooming, and nature wore the pleasing appearance of peace and plenty: but the cottages, and their inhabit- ants, did not excite a similar idea. It continued to rain the whole day; and at its close we were glad to alight at a rustic inn in the village of Miancourt, Avhere we were courteously received by its master, whose silver locks, benign aspect, and mourning dress, gave him a very venerable 225 appearance: with the assistance of a female servant he soon provided us some pigeons and asparagus, which, with brown bread, a bottle of burgundy, and great attention, made us the less regret the delicacies to which we had been accustomed in the large hotels: but I am sorry to say that the benignity and gentleness pourtrayed in our host's counte- nance and manner were an entire decep- tion. For, trusting to first impressions, we made no agreement for the entertainment we were to receive, and, on his saluting us this morning with smiles and kind enquiries how we had slept, he presented us with a bill, which far exceeded any we had paid for luxuries in the inns which had received us in the cities we had passed. We left him after an early breakfast, and proceeded through an open country to Roye, an old fortified town, four leagues from Miancourt: the markets are plentifully supplied with every necessary of life, and the ancient gothic church is filled with VOL. I. Q 226 images and pictures, which were probably considered as too insignificant for revolu- tionary spoil. We soon after entered the department de rOise : it derives its name from that river, which, after running from north to south through its fertile lands, falls into the Seine near Pontoise, in the adjoining department of the Seine and the Oise. Beauvais is the capital; and Clermont, Compeigne, and Senlis, are its principal towns. The popu- lation amounts to three hundred and fifty- five thousand six hundred and fifty-four in- habitants. From thence, for several leagues, the road is planted on each side with large apple and pear trees, now in full blossom, and filled with nightingales, which, with the fragrance of the hawthorn, regaled our journey. We passed through some uninte- resting towns and villages, and late in the evening arrived at Pont St. Maxence, a small town divided by the Oise, with an hand- some bridge ornamented with four obelisks. 227 LETTER XXIII. Paris, May 24, 1803. Wretched accommodations, scanty fare, and heavy impositions, with a wish to reach Paris this evening, caused us to leave Pont St. Maxence this morning at five o'clock; and having, for the first time, a steep hill to ascend immediately on leaving the town, a most lovely morning tempted me to proceed a few miles before the car- riage: the rain had refreshed the country, the trees were gay with vernal bloom, the sun shone with splendour, and every thing wore a cheerful aspect, to usher in our last day's journey to the gay capital be- fore us. From the summit of the hill I enjoyed a sweet prospect of St. Max- ence and all the adjacent country fertilized by the meandering Oise. The extensive 228 vale was bounded by woody hills, in some places broken by large free-stone quarries, and forming altogether the most picturesque scenery we had seen in the course of our journey. From thence we proceeded through woodlands of oaks, beeches, and other fo- rest trees, diversified by the weeping birch in great abundance: but the country gra- dually softened into cultivation as we ap- proached Senlis, an ancient city, and still a bishop's see. The spire of the cathedral is said to be one of the loftiest in France, and the whole town, both at a distance and on a near approach, has a degree of neatness and elegance superior to any we have yet passed: the Nonette, a pretty river, washes its walls; the surrounding forests are very extensive^ and are supposed to have given its ancient name of Silvanectum, as men- tioned by Ptolemy and Pliny. We were but a few miles from Chantilly, once the magnificent seat of the Prince de 229 Conde, and perhaps the most dehghtful of any country residence in France : few places suffered more from the revolutionary van- dals, and it is now a scene of solitary de- solation: the stately stables still remain, and a considerable detachment of the national cavalry are stationed there; and the chateau D'Enghein is converted into a barrack for their use. It being ten leagues from Senlis to Paris, our time did not permit us to visit the ruins of this well-known and highly or- namented spot, whose gardens and forests were a former boast of France. Nothing interesting occurred until, from a hill about five leagues from Paris, we en- joyed the first view of the towers of Notre Dame, the dome of the Pantheon, and the other lofty turrets, which rise above the sur- rounding trees on the boulevards of the city. We then entered a rich fertile plain, inter- sected by broad roads through avenues of lofty elms, diverging in every direction from the metropolis. The towns, villages, and 230 chateaus increased as we approached it, while carriages and foot-passengers of every description animated the scene, which had hitherto been very deficient in those objects, as in the whole distance from Brussells to Paris, we only passed three private car- riages, which were drawn by post-horses. We reached the barrier at five o'clock, and without being asked for a passport, pro- ceeded to the hotel de la Rochefoucault, where we had been particularly recom- mended from England. We entered the court, and on alighting from the carriage were received by Monsieur Gabe the master of the mansion, with a very grave countenance, and a less cordial welcome than I had expected. He did not open his lips until he had conducted us into the parlour, and introduced us to an English gentleman, who immediately unravelled the mysterious appearance. He informed us that hostilities had commenced between France and Eng- land ; and that, without any previous informa- 231 tion, all the English gentlemen resident in Paris had been on the preceding day made prisoners of war: the gens d'armes had visited most of them, while in bed, at a very early hour, and conducted them to general Junot, commandant of Paris; who had ordered most of them to Fontainbleau and Valenciennes, the two principal depots appointed for that purpose: in addition to this unexpected and cruel intelligence, I was told that I must appear before the general on the fol- lowing morning, and surrender myself to his disposal. We were for some time lost in amaze- ment: at Brussells, from whence we could have easily proceeded into Germany, we were informed that all was peace; and the Paris papers, which I read there, seemed to lament the distrust of the English on quit- ing Paris upon the rumour of a war, as if the reign of terror was returned ; and fully stating, that whatever might be the public consequences of our ambassador leaving 232 Paris, they, as individuals, would be in per- fect safety. Behold the difference! now are all my schemes frustrated, and every pleasing anticipation vanished in a moment! At present I cannot say any thing more on this mortifying subject, than that my companions behaved like heroines ; their resignation tended to compose my spirits, and having intended every thing for the best, I endeavour to submit, with all be- coming cheerfulness, to this mortifying and unexpected event, 233 LETTER XXIV. Paris, May 26, 1 803. Early yesterday morning I went to the prefecture, with three different pass- ports, from Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Lyston the English minister at the Hague, and Mon- sieur Semonville the French ambassador to the Batavian repubhc. When I had been examined by the pohce officers, they in- formed me that their power was suspended, and that I must appear before general Junot, who would settle my future destiny: but before I could reach his office, he had left it, and I was directed to repair thither this morning at ten o'clock, and the visit not being optional, I was punctual to the time appointed. I found upwards of four hundred of my ill-fated countrymen assem- bled in the anti-chamber, waiting their turn 234 for admission into the generars presence; and as the number on my ticket was two hundred and eighteen, I was detained three hours before I could be received. During this painful period I saw many an unhappy countryman return through the crowd after having received an order to quit Paris, and proceed to Fontainbleau within twenty-four hours: a very few, indeed, were brightened with smiles, on having obtained permission to remain in the capital. In my way to the general I had called on my banker, Monsieur Perrigaux, a name well known to the English at Paris; and as he was now one of the principal sena- tors, I begged he would give me a letter of recommendation to general Junot, with a request, that I might be permitted to remain with my family at Paris. At length my number was called, and I was conducted to the general, who was presiding at a board of green-cloth, surrounded by his aids-du-camp and secretaries. I pre- 233 sen ted to him Monsieur Perrigaux' letter, with Mr* Lyston's, and Mons. Semonville's passport, reserving that of Lord Hawkes- bury, for any further occasion. He read M. Perrigaux' letter, and said he had received many of a similar nature that morning, but seemed rather surprised at M. Semonville's passport, and asked me some questions upon the subject. On observing that my age was not inserted, he wished to know if I could call myself sixty; I told him I could not. You are approaching it, said he;- — most cer- tainly, Sir, said I, and very rapidly. You can- not remain in Paris unless you are registered as under eighteen or above sixty years of age. I replied, my principal object in com- ing abroad was to complete the education of an only child, and I requested to remain in Paris for no other purpose but that of ob- taining the best masters. The general smiled, whispered something to a secretary, and said that I must be called sixty in my passport of safety, when I might remain in Paris 236 until any new decision of government should take place respecting the British prisoners. I was also informed that I might go where I pleased in the capital and its environs, and might spend the day at St. Germain or Ver- sailles, provided I returned every night to sleep in Paris. I most joyfully received this information; and received an order to at- tend the prefect, to have my person identi- fied, and submit to the other precautionary arrangements. The unjust and extraordinary decree, ordering all the English between the age of eighteen and sixty to be constituted pri- soners of war, was issued on the 2d of Prai- rial, the 22d of May, an 11, on the pre- tence of being detained to answer for the citizens of the French republic, who were taken in some of their vessels which were captured by the English before the decla- ration of war. No intelligent liberal French- man endeavours to justify this act of the First Consul; but, on the contrary, all who 237 have the courage to avow their sentiments, consider our detention as one of the most abominable violations of the law of nations ever committed in a civilized country. They ascribe this cruel breach of hospitality to the hasty orders of capricious despotism, issued in a moment of passion; but to us the consequence of his capricious and irri- table nature may be lasting and terrible. 238 LETTER XXV. Paris, May 2§, 1803. This morning I obtained my pass^ port at the prefecture to remain in Paris until further orders ; and afterwards, for the first time, repaired to the National Museum of Arts and Sciences at the Louvre. This pa- lace, now called Le Musee Central des Arts, is converted into a grand museum. The long gallery, antecedent to the revolution, contained a very large and valuable collec- tion of pictures; but it has since been greatly increased, and is now the repository of the best foreign paintings, formerly dispersed in the royal palaces and chateaus of the nobi- lity in France, and of all those obtained by the late conquests in Italy, Flanders, and different parts of Europe. Apartments are also appropriated for original drawings and 239 sketches by the great masters; to statues and antiques of various descriptions; to the works of modern artists at the annual exhi- bitions; and to various other purposes for the encouragement and display of the arts. I never experienced more mingled sen- sations than on entering the gallery of an- tiques : the Apollo, the Laocoon, and many other master-pieces in sculpture which I had so lately beheld on classic ground, excited many painful ideas, especially when I re- flected on their unjust and insulting removal to Paris: at the same time I must confess that the French have given them an honour- able reception, and disposed of them in the best manner in six adjoining apartments, named after their most striking object. The hall of the seasons derives its title from the painting on the ceiling, by Romanelli. Here the rural deities and similar statues are placed. The hall of illustrious men is adorned with Zeno, Demosthenes, Phocion, and other Grecian and Roman worthies. 240 The hall of the Romans contains Marcus Brutus, Junius Brutus, Scipio Africanus, Cicero, many Roman priests and orators, the Antinous from the villa Albani, and other matchless productions. The hall of the Laocoon exhibits, in my opinion, the most interesting marble in the world. Few amateurs have viewed the Apollo Belvidere, or the Venus Medicean, with more enthu- siasm than myself, but the agonizing groupe of the Laocoon always reached my heart; and I have passed many hours at the Va- tican in astonishment at its wonderful exe- cution. In this room are many other ad- mirable sculptures. The Hall of the Bel- videre Apollo is named from that unrivalled statue, to which I devoted so much of my attention while I was at Rome: and my ad- miration of this sublime and matchless sculp- ture seems to increase at Paris. Many precious reliques also add to the acknow- ledged splendour of diis apartment. Tlie sixdi and last room already filled, is stylec the 241 Hall of the Muses, where the sacred Nine are placed with a less interesting Apollo than that of Belvidere, together with the busts of Homer, Virgil, Euripides, and many favourite bards and philosophers of Greece and Rome. Divesting myself of every prejudice,Imust confess these rooms are constructed with grea t taste and judgment; the marble walls, pil- lars, and nitches, the inlaid floors, and other embellishments, correspond with the inesti- mable objects with which they may be said to be peopled. But I have lost, in a great measure, that delightful enthusiasm with which I once viewed these precious relics; and in Paris I shall never find it. I experienced an equal regret on visit- ing the picture gallery above, which must now be considered as the most valuable exhibition of the arts in the world. The perspective at its entrance is very strik- ing, as it presents a room thirteen hundred feet long, in which are sus[)ended near a VOL. I. a 242 thousand pictures of various dimensions, by all the great masters in the Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and French schools: they are arranged as judiciously as possible, con- sidering the disadvantage many of them in such a large collection must experience from improper light, and other circumstances. Upper lights, instead of the side windows fronting each other, would be an admirable improvement. Many of the galleries in Italy and Germany are more judiciously constructed, particularly that at Dresden, in which a double walk round a quadran- gular court divides the schools, and produces a superior effect to the amazing length and crossing lights of the Louvre. The introduction of so many chefs- d'oeuvres from Italy, both in painting and sculpture, has greatly improved the French in chastity of design and correctness of drawing. In this they are thought to sur- pass the English; but by no means in the colouring and force of their pictures; 243 here the most unprejudiced judges give us a decided preference. With such works before them as the St. Jerome of Domi- nichino, the Transfiguration of RafFaelle, and at least one capital picture of every great master, the French artists must acquire a better style and harmony of colouring; which, united with simplicity and correct- ness of design, will greatly advance the cha- racter and reputation of the French school of painting. In landscape their own Claude stands unrivalled ; as does Vernet in his sea views; and the Poussins, in their varied de- partments, yield to few of the greatest mas- ters. In sculpture also they must improve : with such models before them, the frenchi- fied air and frippery of drapery so conspi- cuous in their statues, must yield to the clas- sical elegance of the antique. You are perhaps surprised at my placing the Communion of St. Jerome before the Transfiguration; but the former, I believe, attracts the most admirers, and, in my opi- nion, unites all tlie perfection of painting 244 In comparing the works of these great mas^ ters, both here and during my happier visits, at Rome, how often do the remarks of Sir Joshua Reynolds on the talents and genius of RafFaelle occur to my memory, that " the excellency of this extraordinary man lay in the beauty and majesty of his characters, the judicious contrivance of his composition, his correctness of drawing, purity of taste, powers of invention, and the skilful accom- modation of other men's conceptions to his own purposes: nobody excelled him in that judgment, with which he united, to his own observations on nature, the energy of Mi- chael Angelo and the beauty and simplicity of the antique/' The latter I think must strike every mi- nute observer of Raffaelle's style; and in the Louvre, after dwelling on the paintings in the upper gallery, I enjoy a double pleasure in descending to the museum of statues, to compare the works of this great master ^^ ith the finest sculpture of the ancients. 245 LETTER XXVI. Paris^ May 29, 1803. As we had been informed that the water works were this day to be exhibited in the gardens at Versailles, we proceeded thither after breakfast, to view that magni- ficent palace. The distance is about twelve English miles. In our way we passed seve- ral villas formerly belonging to the royal family and principal nobility, situated on the finest spots between Paris and Versailles; particularly a villa of the Prince de Conde, now appropriated to the recreation of the youth educated in the Prytanee at Paris, w hither they repair on Sundays and national festivals for country amusements. To this succeeded Belle-vue, a palace built by Madame de Pompadour, and after- wards the residence of tlie Princesses Ade- 246 laide and Victoire, Mesdames of France, dauditers of Lewis XV. This eminence commands a grand view of Paris, and all the surrounding scenery. Not far from Belle-vue are the woody hills of St. Cloud, with a palace, park, and gardens, the fa- vourite retirement of the First Consul. From thence we passed through the extensive vil- lage of Seve, celebrated for its porcelaine manufactory, which occupies a large build- ing, and employs a considerable number of workmen. Villas, gardens, vineyards, and rural scenes, amused us from thence to Versailles : the most interesting of them was the sum- mer palace of Madame Elizabeth, sister to Louis XVI, one of the most amiable and virtuous princesses that ever graced a court. "Who could behold the spot without the most painful sensations of regret at her cruel and unmerited destiny ! The approach to Versailles has a decided air of grandeur. The palace, the stables, and 247 all the adjacent buildings, produce a fine ef- fect. On our arrival, however, we were in- formed that the waters were not to perform their parts until the 14th of July, This cir- cumstance would have been a great disap« pointment had we visited Versailles merely to see its watery exhibition, but to us it was of little comparative importance; for such a scene of magnificence, expence, and extraor- dinary efforts of art, can hardly be exceeded. In situation and prospect Windsor has infi- finitely the advantage of Versailles ; and to many perhaps, its venerable towers andjegal apartments, the work of alternate ages, and the delight of so many British monarchs,may afford far greater pleasure than this vast mo- dern structure. It was built in the short space of seven years; being commenced by Louis XIV, in 1673, and completed in 1680. This monarch, who wished to over- come every thing, selected an extensive plain, whereon to elevate a palace which should be the wonder of Europe : the sub- 248 structions are like a city, and over them is raised an artificial hill, whose surface is on a level with the surrounding eminences; and this terrace commands a view of the extensive gardens and every other prospect that can be admitted. Here a palace was erected worthy of the great monarch who was to reside in it. The grand front extends nearly two thousand feet, is three stories high, and with its projecting and retreating divisions is decorated with Grecian columns and pilasters, and surmounted by balus- trades, vases, and trophies ; but I must ac- knowledge that the sensations produced by its exterior appearance were far exceeded on entering the spacious apartments. They are now indeed despoiled of all their costly fur- niture and symbols of royalty, and converted to purposes very different from those in- tended by the pride of the sovereign who raised it. The rooms below, to which the public, on stated days, and strangers at all times, 249 are gratuitously admitted, are chiefly ap- propriated to a museum of natural history; consisting of a well assorted collection of animals, birds, fishes, shells, corals, mine- rals, and a \ ariety of curiosities from differ- ent parts of the globe. The extent and magnificence of the rooms above are not easily described. Here the late king and queen, the royal children, with their pre- ceptors and attendants, the king's brothers, sisters, and other relations, had respec- tively their magnificent apartments en- riched with the most costly and superb de- corations; a few stools form the sole re- mains of their ancient furniture: but the walls are hung with pictures by French artists, brought from every part of the re- public. The collection is large, many pos- sess considerable merit, and some are very interestinp-. Amono; them is the celc^bratcd portrait of the Duchess de la Vallicrc, as a penitent Magdalen, after her career of pleasure with a voluptuous monarch: her 250 beautiful countenance finely expresses the contrition of her spirit, which laments but does not despair. She may be said in this portrait to personify penitence cheered by the hope of mercy. This exquisite picture is by Le Brun, and contains only a single figure, without any associated allegory or allusive circumstance. A] though I shall not attempt a descrip- tion of the king's apartments, nor the cor- responding rooms on the opposite side be- longing to the queen, with the painted ceil- ings and other ornaments by Italian and French artists, still uninjured, I must not so slightly pass over the magnificent gallery which connects them, and forms the central projection of the palace. This noble room is an hundred and seventy feet in length, by thirty-two in breadth, and forty high: it is illuminated by seventeen large arched windows; and opposite to each window is an- arcade of equal dimensions of plate looking-glass> reflecting every object in the 251 gardens with softened beauty : between them are marble pilasters with bases and capitals of gilt bronze; in the arched ceiling, painted by Le Brun, are nine large compartments and eighteen smaller ones, representing the principal events of the reign of Louis XIV : most of them are allegorical, but suitable inscriptions illustrate the subjects: the genii of the arts and sciences are employed in decorating this spot with the choicest at- tributes; while groupes of children adorn the trophies on the cornice with Avreaths of flowers: the entrance, the termination, and every ornament in this gallery, corre- spond with its general magnificence. Through this gallery the King accompanied the Queen from her apartment to the chapel on Sun- days, and the sacred festivals, attended by the royal family. And here they were met by the lords and ladies of the court, the foreign ambassadors, and strangers who had been introduced, forming one of the most splendid assemblies in Europe, in one 252 of the most superb apartments in it. The groves, gardens, and water- works without, contrasted by the animated beauty and taste within, and united with the courdy croud, in all the splendour of dress and honour, while the whole was reflected by the cor- responding mirrors, must have afforded a most magnificent spectacle. But all now is silent, waste, and desolate ! the King, the Queen, the amiable Elizabeth, and the far greater part of the nobles, who composed this grand assembly, have, without distinc- tion of age or sex, been conducted to the scaffold. History, in all her eventful pages, does not recite a more extraordinary down- fal of human grandeur. The chapel, which forms part of the pa- lace, was the last work of Mansard, who com- pleted it in 1710, two years before his death; and here the superb taste of Louis XIV is pe- culiarly distinguished. The external deco- rations of this stately structure consist of vaulted arcades, ornamented with genii, and 253 divided by Corinthian pilasters, supporting a balustrade, on which are the statues of the apostles, evangelists, the ancient fathers, and the theological virtues, each nine feet high. The interior is of the utmost elegance : the lofty roof is supported by sixteen Corinthian columns finely proportioned; and between them a balustrade of gilt bronze on a marble basement : the ceiling was painted by three celebrated French artists, and every orna- ment has its peculiar beauty: the grand altar is decorated with a glory, in bronze, covered with burnished gold, surrounded by adoring angels. The courts, offices, stables, and every necessary appendage correspond with the palace; and, perhaps, the broad walks and strait lines in the gardens may be more appropriate to such an edifice, than the waving varieties and artless shrubberies of the English taste. The statues, vases, fountains, and other embellishments, arc very numerous, and on a irraiul scale: 1 254 shall venture to describe one of them. It is situated in a shady retired part of the garden, to which we were admitted by a private key : it is a curious scene of artificial rocks, the largest of the kind I ever saw, surrounded by groves, on the margin of a pellucid lake. This celebrated performance of Girardon is called the Baths of Apollo, from the groupe in the centre representing Louis the Four- teenth, in the character of that deity, with his favourite ladies, in the grotto of Thetis, attended by her nymphs on alighting from his car, with the horses drinking in the ad- joining caverns. These are all of statuary marble, well arranged in the lower cavities of the rocks, near the basin, which receives the cascades tumbling from different parts of the artificial cliffs. The orangerie, exclusively, contains a very great number of the trees from which it derives its name, of every size and quality : they are at this season arranged round the parterres, and form several most delightful ^55 walks, which perfume the air to a great dis- tance. The winter repositories for these orange trees, under the terrace or platform of the palace, are of an immense size, and the architecture much admired: they were constructed by Le Maitre and Mansard. The Great Trianon, which forms part of the magnificence of Versailles, is a summer palace built by Louis XIV, as a nursery for his children ; but certainly the most superb nursery ever constructed : a noble peristyle of pure Grecian architecture, consisting of twenty-two Tonic columns, each of one single piece of marble, unites the two wings, which are terminated by pavilions in a cor- respondent style: the roof is flat, orna- mented with vases and groupes of children : it contains only one story, and extends six hundred feet: the adjacent gardens are formal, and the basins, fountains, and walks, are enriched by statues and costly decora- tions: a canal of great length, with its va- rious barges and pleasure boats, and a vessel 256 of twenty-two guns completely rigged, ex- tended from the Great Trianon to the grand avenue at Versailles : when full of water it must have produced a fine effect; but it is now entirely dry. I was, however, far more delighted with Little Trianon, the favourite retreat of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. Here, retired from the splendour and hurry of a court, she passed her hours of recreation in the farms, cottages, summer-houses, and temples, dis- persed with artless simplicity amid its woods and groves ; where through winding devious paths you seem to be conducted by nature herself to the varied scenery of this lovely spot: rustic bridges, sometimes of rocky arches, sometimes of roots, or rough trees, like those in Switzerland, stretch over the water which in meandering streams, or spreading lakes, adorns the rural glades ; while their banks exhibit the sloping lawn, the woodland copse sheltering a little hamlet, or bold projecting rocks, darkened by firs; 257 but this is not all. In one delightful spot, almost encircled by a thick grove, is the temple of Love, an elegant Grecian struc- ture of white marble, once graced by a fine statue of that dangerous deity, which was removed on the Queen's downfall. In another, the cypress, yew, and willow, be- side the sepulchral urn, invite to solemn musing; while the more airy parts are en- livened by plantanes, lindens, and forest trees, intermingled with lilacs, syringas, and liburnums, and bordered by roses : flowering exotics, and the humbler tribes of Flora, adorn the summer palace and public pavi- lions, once dedicated to mirth and festivity : the adjoining groves then re-echoed with invisible music, while the lakes and rivulets were enlivened with little barges and plea- sure boats, in which the queen and her se- lect train were wont to enjoy their evening- recreations. It was near six o'clock before we finished our walk, and we had just sat down to dinner VOL. I. s 258 in a small room overlooking the gardens, when there suddenly came on one of the most tremendous thunder-storms I ever wit- nessed ; the rain fell in torrents, and the very large hail-stones did great damage to the com and fruit for many miles around : thou- sands of gay Parisians, in their best attire, were exposed to all its rage in the un- sheltered walks, and amused us from our windows with a curious mixture of distress- ing and ludicrous circumstances. It fortu- nately cleared up before sun-set, and our return to Paris was very delightful; but had it continued with equal severity the whole night, we must have encountered it, having engaged my parole never to sleep out of the city. •■««. 259 LETTER XXVII. Paris, May 30, ]803. What a contrast has this morn- ing's visit exhibited to the fairy scenes of yesterday ! when, after my necessary ap- pearance at the prefecture, I accompanied a gentleman from thence to the Palais, and the prison of the Conciergerie. The former con- tains many of the courts of justice, and was thronged with gentlemen of the long robe, both scarlet and black, with their powdered locks flowing carelessly over the shoulders, in a manner far more becomins; than the wios of our barristers. The courts were so crowded by spectators, male and female, that I could sec and hear but little. I was particularly conducted to that in which the late Quecii was tried and condemned; I saw the prison where she was conrincd, and the dismal 26*0 stairs by which she ascended from its gloomy abyss to appear before the horrid tribunal which dismissed her to the scaffold. On her trial, says a pathetic writer, she made no defence, and called no witnesses; alledg- ing that no positive fact had been produced against her : she preserved an unifoim be- haviour during the whole scene, and heard her sentence with composure, which was passed about four in the morning; but in her way from the court to the dungeon her firmness forsook her, and she burst into tears; when, as if ashamed of her weakness, she observed to her guards, that though she wept at that moment, they should see her go to the scaffold without shedding a tear. In her way to the place of execution, where she was taken a few hours after in a cart, with her hands tied behind her, she paid little attention to the ofhcialing priest, and still less to the surroundino; multitude: her eyes, though bent on vacancy, seemed to be- tray some emotion that was labouring at her 261 heart: her cheeks were sometimes in a sin- gular manner streaked with red, and some- times overspread with a deadly paleness ; but her general look was that of indignant sorrow. She reached the place of execution about noon, and when she turned her eyes towards the gardens and palace, she became visibly agitated, but it is generally believed (and who would not wish to believe it) that her senses had forsaken her before she quitted the prison. She ascended the scaf- fold with precipitation, and her head was almost instantly held up to the people by the bloody hand of the executioner. Such is the brief account of this tragical event by a female who was at that very time in prison for no crime but that of being an English woman: nor can I give you an idea of my own sensations, when, in so short a space after visiting her splendid apartments at Versailles, and her sweet retreat at Tria- non, I beheld the bar at which the unfortu- nate Marie Antoinette was arraii^ncd, and 262 the dungeon from whence she was led to execution. But I am informed bj those whose ex- perience and opportunities of observation justify a rehance on their opinion, that Paris is reverting very fast to its former state under the monarchy; and, whatever may be the ukimate form of government, the Pari- sians will resume the character which they possessed previous to the revolution. In the different epochas of this dreadful event a most extraordinary change took place ; and this capital, w^hich had so long been the seat of pleasure, and the delight of Eu- rope, was deluged with the blood of her best citizens, and reduced to worse than Gothic barbarism, by its own Vandals, who, under the sacred name of Liberty, reduced it to an extreme of wretchedness, of which so many horrid accounts have been given, but of which none perhaps have reached the exact truth. I shall however make no apology for giving the following brief history 263 of it by a gentleman who was an eye- witness of the whole, and who after some years emigration returned to Paris. ** During my journey to the capital," says the writer, " I found the country sadly depopulated; and in many places there re- mained only old men, women, and children, for all the purposes of agriculture. Most of the young men had been killed in battle, or were with the armies in foreign countries, I frequently conversed with the peasants, as I wished to know their sentiments, and found them all tired of the revolution, and longing for peace, order, leligion, laws that were practicable, and men of probity at the head of public affairs. " Often, when I beheld an elegant villa, an ancient chateau, a convent, or a manu- factory, and asked the name of the proprie- tor, it was sometimes a deputy, who had seized the possessions of the widow and the orphan; sometimes a commissary of the army, who three years before had worn 264 wooden shoes; and who, after havhig abused the confidence of government, by poisoning the soldiers, and supplying the defenders of their country with shoes of paper, and shirts of sackcloth, were then enjoying the fruits of their iniquity in tranquillity on their new estates. Convents, manufactories, and simi- lar structures, were converted into maga- zines for the armies, and a Jewish rabbi of Amsterdam had turned a church into a sy- nagogue. "On my ai'rival at Paris, my friends ac- companied me to the principal places, and explained those things which most excited my astonishment. I had great need of their assistance ; for Paris was no longer the same, and it was with difficulty that I recollected it: I should have been less a stranger at Rome under the emperors, than in the city Avhere I first drew my breath, and from whence I had been only five years absent. The names of the squares, streets, and houses, were cl^anged, and the inhabitants 265 were equally metamorphosed: most of the rich had become poor, but the generality of the poor had not become rich ; for never was misery more extreme, but it was a crime in the eye of certain persons enriched at the pubhc expence, to affirm that the people of France were not happy. " I met in every part of the city with the most whimsical dresses, and with men and women still more whimsical. Among the legislators the Roman toga had superseded the cap of liberty, but neither the Roman toga, nor the bonnet-rouge, had matured the contents of a Parisian's skull. " The houses were as much altered as their inhabitants; those belonging to the mer- chants, restaurateurs, and shopkeepers, were covered with patriotic emblems, ensigns of Liberty, and medleys of the three national colours. It appeared as if the people, fear- ing to forget they were free, would never be without external objects to recall it to their remembrance. They had altars to 266 Liberty, statues of Liberty, places of Li- berty. Liberty was written every where, but no one could define the nature of French Liberty! Had a stranger, ignorant of the revolution, arrived in Paris, he would have imagined that a fresh horde of Vandals had conquered the city; for he would have per- ceived throughout, the ruins of noble edi- fices, Avhich had been destroyed from no other cause than that they had been con- structed under the former government ; and on the greater part of those which remained were written those fatal words, " Propriete Nationale. " I now visited the theatres, whose number was greatly increased; but the representa- tions generally tended to the detriment of the arts, of manners, and of morals: no longer did I behold those delightful scenes which had rendered the French stage illus- trious; no longer could 1 think with Cor- neillc, weep with Racine, or laugh with Moliere. Anna, Zaire, Athalie, le Tartufe, 267 le Misanthrope, were denounced royalists, and banished from the French theatre. Numa, Metellus, Scipio, and Fabius, were equally strangers to the Parisians: instead of these chefs-d'oeuvres, I saw only sombre and tedious tragedies, or miserable patriotic comedies, without nature, without interest, without probability. The boxes were filled with shameless women, infamous contrac- tors, and commissaries, making an indecent parade of their lewd acquisitions and cruel spoils, and insulting the public misery by their shameful and disgusting luxury. If, by chance, you saw an honest man or a virtuous woman amongst them, they seemed ashamed to be found in such company. The pit was crowded with people of every description; most of them without know- ledge, without education, without discern- ment, applauding the vulgar flat jokes or the gross obscenities which disfigured the stage. The late events had entirely changed 26S the taste of the French ; they were no longer the same people: seven years of a revolu- tion, unparallelled in the history of the world, had completely altered their incli- nations and their character: those who were formerly the chief votaries of pleasure were no longer pleased; nothing but extraor- dinary events would amuse them; accus- tomed, during this period, to scenes of blood, and to the speeches of furious ora- tors, who shewed them happiness in per- spective, and involved them in real misery, a true and simple story could no longer de- light them; and it became necessary to in- troduce scenes of the most unnatural con- trivance and extravagant fiction. " The different institutions in Paris also claimed my attention. Too many of them still felt the baneful effects of Robespierre's vandalism; but the new government were then active in their re-establishment. The arts were again encouraged, and a number of public schools were opened for the study 269 of medicine, surgery, natural history, mine- ralogy, and other useful arts and sciences: these were put under the direction of able professors, who had escaped the guillotine; and opened a prospect of happiness, to which we had too long been strangers: for learning and science were nearly in as de- plorable a state as the theatres; and litera- ture was confined to a few political works, or the uninteresting, fleeting pamphlets of the day. " The celebrated museum at the Louvre contained a variety of the most precious works of art, either brought from foreign countries, from the royal collections, or the cabinets of those unhappy persons whose property had been confiscated during the revolution: their number was continually increasing, to form a collection of these in- estimable tieasures; but the sight of them excited in me the most painful sensations: the lustre of the brightest gems Avas ob- scured by reflecting on the manner in which 270 they had been obtained; the most beautiful pictures lost their effect when I thought of their late owners, unjustly condemned to the scaffold, or leading a miserable life in some foreign country; even the statues ap- peared stained w^ith blood. Let us leave this place, said I, to my friends, such ob- jects have no charms for me, since they were obtained by injustice, violence, and cruelty! " In this time of general calamity almost every body trafficked, jobbed, or swindled. They traded in silk, cloth, shoes, wood, char- coal, butter, and every other commodity: rich and poor, young and old, women and children, all trafficked ; it was as necessary for the Parisians as the spectacle: honest men, ruined by the revolution, traded like the rest; it was the only means by which they could exist : never was the circulation of money, or rather that of the assignats which represented it, more active. They bought, they sold ; and bought again what they had sold, to sell it again: this was called trad- 271 ing, but it was a dreadful trade, which en- riched a few villains, and ruined thousands of the better citizens. During this period certain usurers lent money at an interest of five and six per cent per month: the love of gain had abased the heart, and dried up the sources of humanity. But what most afflicted me was to see irreligion, immo- rality, and a defection of every virtuous principle, pervade all ranks and degrees of people. I found myself among a set of atheists: the children, trained up in such opinions, had no longer an}^ love or respect for those parents who had inculcated no sentiment either of religion or morality: they lived like beasts, without a bridle to curb their passions, without tliose consola- tions which sweeten the bitterest cup of humanity, and Avithout that pious resigna- tion which enables us to support life's severest trials!" What Paris was before the revolution is well known from the writings of several cu- 272 lightened travellers, what it was during that sad period, the preceding pages will, I think, give you as much knowledge as a sympathizing mind can bear; and what it is at present, as far as my abilities and ob- servations extend, I will endeavour to trans- mit, as opportunities present themselves dur- ing our captivity. 27S LETTER XXVIII. Paris, June 6, 1803. Your affectionate wishes, that, notwithstanding we are so unjustly detained prisoners of war, we may be permitted to enjoy the comforts of hfe, are completely realised. The Hotel de la Rochefoucault, in which we reside, was a palace belonging to the noble family whose title is so dis- tinguished in the political and literary his- tory of France; especially from the maxims of Francis, Duke de la Rochefoucault, son of the first duke; and who died here in 1680, at the age of 68. His posterity sup- ported an high character, and lived in opu- lence and splendour until revolutionary phrenzy, indiscriminately, reduced titles, wealth, and literary fame, to the connnou level. It is remarkable that the la iter should VOL. I. T 274 have been an objectof equal detestation with the two former; but, during the terrific reign of Robespierre, men of letters were the pe- culiar victims of his personal hatred, which is said to have been occasioned from his hav- ing endeavoured, at a former period of his life, to be thought a man of wit and elocu- tion; and being disappointed in that ob- ject, jealousy and envy seized on his ma- lignant heart, and during his tyrannical usur- pation he availed himself of the many op- portunities which he possessed to let loose his vengeance against men of genius and learn- ing. Lavoisier, Florian, Bitaube, and many others, suffered dreadful persecutions: Bar- thelemi, the amiable author of Anarcharsis, when old and infirm, could not escape his rage, and the fate of Iloncher, who had written a beautiful poem, called The Months, excited a tear from every feeling heart. Previous to his condemnation he passed the languid hours of confinement in educating his children, who were permitted to visit 275 him; but on receiving his act of accusation, too well knowing that accusation and con- viction were synonimous terms, before the revolutionary tribunal, he gave his son a portrait which had been painted during his confinement by a fellow-prisoner, to deliver to his mother, and beneath it wrote the fol- lowing lines— " Ne vous etonnez pas, objets charmsns et doux, Si quelque air de tristesse obscuroit mon visage j Lorsqu'un savant crayon dessinoit cet image, On dressoit I'echafaud, et je pensois a vous!" Lev d objects cease to wonder, when ye trace The melancholy air that clouds my face: Ah ! while the painter's skill this image drew. They rear'd tlie scaffold, and I thought of you ! But to return to the Hotel de la Roche- foucault. Though not the largest, it is one of the pleasantest houses in Paris, containing several magnificent apartments, once splen- didly furnished, and adorned with pictures, tapestry, and other superb embellishmcnls: and where the Emperor of Germany, the Kmg of Sweden, and many other royal i)cr- 276 sonages, have been sumptuously enter- tained. The Avindows overlook a verdant lawn, once decked with the gaudy par- terres of flowers, cooled by refreshing foun- tains, and surrounded by walks shaded by ancient linden and chesnut trees. Here, at the commencement of the revolution, the Duke de la Rochefoucault resided with his wife and mother: but, shocked at the horrid scenes of the caoital, the ladies re- tired into the country, and the Duke soon followed them. Democratical fury, how- ever, travelled with a swifter pace; for on the carriage stopping at the portal of his chateau, he was dragged out of it, and mas- sacred in the presence of his wife and ve- nerable parent! We occupy the private apartments for- merly belonging to the Duchess, once fur- nished with taste and elegance: it con- sists of a drawing-room, two bed-cham- bers, servants' room, and closets, with a pri- vate stair-case: some bas-reliefs over the 277 doors in the drawinor-room, containing: groupes of playful cupids, in chiaro-obscuro, are so finely executed, that we were several days in the room before we discovered them to be the work of the pencil instead of the chissel. We join the family at their social meals below, where there is a dining-parlour and drawing-room in common. We breakfast at nine o'clock a I'Anglaise, and dine at five, on two courses, with removes, and a des- sert; and besides the usual wine at table, we have Burgundy, Fronliniac, and Cham- pagne, succeeded by coffee and liqueurs. The table is again covered with a slight re- past at nine for those who choose to par- take of it; but the hospitality, kindness, and amiable manners of the family with Avhom we live, are far more estimable than their good cheer: and here, without trou- ble, or any other anxiety than that occa- sioned by the gloom of the polilical ho- rizon, we are settled at the expciice of nine 278 Louis a week, without any additional charge; and surrounded by every thing which can contribute to our comfort. I can perhaps make the conclusion of my letter rather more interesting than these domestic details, by informing you that yesterday, being the monthly review of the troops by Bonaparte, we were procured an excellent situation in the consular palace, which overlooks the grand parade, and from whence we had a full view of this extraor- dinary person for several hours. We have already had several opportunities of seeing him with Madame Bonaparte and the la- dies of her family; but no English are now introduced at the consular court. We re- paired to our station at ten, and the regi- ments soon after began to assemble: six thousand cavalry and infantry had taken their respective stations before twelve o'clock ; when, as the clock struck, the Chief Consul appeared, and received petitions from the citizens of Paris, previous to the commence- 279 ment of the review, but as it differed little from other shews of the same kind, and my knowledge. of tactics being very limited, I shall be silent uponthesubject: norshall I at- tempt to describe my feelings on beholding the troops of an enemy, supposed to be on the eve of embarking for the invasion of my native country. I have no doubt of the courao;e or conduct of British officers and soldiers, but local circumstances and situa- tions excite peculiar sensations; and having experienced a severe campaign, and been too long an eye-witness of cruelty, carnage, and devastation, I can truly say, " Peace is my dear delight \' and I beheld these troops with far other emotions than 1 should see a review in Hyde Park or the Thuilleries, beneath her verdant olive. I was, however, much pleased to have so long and so near a view of the Chief Consul ; who, being small of stature, ap- pears to the greatest advantage on horse- back. Though he is by no means hand- 280 some, and has a very sallow complexion, his countenance has great expression, ac- companied frequentl}^ with a peculiar stern- ness about the brow. The profile medal- lions and engravings bear a greater resem- blance to him than those which exhibit a full face. He was in plain regimentals, his hat without lace or feathers, and decorated only with a small national cockade; while his generals, aids-du-camp, and other offi- cers, were all in their full uniforms, richly laced and embroidered, with their horses splendidly caparisoned. The contrast ren- dered the Consul the more conspicuous ; but though unadorned himself, his white charger shone with trappings of crimson and gold, and seemed conscious of his pre-eminence while parading through the ranks. This stately animal was Bonaparte's favourite steed during all his campaigns, and is said to have formerly belonged to Louis the Sixteenth. In the review at the Thuilleries the troops 281 do not go through their usual evokitions, which are performed in the Champ de Mars, so celebrated during the revolu- tion. It is a vast artificial plain, surrounded by rising seats, or mounds of earth, and rows of trees, extending from the military school, near the invalid hospital, to the banks of the Seine. In that school Bona- parte finished his education; having been removed from the royal military school at Brienne, in Champagne, in 1789> in the sixteenth year of his age. He will not have completed his thirty-fourth until the fif- teenth of August, on which day he was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, in the year 1769. 282 LETTER XXIX. Paris, June 8, 1803. I THIS morning visited the church of St. Roch to see the sacrament of confir- mation administered by the bishop of Or- leans, to several hundred young persons of both sexes : it was, in truth, a solemn and affecting scene. The young ladies were dressed in white, with long veils ; and dur- ing the procession each of them bore in her hand a lighted taper; they formed not only an interesting, but an elegant spec- tacle. On Sunday next, for the first time, they are to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper; at which the bishop and his attendant clergy will be present, with sacred music and other solemnities. This, I believe, is among the first renewals of religious ceremonies in Paris since the 283 Concordat with the Pope for the re-esta- bhshment of the Roman Cathohc rehaion in France, which took place with great pomp on Easter Monday in last year, at the church of Notre Dame. The three Consuls, and all the constituted authori- ties, went in procession to see it, and the ratification of the short-lived peace with England, sanctified by the most solemn and ostentatious rites of the Romish church. These events were both celebrated on the same day. The sermon was preached by by Bois-gelin, cardinal archbishop of Tours; and Madame Bonaparte, with the ladies of the consular court, attended the cere- mony. Thus was religion re-established in France; and, whatever may be the errors of the Ro- mish church, it is highly gratifyuig to see its revival in a nation where Christianity had been publicly denounced, and atlicisni proclaimed; where the churches were not not only despoiled of every ornaiucnt, but 284 converted into warehouses and manufacto- ries, and other purposes; where, we well knew, 'the archbishop of Paris and his clergy prostrated themselves at the bar of the Na- tional Convention, abjured their former be- lief, and made their new confession of faith; in which they declared that there was no other deity than Liberty, no other gospel than the republican constitution, and no other worship than equality. Many of the bishops and priests, who were deputies in the assembly, animated by the example of the archbishop, immediately proceeded to make their public recantation/ The an- cient cathedral of Notre Dame, which had, during so many centuries, been the metro- politan seat of the christian religion, was converted into the Temple of Reason; when the commune, with a prostitute, who was invested with the character of this new divi- nity, and attended by a splendid train, ap- peared to request that the convention would sanctify the consecration with their pre- 285 sence. The goddess of Reason was a young blooming opera-dancer, who acted her part to the entire satisfaction of her votaries: from her imperial throne, on which she was borne by four porters, she descended on the right hand of the president of the conven- tion, and by a decree received the fraternal kiss, as soon as the procureur had announced her negative and positive character: that she was not like the objects of the ancient worship, a cold and inanimate image; and that she was a master-piece of nature; while her sacred form so far influenced every heart, that only one universal cry was heard, of " no more priests, and no other gods." When the deputies arrived at the temple, the goddess of Reason intro- duced them to her sister goddess of Liberty, who had left the mansion of philosophy to receive their homage, and bestow her be- nediction. I shall enlarge no further on this scene of folly and wickedness, than to observe, 286 that in the constant revolutionary changes of this infatuated capital, it soon happened that the new altars were deserted, and that the divinity herself, with many of her priests and worshippers, suffered death by the guillotine. During the reign of liberty, reason, and philosophy, the churches were stripped of every ornament: the shrines, crosses, and images of gold, silver, and bronze, were sent to the mint; those of marble and stone were mutilated and destroved; while the sculptures in wood, with the vestments, re- lics, and other religious furniture, which the piety of ages had deemed sacred, were con- demned to the flames. St. Denis also shared the common fate with every other place which religion had made sacred, and devo- tion had enriched. It not only contained the remains of the monarchs and heroes of France, as the royal sepulchre of the king- dom; but in the treasury were deposited many curiosities valuable for their antiquity and curious workmanship, in gold, silver, 287 and jewels; which, during revolving ages, had been presented by the rich and great at the shrine of the tutelary saint of France. Amonor them were the crowns of Dagobert and Clovis, the sceptre of Philip the Fair, with the helmet and golden spurs of Charle- magne. But as no vestige of royalty was to remain in France, the Goths and Van- dals of the day, with a barbarous sacrilege, attacked the solemn repositories of the dead, destroyed the monuments, cast the bodies from their coffins, and melted the lead which composed them into bullets for the use of the army. The present cardinal archbishop of Paris, far unlike his predecessor the arch- apostate to the goddess of Reason, is one of the most amiable and respectable cha- racters in Europe: this venerable prelate is said to have entered his ninety-fifth year^ and his life seems to be preserved to heal the breaches of religion, and by his liberaHty of sentiment, and tolerating disposition, but 288 more by the example of his holy and virtu- ous life, to raise the Gallic church to some degree of her former splendour. In my religious sentiments I trust that charity is, as it ought to be, the predomi- nant principle: for when I look back to the innocent and peaceable Brahmins with whom I so long resided, near their solemn groves and consecrated lakes, unfrequented by Europeans; when I recollect the urba- nity of the Mahometans, and the sacred fire, preserved for centuries, by the fol- lowers of Zoroaster, I cannot but perceive the full force of that divine and benevolent assertion of the apostle, that God is no re- specter of persons; but that in every na- tion he that feareth him, and worketh righ- teousness, is accepted of him. The glo- rious light of revelation does not yet shine in full brightness on their distant shores; the day-spring from on high hath not yet visited them ; and, therefore, to a faithful and merciful Creator, the en- 289 lightened Christian must submit the des- tiny of his heathen brethren: but for a na- tion hke the French, to lose for so many years every trace of rehgion, was an evil fraught with incalculable mischief: to erect the temples of Reason and Nature upon the ruins of Christianity, whose demo- lished altars were yet smoking with the blood of her priests, was a deed befitting only the frantic agency of men who had assumed the character of demons. Most sincerely did I hope that a more pure, libe- ral, and appropriate system of Christianity, than that which formerly prevailed, would have succeeded, on the subversion of her heathen deities : nevertheless, it affords no small triumph to the pious spirit to see reli- gion restored in any form of Christian wor- ship. Thirty millions of people again fre- quent the re-hallowed altars; the churches are again filled with worslii})pers of e\xiy rank and condition, and the violated sanc- tuary is restored. VOL. I. u 290 LETTER XXX. Paris, June l6, 1803. I WAS this luorning in company Avith a lady who had formerly been a nun, but was now under the necessity of wearing the common dress, and conforming to ge- neral manners and customs. She resides with twelve of the sisterhood, who receive a very small pension, but chiefly maintain themselves by needle-work and similar em- ployments. She produced, from her bosom, an embossed crucifix, which opened by a secret spring, and contained a smaller cross: this she also opened, and shewed with en- thusiastic delight a small piece of wood, which she fondly believed to be a part of the cross whereon our Saviour suffered: to have preserved this precious relic amid all the domiciliary visits of her persecutors, 291 appeared to be a miraculous interposition in her favour; and the hope that she should now preserve it during the remainder of her pilgrimage, seemed to awaken in her mind an inexpressible sense of joy and gratitude. She told us many affecting stories of the horrors Avhich took place in her convent during the reign of terror: four of the nuns were to have been gullotined on the day of Robespierre's death; but the sudden down- fall of that tyrant prevented the execution of thousands already sentenced by his bloody tribunals. Seventeen nuns of the same order had, however, at the same moment, been led forth to the sacrifice of the guillotine. These devoted females displayed, on this honid occasion, the resignation and courage of martyrs. In their passage through the pub- lic streets to the place of execution, they chaunted the service appointed for the of- fice of burial ; and as each of them was suc- cessively selected like a lamb taken from the fold to the slaughter-house, the rest sung 292 a requiem to her departing soul. At the guillotine only one can suffer at a time; and the lady abbess was destined to the sad pre- eminence of living a few moments longer than the last of her sisters. Many thousand females suffered under the guillotine, and it may be worthy of ob- servation, that Madame de Barr6 is the only one of her sex upon record who betrayed any remarkable weakness at the dreadful crisis. When Madame Roland was condemned to the guillotine she was accompanied by one of the other sex, involved in the same misfortune, but not armed with equal forti- tude as herself. As a woman, she had been allowed the sad precedency of being first ex- ecuted; but when she observed the dismay of her companion, she said to him, " Allez le premier, que je vous epargne au moins la douleur de voir couler mon sang.'' She then turned to the executioner, and begged that this indulgence might be granted to 293 her fellow-sufferer. The executioner told her he had received orders that she should perish first; " but you cannot, I am sure/' said she with a smile, " refuse the request of a lady." He then complied with her request. When she mounted the scaffold, and was tied to the fatal plank, she lifted up her eyes to the statue of Liberty, near which the guillotine was placed, and exclaimed, " Ah Liberty! What a wretched sport has been made of thee !" The next moment she perished. The death of Madame Elizabeth was also a scene of heroic virtue. All that was known of this lovely, accomplished, and ad- mirable Princess in prosperity, were her superior virtues, her exemplary humanity, her unbounded goodness. In adversity, she was distinguished by her unshaken friend- ship for her brother, and her pious resigna- tion to the dispensations of heaven. She had suffered not only the severe extremes of calamity, but all those indignities, priva- tions, and hardships, which could give a 294 keener edge to her misfortunes; for, during the tyranny of Robespierre, the forms of decency which had till then been observed, were altogether disregarded. She, who had been used to the long train of attendants of the most splendid court of Europe, was compelled to perform every menial office for herself; to dress her scanty meal, and to sweep the floor of her prison. In such cir- cumstances, with no ray of hope to cheer the gloomy towers w^here she was immured, except that hope which was fixed on a better state of existence, she probably looked upon death as her sole and certain refuge, and therefore met it with tranquillity and firm- ness. She betrayed some small emotion at the sight of the guillotine, but instantly reco- vered herself, and waited calmly at the foot of the scaffold until twenty-five persons who perished with her, were put to death; her former rank being still sufficiently remem- bered to give her a title to pre-eminence in bloody and fatal ceremonial. 295 I do not intend troubling you with the dreadful and affrighting anecdotes we con- tinually hear of the revolution: they would harrow up your soul; and, notwithstanding all you have heard and read of that blood- stained period, would, from the refinement of its cruelties, be with considerable hesita- tion received into your belief. When I wrote the preceding pages little did I think that within two hours I should see the guillotine perform its office: but as I was crossing the Pont Neuf, I saw a crowd moving hastily towards the Place de Grcve, where I was informed two men were about to die for the crime of murder. Although I never was a voluntary spectator of any pu- nishment, I confess when I recollected the sufferers by this instrument during tlie ter- rific system I had just been describing, I felt a curiosity to be present; and mingling with the crowd, I soon found myself williin a few yards of the scaffold, and in a very short time the first prisoner arrived in a 296 cart, preceded by the police officers in a coach, and escorted by a party of horse- guards. The unhappy wretch was upwards of seventy years of age, and had been con- demned for the murder of his wife. He was of an emaciated appearance; and while the priest supported him with one hand, in the other he held a crucifix, to which he di- rected the attention of the criminal. The priest was dressed in black, and the pri- soner had a short scarlet mantle thrown over his shoulders. On alighting from the cart they ascended the scaffold, and passed some time in prayer; the red cloth being then taken off, the prisoner was tied to the plank, and his head having been fixed in the groove, fell, in a few seconds, into a basket. It is certainly a merciful mode of terminating existence, though the physician, who first proposed its employment, and from whom it derives its name, has from that circum- stance lost much of his practice at Paris. But momentary and merciful as it was, I 297 sickened at the sight, and with difficulty made my way through the crowd before the other criminal arrived to present a repe- tition of the affecting spectacle. 298 LETTER XXXI. Paris, July I, 1803. We frequently visit the Hospital of Invalids, one of those magnificent works which do honour to the memory of Louis the Fourteenth; an institution similar to Chelsea Hospital: and while its exterior magnificence is one of the principal orna- ments of the capital, the extensive apart- ments, excellent provision, and well-regu- lated economy of the whole, affords a happy asylum for those brave veterans who have exhausted their strength, and shed their blood, in the service of their country. This noble building occupies a large space in the Fauxbourg St. Germain: it is composed of several courts, surrounded by arcades, which, while they increase its ge- neral effect, afford shady walks for the in- 299 valids in hot or rainy weather. The apart- ments occupy three stories; the bed-cham- bers are above, and the dining-rooms, kitchens, repositories for the hnen, and si- milar offices, are under excellent regula- tions; and whatever may be the general characteristic of Paris, nothing can exceed the propriety and cleanliness of every part and department of this hospital. The church is a magnificent structure; its dimensions are large, of fine proportions, and enriched with the most splendid deco- rations. The dome rises in the centre of a Grecian cross, which is distributed into six beautiful chapels, and presents one of the most delightful and highly finished exam- ples of architectural scenery that has been at any time produced. At the revolution this superb sanctuary of the Christian reli- gion was metamorphosed by an assumed spirit of paganism into the temple of Mars. The shrines, altars, and images of saints were removed, and their places filled with 300 marble statues of the four quarters of the globe, the virtues, and other allegorical figures. The crowns, fleurs des lis, and other emblems of royalty, which had been inlaid in the marble floor, have been spared on account of their beauty, as well as the dif- ficulty and expence of replacing them ; but the dilapidations and alterations here are trifling when compared with almost every other public edifice: for, amidst the dread- ful and indiscriminate destruction of revo- lutionary phrenzy, this magnificent edifice, except in the furniture of the chapel, was preserved inviolable; its funds were re- spected, and some additional honours con- ferred upon it; particularly that of removing the body of Mareschal Turenne, and the beautiful monument erected to his memory at St. Denis, into the temple of Mars, which was done by order of government, about three years ago, with great pomp, and all military honours. Near Turenne's monu- ment, in an elevated part of the church, 301 are enrolled in letters of gold, on immense marble tablets, the names of those soldiers who have received national rewards for hav- ing served their country; with a specifica- tion of the battles in which they distin- guished themselves. These pubUc testimo- nials of individual valour, together with the suspended banners, are thus exposed to encourage the national enthusiasm and love of glory. There are pictures also which represent the French victories at different periods, and the standards waving over them from the ceiling and cornices are said to exceed eighteen hundred, mostly taken in the course of the last war. An English- man, with no small degree of exultation, discovers no more than two British flags, and a tattered ship's ensign, which however are placed in the most conspicuous situa- tion: the latter hangs in folds over the portal, and forms a drapery on one side of a large allegorical picture, which represents the French Republic, after encountering 302. so many dreadful tempests, in the moment of arriving safely into port, in a bark of triumph, on the 18th of Brumaire, (the ninth of November 1799)? the day on which Bonaparte was declared first consul. It is a picture of considerable merit, by Vallet, a French artist. I shall conclude with our visit to the library, a large upper room, containing a considerable collection of books, presented by Bonaparte, whose portrait, by David, is its principal ornament. This picture re- presents him in his arduous ascent up Mont St. Bernard, with his army, in the depth of winter, previous to the battle of Marengo. He is mounted on his favourite charger, large as life, defying the frozen snows of of that formidable barrier, whose tremendous precipices are introduced in the distance, with the labours of the soldiers in dragging the heavy artillery up those almost perpen- dicular paths, which travellers have always, at that season, deemed a bold encounter 303 without any incumbrance. The whole is in David's best style; the likeness of the general, though flattering, strongly marks his character; the attitude is fine, and the horse is spirited. On the snowy fragments in the foreground are inscribed the names of Bonaparte, Hannibal, and Carolus Magnus. I was very curious to see another pic- ture by the same master, which, during the more horrid period of the revolution, was exhibited in an apartment of this building, and the temporary object of an enthusiastic admiration. But since the people of France have returned to a state of civilization, both in their civil and political conduct, this execrable painting has been withheld from public view, or, which is more probable, is entirely destroyed. This you will believe when I give you the following description. It represented the colossal figureof a man quite naked, trampling on kings, priests, crowns, sceptres, crosses, and rosaries: in one hand bearing a flamino: brand, in the other a 304 sabre. The goddess of Reason, clothed in the garb of majesty, appears to sanctify the scene; and various other characters com- plete a groupe which an helhsh mind could alone conceive, and impel the daring hand to execute. As an artist David is greatly to be ad- mired; as a man, it is perhaps sufficient to say, that he was the bosom friend of Robe- spierre, a member of his bloody tribunals, and is even believed to have attended at the scaffold to sketch the agonizing features of the victims executed by his order. What a contrast between his goddess of Reason, with her execrable satellites, and the lovely pic- ture of Religion, with all her attendant vir- tues, which Angelica painted for me in Italy. There, instead of the horrid groupe of a revolutionary painter, we behold the pure and heavenly forms which her chaste but glowing pencil conveyed from her amiable and highly cultivated mind to the canvas: there, to use the language in the sermon of 305 the departed friend, from whence I sug- gested the subject of the picture. " Be- hold a procession appear, led on by one in whose air reigns native dignity, and in whose countenance majesty and meekness sit en- throned together: all the virtues unite their various lustres in her crown, around which spring the ever blooming flowers of para- dise. We acknowledge at once the queen of heaven, fair Religion, with her lovely train : Faithy ever musing on the holy book ; Hope, resting on her sure anchor, and bid- ding defiance to the tempests of life; Cha- rity, blessed with a numerous family around her, thinking no ill of any one, and doing good to every one; Kepentance, with gleams of comfort brightening a face of sorrow, like the sun shining through a watery cloud; Devotion, with her eyes fixed on heaven; Patience, smiling at affliction; Peace, car- rying on a golden sceptre the dove and the olive-branch; and Joy, with an anthem book, singing an hallelujah! Listen to the VOL. I. X 306 leader of this celestial band, and she will tell you all you can desire to know. She will carry you to the blissful bowers of Eden; she will tell you how they were lost, and how they are to be regained: she will point out the world's Redeemer, exhibited from the beginning in figure and prophecy, AvhiJe the patriarchs saw his day at a dis- tance, and the people of God were trained by their schoolmaster the law, to the expec- tation of him. She will shew you how all events from the creation tended to this great end; and how all the distinguished persons, who have appeared upon the stage, performed their part in the universal drama; the em- pires of the world rising and falling in obe- dience to the appointment of Providence, for the execution of his counsels. At length, in the fulness of time, she will make known to you the appearance of the long- desired Saviour; explaining the reasons of his hum- ble birth, and holy life; of all he said, and all he did; of his unspeakable sufferings, 307 his death and burial; his triumphant resur- rection, and glorious ascension. She will take jou within the veil, and give you a sight of Jesus, for the suffering of death, crowned with honour and immortality, and receiving homage from the hosts of heaven, and the spirits of just men made perfect. She will pass over the duration of time and the world, and place before your eyes the throne of judgment, and the unalterable sentence; the condemnation of the wicked, and the glories of the righteous." 308 LETTER XXXV. Paris, July 15, 1803. Yesterday being the anniversary of the demolition of the Bastile in 1789> and one of the principal fetes of the republic, the morning was ushered in by an heavy discharge of cannon, which, from its long continuance, must have awakened all the sleepers in Paris to the celebration of a fes- tival which several days before had been publicly announced, with orders for having the streets watered, and that no carriage should appear during the illuminations, which commenced at sun-set, and were generally very beautiful, particularly at the palace and gardens of the Thuilleries. Although I saw no coloured lamps, nor any of the de- vices and transparent paintings which adorn the British metropolis on such occasions; 309 yet, each front of the palace being covered with thousands of lamps, encircling the win- dows, and covering the architrave, columns, and other prominent parts of the architec- ture, produced a grand and simple effect: while the gardens, between the trees, round the fountains, and on each side of the walks, were filled with pyramids of lamps, which threw a brilliant light over the astonishins; crowd assembled in every part, but preserv- ing an order and silence to which we are not accustomed in England. The garden front of the palace, seen through the illuminated perspective of the principal walk at the entrance from the Elysian fields, was sin- gularly striking; and the evening being quite serene, and the air perfumed by the orange-trees, now in full bloom, the whole resembled a scene in the Arabian Night's Entertainment. The ex pence of these illu- minations is very great: these were not considered as very extraordinary; but the fire-works and illuminations in tlie Thuille- 310 ries and Champs Elyse^s when Louis the Sixteenth accepted the constitution, are said to have cost fifty thousand pounds. I have frequently visited the Bastile, or rather the ruins of that celebrated fortress, and the buildings erected for various pur- poses from its dilapidations; for so complete was the demolition of that ancient structure, that hardly one stone remained upon ano- ther: the very name of this prison spread terror throughout the whole dominion of France, and too many unhappy beings of all descriptions have been plunged into its dungeons on suspicion of crimes which they never committed: but however crowded it might have been under the dissolute period when Madame de Pompadour ruled with uncontrolled authority over Louis the Fif- teenth, during the mild reign of his successor the cells were rarely inhabited. One unfor- tunate wretch, a victim to the former reign, had been condemned to solitude and dark- ness for five and thirty years, who indeed 311 too perfectly realized the pathetic picture of Sterne's captive. On emerging from his dreary cell, in a low and hollow voice he intreated his deliverers to put him to death, as the greatest favour they could confer. The Bastile was so constructed, and ge-. nerally so well guarded, as to be deemed impregnable; and was assailed in vain by Henry the Fourth and his veterans ; yet on the fourteenth of July 1789> the citizens of Paris, almost famished for want of bread, and animated by the spirit of liberty, con- quered and demolished it in a few hours. The avarice of Launay, the governor, had caused him to send false muster-rolls, and the garrison then consisted of only half its complement: before any succours could ar- rive all was over, and Launay was the first victim of popular fury. Although no part of its walls, nor even of its subterraneous apartments, are now visible, it is impossible to walk over the spot where it once stood, 312 without a painful recollection of those tra- gical scenes, *' Where man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority, Play'd such fantastic tricks before high heaven. As make the angels weep" On removing the ruins of the fortress the superintendant of the workmen caused eighty-three models to be formed fiom the stones, which he presented to the eighty- three departments of France, that the re- membrance of the Bastile, and the restora- tion of liberty, might never be effaced. After our first visit to the Bastile, which stood near the banks of the Seine, and where are still some shady walks upon the out- works near the water, we drove immediately to the Temple, the modern Bastile, where Louis and his unhappy family drank so deeply of the bitter cup of misery, and from whence, after a long continued scene of contumely and insult, they were finally 313 conducted to the scaffold. This prison once formed part of a building, with a church, convent, and gardens, belonging to the Knights Templars, or a similar order: but the convent having been destroyed, four lofty towers, connected by intervening cham- bers, were preserved, and being surrounded by high walls, were converted into a state prison ; and is still appropriated to that pur- pose, as some of our own countrymen have lately experienced. On the confinement of the royal family the walls were heightened, the contiguous buildings removed , and strong guards placed at every avenue to prevent all communication : and here, after the mur- der of her father and mother, and Madame Elisabeth, and the untimely death of her brother, the young Princess Royal passed a season of dreadful anxiety, and dreary soli- tude, w^ith a fortitude that beggars descrip- tion, and, could it be described, would scarcely be believed. 314 LETTER XXXIII. Paris, July id, 1803, " O THAT T had the wings of a dove! for then would I flee away, and be at rest; lo then would I get me away afar oif," to some happier spot not subject to capricious tyranny, despotic orders, and domiciliary visits. I would go to that land where liberty is something more than an empty name; where her influence is felt, though not emblazoned in golden characters on every public edifice, nor the first word in every arret to send a man to the various Bastiles which, under other names, exist in every part of modern France. Although we have hitherto remained unmolested in this capital, we have not been without frequent alarms of severer re- strictions, and closer confinement; and many 315 of ourcountr3^menliave been sent away to Va- lenciennes and Fontainbleau on a very sud- den notice. Our horizon has been for some lime portentous, gloomy, and mysterious, and it gradually darkened until the four- teenth, when Lord Elgin, and several other English gentlemen, were invited to attend general Junot. There is a peculiar mean- ing in such invitations ; and I am sometimes favoured with them. " Le Giniral Dki- sionnaire Junot, Commandant la Premiere Di- vision militaire et la Ville de Paris, vous invite, Monsieur, a passer chez lid, S^^e!' Unfortu- nately for us poor captives, it is an invita- tion we have not the option of declining. Lord Elgin and his invited companions re- ceived a peremptory order to leave Paris immediately, and repair to the provincial towns appointed for their exile. His Lord- ship, as a great favour, is permitted to go to Bareges on account of his health, but the English, in general, have been sent, with very few exceptions, to Fontainbleau. 316 Some of my Parisian friends exerted them- selves to discover if my name was among them, and not finding it, were anxious to invent some expedient to prevent my re- moval; and interested themselves with the grand judge and other public officers. One of them, knowing we were now liable to domiciliary visits, the seizure of papers, and other arbitrary acts, kindly offered to secrete any of my writings or drawings which I did not choose to fall into the hands of the police officers, while the storm threat- ened us. Until this period I knew not of my con- sequence in the literary world: but prepa- ratory to our visit to general Andreossi, Portalis, and the grand judge, a friend asked me if I was acquainted with any of the English literati, or with the members of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies; and when he was informed that I was not only intimate with many gentlemen of that description, but was myself a member of both those so- - 317 cieties, as well as of the Arcadian Society at Rome, his countenance brightened, and, in the memorial to the grand judge, those particulars were enlarged upon, and my works magnified : thus captivity, which cur- tailed my liberty, enlarged my reputation. Whether or not this sudden exaltation will secure my continuance at Paris, I am yet to learn; patience is an essential virtue in France, especially in the routine of a public office. The high-flown representation of me, with an addition of seven years to my age, is now before the higher powers; and I anxiously wait the result : for when I con- sider the situation of a wife and child vo- luntarily involved in my fate, and that the latter will be deprived, at this interesting period, of five excellent masters, my place of exile is not a matter of indifference; and although we have not hitherto experienced the reign of terror when victims were daily carried off to trial, condemnation, and death; yet, as France is now equally subject to ar- 318 bitrary and capricious mandates, we know not where they may terminate. Of five EngHsh gentlemen who dined with us three days ago, four of them are sent to distant departments, and the fifth hourly expects his order of banishment; while our eager eyes are always turned towards the door, watching the countenance of the approach- ing stranger, and dreading the sight of every letter brought to the house. Two of these gentlemen, who are from Oxford, have al- w^ays travelled and lived together since they have been on the continent, and requested only the same place of exile; a boon which was inhumanly refused them. Do not therefore imagine that all goes smoothly on in this gay metropolis; where, if I am permitted to remain, as an English- man I shall have my trials : my feelings are daily roused by the advertisements, carica- tures, and public criers in the streets, de- claiming against old England. The French do not excel in caricature, nor is a popular 319 pamphlet lately published, entitled, " The Nation puffed up with Pride, small Beer, and Tea, brought to the Bar of Reason," of much importance; but the clergy are now resuming their former influence in society, and especially among the lower classes: Religion is now the order of the day. I will make no comments on the conduct of our oppressor, whether favouring the sensual tenets of the Koran in Egypt, or the sublime truths of the gospel in France; where the prelates of every description publish the most flattering, and even blasphemous ad- dresses, in favour of their new idol; who receives them all as if he could believe that he deserved the preposterous adulation. I sometimes amuse myself by copying extracts from the public papers ; and I have preserved a few of them, merely as whimsical specimens of rare and curious flattery. The archbishop of Rouen, last month, thus addresses his clergy : " Demandons a 320 Dieu, demandons lui sur-tout, que rhomme de sa droite/' cet homme qui, " sous sa di- rection et par ses ordres, a tant fait pour la retablissement de son culte, qui se propose de faire encore davantage, continue d'etre comme Cyrus, le Christ de la providence. &c. Sec" And thus says the bishop of Mayence: " Read in the letter of our chief magistrate, and be convinced of the sublime sentiments which animate his great soul : like those he- roes who by their piety have immortalized* the French valour, he leaves his enemies to pride themselves in the number of their vessels, and the immensity of their trea- sures: as to himself, he declares, that he trusts only in the name of that God who governs the universe; and to Him, and not to the strength or courage of his armies, he looks for success; to Him therefore he will ascribe the glory." The bishop of Orleans, quoting the strong expressions of Ezekiel against Tyre, 321 thus applies the words of that prophet to the island which dares to oppose the Power of France : " Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said I am a god in the midst of the seas; because by thy traf- fick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up thereby; there- fore thus saith the Lord God, Behold! I will bring strangers upon thee, even the ter- rible of the nations; and they shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. By the multitude of thy merchan- dize they have filled the midst of thee with violence; thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the iniquity of thy traffick: therefore will I bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee!" VOL. I. 322 LETTER XXXIV. Paris, July Ip, 1803. We yesterday made another un- successful attempt to see the water-works at Versailles : it had been announced in the Paris papers that they were to let loose their streams for the amusement of the public on the first Sunday after the fourteenth of July, the anniversary of the festival of the Revo- lution; but, on our arrival, we found the pipes were still out of order, and that not a single fountain would be displayed. The heat was excessive, we therefore preferred the shades of St.Cloud to the glare of Versailles. The for- mer place is about two leagues from Paris, and is esteemed one of the most delightful situations in this part of France. The town of St. Cloud takes its name from a son of Clo- domir, king of Orleans, in former ages, who 32S at an early period of life retired from the world, and founded a monastery on ibis spot, which has ever since retained his name. The town is built on the banks of the Seine, over which a stone bridge leads to the Paris road ; and on a contiguous eminence stands the palace of St. Cloud, which commands a view of the capital, and the river, mean- dering through a wide expanse of hill and dale, cultivated and enriched with towns, villages, chateaus, and every embellishment to be expected in the environs of a luxu- rious metropolis; while the nearer hills, rising on the banks of the Seine, display the varied charms of Belle-vue, Meudon, and other villas. Such is the general prospect from St. Cloud; but its local beauties, and the noble apartments of the palace, with all their splendid decorations, merit a more parti- cular description. The seignory of St. Cloud was in 1674 erected into a duchy and peerage, in favour of Francois de Harlay, 324 archbishop of Paris, and devolved, with its dignities, to the prelates his successors. Monsieur, brother to Louis the Fourteenth, built the chateau, under the inspection of three celebrated architects; from him it de- scended to the late Duke of Orleans, and became a favourite residence of the late queen, for whom it was purchased by Louis the Sixteenth in 1785, and from that time received many improvements: in ex- change for the seignory, the king gave the archbishop of Paris that of Bois le Vi- comte, which was erected into a duchy and peerage. St. Cloud seems to have suffered less from revolutionary fury than any of the royal palaces; and,\if some outrages were committed, the vestiges of them are no longer visible. The principal entrance into the park is to the left, immediately on crossing the bridge, and is always open for the public : it is much resorted to on Sundays and fes- tivals, especially when the Parisians expect 325 that the water-works will be displayed. The approach to the palace takes the ascent of the hill by a broad road, from whence you enter several large courts, surrounded by the offices. The First Consul having selected this spot for his principal summer residence, it has been completely repaired, and the gar- dens improved, by additional decoration. As carriages are not permitted to enter even the outer court, we alighted at the gate, and walked to the door of the palace, where we were received by a servant in a rich livery of green and gold, and conducted up the marble staircase to the grand suite of apartments, consisting principally of the gallery, saloon, drawing-room, council- chamber, chapel, and other state-rooms, of which I shall not attempt to give a mi- nute description. If St. Cloud cannot boast of the extent, magnificence, and splendid embellishments, of Versailles, it certainly rivals it in elegance and comfort: the ceil- 326 ings are painted in various allegorical sub- jects, and the rooms hung with tapestry, or sattins embroidered with natural flowers, to answer the furniture, which is new, and in a ver}^ superb taste. The chandeliers are magnificent, and three vases of the Seve porcelaine, in the gallery, which are mo- delled after the antique, are the largest and most beautiful I have ever seen. Here are also several good pictures, but the nar- row space between the windows will not admit of such as are of large dimensions. This room communicates with the upper gallery of the chapel, which is furnished Avith new state chairs of crimson velvet enrichments, and gold, for the consular fa- milj' : the walls of the council-room are hung Avith flowered sattins, the chairs round the table are of the same materials, and the green cloth which covers it is richl}' laced and fringed Avith gold. Madame Bonaparte's private apartments are not shewn; and as I prefer rural scenery and fine prospects to 327 superb palaces and costJy furniture, we sought the dehghts of the park and gar- dens; particularly the upper terrace, which commands a most extensive prospect of the city of Paris, and all the variety just men- tioned, seen above the lower hills, which afford a rich foreground of woods, descend- ing to the brink of the river, between the bridges of Sevre and St. Cloud: but, unlike the Thames, near its commercial metropolis, the Seine is seldom enlivened even by the sail of a vessel: at present, indeed, near the Champ de Mars, and the Champs Elysees, the banks of the Seine are covered with the keels of flat-bottomed boats, destined for the invasion of England. The slopes from this lofty terrace, leading to the palace, afford much beautiful and varied scenery, adapted more for enjoyment than ostentation. Ex- clusive of the situation, Le Notre did all that the taste of his day would allow to give beauty to St. Cloud; some of his formality 328 still remains in the gardens, but it is very happily contrasted by spreading trees, in their native form, and rural scenes, where art is only the handmaid to nature : it seems a happy medium between Versailles and Petit Trianon, and was equally a favourite of Marie Antoinette; who, in a retired part of the woods, called la Felicite, erected a small temple to that Divinity, on the site of a pavilion to which the Duchess of Orleans used to retire from " the pomp of cities and the crowd of courts,'^ to enjoy the more placid delights of retirement amid the war- bling of nightingales and the murmur of cas- cades, which then fell among the surround- ing groves. What a contrast between this charming spot and the dismal cells of the Conciergerie ! How often, in traversing the royal domains of France, and naturally re- flecting on the downfal of the Bourbons, and the elevation of the Corsican family, have those feeling lines of our deceased 329 friend occurred to my memory, in which she so pathetically describes the catastrophe of the unfortunate queen ! " The dire events of our own time will shew, — We need not mourn imaginar}' woe : Torn from the pinnacle of regal state. Come weep witli me sad Antoinetta's fate! Once, like a splendid meteor, she appear'd. By a light people gaz'd on, and rever'd: But, O ! the sad reverse from pomp to pain, The meteor vanish'd ne'er to shine again ! Hurl'd from a throne, to a dark dungeon led Nauseous her food, the chilling straw her bed; Her husband murder'd, and her infant son Reft of the crown his ancestors had won : Her virgin daughter, innocent and fair. Entrusted to the lustful ruffian's care; While the suspended axe of certain death Is but protracted by a miscreant's breath : Yet must the threat of death to her be vain. The goal of quiet, from a world of pain At length the fatal moment is decreed, And Gallia's queen must ignominious bleed — In a vile cart, with human blood besmear'd. This offspring of Imperial race appear'd ; While yelling demons in the form of men, Demons sent forth from hell's remotest den. With horrid shouts, and more than savage cries, Mock'd the big drops that slream'd from her sad eyes : Her hands behind her tied — no veil allow'd To hide her woe from the insulting crowd ; No pitying eye that dar'd to shed a tear. 330 No decent hand to lay her on the bier : No requiem sung, to cheer the parting soul, No funeral rites! — no bell was heard to toll, Unhears'd, unshrouded, unentomb'd she lies!! ! La Felicite, so much admired by this unfortunate queen, must have been a deh- cious spot; but the formal gardens and ar- tificial cascades at St. Cloud, designed by Le Notre, seem more congenial to Parisian taste. River gods, nymphs, and nereids, conduct the waters from terrace to terrace to the lower basins, where they rise in foun- tains, playing on each other in every direc- tion ; and here is the celebrated jet d'eau, which rises to the height of ninety-seven feet, to the great admiration of the French, but surely with a different effect on those who have beheld the stupendous cataracts of nature in Switzerland and Italy. On a lawn called the balustrade, from its having been formerly faced with that or- nament in the most elevated part of the park, Bonaparte is now erecting a column, to be surmounted by a large lantern, or 331 light-house, named the lantern of Demos- thenes, from being formed after the model of that at Athens. Every thing is supposed to be acquiring a classical taste in France; and no decoration or furniture is fashionable unless it be Egyptian, Grecian, or Roman. I have however been too lately in Italy to be the dupe of French fashion. In the evening the groves of St. Cloud, the promenades in the Bois de Boulogne, and all the little public gardens on our re- turn to Paris, were enlivened by the festive dance, in which all classes participate; and in this respect the French still preserve the character given them by Goldsmith — " Gay sprightly land of mirth and social ease j Pleas'd with thyself, whom all the world can please; Alike all ages! dames of ancient days. Have led their children through the mirthful maze ; And the gay grand-sire, skill'd in gestic lore. Has frisk'd beneath the burden of three-score." 332 LETTER XXXV. Paris, July 20, 1803. I SHALL mention but very few of the public structures in this city; a recital of the whole would be tedious and uninte- resting, I believe, to us both. The cathedral of Notre Dame is an ancient gothic struc- ture, enriched with various ornaments, and painted glass windows. It suffered greatly during the revolution, but, in its most per- fect state, must have been very inferior to York Minster, Westminster Abbey, and man}^ of our English cathedrals. The modern church of St. Sulpice is a noble edifice; the western front and towers are very imposing ; but the whole is too con- fined to be seen with all the advantage which it deserves. The interior beauties exceed those of its exterior character; and the light 333 on the sculpture in the inner chapel beyond the high altar, has a very awful effect. The Abbaye, one of the oldest temples in Palis, although restored to public woi*ship, re- mains in a very deplorable state, having greatly suffered by revolutionary fury, and its contiguity to the prison of the Ab- baye, where such horrid cruelties were committed. The Hotel de ViUe, Garde Meuble, Hotel des Monnoies, Palais de Justice, and many other of the public buildings, attract a stranger's attention, but would create little interest in the detail. A few of the city gates are in a beautiful style of architec- ture, particularly that of St. Deni»; and several of the barriers, or entrances into the suburbs from the country, have a striking effect, and were constructed from the ele- gant designs of Le Doux. The bridges over the Seine are, some of them, con- structed with taste, but they sink into aljso- 334 lute insignificance when compared with those of the Thames. One of the finest buildings in Paris is the Pantheon, formerly the church of the Abbey of St. Genevieve: previous to the re- volution the old church being in a ruinous state, was taken down, and the present struc- ture erected on a magnificent plan, but not completed . On the suppression of the mo- nastery government undertook its comple- tion, and it would perhaps have been finished, had not the foundation given way, and re- quired an immediate, as well as well as ex- pensive alteration in the interior, which, I am sorry to add, has greatly diminished its beauty. It stands on the highest ground in Paris, and its light and elegant exterior is universally admired: the proportions are excellent; and from the gardens of the Luxembourg, as well as on a nearer ap- proach from its own area, it has a very ma- jestic appearance, especially the portico, 335 which is copied from that of the Pantheon at Rome, and is composed of twenty-two Corinthian columns, fifty-four feet high: on the frieze is tlie following inscription in golden characters, " Aux grands homines, la patrie reconnoissante." From the gallery above the cupola, which is an hundred and sixty feet from the ground, we commanded a bird's-eye view of the whole city of Paris, and the surrounding country, through an atmosphere wonder- fully clear, but on one of the hottest days I ever experienced ; the ascent from the lower gallery to the upper is very convenient, and the old Cicerone was extremely attentive, and replete with anecdote. After thus gra- tifying our curiosity, we descended to the subterraneous regions set apart for the sepul- ture of the great men of the French republic, where the dead as well as the living seem to be equally subject to the fluctuations of caprice. Hither the ashes of Vollaire and 336 Rousseau were removed from their former repositories; but they have been placed under monuments of no great taste or ex- pence ; while the bodies of Marat and Mi- rabeau, after having been decreed the ho- nours of the Pantheon, and carried thither with great funeral pomp, were removed by a subsequent order, and, as we were told, bu- ried in a neighbouring dunghill. Voltaire's sarcophagus is ornamented with four in- scriptions; I select one of them. " Poete, historien, philosophe, 11 aggrandit I'esprit humain, Et I'apprit, qu'il devoit etre libre." On that of Rousseau is inscribed, " Ici repose I'homme de la naturcj et de la verite" Near the Pantheon is a valuable public library, containing upwards of thirty thou- sand volumes, which is under excellent re- gulations. The Pantheon appears to great advan- tage from the principal avenue in the gar- 337 dens of the Luxembourg palace,which is now called le Palais du Senat Consenative: it is a very fine building, and formerly belonged to the Duke of Orleans, but, in the revolu- tionary changes, has been appropriated to the residence and functions of the Conservative Senate: the apartments, when finished, will correspond in all respects with the elegant exterior. It is entered from the street through a spacious court; the other fronts present themselves to a public garden, which, although neither so extensive, nor so richly adorned as the Thuilleries, is laid out in spacious walks, with groves, fountains, sta- tues, and enriched by a profusion of orange trees: being situated in a distant part of the city from the consular gardens, it af- fords the inhabitants a similar recreation; every thing of this kind having become na- tional property. The Palais Bourbon, formerly belonging to the Prince de Condc, and now the hall of tlie Corps Legislatif, is silualcd at the VOL. I. z 338 termination of the bridge opposite the Place de la Concorde; and the hall where the Legislative Body assembles is one of the most elegant rooms in Europe, well adapted for the purpose, and embellished with marble columns, whose capitals are of bronze. The tribune, the benches, and president's chair, are all arranged in a superior style; and six niches contain the statues of Solon, Ly- curgus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Cato, and Brutus. 1 have examined the history of France with some attention, and particularly that part of it which comprehends the late revo- lution; but though letters of gold may boldly emblazon Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, on every public portal, such privi- leges exist not in this republic: here is no confidence between man and man ; venality and corruption operate powerfully among the great; envy and distrust pervade the middle classes; and, although the poor may be benefitted by the suppression of some 339 evils which they formerly suffered, the con- scription is now become an alloy to every enjoyment. The government, notAvithstand- ing names and forms, is, in effect, a complete system of military despotism: France con- tains not those germs of virtue which, when they spring forth, may nourish a republic : the elements for such a system do not exist in this servile nation. Frenchmen seldom speak their sentiments ; but I have heard the mode- rate and sensible feelingly observe, that when Bonaparte was invested with the consulate for life the death-blow was given to their views of liberty. Such are the fruits of the French revolution, whose great error was, that it made no distinction in its objects, but revolutionised every thing. Our revo- lution was conducted upon other principles. Its design was to restore and secure our sjo- vernment, ecclesiastical and civil, on truo foundations; and that design was fully ac- complished, without the hazard of any change in the constitution. 340 L'Eglise de Madeleine, near the Italian Boulevard e, promised to be a beautiful example of Grecian architecture; but the revolution not only prevented its comple- tion, but even its progress. Its cemetery, however, is remarkable for having received the remains of the king and queen, and most of the unfortunate sufferers by the guil- lotine, in the Place de la Concorde, in whose vicinity it is. But royalty is not forgotten ; for the portraits of Louis the Sixteenth and his consort Marie Antoinette are exhibited in the windows of the print-shops with those of the three consuls. The hospitals and other charitable en- dowments in the capital and provincial towns, I have reason to believe, are sup- ported as well as the public and private finances will admit; but the revolution cer- tainly destroyed many excellent institutions, without supplying a substitute; and dried up many a source of humanity without of- fering any other salutary spring. 341 By the papers, pamphlets, and adula- tory addresses of the day, a stranger would suppose that France enjoyed every public and private blessing ; but, on a nearer scru- tiny, he will find, under the stage effect, and ostentatious glare, of which the French are so fond, that much remains to be done for the real comfort and happiness of the middle and lower classes in this extensive republic. As in England, though not with its magni- ficent bounty, the door of charity is here opened to every species of human misery. The Hotel Dieu, under another name, is still continued. UHospice de la Salpetriere, erected by Louis the Thirteenth, is on a noble foundation: its extended arms em- brace the old and young, the poor and the helpless, the maniac and the idiot. To these may be added above sixteen hundred girls, who are employed in spinning, knit- ting, lace-making, and other manufactures. The Asylum pour les Enfans trouves, or Foundling Hospital, is conducted on a Im- 342 mane and liberal plan: in this place a thou- sand orphans are tenderly nursed during the helpless state of infancy, and afterwards educated for some useful employment in the state. ^Institution des travaux des Aveugles, or the school for the blind, although not so interesting to visitors as that of the deaf and dumb, which I shall presently mention, is equally dear to the friend of humanity; and here a great number of both sexes, who are deprived of one of the first of hu- man blessings, are taught the means of gain- ing an honest and useful livelihood by those employments of which their condition is capable. But not only among the most noble and most useful charities, but as one of the highest gratifications which Paris affords to alleviate our captivity, I rank the national asylum for those who are born deaf and dumb. The Institution Nationale des Sourds ct 343 Muets de naissance; the national asylum for those born deaf and dumb; was first in- stituted by the Abbe Charles Michael de I'Epee, a name dear to humanity, for his un- remitted patience, and persevering zeal, in behalf of an insulated race of beings, cut off from m OS t of the sources of human happiness ; and, by a new mode of education, he con- trived to communicate to them a knowledge of the arts and sciences with a faciUty and quickness not easily conceived. About fifty years ago this amiable man, at his own private expence, undertook to meliorate the condi- tion of these unhappy fellow mortals : he spent his time in instructing, and his fortune in clothino; and feedino; all who claimed his fostering care: in 1756 he published his mode of instruction, which he continued with the greatest success, under gradual im- provement, until 1789? when death deprived the world of a philanthropist,who was not only the admiration of France, but of all Europe. When it pleased Heaven to remove him 344 from works to rewards, it did not leave his flock without a pastor; the xibbe Sicard, who had been his pupil in this glorious pur- suit, with equal ability and enthusiasm sup- plied his place ; and has ever since in this capacity been the delight of the Parisians, and the admiration of all stmngers of taste and sensibility who frequent this gay ca- pital. The Abbe's lectures are so attrac- tive, and so much the resort of fashion, that a very early attendance alone can procure a seat; but the hours of waiting are amply repaid by the sentiments produced in this interesting exhibition. Previous to 1791 this was a private insti- tution, maintained by the annual subscrip- tions and donations of individuals; but in that year the National Assembly appropriated to its objects the Celestin convent, and thus founded an hospital for twenty-four chil- dren, with a pension of three hundred francs for each child, which was soon increased to one hundred and twenty children, and five 345 hundred francs for the board and education of each, during an allotted period. Every possible attention is employed to instruct them in reading, writing, drawing, and arith- metic; and they are thus qualified to gain a livelihood in various branches of ma- nual employment established in this cha- ritable endowment for the general benefit. As the building is extensive, and the hu- mane zeal of the Abbe unremitting, any child whose friends can pay the annual sti- pend, is admitted into this happy asylum, which is opened once a fortnight for the admission of the public, under commodious regulations. On these occasions, for the space of three hours, we have the felicity of hear- ing this good man expatiate on the mode adopted to raise this unfortunate class of being from brutes to men, to inculcate the first dawn of science on their benighted minds ; to give them a knowledge of na- tural objects, and from thence to lead them, 346 through various gradations, to moral and intellectual ideas, to the God of nature and of grace, the author of their existence, the redeemer of their souls, and the rewarder of their virtues. Many parts of these lec- tures are truly sublime, while all are interest- ing and instructive. The enthusiasm of the Abbe, the respectful silence and delighted countenances of his enraptured audience, with the affectionate gratitude of his pupils, produce sensations which are not to be de- scribed. The latter go through their progressive stages of acquiring knowledge from the youngest scholar's earliest lesson with a key on a lady's fan, to two of the seniors writ- ing complete sentences on any subject given in the silent language of their kind instruc- tor, or indiscriminately chosen from any book brought by a visitor, to evince that they could have no previous knowledge of the contents. When these advanced pupils have performed their allotted task to general 347 satisfaction, in which they seldom fail, the benevolent countenance of the Abbe is irra- diated with the bright beams of internal happiness and enthusiastic delight, nor are those of his grateful scholars less inte- resting. One day Massieu, the most en- lightened of the Abbe's pupils, had copied an account of a traveller descending a dan- gerous pass in a mountain on foot, where it was impossible for an horse to proceed on account of the perpendicular precipices and projecting rocks, and which seemed an insur- mountable barrier even to a pedestrian : the traveller, however, succeeded in the ha- zardous enterprise, and was received by the admiring spectators below with loud accla- mations. To convince the audience that the pupil understood all he had written, he was desired to explain grammatically the most difficult parts, and conjugate the verbs, w^hich he did to admiration : but more interesting still was his description in the language of the school. In dumb shew he 348 described the height of the mountain, the dreadful precipices, the traveller's danger, and the acclamations of the spectators : the Abbe was fearful he might find some diffi- culty in expressing the latter; but his ani- mated countenance, the clapping of his hands, and joyful leaps, soon convinced us to the contrary, and produced throughout the whole assembly the most animated burst of applause. 349 LETTER XXXVI. Paris, July 21, 1803. The friends of the Abbe Sicard having formed the plan of a rural fete in the forest of St. Germain, in honour of that great philanthropist, we were invited to be of the party : the subscription was no more than twelve livres each, for which we were provided with a carriage, a cold dejeune at St. Germain, and a dinner in the forest. Monsieur JaufFret, one of the public pro- fessors at Paris, had undertaken to conduct the whole of this interesting festival; and we were so fortunate as to be invited to ac- company him thither. We accordingly pro- ceeded through the Champs Ely sees, and, passing their grand barrier entered a popu- lous country, enriched with a variety of cul- 350 tivation, and, about four miles from Paris, crossed the Seine at Pont de Neuilly, a bridge constructed thirty years ago, and considered as a chef-d'ouvre-of architecture, both as to hghtness and durabiUty. Its sur- face of eight hundred feet in length is per- fectly horizontal, and is formed on five equal arches an hundred and thirty-two feet wide, and thirty-two high. The prospects from hence on each side of the river are varied and pleasant: the most striking feature is Mount Calvary, so called from a church and convent which formerly stood there; and v/as visited by strangers to view its se- ries of pictures, of the death and passion of Christ, which are said to have been de- lineated with a most powerful impres- sion: they were consequently the peculiar object of revolutionary destruction, whose infidel spirit was more particularly directed against this religious edifice, as superstition had induced its votaries to believe, that its walls contained a fragment of the cross on 351 which the Saviour of the world performed the sacrifice of our redemption. From Mount Calvary the country abounds with large villages, ch^teaus, and villas, situated among com fields and vine- yards. The hay harvest is over, and the early corn carrying to the barns; all was cheerful and animated; and as the houses are built of stone, and generally in an hand- some style of architecture, they would be greatly heightened, as landscape objects, by the accompaniments of wood in its va- rious forms and characters. But we here look in vain for the verdant meadows and shady groves, the blooming hedges, and stately oaks and elms, which adorn the rural pictures of England, and when intermingled and harmonized in the distant mass, pro- duce a beauty all its own. Corn, wine, and oil, the three scripture blessings, convey a cheering sound ; but the formality of vinc- clad-hills, olive-grounds of unvarying grey, and open corn lands unadorned by trees 3j2 and unrelieved bj meadows, do not aiFord that pleasing variety which distinguishes the hills and valleys of our own country. The French landscape is particularly deficient in large trees, and the towns and villages have a peculiar hardness, unfavourable to rural beauty. We saw nothing very interesting until we reached the gates of Mal-Maison, the favourite retreat of the Chief Consul, pur- chased by his lady during his command in Egypt. The name certainly does not indi- cate a superior habitation; and although it has lately received great additions both in territory and architecture, it has by no means the appearance of a palace, nor any thing particularly attractive in its situation: but here, to deceive the cares and anxieties which at times must press with considerable weight on his brow, though not yet encircled by a diadem, Bonaparte occasionally retires to pass a few days with less restraint than at St. Cloud, and personally superintends the im- S3S provements which are now decorating this favourite spot. He has lately added a large extent of domain, and has also planted many thousand trees to conceal the house from the high road, which passes so near as to lessen the retired character which its con- sular inhabitant Avishes to attach to it. We stopped to take a view of the water- works at Marii, a village pleasantly situated on the banks of the Seine. The royal villa, which was once its principal boast, is now, strange transformation! converted into a cotton manufactory, and the beautiful, luxu- rious pavilion of Madame du Barr6, which was once the pride of the place, is hastening to decay. We were received with great politeness by the director, and, after partaking of his obliging hospitality, accompanied him to the vast machine, which was the imme- diate object of our curiosity. It is placed in the bed of the Seine, and, by the force of its mechanical powers, raises the water to VOL. I. 2 ^ 354 the summit of the high grounds adjoining: from thence it is conducted at first by a grand aqueduct, and afterwards by con- cealed pipes to Versailles, where it not only supplies the canals and fountains in the gardens with their ornamental streams, but also furnishes a gieat part of the town with water for domestic comfort and con- venience. I am not sufficiently conversant in me- chanics to enter into an intelligent detail of its construction. The wheels are turned by a branch of the Seine, and throw an immense volume of water to the height of sixty fa- thoms, when it is received by the aqueduct, which is five hundred fathoms in length, and reaches to the reservoir, from whence the streams are conducted by pipes to their re- spective destinations: twenty-five thousand pounds are said to be annually expended on the repairs of this machine.* * It was constructed by a native of Liege, whose name was Renkinj and though, from the improvements made in 355 We could not observe, but with an equal degree of surprise and pleasure, the eager- ness with which Massieu, the most cele- brated pupil and greatest favourite of the Abbe Sicard, entered into the system of the machine at Marli. His tutor, in silent lan- guage, communicated to him its general structure and use; and by his dumb replies the pupil convinced us how perfectly he comprehended the complicated parts, to the mutual delight of the master, the scholar, and the beholders. It is Massieu who is so pathetically men- tioned in the heart-rending narrative of the Abbe Sicard, which describes the dreadful proceedings after the decree of the first of September 1792, when upwards of sixty priests were conducted in carriages into the court of the Abbaye prison, and there hydraulic engines since the period of its erection, similar operations may be produced, on a much more simple principle, and at a very diminished expence; its execution, nevertheless, cannot fail to give a very strong impression of the grandeur and magnificence which distinguished the undertakings of Louis XIV. 3d6 consigned to sufferings and to death: won- derfully, it may indeed almost be said mira- culously, did Monsieur Sicard escape this horrid butchery. Could these be men ? com- pared with such horrors, what a merciful irti- plement of death is the guillotine! Mas- sieu, on hearing that his beloved master was among the number of those devoted priests availed himself of the education his be^ nevolence had afforded him, to write the following pathetic letter to the President of the National Assembly* " MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT, On a enleve aux sourds et muels leur instituteur, leur nourricier, et leur pere. On Fa renferme dans une prison, comme s'il ^toit un voleur, un criminel. Cependant il nd pas tue, il n^a pas vole; II n'est pas mauvais cit03'en: toute sa vie se passe a nous instruire, a nous faire aimer la vertu, et la patrie. II est bon, juste et pur. Nous vous demandons sa liberte. Rendez-le a 357 ses enfans, car nous sommes ses fils. II nous aime comme s'il etoit notre p^re. C'est lui qui nous a appris ce que nous savons; sans lui nous serions comme des animaux Depuis qu'on nous la 6t6, nous sommes tristes et chagrin6s. Rendez nous-le, et nous serons heureuxi Massieu." I cannot help transcribing a few pas- sages from the Abbe's own account of his dreadful sufferings. Six carriages were filled with priests who could not conscientiously take the oath required by the new constitution: Sicard was among them, and in the first carriage. They had been promised their lives, and were informed that they were only to be re- moved from one prison to another, and were then on their way to the Abbaye. Too soon they found their sad mistake. " On donne," says Monsieur Sicard, " le signal du depart en recommandant a tous les cochers d aller 358 tres lentement, sous peine d'etre massacres sur leurs sieges; et, en nous addressant mille injures, les soldats qui devoient nous ac- compagner, nous annoncent que nous n'ar- riverons pas jusqu'a TAbbaye; que le peuple k qui ils vont nous livrer, se fera enfin jus- tice de ses ennemis, et nous egorgera dans la route. Ces mots terribles etaient accom- pagnes de tous les accents de la rage, de coups de sabres, et de piques. Les voi- tures marchent; bientot le peuple se ras- semble et nous suit en nous insultant. Nous voulumes fermer les portieres de la voiture; on nous for^ a de les laisser ouvertes pour avoir le plaisir de nous outrager: un de mes camarades re^ut un coup de sabre sur Fepaule, un autre fut blesse k la joue, un autre au dessous du nez. J'occupais une des places dans le fond; mes compagnons recevaient tous les coups qu'on dirigeait contre moi. Qu'on se peigne, sil se pent, la situation de mon ame, pendant ce pe- nible voyage. Enfin, nous arrivons a FAb- S59 baye; ies egorgeurs nous y attendaient. C'etait par nous qu'ils avoient ordre de commencer. La cour etoit pleine d'une foule immense: on entoure nos voitures; un de nos six camarades croit pouvoir echap- per, il ouvre la portiere et s'elance au milieu de la foule: il est aussitot ^gorg6. Un se- cond fait le meme essai, il fend la presse, et allait se sauver, mais Ies egorgeurs tom- bent sur cette nouvelle victime, et le sang coule encore; un troisieme n'est pas plus epargne. La voiture avan^ait vers la salle du comite; un quatrierae veut egalement sortir; il revolt un coup de sabre qui ne Tempeche pas de se retirer et de chercher un asile dans le comite. Les egorgeurs ima- ginent qu'il n'y a plus rien a faire dans celtc premiere voiture: ils ont tue trois prison- niers, ils ont blesse le quatrieme, ils nc croient pas qu'il y en ait un de plus, et ils se portent avec la meme rage a la seconde voiture. Je saisis le moment, je m'elance de la voiture, et je mc precipitc dans les 360 bras des membres du comite. "Ah! Mes- sieurs, leur dis-je, sauvez iin malheureux !" " Une femme m'avait vu entrer; elle court me denoncer aux egorgeurs ; ceux-ci conti- nuaient leurs massacres. Je me crus oublie pendant quelques minutes ; mais voila qu'on frappe rudement a la porte, et qu'on de- mande les deux prisonniers. Aussitot Tun prend mon camarade aux cheveux, et Tautre enfonce a I'instant sa pique centre sa poitrine, et le renverse mort k mes cotes; son sang ruiselle dans la salle, le mien allait couler; deja la pique etait levee, quand un homme, dont le nom doit m'etre si ch^r, averti par ses enfans qu'on massacrait a TAbbaye, et qu'on parlait de FAbbe Si card, accourt, fend la foule, et se precipitant entre la pique etmoi,decouvre sa poitrine. "Voila, dit-il au monstre qui m'alloit egorger, voila la poitrine par ou il faut passer pour aller a celle-la ! C'est TAbbe Sicard, un des hommes les plus utiles 4 son pays, le p^re des sourds et muets; il faut passer sur mon 361 corps pour aller jusqu'4 lui." " Ces mots, prononc^s avec Taccent du courage et du vrai patriotisme, firent tomber la pique des mains du meurtrier/' After many shocking details Monsieur Sicard thus describes the dreadful night he passed in the Abbaye. " Quelle nuit que celle que je passai dans cette prison! Les massacres se fai- soient sous ma fen^tre. Le cris des vie- times, les coups de sabre qu'on frappoit sur ces tetes innocentes, les hu dements des egorgeurs, les applaudissemens des temoins de ces scenes d'horreurs, tout retentissait jus- que dans mon coeur. Je dislinguais la voix m^me de mes camarades. J entendais les questions qu'on leur faissait, ct leurs re- ponses. On leur demandoit s'ils avaient fait le serment civique. Aucun ne I'avait fait; tons pouvaient echapper 4 la mort par un mensonge ; tons pr^fererent la mort. Tons disaient en mourant" " Nous sommes sou- mis d toutcs nos lois, nous mourons tons. 362 fiddles a voire constitution; nous n en ex- ceptons que ce qui r^garde la religion, et qui interesse notre conscience." " lis etaient aussitot perces de mille coups, au milieu das vocifer9,tions les plus horribles, les spec- tateurs criaient en applaudissant, Vive la nation ! et ces cannibales faisaient des danses ^bominables autour de chaque cadavre. Tout ceci J€ I'ai vu de mes yeux, et je Tai entendu. J^ai vu les dames du quartier de I'Abbaje se rassembler autour du lit qu'on preparait pour les victimes, y prendre place comme , elles Tauraient fait a un spectacle." What a scene, my amiable friend, is here described ! what must my fair country- women feel at such a picture ! I will spare you a longer recital, and only add, that the Abbe's enemies being resolved to execute their vengeance on this great and innocent man, obtained a fresh condemnation: his doom was fixed, and a cart, with other dead bodies, waited to take away his corpse. He again escaped. I shall conclude this affect- 363 ing subject with the Abbe's brief account of his first interview with his beloved Mas- sieu after this succession of events, so fuU of alarm and danger. " C'est la que je repus la premiere yisite de cet eleve precieux que j'avais nomm6 mon legataire, au moment oii, pr^s de r^ce- voir le coup mortel, je r^mis pour lui ma montre au commissaire. Qu'elle entrevue! Massieu dans les bras de son p^re, de son instituteur, de son ami. Cette ame brulante, reunie a la mienne, nos deux coeurs battants Tun centre I'autre! Ce malheureux jeune homme avait passe sans nourriture et sans sommeil tons les joui's des Temprisonnement de son maitre. Un jour de plus et il mourait de douleur et de faim. Quel moment que ce- lui oil il me r^vit, apr^s avoir tant pleure sur mon sort! Quels signes il me fit! Quel signe pour ceux qui en furent temoins !" We cannot boast of many enjoyments to lighten our captivity : but the luxury of pas- sing a day with such admirable persons, 364^ I shall ever recollect with peculiar pleasure: I have procured a portrait of each of them. One morning, when visiting the Abbe during his private lessons in the schools, a French gentleman and myself put a few questions in writing to Massieu, which he answered with wonderful facility and delight ; I shall send you only a faw at present, and reserve the rest with some other Parisian curiosities, for a happy meeting. D. Qu'est ce que TEternite ? R. C'est le jour sans hier, ni demain. D. Qu'est ce que Dieu ? R. C'est le soleil de F^ternite. D. Qu'est ce que la Reconnoissance? R. C'est la memoire du coeur. D. Qu'est ce qu^' une Revolution ? R. C'est un arbre dont la racine est en haut, et la tige en bas. D. Qu'est ce que la Vertu? R. . C'est la force morale. D. Qu'est ce que la Raison ? R. C'est la maturite de Tesprit. 365 Massieu is of infinite use to the Abbe in instructing the younger scholars, who are divided into different classes; and his sister, born also deaf and dumb, is equally useful in the female department. But I must now quit my digression, interesting as I am sure it will have been to you, and resume our journey. We proceeded from Marli to St. Ger- mains, along the banks of the Seine, wind- ing at the foot of the hills, which we ascended on approaching the town. It is situated on a lofty eminence, and, with its palace, which, when seen at a great dis- tance, presents a grand and striking object ; but, on a nearer view, we found it a deso- late and ruined pile. It once contained numerous apartments superbly furnished for the court of a voluptuous monarch, and was assigned by Louis XIV. to James the Second when he had abdicated the En dish crown, and sought an asylum in a foreign country. Here this infatuated prince main- 366 tained the shadowy appearance of royalty, and after some fruitless attempts to recover his lost empire, closed his lamentable life. The palace stands on a noble terrace, and its domain is connected with the ex- tensive forest of St. Germain. The view from hence is the boast of France, and ex- tends over a tract of country far as the eye can reach, finely varied, and watered by the Seine in its circuitous course to Paris, which crowns the whole. But I prefer the woody hills and more confined views from St. Cloud. At an hotel near the palace we partook of a cold dejeune; and then, entering the forest, proceeded near two^ miles through one of its boldest avenues to a ci-devant convent, now appropriated to a more useful college for the education of youth. Here we alighted about one o'clock, and passed the rest of the day with our interesting party. While dinner was preparing the master at- tended us through the different parts of the 367 college; the courts and gardens contribute to the health and exercise of the youth, the cloisters to their winter recreations, and the halls make excellent school-rooms : the cells of the monks are now neatly papered and fitted up for the elder students; each of whom has a separate dormitory; the younger sleep in a large airy apartment with one of the masters; and the whole appears to be under a well regulated arrangement. We found the boys disposed in due order in the principal school, where two of the first class delivered orations in favour of the Abbe Sicard and his benevolent institution. We dined in the old refectory, and our subscription dinner produced plenty of good cheer: no political toasts were given, but at the conclusion of the dessert, one glass having been filled to the health of the worthy Abbe, and a second to the success of the seminary, we took coffee, and attended the ladies through the gardens to a shady part of the forest, where our party joined 368 a company of near two hundred persons from St Germains and other places, who were invited to hear the Abbess lecture. Here seats were prepared for us all, beneath a clump of maples surrounding a small mount, to which the Abb6 and his two elder pupils were then conducted. From this elevated spot, to the complete gratification of the country strangers, as well as those, who, like myself, had so often enjoyed the same pleasure in Paris, he went through the progressive stages of the instruction given to the deaf and dumb. The dis- course engaged our attention during three hours, when the Abbe being nearly ex- hausted by his enthusiastic ardour, the large tablet on which Massieu wrote his senti- ments, w as suddenly removed, and the spec- tators were surprised with a bust of the Abbe on a handsome pedestal, encircled with wreaths of oak and garlands of flowers; the Heliotrope, or sun-flower, having the most conspicuous place over the forehead. 369 When the applause justly due to this agreeable surprise subsided, and the Abbe had expressed his grateful sensations, one of the scholars presented him with a finished drawing of the bust; and a young gentle- man among the spectators arose and re- cited a poetic eulogium on the Abbe and his divine institution: the lines, which were beautiful and impressive, were delivered without affectation; which is seldom ob- servable in French declamation. But I am really at a loss for words to give you an ade- quate idea of this singular spectacle : the grove, the bust, the Abbe with his pupils, the admiring spectators, the stillness of the forest, from time to time, interrupted by na- ture's choristers, and the spires of the con- vent seen dimly through the trees, afibrded me an intellectual feast, of which 1 shall not cease to partake while I have the power to remember it. We did not reach Paris till a very late hour. I must also mention an old forest oak, VOL. I. 2 li 516 near the convent, which, on a late botanical excursion of Mr. JaiifFret, engaged the at- tention of the party, and occasioned the following beautiful apostrophe. " Et toi, patriarche auguste de cette foret! toi, dont la fatale coignee a respecte les vieux ans, Chene antique ! vois les amis de la nature se ranger, se presser sous ton ombre hospi- tali^re; ofFres leur une fraicheur digne en- core de ton printems; vents, allez raffraichir votre haleine dans ces immenses reservoirs d'eau, suspendus sur nos tetes, et revenez agiter les rameaux qui doivent couvrir notre repas champ^tre; oiseaux, venez meler vos chants a nos hymnes, a nos cantiques; jeunes gens, apportez vos corbeilles, rem- plissez-les de plantes et de fleurs; repandez- les ^ pleines mains sur nos tables, et que tout concourre a rendre cette f^te touchante, digne des amis de la nature \" Monsieur Jauffret intended we should have enjoyed our rural repast under this um- brageous canopy, if the weather had not 371 proved so sultry. This amiable man makes frequent botanical excursions in the environs of Paris, with the youth of both sexes, to which we have received his kind and flat- tering invitations. 5n LETTER XXXVII. Paris, July 29, 1803. We have for some time past been engaged by one of the principal Jews at Paris to be present at the dedication of a synagogue, which has been suffered to be erected by the tolerating spirit of the French government. Week after week the cere- mony has been deferred from a delay in the completion of its decorations; and as often v> e have been disappointed. At length, however, the long expected time arrived, and this evening, about seven o'clock, we were received into a place of worship, so rare and extraordinary in this capital. Though we did not expect to see a model of Solo- mon's temple lined with cedar of Lebanon and enriched with the gold of Ophir, yet from all the circumstances attached to this structure, and the opulence of many Is- 373 raelites who inhabit the city of Paris, I had anticipated a very different spectacle. The building consists of a large oblong room with a flat ceiling, from which were suspended by red cords several old glass chandeliers, lighted with tallow candles: at one end were two latticed galleries for the women, and at the other, was an altar or sanctum-sanctorum ; in which, be- hind an embroidered curtain, were depo- sited the sacred volumes of the old testa- ment, the traditions of the elders, and the expositions of the rabbins, in large rolls, en- closed in separate embroidered bags. This altar was painted to imitate marble, and on each side of it was suspended, in a gilt frame, a prayer to the Almighty, to bless the Chief Consul and the French govern- ment, and to prosper his arms against his enemies. The one was written in Hebrew, the other in French; and were the only or- naments of the synagogue. The place was crowded with worshippers, if they may 374 be allowed that title; for really, without breach of charity, it is difficult to reconcile the sudden, violent, and noisy bursts of adoration, with the busy hum of conversa- tion and laughter among the congregation, and even of the officiating priests. In short, the place appeared more like a commercial exchange than a building sacred to public worship. The heat was extreme ; but we were for- tunately placed in an elevated window, and seeing a well-dressed French lady with a child among the crowd of Jews in the centre of the synagogue, I beckoned to her to come to us, which she at last eftbcted, and we endeavoured to make room for them: but on a young gentleman who accompa- nied her pressing also into the window seat, we were under the necessity of telling her we could not accommodate her friend; on which she whispered, C'est une dame; and indeed she proved to be the mother of the child then with them. 375 I need not tell you that the love of no- velty has ever been a predominant principle of the French character; which, in this par- ticular, has not suffered the least revolution. A Jews' synagogue was therefore a subject of uncommon curiosity, and, for some time, formed a varying topic for the infidel and the believer. 376 LETTER XXXVIII. Paris, August 1, 1803. Paris is called by the French la Reine des cites; and, when comparing it with London, T have frequently heard the former called a city of houses without streets, and the latter a city of streets with- out houses: a fanciful description, whose chief merit is the play upon words which it contains. That the streets and squares of London far surpass those of Paris cannot be denied ; and that most of the churches, and several of its public buildings, not only rival, but excel those in Paris, must be equally admitted; but certainly the num- ber of h6tels and large dwelling-houses, with their pleasant gardens, enclosed within high walls in the narrow streets and dirty lanes of Paris, exceed in number and beauty 377 those of a similar description in London; and those in the Boulevards and contigu- ous airy streets, surrounded by their own courts, gardens, and groves, most assuredly form very delightful residences: it must also be acknowledged that the views near the Louvre, notwithstanding the narrow channel of the Seine, possess an air of gran- deur which is not to be found in some of the principal cities of Europe. The Boulevards, which surround Paris, may be divided into the north and south: the former are the most fashionable, and abound with a variety of amusements for the loungers of both sexes, who constantly patrole beneath the shady trees, which, in a double row on each side, form three ave- nues, two for pedestrians, and the centre unpaved for carriages; the whole forming a magnificent promenade. But Paris is seen to the greatest advantage from Mont Martre, and several other eminences: every 378 striking feature is there discerned, unincum- bered with that mass of smoke which so generally envelopes our metropolis. I do not trouble you with particular de- scriptions of the churches, palaces, and other public buildings at Paris; it would swell a letter to a volume, and after all you will have a better idea of them from the nume- rous engravings lately published. Those who remember the Thuilleries before the revolu- tion, will perceive a great improvement from the removal of the small buildings in the Place de Carousel, which opens a spacious area in front of the palace, and by present- ing the exterior of the Louvre gallery, with which it is connected, presents altogether a very extensive and magnificent pile. One of the principal modern ornaments at the en- trance of the consular palace is the beau- tiful iron railing between the portals, guarded by the cavalry, which is adorned with the four Grecian horses in Corinthian brass. 379 brought from Venice, and as many golden cocks, in the attitude of crowing, the em- blems of modern Gallia. The Seine, which flows beneath the Louvre, is disfigured by the washerwomen's sheds, where a number of these noisy dames daily assemble, to cleanse the filthy linen of the Parisians: these sheds are constructed on boats and moveable platforms, for the convenience of the rise and fall of the water in wet and dry seasons. This summer the river is lower than has been known for many years, from an uncommon dearth of rain; the heat also is excessive, and almost equals the hottest season I ever knew in the torrid zone; not that the thermometer rises quite so high as I have there known it during the hot winds, but the houses are differently con- structed, and many conveniences adopted to alleviate the heat in that climate: Reau- mur's thermometer in the shade lias fre- quently risen to 29J. The papers say, " tout le monde se plaignoit; cependant on a 380 eprouve des chaleurs pareilles en 1753 et 1788; et en 1705 la chaleur fut si extraor- dinaire, que le thermometre dont on se ser- voit a Tobservatoire depuis 36 ans, cassa: dans les parties nieridionales de la France, les vignes furent bruits/' The heat in seve- ral departments is now so great, that many persons, without any previous illness, have suffered instant death ; while the scarcity of water is very distressing: a number of wells, springs, and rivulets, are entirely dry; and the peasants, who are obliged to go four or five leagues for that useful article, often sink under their burden from the intoler- able heat. At this season the stench of Paris is abominable: however the rich may excel other nations in luxury and prodigality, their houses, in general, w^ant the decencies and conveniences of the poorest cottage in Eng- land; which not only occasions indelicacy, filth, and fetid smells within, but subjects an evening walk to unpleasant accidents. On 381 such topics I will not enlarge; to the Eng- lish they are abominable, though considered as trifles by other foreigners, who are all, more or less, accustomed to them. In Paris, and indeed throughout France, you meet with very little of that mediocrity of fortune, that middle walk of life, which is so delightful in England; during the former system every thing was in extremes, and notwithstanding the confounding interval of the revolution, to extremes every thing seems to be reverting, although wealth and power have fallen into very different hands. In the public gardens you see a multitude of per- sons, of both sexes, especially on Sundays and festivals, arrayed in gay attire, and co- vered w^ith finery, at the expence of a good dinner and many domestic comforts, which they willingly resign for the empty pleasure of a promenade, or any public spectacle ; a word which, in the French vocabulary, com- prizes every description of amusement or public exhibition from the opera to a puppet 582 shew. The pleasure of a walk, or the ex- ercise which contributes so much to health, is not the object of the French, who seldom go out of the barriers for the enjoyment of rural delights, or a purer air, both of which are to be found at no great distance. They have little taste for the repose or innocent pleasures of a country life: to see, and be seen, to be in a constant crowd and bustle, constitutes their supreme satisfaction; and to these unvarying scenes, returning with every setting sun, all is sacrificed. I am acquainted with a sensible artist, who, for the advantage of light and air, dwells immediately under the attic story, in a large house in one of the public squares : twenty- three other families inhabit the same man- sion; on ascending the public staircase I have frequent opportunities of seeing the interior of the apartments, and their in- habitants, particularly in the entre-sols, or low-roofed rooms, between the regular floors. Most of the front apartments are tenanted 383 by persons of some distinction; but the back chambers, which are dark and dirty, are inhabited by persons of a very different description. In the morning, barely co- vered by filthy rags, they are employed in cooking their meagre soup over a few em- bers, for themselves and children ; yet those very people do I meet in the evening, in the public gardens, dressed in the guise of fashion, and assuming the airs of the first ladies in Paris. To please and to be pleased is the grand characteristic of the French: it seems as if care, ennui, and a thousand real or imagi- nary ills Avhich oppress the English were all sacrificed to gaiety. They are fond of effect and shew, from the brilliant opera to the humblest dancing garden; every entertain- ment, public or private, displays taste and elegance: give a French woman a few flowers and boughs of trees, and she will decorate her apartment for a festival, at a trifling expence. Those who, like Madame 384 Hicamier, can add bronze statues, classical vases, and all the Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman embellishments, which now adorn the fashionable mansions in this luxurious city, seem to enjoy all that can be effected by the votaries of pleasure in our hemi- sphere. If fashion and folly are held by many in England to be synonimous terms; in France, where dissipation and frivolity so generally predominate, such an opinion may be fully justified. Among the luxuries of Paris, I must not omit the public baths, which are dispersed throughout the city: they are, in general, constructed with the greatest propriety and delicacy, for the accommodation of both sexes; who, for little more than a shilling, may enjoy the delights of a hot or cold bath, with attendants and necessaries. In the gardens of the Hotel de la Rochefou- cault we have this convenience at the dis- tance of only a few yards from our own apartment, which is a very great comfort in 385 the prevailing heat; but these baths are on a small scale, compared with those on the Seine, near the Thuilleries, which are con- structed of wood, in one of the largest boats in the world ; and, in the same manner as the sheds just mentioned, rise and fall with the river: there are several of these baths on each side of the Pont Royal. The ma- chine I now allude to contains an hundred and forty baths, each in a separate cham- ber, arranged in long galleries, and divided equally for the accommodation of both sexes. On descending a flight of steps from the Louvre terrace, you reach the banks of the river, which are here adorned with trees and flowering shrubs, and perfumed by orange, jessamine, and other odoriferous plants, which border the walks: from thence a Chinese bridge conducts 3'ou, a few yards over the water, to the gallery leading to the respective baths ; those appropriated to the service of the gentlemen ranging on one side, while those of the ladies are on the other: at VOL. I. 2 c S86 the portal each visiter receives a ticket, marked with a number, which admits the bearer to the bath that answers to it; but such is the demand for this luxury at Paris, that, even in these extensive ranges, patience is sometimes exhausted: and at our hotel the ladies sometimes walk for a considerable time before it is their turn to be admitted. I was in this part of my correspond- ence going to compress all I had written of the Palais Royal, Palais d'Egalite, or Pa- lais de Tribunal: the two latter are the names given to it since the revolution; but it is best known by its ancient appellation of the Palais Roj^al, and is, without excep- tion, one of the most extraordinary places in this extraordinary capital. I had occa- sionally given you my sentiments of this w^onderful sceneand its motley groupes; buti shall suppress them all to insert, in this place, a few extracts from certain modern writers. The first describes it rather too favour- ably; the second, on the contrary, deviates 387 too much into caricature; and, therefore, as in most other cases, it will perhaps be best to adopt the third, or middle path, which indeed is most correspondent to my own ideas on the subject: but you shall have an abridged account from all of them, which will at least afford you some variety in their respective modes of description. " The Palais Royal is one of the principal curiosities of Paris, and exhibits scenes of extravagance, dissipation, and debauchery, under its piazzas, through every hour of the day and the night. Milliners, jewellers, clothiers, booksellers, clockmakers, print- sellers, china shops, coffee-houses, bagnios, money-changers, and gamesters, all unite, in amicable rivalry, to ease the unwary idler of his money. There is no want either na- tural or artificial, no appetite of a gross or more refined nature, no wish for the cultivation of the mind, or decoration of the body, no disposition of any kind, which 388 would not here find a perpetual variety of gratification. " The shape of the building is that of a parallelogram, which encloses a large gar- den, ornamented with fine orange-trees, and gravel walks. At the end is a double piazza, with two rows of shops, reaching from one extremity to the other; and these prome- nades are always crowded with ladies and loungers of every description. It is impos- sible not to be delighted with the peculiar elegance with which the rival shopkeepers light up their little cabinets of bijoutelie and with the splendor produced by the ge- neral illumination. " The gaming tables, which are in the upper apartments, are licensed by govern- ment, on paying a considerable sum for their privilege, and are under its immediate in- spection: they are well regulated; ready cash passes from the loser to the winner, and differences appear to be decided by 389 appointed referees, who sit at the table, invested with the insignia of office. In di- vers subterraneous chambers are many scenes of unsanctioned dissipation, where the game of biUiards is dexterously plaj^ed, and too well attended. The restaurateurs are by far the most famous and most fre- quented; they boast of a greater choice of provisions, an higher degree of culinary science and more elegant accommodations, than in any other part of Paris. Their bills of fare present more than an hundred dishes, upwards of twenty sorts of dessert, as many kinds of wine, and a still greater variety of liqueurs. The coffee-houses of the Pa- lais Royal are most lively and gay, in the morning from nine to eleven, and in the evening from eight till eleven: but the con- course of people is never at an end ; and as Paris is said to devour the marrow of France, so the Palais Royal may, with equal pro- priety, be said to devour the marrow of Paris." 390 Another description of this singular spot is as follows. " In the piazzas are a multitude of shops, coffee-houses, bagnios, gambling-houses, money-changers, and stock-jobbers. While the odour of exquisite ragouts ascends in vapours from the air-holes, the side tables are loaded with fruit, confectionary, and pastry; and there you may dine at every hour, as in the courts of German princes, to the sound of musical instruments. Petty gaming-houses support the shops of young women who sell lavender-water, and other trifling articles; by their side are booksel- lers shops, where allurements are offered to please the libertine, and to entrap the in- nocence of youth. Pictures of curious se- lection, licentious engravings, libidinous no- vels, serve as signs to a crowd of prostitutes who reside in the wooden shops. These are the exhibitions of the galleries; above are the gaming rooms, where all the pas- sions and torments of hell are collected. 391 " As soon as the day closes the arcades are suddenly illuminated, the shops become resplendent, and the jewellers' show-boxes throw a long, training lustre. The crowd now becomes more numerous ; and this is the mo- ment when the gaming-houses open, under the sanction of government, and afford it a productive revenue. Your steps under the arcades are arrested by a smoke which sen- si bly affects your legs, from the kitchens of the restaurateurs; and close to them the balls are beginning in the subterraneous grottoes; across the air-holes you see circles of girls, leaping, giggling, &c. In the auction rooms the brokers, dealers, retailers, are all assem- bled. Spies of the police prowl in every coffee-house, but no one dares to talk po- litics in them. At the restaurateurs above, you enter vast saloons, the assiduous ren- dezvous of every man fattened by rapine, army contractors, agents, administrators of tontines and lotteries, professors of noc- turnal robberies, and stock-jobbers. There 392 you are served at a nod; the dish is put upon the table the moment it is ordered : private rooms offer you at the same time every thing to satiate gluttony and sen- suality: the numerous glasses which deco- rate these temples of pleasure, multiply to the eye the charms of a mistress. To conclude the account, there is a private saloon, where you drink the coolest liquors, and where burnt-incense escapes from boxes in light cloudy streams. There you dine a TOrientale, and, on certain days, all the pomp and whim of a pantomime singularise the repast. On a signal given, the ceiling opens, and from above descend cars drawn by doves, and driven by Venuses; sometimes it is an Au- rora, sometimes a Diana, who comes in quest of her dear Endymion: all are clothed like goddesses: the amateurs choose, and the divinities, not of Olympus, but of the ceiling, associate with mortals. " Such is the infected lazar-house, placed in the midst of this great city, which has 393 reduced the whole of society to a most de- graded state of vice and corruption : &c.&c." I might add a third just description from an excellent work by Ilosn}^, entitled, Le Peruvien 4 Paris, but I shall rather take it from the rough sketch of modern Paris, by Mr. Lemaitre. " What an extraordinary place is the Palais-Royal ! if a man be contented with sensual pleasures there is not one which he may not gratify within the Avails of this building; restaurateurs, or taverns, where dinners are served from ten sols to two louis ahead; coffee-houses, where, for three pence, the lounger may pass the whole of his day in playing chess, talking politics, or reading the papers. Gambling-houses, where the man of pleasure, at the risk of all that is dearest to him in life, purchases the anxious feelings which fear and hope excite, and where the chevalier d'industrie finds the dis- graceful means of a dishonourable exist- ence. Tailors, haberdashers, silversmiths, 394 and watchmakers, offer every variety of clothing, of ornament, and of machinery: booksellers' shops are seen in every corner where the homme de lettres finds his fa- vourite authors, the romantic young lady her novels, and the politician his pamphlets. Opticians, where the frequenter of spectacles purchases his opera-glass, and the philoso- pher his telescope. Crowds of unfortunate, and sometimes lovely females, challenge, with every variety of dress, the attention of passengers, and, while they become a ready prey to libertines and dotards, fill every re- flecting mind with sorrow: &c/' The restaurateurs in the Palais Royal remind me of a book I lately purchased there, entitled, " Almanac des Gourmands, servant de guide dans les moyens de faire excellente chere, par un vieil ama- teur,'' from which I could make many cu- rious extracts on the luxuries brought in the different months to the metropolis; but I will confine myself to the Strasbourg 395 goose, so celebrated among the modem French epicures, from which you may form some idea of a volume containing two hun- dred and eighty pages on gormandizing. " This goose has obtained a distinguished rank amongst the winged tribe, and cer- tainly deserves the grateful acknowledg- ments of all true lovers of the table, for the superior excellence of its liver, with which at Strasbourg are manufactured those ad- mirable p^tes that form the greatest luxury of an entremet. To procure these livers of a sufficient size the animal must for a considerable time become a living sacrifice. Crammed with food, deprived of all liquid, and nailed by the feet to a board fixed im- mediately before a large fire, it must be allowed the poor goose does not lead a very pleasant life. The punishment, in- deed, would be intolerable, if the animal was not cheered in its sufferings by the consoling idea of its intended destiny; the prospect of this enables its to brave with 396 fortitude the fiery trial; and when she con- siders that her Uver, grown miich larger than the rest of her body, larded with truffles, and encrusted in a scientific paste, through the medium of Mons. Corcellet, will spread around the glory of her name, she calmly submits to her fate, and sheds not a single tear/' 397 LETTER XXXIX. Paris, August 5, i 803. A WALK through the garden of our hotel leads to the convent des Petits Angus tins, in the opposite street, where I spend many a solitary hour in the gardens and cloisters, which are now converted into the Musee de Monumens Francais, one of the most interesting exhibitions in this capital. During the revolutional phrenzy every thing sacred was held in detestation, churches were destroyed, altars thrown down, and the repositories of the dead ransacked and despoiled. The tombs of good and bad men, of monarchs and subjects, the sculp- ture of ages long past, and the choicest specimens of modern art, were involved in equal ruin; and the abbey of St. Denis, in particular, which contained the sepulchres 398 of the French monarchs for fourteen hundred years, as well as the rich treasures which had for many revolving centuries accumu- lated at the shrine of the tutelary saint of France, was despoiled by the fury of a frantic people. The abbey church of St. Denis had been the sepulchral chamber of the royal families of France, in general, during the long period just mentioned; including the three lines of her kings from Pharamond, in the year 420, with whom commenced the Merovingian race, which ended with Childeric the third in 750. To these succeeded the second race, called the Carlo vingian, from the Em- peror Charlemagne, son of Pepin le Bref, the first of this family, and the first of the French monarchs who was consecrated with the holy oil at his inauguration, in the year 750 : dying in 768, he left the kingdom to his eldest son Charlemagne, whose family continued the Carlovingian line until the death of Louis the Fifth, in 987- At that 399 period began the third, or Capetian race, so called from Hugues Capet the successor of Louis, which continued in that house during the reigns of thirty-two successive kings, until the death of Louis the Sixteenth in 1793. I have lately read an epitome of the French history, published at the commence- ment of the reign of that ill-fated monarch; which, after enumerating the royal houses, thus concludes, " La Capedenne a com- mence en 987j et durera autant que le monde, si les voeux des Francois sont ex- auces." On this, and a thousand similar occurrences, I make no comments. I cease to be astonished at the undecided character of the French, particularly in religion and politics; in which they seem as variable as the winds : strange, indeed, are the changes I have observed in the same individual since our short residence among them. But I shall quit my digression, and return to the monumental museum. 400 When reason resumed her throne, and rehgion began once more to shed her benign influence in France, the scattered rehcs of these monuments were anxiously sought after; and national veneration, taste, and justice, endeavoured, as far as possible, to repair the damages caused by the unhallowed hands of violence and rapine : the Augustin con- vent was the sanctuary selected for these interesting relics. It is a spacious struc- ture, and is divided into various apart- ments, appropriated to their reception: they are arranged in separate chambers, prepared with all possible attention to the style of the monuments which they con- tain. The first of them is the saloon of the thirteenth century, and they at pre- sent finish with that of the seventeenth; but those of a later date will be arranged with equal attention. The cloisters and ad- joining gardens are decorated with tombs, vases, sarcophagi, statues, cinerary urns, and other fragments, which produce a strik- 401 ing effect among the overshadowing yews, cypresses, and weeping- willows. To add still more to the solemnity of this curious repo- sitory, the windows by which the sepulchral chambers are illuminated, are of painted glass, corresponding with the dates of the sculpture: all is executed with taste and judgment; though I have heard some able critics point out defects and incoherencies in the ornaments, in which I partly coin- cided; but they are too trivial and unim- portant to offer to a distant reader. This interesting and invaluable repo- sitory, which forms an historical and chro- nological museum of French sculpture, architecture, and, in some degree, of paint- ing, from the reign of Clovis to the termi- nation of the eighteenth century, is indebted for all its attractions to Mons. Alexandre Lenoir, who is deservedly styled Le Fon- dateur et Administrateur du Musee, and, under the sanction, as well as at the expence of government, has devoted himself, some- VOL. r. 2D 402 times at the risque of his hfe, to rescue these precious remains from the hands of their cruel despoilers, in various parts of the repubhc. He is now completing a work, of which three octavo volumes are already published, entitled, " Description historique et chronologique des statues en marbre et en bronze, bas-reliefs et tombeaux des hommes et des femmes c^lebres, pour servir a I'histoire de France, et a celle de TArt; ornee des gravures, et augmentee d'une dis- sertation sur les costumes de chaque siecle." As I have already told you, I pay fre- quent visits to this interesting museum : I have the great pleasure of enjoying a fami- liar acquaintance with Mons. and Madame Lenoir: he admits me at all times to his private apartments in the convent, and in- dulges me with the inspection of his port- folio, which contains his original drawings of the bodies of kings, queens, prelates, ge- nerals, and other distinguished personages, as they appeared when taken from their 403 silent repositories at St. Denis, and exposed to public view. Surely never was there a spectacle more humiliating or distressing to the feeling mind: they were coloured from those sad wrecks of nature in their shrouds and grave-clothes, and the general appear- ance of the corpse when the coffins were first opened. The pretence for this horrible sacrilege was to convert the lead of which they were made into musquet-balls, for the revolutionary army. On opening the coffin of Henry the Fourth, the body was so well preserved, that the features, and even the character of his countenance, were strongly marked, as were those of MareschalTurenne; two names dear to France, and respected by the popu- lace, at the very moment when the demon of destruction was pouring out the severest phials of his wrath. The body of the latter, together with the monument erected to his memory at St. Denis, saved by INIons. Le- noir, were placed for some time in his mu- 404 seum, but afterwards removed to the Temple of Mars; and a sarcophagus in these gar- dens is inscribed to that renowned soldier. In another sequestered grove is the chapel and tomb of Abelard and Heloise: the latter, indeed, is not yet placed in the gothic mausoleum built for it of some elegant ma- terials Vvhichhad been saved from the wreck of St. Denis. Mons. Lenoir has displayed great taste in the construction of this little edifice, designed to be ornamented with painted glass, suited to the period in which they lived ; but how much or how little of the real tomb at the Paraclete will be found in this sepulchral asylum, 1 cannot say. Mons. Lenoir shewed us some bones of these two unfortunate lovers, preserved from the chapel where they were both interred. Abe- lard died in 1142, at the priory of St. Marcel de Chalons; and a few months afterwards his remains were removed to the Paraclete, where Heloise survived liim twenty-one years, and expiring in 1163, was placed in 405 the same coffin witli her husband : the bodies were afterwards separated, and two monu- ments erected to their memory. Not many years before the revolution another cenotaph was dedicated to these celebrated lovers in the chapel of the Trinity at the Paraclete, with the following inscription by Mar- montel. Hie sub eodem marmore jacent hujus monasterii conditor Petrus Abelardus et Abbatissa prima Heloisa. Olim studiis, ingenio, amore, infaustis nuptiis et penitentia rjuiic aeterna, quod speramus, felicitate conjunct i Petrus obiit XX prima aprilis, anno 1142, Heloisa XXII mai 1163. Curis Carolae de Roucy Paraclete abbatissa. What epitaph will be hereafter placed in Mons. Lenoir's chapel I know not; but every thing that is elegant, affecting, and appropriate, is to be expected from his su- perior taste and judgment. A few evenings ago, when the moon was 406 at the full, Mons. Lenoir invited us to meet the members of the National Institute on their first visit to the sepulchral chambers bj torch-light, and view the sculptures with the solemn eftect produced by such a cir- cumstance. We joined the party about ten o'clock, and were introduced to several literary characters and their ladies. The company assembled in the hall, formerly the chapel of the convent, and now richly adorned with the choicest monuments: the effect was very striking. Mons. Lenoir and his attendants held the flambeaus, and by throwing the light on the principal objects, pointed out their beauties to his admiring friends. I had seen the Laocoon, the Apollo, and all the principal statues in the Vatican, in the same manner; but this was altoge- ther a more curious visit; for on the com- pany entering each chamber, musicians, pre- pared for the occasion, performed a funeral dirge; wiiich, with the surrounding monu- ments, the numerous torches, and all the 407 decorations of these sacred repositories, filled my mind with indescribable sensa- tions. On entering the gardens the torches were extinguished, the moon shed her softer light on the tombs, statues, and urns, dis- persed among the cypress groves; and all were delighted with the novelty of a scene which formed so striking a contrast to the general character of the Parisian spectacles. I had the pleasure on this occasion of being introduced to Bernardin de St. Pierre, the amiable author of the " Sketches of Na- ture," the affecting tale of Paul and Vir- ginia, and other well known works: he is now seventy-four years of age, a man of great simplicity in his manners and exterior appearance, with his silver locks carelessly flowing over a countenance beaming with the most expressive benignity. Healthy, cheerful, and serene, all he utters indicates the philanthropist, whose humane senti- ments had so often filled my eyes with tears, and my heart with dchght. He is a mem- 408 ber of the Institute, but not a favourite with the present government, and hves very re- tired in our Fauxbourg. He is married to a young wife, who was of the party, and endeavours to educate his children in the same simphcity as his Paul and Virginia, by whose names, as I have been informed, they are respectively distinguished. 409 LETTER XL. Paris, August l6, 1803. Yesterday was the feast of the Assumption, the birth-day of Bonaparte: it was also the anniversary of the fete on which the Concordat was signed, and the first magistrate of the repubUc declared first consul for life. The ceremonies and rejoic- ings far exceeded those of the 14th of July ; and if we are to take the speech of the Pre- sident of the Tribunat as the sense of the French people, in his address to the Chief Consul, they must be supremely happy on the occasion. " Dans cc jour, qui nous est cher a tant des titres; dans ce jour A jamais consacre en France, par la triple epoque qui s'y lie, do voire naissance, de notre reconciliation avcc le ciel, et de la proclamation du consulat a vie." 410 The morning was ushered in by the ring- ing of bells and firing of cannon, the churches were all opened, and the religious ceremo- nies at Notre Dame, with the music com- posed for the occasion, were uncommonly splendid : the consular family heard mass in the chapel at the Thuilleries; at noon the constituted authorities, foreign ambassadors, and general officers, attended the consular levee, and Madame Bonaparte's drawing- room, to congratulate them on this auspi- cious anniversary, and on their return from Belgium. In the evening the palace and gardens of the Thuilleries, and the pub- lic offices in the city, were finely illumi- nated, particularly that of the grand judge, which is said to have cost an immense sum. The gardens of the Thuilleries were very much crowded, but without the least noise ; and the First Consul, who with his family appeared for a short time in a balcony, was welcomed with some acclamations. The martial music, and several songs redounding 411 to his glory, and prophetic of the pro- jected invasion of England, were highly ap- plauded. Among the occurrences of this auspi- cious day, the papers pompously announce the launch of the first flat-bottomed boat, built from the voluntary contributions of the good citizens of Paris for that invasion : this Bateau-Plat was named La Parisienne, and is boasted to be the precursor of thousands which are now constructing for the same purpose in every department of the French repubhc. Another novelty to please the Parisians was the opening of Le Mus6e des Statues at the Louvre, which has been shut up for some time to undergo various improve- ments; tlie scaffolding in front was removed, and over the new portal was inscribed in golden characters, Musce Napoleon. This portal opens with a good effect on a noble suite of saloons all filled wilh statues, and forming a beautiful perspective, terminated 412 by the Laocoon. The museums of statues and pictures are very much improved, and have received considerable additions : the most valuable is the acquisition of the Venus di Medici, which has been lately brought from Italy, and being now under the same roof with the Apollo Belvidere, they present the finest models of the human form with which art has hitherto adorned the world. The Venus is a present from the Chief Consul to the Museum; and I have been to visit her in her new situation. Alas ! I cannot forget that I have seen these wonders of art at Rome and Florence ! The French catalogue informs us that the Apollo, after its destination in the Vatican by Pope Julius the Second, remained for three cen- turies near the banks of the Tiber, when a hero, conducted by victory, transported it to the borders of the Seine, and fixed it there for ever ! So much for the Apollo. The following is a paragraph of a letter, dated 3 Tliermidor, (July 22) an. 11, from Consul 413 Cainbaceres to Citoyen Denon, written after his late visit to the new apartments of les Musee des Statues. " Le titre, Citoyen, qui convient le mieux a cette precieuse collec- tion, est le nom du h^ros a qui nous la de- vons. Je crois done exprimer le voeu na- tional, en vous autorissant a donner pour inscription a la frise qui domine la porle d'entree, ces mots. Mush Napoleon" Je vous salue. Cambaceres. The adulation which, during the whole summer, has been poured into the consular palace from the various parts of France, and especially from the dignified clergy, by no means conveys the sense of the nation; but, worn out with revolutions, weighed down by an immense expence of blood and treasure, and sick at heart from scenes of carnage and terror, which, in a greater or lesser degree, afflicted almost every family, the French in my opinion dread any further change; and, with whatever sentiments they may look back to the mild and generous 414 monarch whom their resistless fury brought to the scaffold, they apf>ear to wait, in a state of hopeless indifference, any future ag- grandizement of the Corsican family. In the mean time what contradictoiy opinions and actions do we behold! what a nation of theory, speculation, and flattery, is this ! They pervade every department, civil, reli- gious, political, and physical; from the de- dication to Denon's Egypt, down to that strange book, entitled, " Esai sur la Mega- lanthropogenesie, ou Tart de faire des enfans d'esprit, qui deviennent de grands hommes;'' a work replete with strange theories and un- intelligible dogmas. After introducing Phi- lip, Alexander, and other great names down to Berthier and Portalis, he thus concludes his first chapter, " et surtout, cette famille immortelle, que Rousseau semble avoir pre- dite, lorsqu'il dit qu'une petite ile etonnera un jour le monde, suffit pour montrer que les vertus, les talens, Tesprit et le genie bril- lent, frequemment, dans les individus d'une 415 in^me famille/' And in the last chapter, " Crojez-vous que la nature, qui est un si grand peintre, n'eut pas trac6 sur les de Vol- taire et de Rousseau, au berceau, fronts Tempreinte du plus grand g6nie? Et La- vater aurait-il pu meconnaitre dans Na- poleon, encore enfant, la physionomie d'un h6ros ? O Megalanthropogeneise ! c'est peut- etre par toi que Tunivers sera un jour police. Non, tu n'est point une idee foUe, tes bien- faits sont encore inconnus; mais la poste- rity les recueillira; et il sera toujours vrai de dire avec Horace : Fortes creantur fortibus, et bonis Est in juvencis, est in equis patrum Virtus, nee imbellem feroces Progenerant aquilae columbam. Lib. 4, Od. 4. 416 LETTER XLI. Paris, August 20, 1803. I AM at length flattered with the hope of obtaining permission to visit my captive brother and his family at Tours; if so, I shall feel myself half-free when we have quitted the hot and fetid metropolis, and are breathing the pure air of the forest of FontainebleaUjOr enjoying delicious pros- pects on the banks of the Loire. As I am not permitted to sleep out of Paris, we generally pass our evening in some of the public gardens, with which it abounds. Les Champs Elysees and the gardens of the Thuilleries and Luxembourg, I have fre- quently mentioned; but there are many others open every evening to the gay Pari- sians, which belong to private persons, who have embellished them at a great expence, 417 and furnish their company with music, dancing, tea, coffee, ices, sherbet, and other refreshments, at a moderate price. We have visited most of them in their turn, but Ti- voli is our chief attraction: these gardens are much frequented, and afford the greatest variety of amusements: they are of some extent, the trees well grown, the walks tastefully illuminated, and the whole fre- quently enlivened with fire-works. But the principal delight of the French is to suiTound the platform constructed for the dancers, who sometimes amount to eighty or an hun- dred couples. Tivoli formerly belonged to one of the noblesse, who suffered during the revolution, and his beautiful gardens became FroprietS Nationale. Frescali, at present the resort of all the beauty and fashion of Paris, was also the property of a wealthy nobleman: thither we frequently repair, as it is one of the most elegant places of public amusement I ever saw, particu- larly on festival nights; when the gardens are illuminated by thousands of coloured VOL. I. 2 E 418 lamps, beautifully arranged on each side of the principal walk, and dispersed among the caverns, grottos, and groves, in the more retired parts. Here it is usual for the best company in Paris to assemble after the opera and other spectacles are finished. The gar- dens are illuminated at ten o'clock, the con- cert begins at eleven, and is succeeded by a beautiful display of fire- works. On our last visit they represented the enchanted palace of Armida, at the termination of the great avenue, with such exquisite brilliancy as to eiface every ray from the lamps, and to- tally to obscure the moon and stars in their full brightness. On common nights you pay nothing for entering Frescati; the pro- prietors being satisfied with their profit on the refreshments. On conducting the ladies from Armida's palace to the carriage I lost my watch; and, for ray satisfaction, was assured that eighty- four of my countrymen had already met with the same misfortune : at the same time I must own that the police here is well re- 419 gulated, and the access to the theatres, and every pubUc place of amusement, is free from noise, riot, and inconvenience; but it is also true that at most of the spectacles, and even at many of their church festivals, the entrance is strongly guarded by sol- diers; who perfectly understand the art of managing a Paris mob, and controuling the excesses of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The Hameau Chantilly, formerly called TElysee, which is entered from the Elysian fields, is a rural garden, resorted to by the middle and lower classes, with rooms for accommodation in rainy weather: the ad- mittance is only one franc; for which you have a variety of amusements, in music, dancing, fire-works, and illuminations; with a ticket entitling the bearer to a glass of some cooling beverage. We sometimes vary the scene at the gardens in the upper part of the Elysian fields, called les Eolies Beaujon; which differ from the Hameau Chantilly ,Tivoli, andFrcs^ cati: eachhave their pecuHar beauties, but,for 420 my own part, I give these the preference : the walks are shady and artless, the decorations and conveniencies varied and appropriate; the illuminations abundant, and disposed with taste. The last time we Avere there, the fire-works, assisted by mechanism and scenery, represented the departure of Mentor and Telemachus from the island of Calypso ; in which were introduced the rocky cliffs overhanging the ocean, where the vessel destined for their embarkation rode tri- umphant: the goddess and her nymphs then appeared with flaming torches; which, with a strong light, introduced at the same mo- ment, displayed, with good effect, the grottos and gardens of Calypso, who with her at- tendants rushed furiously to the beach, and burned the vessel; Mentor and Telemachus instantly precipitate themselves from the summit of the rocks into the sea; and the scene concludes with a succession of fiery de- vices. During the representation, I perceived a large luminous body, far above the other lights, and very different in its appearance ; 421 but supposing it to be part of the entertain- ment, I took no further notice of it: the next morning, however, the Paris papers contained the following paragraph: " Hier, sur les dix heures ct demie du soir, au moment m^me ou partoit le bouquet du feu d artifice des FoUes Beaujon, un globe de feu, d'une lu- mi^re, eclatante et aussi gros que le disque du soleil, a paru dans les airs: sa marche etoit des plus rapides; il sortoit de ce globe des etincelles mul tipliees/' The crowd at this spectacle was immense, and the profits of these gardens, and many of the other amusements this summer, are frequently appropriated to the construction of flat- bottomed boats for the invasion of Eng- land. I shall conclude this subject with our last visit to La Bagatelle in theBois de Boulogne, a short league from Paris, and the Ranelagh. Of the latter I have but little to say; if it is intended to imitate the English amusement of that name, it is a very humble imitation indeed: an oval building of slight materials, 422 and fitted up in a shabby manner, covers a large space for the accommodation of the dancers, who assemble here every Sunday and Thursday evening : it is surrounded by seats for the spectators, who are glad, on all occasions, to leave their hot and dirty apartments in the capital, and repair by thou- sands to these, and similar places of recrea- tion. Ranelagh is always crowded with a great mixture of company, who seem equally pleased, young and old, rich and poor, those who dance, and those who look on. Among both I have observed several ladies in men's clothes, and some with boots and breeches, who strut about with as little timidity as any of the sex they imitate. The only plau- sible reason I can find for this singular cus- tom, is, that it enables two single ladies to go to public places without a gentleman to protect them; and if they should wish to dance, and cannot engage a more interest- ing partner, by making this previous ar- rangement, they are certain of enjoying their favourite amusement. The gardens of 423 this place are small and trifling, but it is situated near a delightful walk in the Bois de Boulogne, about a quarter of a mile in length, on a short verdant turf, and embo- somed in thickets, which have a fine foresty appearance. There are but few trees of any size among the underwood and new plantations, which have been made to re- place the ravages on the timber by revolu- tionary barbarism, when so many of the woods and forests were destroyed. In another part of the Bois de Boulogne, not far from the Seine, and within view of the beautiful bridge of Nieully, stands la Bagatelle; a place formed for delight: it was once a villa of the Count d'Artois, bro- ther to Louis the Sixteenth, who having obtained a grant of several acres of the Bois de Boulogne, converted it into one of the most elegant retreats in the vicinity of Paris. The pavilion, though not large, is in a light style of architecture, and the circular saloon is crowned by a handsome dome: this saloon, and all the surrounding apart- 424 ments, are fitted up with great taste ; but, though the furniture and valuable ornaments have been removed, enough remains to mark its former splendour: the stables and de- tached offices are in a correspondent taste ; and the English garden is disposed in walks conducted through clumps of large trees and varied shrubberies, among small hills and their associate vallies: but too many objects are crowded in such a small space; and lakes, cascades, fountains, rocks, caverns, statues, temples, and hermitages, appear at every turn. We were informed that the whole was completed in the space of six weeks, to surprise the queen, and that it cost three millions of livres. How far it was possible to erect such a house with its numerous offices, and form the gardens, with all their expensive decorations, in so short a time, 1 am not competent to decide; but I can scarce be astonished, that some change should take place in the political constitution of a country, where either the monarch him- self, or any individual of his family, could 425 command the means employed on this occasion. To give the promised rapidity to the progress of this building, workmen were seized in every place, without any respect to their immediate employers; hewn stones, and timber prepared for other pur- poses, were instantly transported hither; carts, horses, and labourers of every de- scription, were taken from the fields and highways, and compelled to work at la Ba- gatelle. But, " sic transit gloria mundif the princely founder of this superb villa is now an emigrant in a foreign country, and la Bagatelle, in a state of dilapidation, is let by government to a restaurateur, who, for a few sous, admits all comers, and gains a livelihood by supplying them with re- freshments. To amuse the people seems a leading principle of the French government, under every varying form: it has therefore per- mitted the revival of Long Champ, in the Bois de Boulogne, which is an ancient f^te in the month of April, when the trees TOL. I. 2 F 426 are arrayed in vernal beauty: this festival, which was forbidden during the revolution, recommenced two years ago with every effect that luxury and fashion could produce, by the appearance of all the fashionables of Paris, in the most splendid equipages, or mounted on their favourite chargers; while thousands of pedestrians in their best attire fill the walks of the Bois de Boulogne and Elysian fields, and add their portion to the general effect. There are spectacles at Paris to suit every taste, and every purse : in the best you meet with nothing to offend; in some of the others, where the audience expect an oc- casional obscenity, they are not disap- pointed. The French comedy is generally supposed to excel ours; but never can I admit the superiority of their tragedy, or acknowledge their best tragic performers to rival those of the British stage. The tearful eye, and throbbing heait, will support the superior excellence of the latter. I shall not enter on a comparative re- 427 view of the British and French theatres. It must, however, be confessed, that the French opera, considered as a mere arrange- ment of spectacle, is superior to any thing of the kind in Europe. We went there, a few evenings since, to see Hecuba and the Ballet of Telemachus, and the concluding scene of the former ex- ceeded every thing that I could suppose the stage was capable of producing in point of theatric effect. When Priam has been slain before the altar, and while Hecuba, in a state of dumb despair at her accumulated woes, sees her daughter carried off by the Greeks, the noise of rapine and pillage begins to be heard. The walls of the palace, already a prey to the flames, begin to fall, and, through their gaping breaches, are discovered the dire calamities of Troy. Its temples destroyed, its palaces on fire, its matrons and its vir- gins the prey of the spoiler and the ra- visher; Cassandra, with dishevelled hair, wildly running through the streets; jEncas, bearing on his back his aged parent, and 428 leading the young Ascanius by his hand, with the ill-fated Trojans making their last unavailing efforts against the victorious Greeks, presented a picture of woe and de- solation, which far surpassed all that my imagination had suggested of scenic re- presentation. The last time we visited the Theatre Francois, the play was the Iphigenie en Aulide; and the characters were very well supported, particularly the Achilles of Tal- ma, the first tragedian in France, which afforded a very fine example of tragic act- ing. The best performers, however, of the French stage, in tragedy, too generally over- step the modesty of nature; but the public is pleased, and that circumstance alone, though proceeding from a false taste, will prevent any reformation in this branch of the French drama. ENTt OF THE FIRST VOLUME. T. Bensley, Printer, |f"4 K»U Court, Fleet itrcet. l^ " University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. !? -5.5*:??^ ill JUL2S DUE 2 V\/KS FRO^yl [lATE RECEIVED acg^,.-- „ ' i4i^ Forn >—j»-^. ^j!'\:N:|]\(>'' rfl M - ^ fc ■■*■ « ■■ Joe u ^'f]mssm^^^ '/Aa^Aisr.wv^ 3 1158 00756 3025 i xj ft. / X. -zr ;:;. |ll|ll||!||l 111111111111 II llllll II llll mill ,\XZ ii a ri->< i? -^ C: i UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY K%m i;^ . .A^ "^i 1^ (^OillVjJO . .x^^" ^:u. 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