if we saw 1-We saw one chapel, but I am not certain whether there or at TrianonThe foreign office paved with bricks 2-The dinner half a louis each, and, I think, a louis over-Money given at menagerie, three livres; at palace, six livres.

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Monday, 23d October.-Last night I wrote to Levet We went to see the looking-glasses wrought-They come from Normandy in cast plates, perhaps the third of an inch thick-At Paris they are ground upon a marble table, by rubbing one plate upon another with grit between them-The various sands, of which there are said to be five, I could not learn-The handle, by which the upper glass is moved, has the form of a wheel, which may be moved in all directions-The plates are sent up with their surfaces ground, but not polished, and so continue till they are bespoken, lest time should spoil the surface, as we were toldThose that are to be polished are laid on a table covered with several thick cloths, hard strained, that the resistance may be equal: they are then rubbed with a hand rubber, held down hard by a contrivance which I did not well understand-The powder which is used last seemed to me to be iron dissolved in aquafortis; they called it, as Baretti said, marc de l'eau forte, which he thought was dregs-They mentioned vitriol and saltpetre-The cannon-ball swam in the quicksilver-To silver them, a leaf of beaten tin is laid, and rubbed with quicksilver, to which it unites-Then more quicksilver is poured upon it, which, by its mutual [attraction] rises very high-Then a paper is laid at the nearest end of the plate, over which the glass is slided till it lies upon the plate, having driven much of the quicksilver before it-It is then, I think, pressed upon cloth, and then set sloping to drop the superfluous mercury: the slope is daily heightened towards a perpendicular.

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In the way I saw the Grêve, the mayor's house 4, and the Bastile.

"We then went to Sans-terre, a brewer 5 -He brews with about as much malt as Mr. Thrale, and sells his beer at the same price, though he pays no duty for malt, and little more than half as much for beerBeer is sold retail at sixpence a bottle-He

"The moat of the Bastile is dry.

"Tuesday, 24th October.-We visited the king's library-I saw the Speculum humanc Salvationis, rudely printed, with ink, sometimes pale, sometimes black; part supposed to be with wooden types, and part with pages cut in boards. The Bible, supposed to be older than that of Mentz, in 1462; it has no date; it is supposed to have been printed with wooden types-I am in doubt; the print is large and fair, in two folios-Another book was shown me, supposed to have been printed with wooden types-I think, Durandi Sanctuarium in 1458-This is inferred from the difference of form sometimes seen in the same letter, which might be struck with different puncheons-The regular similitude of most letters proves better that they are metal-I saw nothing but the Speculum, which I had not seen, I think, before.

"Thence to the Sorbonne-The library very large, not in lattices like the king'sMarbone and Durandi, q. collection 14 vol. Scriptores de rebus Gallicis, many foliosHistoire Genealogique of France, 9 vol.Gallia Christiana, the first edition, 4to. the last, f. 12 vol.-The prior and librarian dined with us-I waited on them homeTheir garden pretty, with covered walks, but small; yet may hold many studentsThe doctors of the Sorbonne are all equalchoose those who succeed to vacanciesProfit little.

"Wednesday, 25th October.-I went with the prior to St. Cloud, to see Dr. Hooke 6-We walked round the palace, and had some talk-I dined with our whole company at the monastery-In the library, Beroald-Cymon-Titus, from BoccaceOratio Proverbialis to the Virgin, from Petrarch; Falkland to Sandys-Dryden's Preface to the third vol. of Miscellanies 7.

lo, drawn by himself, Sir Thomas More, Des Cartes, Bochart, Naudæus, Mazarine -Gilded wainscot, so common that it is not minded-Gough and Keene-Hooke_came to us at the inn-A message from Drumgould.

"Friday, 27th October.-I staid at home -Gough and Keene, and Mrs. S———————'s 1 friend dined with us-This day we began to have a fire-The weather is grown very cold, and, I fear, has a bad effect upon my breath, which has grown much more free and easy in this country.

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Saturday, 28th October.-I visited the Grand Chartreux 2, built by St. Louis-It is built for forty, but contains only twentyfour, and will not maintain more-The friar that spoke to us had a pretty apartmentMr. Baretti says four rooms; I remember but three-His books seemed to be French -His garden was neat; he gave me grapes -We saw the Place de Victoire, with the statues of the king, and the captive nations.

"We saw the palace and gardens of Luxembourg, but the gallery was shutWe climbed to the top stairs-I dined with Colebrooke 3, who had much companyFoote, Sir George Rodney 4, Motteux, Udson, Taaf-Called on the prior, and found him in bed.

nary seems to be about five guineas a dayOur extraordinary expenses, as diversions, gratuities, clothes, I cannot reckon—Our travelling is ten guineas a day.

"White stockings, 181. Wig-Hat.

"Sunday, 29th October.-We saw the boarding-school-The Enfans trouvés-A room with about eighty-six children in cradles, as sweet as a parlour-They lose a third; take in to perhaps more than seven [years old]; put them to trades; pin to them the papers sent with them-Want nurses-Saw their chapel.

"Went to St. Eustatia 7; saw an innumerable company of girls catechised, in many bodies, perhaps 100 to a catechistBoys taught at one time, girls at anotherThe sermon: the preacher wears a cap, which he takes off at the name-his action uniform, not very violent.

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Monday, 30th October.-We saw the library of St. Germain 8-A very noble collection-Codex Divinorum Officiorum, 1459-a letter, square like that of the Offi ces, perhaps the same-The Codex, by Fust and Gernsheym-Meursius, 12 v. fol. -Amadis, in French, 3 vol. fol.-CATHOL ICON sine colophone, but of 1460-Two other editions 9, one by Augustin. de Civitate Dei, without name, date, or place, but of Fust's square letter as it seems.

"I dined with Col. Drumgould; had a

1 [Mrs. Strickland, the sister of Mr. Charles Townley, who happened to meet the party at Dieppe, and accompanied them to Paris. She introduced them to Madame du Bocage.--Reynolds's Recollections.-ED.]

2 [There was in France but one Grand Chartreux, the monastery near Grenoble, founded by St. Bruno, to the 13th prior of which St. Louis applied for an off-set of the order to be established in Paris, where he placed them in his chateau de Vauvert, which stood in the Rue d'Enfer. The good people of Paris believed that the chateau of Vauvert, before St. Louis had fixed the Carthusians there, was haunted, and thence the street was called Rue d'Enfer.-ED.]

3 [Sir George Colebrooke, see ante, v. i. p. 262.--ED.]

4 [The celebrated Admiral, afterwards Lord Rodney he was residing abroad on account of pecuniary embarrassments, and, on the breaking out of the war in 1778, the Marshal Duc de Biron generously offered him a loan of a thousand louis d'ors, to enable him to return to take his part in the service of his country. See a letter of the Baron D'Holbach to Miss Wilkes, in Wilkes's Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 270.-ED.]

5 [There is a slight mistake here. Princes, ambassadors, marshals, and a few of the higher nobility, had coureurs, that is, running footmen. The word avant-coureur was commonly used in a moral sense. Johnson, no doubt, meant a courier who rode post.-ED.]

"Some of the books of St. Germain's stand in presses from the wall, like those at Oxford.

"Tuesday, 31st October.-I lived at the Benedictines; meagre day; soup meagre, herrings, eels, both with sauce; fried fish;

lentils, tasteless in themselves-In the libra ry; where I found Maffeus's de Historia Indica: Promontorium flectere, to double the Cape-I parted very tenderly from the prior and Father Wilkes.

"Maitre des Arts, 2 y.-Bacc. Theol. 3 y.-Licentiate, 2 y.-Doctor Th. 2 y. in

6 i. e. 18 livres. Two pair of white silk stockings were probably purchased.-MALONE. 7 [No doubt an error for Eustatius. He means the well-known parish church of St. Eustache.-ED.]

8 [St. Germain des Près, the too celebrated abbaye. Its library was said-after the king's library in Paris, and that of the Vatican--to be the richest in Europe in manuscripts.--ED.]

9 I have looked in vain into De Bure, Meerman, Mattaire, and other typographical books, for the two editions of the "Catholicon," which Dr. Johnson mentions here, with names which I cannot make out. I read "one by Latinius, one by Boedinus." I have deposited the original MS. in the British Museum, where the curious may see it. My grateful acknowledgments are due to Mr. Planta for the trouble he was pleased to take in aiding my researches.-BOSWELL.

all 9 years-For the Doctorate three disputations, Major, Minor, Sorbonica-Several colleges suppressed, and transferred to that which was the Jesuit's College.

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Wednesday, 1st November.-We left Paris-St. Denis, a large town: the church not very large, but the middle aisle is very lofty and awful-On the left are chapels built beyond the line of the wall, which destroyed the symmetry of the sides-The organ is higher above the pavement than I have ever seen-The gates are of brassOn the middle gate is the history of our Lord-The painted windows are historical, and said to be eminently beautiful-We were at another church belonging to a convent, of which the portal is a dome; we could not enter further, and it was almost dark.

"Thursday, 2d November.-We came this day to Chantilly, a seat belonging to the Prince of Condé-This place is eminently beautified by all varieties of waters starting up in fountains, falling in cascades, running in streams, and spread in lakes-The water seems to be too near the house-All this water is brought from a source or river three leagues off, by an artificial canal, which for one league is carried under ground-The house is magnificent-The cabinet seems well stocked; what I remember was, the jaws of a hippopotamus, and a young hippopotamus preserved, which, however, is so small, that I doubt its reality-It seems too hairy for an abortion, and too small for a mature birth-Nothing was [preserved] in spirits; all was dry-The dog;

the deer; the ant-bear with long snout―The toucan, long broad beak-The stables were of very great length-The kennel had no scents-There was a mockery of a village

The menagerie had few animals -Two faussans 2, or Brasilian weasels, spotted, very wild-There is a forest, and, I think, a park-I walked till I was very weary, and next morning felt my feet battered, and with pains in the toes.

Friday, 3d November.-We came to Compeigne, a very large town, with a royal palace built round a pentagonal court-The court is raised upon vaults, and has, I suppose, an entry on one side by a gentle riseTalk of painting-The church is not very large, but very elegant and splendid-I had at first great difficulty to walk, but motion grew continually easier-At night we came to Noyon, an episcopal city-The cathedral is very beautiful, the pillars alternately Gothick and Corinthian-We entered a very noble parochial church-Noyon is walled, and is said to be three miles round.

"Saturday, 4th November.-We rose very early, and came through St. Quintin to Cambray, not long after three-We went to an English nunnery, to give a letter to Father Welch, the confessor, who came to visit us in the evening.

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Sunday, 5th November.-We saw the Cathedral-It is very beautiful, with chapels on each side-The choir splendid-The balustrade in one part brass-The Nef very high and grand-The altar silver as far as it is seen-The vestments very splendid-At the Benedictines' church

Here his Journal 3 ends abruptly. Whether he wrote any more after this time, I know not; but probably not much, as he

1 The writing is so bad here, that the names of several of the animals could not be deciphered without much more acquaintance with natural history than I possess. Dr. Blagden, with his usual politeness, most obligingly examined the MS. To that gentleman, and to Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, who also very readily assisted me, I beg leave to express my best thanks.

BOSWELL.

2 It is thus written by Johnson, from the French pronunciation of fossane. It should be observed, that the person who showed this menagerie was mistaken in supposing the fossane and the Brasilian weasel to be the same, the fossane being a different animal, and a native of Madagascar. I find them, however, upon one plate in Pennant's "Synopsis of Quadrupeds."-BOSWELL.

3 My worthy and ingenious friend, Mr. Andrew Lumisden, by his accurate acquaintance with France, enabled me to make out many proper names which Dr. Johnson had written indistinctly, and sometimes spelt erroneously.-BOSWELL. 3

VOL. II.

arrived in England about the 12th of November. These short notes of his tour, though they may seem minute taken singly, make together a considerable mass of information, and exhibit such an ardour of inquiry and acuteness of examination, as, I believe, are found in but few travellers, especially at an advanced age. They completely refute the idle notion which has been propagated, that he could not see1; and, if he had taken the trouble to revise

4 [Miss Reynolds, who knew him longer, and saw him more constantly than Mr. Boswell, says, "Dr. Johnson's sight was so very defective, that he could scarcely distinguish the face of his most intimate acquaintance at half a yard, and in general it was observable, that his critical remarks on dress, &c. were the result of very close inspection of the object, partly from curiosity, and partly from a desire of exciting admiration of his perspicuity, of which he was not a little ambitious."-Recollections. And if we may believe Baretti's account to her, on their return, his defect of sight led him into many inaccuracies.-ED.]

and digest them, he undoubtedly could have expanded them into a very entertaining narrative.

[Mrs. Piozzi has preserved a few Piozzi, anecdotes of this tour. "Mr. Thrale p. 76, 77. loved prospects, and was mortified that his friend could not enjoy the sight of those different dispositions of wood and water, hill and valley, that travelling through England and France affords a man. But when he wished to point them out to his companion, Never heed such nonsense,' would be the reply: a blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another. Let us, if we do talk, talk about something: men and women are my subjects of inquiry; let us see how these differ from those we have left behind.'

"When we were at Rouen together, he took a great fancy to the Abbé Roffette, with whom he conversed about the destruction of the order of jesuits, and condemned it loudly, as a blow to the general power of the church, and likely to be followed with many and dangerous innovations, which might at length become fatal to religion itself, and shake even the foundation of Christianity. The gentleman seemed to wonder and delight in his conversation; the talk was all in Latin, which both spoke fluently, and Dr. Johnson pronounced a long eulogium upon Milton with so much ardour, eloquence, and ingenuity, that the abbé rose from his seat and embraced him. My husband seeing them apparently so charmed with the company of each other, politely invited the abbé to England, intending to oblige his friend; who, instead of thanking, reprimanded him severely before the man, for such a sudden burst of tenderness towards a person he could know nothing at all of; and thus put a sudden finish to all his own and Mr. Thrale's entertainment, from the company of the Abbé Roffette.

"When at Versailles the people showed us the theatre. As we stood on the stage looking at some machinery for playhouse purposes-Now we are here, what shall we act, Dr. Johnson?-The Englishman at Paris?' 'No, no,' replied he; we will try to act Harry the Fifth.' His dislike of the French was well known to both nations, I believe; but he applauded the number of their books and the graces of their style. They have few sentiments,' said he, but they express them neatly; they have little meat too, but they dress it well.'"]

When I met him in London the following year, the account which he gave me of his French tour, was, "Sir, I have seen all the visibilities of Paris, and around it; but to have formed an acquaintance with the people there would have required more time than I could stay. I was just beginning to creep into acquaintance by means of Colonel Drumgould, a very high man, sir, head of

L'Ecole Militaire, a most complete character, for he had first been a professor of rhetorick, and then became a soldier. And, sir, I was very kindly treated by the English Benedictines, and have a cell appropriated to me in their convent."

He observed, "The great in France live very magnificently, but the rest very miserably. There is no happy middle state as in England. The shops of Paris are mean; the meat in the market is such as would be sent to a gaol in England; and Mr. Thrale justly observed, that the cookery of the French was forced upon them by necessity; for they could not eat their meat, unless they added some taste to it. The French are an indelicate people; they will spit upon any place. At Madame [Du Bocage's,] a literary lady of rank, the footman took the sugar in his fingers, and threw it into my coffee. I was going to put it aside; but hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers. The same lady would needs make tea à l'Angloise. The spout of the teapot did not pour freely; she bade the footman blow into it 2. France is worse than Scotland in every thing but climate. Nature has done more for the French; but they have done less for themselves than the Scotch have done 3."

1 [See ante, p. 13.-ED.]

en

2 [Nay, she actually performed the operation herself. Mrs. Piozzi says, "I recollect one fine lady in France, who entertained us very splendidly, put her mouth to the teapot, and blew in the spout when it would not pour freely. My maid Peggy would not have touched the tea after such an operation."-Letters, v. ii. p. 247. Miss Reynolds's "Recollections" preserve this story as told her by Baretti, who was of the party: "Going one day to drink tea with Madame du Bocage, she happened to produce an old china teapot, which Mrs. Strickland, who made the tea, could not make pour: Souflez, soufflez, madame, dedans,' cried Madame du Bocage, 'il se rectifie immediatement; essayez, je vous prie.' The servant then thinking that Mrs. took up the teapot to rectify it, and Mrs. StrickStrickland did not understand what his lady said, land had quite a struggle to prevent his blowing into the spout. Madame du Bocage all this while had not the least idea of its being any impropriety, and wondered at Mrs. Strickland's stupidity. She came over to the latter, caught up the teapot, and blew into the spout with all her might; then finding it pour, she held it up in triumph, and repeatedly exclaimed, Voilà, voilà, j'ai regagné l'honneur de ma theiér.' She had no sugar-tongs, and said something that showed she expected Mrs. Strickland to use her fingers to sweeten the cups. 'Madame, je n'oserois. Oh mon Dieu! quel grand_quan-quan les Anglois font de peu de chose."-ED.]

3 In a letter to a friend, written a few days after his return from France, he says, "The

It happened that Foote was at Paris at the same time with Dr. Johnson, and his description of my friend while there was abundantly ludicrous. He told me, that the French were quite astonished at his figure and manner, and at his dress, which he obstinately continued exactly as in London; -his brown clothes, black stockings, and plain shirt. He mentioned, that an Irish gentleman said to Johnson, " Sir, you have not seen the best French players." JOHNPlayers, sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools, to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs." "But, sir, you will allow that some players are better than others?" JOHNSON. "Yes, sir, as some dogs dance better than others." Reyn. [In the same spirit, but of more Recoll. vehemence and greater injustice, were his statements to Sir Joshua and Miss Reynolds, who has noted them in her Recollections.

SON. 66

JOHNSON. "The French, sir, are a very silly people. They have no common_life. Nothing but the two ends, beggary and nobility. Sir, they are made up in every thing of two extremes. They have no common sense, they have no common manners, no common learning-gross ignorance, or les belles lettres." A LADY. [Mrs. Thrale]: "Indeed, even in their dresstheir frippery finery, and their beggarly coarse linen. They had, I thought, no politeness; their civilities never indicated more good-will than the talk of a parrot, indiscriminately using the same set of superlative phrases, "à la merveille!" to every one alike. They really seemed to have no expressions for sincerity and truth." JOHNSON. "They are much behind-hand, stupid, ignorant creatures. At Fontainbleau I saw a horse-race-every thing was wrong; the heaviest weight was put upon the weakest horse, and all the jockeys wore French have a clear air and a fruitful soil; but their mode of common life is gross and incommodious, and disgusting. I am come home convinced that no improvement of general use is to be found among them."-MALONE.

1 Mr. Foote seems to have embellished a little in saying that Johnson did not alter his dress at Paris; as in his journal is a memorandum about white stockings, wig, and hat. In another place we are told that "during his travels in France he was furnished with a French-made wig of handsome construction." That Johnson was not inattentive to his appearance is certain, from a circumstance related by Mr. Steevens, and inserted by Mr. Boswell, between June 15 and June 22, 1784.-J. BLAKEWAY. Mr. Blakeway's observation is further confirmed by a note in Johnson's diary (quoted by Sir John Hawkins, "Life of Johnson," p. 517), by which it appears that he had laid out thirty pounds in clothes for his French journey.-MALONE.

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the same colour coat 2." A Gentleman. "Had you any acquaintance in Paris?" JOHNSON. "No, I did not stay long enough to make any 3. I spoke only Latin, and I could not have much conversation. There is no good in letting the French have a superiority over you every word you speak. Baretti was sometimes displeased with us for not liking the French." MISS REYNOLDS. "Perhaps he had a kind of partiality for that country, because it was in the way to Italy, and perhaps their manners resembled the Italians." JOHNSON. "No. He was the showman, and we did not like his show; that was all."]

While Johnson was in France, he was generally very resolute in speaking Latin. It was a maxim with him that a man should not let himself down by speaking a language which he speaks imperfectly. Indeed, we must have often observed how in

2 ["On telling Mr. Baretti of the proof that Johnson gave of the stupidity of the French in the management of their horse-races; that all the jockeys wore the same colour coat, &c., he said that was 'like Johnson's remarks-He could not see.'--But it was observed that he could inquire:

yes,' and it was by the answers he received that he was misled, for he asked what did the first jockey wear? answer, green; what the second? green; what the third? green, which was true but, then, the greens were all different greens,and very easily distinguished.-Johnson was perpetually making mistakes; so, on going to Fontainbleau, when we were about three-fourths of the way, he exclaimed with amazement, that now we were between Paris and the King of France's court, and yet we had not met one carriage coming from thence, or even one going thither! On which all the company in the coach burst out a laughing, and immediately cried out, 'Look, look, there is a coach gone by, there is a chariot, there is a postchaise!" I dare say we saw a hundred carriages, at least, that were going to or coming from Fontainbleau."-Baretti in Miss Reynolds's Recollections. It should be added, however, that Miss Reynolds thought that Baretti returned from this tour with some dislike of Johnson, and Johnson not without some coolness towards Baretti, on account, as Baretti said, of Madame du Bocage having paid more attention to him than to Johnson; but this latter assertion could not be true, for Johnson, in his letter to Mr. Levet (ante, p. 9), speaks highly and cordially of Baretti many days after the supposed offence. Miss Reynolds adds that the final rupture between Johnson and Baretti was occasioned by "a most audacious falsehood that the latter told Johnson, that he had beaten Omiah at chess, at Sir Joshua's; for the reverse was the fact." This produced contradiction, dispute, and a violent quarrel, which never was completely made up.-ED.]

3 [This accounts (not quite satisfactorily, perhaps, in a moral view) for the violent prejudices and consequent misrepresentations which his conversation on his return exhibited.-ED.]