ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

and swam about to catch fish. His feet well webbed: he dipped his head, and turned his long bill sideways. He caught two or three fish, but did not eat them.

Trianon is a kind of retreat appendant to Versailles. It has an open portico; the pavement, and, I think, the pillars, of marble.-There are many rooms, which I do not distinctly remember.-A table of porphyry, about five feet long, and between two and three broad, given to Louis XIV. by the Venetian State. In the council-room almost all that was not door or window, was, I think, looking-glass.-Little Trianon is a small palace like a gentleman's house. The upper floor payed with brick.— Little Vienna. The court is ill paved. The rooms at the top are small, fit to soothe the imagination with privacy. In the front of Versailles are small basons of water on the terrace, and other basons, I think, below them.-There are little courts.-The great gallery is wainscotted with mirrors, not very large, but joined by frames. I suppose the large plates were not yet made.-The play-honse was very large.-The chapel I do not remember if we saw _We saw one chapel, but I am not certain whe ther there or at Trianon.-The foreign office paved with bricks.-The dinner half a Louis each, and, I think, a Louis over.-Money given at Menagerie, three livres; at palace, six livres.

Oct. 23. Monday. 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 told. Those 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 aqua fortis; they called it, as Baretti said, mare 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 mer cury the slope is daily heightened towards a perpendicular. In the way I saw the Grêve, the mayor's house, and the Bastile.

We then went to Sans-terre, a brewer. 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 beer. Beer is

There are

sold retail at 6d. a bottle. He brews 4,000 barrels a year. seventeen brewers in Paris, of whom none is supposed to brew more than he; reckoning them at 3,000 each, they make 51,000 a year. They make their malt, for malting is here no trade.

The moat of the Bastile is dry,

Oct. 24. Tuesday. We visited the King's library-I saw the SpecuLum humance 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 62; 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 shewn me, supposed to have been printed with wooden types;-I think Durandi Sanctuarium in 58. 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's. Marbone and Durandi, q. collection 14 vol. Scriptores de rebus Gallicis, many folios-Histoire 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 home. Their garden. pretty, with covered walks, but small; yet may hold many students.The Doctors of the Sorbonne are all equal;choose those who succeed. to vacancies.-Profit little.

Oct. 25. Wednesday. I went with the Prior to St. Cloud, to see Dr. Hooke-We walked round the palace, and had some talk-I dined with our whole company at the Monastery-In the library, Beroald,Lymon, Titus, from Boccace-Oratio Proverbialis to the Virgin, from Petrarch; Falkland to Sandys;-Drydeu's Preface to the third vol. of Miscellanies.

Oct. 26. Thursday. We saw the China at Sêve, cut, glazed, painted. Bellvue, a pleasing house, not great: fine prospect-Meudon, an old palace Alexander, in Porphyry: hollow between eyes and nose, thin cheeks-Plato and Aristotle-Noble terrace overlooks the town-St. Cloud-Gallery not very high, nor grand, but pleasing-In the rooms, Michael Angelo, 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 Drumgold.

Oct. 27. Friday. I staid at home-Gough and Keene, and Mrs. S's 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.

Sat. Oct. 28. I visited the Grand Chartreux built by St. Louis-It is built for forty, but contains only twenty-four, and will not maintain

more-The friar that spoke to us had a pretty apartment-Mr. 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 shut-We climbed to the top stairs-I dined with Colbrooke, who had much company:-Foote, Sir George Rodney, Motteux, Udson, TaafCalled on the Prior, and found him in bed.

Hotel-a guinea a day-Coach, three guineas a week-Valet de place, three 1. a day-Avantcoureur, a guinea a week-Ordinary dinner, six 1, a head-Our ordinary seems to be about five guineas a day-Our extraordinary expences, as diversions, gratuities, clothes, I cannot reckon. Our travelling is ten guineas a day.

White stockings, 181. Wig-Hat.

Sunday, Oct. 29. 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 nursesSaw their chapel.

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

Oct. 30. Monday. We saw the library of St. Germain-A very noble collection-Codex Divinorum Officiorum, 1459-a letter, square, like that of the Offices, perhaps the same-The Codex, by Fust and Gernsheym-Meursius, 12 v. fol-Amadis, in French, 3 v. fol.-CATHOLICON sine colophone, but of 1460-Two other editions, one by—

Augustin. de Citate Dei, without name, date, or place, but of Fust's square leiter as it seems.

I dined with Col. Drumgold; had a pleasing afternoon.

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

Oct. 31. Tuesday. I lived at the Benedictines; meagre day; soup meagre, herrings, eels, both with sauce; fryed fish; lentils, tasteless in themselves. In the library; where I found Maffeus's de Historia Indicâ : Promontorium flectere, to double the Cape. I parted very tenderly from the Prior and Friar Wilkes.

Maitres des Arts, 2 y-Bacc. Theol. 3 y-Licentiate, 2 y-Doctor Th. 2 y. in all 9 years-For the Doctorate three disputations, Major, Minor, Sorbonica-Several colleges suppressed, and transferred to that which was the Jesuit's College.

Nov, 1, Wednesday. 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 destroy the

symmetry of the sides-The organ is higher above the pavement than any I have ever seen_The gates are of brass-On 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.

Nov. 2. Thursday. 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 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, 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.

Nov. 3. Friday. We came to Compeigne, a very large town, with a The court is raised upon royal palace built round a pentagonal court. vaults, and has, I suppose, au 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 coutinually easier—At night we came to Noyon, an episcopal city-The cathedral is very beautiful, the pillars alternately Gothic and CorinthianWe entered a very noble parochial church-Noyon is walled and is said to be three miles round,

Nov. 4. Saturday. 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 Welsh, the confessor, who came to visit us in the evening.

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

Here his Journal ends abruptly. Whether he wrote any more after this time, I know not; but probably not much, as he 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 enquiry 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 see; and, if he had taken the trouble to revise and digest them, he undoubtedly could have expanded them into a very entertaining narrative.

When I met him in Loudon the following year, the account which he gave me of his French tour, was, "Sir, I have seen all the visibilities of Paris, and round 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 Drumgold, a very high man, Sir, head of L'Ecole Militare, a most complete character, for he had first been a professor of rhetoric, 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 markets is such as would be sent to a goal 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

-'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 tea-pot did not pour freely; she bade the footman blow into it. 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.

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. Johnson. Players, 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.

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 imperfeetly. Indeed, we must have often observed how inferior, how much like a child, a man appears, who speaks a broken tongue. When Sir Joshua Reynolds at one of the dinners of the Royal Academy, presented him to a Frenchman of great distinction, he would not deign to speak French, but talked

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »