Chapter III: To an Historian (2)

"It is not becoming for ladies to wrestle with men, and they are also cautioned not to lie or to steal." Then follow certain instructions for ladies as to the answers they should make and the manner they should conduct themselves when they receive a declaration. I hope English ladies will be much edified by the above instructions. The cries of Paris at this period were constant and absolutely stunning; Guillaume de la Villeneuve observes that the criers were braying in the streets of Paris from morning to night. Amongst the vegetables, garlick was the most prevalent, which was then eaten with almost every thing, people being in the habit of rubbing their bread with it: the flour of peas and beans made into a thick paste was sold all hot; onions, chervil, turnips, aniseed, leeks, etc., a variety of pears and apples of sorts that are now scarcely known, except Calville, services, medlers, hips and other small fruits now no longer heard of; nuts, chesnuts of Lombardy, Malta grapes, etc.; for beverage, wine at about a farthing a quart; mustard vinegar, verjuice, and walnut oil; pastry, fresh and salted meat, eggs and honey. Others went about offering their services to mend your clothes, some to repair your tubs, or polish your pewter; candles, cotton for lamps, foreign soup, and almost every article that can be imagined was sold in the streets, sometimes the price demanded was a bit of bread. The millers also went bawling about to know if you had any corn to grind, and amongst those that demanded alms were the scholars, the monks, the nuns, the prisoners and the blind.

It was the custom in those days, when a person wished to be revenged upon another, to make an image of him in wax or mud, as much resembling as possible. They then took it to a priest and had it named after the person they wished to injure, with all the ceremonies of the church, and anointed it, and lastly had certain invocations pronounced over the unfortunate image. It was then supposed that the figure had some degree of identity with the prototype, and any injury inflicted upon it would be felt by the person they wished to harm; they therefore then set to work to torture it according to their fancy, and at last would plunge a sharp instrument into that part where the heart should be placed, feeling quite satisfied they had wreaked their revenge on their enemy. Sometimes persons were severely punished for the performance of this farce, and when any individuals experienced some great misfortune, they often imagined that it had arisen in consequence of their image having been made by their enemy, and maltreated in the manner described.

When Charles V ascended the throne in 1364, he soon began to display his taste for civilisation by collecting books to form a library in the Louvre, and rewarding merit, however humble the station of the individual by whom it was possessed; and although he received the reins of government at a period when France was surrounded with enemies, and her finances in a ruined state, such was the prudence of his measures that he completely retrieved her losses, and well earned the appellation he received of Charles the Wise; he built several churches, colleges, and hotels, none of which if standing are now appropriated to the purposes originally intended; he also had several bridges constructed, and embellished Paris with many edifices that were both useful and ornamental. But all his efforts were paralysed in the following reign of Charles VI, justly called the Simple, partly mad, partly imbecile, and coming to the throne at twelve years of age, every misfortune that might have been expected from a country surrounded by foreign enemies without, and torn by intestine broils within, happened in the fullest force. The English and the Burgundians united together in besieging Paris, which was ultimately entered by both their armies; what with riots amongst the Parisians, the intrigues of the Queen Isabeau de Baviere, the dissensions of the King's uncles, and the brigandage of the nobility who overran the country, never was a nation reduced to a more pitiable condition; yet some monuments were added to Paris even during this turbulent reign, the Church of St. Gervais being entirely reconstructed in 1420, and that of St. Germain l'Auxerrois so considerably repaired as to be almost rebuilt in 1425, besides several colleges, hospitals and bridges; companies of archers, cross-bow men and armourers were also established. Theatrical representations were first performed in this reign in the grand hall of the Hospital of the Trinity, _Rue Saint-Denis_, corner of the _Rue Grenetat_. The theatrical company styled themselves "Masters, Governors and Brethren of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord." Under the reign of Charles VII, surnamed the Victorious, France regained all she had lost, and was much indebted for her success to the Maid of Orleans, and the gallant Dunois, who entered Paris and defeated the English who retreated to the Bastille and ultimately were allowed to retire to Rouen. But although more was effected in this reign for the prosperity and glory of France, Paris received no additions or embellishments: the King being wholly occupied in vanquishing the enemies of his country; his son Lewis XI, who is supposed to have conspired against the life of his father, ascended the throne in 1461; notwithstanding his reign was disturbed by a series of wars, he found time to occupy himself with useful institutions, and founded that of the first society of printers in Paris; he also established the School of Medicine, and the Post Office. Superstitious and cruel, he first used iron cages as prisons, then instituted the prayer styled the Angelus. Although he increased the power of France, his tyranny, injustice, dissimulation, and avarice caused him to be hated by his subjects. His successor Charles VIII was but thirteen when called to the throne in 1483, inheriting the few virtues without the many vices of his father, but showed much weakness in the administration of his affairs; in the early part of his reign Anne his mother was the person who principally governed as Regent, until he was of age, when he passed the rest of his life in war, but was so beloved that two of his servants died of grief for the loss of their master, who was surnamed the Affable. He was succeeded by his cousin Lewis XII in 1498, who obtained the title of Father of his People, certainly the most virtuous monarch that ever swayed the sceptre of France; he observed that he preferred seeing his courtiers laugh at his savings than to see his people weep for his expenses. The Hôtel de Cluny and _Le Pont_ (the bridge) _Notre-Dame_ were constructed in his reign and are still standing; being the most ancient bridge in Paris. He died much regretted, in 1515, and all France felt deeply the loss of a monarch, whose measures were such as must have ensured the happiness of his people could he have been spared to have accomplished the good work he had begun.

Francis I, his great nephew, succeeded him and was considered the _beau idéal_ of chivalry; he had been conspicuous for his accomplishments whilst Duke de Valois, although only twenty-one when he ascended the throne, upon which he was no sooner installed than compelled to quit his capital to oppose the enemies of France, leaving the management of the state to his mother Louisa of Savoy, who was not destitute of talent, but vain and intriguing, Francis, after performing prodigies of valour, and killing many foes with his own hand at the battle of Pavia, was taken prisoner and conveyed to Madrid. On returning to France he was received with the utmost joy by his subjects; in this reign the principles of protestantism were first promulgated and several persons were burnt for subscribing to the tenets of Luther. Francis was occupied constantly with war, from the commencement of his reign until the year of his death. He had many virtues but they were sullied by infidelity to his engagements, and his persecution of the protestants whom he sacrificed as heretics. Notwithstanding that his time was so much occupied by his enemies that a very short period of his reign was passed at Paris, he found means to embellish that city; the Church of St-Merri in the _Rue St-Martin_ was built by his orders, precisely as it now stands, in the year 1520. The style is Sarrasenzic, much richness of sculpture is displayed, particularly over and around the middle door, well meriting the close attention of an amateur. At the same period were many of the churches now standing extensively repaired and nearly rebuilt, amongst which St. Eustache, St. Gervais, St. Jacques-la-Boucherie, of which the tower only remains, St. Germain-l'Auxerrois, etc., several colleges and hospitals were instituted, fountains and hotels erected, but scarcely any of them are now to be seen, or at any rate very few as constructed in their original form. He was succeeded by his son Henry II in 1547, who like his predecessors was constantly occupied with war, but gained one point, that of taking the last place which the English retained in France, being Calais, which surrendered to the Duke de Guise; after a reign of thirteen years Henry was killed at a tournament held in the _Rue St-Antoine_, by Montgomery, the captain of his guard. The cruelties of which he was guilty towards the protestants entirely eclipse whatever good qualities he possessed, which principally consisted in desperate courage with extraordinary prowess; he was also zealous in his friendships. According to Dulaure, that part of the Louvre which is the oldest, was built by Henry II from the design of Pierre Lescot. I have found other authors attribute the erection of a portion of the Louvre to Francis, but it appears that his son had all pulled down which was then standing, and had it built as it now remains, except the wing in which the pictures are exhibited, which is of a more recent date, and was not terminated until the time of Louis XIV. The augmentation of some few colleges and hospitals were the only acts of this reign from which any advantages to Paris were derived.

In 1559, at the age of sixteen, Francis II ascended the throne; his name is familiar to us as the first husband of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots; his mother, Catherine de Medici, of infamous memory, took the reigns of government in her hands and wreaked all her fury upon the protestants. Francis, too young to have displayed any decided tone of character, expired in 1560; the persecution of the huguenots, as the followers of the Reformed Church were styled, seems to have exclusively occupied the whole time during this short reign, therefore no attention was devoted to the improving of Paris, which was next brought under the dominion of the young monster, Charles IX, or rather the continued reign of his sanguinary mother, Catherine, he being but ten years of age. The massacre of the night of St. Bartholomew is known to all. Charles certainly had some revulsive feelings on the subject, and several times would have given orders to stop it, but Catherine bade him assert the claims of heaven, and be the noble instrument of its vengeance, "Go on, then," exclaimed the King, "and let none remain to reproach me with the deed," and after all, when daylight appeared, he placed himself at a window of the Louvre, which overlooks the Seine, and with a carbine he fired at the unfortunate fugitives who tried to save themselves by swimming across the river. In his reign was built the Tuileries, he himself laying the first stone; it was intended for the Queen Mother, but Catherine did not inhabit it long, her conscience not permitting her to enjoy repose anywhere. Charles died a few months after the dreadful massacre of the protestants, a prey to all the pangs of remorse, and was succeeded in 1574 by his brother Henry III. Brought up in the same pernicious school, under the same infamous mother as his predecessor, little could be hoped from such a being; he was inclined, however, to be somewhat more tolerant than his brother, but was frightened into persecuting the protestants; his mother died at the age of seventy, goaded by the consciousness of the crimes she had committed; civil war raged during the reign of Henry, and he was obliged to quit his capital and join the protestants, whom he soon, however, betrayed; without energy to adopt any certain line of conduct, he balanced between the two parties of catholics and protestants, until both sects despised him, and at length he was stabbed by a fanatic friar, named Jacques Clement. Several convents and religious establishments were founded in his reign, amongst the rest the Feuillans, which was extensive and had a church attached, but in 1804 the whole was demolished, and on its site, and that of the monastery of the Capucins, were built the Rue Rivoli, Castiglione, and Monthabor, and a terrace of the gardens of the Tuileries is still called the Feuillans. The Pont Neuf was also built in this reign. In 1589, Henry IV, surnamed the Great, succeeded to the throne; he was of the house of Bourbon, and descended from Robert, the second son of Louis the Ninth. He was compelled to begin his reign by laying siege to his own capital, which was in the hands of his enemies, who defended it with 58,000 troops, and 1,500 armed priests, scholars and monks, and after three years' vain endeavours he was obliged to renounce the protestant religion, and conform to the catholic ceremonies, which produced a truce, and Henry at last entered Paris. By his mild and judicious conduct he regenerated the prosperity of France, and published the famous edict of Nantes in favour of the protestants, and acted with considerable wisdom under the difficult circumstances in which he was placed, by the intemperate zeal of the catholics and huguenots. At last, after many unsuccessful attempts upon his life, he was stabbed in his own carriage by Ravaillac, a religious fanatic, who conceived that the King was not sufficiently zealous in the cause of catholicism; he was regretted by every worthy character throughout his realms, for, although he had many of the faults common to men, yet he had such redeeming qualities that he well merited the title of _Great_. During his reign Paris was considerably embellished, the improvement of the city being with him a favourite object. The Hospital of Saint Louis was built by his orders, himself laying the first stone; it is still standing, and is generally filled with patients, who receive the most humane treatment. It is situated in the Rue Carême Prenant, near the Barrière du Combat. He established a manufactory of Persian carpets, on the _Quai de Billy_, No. 30.

The Rue and Place Dauphine, the Place Royale, which still exhibits a square of houses unaltered in style since the day they were built, owed their construction to his mania for building and passion for augmenting and improving his capital. Several other streets were extended and in part rebuilt under his reign, besides which he founded different institutions, had divers fountains and gates erected, as well as bridges, and some other public edifices, which having since disappeared or become the houses of individuals, workshops, warehouses, etc., it is not worthwhile to recapitulate them, as they cease to be objects of interest. Several theatres were established at this period for the first time, the performers having merely given representations in large rooms belonging to public buildings where they could get accommodation, particularly in the Hôtel de Bourgoyne, in the Rue Mauconseil, which at last acquired the name of a theatre; but a company of Italians received such encouragement from Henry IV, that they were enabled, in a situation assigned them regularly, to establish a theatre in the Hôtel d'Argent, Rue de la Poterie, corner of the Rue de la Verrerie. He was equally the patron of literature, and of the arts and sciences; the Tuileries and Louvre, under his directions, received the material and superintendence which was requisite for their completion, as far as the design extended at that epoch.

In 1610 Louis XIII, but nine years of age, became heir to the throne, and Marie de Medici, his mother and widow of Henry IV, was nominated Regent; her first act was to call into power all her husband's enemies, which consisted of her own favourites, through whom she governed, and when her regency ceased, her son followed her example and became the instrument of others, until the power of governing was exclusively acquired by Cardinal Richelieu, who devoted his extraordinary talents in a degree to the interests of his country, but more especially to the gratification of his vanity, and the promotion of his ambitious projects; descending to the extremes of injustice, dissimulation, and cruelty, to accomplish his object, he became the persecutor of Mary, who had raised him from comparative obscurity, and caused her exile, in which she died in poverty, which she certainly merited by her misconduct, but not by the instigation of her _protégé_ Richelieu. But with all his sins, he effected much good; he founded the Royal Printing establishment, the French Academy, also the Garden of Plants; he built the _Palais-Royal_ and rebuilt the Church and College of the Sorbonne. In this reign more religious establishments were founded than in any preceding, amongst which were the Convent of the _Carmes Déchaussés_, No. 70, _Rue de Vaugirard_, the monks of which possessed a secret for making a particular kind of liquid which is called _Eau des Carmes_, and is still in demand; the church and building belonging to the establishment are now standing, and were recently occupied by nuns. The Convent of _Jacobins_ between the _Rues du Bac_ and _St-Dominique_, with its Church, which still remains and is called _St-Thomas d'Aquin_, is well worth notice, and the monastery is now occupied by the armoury which is one of the most interesting sights of Paris. The _Bénédictines Anglaises_, No. 269, _Rue St-Jacques_, was formerly occupied by English monks, who fled their country on account of some persecution in the reign of Henry VIII.

In 1674, Father Joseph Shirburne, the prior of monastery, pulled down the old building, and erected another in its place more commodious, also a church attached to it in which James the Second of England was buried, as also his daughter Mary Stuart. It has now become the property of an individual, and is at present occupied as a factory of cotton. The Oratoire in the _Rue Saint-Honoré_, since devoted to protestant worship, was built in the year 1621 by M. de Berulle, since Cardinal, on the site of the _Hôtel du Bouchage_, once the residence of Gabrielle d'Estrées, the favourite mistress of Henry IV. The Convent of the Capucins, situated in the _Place des Capucins_, at present an Hospital. _Séminaire des Oratoriens_, _Rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques_, 254, now occupied by the Deaf and Dumb. _Collége des Jésuites_, at present College of _Louis-le-Grand_. Convent of _Petits-Pères_: the church of which still remains and is situated at the corner of the _Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires_. The Monk Fiacre, called a Saint, was buried in this church; thinking that his sanctity was a preservative against evil, they stuck his portrait on all the hackney coaches, which was the cause of their ever after being called Fiacre.

A further recapitulation of these establishments would only be tedious to the reader, particularly as they are now for the most part become private houses; suffice it to say, that in the reign of Louis XIII twenty monasteries were established at Paris. The nunnery of _Ursulines_; No. 47, _Rue Sainte-Avoye_, now a Jews' synagogue. The Convent of the Visitation of St. Mary, _Rue Saint-Antoine_, Nos. 214 and 216; the church, still standing, was built in 1632 after the model of _Notre-Dame-de-la-Rotonde_ at Rome, and is called _Notre-Dame-des-Anges_. Another convent of the same order was built in 1623 in the _Rue Saint-Jacques_, Nos. 193 and 195, and is I believe still occupied by nuns, as it was so very recently. The convent of _Filles-de-la-Madeleine_, _Rue des Fontaines_, between the Nos. 14 and 16, which has now become a house of seclusion for women who have been convicted of offences. The Convent of the Annonciades Celestes or Filles Bleues, founded by the Marchioness de Verneuil, mistress of Henry IV, is now in spite of all its pompous titles a waggon office in the _Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine_, No. 29. The Assumption, a convent for nuns, of which the church is still standing in the _Rue Saint-Honoré_, between the Nos. 369 and 371, is remarkable for its large dome, but appears out of proportion with the rest of the building, which is otherwise not destitute of merit. The _Val-de-Grâce_, a Benedictine Abbey, _Rue Faubourg Saint-Jacques_, between the Nos. 277 and 279. The Queen Anne of Austria founded the establishment in 1621; the church is still preserved in perfect order, and is of very rich architecture, too profuse in ornament. The rest of the building, once inhabited by Benedictine nuns, is now an asylum for sick or wounded soldiers, being a military hospital. _Port-Royal_, a convent for nuns, established in 1625 in the _Rue de la Bourbe_, is now a lying-in hospital. The Convent of the _Filles de Sainte-Elisabeth_; the first stone was laid by Marie de Medici in 1628, but was, like a multitude of others, suppressed in 1790, the church only remaining; it is situated in the _Rue du Temple_, between Nos. 107 and 109.

A Convent for Benedictine Nuns founded in 1636 in the _Rue de Sèvres_, No. 3, being suppressed in 1778, was converted into the more useful purpose of an hospital, and as such it still remains. The Convent of the _Filles de la Ste-Croix_, situated No. 86, _Rue de Charonne_, was occupied as recently as 1823 by nuns; it was founded in 1639. The noble church of _St-Roch, Rue St-Honoré_, was commenced as a chapel in 1587, and in 1622 was converted into a parish church, but was not entirely finished until 1740. It is now the church attended by the royal family, and is an object of interest to every one who visits Paris. The church of _Ste-Marguerite_ was erected in 1625 in the _Rue St-Bernard_, Nos. 28 and 30, _Faubourg St-Antoine_, and is still attended by the inhabitants of that quarter. _Maison de Scipion_ was founded in a street of the same name in the year 1622 by an Italian gentleman named Scipio Sardini, and is now the bakehouse for making bread for all the hospitals in Paris. Such were the principal edifices instituted in Paris, during the reign of Louis XIII, either as Convents, Monasteries, or Nunneries, with churches attached to them; I have cited the most conspicuous of those of which any vestiges remain, indicating their different localities, besides a number of hospitals, most of which I have stated; that of the _Incurables_ certainly merits attention, it was founded in 1632 in the _Rue de Sèvres_, and is now a refuge for those women of whom no hopes can be cherished of ultimate recovery. The Palace of the _Luxembourg_ was one of the most important edifices erected in this reign by Mary de Medici whilst she was regent in 1615, in the _Rue Vaugirard_, at present the Chamber of Peers, after having served the purpose of a prison, for which a portion of it is still appropriated for criminals against the state; but with its large and beautiful gardens it merits a more detailed description, which will be given under the head of public monuments. The whole number of religious establishments of all descriptions built in the reign of Louis XIII, amount to forty-nine, besides many Bridges, Fountains, Hôtels, Statues, etc., etc.; which altogether so augmented Paris that it became requisite to have another wall, affording the capital more extended dimensions, which was accordingly constructed. Notwithstanding all these improvements the streets of Paris were in a most filthy condition, constantly emitting a disagreeable odour; they were very narrow and the greater portion of them very ill paved, besides which they were infested with thieves, and complaints were continually arising against the hosts of pages and lackeys who insulted people in the streets, and were continually committing some disorders, both during the day and the night, when persons were frequently killed in the skirmishes that were constantly taking place. Ordinances and edicts were continually appearing, forbidding the pages and lackeys to wear arms, but all of no avail; when any one was arrested, he was rescued by his companions, and the officers of police sometimes killed. Louis XIII, ever feeble in mind, and probably in constitution, died at the age of 42; it was supposed from a premature decay.

The history of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth and those which follow to the present day are so well known to the English, that whatever I might state respecting them would only be to my readers a repetition of that of which they are already informed, as the continual wars for the last two centuries between England and France have brought the nations in constant contact; but prior to that period, even the most prominent events of the French history are but little known to the English, and in order to enhance the enjoyment of examining the old buildings in Paris, I conceived it necessary to give a slight sketch of the monarchs under whom they were erected, with the dates as accurately as could be ascertained, but consider that it would be useless to do so as regards those edifices constructed since the reign of Louis XIII, as they can only afford pleasure as regards their utility or beauty; as if not two hundred years old, the age of their date ceases to excite interest, although I shall describe them in due course. I have often been surprised that in all schools, although they give the history of Rome, of Greece, and of course of England, yet of France, which is the country the nearest to us, we are suffered to remain ignorant as to its history. We have all heard of the battles of Cressy, Poitiers and Agincourt, and remember that they were gained by the Edwards and Henry the Fifth, but few persons know anything about who were the French kings under whom they were lost; the only instances where the history of the French is brought to our minds, is when any connexion by marriage has occurred between the families of the sovereigns of the two nations.