Chapter I: Front Matter

PARIS

AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS;

OR

A Sketch of the French Capital,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION,

WITH RESPECT TO

SCIENCES, LITERATURE, ARTS, RELIGION, EDUCATION, MANNERS, AND AMUSEMENTS;

COMPRISING ALSO

A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and Public Buildings.

In a Series of Letters,

WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER,

DURING THE YEARS 1801-2,

TO A FRIEND IN LONDON.

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_Ipsâ varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quædem fortasse omnibus placeant. PLIN. Epist._

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VOL. I

LONDON

1803

ADVERTISEMENT.

In the course of the following production, the Reader will meet with several references to a Plan of Paris, which it had been intended to prefix to the work; but that intention having been frustrated by the rupture between the two countries, in consequence of which the copies for the whole of the Edition have been detained at Calais, it is hoped that this apology will be accepted for the omission.

CONTENTS.

VOLUME FIRST.

New Organization of the National Institute

INTRODUCTION

LETTER I. On the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace, the author leaves London for Paris--He arrives at Calais on the 16th of October, 1801--Apparent effect of the peace--After having obtained a passport, he proceeds to Paris, in company with a French naval officer.

LETTER II. Journey from Calais to Paris--Improved state of agriculture--None of the French gun-boats off Boulogne moored with chains at the time of the attack--St. Denis--General sweep made, in 1793, among the sepultures in that abbey--Arrival at Paris--Turnpikes now established throughout Prance--Custom-house scrutiny.

LETTER III. Objects which first strike the observer on arriving at Paris after an absence of ten or twelve years--Tumult in the streets considerably diminished since the revolution--No liveries seen--Streets less dangerous than formerly to pedestrians--Visits paid to different persons by the author--Price of lodgings nearly doubled since 1789 --The author takes apartments in a private house.

LETTER IV. Climate of Paris--_Thermolampes_ or stoves which afford light and heat on an economical plan--Sword whose hilt was adorned with the _Pitt_ diamond, and others of considerable value, presented to the Chief Consul.

LETTER V. Plan on which these letters are written.

LETTER VI. The _Louvre_ or _National Palace of Arts and Sciences_ described --_Old Louvre_--Horrors of St. Bartholomew's day--From this palace Charles IX fired on his own subjects--Additions successively made to it by different kings--_Bernini_, sent for by Lewis XIV, forwarded the foundation of the _New Louvre_, and returned to Italy--_Perrault_ produced the beautiful colonnade of the _Louvre_, the master-piece of French architecture--Anecdote of the Queen of England, relict of Charles I--Public exhibition of the productions of French Industry.

LETTER VII. _Central Museum of the Arts_--_Gallery of Antiques_--Description of the different halls and of the most remarkable statues contained in them, with original observations by the learned connoisseur, _Visconti_.

LETTER VIII. Description of the _Gallery of Antiques_, and of its _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of sculpture continued and terminated--Noble example set by the French in throwing open their museums and national establishments to public inspection--Liberal indulgence shewn to foreigners.

LETTER IX. General A----y's breakfast--Montmartre--Prospect thence enjoyed --Theatres.

LETTER X. Regulations of the Police to be observed by a stranger on his arrival in the French capital--Pieces represented at the _Théâtre Louvois_ --_Palais du gouvernement_ or Palace of the Tuileries described--It was constructed, by Catherine de Medicis, enlarged by Henry IV and Lewis XIII, and finished By Lewis XIV--The tenth of August, 1792, as pourtrayed by an actor in that memorable scene--Number of lives lost on the occasion--Sale of the furniture, the king's wardrobe, and other effects found in the palace--_Place du Carrousel_--Famous horses of gilt bronze brought from Venice and placed here--The fate of France suspended by a thread--Fall of _Robespiere_ and his adherents.

LETTER XI. Massacre of the prisoners at Paris in September, 1792--Private ball --The French much improved in dancing--The waltz described--Dress of the women.

LETTER XII. _Bonaparte_--Grand monthly parade--Agility of the First Consul in mounting his charger--Consular guards, a remarkably fine body of men --Horses of the French cavalry, sorry in appearance, but capable of enduring fatigue and privations.

LETTER XIII. _Jardin des Tuileries_--This garden now kept in better order than under the monarchy--The newly-built house of _Véry_, the _restaurateur_--This quarter calls to mind the most remarkable events in the history of the revolution--_Place de la Concorde_--Its name is a strong contrast to the great number of victims here sacrificed --Execution of the King and Queen, _Philippe Égalité_, _Charlotte Corday_, Madame _Roland_, _Robespiere_, _cum multus aliis_ --Unexampled dispatch introduced in putting persons to death by means of the guillotine--_Guillotin_, the inventor or improver of this instrument, dies of grief--Little impression left on the mind of the spectators of these sanguinary scenes--Lord _Cornwallis_ arrives in Paris.

LETTER XIV. National fête, in honour of peace, celebrated in Paris on the 18th of Brumaire, year X (9th of November, 1801)--_Garnerin_ and his wife ascend in a balloon--Brilliancy of the illuminations--Laughable accident.

LETTER XV. Description of the fête continued--Apparent apathy of the people --Songs composed in commemoration of this joyful event--Imitation of one of them.

LETTER XVI. _Gallery of the Louvre_--_Saloon of the Louvre_--Italian School--The most remarkable pictures in the collection mentioned, with original remarks on the masters by _Visconti_--Lord _Cornwallis's_ reception in Paris.

LETTER XVII. _Gallery of the Louvre_ in continuation--French School--Flemish School--The pictures in the _Saloon_ are seen to much greater advantage than those in the _Gallery_--_Gallery of Apollo_--These superb repositories of the finest works of art are indiscriminately open to the public.

LETTER XVIII. _Palais Royal_, now called _Palais du Tribunat_--Its construction begun, in 1629, by Cardinal _Richelieu_, who makes a present of it to _Lewis_ XIII--It becomes the property of the Orleans family--Anecdote of the Regent--Considerable alterations made in this palace--_Jardin du Palais du Tribunat_--This garden is surrounded by a range of handsome buildings, erected in 1782 by the duke of Orleans, then duke of Chartres--The _Cirque_ burnt down in 1797--Contrast between the company seen here in 1789 and in 1801--The _Palais Royal_, the theatre of political commotions--Mutual enmity of the queen and the duke of Orleans, which, in the sequel, brought these great personages to the scaffold--Their improper example imitated by the nobility of both sexes--The projects of each defeated--The duke's pusillanimity was a bar to his ambition--He exhausted his immense fortune to gain partisans, and secure the attachment of the people--His imprisonment, trial, and death.

LETTER XIX. The _Palais du Tribunat_, an epitome of all the trades in Paris --Prohibited publications--Mock auctions--_Magazins de confiance à prix fixe_--Two speculations, of a somewhat curious nature, established there with success--_The Palais Royal_, a vortex of dissipation --Scheme of _Merlin_ of Douay for cleansing this Augæan stable.

LETTER XX. _Thé_, a sort of route--Contrast in the mode of life of the Parisians before and since the revolution--_Petits soupers_ described--An Englishman improves on all the French _bons vivans_ under the old _régime_.

LETTER XXI. Public places of various descriptions--Their title and number --Contrast between the interior police now established in the theatres in Paris, and that which existed before the revolution--Admirable regulations at present adopted for the preservation of order at the door of the theatres--Comparatively small number of carriages now seen in waiting at the grand French opera.

LETTER XXII. _Palais du Corps Législatif_--Description of the hall of the sittings of that body--Opening of the session--Speech of the President--Lord _Cornwallis_ and suite present at this sitting--_Petits appartemens_ of the _ci-devant Palais Bourbon_ described.

LETTER XXIII. _Halle au Blé_--Lightness of the roof of the dome--Annual consumption of bread-corn in _Paris_--Astrologers--In former times, their number in _Paris_ exceeded _30,000_--Fortune-tellers of the present day --Church of _St. Eustache_--_Tourville_, the brave opponent of Admiral _Russel_, had no epitaph--Festivals of reason described.