Chapter I: Preface

The little tour which gave birth to the following remarks, was taken immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of a peace, necessary, but not inglorious to my country, after a contest unexampled in its cause, calamity, extension, vicissitudes and glory; amidst a people who, under the influence of a political change, hitherto unparallelled, were to be approached as an order of beings, exhibiting a moral and political form before but little known to themselves and to the world, in the abrupt removal of habits and sentiments which had silently and uninterruptedly taken deep root in the soil of ages.

During a separation of ten years, we have received very little account of this extraordinary people, which could be relied upon. Dissimilar sensations, excited by their principles and proceedings, ever partially and irregularly known, have depicted unaccording representations of them, and, in the sequel, have exhibited rather a high-coloured, fanciful delineation, than a plain and faithful resemblance of the original. Many are the persons who have been thus misled.

These fugitive sketches, in which an attempt is made to delineate, just as they occurred, those scenes which, to _my_ mind at least, were new and interesting, were originally penned for the private perusal of those whom I esteem; and by their persuasion they are now offered to the public eye. Amongst them I must be permitted to indulge in the pride and pleasure of enumerating William Hayley, esq. a name familiar and dear to every elegant and polished mind. Enlightened by his emendations, and supported by the cherishing spirit of his approval, I approach, with a more subdued apprehension, the tribunal of public opinion; and to my friends I dedicate this humble result of a short relaxation from the duties of an anxious and laborious profession. If, by submitting to their wishes, I have erred, I have only to offer, that it is my first, and shall be my last offence.

_Totnes, August, 1802._ JOHN CARR.

[Symbol: right pointing index] The engravings which accompany this work, are of sketches made on the spot by an untutored pencil, and are introduced for the purpose of illustration only.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

_Torr Abbey.--Cap of Liberty.--Anecdote of English Prejudice.--Fire Ships.--Southampton River.--Netley Abbey._ page 1.

CHAPTER II.

_French Emigrants.--Scene on the Quay of Southampton.--Sail for Havre.--Aged French Priest.--Their respectable Conduct in England.--Their Gratitude.--Make the Port of Havre.--Panic of the Emigrants.--Landing described.--Hôtel de la Paix.--Breakfast Knife.--Municipality._ p. 6.

CHAPTER III.

_Passports procured.--Coins.--Town of Havre.--Carts.--Citoyen.--Honfleur.--Deserters.--Prefect de Marine.--Ville de Sandwich.--French Farmers.--Sir Sydney Smith.--Catherine de Medicis.--Light Houses.--Rafts._ p. 20.

CHAPTER IV.

_Cheap travelling to Paris.--Diligences.--French Postilions.--Spanish Postilions.--Norman Horses.--Bolbec.--Natives of Caux.--Ivetot.--Return of Religion.--Santerre.--Jacobin.--The Mustard-pot.--National Property._ p. 31.

CHAPTER V.

_A female french fib.--Military and Civil Procession.--Madame G.--The Review.--Mons. l'Abbé.--Bridge of Boats.--The Quay.--Exchange.--Theatre.--Rouen.--Cathedral.--St. Ouens.--Prince of Waldec.--Maid of Orleans._ p. 40.

CHAPTER VI.

_First Consul's Advertisement.--Something ridiculous.--Eggs.--Criminal Military Tribunal.--French Female Confidence.--Town House.--Convent of Jesuits.--Guillotine.--Governor W----._ p. 50.

CHAPTER VII.

_Filial Piety.--St. Catharine's Mount.--Madame Phillope.--General Ruffin's Trumpet.--Generosity.--Love Infectious.--Masons and Gardeners._ p. 62.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Early dinner.--Mante.--Frost.--Duke de Sully.--Approach the Capital.--Norman Barrier.--Paris.--Hôtel de Rouen.--Palais Royal._ p. 72.

CHAPTER IX.

_French Reception.--Voltaire.--Restaurateur.--Consular Guard.--Music.--Venetian Horses.--Gates of the Palace.--Gardens of the Thuilleries.--Statues.--The faithful Vase.--The Sabine Picture.--Monsieur Perrègaux.--Marquis de Chatelet.--Madame Perrègaux.--Beaux and Belles of Paris._ p. 79.

CHAPTER X.

_Large Dogs.--A Plan for becoming quickly acquainted with Paris.--Pantheon.--Tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau.--Politeness of an Emigrant.--The Beauty of France.--Beauty evanescent.--Place de Carousel.--Infernal Machine.--Fouché.--Seine.--Washerwomen.--Fisherwomen.--Baths._ p. 90.

CHAPTER XI.

_David.--Place de la Concorde.--L'Église de Madeleine.--Print-shops.--Notre Dame.--Museum or Palace of Arts.--Hall of Statues.--Laocoon.--Belvidere Apollo.--Socrates._ p. 101.

CHAPTER XII.

_Bonaparte.--Artillery.--Mr. Pitt.--Newspapers.--Archbishop of Paris.--Consular Colours.--Religion.--Consular Conversion.--Madame Bonaparte.--Consular Modesty.--Separate Beds.--A Country Scene.--Connubial Affection.--Female Bravery._ p. 113.

CHAPTER XIII.

_Breakfast.--Warmth of French Expression.--Rustic Eloquence.--Curious Cause assigned for the late extraordinary Frost.--Madame R----.--Paul I.--Tivoli.--Frescati._ p. 128.

CHAPTER XIV.

_Convent of blue Nuns.--Duchesse de Biron.--The bloody Key.--Courts of Justice.--Public Library.--Gobelines.--Miss Linwood.--Garden of Plants.--French Accommodation.--Boot Cleaners.--Cat and Dog Shearers.--Monsieur S---- and Family._ p. 140.

CHAPTER XV.

_Civility of a Sentinel.--The Hall of the Legislative Assembly.--British House of Commons.--Captain Bergeret.--The Temple.--Sir Sydney Smith's Escape.--Colonel Phillipeaux._ p. 150

CHAPTER XVI.

_A fashionable Poem.--Frere Rickart.--Religion.--Hôtel des Invalides.--Hall of Victory.--Enemies' Colours.--Sulky Appearance of an English Jack and Ensign.--Indecorum.--The aged Captain.--Military School.--Champ de Mars.--The Garden of Mousseaux._ p. 163.

CHAPTER XVII.

_Curious Method of raising Hay.--Lucien Bonaparte's Hôtel.--Opera.--Consular Box.--Madame Bonaparte's Box.--Feydeau Theatre.--Belle Vue.--Versailles.--The Palace of the Petit Trianon.--The Grounds._ p. 175.

CHAPTER XVIII.

_Bonaparte's Talents in Finance.--Garrick and the Madman.--Palace of the Conservative Senate.--Process of transferring Oil Paintings from Wood to Canvas.--The Dinner Knife.--Commodities.--Hall of the National Convention.--The Minister Talleyrand's Levee._ p. 188.

CHAPTER XIX.

_The College of the Deaf and Dumb.--Abbé Sicard.--Bagatelle.--Police.--Grand National Library.--Bonaparte's Review.--Tambour Major of the Consular Regiment.--Restoration of Artillery Colours._ p. 201.

CHAPTER XX.

_Abbè Sieyes.--Consular Procession to the Council Chamber.--10th of August, 1792.--Celerity of Mons. Fouche's Information.--The two Lovers.--Cabinet of Mons. le Grand.--Self-prescribing Physician.--Bust of Robespierre.--His Lodgings.--Corn Hall.--Museum of French Monuments.--Revolutionary Agent.--Lovers of married Women._ p. 214.

CHAPTER XXI.

_Picturesque and Mechanical Theatre.--Filtrating and purifying Vases.--English Jacobins.--A Farewell.--Messagerie.--MalMaison.--Forest of Evreux.--Lower Normandy.--Caen.--Hon. T. Erskine.--A Ball.--The Keeper of the Sachristy of Notre Dame.--The two blind Beggars.--Ennui.--St. Lo.--Cherbourg.--England._ p. 230.

GENERAL REMARKS. p. 252.

THE STRANGER IN FRANCE