A rough sketch of modern Paris

by J. G. Lemaistre

A
ROUGH SKETCH
OF
MODERN PARIS.

G. Woodfall, Printer,
Paternoster row.

A
ROUGH SKETCH
OF
MODERN PARIS;

OR,
LETTERS
ON
SOCIETY, MANNERS, PUBLIC CURIOSITIES, AND AMUSEMENTS,
IN THAT CAPITAL,

WRITTEN DURING THE LAST TWO MONTHS OF 1801 AND THE FIRST
FIVE OF 1802.

BY J. G. LEMAISTRE, ESQ.

SECOND EDITION.

J’ai voulu voir Paris; les fastes de l’histoire

Célébrant ses plaisirs, et consacrent sa gloire.

Voltaire.

Nous avons vu Trajan, Titus et Marc Aurele,

Quitter le beau séjour de la gloire immortelle,

Pour venir en secret s’amuser à Paris.

Quelque bien qu’on puisse être, on veut changer de place;

C’est pourquoi les anglois sortent de leur pays.

L’esprit est inquiet, et de tout il se lasse;

Souvent un bien heureux s’ennuie en Paradis.

Idem.

LONDON.
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD;
1803.

PREFACE.

In june, 1801, while the war between England and France still continued, I obtained his majesty’s license to visit the latter country, in order to ascertain my claims to a legacy left me at Paris. A french passport was likewise necessary; and such were the difficulties which occurred, that, notwithstanding repeated applications to M. Otto on the subject, the instrument in question was not yet arrived, when, on the first of October, an extraordinary gazette announced the joyful intelligence of the signature of preliminary articles of peace. The jealousy of the french government ceased with the war; and, three days after its termination, I received the long expected passport.

Being one of the first englishmen who arrived in France, after a war big with such unparallelled events, I determined to keep a journal of my proceedings. The object which, at first, induced me to do so, was simply to gratify the curiosity of an intimate friend, who had charged me, on leaving England, to forward to him, by every opportunity, detailed accounts pf modern France. Of my correspondence, thus begun, I took regular copies; and, on perusing the materials which I had been able to collect, it afterwards occurred to me, that some of these letters might become not totally uninteresting to the public, if formed into a less objectionable shape, and freed from the many little occurrences, which they originally contained, and which only related personally either to my friend or myself. From this collection I have accordingly culled the following letters. I offer them to my readers, as conveying not a studied view of society and manners, but a rough landscape, drawn by the untutored hand of an inexperienced artist. If the sketch should happen to please, the merit will be less in the execution than in the subject; if it fail, the fault will be in the pencil, and not in the accuracy of the drawer.

To divest myself, as much as possible, from every prejudice, has been a duty which I have strictly endeavoured to fulfil; yet I fear, such is the effect of early habit, that many marks will still be discovered of national predilection. I beg leave, as a check against faults of this kind, which I may have involuntarily committed, to request my reader to remember, that the observations now laid before him, are those of a man accustomed to english opinions, english society, and english manners. In judging of another country, a foreigner cannot help making a comparison between what he has known at home add what he sees abroad. In doing so, the partiality, which he naturally entertains for his own customs, may lead him to condemn, as faults, what may be simply deviations from the former. That such is the general bias of the human mind, I am fully aware, and I cannot flatter myself that mine has escaped it. This consideration must plead my excuse with the french, if I should sometimes appear severe; and the same ought to prevent my countrymen from placing too implicit a confidence in my judgments, where it may be my misfortune to condemn. My hand has faithfully drawn what my eye beheld; but the sight may be jaundiced, and, in that case the picture will be incorrect.

To conclude—The intention of this work being simply to describe the internal situation of the french capital, all religious and political discussions will be avoided. The causes, events, and consequences of a revolution, which has no parallel in history, I leave to abler and more experienced writers. To point out to strangers the objects most interesting at Paris, to convey some previous information to those who intend going thither, and to lay before such as are prevented, by their other occupations, from undertaking the journey, an account of the pleasures, festivals, buildings, and mode of living in that metropolis, is the task I have undertaken, a task which, however comparatively humble, is neither useless nor unimportant. Had it fallen into other hands, the public would feel the truth of this remark. As it is, I fear they will easily discover, that the subject deserved an abler pen.

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The first edition of this work appeared anonymously. Its rapid sale and the favourable manner in which “The Rough Sketch,” has been received induce the Author, as a mark of respect and gratitude to an indulgent Public, to affix, his name to this second impression. In doing so, he begs leave to apologize for the typographical errors found in the first edition, and which he can only correct in that which is now issued, by means of an errata. These faults may, perhaps, be pardoned, when it is known that the Author was in the most distant part of Italy at the time of the first publication, and that most of the sheets which compose the present impression, were struck off previously to his return.

In reading the following pages the Public will also have the goodness to remember the period at which they were written. When the Author speaks of Bonaparte, he speaks of him in other days. In May, 1802, when these letters were concluded, the First Consul was the elected first magistrate of France, the professed friend of England, and the acknowledged pacificator of Europe. He had not at that time overturned the form of government which he had solemnly sworn to maintain, by assuming for life the reins of power. He had not then violated the laws of nations and the rights of a free, virtuous, and independent people by the subjugation of Switzerland. He had not then insulted his Majesty and the British nation in the person of our ambassador. He had not yet dared to ask for changes in the most valuable and purest parts of our excellent constitution, nor had he sunk the dignity of his character by a conversation which at once betrayed his vanity, rashness, and unbounded ambition. In one word, the laurels of Marengo were yet unfaded. He was then a great man. Without enquiring what he now is, one may be permitted to apply to him what Virgil said of the Trojan hero after his defeat:

⸺Heu quantum mutatus ab illo

Hectore, qui redit exuvias indutus Achillis!

Upper Seymour Street, Sept. 21, 1803.

CONTENTS.

LETTER I.
Reflections on landing at Calais.—Custom house officers, municipality, commissaires, Dessein’s, theatre.—Montreuil.—L’hôtel d’Angleterre at Amiens.—Chantilly.—State of the roads.—Difficulty of getting lodgings at Paris.—M. Peregaux.	[p. 1.]
LETTER II.
The palace and gardens of the Thuilleries.—The Louvre.—The musée central des arts, or picture gallery.—Maria Cosway.—Gallery of antiquities.—Apollo Belvidere.—Laocoon.—List of pictures.	[p. 10.]
LETTER III.
The fête of the 18th of brumaire in honour of the preliminaries, and of the anniversary of the consular government.—Apathy of the people.—Fireworks.—Accident which happened to an english gentleman.—Postscript.—The death of the gentleman last named.	[p. 40.]
LETTER IV.
State of society at Paris.—The three sets, l’ancienne noblesse, the governmental class, and les parvenus ou nouveaux riches.—Description of a house belonging to one of the latter.	[p. 53.]
LETTER V.
Opening of the legislative body.—Election of the president.—Lord Cornwallis.—Reflections of the people in the gallery.	[p. 63.]
LETTER VI.
The abbé Sicard, and the institution in behalf of the deaf and dumb.—His favourite pupil, Massieu.—Examination of a young woman, who had become deaf at six years old.—Reflections on the establishment.	[p. 69.]
LETTER VII.
A thé or evening party.—French remarks on Shakspeare and Mr. Fox.—Dullness and pedantry of parisian society.	[p. 74.]
LETTER VIII.
Bonaparte.—The monthly review or parade in the court of the Thuilleries.	[p. 81.]
LETTER IX.
The tribunate.—Speech of Portalis on presenting the code civil in the corps législatif.—Debate in the tribunate on the same subject.	[p. 87.]
LETTER X.
Bal des étrangers, (a public subscription ball).—Thinness of the ladies’ dresses.	[p. 92.]
LETTER XI.
New year’s day.—The Palais royal.	[p. 98.]
LETTER XII.
L’institution des travaux des aveugles, or establishment for the support and employment of the blind.—Their different occupations.—The plate glass manufactory.—Description of another meeting at the hospital of the deaf and dumb.—Massieu taught galvanism and stenography.	[p. 103.]
LETTER XIII.
The young savage, or wild boy of Aveyron.—His history.—The state in which he was found, and the means used to restore him to the use of his senses.—The success with which these efforts have been attended.	[p. 109.]
LETTER XIV.
Detailed account of all the theatres or spectacles.	[p. 116.]
LETTER XV.
The play of Henry IV, read by le Texier.	[p. 133.]
LETTER XVI.
Party at a fournisseur’s.—Ball at a ci-devant noble’s.	[p. 137.]
LETTER XVII.
A play acted for the first time, called “Edouard en Ecosse,” the hero of which was the english pretender, full of royalist sentiments, performed twice, and highly applauded; “God save the King,” played on the French stage; plot of the play, which was forbidden on the third day.	[p. 146.]
LETTER XVIII.
The carnival.—Masks in all the streets.—Account of the different characters, processions, &c.—Masqued ball at the opera house.	[p. 152.]
LETTER XIX.
Bonaparte’s audience.—His address to the english gentlemen presented to him.—First appearance, this season, of Vestris.—Madame de St—l’s concert.	[p. 158.]
LETTER XX.
The antichamber of the Musée Central, now filled with an additional collection of fine pictures.—Account of the wonderful recovery of some chefs-d’œuvre.—List of pictures in this room.	[p. 166.]
LETTER XXI.
Bois de Boulogne.—Account of that promenade.—Order of the police against english footmen wearing laced cocked hats.—Cannon fired in honour of the definitive treaty.—Illuminations in the evening.—Little effect produced at Paris by the peace.	[p. 175.]
LETTER XXII.
The palais du Luxembourg.—Théâtre d’Odéon.—The pantheon or St. Généviève.—Tombs of Rousseau and Voltaire.	[p. 181.]
LETTER XXIII.
Concordat with the Pope ratified by the legislative body after an eloquent speech by Lucien Bonaparte.—Madame Bonaparte’s first drawing room.—Appearance of Dehayes at the opera, after a long absence.	[p. 188.]
LETTER XXIV.
Versailles.—St. Cloud.—Sèvre.—Petit Trianon.—Specimen of an extravagant bill.—Curious trial.—St. Germain.—Malmaison.—Waterworks of Marly.	[p. 192.]
LETTER XXV.
Long Champ, account of that annual promenade, date of its origin, and of the great preparations made this year for attending it.—The bustle and gayety which it produced at Paris.	[p. 205.]
LETTER XXVI.
Te Deum sung at Notre Dame, in honour of the peace and the reestablishment of religion.—Military insolence.—Account of the ceremony.—Illuminations in the evening.—Indifference of the people.	[p. 213.]
LETTER XXVII.
Palais de Justice.—Account of the different tribunals or courts of law.	[p. 222.]
LETTER XXVIII.
The gardens and walks of Paris.	[p. 227.]
LETTER XXIX.
The manufactory of Gobelins, the observatory, les Enfans trouvés, Champ de Mars, les Invalides, and the temple of Mars, containing the colours taken from different nations, and the tomb of Turenne.—Le Musée des Monumens françois, or collection of monuments.—List of the most esteemed of these.—Note to this letter contains the account of a dinner at the first consul’s.	[p. 235.]
LETTER XXX.
General account of literary establishments at Paris.—National library.—Manuscripts.—Memoirs of his own times, by Lewis XIV.—Fac simile of a love letter of Henry IV.—Cabinet of medals.—Cabinet of engravings, &c.—Library of the Pantheon.—Mazarine library.—Library of the Institute. Libraries of the senate, the legislative body, and tribunate.—The Lycées, now called les Athénées.—Admirable lectures given at one of them.—Professors Fourcroy, Cuvier, and la Harpe.—L’Institute national.—Jardin national des Plantes.—Collection of birds, plants, fossils, and insects, in the house attached to the Jardin des Plantes.—Cabinet de l’École des Mines, à l’Hôtel des Monnoies.—Great opportunities afforded at Paris of cultivating science and literature in all their various branches.	[p. 249.]
LETTER XXXI.
Calculation and estimate of expenses at Paris.—List of hôtels, traiteurs, &c.	[p. 266.]
LETTER XXXII.
General view of Paris, principally taken as compared with London.	[p. 282.]

A
ROUGH SKETCH
OF
MODERN PARIS.