I found no new deistical books, the subject has already been exhausted, and every Frenchman is a philosopher now; it may be necessary here to recollect, that there are gradations in philosophy.
Since the Revolution, monarchs and courts are not quite so respectfully mentioned in books as they were formerly. The following few examples are taken from Mr. du Laure's Curiosities of Paris, in two volumes, 1791, third edition.[17] "Louis XIV. has his bust in almost every street in Paris. After the most trifling reparation of a street it was customary to place his great wig-block (tête à perruque) there. The saints have never obtained such multiplied statues. That bully (Fanfaron) as Christina, Queen of Sweden, used to call him, wanted to be adored even in turn-again alleys (culs-de-Sac.") Courtiers are here termed canaille de la cour (the rabble of the court;) the former aldermen of Paris (echevins) machines à complimens (complimenting machines;) and monks des bourreaux encapuchonnés (cowled executioners.)
All the following articles of information are taken from the same work: The colossal statue of St. Christopher is no longer in the church of Notre-Dame; "He was, without doubt, the greatest Saint Christopher in all France. This ridiculous monument of the taste and devotion of our ancestors has lately been demolished."
"The court before the porch of this church was considerably enlarged in 1748, and at the same time a fountain was destroyed, against which leaned an old statue, which had successively been judged to be that of Esculapius, of Mercury, of a Mayor, and of a Bishop of Paris, and lastly, that of J.C."
"Entering the street which leads to the Pont-rouge, by the cloisters of this church, the last house on the right, under the arcades, stands where the canon Fulbert, uncle to Eloisa, lived. Although it has been several times rebuilt during 600 years, there are still preserved two stone medallions, in basso-relievo, which are said to be the busts of Abelard and Eloisa."
The number of inhabitants in Paris is computed at one million, one hundred and thirty thousand, (including one hundred and fifty thousand strangers) two hundred thousand of which are, through poverty, exempt from the poll-tax, and two hundred thousand others are servants.
In 1790 there were in Paris forty-eight convents of monks, containing nine hundred and nine men; the amount of their revenue was estimated at two millions, seven hundred and sixty thousand livres; five abbeys or priories, estimated at six hundred and twelve thousand livres; seventy-four convents of nuns, containing two thousand, two hundred and ninety-two women, their income two millions and twenty-eight thousand livres. When to these we add the revenue of the archbishoprick, and of the fifteen collegiate churches, of one million, six thousand and five hundred livres, we shall have a total of upwards of seven millions of livres for the former ecclesiastical revenue in Paris only.[18]
There are about six hundred coffee-houses in Paris.
In the saloon of the Louvre every other year is an exhibition of pictures, in the months of August and September.