[11] Mrs. Robinson tells me, that when she was at Paris, a few years ago, her valet de place, came early one morning, informing her there would be a grand spectacle, and wanted to know if he should hire a place for her. This superb spectacle was no other than the execution of two murderers, who were to be broken alive on the wheel, in the Place de Grêve, on that day. She however says, that she declined going.
[12] Genera plantarum, 798.
[13] The seeds which are sold in the London shops, for those of this plant, are those of the hyssopus bracteatis.
[14] These trees are planted as close together as possible, hardly eight feet asunder, and no room is left for any walks, so that these gardens are, properly speaking, orange orchards. The oranges were then sold at the rate of ten for a penny English.
[15] "In 1701 there were born in Hungary two Girls who were joined together by the loins; they lived above twenty-one years. At seven years old they were shown almost all over Europe; at nine years of age a priest purchased them, and placed them in a convent at Petersburg, where they remained till their death, which happened in 1723. An account of them was found among the papers of the surgeon who attended the convent, and was sent to the Royal Society of London in 1757. In this account we are told, that one of these twins was called Helen, the other Judith. Helen grew up and was very handy, Judith was smaller and a little hump-backed. They were joined together by the reins, and in order to see each other they could turn their heads only. There was one common anus, and of course there was only one common need of going to stool, but each had her separate urinary passage, and separate wants, which occasioned quarrels, because when the weakest was obliged to evacuate, the strongest, who sometimes would not stand still, pulled her away; they perfectly agreed in every thing else, and appeared to love each other. When they were seen in front, they did not differ apparently from other women. At six years old Judith lost the use of her left side by a paralytick stroke; she never was perfectly cured, and her mind remained feeble and dull; on the contrary, Helen was handsome, intelligent and even witty. They had the small-pox and the measles at the same time, but all their other sicknesses indispositions happened to each separately. Judith was subject to a cough and a fever, whereas Helen was generally in good health. When they had almost attained the age of twenty-two Judith caught a fever, fell into a lethargy and died. Poor Helen was forced to follow her fate; three minutes before the death of Judith she fell into an agony, and died nearly at the same time. When they were dissected it was found, that each had her own entrails perfect, and even, that each had a separate excretory conduit, which however terminated at the same anus." Linnæus has likewise described this monster. Many figures of double children of different kinds may be seen in Licetus de Monstris, 4to. 1665; and in the Medical Miscellanies, which were printed in Latin at Leipzig, in several quarto volumes, in 1673.
[16] Rousseau used to play at chess here almost every day, which attracted such crowds of people to see him, that the Lieutenant de Police was obliged to place a sentinel at the door.
[17] The same author has likewise published, Historical Singularities of Paris, in a single volume, and a Description of the Environs, in two volumes, 1790.
[18] Almost £300,000 sterling, about a tenth part of the Church income of the whole kingdom. The establishment for the Royal Family, or Civil List, is said to have been forty millions of livres. Thus the Religion and the Monarch cost one hundred and ten millions of livres annually (about five millions sterling) the greater part of which sum is now appropriated to other uses. The convents are converted, or perverted, into secular useful buildings, and their inhabitants have been suffered to spend the remainder of their lives in their former idleness, or to marry and mix with society. Annuities have been granted to them from thirty-five to sixty louis per annum, according to their age.
[19] 1020 feet by 72. Westminster-bridge is 1220 feet long, but only 44 feet wide.
[20] The inner diameter of the dome of St. Peter's, at Rome, 138 feet, which is the same size as that of the pantheon in Rome. St. Paul's in London 108. The Invalids in Paris 50.