This hospital must be of great utility to the people, because it relieves the poor, and prevents murder; as women have not the temptation to kill their children through fear of not having them supported; and also, because it produces a great number of good members of society.
After I had viewed the hospitals, I made a purchase of two books, which contained all I was in pursuit after. I also viewed the house where Voltaire the famous French poet died.
The same day I went in a coach with my servant to Versailles, which is about twelve miles from Paris. We arrived there about noon; and I viewed the king and queen's palaces, which are said to be the richest in the world, or at least, the most beautiful and magnificent in Europe. I also viewed the royal chapel and two of the royal theatres, and the king's gardens planted with tropical and other trees, plants, and herbs. The buildings are adorned and beautified with gold, and many splendid ornaments, and there are a great number of statues, and elegant paintings; all of which afford a very beautiful prospect.
Versailles is a pleasant place, and there are about 60,000 inhabitants in the town. I dined after I had viewed the curiosities, and returned to Paris in the evening, where I saw the Dauphin of France, attended by a monk.
Versailles is said to be the dearest place for entertainment that there is in France, owing to the great number of nobility and gentry that resort there: Therefore ought every traveller to be well provided with money when he goes to see that place.
CHAP. IX.
Views two Hospitals, the Royal Observatory, and sundry other Magnificent Buildings.—Goes to the French Theatre, &c.—A Caution against going into bad Company.
Paris, July 20.
This day I viewed the charity hospital, and the hospital for invalids. The latter is a large and elegant building, in which there is a chapel, that is said to cover as much ground as the cathedral of St. Paul's, in London. The floors of the domes are made of fine marble, and each dome is dedicated to some saint, whose statue is placed in a niche, or hallow. There are some of the finest paintings in this chapel that I ever saw; and the hospital commonly contains about 200 officers, and 3,000 soldiers.