A Trip to Paris in July and August 1792
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Richard Twiss >> A Trip to Paris in July and August 1792
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2. The _French_ playhouse is at present called _Theatre de la Nation_.
In the vestibule or porch is a marble statue of _Voltaire_, sitting in
an arm chair; it is near the Luxembourg.
3. The Italian theatre behind the _Boulevart Richelieu_. Notwithstanding
the name, nothing but French pieces, and French music, are performed
here.
4. Theatre _de Monsieur_. _Rue Feydeau_. Comedies and operas are
performed here, three times a week in the Italian, and the other days in
the French language; for which purpose two sets of players are engaged
at this house.
5. Theatre Francais. Rue de Richelieu. At these four theatres the price
of admission into the boxes was a crown.
6. Theatre de la Rue de Louvois.
7. Theatre Francais. Rue de Bondy.
8. Theatre de la Demoiselle Montansier, au Palais Royal. The box price
of these three last was half a crown.
9. Theatre du Marais, quartier St. Antoine.
10. Theatre de Moliere. Rue St. Martin.
To these must be added about five and twenty more; the best of which is
the _Theatre de l'ambigu comique_, on the _North Boulevarts_;[9] the
box price was half a crown. The others were rope dancers, and such kind
of spectacles as _Sadler's Wells, &c._ and the prices were from two
shillings down to sixpence. The French themselves, laughing at the great
increase of their theatres, said, "We shall shortly have a public
spectacle per street, an actor per house, a musician per cellar, and an
author per garret."
[Note 9: These _Boulevarts_ were made in 1536, and planted with four
rows of trees in 1668; these beautiful walks are too well known to be
described here; they are 2400 _Toises_ (4800 yards, or almost three
miles) long. The South Boulevarts are planted in the same manner, were
finished in 1761, and are 3683 _Toises_, or fathom (above four miles) in
length.]
PANTHEON. JACOBINS. QUAI VOLTAIRE. RUE ROUSSEAU. COCKADES.
THE new church of _Sainte Genevieve_ was begun in 1757; but the building
was discontinued during the last war; in 1784 it was resumed, and is at
present almost finished. The whole length of the front is thus inscribed
in very large gilt capitals: _Aux grands hommes: la Patrie
reconnoissante_. To great men: their grateful country. And over the
entrance: _Pantheon Francais. L'An III de la Liberte_.
As to the size of Paris, I saw two very large plans of that city and of
London, on the same scale, on which it was said, that Paris covered
5,280,000 square _Toises_, and London only 3,900,000. A _Toise_ is two
yards; and from the plan it appeared to be near the truth.
The new buildings which surround the garden of the Palais Royal form a
parallelogram, that for beauty is not to be matched in Europe. They
consist of shops, coffee-houses, music rooms, four of which are in
cellars, taverns, gaming-houses, &c. and the whole square is almost
always full of people. The square is 234 yards in length, and 100 in
breadth; the portico which surround it consists of 180 arches.
The celebrated _Jacobins_ are a club, consisting at present of about
1300 members, and so called, because the place of meeting is in the
hall which was formerly the library of the convent of that name, in the
_Rue St. Honore_, about 300 yards distant from the National Assembly.
The proper name of the club is, _Society of the Friends of the
Constitution_. There are three or four other societies of less note.
The _Quai_, which was formerly called _des Theatins_ is at present named
_Quai Voltaire_, in honor of that philosopher, who died there in the
house of the Marquis de _Villette_, in 1778.
The street which was formerly called _Platriere_, and in which the
general post-office is situated, is called _Rue Jean Jaques Rousseau_,
in honour of this writer, who resided some time in this street. I found
him here in 1776, and he copied some music for me; he had no other books
at that time than an English _Robinson Crusoe_ and an Italian _Tasso's
Jerusalem_. He died 1st July, 1778, very soon after Voltaire, at the
country seat of le Marquis _de Girardin_ about ten leagues from Paris;
and is buried there, in a small island.
And the street which was formerly called _Chaussee d'Antin_ is now named
_Rue de Mirabeau_, in honour of the late patriot of that name.
The church _des Innocens_ was pulled down in 1786, and the vast
_cimetiere_ (burying ground) was filled up. Every night, during several
months, carts were employed in carrying the bones found there, to other
grounds out of Paris; it is now a market for vegetables. Very near this
place was a fountain, which is mentioned in letters patent so long ago
as 1273. It was rebuilt with extraordinary magnificence in 1550,
repaired in 1708, and at last, in 1788, carefully removed to the center
of the market, where it now stands.
The new _Quai de Gesvres_ was constructed in 1787, and all the shops
which formed a long narrow alley for foot passengers only, were
destroyed.
At this time no person was permitted to walk in any other part of the
_Tuileries_ gardens than in the terrace of the _Feuillans_, which is
parallel to the _Rue St. Honore_, and under the windows of the _National
Assembly_; the only fence to the other part of the garden was a blue
ribband extended between two chairs.
Hitherto cockades of silk had been worn, the _aristocrats_ wore such as
were of a paler blue and red, than those worn by the _democrats_, and
the former were even distinguished by their carriages, on which a cloud
was painted upon the arms, which entirely obliterated them, (of these I
saw above thirty in the evening _promenade_, in the _Bois de Boulogne_:)
but on the 30th of July, every person was compelled by the people to
wear a linen cockade, without any distinction in the red and blue
colours.
EXECUTION OF TWO CRIMINALS, WITH A BEHEADING MACHINE.
ON the 4th of August a criminal was beheaded, in the _Place de Greve_. I
did not see the execution, because, as the hour is never specified, I
might have waited many hours in a crowd, from which there is no
extricating one's self. I was there immediately after, and saw the
machine, which was just going to be taken away. I went into a
coffee-house and made a drawing, which is here engraven. It is called
_la Guillotine_, from the name of the person who first brought it into
use in Paris: that at _Lisle_ is called _le Louison_, for a similar
reason. In English it is termed a maiden.[10]
[Note 10: Mr. Pennant, in the second volume of his Tour in Scotland,
has given a long account of such a machine, from which the following
particulars are taken. "It was confined to the limits of the forest of
Hardwick, or the eighteen towns and hamlets within its precincts. The
execution was generally at Halifax; Twenty five criminals suffered
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth; the records before that time were
lost. Twelve more were executed between 1623 and 1650, after which it is
supposed the privilege was no more exerted.----This machine is now
destroyed, but there is one of the same kind, in a room under the
Parliament house, at Edinburgh, where it was introduced by the Regent
Morton, who took a model of it as he passed through Halifax, and at
length suffered by it himself. It is in form of a painters easel, and
about ten feet high: at four feet from the bottom is a cross-bar, on
which the felon laid his head, which was kept down by another placed
above. In the inner edges of the frame are grooves; in these is placed a
sharp axe, with a vast weight of lead, supported at the summit by a peg;
to that peg is fastened a cord, which the executioner cutting, the axe
falls, and beheads the criminal. If he was condemned for stealing a
horse or a cow, the string was tied to the beast, which pulled out the
peg and became the executioner."]
I have seen the following seven engravings of such an instrument. The
most ancient is engraven on wood, merely outlines, and very badly drawn;
it is in _Petrus de Natalibus Catalogus Sanctorum, 1510_.
There was a German translation of some of _Petrarch's_ Works, published
in 1520; this contains an engraving in wood, representing an execution,
with a great number of figures, correctly drawn.
_Aldegrever_, in 1553, published another print on this subject.
The fourth is in _Achillis Bocchii Quaestiones Symbolicae_, 1550.
There is one in _Cats's_ Dutch Emblems, 1650.
And the two last are in _Golfrieds's_ Historical Chronicles, in German,
folio, 1674. These five last are engraven on copper.
In all these representations the axe is either straight or semicircular,
but always horizontal. The sloping position of the French axe appears to
be the best calculated for celerity.
Machines of this kind are at present made use of for executions
throughout all France, and criminals are put to death in no other
manner.
The following is the account of an execution, which I had from an
eye-witness.
The crowd began to assemble at ten in the morning, and waited, exposed
to the intense heat of the sun in the middle of July, till four in the
afternoon, when the criminals, a Marquis and a Priest, were brought, in
two coaches; they were condemned for having forged _assignats_.
The Marquis ascended the scaffold first; he was as pale as if he had
already been dead, and he endeavoured to hide his face, by pulling his
hair over it; there were two executioners, dressed in black, on the
scaffold, one of which immediately tied a plank of about 18 inches
broad, and an inch thick, to the body of the Marquis, as he stood
upright, fastening it about the arms, the belly, and the legs; this
plank was about four feet long, and came almost up to his chin; a priest
who attended, then applied a crucifix to his mouth, and the two
executioners directly laid him on his belly on the bench, lifted up the
upper part of the board which was to receive his neck, adjusted his
head properly, then shut the board and pulled the string which is
fastened to the peg at the top of the machine, which lifted up a latch,
and down came the axe; the head was off in a moment, and fell into a
basket which was ready to receive it, the executioner took it out and
held it up by the hair to show the populace, and then put it into
another basket along with the body: very little blood had issued as yet.
The Priest was now taken out of the coach, from which he might have seen
his companion suffer; the bloody axe was hoisted up and he underwent the
same operation exactly. Each of these executions lasted about a minute
in all, from the moment of the criminal's ascending the scaffold to that
of the body's being taken away. It was now seen that the body of the
Marquis made such a violent expiration that the belly raised the lid of
the basket it was in, and the blood rushed out of the great arteries in
torrents.
The windows of the _Place de Greve_ were, as usual on such occasions,
filled with ladies.[11] Many persons were performing on violins, and
trumpets, in order to pass the time away, and to relieve the tediousness
of expectation.
[Note 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 Greve, on that day. She however says, that she declined going.]
I have on several other days seen felons sitting on stools on this
scaffold, with their hands tied, and their arms and bodies fastened to a
stake by a girth, bareheaded, with an inscription over their heads,
specifying their crimes and punishment; they are generally thus exposed
during five or fix hours, and then sent to prison, or to the gallies
according to the sentence.
VERSAILLES. BOTANY. SOUNDING MERIDIANS.
I went once to Versailles; there is hardly any thing in the palace but
the bare walls, a very few of the looking-glasses, tapestry, and large
pictures remaining, as it has now been near two years uninhabited. I
crossed the great canal on foot; there was not a drop of water in it.
In the _Menagerie_ I saw the Rhinoceros, which has been 23 years there;
there is likewise a lion, with a little dog in the same den, as his
companion, and a zebra.
The collection of orange trees cannot be matched in any country where
these trees do not grow naturally; the number is about six hundred, the
largest trunk is about fifteen inches in diameter, and the age of the
most ancient of these trees exceeds three centuries.
The _Jardin Potager_, or kitchen garden, is of fifty acres, divided into
about five or six and twenty small gardens, of one, two, or three acres,
walled round, both for shelter to the plants, and for training fruit
trees against. One of these gardens, of two acres, was entirely allotted
to the culture of melons, and these were all of the warty _rock
cantalupe_ kind, and were growing under hand-glasses, in the manner of
our late cucumbers for pickling.
The season had been so unfavourable for wall-fruit, that (as the
gardener told me) all these gardens had yielded less than a dozen
peaches and nectarines.
The fruit was sent regularly to the Royal Family in Paris.
There is a botanical garden at the _Petit Trianon_ in the park of
Versailles, but the person who shews it was out of the way, so that I
did not see it.
I passed several mornings in the Botanical National Garden, (_ci-devant
Jardin du Roi_.) That part of the garden which contains the botanical
collection is separated from the other part, which is open to the public
at large, by iron palisades. The names of the plants are painted on
square plates of tin, stuck in the ground on the side of each plant. I
saw a _Strelitzia_, which was there called _Ravenala_, (probably from
some modern botanist's name) _Mr. Thouin_, who superintends this garden,
said to me, "We will not have any aristocratic plants, neither will we
call the new Planet by any other name than that of its discoverer,
_Herschel_." I neglected to ask him why the plant might not retain its
original and proper name of _Heliconia Bihai_?
[Illustration: ANASTATICA or ROSE of JERICHO]
I here found the _Anastatica Hierochuntica_ or _Rose of Jericho_, which
I sought for in vain for several years, and advertised for in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, for January 1791, and in the newspapers. Many
descriptions and figures of this plant are to be found in old books, and
the dried plants are frequently to be met with. Old _Gerard_ very justly
says, "The coiner spoiled the name in the mint, for of all plants that
have been written of, there is not any more unlike unto the rose." The
annexed figure represents a single plant; it had been transplanted into
a deep pot, which had been filled with earth, so as to make it appear
like two plants. The stalks are shrubby, the leaves are fleshy, and of a
glaucous or sea-green colour. The _corolla_ consists of four very small
white petals. Its scientific description may be found in _Linnaeus_[12].
One of the _silicles_ is drawn magnified.
[Note 12: _Genera plantarum_, 798.]
Mr. Thouin pointed out to me a new and very beautiful species of
_Zinnia_, of which the flower is twice the size of that of the common
sort, and of a deep purple colour: a new _verbascum_, from the Levant;
it was about four feet high, the leaves were almost as woolly as those
of the _Stachys lanata_, and terminated in a point like a spur; it had
not yet flowered. And a new _solanum_, with spines the colour of gold.
He recommended the flower of the _spilanthus brasiliana_, which our
nurserymen call _Verbesina_ _acmella_ as an excellent dentifrice.
I also found here the _amethystea, coerulea_: this annual has been lost
in England above twenty years.[13]
[Note 13: The seeds which are sold in the London shops, for those of
this plant, are those of the _hyssopus bracteatis_.]
The _datura fastuosa_, the French call _Trompette du jugement a trois
fleurs l'une dans l'autre_; I have myself raised these with triple
flowers, both purple and white, though some of our nurserymen pretended
the flowers were never more than double. The _anthemis arabica_, a very
singular and pretty annual. A _zinnia hybrida_, which last has not yet
been cultivated in England. Twenty-two sorts of _medicago polymorpha,
(snails and hedgehogs_) of these I had seen only four in England.
Here was a small single moss-rose plant, in a pot, which is the only one
I ever saw in France. The air is too hot for those roses, and for the
same reason none of the American plants, such as the _magnolia_ (tulip
tree) _kalmia_, &c. thrive in France, though kept in pots in the shade
and well watered; the heat of the atmosphere dries the trunk of these
trees. But there are many other plants, to the growth of which the
climate is much more favourable than it is in England. In the open part
of this garden are a great number of _bignonia-catalpa_ trees, which
were then in flower, resembling horse-chesnut flowers at a distance, but
much larger and more beautiful; and many _nerium oleander_ trees, in
wooden chests; several of these trees are about eight feet high and the
trunk a foot in diameter; they were then full of flowers of all the
sorts, single and double, red and white; these are placed in the
green-house in the winter.
On a mount in this garden is a _meridien sonnant_ (sounding meridian)
this is an iron mortar which holds four pounds of gunpowder, it is
loaded every morning, and exactly at noon the sun discharges the piece
by means of a burning glass, so placed that the _focus_ at that moment
fires the powder in the touch-hole. The first meridian that was made of
this kind is in the garden of the _Palais Royal_, at the top of one of
the houses; I could not see it, but it is thus described in the _Paris
Guide_: "The touch-hole of the cannon is two inches long and half a line
(the twentieth part of an inch) broad, this length is placed in the
direction of the meridian line. Two _transoms_ or _cross-staves_ placed
vertically on a horizontal plane, support a _lens_ or burning glass,
which, by their means, is fixed according to the sun's height monthly,
so as to cause the _focus_ to be exactly over the touch-hole at noon. It
is said to have been invented by _Rousseau_." Small meridians of this
sort are sold in the shops; these are dials of about a foot square,
engraven on marble, with a little brass cannon and a _lens_.
The market for plants and flowers in pots, and for nosegays, is kept on
the _Quai de la Megisserie_, twice a week, very early in the morning;
the following were the most abundant: _Nerium_ double flowering
pomegranate, _vinca rosea_, (Madagascar periwinkle) _prickly lantana,
peruvian heliotropium_ (turnsole) tuberoses, with very large and
numerous single and double flowers, and very great quantities of common
sweet basil, which is much used in cookery.
I visited the apothecaries garden, and also two or three nursery gardens
in that neighbourhood, but found nothing remarkable in them.
There are many gardens in the environs of Paris which are worthy of
notice, but I was prevented from seeing them in consequence of the
disturbances hereafter mentioned. In the books which describe these
places, I find the village of _Montreuil-sous-le-Bois_ particularly
mentioned on account of its fertility. In the _Tableau de Paris_ it is
said, "Three acres of ground produce to the proprietor twenty thousand
livres annually, (near 800 guineas.) The rent of an acre is six hundred
livres, and the king's tax sixty (together about six and twenty
guineas.) The peaches which are produced here are the finest in the
world, and are sometimes sold for a crown a piece. When a prince has
given a splendid entertainment, three hundred Louis d'ors worth of these
fruits have been eaten." It is situated on a hill, just above
_Vincennes_, about three miles from the fauxbourg _Saint Antoine_, and
is likewise celebrated for its grapes, strawberries, all sorts of wall
fruit, pease, and every kind of esculent vegetables. In the garden
called _Mouceaux_ which belongs to the _ci-devant Duke of Orleans_; at
the extremity of the _fauxbourg du Roule_ are, it is said, magnificent
hot-houses, of which I have no recollection, though I was in the garden
in 1776. There is a description of these gardens in print, with sixteen
copper plates. In the _Luxembourg_ gardens only common annuals were
growing, such as marigolds, sun-flowers, &c. probably self sown; neither
were there in the _Tuileries_ gardens, which I afterwards saw, any
remarkable plants.
I bought very large peaches in the markets at 30 _sous_ each, the
ordinary ones were at 10 _sols_. The melons (which are brought to market
in waggons, piled up like turnips in England) were all of the netted
sort, and of so little flavor, that they would not be worth cultivating,
were it not for the sake of cooling the mouth in hot weather; they were
sold at 15 or 20 sous each. Strawberries were still plentiful (second
week in August.) _Cerneaux_, which are the kernel of green walnuts, were
just coming into season.
I had now no opportunity of acquiring any more knowledge of the plants
in France, and shall only add, that I passed the winter of 1783 and
1784, at _Marseille_ and at _Hieres_; and that besides oranges, lemons,
cedras,[14] pistachios, pomegranates, and a few date palm trees, I
found several species of _geranium_, myrtles, and _cactus opuntia_,
(Indian fig) growing in the soil, and likewise the _mimosa farnesiana_,
sweet scented sponge tree, or fragrant acacia, the flowers of which are
there called _fleurs de cassier_; these flowers, together with those of
the jasmine, and those which fall from the orange and lemon trees, are
sold to the perfumers of _Provence_ and _Languedoc_.
[Note 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.]
Among the small plants, the _arum arisarum_, (friar's cowl) and the
_ruscus aculeatus_ (butcher's broom) were the most conspicuous, this
latter is a pretty ever-green shrub, and the berries were there as large
as those of a common _solanum pseudo capsicum_, (Pliny's _amomum_, or
winter cherry) and of a bright scarlet colour, issuing from the middle
of the under surface of the leaves; I never saw any of these berries any
where else. _Parkinson_, in his _Theater of Plants_, 1640, says, after
describing three or four species of this genus, "They scarse beare
flower, much lesse fruite, in our land." Perhaps the berries might
ripen in our hot-houses.
Many _arbutus_, or strawberry-trees, grow here, but they are not equal
in size and beauty to many which I saw both in Portugal and in Ireland.
In 1784, _M. J. J. de St. Germain_, a nurseryman in the _Fauxbourg St.
Antoine_, published a book in 8vo of 400 pages, entitled _Manuel des
Vegetaux_, or catalogue in Latin and French, of all the known plants,
trees, and shrubs, in the world, arranged according to the system of
_Linnaeus_; those plants which grow near Paris are particularly
specified, and a very copious French index is added to the Latin one.
The author died a few years ago; the plants were sold, and the nursery
ground is at present built upon.
DOGS AND CATS. TWO-HEADED BOY.
LION Dogs and Cats are common in Paris.
The lion-dog greatly resembles a lion in miniature; the hair of the fore
part of its body is long, and curled, and the hinder part short; the
nose is short, and the tail is long and tufted at the extremity; the
smallest are little larger than guinea-pigs; these are natives of Malta,
and are the most valuable; those which are produced in France are
considerably larger, and the breed degenerates very soon. Their general
colour is white; they are frequently called _Lexicons_, which word is
derived, not from a dictionary, but from a French compound word of
nearly the same sound, descriptive of one of their properties.
The lion-cat comes originally from _Angora_, in _Syria_. It is much
larger than the common cat; its hair is very long, especially about the
neck, where it forms a fine ruff, of a silvery whiteness and silky
texture, that on the tail is three or four inches long; these cats
frequently spread their tails on their backs, as squirrels do. The
colour is generally white, but sometimes light brown; they do not catch
mice. This beautiful species does not degenerate speedily, and it
appears to thrive better in Paris than in any other part of Europe. The
figures of both these animals are in _Buffon's Natural History_.
About the _Palais Royal_ persons are frequently found who offer for sale
white mice in cages; these are pretty little animals, their fur is snow
white, and their eyes are red and sparkling. Other persons carried for
sale canary-birds, linnets, and two or three other sorts of small birds,
perched on their fingers; these birds had been rendered so tame that
they did not attempt to fly away.
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