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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But the greatest curiosity in Natural History which I saw there, was a
male child with two heads and four arms; it was then three months old,
the two faces were perfectly alike, the noses aquiline, the eyes blue,
and the countenances pleasing; the two bodies were joined together at
the chest, and the remainder was just like that of a common male child;
one navel, one belly, one _penis_ one _anus_, and two legs. The two
bodies were face to face, so that they could embrace and kiss each
other; in their natural position they formed an angle of 65 degrees,
like the letter Y. I remained above an hour with this child, it's mother
and the nurse, and saw it suck at both breasts at the same time. It was
tolerably strong, the skin was very soft, and almost transparent, the
arms and legs were very lean, and the latter were crossed, and appeared
incapable of being extended voluntarily; so that if the child should
live two or three years, which I do not think probable, it is not likely
it will ever be able to walk. One head would laugh while the other
cried, one head would sleep whilst the other was awake; the inspiration
and expiration of the breath, in each, was alternate, that is to say,
one inspired while the other expired its breath. There was nothing
remarkable in the mother (a peasant's wife) except her obstinacy in
refusing to disencumber these two poor heads from a couple of thick
quilted blue sattin caps with which they had dressed them, and which I
endeavoured to convince both her and the nurse would heat the heads, so
as to be the means of shortening the child's life, and consequently of
curtailing the profits arising from this _unique_ exhibition.
To this description an English physician, who likewise saw it, adds, "It
must have had two brains, as motion and sensation were equal, and
apparently perfect, in each head and chest, and in all the four arms. It
had two hearts, and two sets of lungs; it had also two passages into the
stomach, but, as was supposed, only one set of _abdominal viscera_, as
the belly was not larger than that of a common child of that age usually
is. The hearts and arteries beat more strongly than was consistent with
a long continuance of health. The action of the arteries was plainly
seen under the skin."
Mr. Buffon, in the Supplement to his Natural History, has given the
figure and description of a monster something similar to this, part of
which description I shall give in a note, as a parallel to that of the
living child.[15]
[Note 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_." _Linnaeus_ 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.]
I went several times to the National Assembly; the _Tribunes_, or
_Galleries_, (of which there are three) entered warmly, by applauses
and by murmurs and hisses, into the affairs which were treated of.
Letters are franked by the assembly as far as the frontiers, by being
stamped with red printers ink, _Ass. Nationale._
About this time many hundreds of folio volumes of heraldry, and of the
registers of the nobility, were publicly burnt in _la Place Vendome_,
after due notice had been given of the time and place by advertisements
pasted against the walls. A wicked wag observed, that it was a pity all
their books of divinity, and almost all those of law and physic, were
not added to the pile but he comforted himself with reflecting that _ca
viendra_.
All the coats of arms which formerly decorated the gates of _Hotels_ are
taken away, and even seals are at present engraven with cyphers only.
_The Chevaliers de St. Louis_ still continue to wear the cross, or the
ribband, at the button-hole; all other orders of knighthood are
abolished. No liveries are worn by servants, that badge of slavery is
likewise abolished; and also all corporation companies, as well as
every other monopolizing society; and there are no longer any _Royal_
tobacco nor salt shops.
I went once to the _Cafe de la Regence_,[16] with the intention of
playing a game at chess, but I found the chess-men so very little
different in colour, that I could not distinguish them sufficiently to
be able to play. It seems it is the fashion for chess-men at present to
be made of box-wood, and all nearly of the same colour. I then went to
another coffee-house frequented by chess-players, and here the matter
was worse; they had, in addition to the above-mentioned fashion,
substituted the _cavalier_, or _knight_, for the _fou_, or _bishop_, and
the _bishop_ for the _knight_, so that I left them to fight their own
battles.
[Note 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.]
Books of all sorts are printed without any _approbation_ or _privilege_.
Many are exposed on stalls, which are very improper for the public eye.
One of these was called the _Private Life of the Queen_, in two volumes,
with obscene prints. The book itself is contemptible and disgusting, and
might as well have been called the _Woman of Pleasure_. Of books of this
sort I saw above thirty, with plates. Another was on a subject not fit
even to be mentioned.
I read a small pamphlet, entitled "_le Christ-Roi_, or a Parallel of the
Sufferings of Lewis XVI. &c." I can say nothing in favor of it.
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 (_tete a 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 a complimens_ (complimenting machines;) and
monks _des bourreaux encapuchonnes_ (cowled executioners.)
[Note 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.]
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]
[Note 18: Almost L300,000 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.]
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.
The Pont-neuf is one hundred toises in length and twelve in breadth.[19]
[Note 19: 1020 feet by 72. Westminster-bridge is 1220 feet long, but
only 44 feet wide.]
The cupola of the _Halle au Bled_, or corn and flour market, is one
hundred and twenty feet in diameter; it forms a perfect half circle,
whose centre is on a level with the cornice, forty feet from the ground.
The vault or dome is composed merely of deal boards, four feet long, one
foot broad and an inch thick.[20]
[Note 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.]
Describing the church of _St. John of the Minstrels_, so called, because
it was founded by a couple of fidlers, in 1330. _M. du Laure_ says,
"Among the figures of saints with which the great door is decorated, one
is distinguished who would play very well on the fiddle, if his
fiddle-stick were not broken."
There is a parcel-post as well as a letter penny-post in Paris.
The salary of the executioner was eighteen thousand livres _per annum_;
[21] his office was to break criminals on the wheel, and to inflict
every punishment on them which they were sentenced to undergo.
[Note 21: L750 sterling; I know not the present salary.]
There are no longer any _Espions de Police_, or spies, employed by
government. "That army of thieves, of cut-throats, and rascals, kept in
pay by the ancient police, was perhaps a necessary evil in the midst of
the general evil of our old administration. A body of rogues and
traitors could be protected by no other administration than such a one
as could only subsist by crimes and perfidy. Those were the odious
resources of despotism. Liberty ought to make use of simple and open
means, which justice and morality will never disavow."
There is a school at the point of the isle of St. Louis, in the river
_Seine_, to teach swimming; persons who chuse to learn in private pay
four _louis_, those who swim among others, half that sum, or half-crown
a lesson; if they are not perfect in that art in a season, (five summer
months) they may attend the following season _gratis_.
DRESS. INNS.
THE common people are in general much better clothed than they were
before the Revolution, which may be ascribed to their not being so
grievously taxed as they were. An English Gentleman who has gone for
many years annually from Calais to Paris, remarks, that they are almost
as well dressed on working days at present, as they were on Sundays and
holidays formerly.
All those ornaments which three years ago were worn of silver, are now
of gold. All the women of the lower class, even those who sit behind
green-stalls, &c. wear gold ear-rings, with large drops, some of which
cost two or three _louis_, and necklaces of the same. Many of the men
wear plain gold ear-rings; those worn by officers and other gentlemen
are usually as large as a half-crown piece. Even children of two years
old have small gold drops in their ears. The general dress of the women
is white linen or muslin gowns, large caps which cover all their hair,
excepting just a small triangular piece over the forehead, pomatumed, or
rather plaistered and powdered, without any hats: neither do they wear
any stays, but only _corsets_ (waistcoats or jumps.) Tight lacing is not
known here, nor yet high and narrow heeled shoes. Because many of the
ladies _ci-devant_ of quality have emigrated or ran away, and that those
which remain in Paris, keep within doors, I saw no face that was
painted, excepting on the stage. Most of the men wear coats made like
great-coats, or in other words, long great-coats, without any coat: this
in fine weather and in the middle of summer made them appear to me like
invalides. There is hardly any possibility of distinguishing the rank of
either man or woman by their dress at present, or rather, there are no
ranks to distinguish.
The nation in general is much improved in cleanliness, and even in
politeness. The French no longer look on every Englishman as a lord, but
as their equal.
The inns on the road from _Calais_ to _Paris_, are as well furnished,
and the beds are as clean at present as almost any in England. At
_Flixcourt_ especially, the beds are remarkably excellent, the furniture
elegant, and there is a profusion of marble and of looking-glasses in
this inn. The plates, dishes, and basons which I saw in cupboards, and
on shelves in the kitchen, and which are not in constant use, were all
of silver, to which being added the spoons and forks of the same metal,
of which the landlord possesses a great number; the ladies and gentlemen
who were with me there, going to and returning from Paris, estimated the
value at, perhaps, a thousand pounds sterling. Now, if we allow only
half this sum to be the value, it is, notwithstanding, considerable.
Every inn I entered was well supplied with silver spoons, of various
sizes, and with silver four pronged forks; even those petty
eating-houses in Paris, which were frequented by soldiers and
_sans-culottes_.
There are no beggars to be seen about the streets in Paris, and when the
chaise stopped for fresh horses, only two or three old and infirm people
surrounded it and solicited charity, whereas formerly the beggars used
to assemble in hundreds. I did not see a single pair of _sabots_
(wooden-shoes) in France this time. The table of the peasants is also
better supplied than it was before the revolution.
ASSIGNATS.
EXCEPTING the coins which I purchased at the mint in Paris, I did not
see a piece of gold or silver of any kind; a few brass sols and two sols
were sometimes to be found in the coffee-houses, and likewise
_Mouneron's_ tokens.
The most common _assignats_ or bills, are those of five _livres_, which
are printed on sheets; each sheet containing twenty of such _assignats_,
or a hundred _livres_; they are cut out occasionally, when wanted for
change. I do not know that there are any of above a thousand _livres_.
The lowest in value which I saw were of five _sols_, and these were of
parchment. Those of five _livres_ and upwards, have the king's portrait
stamped on them, like that on the coins.
Besides the national _assignats_, which are current all over France,
every town has its own _assignats_, of and under, but not above five
_livres_; these are only current in such town and its neighbourhood.
The _assignats_ of and above five _livres_ are printed on white paper,
those which are under, are for the convenience of the lower class of
people, of which few can read, printed on different coloured paper
according to their value; for instance, those of ten _sols_ on blue
paper, those of thirty on red, &c. though this method is not correctly
adhered to.
I had projected many excursions in the neighbourhood of Paris, which
were all put a stop to, in consequence of the events of the tenth of
August, of which I shall give a true and impartial narrative, carefully
avoiding every word which may appear to favour either party, and writing
not as a politician, but as a spectator.
I had written many anecdotes, as well aristocratical as democratical,
but as I was unable properly to authenticate some of them, and that
others related to excesses which were inevitable, during such a time of
anarchy, I thought it not proper to prejudice the mind of the public,
and have accordingly expunged them all. I have only recounted facts, and
the readers may form their own opinion.
Some particulars relative to the massacre in August, 1572, are inserted
to corroborate the description of the similar situation of Paris, in
August, 1792, though not from similar causes. The execrable massacre
above-mentioned was committed by raging fanatics, cutting the throats of
their defenceless fellow-creatures, merely for difference in religious
opinion.
BATTLE AND MASSACRE AT THE TUILERIES.
ON Thursday, the 9th of August, the legislative body completed the
general discontent of the people, (which had been raised the preceding
day, by the discharge of every accusation against _la Fayette_) by
appearing to protract the question relative to the king's _decheance_
(forfeiture) at a time when there was not a moment to lose, and by not
holding any assembly in the evening.
The fermentation increased every minute, in a very alarming manner. The
mayor himself had declared to the representatives of the nation, that he
could not answer for the tranquillity of the city after midnight. Every
body knew that the people intended at that hour to ring the alarm-bell;
and to go to the _chateau_ of the _Tuileries_, as it was suspected that
the Royal Family intended to escape to Rouen, and it is said many trunks
were found, packed up and ready for taking away, and that many carriages
were seen that afternoon in the court-yard of the _Tuileries_.
At eight in the evening the _generale_,(a sort of beat of drum) was
heard in all the sections, the _tocsin_ was likewise rung, (an alarm, by
pulling the bells of the churches, so as to cause the clappers to give
redoubled strokes in very quick time. Some bells were struck with large
hammers.)
All the shops were shut, and also most of the great gates of the hotels;
lights were placed in almost every window, and few of the inhabitants
retired to their repose: the night passed however without any other
disturbance; many of the members of the National Assembly were sitting
soon after midnight, and the others were expected. _Mr. Petion_, the
mayor, had been sent for by the king, and was then in the _chateau_; the
number of members necessary to form a sitting, being completed, the
_tribunes_ (galleries) demanded and obtained a decree to oblige the
_chateau_ to release its prey, the mayor; he soon after appeared at the
bar, and from thence went to the _commune_ (mansion-house.)
It was now about six o'clock on Friday morning (10th) the people of the
_fauxbourgs_ (suburbs) especially of _St. Antoine_ and _St. Marcel_,
which are parted by the river, assembled together on the _Place de la
Bastille_, and the crowd was so great that twenty-five persons were
squeezed to death.[22] At seven the streets were filled with-armed
citizens, that is to say, with _federates_ (select persons sent from the
provinces to assist at the _Federation_, or confederacy held last July
14) from _Marseille_, from _Bretagne_, with national guards, and
Parisian _sans-culottes_, (_without breeches_, these people have
_breeches_, but this is the name which has been given to the mob.) The
arms consisted of guns, with or without bayonets, pistols, sabres,
swords, pikes, knives, scythes, saws, iron crows, wooden billets, in
short of every thing that could be used offensively.
[Note 22: According to the _Journal de la seconde legislature_,
_seance de la nuit_ II _Aout_.]
A party of these met a false patrol of twenty-two men, who, of course,
did not know the watch-word. These were instantaneously put to death,
their heads cut off and carried about the streets on pikes (_on promena
leurs tetes sur des piques._) This happened in _la Place Vendome_; their
bodies were still lying there the next day. Another false patrol,
consisting of between two and three hundred men, with cannon, wandered
all night in the neighbourhood of the _theatre francais_: it is said
they were to join a detachment from the battalion of Henri IV. on the
_Pont-neuf_, to cut the throats of _Petion_ and the _Marseillois_, who
were encamped on the _Pont St. Michel_ (the next bridge to the
_Pont-neuf_) which caused the then acting parish assemblies to order an
honorary guard of 400 citizens, who were to be answerable for the
liberty and the life of that magistrate, then in the council-chamber.
_Mandat_, commander-general of the National Guard, had affronted _M.
Petion_, when he came from the _chateau_ of the _Tuileries_, to go to
the National Assembly; he was arrested and sent to prison immediately.
The insurrection now became general; the _Place du Carrousel_ (square of
the _Carousals_, a square in the _Tuileries_, so called from the
magnificent festival which Lewis XIV. in 1662, there gave to the queen
and the queen-mother) was already filled; the king had not been in bed;
all the night had probably been spent in combining a plan of defence, if
attacked, or rather of retreat; soon after seven the king, the queen,
their two children (the dauphin, seven years old, and his sister
fourteen) Princess Elizabeth, (the queen's sister, about 50 years old)
and the Princess _de Lamballe_, crossed the garden of the _Tuileries_,
which was still shut, escorted by the National Guard, and by all the
Swiss, and took refuge in the National Assembly, when the Swiss
returned to their posts in the _chateau_.
The alarm-bells, which were incessantly ringing, the accounts of the
carrying heads upon pikes, and of the march of almost all Paris in arms;
the presence of the king, throwing himself, as it were, on the mercy of
the legislative body; the fierce and determinate looks of the
_galleries_; all these things together had such an effect on the
National Assembly, that it immediately decreed the suspension of Lewis
XVI. which decree was received with universal applause and clapping.
At this moment a wounded man rushed into the Assembly, crying, "We are
betrayed, to arms, to arms, the Swiss are firing on the citizens; they
have already killed a hundred Marseillois."
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