from Paris, and takes its name from the culture of roses, which cover
large tracts of ground. The proprietors sell the flowers to the
distillers for making rose water and essences, and the flower market
is supplied with the choicest bouquets; it is likewise celebrated for
its produce of the finest strawberries and peaches.
The beauty of its situation, and the association of its name with the
sweetest of flowers, has attracted many of the wealthy inhabitants
of the metropolis to reside in its vicinity, where they have summer
houses; among them is the Maire de Fontenay, Monsieur Ledru, whose
history is singular and interesting.
His father, who was very wealthy, and a great miser, sent for him one
morning, at the time he had just attained his eighteenth year, and
said to him: "I began life at your age with half a crown; there is one
for you--go, and be as fortunate as I have been;"--saying which, he
turned him out of the house, and shut the door in his face.
Undismayed at such unexpected and unnatural conduct on the part of his
parent, whom he had never offended, the youth sought the advice and
assistance of a friend, by whose opinion he applied himself to the
study of medicine. After an indefatigable study at the Hotel Dieu, he
became celebrated in his profession, and had the good fortune to
be employed by a lady of great wealth, whose life he saved. Out of
gratitude, she proposed to become his wife, and to settle upon him an
income of fifty thousand livres, that he might give up his medical
pursuits; which, having accepted, he rewarded her by an attention and
kindness suitable to the noble generosity of her conduct.
The revolution soon after occurred, and in the general wreck of
property she lost all her fortune, it having been invested, either
in the funds, or public securities. It then became the turn of Mons.
Ledru to support his wife, by renewing the practice of his profession,
which soon placed them again in affluent circumstances.
At the death of his father, who left an immense fortune to be divided
between Mons. Ledru and his two maiden sisters, he took possession
of the estate at Fontenay-aux-Roses, from whence he had been cruelly
banished when a boy, and which the unkindness of his parent had never
after permitted him to enter. Fortune, which had hitherto played a
wayward and capricious game with him, had not yet ceased her freaks.
In removing a mirror from over a chimney-piece which required an
alteration, he discovered a prodigious treasure that had been
concealed there by his father! With that generosity and nobleness
of character, which make him esteemed and beloved by all his
acquaintance, and adored by the whole commune over which he presides,
he instantly sent for his sisters and divided it with them. His wife
did not long survive this last event, and since her death he has
continued to reside at Fontenay-aux-Roses with his sisters, where
he exercises his authority with mildness; and by constant acts of
beneficence and charity, is justly styled, "Le Père de Fontenay!"
Between Fontenay-aux-Roses and Paris, to the right of the road, is the
village of Gentilly, whose numerous guinguettes are much frequented
by the Parisians in fine weather. It being a holyday we met crowds of
well dressed citizens, in all sorts of vehicles, driving towards it.
An interesting circumstance had been related to me of the curé of this
village, M. Détruissart; and on asking permission to visit his rural
habitation, I found the story to be true. His garden, which is not
above half an acre, has been laid out with such art and ingenuity, as
to give an idea of considerable extent, and to add to the charms of
this little spot, which he calls his "bonheur," there are a variety of
inscriptions of his own composition; over an arbour of vines is the
following:--
MA SOLITUDE.
Loin des méchans, du bruit, des tempêtes du monde,
Sous un simple berceau dont la treille est féconde,
Sous un modeste toît, dans de rians jardins,
Dessinés, élevés, cultivés par mes mains....
C'est dans ces lieux chéris que s'écoule ma vie
Dans une paix profonde, une tranquillité
Qui sans cesse rappele à mon ame ravie
Le temps de l'âge d'or et ma félicité:
Mais, quelque doux qu'il soit, mon sort est peu de chose;
Car enfin, après tout, je dois mourir bientôt!
Ne ressemblons-nous pas à la feuille de rose
Qui paroît un instant et qui sèche aussitôt!
It was in the practice of the moral conveyed by these lines, and in
the pursuit of literature, and constant acts of charity, that Mons.
Détruissart passed his life, which was rewarded by the esteem and
affection of all his parishioners, of which they gave a remarkable
proof on the 4th of July, 1815, when the Prussian troops took post at
Gentilly, from whence they had driven the French the preceding evening
into Paris.
The poor curé, with many other of the inhabitants, sought refuge
in the capital, leaving his house at the mercy of the enemy, who
commenced plundering in all directions; the humble and modest
appearance of M. Détruissart's cottage not attracting their notice,
it remained untouched, when a single word from any of the inhabitants
would have devoted it to ruin; but such was their esteem for him, that
at his return he found every thing as he had left it.
I entered Paris, leaving Bicêtre to my right, by the barrière d'Enfer,
after one of the most agreeable and interesting journeys I ever
performed.
CHAP. IX.
ENVIRONS OF PARIS--PERE LA CHAISE--CASTLE OF VINCENNES--AND CHATEAU OF
ST. GERMAIN--ITS FOREST AND VICINITY.
Prior to the revolution, the French, like most other European nations,
were in the practice of depositing their dead in churches and
cemeteries within the most populous towns, in compliance with those
precepts of evangelical doctrine which recommend us unceasingly to
reflect on death; and hence originated a custom which cannot but be
attended with most pernicious consequences to health, when we reflect
that the decomposition of human bodies is productive of putrid
exhalations, and consequently pregnant with the causes of contagious
disorders. It is indeed surprising that some regulations have not
hitherto been adopted in England regarding the interment of the dead,
from the example of other countries.
In the year 1793, a decree was passed by the National Assembly, to
prevent burying in churches, or in church-yards, within the city of
Paris. Since which period, there have been three places selected in
its immediate neighbourhood for that purpose--Montmartre, called "Le
Champ du Repos"--Vaugirard, and Père La Chaise.
Quitting the Boulevards, at the extremity of the Boulevards Neufs,
eastward of the city, and passing through the Barrière d'Aulnay, I
arrived at the Père La Chaise. At the entrance, through large folding
gates, is a spacious court-yard, having at one angle the dwelling
of the Concierge, or Keeper. The enclosure contains one hundred and
twenty acres, on a gently rising ground, in the centre of which stands
the ancient mansion constructed by Louis XIV. for his confessor, Père
la Chaise, the celebrated Jesuit, who, with Madame de Maintenon,
governed France. Rising above the thousands of tombs which surround
it, it displays itself a wrecked and mouldering monument of ancient
splendour, and the mutability of human affairs! This spot became
afterwards a place of public promenade and great resort, from the
beauty of its position overlooking all Paris; and though so often
the scene of festivity and pleasure, now presents to the eye of the
beholder a mournfully interesting sight of tombs and sarcophagi,
intermixed with various fruit trees, cypress groves, the choicest
flowers, and rarest shrubs.
From the rising ground, above the building of Père La Chaise, a most
delightful view displays itself. The city of Paris appears to stand
in the centre of a vast amphitheatre. The heights of Belleville,
Montmartre, and Ménilmontant, in the west. To the east, the beautiful
plain of Saint-Mandé, Montreuil, and Vincennes, with the lofty towers
of its fortress.--The fertile banks of the river Marne, are on the
North, and in the South, the horizon encircles Bicêtre and Meudon.
The various tombs are placed without order or regularity: they are
mostly enclosed with trellis work of wood, sometimes by iron railing;
and consist of a small marble column, a pyramid, a sarcophagus, or a
single slab, just as may have suited the fancy or the taste of the
friends of the departed.--Some surrounded with cypress, some with
roses, myrtles, and the choicest exotics; others with evergreens, and
not unfrequently a single weeping willow, with the addition of a rose
tree!
This intermixture of the sweetest scented flowers and fruit trees, in
a burying ground, among the finest pieces of sculptured marble, with
evergreens growing over them, in the form of arbours, and furnished
with seats, cannot fail to produce in the mind of the person who views
it for the first time, peculiar and uncommon feelings of domestic
melancholy, mingled with pleasing tenderness.
Who could be otherwise than powerfully affected, as I was, by the
first objects that presented themselves to me on entering the
place?--A mother and her two sons, kneeling in pious devotion at the
foot of the husband's and the father's grave! At a short distance, a
female of elegant form, watering and dressing the earth around some
plants at her lover's tomb!--not a day, and seldom an hour, passes,
but some one is seen either weeping over the remains of a departed
relative, or watching with pious solicitude the flowers that spring up
around it.
Among the many interesting objects that presented themselves at my
first visit, was the tomb of Abélard and Héloïse, which had not long
since been removed from the convent of the Augustins, where I had seen
it in 1815.
At a little distance, to the left of the former, was the burial place
of Labédoyère. The fate of this brave and unfortunate officer is well
known; his youth, and misled zeal, have procured him a sympathy which
his fellow sufferer Marshal Ney did not find, and did not merit.
In the centre of a square plot of ground enclosed with lattice work,
is erected a wooden cross, painted black. Neither marble, nor stone,
nor letters, indicate his name. Two pots of roses, and a tuft of
violets, alone marked the spot, which is carefully weeded. There is
something more affecting in all this simplicity, something, in my
mind, that goes more directly home to the heart, than in the most
splendid monument or the most studied eulogium. As we came suddenly up
we saw two females clad in deep mourning, weeping over it; at each
arm of the cross was suspended a garland of flowers; we were about to
retire again immediately, from the fear of disturbing their melancholy
devotions, when the concierge, with a brutality indescribable, rushed
forward, and removing the garlands, threw them among the shrubs at a
considerable distance. The friend who accompanied me, after searching,
recovered one of the garlands, and with more gallantry perhaps than
policy, immediately replaced it, and reproaching the keeper with his
unmanly conduct, vowed vengeance if he dared to interrupt the ladies,
again, when bowing to them we retired.
As we were about to quit the place some time after, we were arrested
by two gendarmes, and it was not till after a detention of some
hours, and a long discussion between the police officers who had
been summoned to attend, and being threatened to be sent to the
Conciergerie prison, that we were allowed to depart.
The following words were engraved on a plain marble slab that covered
the remains of Marshal Ney.
CI GIT
LE MARÉCHAL NEY
DUC D'ECHLINGEN
PRINCE DE MOSCOWA
DÉCÉDÉ le 7, Decembre, 1815.
The grave of the Marshal, as well as that of Labédoyère, when I again
visited the spot, had been stripped of every thing, and the railing
around them removed so as to prevent any one from discovering the
place of their interment.
The monument of Madame Cottin, the author of Elizabeth and of
Mathilde, is, like her writings, simple and affecting!-Surrounded by a
trellis work in the form of an arbour, planted with rose trees, stands
a pillar of the whitest marble, highly polished, inclining forwards,
and engraved with:
ICI REPOSE
Marie-Sophie Risteav
Veuve de J.M. Cottin
Décédée le 25 Août.
1815.
Near this is the tomb of the esteemed and celebrated poet Delille, the
"Songster of the Gardens," as the French term him. The monument is
enclosed in a small garden, planted with the choicest flowers and
shrubs: it is of white marble, of large dimensions, and approached
by an _allée verte_. The door leading to the vault is of brass, with
emblematical figures in relief: above the entrance is inscribed in
letters of gold.
JACQVES-DELILLE.
The linden tree, intermixed with various evergreens, form an
interesting and beautiful bouquet around it.
Beyond this, to the right, are the tombs of Grétry the composer,
Fourcroy the great chemist, Fontenelle, Boileau, Racine, and of
Mademoiselle Raucourt, the celebrated actress, to whom the bigotry
of the clergy refused burial in consecrated ground in 1815! a
circumstance which gave rise to much clamour and dissatisfaction. It
is surprising, that after such events as have been experienced in
France, the folly of denying the right of consecrated ground to a
comedian should have been persevered in, _after the restoration_ of
Louis XVIII!
Close to the tomb of Mad'lle Raucourt, is one, which for its affecting
simplicity and modesty, struck me very forcibly: in a little garden of
roses and lilies, and amidst some tufts of mignonette which appeared
to have been newly watered, stood a plain marble column, with the
words as represented in the annexed sketch--an accacia shaded it from
the sun's rays. In 1814, when the Allies approached Paris, this
height, like the others commanding the capital, was fortified,
and occupied by the students of the Polytechnical School,
who defended it with great gallantry. The walls were perforated with
holes for the musketry: the marks are still visible where they have
been since filled up. On the 30th of March, 1814, this position
was vigorously attacked, with great slaughter on both sides: the
assailants and the assailed fell in heaps, and it was not until
the chief part of a Prussian corps, (that afterwards carried it by
assault) had been annihilated, that the brave youths gave way.
[Illustration]
The tomb of my early friend and brother officer, the brave and
unfortunate Captain Wright, who was murdered in the Temple, is in
the cemetery of Vaugirard. I had searched for it in vain at Père la
Chaise, where it was reported he had been buried. It has on it the
following inscription, written to his memory by his companion in arms,
and in imprisonment, the gallant Sir Sidney Smith:
HERE LIES INHUMED
JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT,
BY BIRTH AN ENGLISHMAN,
CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH NAVY
Distinguished both among his own Countrymen and Foreigners
For skill and courage;
To whom,
Of those things which lead to the summit of glory,
Nothing was wanting but opportunity:
His ancestors, whose virtues he inherited,
He honoured by his deeds.
Quick in apprehending his orders,
Active and bold in the execution of them;
In success modest,
In adverse circumstances firm,
In doubtful enterprises, wise and prudent.
Awhile successful in his career;
At length assailed by adverse winds, and on an hostile shore,
He was captured;
And being soon after brought to Paris,
Was confined in the prison called the Temple,
_Infamous for midnight murders_,
And placed in the most rigid custody:
But in bonds,
And suffering severities still more oppressive,
His fortitude of mind and fidelity to his country
Remained unshaken.
A short time after,
He was found in the morning with his throat cut.
And dead in his bed:
He died the 28th October, 1805, aged 36.
To be lamented by his Country,
Avenged by his God!
THE DONJON, OR CASTLE OF VINCENNES.
This ancient fortress is situate at the entrance of the forest of
Vincennes, (now reduced to a wood of small trees, the large timber
having been cut down during the revolution) and surrounded by a deep
ditch of great width, about two miles from the Barrière du Trône.
During many ages, it had been the casual residence of the sovereigns
of France. Philip de Valois added considerably to its dimensions in
1337. John continued the works, and during his captivity in England,
Charles his son, then regent of the kingdom, finished it.
During the reign of Charles VII. in 1422, Henry VI. of England died in
this castle. From this time Vincennes became a royal residence, until
the reign of Louis XIV. when that monarch fixed himself at Versailles,
from which period it has never been used but as a prison[13].
[Footnote 13: Monstrelet relates a curious anecdote, during the
residence at the Castle of Vincennes of Isabeau de Bavière, strongly
illustrative of the barbarous manners of those times. "Lewis de
Bourbon, who was handsome and well made, and had signalized himself
upon various occasions, and amongst others at the battle of Agincourt,
going one night, as was customary, to visit the Queen, Isabeau de
Bavière, at the Castle of Vincennes, met the King (Charles VI.); he
saluted him, without either stopping or alighting from his horse,
but continued galloping on. The King having recollected him, ordered
Tangui du Chatel, prévost of Paris, to pursue, and to confine him in
prison. At night the _question_ was applied, and he was afterwards
tied up in a sack and cast into the Seine, with this inscription upon
the sack, 'Let the King's justice take place.'"]
Dulaure, a French writer, in speaking of the persons who were confined
here, observes, it would be difficult to enumerate the number of
individuals that have been shut up in this prison within these few
years. "We will merely notice," he says, "the celebrated Count
Mirabeau, who was confined from 1777 to 1780; here it was that he
translated his Tibulle, and Joannes Secundus, and wrote his 'Lettres
originales' to his mistress, Madame Lemonnier, which abound with
passages as affecting as the letters of Héloïse".
This prison was thrown open during the reign of the unfortunate Louis
XVI. by the Baron de Breteuil, Minister of the Department of Paris
in 1784. In going over it, every one was penetrated with horror; and
feelings of the most melancholy interest were excited by reading the
various inscriptions on the walls, indicative of the hopeless misery
that had been experienced within them! Many were expressive of piety
and resignation at the approach of death!--others complaining of the
cruel oppression which had immured them! On one wall was written, "Il
faut mourir, mon frere; mon frere il faut mourir, quand il plaira à
Dieu". On the door of another prison were, "Beati qui persecutionem
patiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum". On
the same spot were, "Carcer Socratis, templum honoris".
This Donjon remained unoccupied until 1791. At this period, the
prisons of the capital being filled with criminals, Government ordered
it to be prepared for the reception of that class of prisoners; but on
the massacres that followed, the mob either murdered or released them
all, after a bloody contest, and it remained again without prisoners
until the Imperial Government under Buonaparte. It was then garrisoned
by a detachment of the Imperial Guard, and multitudes of victims were
transferred there whose fate remains, and probably ever will remain,
unknown.
It was to this place that the Duke D'Enghien, who was arrested the
15th March, 1804, at Ettenheim, in the Electorate of Baden, was
conducted the 20th of the same month, at five in the evening, and
condemned to death the night following, by a military commission, at
which Murat presided. He was accordingly shot on the 21st, at half
past four in the evening, in the ditch of the castle which looks
towards the forest, on the north side, and his body thrown into a
grave, ready dug to receive it, where he fell. The details of this
cruel and wanton act of barbarity are too well known to need any
repetition here.
This spot is now marked by a wooden cross, enclosed by an iron
railing. The remains of the Prince were dug out on the 20th March,
1816, by order of Louis XVIII. and deposited with solemn funeral
ceremony in a coffin which is placed in the same apartment where the
council of war condemned him to suffer! since transformed info a
chapel. Under a cenotaph, covered with a cloth of gold, is placed the
coffin, with a prodigious large stone lying on it, the same that was
found lying on his head, and which from its weight had crushed his
skull!
The apartment is hung with black cloth, and remains continually
lighted, with a guard placed over it. Mass is daily performed for the
repose of his soul, agreeable to the Catholic religion.
On the lid of the coffin is the following inscription:
Ici est Le Corps
De Très-Haut, Très-Puissant Prince
Louis-Antoine-Henri De Bourbon
Duc D'Enghien, Prince du Sang
Pair de France
Mort A Vincennes, Le 21 Mars 1804
A L'age de XXXI Ans VII mois XVIII Jours.
A marble bust of the Prince, by Bosio, is placed at the entrance.
During the periods of 1814 and 1815, when Paris was in possession
of the Allies, Vincennes continued under the command of General
Daumesnil, who declared that he held it for his country until the
Government was settled, and would not open its gates to a foreign
army. It was not attacked either of the times.
It is approached by two gates, with drawbridges, and defended by
cannon on all sides. The fossé is of great depth, and dry, extending,
I should suppose, nearly a quarter of a mile. It has nine towers, of
prodigious height and solidity: the largest, at the south western
angle, called the Donjon, is considerably more elevated than the
others. The principal entrance is fronting the forest, on the north
side, in the form of a triumphal arch, with six pillars, ornamented
in bas-reliefs, and was decorated with marble statues, which were
destroyed when it was seized by the mob.
The Donjon is surrounded by a separate ditch, within the other, of
forty feet depth, and is approached by two draw-bridges; one for
carriages, the other for foot passengers; and the main tower is
flanked by four other angular ones, each having a high turret. The
windows are treble barred within and without, so as to admit but a
faint glimmering light! Three gates of great solidity are to be passed
at the entrance; that which communicates with the draw-bridge of the
castle is secured both within and without. After passing the three
gates, there is a court, in the middle of which stands the Donjon.
Three other immense gates guard its entrance!
The form of the Donjon is a square. The towers at the four angles are
divided into five floors, each having a separate stair-case, and
each floor is vaulted, with an apartment in the centre, sustained
by pillars, which are chimneys. At each of the four corners of the
apartment in the centre is a cell thirteen feet square. The towers are
encompassed on the third story by a large gallery on the outside, and
on the top of each there is a small circular terrace. Such is the
strength and prodigious solidity of this building, that it is said to
be capable of resisting the heaviest cannon, and is bomb proof. The
hand of time appears not to have made any impression on its outward
surface.
The first hall is called "La chambre de la question:" its name
indicates sufficiently the horrid purposes to which it was
appropriated! So late as the year 1790 were to be seen chairs formed
of stone, where the unhappy victims were seated, with iron collars
fixed to the wall by heavy chains, that confined them to the spot
while undergoing the torture! In these prisons, deprived of air and
light, were beds of timber, on which they were allowed to repose
during the interval of their sufferings.