_French Reception.--Voltaire.--Restaurateur.--Consular
Guard.--Music.--Venetian Horses.--Gates of the Palace.--Gardens of
the Thuilleries.--Statues.--The faithful Vase.--The Sabine
Picture.--Monsieur Perrègaux.--Marquis de Chatelet.--Madame
Perrègaux.--Beaux and Belles of Paris._
I forgot, in my last chapter, to mention that I paid for my place, and
luggage in the diligence, from Rouen to Paris, a distance of ninety
miles, twenty-three livres and eighteen sols. The next morning after my
arrival, and a good night's repose in a sopha bed, constructed after the
french fashion, which was very lofty, and handsome, and very
comfortable, I waited upon my accomplished friend, Madame H----, in the
Rue Florentine. I had the honour of knowing her when in England, from
very early years; I found her with her elegant and accomplished
daughter, in a suite of large rooms, very handsomely furnished after the
_antique_, which gives to the present fashionable furniture of France,
its form and character. These rooms composed a floor of a noble stone
built house, which contained several other families; such is the
customary mode of being lodged in the capital. She received me in the
most charming manner, and had expected me for some days, previous to my
arrival, and was that evening going to her country house at Passi, a few
miles from Paris, whither she pressed me to accompany her, but I
declined it, on account of the short time which I had before me to
spend in Paris. Madame H---- was not only a beauty, but a woman of wit
and learning, and had accordingly admitted Voltaire amongst the number
of her household gods; the arch old cynic, with his deathlike sarcastic
face, admirably represented, by a small whole length porcelain statue,
occupied the centre of her chimney piece. Upon finding that I was
disposed to remain in town, she recommended me to a restaurateur, in the
gardens of the Thuilleries, one of the first eating houses in Paris, for
society, and entertainment, to the master of which she sent her servant,
with my name, to inform him, that she had recommended an english
gentleman of her acquaintance to his house, and requested that an
english servant in his service might attend to me, when I dined there.
This was a little valuable civility, truly french. This house has been
lately built under the auspices of the first consul, from a design,
approved of by his own exquisite taste; he has permitted the entrance to
open into the gardens of the consular palace. The whole is from a model
of one of the little palaces of the Herculaneum, it is upon a small
scale, built of a fine white stone, it contains a centre, with a
portico, supported by doric pillars, and two long wings. The front is
upon the terrace of the gardens, and commands an enchanting view of all
its beautiful walks and statues. On the ground floor the house is
divided into three long and spacious apartments, opening into each other
through centre arches, and which are redoubled upon the view by immense
pier glasses at each end. The first room is for dinner parties, the next
for ices, and the third for coffee. In the middle is a flying
staircase, lined on each side with orange trees, which ascends into a
suite of upper dinner rooms, all of which are admirably painted after
the taste of the Herculaneum, and are almost lined with costly pier
glasses.
My fair countrywomen would perhaps be a little surprised to be told,
that elegant women, of the first respectability, superbly dressed for
the promenade, dine here with their friends in the public room, a custom
which renders the scene delightful, and removes from it the accustomed
impressions of grossness. Upon entering, the guest is presented with a
dinner chart, handsomely printed, enumerating the different dishes
provided for that day, with their respective prices affixed. All the
people who frequent this place are considered highly respectable. The
visitor is furnished with ice for his water decanters, with the best
attendance at dinner, and with all the english and foreign newspapers. I
always dined here when I was not engaged. After parting from Madame
H----, who intended returning to town the next day, I went to see the
consular guard relieved at the Thuilleries. About five companies of this
distinguished regiment assemble in the gardens, exactly at five minutes
before twelve o'clock, and, preceded by their fine band of music, march
through the hall of the palace, and form the line in the grand court
yard before it, where they are joined by a squadron of horse. Their
uniform is blue, with broad white facings.
The consular guard were in a little disgrace, and were not permitted to
do the entire duty of the palace at this time, nor during several
succeeding days, as a mark of the first consul's displeasure, which had
been excited by some unguarded expression of the common men, respecting
his conduct, and which, to the jealous ear of a new created and untried
authority, sounded like the tone of disaffection. Only the cavalry were
allowed to mount guard, the infantry were, provisionally, superseded by
a detachment from a fine regiment of hussars. On account of the
shortness of this parade, which is always dismissed precisely at ten
minutes past twelve o'clock, it is not much attended. The band is very
fine, they had a turkish military instrument, which I never heard
before, and was used instead of triangles. It was in the shape of four
canopies, like the roofs of chinese temples, one above another,
lessening as they ascended, made of thin plates of brass, and fringed
with very little brass bells, it was supported by a sliding rod which
dropped into a handle, out of which, when it was intended to be sounded,
it was suddenly jerked by the musician, and produced a good effect with
the other instruments. The tambour major is remarked for his noble
appearance, and for the proportions of his person, which is very
handsome: his full dress uniform on the grand parade is the most
splendid thing, I ever beheld. The corps of pioneers who precede the
regiment, have a singular appearance. These men are rather above six
feet high, and proportionably made, they wear fierce mustachios, and
long black beards, lofty bear skin caps, broad white leathern aprons,
which almost touch their chins, and over their shoulders carry enormous
hatchets. Their strange costume seemed to unite the dissimilar
characters of high priest, and warrior. They looked like _military
magi_. The common men made a very martial appearance. Their officers
wore english riding boots, which had an unmilitary effect. Paris at
present exhibits all the appearances of a city in a state of siege. The
consular palace resembles a line of magnificent barracks, at the
balconies, and upon the terraces of which, soldiers are every where to
be seen lounging. This palace is partitioned between the first and
second consuls, the third principal magistrate resides in a palace near
the Louvre, opposite to the Thuilleries. The four colossal brazen
horses, called the venetian horses, which have been brought from Venice,
are mounted upon lofty pedestals, on each side of the gates of the grand
court yard of the palace. When the roman emperor Constantine founded
Constantinople, he attached these exquisite statues to the chariot of
the Sun in the hippodromus, or circus, and when that capital was taken
possession of by the venetian and french crusading armies, in 1206, the
venetians obtained possession of them, amongst many other inestimable
curiosities, and placed these horses in four niches over the great door
of the church of St. Marco. Respecting their previous history, authors
very much differ; some assert that they were cast by the great statuary
Lysippus, in Alexander's time, others that they were raised over the
triumphal arch of Augustus, others of Nero, and thence removed to the
triumphal arch of Constantine, from which he carried them to his own
capital.
They are said to be composed of bronze and gold, which much resembles
the famous composition of the corinthian brass. Although these statues
are of an enormous size, they are too diminutive for the vast pile of
building which they adorn. The same remark applies to the entrance
gates, of massy iron, which have just been raised by the directions of
the first consul. The tricolour flag, mounted upon the centre dome of
the palace, is also too small. From the court yard I entered the
gardens, which are very beautiful, and about seven o'clock in the
evening, form one of the favourite and fashionable walks of the
parisians. They are disposed in regular promenades, in which are many
fine casts from the ancient statues, which adorn the hall of antiques,
and on each side are noble orange trees, which grow in vast moveable
cases; many of these exotics are twenty feet high. Until lately many of
the antiques were placed here, but Bonaparte, with his accustomed
judgment and veneration for the arts, has had them removed into the
grand national collection, and has supplied their places by these
beautiful copies, amongst which I particularly distinguished those of
Hippomanes, and Atalanta, for the beauty of their proportions, and the
exquisite elucidation of their story. Here are also some fine basins of
water, in the middle of which are jets d'eau. The gravel walks of the
gardens are watered every morning in hot weather, and centinels are
stationed at every avenue, to preserve order: no person is admitted who
is the carrier of a parcel, however small. Here are groups of people to
be seen, every morning, reading the prints of the day, in the refreshing
coolness of the shade. For the use of a chair in the gardens, of which
there are some hundreds, the proprietor is thankful for the smallest
coin of the republic. At the bottom of the steps, leading to the
terrace, in front of the palace, are some beautiful vases, of an immense
size, which are raised about twelve feet from the ground: in one of
them, which was pointed out to me, an unpopular and persecuted Parisian
saved nearly all his property, during the revolution. A short time
before the massacre of the 10th of August, 1792, when the domiciliary
visits became frequent and keen, this man, during a dark night, stole,
unobserved by the guards, into the garden, with a bag under his arm,
containing almost all his treasure; he made his way to the vase, which,
from the palace, is on the right hand, next to the Feuillans, and, after
some difficulty, committed the whole to the capacious bosom of the
faithful depositary: this done, he retreated in safety; and when the
time of terrour was passed, fearful that he should not be able to raise
his bag from the deep bottom of the urn without a discovery, which might
have rendered the circumstance suspicious, and perhaps hazardous to him,
he presented himself before the minister of the police, verified the
narrative of the facts, and was placed in the quiet possession of his
property, which in this manner had remained undisturbed during all that
frightful period. From the gardens I went to the exhibition of David's
celebrated painting of the suspension of the battle between the Sabines
and the Romans, produced by the wives of the latter rushing, with their
children in their arms, between the approaching warriors. David is
deservedly considered as the first living artist in France, and this
splendid picture is worthy of his pencil. It is upon an immense scale.
All the Figures (of which there are many) are as large as life. The
principal female raising her terrified infant, and the two chief
combatants, are inimitable. I was informed, by good authority, that the
court of Russia had offered 7000_l._ sterling for it, an unexampled
price for any modern painting! but that David, who is very rich, felt a
reluctance in parting with it, to the emperor, on account of the climate
of Russia being unfavourable to colour.
From this beautiful painting, I went to pay my respects to Mons. O----,
who resided at the further end of Paris, upon whom I had a letter of
credit. Upon my arriving at his hotel, I was informed by the porter that
his master was at his chateau, about ten miles in the country, with his
family, where he lay extremely ill. This news rendered it necessary for
me to leave Paris for a day and a night at least.
From Mons. O---- I went to Mr. Perregaux, the rich banker and
legislator, to whom I had letters of introduction. He lives in the Rue
Mont Blanc, a street, the place of residence of the principal bankers,
and is next door neighbour to his rival Mons. R----, whose lady has
occasioned some little conversation. Mons. P----'s hotel is very superb.
His chief clerks occupy rooms elegantly fitted up, and decorated with
fine paintings. He received me in a very handsome manner, in a beautiful
little cabinet, adorned with some excellent, and costly paintings. After
many polite expressions from him, I laughingly informed him of the
dilemma in which I was placed by the unexpected absence of Mons. O----;
upon which Mons. P---- in the most friendly manner told me that the
letters which I had brought were from persons whom he highly esteemed;
and that Mr. O---- was also his friend; that as it might prove
inconvenient for me to wait upon him in the country, he begged to have
the pleasure of furnishing me with whatever money I wanted, upon my own
draughts. I felt this act of politeness and liberality very forcibly,
which I of course declined, as I wished not only to take up what money I
wanted in a regular manner, but I was desirous of seeing Mr. O----, who
was represented to me as a very amiable man, and his family as elegant
and accomplished. I was much charmed with the generous conduct of Mons.
P----, from whom I afterwards received great attentions, and who is much
beloved by the English. I felt it a pleasurable duty not to confine the
knowledge of such an act of liberality to the spot where it was so
handsomely manifested. The sessions of the legislative assembly had
closed the day before my arrival, a circumstance I much regretted, as
through his means I should have been enabled to have attended their
sittings. The bankers of France are immensely rich, and almost command
the treasury of the nation. Mons. P----, with the well-timed, silent
submission of the flexible reed, in the fable, has survived the
revolutionary storm, which by a good, but guiltless policy, has passed
over him, without leaving one stain upon his honourable character, and
has operated, like the slime of the Egyptian inundation, only to
fructify, and increase his fortunes. He once however narrowly escaped.
In the time of Robespierre, the Marquis de Chatelet, a few nights before
his execution, attempted to corrupt his guards, and told them, if they
would release him, Mons. P---- would give them a draft to any amount
which they might choose then to name. The centinels rejected the bribe,
and informed their sanguinary employer of the offer, who had the books
of Mons. P---- investigated: he was in no shape concerned in the
attempted escape; but hearing, with extraordinary swiftness, that the
marquis, whose banker he had been, and to whom an inconsiderable balance
was then due, had implicated him in this manner, he instantly with
dexterity, removed the page which contained the last account of the
unhappy nobleman, and also his own destiny, and thus saved his life.
Mons. P---- is a widower; his daughter, an only child, is married to a
wealthy general, a man of great bravery, and beloved by Bonaparte.
I dined this day at the Restaurateur's in the Thuilleries, and found the
effect of Madame H----'s charming civility to me. There were some
beautiful women present, dressed after the antique, a fashion
successfully introduced by David. This extraordinary genius was desirous
of dressing the beaux of Paris after the same model; but they politely
declined it, alleging that if Mons. David would at the same time create
another climate, warmer, and more regular for them, they would then
submit the matter to a committee of fashion. The women, though said, in
point of corporal sufferance, to be able to endure less than men, were
enchanted with the design of the artist, and, without approaching a
single degree nearer to the sun, unmindful of colds, consumptions, and
death, have assumed a dress, if such it can be called, the airiness of
which to the eye of fancy, looked like the mist of incense, undulating
over a display of beauty and symmetry, only to be rivalled by those
exquisite models of grecian taste which first furnished them with these
new ideas of personal decoration.
The French ladies every morning anoint their heads with the antique oil,
scented; their sidelocks are formed into small circles, which just touch
the bosom; and the hair behind is rolled into a rose, by which they
produce a perfect copy of the ancient bust.