Lafayette and his Family--Sévres Manufactory--Palace of St.
Cloud--Madame de Genlis--Savoyards--Ballet of Mars and Venus.
Paris, -----.
_Dear Jane:_--
We have formed acquaintance with some delightful characters since I
wrote to you a few days since. We have been introduced to the good and
brave General Lafayette and his family! On Wednesday he came with his
son, Mr. George Lafayette, to see Mr. Danville, and the latter
presented us to them. The print you have seen of this distinguished
patriarch, is a correct likeness; and his manners are as benevolent as
his countenance. He has a soirée on every Wednesday night, and we have
gladly accepted the kind and pressing invitation he gave each of us to
attend them. The ladies of the family, consisting of his daughters,
his grand-daughters, and daughter-in-law Madame G. Lafayette, have
also called, and we find them very amiable and pleasing. We have
likewise had an introduction to Madame de Genlis, for which we are
indebted to Mrs. Danville; who, rightly conjecturing it would be
gratifying to us to know this celebrated lady, and being well
acquainted with her, requested her permission to present us to her.
This was readily granted, and this morning appointed for the visit.
Accordingly, after an early ride to the Sévres manufactory of
porcelain and the palace of Saint Cloud, the most splendid of all the
king's habitations, we repaired to her residence. On arriving we were
conducted up stairs by a tidy looking _femme de chambre_ and ushered
through a small bed-room, plainly furnished, into an apartment that,
from the variety of its contents, might be compared to Noah's ark.
Besides the usual appendages of a parlor, it contained a piano, a
harp, a guitar, a folding screen, and several tables loaded with
books, papers, baskets and boxes, &c. We found the venerable authoress
seated in an arm chair, near the window. Her regular and delicate
features and fair skin, still indicate former beauty. Her nose is
aquiline, and her eyes clear blue; as they are weak, she is obliged to
wear a green shade to protect them from the light, but has never yet
found it necessary to use spectacles: this is astonishing, for she
will be eighty-two on the 25th of next January! She wore a black silk
gown, and a simple muslin cap; and when Mrs. Danville introduced us
she offered her hand to each, and as soon as we were seated entered
into conversation with a degree of vivacity that quite surprised us;
we were still more so, at her vanity. She talked a great deal about
her own works, and in their praise! We asked her if she continued to
play on the harp. "Oh oui! très bien!" she replied. "And on the piano
and the guitar, Madame?" "Oh, oui, tout, tout, très bien!" She told us
she often practised on the harp and composed in prose at the same
time; and that while reciting verses aloud in a distinct voice and
with strict attention to punctuation and emphasis, she could read a
page from any author and then recount to you in regular rotation,
every idea therein expressed; and this proved, she said, that the mind
is capable of two operations at once. Papa observed that Charles the
Twelfth of Sweden, proved it a century ago, when he played chess while
dictating letters to different persons. She did not notice this
remark, but proceeded to extol a novel she wrote some years since,
entitled "Alfred the Great." She considers it one of her best
productions, and gave it to a physician who attended her during a
dangerous illness and declined being paid for his services. She said
she thought she could not compliment him more, than by making him a
present of her work; that he seemed delighted with it, and declared he
would have it published immediately, but that much to her regret he
had not kept his promise. Alfred is her favorite hero, and she
expressed her wonder that he is not often made the subject of a
romance. She informed us that she always retires to bed at half past
ten o'clock and rises at seven, and is careful to eat very moderately.
Her faculties continue perfect, and she knows fifty-two trades; such
as sewing, knitting, spinning, embroidering, making baskets, weaving
purses, &c. &c. We saw on the chimney-piece a snuff box that
Mademoiselle d'Orleans, her _ci-devant_ pupil, had sent to her. On the
lid she had painted a harp entwined with a garland of flowers, and
below it this sentence was written: "C'est votre ouvrage." Having sat
with her two hours we took leave, and had quitted the room, when she
called us back to show us with what ease she could rise from her chair
without resting her hands on the arms of it to aid herself, as old
people are commonly obliged to do. She has invited us to call on her
whenever we can, and was so polite as to say she felt quite flattered
by our visit.
On reaching home we found Mr. Danville and Leonora much diverted at
the exploit of a monkey that had climbed in at the window, and ere
they perceived it, twitched from Leonora's hand a bunch of raisins she
was eating. It was the property of a little Savoyard, who had taught
it a variety of tricks in order to gain a few sous by their
exhibition. The Boulevard abounds with these little wanderers, and
their marmosets.
This evening we are going to a fête at the Tivoli Garden; the _New_
Tivoli as it is called; the old one (which I am told was far
handsomer) has been converted into ground for building. We have seen
the Ballet of Mars and Venus, at the grand opera; nothing can be more
beautiful and splendid than it is! Leaving it for your imagination to
fancy, I subscribe myself your affectionate