I must observe that, to visit these men of science, without putting
them to inconvenience, it is expedient either to procure an
introduction, or to address them a note, requesting permission to
view their cabinet. This observation holds good with respect to every
thing that is not public.
If you are fond of inspecting curious fire-arms, you should examine
the _dépôt d'armes_ of M. BOUTET in the _Rue de la Loi_, whose
manufactory is at Versailles, and also pay a visit to M. REGNIER, at
the _Dépôt Central de l'Artillerie_, _Rue de l'Université_, who is a
very ingenious mechanic, and will shew you several curious articles
of his own invention, such as a _dynamomètre_, by means of which you
can ascertain and compare the relative strength of men, as well as
that of horses and draught-cattle, and also judge of the resistance
of machines, and estimate the moving power you wish to apply to them;
a _potamomètre_, by which you can tell the force of running streams,
and measure the currents of rivers. M. REGNIER has also invented
different kinds of locks and padlocks, which cannot be picked; as
well as some curious pistols, &c.
I have, as you will perceive, strictly confined myself to the limits
of the capital, because I expect that my absence from it will not be
long; and, in my next trip to France, I intend, not only to point out
such objects as I may now have neglected, but also to describe those
most worthy of notice in the environs of Paris.
If I have not spoken to you of all the metamorphoses occasioned here
by the revolution, it is because several of them bear not the stamp
of novelty. If the exchange in Paris is now held in the _ci-devant
Eglise des Petits Pères_, did we not at Boston, in New England,
convert the meeting-houses and churches into riding-schools and
barracks?
As the _Charnier des Innocens_, which had subsisted in the centre of
Paris for upwards of eight centuries, and received the remains of at
least ten millions of human beings, was, before the revolution,
turned into a market-place; so is the famous spot where the Jacobin
convent stood in the _Rue St. Honoré_, and whence issued laws more
bloody than those of Draco, now on the point of being appropriated to
a similar destination. The cemetery of St. Sulpice is transformed
into a Ranelagh. Over the entrance is written, in large letters,
encircled by roses, "BAL DES ZÉPHYRS," and, underneath, you read:
_"Has ultra metas requiescunt
Beatam spem expectantes."_
And on the door itself:
_"Expectances misericordiam Dei."_
I was just going to conclude with _Adieu, till we meet_, when I was
most agreeably surprised by the receipt of your letter. I am happy to
find that, through the kind attention of Mr. Mantell of Dover, whose
good offices on this and other simllar occasions claim my most
grateful acknowledgments, you have received all the packets and books
which I have addressed to you during my present visit to Paris. It is
likewise no small gratification to me to learn that my correspondence
has afforded to you a few subjects of deep reflection.
As I told you at the time, the task which you imposed on me was more
than I could accomplish; and you must now be but too well convinced
that the apprehension of my inability was not unfounded. It may not,
perhaps, be difficult for a man of sound judgment to seize and
delineate the general progress of the human mind during a determined
period; but to follow successively, through all their details, the
ramifications of the arts and sciences, is a labour which requires
much more knowledge and experience than I can pretend to: nor did
self-love ever blind me so far as to lead me to presume, for a
moment, that success would crown my efforts.
However, I think I have said enough to shew that one of the striking
effects of the revolution has been to make the arts and sciences
popular in France. It has rendered common those doctrines which had
till then been reserved for first-rate _savans_ and genuises. The
arsenals of the sciences (if I may use the expression) were filled;
but soldiers were wanting. The revolution has produced them in
considerable numbers; and, in spite of all the disasters and evils
which it has occasioned, it cannot be denied that the minds of
Frenchmen, susceptible of the least energy, have here received a
powerful impulse which has urged them towards great and useful ideas.
This impulse has been kept alive and continued by the grand
establishments of public instruction, founded during the course of
that memorable period. Thus, in a few words, you are at once in
possession both of the causes and the result of the progress of the
human mind in this country.
You may, probably, be surprised that I could have written so much, in
so short a space of time, amid all the allurements of the French
capital, and the variety of pursuits which must necessarily have
diverted my attention. Perhaps too, you may think that I might have
dwelt less on some of my least interesting details. I must confess
that I have, in some measure, subjected myself to such an opinion;
but, knowing your wish to acquire every sort of information, I have
exerted myself to obtain it from all quarters. To collect this budget
has been no easy task; to compress it would have been still more
difficult, and, alas! to have transmitted it, in an epistolary form,
would have been totally out of my power, but for the assistance of
two very ingenious artists, who have not a little contributed to
lighten my labour. Introducing themselves to me, very shortly after
my arrival, the one furnished me with an everlasting pen; and the
other, with an inexhaustible inkstand.
Farewell, my good friend. I have obtained a passport for England. My
baggage is already packed up. To-morrow I shall devote to the
ceremony of making visits _p. p. c._ that is, _pour prendre congé_ of
my Parisian friends; and, on the day after, (_Deo volente_) I shall
bid adieu to the "paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the
hell of horses."
[Footnote 1: Since the revolution, the Paris lottery is drawn three
times in each month, in lieu of twice; and lotteries have also been
established in the principal towns of the Republic, namely; Bordeaux,
Lyons, Marseilles, Rouen, Strasburg, and Brussels. The offices in the
capital present the facility of gambling in all these different
lotteries as often every month as in that of Paris.]