PARIS, August 14, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I remember when you left us, it was with a promise to supply
all the defects of correspondence with our friends, of which we
complained, and which you had felt in common with us. Yet I have
received but one letter from you, which was dated June the 5th, 1786,
and I answered it, August the 14th, 1786. Dropping that, however, and
beginning a new account, I will observe to you, that wonderful
improvements are making here in various lines. In architecture, the
wall of circumvallation round Paris, and the palaces by which we are to
be let out and in, are nearly completed; four hospitals are to be built
instead of the old Hotel-Dieu; one of the old bridges has all its
houses demolished, and a second nearly so; a new bridge is begun at the
Place Louis XV.; the Palais Royale is gutted, a considerable part in
the centre of the garden being dug out, and a subterranean circus
begun, wherein will be equestrian exhibitions, &c. In society, the
habit habillé is almost banished, and they begin to go even to great
suppers in frock: the court and diplomatic corps, however, must always
be excepted. They are too high to be reached by any improvement. They
are the last refuge from which etiquette, formality, and folly will be
driven. Take away these, and they would be on a level with other
people.
* * * * * * * *
[After describing the unsettled state of Europe, as in some of the
preceding letters, the writer proceeds:]
So much for the blessings of having Kings, and magistrates who would be
Kings. From these events, our young Republic may learn useful lessons,
never to call on foreign powers to settle their differences, to guard
against hereditary magistrates, to prevent their citizens from becoming
so established in wealth and power, as to be thought worthy of alliance
by marriage with the nieces, sisters, &c., of Kings, and, in short, to
besiege the throne of heaven with eternal prayers, to extirpate from
creation this class of human lions, tigers, and mammoths called Kings;
from whom, let him perish who does not say, "good Lord deliver us;" and
that so we may say, one and all, or perish, is the fervent prayer of
him who has the honor to mix with it, sincere wishes for your health
and happiness, and to be, with real attachment and respect, dear Sir,
your affectionate friend and humble servant.