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TITLE: PARIS AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS
AUTHOR: FRANCIS W. BLAGDON
EBOOK: E00699 (O'Briens Book Cellar)

PARIS

AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS;

OR

A Sketch of the French Capital,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION,

WITH RESPECT TO

SCIENCES,
LITERATURE,
ARTS,
RELIGION,
EDUCATION,
MANNERS,
AND
AMUSEMENTS;

COMPRISING ALSO

A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and
Public Buildings.

In a Series of Letters,

WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER,

DURING THE YEARS 1801-2,

TO A FRIEND IN LONDON.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Ipsa varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quaedem fortasse
omnibus placeant. PLIN. Epist._

       *       *       *       *       *

VOL. I

LONDON

1803

ADVERTISEMENT.

In the course of the following production, the Reader will meet with
several references to a Plan of Paris, which it had been intended to
prefix to the work; but that intention having been frustrated by the
rupture between the two countries, in consequence of which the copies
for the whole of the Edition have been detained at Calais, it is
hoped that this apology will be accepted for the omission.

CONTENTS.

VOLUME FIRST.

New Organization of the National Institute

INTRODUCTION

LETTER I.
On the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace, the author
leaves London for Paris--He arrives at Calais on the 16th of October,
1801--Apparent effect of the peace--After having obtained a passport,
he proceeds to Paris, in company with a French naval officer.

LETTER II.
Journey from Calais to Paris--Improved state of agriculture--None of
the French gun-boats off Boulogne moored with chains at the time of
the attack--St. Denis--General sweep made, in 1793, among the
sepultures in that abbey--Arrival at Paris--Turnpikes now established
throughout Prance--Custom-house scrutiny.

LETTER III.
Objects which first strike the observer on arriving at Paris after an
absence of ten or twelve years--Tumult in the streets considerably
diminished since the revolution--No liveries seen--Streets less
dangerous than formerly to pedestrians--Visits paid to different
persons by the author--Price of lodgings nearly doubled since 1789
--The author takes apartments in a private house.

LETTER IV.
Climate of Paris--_Thermolampes_ or stoves which afford light and
heat on an economical plan--Sword whose hilt was adorned with the
_Pitt_ diamond, and others of considerable value, presented to the
Chief Consul.

LETTER V.
Plan on which these letters are written.

LETTER VI.
The _Louvre_ or _National Palace of Arts and Sciences_ described
--_Old Louvre_--Horrors of St. Bartholomew's day--From this palace
Charles IX fired on his own subjects--Additions successively made to
it by different kings--_Bernini_, sent for by Lewis XIV, forwarded
the foundation of the _New Louvre_, and returned to Italy--_Perrault_
produced the beautiful colonnade of the _Louvre_, the master-piece of
French architecture--Anecdote of the Queen of England, relict of
Charles I--Public exhibition of the productions of French Industry.

LETTER VII.
_Central Museum of the Arts_--_Gallery of Antiques_--Description of
the different halls and of the most remarkable statues contained in
them, with original observations by the learned connoisseur,
_Visconti_.

LETTER VIII.
Description of the _Gallery of Antiques_, and of its _chefs-d'oeuvre_
of sculpture continued and terminated--Noble example set by the
French in throwing open their museums and national establishments to
public inspection--Liberal indulgence shewn to foreigners.

LETTER IX.
General A----y's breakfast--Montmartre--Prospect thence enjoyed
--Theatres.

LETTER X.
Regulations of the Police to be observed by a stranger on his arrival
in the French capital--Pieces represented at the _Theatre Louvois_
--_Palais du gouvernement_ or Palace of the Tuileries described--It was
constructed, by Catherine de Medicis, enlarged by Henry IV and Lewis
XIII, and finished By Lewis XIV--The tenth of August, 1792, as
pourtrayed by an actor in that memorable scene--Number of lives lost
on the occasion--Sale of the furniture, the king's wardrobe, and
other effects found in the palace--_Place du Carrousel_--Famous
horses of gilt bronze brought from Venice and placed here--The fate
of France suspended by a thread--Fall of _Robespiere_ and his
adherents.

LETTER XI.
Massacre of the prisoners at Paris in September, 1792--Private ball
--The French much improved in dancing--The waltz described--Dress of
the women.

LETTER XII.
_Bonaparte_--Grand monthly parade--Agility of the First Consul in
mounting his charger--Consular guards, a remarkably fine body of men
--Horses of the French cavalry, sorry in appearance, but capable of
enduring fatigue and privations.

LETTER XIII.
_Jardin des Tuileries_--This garden now kept in better order than
under the monarchy--The newly-built house of _Very_, the
_restaurateur_--This quarter calls to mind the most remarkable events
in the history of the revolution--_Place de la Concorde_--Its name is
a strong contrast to the great number of victims here sacrificed
--Execution of the King and Queen, _Philippe Egalite_, _Charlotte
Corday_, Madame _Roland_, _Robespiere_, _cum multus aliis_
--Unexampled dispatch introduced in putting persons to death by means
of the guillotine--_Guillotin_, the inventor or improver of this
instrument, dies of grief--Little impression left on the mind of the
spectators of these sanguinary scenes--Lord _Cornwallis_ arrives in
Paris.

LETTER XIV.
National fete, in honour of peace, celebrated in Paris on the 18th of
Brumaire, year X (9th of November, 1801)--_Garnerin_ and his wife
ascend in a balloon--Brilliancy of the illuminations--Laughable
accident.

LETTER XV.
Description of the fete continued--Apparent apathy of the people
--Songs composed in commemoration of this joyful event--Imitation of
one of them.

LETTER XVI.
_Gallery of the Louvre_--_Saloon of the Louvre_--Italian School--The
most remarkable pictures in the collection mentioned, with original
remarks on the masters by _Visconti_--Lord _Cornwallis's_ reception
in Paris.

LETTER XVII.
_Gallery of the Louvre_ in continuation--French School--Flemish
School--The pictures in the _Saloon_ are seen to much greater
advantage than those in the _Gallery_--_Gallery of Apollo_--These
superb repositories of the finest works of art are indiscriminately
open to the public.

LETTER XVIII.
_Palais Royal_, now called _Palais du Tribunat_--Its construction
begun, in 1629, by Cardinal _Richelieu_, who makes a present of it to
_Lewis_ XIII--It becomes the property of the Orleans family--Anecdote
of the Regent--Considerable alterations made in this palace--_Jardin
du Palais du Tribunat_--This garden is surrounded by a range of
handsome buildings, erected in 1782 by the duke of Orleans, then duke
of Chartres--The _Cirque_ burnt down in 1797--Contrast between the
company seen here in 1789 and in 1801--The _Palais Royal_, the
theatre of political commotions--Mutual enmity of the queen and the
duke of Orleans, which, in the sequel, brought these great personages
to the scaffold--Their improper example imitated by the nobility of
both sexes--The projects of each defeated--The duke's pusillanimity

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