  Paris, April 3, 1802. Circumstances have at length occurred to recall me to England, and as this will, probably, be the last letter that you will receive from me before I have the pleasure of taking you by the hand, I shall devote it to miscellaneous subjects, and, without studying any particular arrangement, speak of them at random, just as they chance to present themselves. A fellow-creature, whose care-worn countenance and emaciated body claimed a mite from any one who had a mite to bestow, had taken his stand at the gate-way just now as I entered. The recollection of his tale of woe being uppermost in my mind, I begin with MENDICANTS. In spite of the calamities which all great political convulsions never fail to engender, the streets of Paris present not at this day that vast crowd of beggars, covered with rags and vermin, by which they were formerly infested. This is to be attributed to the partial adoption of measures for employing the poor; and, doubtless, when receptacles come to be established here, according to the salutary plans introduced into Bavaria by Count Rumford, mendicity will be gradually annihilated. But, if beggars have decreased in Paris, this is not the case with PAWNBROKERS. Formerly, in addition to the public establishment called the Mont de PiÉtÉ, commissioners were appointed, in different parts of the town, to take in pledges, and make advances on them previously to their being lodged in that grand repository. There, money was lent on them at an interest of 10 per cent; and if the article pledged was not redeemed by a certain time, it was sold by public auction, and, the principal and interest being deducted, the surplus was paid to the holder of the duplicate. Thus the iniquitous projects of usury were defeated; and the rich, as well as the poor, went to borrow at the Mont de PiÉtÉ. To obtain a sum for the discharge of a debt of honour, a dutchess here deposited her diamond ear-rings; while a washerwoman slipped off her petticoat, and pawned it to satisfy the cravings of hunger. At the present moment, the Mont de PiÉtÉ still exists; but, doubtless, on a different plan; for Paris abounds with Maisons de prÊt. On the eve of particular days in each month when the shopkeepers' promissory notes become due, they here pledge articles in order to procure the means of making good their payments. But the crowd of borrowers is the greatest on the days immediately preceding those on which the Paris lottery is drawn; the hucksters, marketwomen, porters, retailers of fruit, and unfortunate females, then deposit their wearing apparel at these dens of rapacity, that they may acquire a share of a ticket, the price of which is fixed so low as to be within the purchase of the poorest classes. The lottery being over, till the next drawing, those persons think no more of their effects, provided they are within two or three of the winning numbers; and thus they gamble away almost every thing belonging to them, even to the very clothes on their back. This is so true that it is not, I understand, at all uncommon in Paris, for a Cyprian nymph to send her last robe to the nearest pawnbroker's, in order to have the chance of a prize in the lottery, and to lie in bed till she obtains the means of purchasing another. Nor is this by far the worst part of the story. The too credulous followers of Fortune, on finding all their hopes of success blasted, frequently seek a termination of their misery by suicide: and a person of veracity, who made a point of visiting the Morne almost daily, assured me that he always knew when the lottery had just been drawn, by the increased number of dead bodies, there exposed, of persons who had put an end to their existence. These are facts shocking to relate; but, if legislators will promote gaming, either by lotteries, or in any other manner, such are the consequences to be expected. Another article which has multiplied prodigiously in Paris, since the revolution, consists of NEWSPAPERS. In 1789, the only daily papers in circulation here were the Journal de Paris and the Petites Affiches; for the Gazette de France appeared only twice a week. From that period, these ephemeral productions increased so rapidly, that, under the generic name of Journaux, upwards of six thousand, bearing different titles, have appeared in France, five hundred of which were published in Paris. At this time, here is a great variety of daily papers. The most eminent of these are well known in England; such as the Moniteur, the only official paper, the sale of which is said to be 20,000 per day; that of the Journal de Paris, 16,000; of the Publiciste, 14,000; of the Journal des DÉbats, 12,000; of the Journal des DÉfenseurs de la Patrie, 10,000; and of the ClÉ du Cabinet, 6,000. The sale of the others is comparatively trifling, with the exception of the Petites Affiches, of which the number daily sold exceeds 30,000. In addition to the Journals, which I mentioned in my letter of the 16th of December last, the most esteemed are the Magazin EncyclopÉdique, edited by MILLIN, the Annales de Chimie, the Journal des Arts, the Journal Polytechnique, the Journal des Mines, the Journal gÉnÉral des Inventions et des DÉcouvertes, &c. I stop here, because it would be useless to attempt to send you a complete list of all the French periodical publications, as, in the flux and reflux of this literary ocean, such a list cannot long be expected to preserve its exactness. Among the conveniences which this city affords in an enviable degree and in great abundance, are BATHS. Those of Paris, of every description, still retain their former pre-eminence. The most elegant are the Bains Chinois on the north Boulevards, where, for three francs, you may enjoy the pleasure of bathing in almost as much luxury as an Asiatic monarch. Near the Temple and at the Vauxhall d'ÉtÉ, also on the old Boulevards, are baths, where you have the advantage of a garden to saunter in after bathing. On the Seine are several floating baths, the most remarkable of which are the Bains Vigier, at the foot of the Pont National. The vessel containing them is upwards of 200 feet in length by about 60 in breadth, and presents two tiers of baths, making, on both decks, 140 in number. It is divided in the middle by a large transparent plate of glass, which permits the eye to embrace its whole extent; one half of which is appropriated to men; the other, to women. On each deck are galleries, nine feet wide, ornamented with much architectural taste. On the exterior part of the vessel is a promenade, decorated with evergreens, orange and rose trees, jasmines, and other odoriferous plants. By means of a hydraulic machine, worked by two horses, in an adjoining barge, the reservoirs can be emptied and filled again in less than an hour. The Bains Vigier are much frequented, as you may suppose from their daily consumption of two cords of wood for fuel. Tepid baths, at blood-heat, are, at present, universally used by the French ladies, and, apparently, with no small advantage. The price of one of these is no more than 30 sous, linen, &c. included. If you want to learn to swim, you may be instructed here in that necessary art, or merely take a look at those acquiring it, at the SCHOOL OF NATATION. The Seine is the school where the lessons are given, and the police takes care that the pupils infringe not the laws of decency. It is certain that, as far back as the year 1684, means were proposed in London to transmit signs to a great distance in a very short space of time, and that, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a member of the Academy of Sciences made, near Paris, several minute experiments on the same subject. The paper read at the Royal Society of London, and the detail of the experiments made in France, seem to suggest nearly the same means as those now put in practice, by the two nations, with respect to TELEGRAPHS. The construction of those in France differs from ours in consisting of one principal pole, and two arms, moveable at the ends. There are four in Paris; one, on the Louvre, which corresponds with Lille; another, on the Place de la Concorde, with Brest; a third, on one of the towers of the church of St. Sulpice, with Strasburg; and the fourth, on the other tower of the said church, which is meant to extend to Nice, but is as yet carried no farther than Dijon. To and from Lille, which is 120 leagues distant from Paris, intelligence is conveyed and received in six minutes, three for the question, and three for the answer. Yet, however expeditious this intercourse may seem, it is certain that the telegraphic language may be abridged, by preserving these machines in their present state, but at the same time allotting to each of the signs a greater portion of idea, without introducing any thing vague into the signification. Independently of the public curiosities, which I have described, Paris contains several PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. Among them, those most deserving of attention are: ADANSON'S cabinet of Natural History, Rue de la Victoire. CASAS' cabinet of Models and Drawings, Rue de Seine, Faubourg St. Germain. CHARLES'S cabinet of Physics, Palais National des Sciences et des Arts. DENON'S cabinet of Drawings, &c. HÔtel de Bouillon, Rue J. J. Rousseau. FOUQUET'S cabinet of Models of Antique Monuments, Rue de Lille, F. S. G. HAUPOIS' cabinet of Mechanics. SUË'S cabinet of Anatomy, Rue du Luxembourg. TERSAN'S cabinet of Antiquities, CloÎtre St. HonorÉ. VAILLANT'S cabinet of Birds, &c. Rue du SÉpulchre, F. S. G. VAN-HORREN'S cabinet of Curiosities, Rue St. Dominique, F. S. G. 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 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." |
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