A rough sketch of modern Paris : $b or, Letters on society, manners, public curiosities, and amusements, in that capitalLemaistre, J. G. (John Gustavus)
History
A rough sketch of modern Paris : $b or, Letters on society, manners, public curiosities, and amusements, in that capital
Lemaistre, J. G. (John Gustavus)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel
Before I left the house of the sourd muets, I visited the boy called the
savage of Aveyron. But the subject is sufficiently interesting to deserve
a separate letter; I shall, therefore, for the present, take my leave,
and will devote my next to the description of this child.
I am, &c.
LETTER XIII.
The young savage, or wild boy of Aveyron.—His history.—The
state in which he was found, and the means used to restore him
to the use of his senses.—The success with which these efforts
have been attended.
Paris, January the 17th, 1801 (27 nivôse.)
MY DEAR SIR,
I resume in this letter the subject promised in my last.
The child, so well known in Europe by the name of “le jeune sauvage
d’Aveyron,” or “the young savage of Aveyron,” was found in the wood of
that name, at the age of eleven or twelve years, by three huntsmen, who
some time before had seen the same boy at a distance. He was looking
for acorns and roots, which constituted his principal food, when they
perceived him: and, at the moment of being seized, he attempted to get
away, by climbing up an adjoining tree. He was taken into a cottage; but,
at the end of a week, he made his escape from the woman, to whose care
he was intrusted, and fled to the mountains. Here he wandered about,
exposed to the severest cold of winter, with no covering but a ragged
shirt, hiding himself at night in the most solitary places, and in the
day approaching the neighbouring villages. After leading, for some time,
this vagabond life, he came of his own accord, into an inhabited house,
situate in the _canton_ of _St. Sernain_. Here he was seized, watched
and taken care of for three days, and was then removed, first to the
hospital of _St. Afrique_, and afterwards to that of _Rhodes_, where he
was kept several months. At each of these places, where, of course, he
was the subject of much interesting observation, he was found wild and
impatient of control. He was in constant motion, and at every instant
seemed to seek an opportunity of escaping. By order of the minister
of the interiour, he was brought to Paris, at the end of the 8th year
of the republic (about two years ago), under the care of a poor, but
respectable, old man, who became so attached to him on the journey, that
he shed tears at parting with him, and in going away declared, that if he
ever should be deserted, he would adopt him as his child.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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