We passed our time very agreeably at Versailles and were well accommodated, though the charges could not be called reasonable. The expenses of a dinner for four and lodging for ourselves and two servants for one night amounted to over four pounds sterling. We arrived at an unlucky moment in the hotel. For a young Irishman of rank was unfortunately in the house with his newly-married bride, and when we reflected that in less than six weeks’ residence in Paris he contrived to spend £16,000 it was not surprising that we too were bled in honour of our national character for generosity. An English gentleman of our acquaintance and also personally acquainted with this young man and his lady, paid them a visit, and told me that they displayed to him a purchase of fifty-six snuff-boxes and twenty-five watches. This recital excited our merriment, and we tried to imagine what motive could induce those young persons to throw away their money in such a ridiculous manner. He could not take snuff, it always made him sick. A man of his fortune could not have bought those trinkets as an article of merchandise, and they were too many and certainly unsuitable to decorate the girdle of his lady at a birthnight ball.[2] Finally we united in surmising that these costly articles were intended as presents for the electors of the county of X----, for which he proposed to be returned as member at the coming election. Having now thoroughly investigated the _remains_ of the once magnificent Versailles, we took leave of Mr. B----, who set off for La Vendée, and returned to Paris through the Bois de Boulogne. XV ACCOUNT OF AN ESTABLISHMENT AT CHAILLOT FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE AGED AND DESTITUTE [Sidenote: ASYLUM FOR AGED AT CHAILLOT] The French Revolution having overthrown those humane establishments, which had for long ages subsisted in the country, some private individuals are generously endeavouring to repair those breaches which crime has effected in the order of society. Nothing tends more to the happiness of society than the discovery of practical methods which may increase the comforts of those who are no longer able to support themselves. When a nation has increased in number and power, it is bound to provide for its people additional means of subsistence. Beneficence should not be stationary when nations are progressive. I will now enter into a detail of the establishment of Chaillot, which is equally praiseworthy for its benevolent views and ingenuity. I happened to fall into company with a ci-devant nobleman, named Duchaillot,[1] who, during the time of the Terror, lost all his fortune and took refuge in Berlin.