The stranger in France : $b or, a tour from Devonshire to Paris illustrated by engravings in aqua tint of sketches taken on the spot.Carr, John, Sir
History
The stranger in France : $b or, a tour from Devonshire to Paris illustrated by engravings in aqua tint of sketches taken on the spot.
Carr, John, Sir
France -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Description and travel
The young observer in private, and by stealth imbibed, from parental
precept or example, the sentiment of a national religion, suppressed,
not extinguished, or in the gloomy absence of all indications of it,
remained unsolicited by any rival mode of worship to bestow his apostacy
upon an alien creed. Thus the minds of the rising generation, who were
engaged in favour of the catholic persuasion, during the frightful
period of its long denunciation, by stolen, secluded and unfinished
displays of its spirit and form, contemplated its return with animated
elation, or beheld its approach, unimpressed with those doubts or
prejudices which religious, as well as secular competitions, very
frequently excite; in that auspicious hour, when the policy, if not the
piety of a powerful government, restored it to the French people. The
subject is highly interesting; but I must resign it to abler pens for
more ample discussion.
I was much gratified by being presented to the celebrated philosopher
Mons. Charles, by Madame S----. He has a suite of noble apartments in
the Louvre, which have been bestowed upon him by the government, as a
grateful reward for his having presented to the nation his magnificent
collection of philosophical apparatus. He has also, in consideration of
his ability and experience, been constituted the principal lecturer on
philosophy. In these rooms his valuable and costly donation is arranged.
In the centre of the dome of the first apartment, called the Hall of
Electricity, is suspended the car of the first balloon which was
inflated with inflammable air, in which he and his brother ascended in
the afternoon of the 1st of December, 1783, in which they continued in
the air for an hour and three quarters; and after they had descended,
Mons. C----rose alone to the astonishing height of 10,500 feet. In the
same room are immense electrical machines and batteries, some of which
had been presented to him by Madame S----.
In this room, amongst many other fanciful figures, which are used for
the purpose of enlivening the solemnity of a philosophical lecture by
exciting sentiments of innocent gayety, was a little Cupid. The tiny
god, with his arrow in his hand, was insulated upon a throne of glass,
and was charged with that electric fluid which not a little resembles
the subtle spirit of his nature. The youngest daughter of Madame S----,
who accompanied us, was requested to touch it. In a moment it discharged
its penetrating spark--"Oh! how that little god has alarmed me!" said
the recoiling fair one, whose youthful countenance surprise had imbued
with new beauties; "but yet," said she, recovering herself, "_he does
not hurt_." This little sally may be considered as a specimen of that
playful sprightliness which is so much the characteristic of the french
female.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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