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
Madame E----, who is considered the first dilettante mistress of music
in Paris, related to me, an experiment which she once tried upon a young
woman who was totally deaf and dumb. Madame E---- fastened a silk thread
about her mouth, and rested the other end upon her piano forte, upon
which she played a pathetic air. Her visitor soon appeared much
affected, and at length burst into tears. When she recovered, she wrote
down upon a piece of paper, that she had experienced a delight, which
she could not express, and that it had forced her to weep.
I must reluctantly retire from this pleasing subject, by wishing that
the abbe may long enjoy a series of blissful years, and that his noble
endeavours, "manifesting the enlightened times in which we live," may
meet with that philanthropic success, which, to _his_ generous mind,
will be its most desired reward _here_; assured, as he is, of being
crowned with those unfading remunerations which are promised to the good
_hereafter_.
[Illustration: _Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne._]
I one day dined at Bagatelle, which is about four miles from Paris, in
the Bois du Bologne, the parisian Hyde Park, in which the fashionable
equestrian, upon his norman hunter,
--------------------------"with heel insidiously aside,
Provokes the canter which he seems to chide."
The duellist also, in the covert windings of this vast wood, seeks
reparation for the trifling wrong, and bleeds himself, or slaughters his
antagonist. Bagatelle was formerly the elegant little palace of the
count d'Artois. The gardens and grounds belonging to it, are beautifully
disposed. What a contrast to the gloomy shades of Holyrood House, in
which the royal fugitive, and his wretched followers, have found an
asylum!
The building and gardens are in the taste of the Petit Trianon, but
inferior to it. As usual, it is the residence of cooks, and scullions,
tenants of the government, who treat their visitors with good dinners,
and excellent wine, and take good care to make them pay handsomely for
their faultless fare.
Returning to my hotel rather late at night, I passed through the Champs
Elisees, which, at this hour, seemed to be in all its glory. Every
"alley green," was filled with whispering lovers. On all sides the
sounds of festivity, of music, and dancing, regaled the ear. The weather
was very sultry, and being a little fatigued with rather a long walk, I
entered through a trellis palisade into a capacious pavilion, where I
refreshed myself with lemonade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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