la Salle des Antiques The Hall of Antiquities the Hall of Antiquities a low plain Room pav'd with Brick without any Hangings and yet in my mind the best furnish'd of all I saw in France It has five of the most Ancient and Venerable Pieces of all the Kingdom but herein I shall be thought a mean and unfashionable Soul by the Monsieurs who are regardless of Antiquity both in the Monuments and in the Study of it and are all for new things especially Cloths as oft as they can get them The five Pieces above nam'd are the Statue of Diana which was Worshipped in the Renown'd Temple of Ephesus of a large and manly proportion all naked but her Feet and what Modesty commands to be cover'd Another was the Statue of one of the Ethiopian Gods as black as his People Next to that grim Deity was the Effigies of Mercury with a Pipe in his Mouth and all naked but his Feet The fourth was the Pourtraiture of Venus quite naked in her hand her little Son Cupid sitting on a Dolphin And last of all Apollo in the same naked Posture except that contrary to the Mode of France he had Shooes on but whether they were made of Leather or Wood I am not able to determine All these are said to be given to the King of France by his Holyness of Rome A pleasant exchange for the Pope to give him the Gods of the Heathens who had given himself to the Idols of the Romans and I believe upon the same Terms the now King of England might have all the Relicks and Ruins of Antiquity in Rome Not far from this Room The House of Bourbonne and the Tuilleries on the other side of the Louvre is the House of Bourbon On the Tuilleries I have nothing to say but that they were built by Catharine of Medices Anno 1564. and took name from the Lime-Kilns and Tile-pits there before the Foundation of the fine House and Gardens The present King of France is the Son of Lewis XIII by the Lady Anna The King Infanta of Spain at whose Marriage the Spaniards unwilling to fall under the French Obedience which might very well happen she being the eldest Sister of the King they inserted a Clause in the seventh Article of Marriage That neither the said Infanta nor the Children born by her to the King should be capable of Inheriting any of the Estates of the King of Spain and in the eighth Article being Marry'd at eleven Years of Age she is bound to make an Act of Renunciation under her own Hand Writing as soon as she came to be twelve Years old which was accordingly perform'd Lewis XIV now Reigning was born Aug. 26. 1638. succeeded his Father in 1643. was Crown'd by the Archbishop of Rheims June 7th 1654. and Marry'd Maria Theresia Daughter to Philip IV. King of Spain by whom he had only a Son Lewis Sirnam'd the Hardy the present Dauphin born November 1. 1661. He Marry'd Maria Anna Christina Daughter to the late Elector of Bavaria by whom he has three Sons Lewis Duke of Burgundy born Aug. 6. 1682. Philip Duke of Anjou born November 19. 1683 and Gaston Duke of Berry born Aug. 31. 1686. But of this great King his Court and Government I shall say nothing till I am out of his Dominions and then Sir you may expect his History Having wearied our selves with the sight of Paris Madrid we went to see some of His Majesty's Houses in the Country and here we passed by Madrid so call'd from the King of Spain's Palace at Madrid after the Form of which it is built The Founder was Francis I. A well contriv'd House it seem'd to be but our Journey lay beyond it A League further is Rual Rual a little Town belonging to the Abby of St. Denys in which is a pleasant Summer-house adorn'd with abundance of retir'd Walks and a curious variety of Water-works for besides the Forms of divers Glasses Pillars and Geometrical Figures all form'd by the Water there were Birds of sundry sorts so Artificially contriv'd that they both deceiv'd the Eye by their Motion and the Ear by their Melody Somewhat higher in the midst of a pleasant Garden are two Fountains of admirable Workmanship In the first is the Image of Cerberus the Boar of Calidon the Nemaean Lyon and in the Navel of it Hercules killing Hydra In the other only a Crocodile full of wild and unruly Tricks sending from his Throat a Musick not much differing from that of Organs and had your Eyes been shut you would have thought your self in a Cathedral Church for the Melody of the Crocodile and the Birds exactly counterfeited the Harmony of a well order'd Quire And now we are come into the Grove a place so sweetly contriv'd that it would even entice a Man to Melancholy because in them Melancholy would be delightful The Trees so interchangeably folded that they were at once a shelter against Wind and Sun yet not so sullenly closed but that they afforded the Eye a Prospect over the Vines and the Verdures of the Earth that were imprison'd within them It seem'd a Grove an Orchard and a Vineyard so variously interwoven as if the Artist had design'd to make one fall in love with Confusion In the middle of the Wilderness is the House environ'd with a Moat of Running-water the House pretty and therefore little built rather for a Banquet than a Feast It was built and thus enrich'd by M. de Ponte the King's Taylor and was without question the finest Garment he ever cut out in his life Dying he gave it to Mr. Landerbon and the Queen Mother taking a liking to it bought it giving in exchange an Office in the Treasury worth 400000 Crowns to be sold Two Leagues from Rual St. Germain en Lay. is the King's House of St. Germain en Lay where the late King James now Resideth seated on the top of an Hill like Windsor with the Town of St. Germain lying about it and the River Seine like the Thames running below it This Royal Seat is divided into two parts the Old and the New and the whole composes a Majestical Palace The Louvre so much fam'd is not to be nam'd the same Day with this in respect of the Spaciousness of the Rooms and the Curiosity of the Paintings and other Rarities In a stately large Walk vaulted over head The Water-Works are the Water-works and the first thing you encounter is the Effigies of a Dragon just against the entrance which vomits upon all that come nigh him At the end towards the right hand is the Statue of a Nymph sitting before a pair of Organs Upon loosing one of the Pipes the Nymph began to singer the Keys and made excellent Musick Unto the Division run by her Fingers her Head kept time jolting from one Shoulder to the other like an Old Fidler at a Country Wake At the other end toward the left hand we saw
very harsh and unpleasant and differs as much in sweetness from the Wines of Paris and Orleans as their Language does in Elegancy The Town of Mante might be thought strong before the Invention of great Guns having a Ditch a Wall and at every Gate a Draw-Bridge and are still strong enough to Guard their Pullen from the Fox and secure their Houses in the night from foreign Burglaries The last Town of Normandy towards Paris is Pontoise Pontoise once belonging to England one of the strongest Bulwarks in France as being a Frontier In it are two fair Abbies Maubuisson and St. Martin Six Parish Churches of which Nostre Dame is the most Beautiful This Country was once in the possession of the English by a better Title than that of the Sword William the first Annext it to England and it continued an Appendix to that Crown from the Year 1067 till 1204. Having pass'd through Pontoise and cross'd the River we entred into France The Isle of France described so call'd by Meroveus Grandchild of Pharamond and first King of the Francones who in the Wars between the Romans and the Gothes took it and made Paris the Seat of his Empire This Isle or Portion of Gaul was the Seat of the Franks at their first coming thither the rest of Gallia is rather subdued by the French than Inhabited Conquest having taken in those Countries they never planted for the least part of old Gallia is in the hands of the French the Normans Britans Biscaines Gascoines Goths of Languedock and Provence Burgundians and the Antient Gaules of Poictou retaining in it such ample possessions So that the French only possess some part of Old Gallia and are Masters of the Rest But that which seems very Strange is that tho' the old Gauls be in a manner worn out their Survivors should inherit their humors and conditions being composed of so many several Countries and Originals The present French are nothing but the old Gaules moulded into a New Name The Character of a French Man and are as Rash Hairbrain'd and Hedstrong now as when Julius Caesar wrote his Commentaries A Nation that may be won with a Feather and lost with a Straw At first sight a Frenchman is as Familiar with you as your Sleep or the necessity of breathing An hours Conference Endears him to you in the second you open his breast and the third you pump out all his Secrets as faithfully as to his Father Confessor and then you may lay him aside for he is no longer serviceable If you retain him longer he himself will make a Seperation He has said over his Lesson to you and now must find out some body else to repeat it to and Fare him well for he is a Garment that if you wear above two Days to-together he will grow Scandalously Thread-bare He has a good opinion of himself and thinks he has as much Wit as he wants and more than all the World besides and this and the shallowness of his brains makes him so Exceptious and Touchy that upon the least distast he draws his Sword In a Minute puts it up again and then if you beat him into better Manners he takes it with a bundance of Patience and cries out Vostre Serviteur tres humble In this one thing they too much resemble the Devil Submission makes them Insolent and Resistance makes them Recreants for they always Grin like Wolves or Fawn like Spaniels and the Spark is nothing but a Puff-past vanity in a New Antick Fashion His Table at a Feast His Table is loaded with large Dishes of Porrage but very scarce of Meat I speak not of the Paisant for they know not what it is but of the Gentleman Their Beef is cut into Chops and that which passes there for a great Dish of Meat would be thought with us but a Three-penny-cut or a Sisers Commons A Loin of Mutton makes three Substantial Roastings besides a large Pipkin full of Pottage made of the Rump and a Single Trotter Of Fowl they have great Plenty viz. foul Houses foul Dishes foul Women and foul every thing The great Skill of their Cooks consists in spoiling their Meat and making High Sauces Their Cooks and Cooking Famishing the Belly to gratify the Pallat and the Slovenly usage of their Butchers Meat will at any time give an English Man a Dinner 'T is now time to sit down and whisper your own Grace to your self for private Graces are as fashionable here as private Masses and from thence I suppose they learnt them That done fall on where you like best they observe no method in their Eating and if you expect to be Carv'd for you will rise fasting When you are Risen if you can digest the Sluttishness of the Cookery which is abominable at first sight till hunger has forc'd you to it you may be trusted in a Garrison for nothing afterward will be Nauseous The French Lauguage is indeed very Smooth and Courtly it is cleared of all harshness The French Language by cutting off the Consonants which makes it fall from the Tongue very Volubly yet in my opinion 't is rather Elegant than Copius and therefore is much embarass'd for want of Words to find out Periphases It is express'd very much in Action The Head Hands Body Shoulders and Grimace all concur in a Modish Pronunciation and he that would speak it with a Bonne Grace must have much in him of the Mimick It is enrich'd with a great number of Significant Proverbs an extraordinary help to the French Humor of Scoffing and is very full of Courtship if they did not Debase it by prostituting their Complements in too familiar a use of them for the poor Village Cobler has all his Cringes and his Eau benist de Cour his Court-Holy Waer tas ready and in as great Perfection as the Prince of Conde In all their Passado's of Courtship Their Courtship and Complements they comport themselves with much variety of Gesture and 't would be worth your Patience were it customary among Gentlemen of other Nations but the Affectation of it is bauld and Ridiculous Besides they undervalue their Courtship in bestowing the highest Titles upon persons of the meanest condition The Begger begets Monsieurs and Madams to his Sons and Daughters as familiarly as the King of France and he can scarce put up the Affront not to be thought a Gentleman His Discourse commonly runs on two Wheels Their Discourse and Gallantry Treason or Ribaldry In the first he Abuses his Prince and the Court and in the other himself in boasting of the many Women he says he has Prostituted Foolish Braggadocia's by whom each Debauchery is twice committed in the Act and in boasting of his Filthiness By themselves they measure others accounting them Idects and mean Soul'd Wretches that don't Unman themselves in these Beastialities This brings me to speak of the French Women The Character of French Woman
is a much Sweeter so it would be a more Magnificent and better City than that of Paris It lies Commodiously in a Plain flat and level where are no Hills to annoy it and therefore might be made impregnable As for the Fort near St. Austin's Gate The Bastile called the Bastile said to be built by the English when they were Lords of Paris 't is too little to Protect the Town and too low to Command it and serves only for a Prison to the better Sort that have no more Wit than to be Taken Paris is no strong Place and if Henry IV. lay so long before it with his Army it was not because he could not take it but because he would not He was loth as the Lord Biron advised him to receive the Bird naked which he expected ere long with all its Feathers and this Answer he gave the Lord Willoughby who undertook to force an Entry into it The Streets are of a competent breadth The Streets of Paris well Pitch'd under Foot with fair large Pebbles by Philip Augustus Anno 1223. before which time it was miserable Dirty and almost unpassable and as it is now every little Rain makes it very stippery and dangerous and a continuance of warm Weather makes it stink horribly and becomes very Poisonous but whether it proceeds from the nature of the Ground the Sluttishness of the People in their Houses or the neglect of the Scavengers or from all of them I will not determine This I am confident of that the nastiest Lane in London or Westminster is Frankencense and Juniper to the sweetest Streets in Paris The ancient By-word was It stains like the Dirt of Paris but had I power to make a Proverb I would change it into It stinks like the Dirt of Paris and then the By word would be ten times more Orthodox for though I have said something of the strength of the Town and its Fortification without doubt the Venom of the Streets and the Sluttery of the People is a greater security to the Town than all the Ditches Forts Towers and Bulwarks that belong to it 'T was therefore not injudiciously said of an English Gentleman in Railery The strongest City in Europe that Paris was the strongest Town in Europe alluding to the noisom smells for it is a Place of such strange Qualities that you can't live in it in Summer without danger of being Suffocated with stink nor in Winter without myring The Buildings The Houses and Signs in Paris I confess are Handsom and Uniform to the Streetward but London is much finer and the Houses better furnish'd and contriv'd Their Houses are distinguished by Signs as with us and under every Sign is written in Capitals what Sign it is nor is it more than needs for to tell that this is a Cock and this a Bull was never more requisite in the Infancy of Painting than now in this City for so hideously and without Resemblance to the thing signified are most of their Signs that I may without danger say if a Hen would not scratch better Pictures on a Dunghill than they hang out before their Doors I would send her to my Hostess at Tostes to be Executed The chief Artists in Paris The Artificers in Paris are a slovenly Generation in their Trades as well as in their Houses and Barbers Fidlers Dancers and Taylors are the only fine Fellows among them Their most curious Artists are Makers of Combs Tweezers Tooth-Picks and Comb-Brushes Their Mercers are but one degree above Pedlers and Lumbard-street has more Goldsmiths in it than this whole City and Suburbs Merchants they have not many nor wealthy and that one should give twenty thousand Pound with a Daughter as in England was never heard of in this Kingdom The Town subsists by the King's Court How the Town subsists and the great Resort of Advocates and Clients to the Chambers of Parliament and without these two Crutches Paris would get such a vile Halting 't would scarce be able to stand If you credit their Apparel Their Riches and judge of their Estates by their Cloths you would think them worth Millions but alass you don't know them for when a French-man has his best Cloths on he is in the middle of his Estate and carries his Lands and Tenements about him Paris is divided into four parts La Ville Paris consists of four Parts the City lying on this side the River Seine La Universite and that which they call the Cite situate between both the Streams in a little Island and the Suburbs which they call the Faux Bourgs severed a pretty distance from the City and are distinct Bodies from it The greatest part of the Houses in them are Old and without Uniformity The Faux Bourg of St. Jaques is indifferent and excelled by that of St. Germain The Faux Bourg of St. Martin is commended for the great Pest-House in it built by Henry IV. Quadrangularly 'T is large and capacious and at a distance for it is not safe venturing nigh or within it It looks more like a King's Palace than the King's Palace it self The best of all the Suburbs is St. Germain's and has a good Abby in it that maintains 120 Monks 'T was built by Childerick Anno 542. and Dedicated to St. Vincent but since has chang'd its Name to St. Germain from a Bishop of Paris who was buryed in it besides this there is in it a Magnificent Palace scarce to be fellow'd in Europe 't is called Luxenbourg Palace and another call'd the Prince of Conde's Palace In the Ville The Government of Paris or Town of Paris are Thirteen Parish Churches Seven Gates and is Govern'd by two Provosts The Provost de Paris and le Provost des Merchands and the place of Judicature is the Grand Castolet and l' Hostelle de Ville The Provost of Paris has to his Assistance three Lieutenants the Criminal the Civil and the Particuleir which supplies in the absence of the other besides other Officers more than a good many The Provost of the Merchands whose business is to preserve the Privileges of the Citizens is assisted by the two Eschevins as Sheriffs twenty four Counsellors and a Procurator like the Common-Council and Recorder of London whose Habits are half Red and half Sky-Colour'd This Provost is generally belov'd by the Citizens as the Conservator of their Liberties and the others fear'd and hated as the Judges of their Lives and the Tyrants of their Estates In this Ville is also the Kings Arsenal The Arsenal or Magazine of War begun by Henry II. and finish'd by Charles IX to which has been many considerable Additions since Here is also the Place Royal The Place Royal. built in form of a Quadrangle every Square being seventy two Fathoms long the Materials Brick of divers Colours which makes it very pleasant but less durable It is Cloister'd round like the Royal Exchange of London It is situate