The Life of Samuel Johnson

by James Boswell

  ‘I never knew whether you received the Commentary on the New Testament and the Travels, and the glasses.

  ‘Do, my dear love, write to me; and do not let us forget each other. This is the season of good wishes, and I wish you all good. I have not lately seen Mr. Porter,a nor heard of him. Is he with you?

  ‘Be pleased to make my compliments to Mrs. Adey, and Mrs. Cobb, and all my friends; and when I can do any good, let me know. I am, dear Madam, yours most affectionately,

  ‘December, 1775.’ ’sAM. JOHNSON.”

  It is to be regretted that he did not write an account of his travels in France; for as he is reported to have once said, that ‘he could write the Life of a Broomstick,’ so, notwithstanding so many former travellers have exhausted almost every subject for remark in that great kingdom, his very accurate observation, and peculiar vigour of thought and illustration, would have produced a valuable work. During his visit to it, which lasted but about two months, he wrote notes or minutes of what he saw. He promised to show me them, but I neglected to put him in mind of it; and the greatest part of them has been lost, or perhaps, destroyed in a precipitate burning of his papers a few days before his death, which must ever be lamented. One small paper-book, however, entitled ‘France II,’ has been preserved, and is in my possession. It is a diurnal register of his life and observations, from the 10th of October to the 4th of November, inclusive, being twenty-six days, and shews an extraordinary attention to various minute particulars. Being the only memorial of this tour that remains, my readers, I am confident, will peruse it with pleasure, though his notes are very short, and evidently written only to assist his own recollection.

  ‘Oct. 10. Tuesday. We saw the Ecole Militaire, in which one hundred and fifty young boys are educated for the army. They have arms of different sizes, according to the age; – flints of wood.506 The building is very large, but nothing fine, except the council-room. The French have large squares in the windows; – they make good iron palisades. Their meals are gross.

  ‘We visited the Observatory, a large building of a great height. The upper stones of the parapet very large, but not cramped with iron. The flat on the top is very extensive; but on the insulated507 part there is no parapet. Though it was broad enough, I did not care to go upon it. Maps were printing in one of the rooms.

  ‘We walked to a small convent of the Fathers of the Oratory. In the reading-desk of the refectory lay the lives of the Saints.

  ‘Oct. II. Wednesday. We went to see Hotel de Chatlois, a house not very large, but very elegant. One of the rooms was gilt to a degree that I never saw before. The upper part for servants and their masters was pretty.

  ‘Thence we went to Mr. Monville’s, a house divided into small apartments, furnished with effeminate and minute elegance – Porphyry.

  ‘Thence we went to St. Roque’s church, which is very large; – the lower part of the pillars incrusted with marble. – Three chapels behind the high altar; – the last a mass of low arches. – Altars, I believe, all round.

  ‘We passed through Place de Vendome, a fine square, about as big as Hanover-square. – Inhabited by the high families. – Lewis XIV, on horseback in the middle.

  ‘Monville is the son of a farmer-general. In the house of Chatlois is a room furnished with japan, fitted up in Europe.

  ‘We dined with Boccage, the Marquis Blanchetti, and his lady. – The sweetmeats taken by the Marchioness Blanchetti, after observing that they were dear. – Mr. Le Roy, Count Manucci, the Abbe, the Prior, and Father Wilson, who staid with me, till I took him home in the coach.

  ‘Bathiani is gone.

  ‘The French have no laws for the maintenance of their poor. – Monk not necessarily a priest. – Benedictines rise at four; are at church an hour and half; at church again half an hour before, half an hour after, dinner; and again from half an hour after seven to eight. They may sleep eight hours. – Bodily labour wanted in monasteries.

  ‘The poor taken to hospitals, and miserably kept. – Monks in the convent fifteen: – accounted poor.

  ‘Oct. 12. Thursday. We went to the Gobelins. – Tapestry makes a good picture; – imitates flesh exactly. – One piece with a gold ground; – the birds not exactly coloured. – Thence we went to the King’s cabinet; – very neat, not, perhaps, perfect. – Gold ore. – Candles of the candle-tree. – Seeds. – Woods. Thence to Gagnier’s house, where I saw rooms nine, furnished with a profusion of wealth and elegance which I never had seen before. – Vases. – Pictures. – The Dragon china. – The lustre said to be of crystal, and to have cost 3,50il. – The whole furniture said to have cost 125,00il. – Damask hangings covered with pictures. – Porphyry. – This house struck me. – Then we waited on the ladies to Monville’s. – Captain Irwin with us.a – Spain. County towns all beggars. – At Dijon he could not find the way to Orleans. – Cross roads of France very bad. – Five soldiers.

  – Woman. – Soldiers escaped. – The Colonel would not lose five men for the death of one woman. – The magistrate cannot seize a soldier but by the Colonel’s permission. – Good inn at Nismes. – Moors of Barbary fond of Englishmen. – Gibraltar eminently healthy; – It has beef from Barbary;

  – There is a large garden. – Soldiers sometimes fall from the rock.

  ‘Oct. 13. Friday. I staid at home all day, only went to find the Prior,

  who was not at home. – I read something in Canus.a –Nec admiror, nec multum laudo.508

  ‘Oct. 14. Saturday. We went to the house of Mr. Argenson, which was almost wainscotted with looking-glasses, and covered with gold. – The ladies’ closet wainscotted with large squares of glass over painted paper. They always place mirrours to reflect their rooms.

  ‘Then we went to Julien’s, the Treasurer of the Clergy: – 30,00ïl. a year.

  – The house has no very large room, but is set with mirrours, and covered with gold. – Books of wood here, and in another library.

  ‘At D∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗’s509 I looked into the books in the lady’s closet, and, in contempt, shewed them to Mr. T. –Prince Titi; Bibl. des Fees,510 and other books. – She was offended, and shut up, as we heard afterwards, her apartment.

  ‘Then we went to Julien Le Roy, the King’s watchmaker, a man of character in his business, who shewed a small clock made to find the longitude. – A decent man.

  ‘Afterwards we saw the Palais Marchand, and the Courts of Justice, civil and criminal. – Queries on the Sellette. – This building has the old Gothick passages, and a great appearance of antiquity. – Three hundred prisoners sometimes in the gaol.

  Much disturbed; hope no ill will be.b

  ‘In the afternoon I visited Mr. Freron the journalist. He spoke Latin very scantily, but seemed to understand me. – His house not splendid, but of commodious size. – His family, wife, son, and daughter, not elevated but decent. – I was pleased with my reception. – He is to translate my book, which I am to send him with notes.

  ‘Oct. 15. Sunday. At Choisi, a royal palace on the banks of the Seine, about 7 m. from Paris. – The terrace noble along the river. – The rooms numerous and grand, but not discriminated from other palaces. – The chapel beautiful, but small. – China globes. – Inlaid table. – Labyrinth. – Sinking table. – Toilet tables.

  ‘Oct. 16. Monday. The Palais Royal very grand, large, and lofty. – A very great collection of pictures. – Three of Raphael. – Two Holy Family.

  – One small piece of M. Angelo. – One room of Rubens – I thought the pictures of Raphael fine.

  ‘The Thuilleries. – Statues. – Venus. – æn. and Anchises in his arms. – Nilus.511 – Many more. The walks not open to mean persons. – Chairs at night hired for two sous apiece. – Pont tournant.

  ‘Austin Nuns.512 – Grate. – Mrs. Fermor, Abbess. – She knew Pope, and thought him disagreeable. – Mrs. — has many books; – has seen life. – Their frontlet disagreeable. – Their hood. – Their life easy. – Rise about five; hour and half in chapel. – Dine at ten. – Another
hour and half at chapel; half an hour about three, and half an hour more at seven: – four hours in chapel. – A large garden. – Thirteen pensioners. – Teacher complained.

  ‘At the Boulevards saw nothing, yet was glad to be there. – Rope-dancing and farce. – Egg dance.

  ‘N. [Note.] Near Paris, whether on week-days or Sundays, the roads empty.

  ‘Oct. 17. Tuesday. At the Palais Marchand I bought

  A snuff-box 24 L. __________ 6 Table book 15 Scissars 3 p [pair] 18 ___ 63 – 2 126

  ‘We heard the lawyers plead. – N. As many killed at Paris as there are days in the year. Chambre de question. – Tournelle at the Palais Marchand.

  – An old venerable building.

  ‘The Palais Bourbon, belonging to the Prince of Conde. Only one small wing shown; – lofty; – splendid; – gold and glass. – The battles of the great Conde are painted in one of the rooms. The present Prince a grandsire at thirty-nine.

  ‘The sight of palaces, and other great buildings, leaves no very distinct images, unless to those who talk of them and impress them. As I entered, my wife was in my mind:a she would have been pleased. Having now nobody to please, I am little pleased.

  ‘N. In France there is no middle rank.

  ‘So many shops open, that Sunday is little distinguished at Paris. – The palaces of Louvre and Thuilleries granted out in lodgings.

  ‘In the Palais de Bourbon, gilt globes of metal at the fire-place.

  ‘The French beds commended. – Much of the marble, only paste.

  ‘The Colosseum a mere wooden building, at least much of it.

  ‘Oct. 18. Wednesday. We went to Fontainebleau, which we found a large mean town, crouded with people. – The forest thick with woods, very extensive. – Manucci secured us lodging. – The appearance of the country pleasant. – No hills, few streams, only one hedge. – I remember no chapels nor crosses on the road. – Pavement still, and rows of trees.

  ‘N. Nobody but mean people walk in Paris.

  ‘Oct. 19. Thursday. At Court, we saw the apartments; – the King’s bed-chamber and council-chamber extremely splendid – Persons of all ranks in the external rooms through which the family passes: – servants and masters. – Brunet with us the second time.

  ‘The introductor came to us; – civil to me. – Presenting. – I had scruples. – Not necessary. – We went and saw the King and Queen at dinner. – We saw the other ladies at dinner – Madame Elizabeth, with the Princess of Guimene. – At night we went to a comedy. I neither saw nor heard. – Drunken women. – Mrs. Th. preferred one to the other.

  ‘Oct. 20. Friday. We saw the Queen mount in the forest. – Brown habit; rode aside: one lady rode aside. – The Queen’s horse light grey; martingale.

  – She galloped. – We then went to the apartments, and admired them. – Then wandered through the palace. – In the passages, stalls and shops. – Painting in Fresco by a great master, worn out. – We saw the King’s horses and dogs. – The dogs almost all English. – Degenerate.

  ‘The horses not much commended. – The stables cool; the kennel filthy.

  ‘At night the ladies went to the opera. I refused, but should have been welcome.

  ‘The King fed himself with his left hand as we.

  ‘Saturday, 21. In the night I got ground. – We came home to Paris. – I think we did not see the chapel. – Tree broken by the wind. – The French chairs made all of boards painted.

  ‘N. Soldiers at the court of justice. – Soldiers not amenable to the magistrates. – Dijon woman.a

  ‘Faggots in the palace. – Every thing slovenly, except in chief rooms. – Trees in the roads, some tall, none old, many very young and small.

  ‘Women’s saddles seem ill made. – Queen’s bridle woven with silver. – Tags to strike the horse.

  ‘Sunday, Oct. 22. To Versailles, a mean town. Carriages of business passing. – Mean shops against the wall. – Our way lay through Seve, where the China manufacture. – Wooden bridge at Seve, in the way to Versailles. The palace of great extent. – The front long; I saw it not perfectly. – The Menagerie. Cygnets dark; their black feet; on the ground; tame. – Halcyons, or gulls. – Stag and hind, young. – Aviary, very large; the net, wire. – Black stag of China, small. – Rhinoceros, the horn broken and pared away, which, I suppose, will grow; the basis, I think, four inches ‘cross; the skin folds like loose cloth doubled over his body, and cross his hips; a vast animal, though young; as big, perhaps, as four oxen. – The young elephant, with his tusks just appearing. – The brown bear put out his paws; – all very tame. – The lion. – The tigers I did not well view. – The camel, or dromedary with two bunches called the Huguin,b taller than any horse. – Two camels with one bunch. – Among the birds was a pelican, who being let out, went to a fountain, and swam about to catch fish. His feet well webbed: he dipped his head, and turned his long bill sidewise. He caught two or three fish, but did not eat them.

  ‘Trianon is a kind of retreat appendant to Versailles. It has an open portico; the pavement, and, I think, the pillars, of marble. – There are many rooms, which I do not distinctly remember – A table of porphyry, about five feet long, and between two and three broad, given to Lewis XIV. by the Venetian State. – In the council-room almost all that was not door or window, was, I think, looking-glass. – Little Trianon is a small palace like a gentleman’s house. – The upper floor paved with brick. – Little Vienne. – The court is ill paved. – The rooms at the top are small, fit to sooth the imagination with privacy. In the front of Versailles are small basons of water on the terrace, and other basons, I think, below them. There are little courts. – The great gallery is wainscotted with mirrors, not very large, but joined by frames. I suppose the large plates were not yet made. – The play-house was very large. – The chapel I do not remember if we saw. – We saw one chapel, but I am not certain whether there or at Trianon. – The foreign office paved with bricks. – The dinner half a Louis each, and, I think, a Louis over. – Money given at Menagerie, three livres; at palace, six livres.

  ‘Oct. 23. Monday. Last night I wrote to Levet. – We went to see the looking-glasses wrought. They come from Normandy in cast plates, perhaps the third of an inch thick. At Paris they are ground upon a marble table, by rubbing one plate on another with grit between them. The various sands, of which there are said to be five, I could not learn. The handle, by which the upper glass is moved, has the form of a wheel, which may be moved in all directions. The plates are sent up with their surfaces ground, but not polished, and so continue till they are bespoken, lest time should spoil the surface, as we were told. Those that are to be polished, are laid on a table, covered with several thick cloths, hard strained, that the resistance may be equal; they are then rubbed with a hand rubber, held down hard by a contrivance which I did not well understand. The powder which is used last seemed to me to be iron dissolved in aqua fortis:513 they called it, as Baretti said, marc de l’eau forte, which he thought was dregs. They mentioned vitriol and saltpetre. The cannon ball swam in the quicksilver. To silver them, a leaf of beaten tin is laid, and rubbed with quicksilver, to which it unites. Then more quicksilver is poured upon it, which, by its mutual [attraction] rises very high. Then a paper is laid at the nearest end of the plate, over which the glass is slided till it lies upon the plate, having driven much of the quicksilver before it. It is then, I think, pressed upon clothes, and then set sloping to drop the superfluous mercury; the slope is daily heightened towards a perpendicular.

  ‘In the way I saw the Greve, the Mayor’s house, and the Bastile.

  ‘We then went to Sans-terre, a brewer. He brews with about as much malt as Mr. Thrale, and sells his beer at the same price, though he pays no duty for malt, and little more than half as much for beer. Beer is sold retail at 6p. a bottle. He brews 4,000 barrels a year. There are seventeen brewers in Paris, of whom none is supposed to brew more than he: – reckoning them at 3,000 each, they make 51,000 a year. – They make their malt, for malting is here n
o trade.

  ‘The moat of the Bastile is dry.

  ‘Oct. 24. Tuesday. We visited the King’s library – I saw the Speculum bumancB Salvationis,514 rudely printed, with ink, sometimes pale, some– times black; part supposed to be with wooden types, and part with pages cut on boards. – The Bible, supposed to be older than that of Mentz, in {14}62: it has no date; it is supposed to have been printed with wooden types. – I am in doubt; the print is large and fair, in two folios. – Another book was shewn me, supposed to have been printed with wooden types; – I think, Durandi Sanctuarium in {14}58. This is inferred from the difference of form sometimes seen in the same letter, which might be struck with different puncheons. – The regular similitude of most letters proves better that they are metal. – I saw nothing but the Speculum which I had not seen, I think, before.

  ‘Thence to the Sorbonne. – The library very large, not in lattices like the King’s. Marbone and Durandi, q. collection 14 vol. Scriptores de rebus Gallicis, many folios. –Histoire Genealogique of France, 9 vol. –Gallia Christiana, the first edition, 4to. the last, f. 12 vol. – The Prior and Librarian dined [with us]: – I waited on them home. – Their garden pretty, with covered walks, but small; yet may hold many students. – The Doctors of the Sorbonne are all equal: – choose those who succeed to vacancies. – Profit little.

  ‘Oct. 25. Wednesday. I went with the Prior to St. Cloud, to see Dr. Hooke. – We walked round the palace, and had some talk. – I dined with our whole company at the Monastery. – In the library, Beroald, – Cymon, Titus, from Boccace. – Oratio Proverbialis to the Virgin, from Petrarch; Falkland to Sandys; Dryden’s Preface to the third vol. of Miscellanies.a

  ‘Oct. 16. Thursday. We saw the china at Seve, cut, glazed, painted. Bellevue, a pleasing house, not great: fine prospect. – Meudon, an old palace. – Alexander, in Porphyry: hollow between eyes and nose, thin cheeks. – Plato and Aristotle – Noble terrace overlooks the town. – St. Cloud. – Gallery not very high, nor grand, but pleasing. – In the rooms, Michael Angelo, drawn by himself, Sir Thomas More, Des Cartes, Bochart, Naudseus, Mazarine. – Gilded wainscot, so common that it is not minded. – Gough and Keene. – Hooke came to us at the inn. – A message from Drumgold.