A TOUR THROUGH SOME PARTS OF FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, SAVOY, GERMANY AND BELGIUM, DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1814.

BY THE HON. RICHARD BOYLE BERNARD, M.P.

Majora minorane famæ! HOR. Say are they less or greater than report!

London:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN. PATER NOSTER-ROW;

1815.

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT.

SIR,

Permit me to offer my most respectful thanks to Your Royal Highness, for the honor you have conferred upon me, by permitting the following pages to be inscribed to Your Royal Highness.

I beg at the same time to express my congratulations to Your Royal Highness on the late glorious events, which have distinguished Your Royal Highness's Government, which have restored to England the blessings of universal Peace, and will render the present æra ever memorable in History.

I have the Honor to be,
With the highest Respect,
Sir,
Your Royal Highness's
Obliged and most obedient Servant,
R.B. BERNARD.

PREFACE.

Had the following Pages required the exertion either of superior judgment, or of abstruse research, the Author is not sufficiently vain to have submitted them to the notice of the Public.

They are therefore not recommended to the perusal of the critical reader; as in fact, they contain merely the hasty observations suggested by the scenes he visited in the course of his Tour, together with a few occasional remarks, which he thought might be acceptable to the generality of readers: since notwithstanding the late increase of travellers, the numbers are still very great, who, being prevented by business, or deterred by the inconveniences of travelling, from visiting the Continent, might be disposed to pardon some inaccuracies, should they meet with a small portion either of amusement or information.

CONTENTS.

Page
CHAP. I.
Introduction—On the opening of the Continent—Departure from
London—Arrival in France—Different appearance of Things-Large
Bonnets—Custom House and Passports—Of Travelling in France—French
Dinners—Abbeville—Beauvais—Vines—Chantilly; its ruined
Appearance—St. Denis and its Abbey
1


CHAP. II.
Of the Approach to Paris—General Appearance of that City—Its
Bridges—Is inferior in Comfort to London—Settled at an
Hotel—Population of Paris—Its Markets—Badly supplied with
Water—Of its various Divisions and their Inhabitants—Palais
Royal—Gamblers—Police—English Papers—Rule to find one's Way
through Paris—The Tuilleries—The Louvre—Plans of Improvement
19


CHAP. III.
Visit to the Gallery of The Louvre and Museum—To the Luxemburg—To
the Royal Library—To the Palais des Beaux Arts—To the Church of
Notre Dame—To the Pantheon—Protestant Church and Congregation—Of
the Number of English in Paris—Column in the Place Vendôme—Gobelin
Manufactory—Post Office—Botanic Garden—Lady and her Dog—Story of
Dr. Moore—Of the Character of the Parisians—Their Loquacity—Of
the Legislative Body—Heat of the Weather—Champs Elysées—Quarter
of St. Antoine—Of the Revolution—Of the Boulevards—Of the
Restaurateurs—Of Ladies frequenting Coffee-houses, &c.
39


CHAP. IV.
The Invalides—Elevation of different Buildings—Buonaparte desirous of
Eclat—Champ de Mars—Place de Grenelle—Of the Plan of General Mallet
and his Execution—Visit to the Museum of French Monuments—Infidelity
of its Promoters—Of Colbert—Gardens of Tivoli—Great Numbers of
Military Officers in Public Places—Of the Capture of Paris by the
Allies—View of Paris from Montmartre—Vanity of the French—Their Love
of Novelty—The Emperor Alexander's Entry into Paris—Of the
Establishment of M. Delacroix—At the Tuilleries—Of the King—His
Regard for England—France still unsettled—Advice of Galba to
Piso—Curious Glass Stair Case—Of the French Theatres, and their
Italian Opera—Number of Bureau d'Ecrivains.
61


CHAP. V.
Visit to the Royal Palaces—St. Cloud—St.
Cyr—Malmaison—Versailles—Its Formality—Accuracy of Pope's
Description of the Old Style of Decoration—Comparison of Windsor
and Versailles—City of Versailles greatly
reduced—Trianon—Sèvres—Porcelain Manufactory—Barrier of
Passy—Of the Harvest—Castle of Vincennes—Few private Carriages at
Paris—Great Numbers of Fiacres and Cabriolets—Attend at the
Foreign Office for Passports to leave Paris—Arrive at
Fontainebleau—Memorable for the Abdication of
Buonaparte—Reflections on the Captivity and Character of the
Pope—Reflections on Buonaparte—At Montereau; Battle near the
Town—Sens—Auxerre—Description of the French Diligence—Dinners,
&c.
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