DR RIGBY'S LETTERS

LONDON : PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STKEET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET

DR RIGBY'S LETTERS

From France &c.

1789

EDITED BY HIS DAUGHTER

LADY EASTLAKE

LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1880

INTRODUCTION.
In the light of cotempdrary history, all contribu
tions, however humble, are valuable, and all pens,
however unpretending, acceptable. This may be
said to be especially the case with the history of
the French Revolution, on which inquiry is as in
satiable as materials seem to be interminable.
For this reason, I venture to publish the un
studied letters of my father, Dr. Edward Rigby,
who with three gentlemen, his travelling com
panions, Mr. Boddington, Mr. Morgan, and Mr.
Ollyett Woodhouse, entered Paris on the evening
of July 7, 1789. As educated Englishmen they were
aware of the troubled state of affairs in France —
though those were not considered sufficiently serious
to deter them from visiting the country — and had
observed signs of excitement on their way to Paris,
but they were little prepared for the events for
which their arrival in the capital had been so
exactly timed. My father was a Whig of the old
stamp ; ardent in all movements for reform and
enlightenment. His sympathies were therefore
entirely with a great and long-oppressed people,
struggling as he believed for the commonest

INTRODUCTION.

principles of just government. After a few days
in Paris, he and his companions proceeded to
Versailles, where the National Assembly was de
liberating, and where they heard Mirabeau, Target,1
La Fayette, and Lally de Tolendal speak. To the
two first-named leaders of the popular party the
travellers had letters of introduction. They failed,
however, to see Mirabeau in private, but from
T^arget they heard words ofjio_comm_on import as
a reflection of the convictions of the time. They
also saw Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette pass
through to the Chapel in the Trianon. But their
time was shortened. The communication between
Versailles and the Capital was threatened, and they
hurried back just before the road was closed by troops.
The travellers re-entered Paris on the after
noon of Sunday, July 12, only to witness events
which overwhelmed them successively with joy,
with pity, and with horror ; to convince themselves
that if the French people had all the furious passions
of an unreasoning and, as some think, purposely
excited rabble, they also possessed all the self-con
trol, foresight and organising powers of responsible
citizens ; to feel that Paris became more and more the
centre of a tremendous drama, — and finally, to ex
perience considerable personal difficulty in leaving it.
So far the account of these first days of an
epoch which, some will say, is not yet absolutely
closed, speaks for itself. The details, given as far
1 Target was a prominent member of the National
Assembly.

INTRODUCTION.

as an active and intelligent English gentleman
could hear and see for himself, and jotted down
every few hours, have the stamp of incontestable
evidence. They may be divided into two classes
— the facts he witnessed and the rumours he heard.
The first require no further confirmation ; the last
have been more or less corroborated or not by sub
sequent investigation. Taken altogether, they may
be said to confirm the impressions generally re
ceived of the outbreak of the Revolution. But it
is not so with other facts which appear in these
letters ; for my father's description of the state of
agriculture throughout a large area of France, and
of the apparent happiness of the peasantry — and
he passed through the length of the country up to
the Italian frontier — are at variance with the
general belief on both these points. For this
reason I feel it expedient to state briefly such
grounds, drawn from his life and character, as
prove him to have been not only qualified, but
singularly competent to form such opinions.
My father, Dr. Edward Rigby, was born 1747,
at Chowbent, in Lancashire, and educated at Dr.
Priestley's school at Warrington. Of his father I
know too little to speak with any certainty. His
mother was Sarah Taylor, daughter of Dr. Taylor,
a well-known Hebraicist, and compiler of the He
brew Concordance. Of her also no record has been
handed down to us, except that she was possessed
of great personal beauty. She died 1773, aged forty-
nine. He had two sisters, Mrs. Parry of Bath, mother

INTRODUCTION.

of the Polar navigator, and Mrs. Bunny of Newbury.
Through his mother he was connected with the
families of Taylor and Martineau, located chiefly
in Norwich : a circumstance which probably was
the cause of his coming to that city, where he
studied medicine under Mr. Norgate, and subse
quently settled as a physician. His relationship to
the Martineau family, whose ancestor escaped from
France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
may be said to have connected him with the per
secution of the Huguenots, which, in the judgment
of present history, was the primary cause of the
moral ruin of French society. It certainly con
tributed to the strong opinions he held against the
French Government, Church, and noblesse.
The date of my father's birth serves to show
the distance in time that separated him from his
second family, to the surviving members of which
the figure of the grand old man, from whom they
were properly kept much aloof, is but a dim
memory. This must account for the scantiness of
my knowledge regarding his youth, and even his
maturer and elderly years. The rank he occupied,
however, in intelligence and general attainments,
as well as in his special profession — in which his
works commanded a more than provincial repute
— is amply attested. He was endowed with that
healthy class of mind for which most moral and
intellectual subjects have interest. He was a
good classic scholar, a naturalist, a sound adminis
trator and a reformer of abuses' : the two latter as

INTRODUCTION.

evidenced by his activity as a magistrate, and by his
writings upon workhouses. He was a Whig of the
pld stamp, and so ardently interested in national
politics as to take, what was rarely then done in
Norwich, though acknowledged to be a city of
singular intelligence,1 a daily London Paper — the
' Morning Chronicle.' He was well acquainted
with the French language, and last, though not
least to the purpose of this introduction, he was a
practical and .enthusiastic farmer. A friendship for
Mr. Coke of Holkham, afterwards Earl of Leicester,
nourished this taste, and an estate of 300 acres,
five miles from Norwich, gave it ample exercise.
A small work called ' Holkham,' written by my
father, describing the annual festivity of sheep-
shearing, which lasted three days, when 600 guests
sat down to dinner — and setting forth the improve
ments introduced by the untiring energy and
philanthropy of Mr. Coke, by which land which
had been let for only three shillings an acre was
converted into a domain of unexampled fertility —
this small work is perhaps one of the only careful
and intelligent records remaining of these munificent
occasions. Another work, called after his own little
estate, ' Framingham ' — a name which occasionally
occurs in these letters — equally details the result
of the new system of farming upon a smaller scale.
Well do I remember the gigantic size of certain
Swedish turnips and mangel-wurzel laid on the
1 Norwich, with Worcester, was the first provincial town
which published a newspaper, the Norwich Postman, 1706.

INTRODUCTION.

lawn for the inspection of friends ; and especially a
certain monster cabbage conveyed to Norwich, on
which my feet rested as I sat between my father
and the coachman in his old-fashioned gig.
He also translated a work on Italian agriculture,
beautifully written by M. Chateauvieux, a French
gentleman well known in former Paris society,
which may be read with great interest to this day.
In addition to these, and to the works devoted to his
profession, he treated questions of the time, such as
' Malthus on the principle of population,' and ' The
rights of property in land,' in small opuscula, with
a clearness and freedom from prejudice in which he
was before his generation. He was thus not only in
the prime of his life and intelligence — forty- two years
of age — when he visited France, but singularly pre
pared to form a sound judgment on all he saw, and
certainly not least upon the state of the land in a
foreign country. Indeed, the motto of his life may
be said to have been ' Nihil agricultural melius.'
When, therefore, we find such passages as these
describing his first impressions — ' Lisle, July 5. —
The most striking character of the country through
which we passed yesterday is its astonishing
fertility. We went through an extent of seventy
miles, and I will venture to say there was not a single
acre but what was in a state of the highest cultiva
tion. The crops are great beyond any conception
I could have had of them — thousands and ten
thousands of acres of wheat superior to any that
can be produced in England.' Again, from Chantilly.

INTRODUCTION

' The cultivation of this country is indeed incredible.
We have travelled more than 200 miles, and have
not seen an inch that is not highly cultivated and
fertile.' 'To behold the face of the country, one
would suppose that a scarcity could never take
place. Everything we see bears the marks of
industry and cheerfulness.' 'The fertility of the
soil and the population of the towns and country
are astonishing.' And again, as to the aspect of the
peasantry, 'Everything bears the marks of industry,
and all the people look happy.' ' Cottagers in
England are certainly not so well off; I am sure
they do not look half so happy : ' — when we read
these, with many more remarks to the same
purport, from the pen of a well-qualified witness,
we are obliged to ask ourselves how such a picture
is compatible with that misery and starvation which
the French peasantry but too certainly endured
under the misrule of two of the worst and longest
reigns that history records ! How a people thus
described by a stranger as full of gaiety and in
telligence could be the descendants of a race who
' ate grass like sheep and died, like flies ' — how this
could be the same country where at the beginning
of the eighteenth century it was reckoned that six
millions had perished of hunger and destitution—
this the same land whole villages of which had in
1750 been abandoned to sterility ! '
Partial answers to these questions may be given
as follows. While my father's estimate of the high
1 See Taine's Origines tic la France Cotemporaine.

INTRODUCTION.

state of cultivation cannot be questioned, it must
be remembered that the tillage he saw was carried
on*under different conditions to those chiefly de
scribed by Arthur Young at the same period. In
stead of being conducted on the mitayer system,
which in France led to the neglect of the land and
to the misery of the peasant partner, the soil thus
cultivated belonged obviously to the peasant, and
thus possessed, in Arthur Young's words, ' that
magic of property which turns sand into gold.' At
the same time, the scrupulous cultivation which my
father describes was a proof not so much of the
prosperity of the holder as of conditions which
could not afford to leave an inch unturned. We
have also to remember that for about twenty years
previous to the outburst of the Revolution the bur
dens on the tiller of the soil had been alleviated,
and certain immunities, wrung from the necessities
of the time, granted.1 Also that while the Govern
ment and noblesse were rapidly approaching a state
of insolvency, the manufacturing classes were ac
quiring and diffusing wealth ; that the French
peasant, even when at the lowest ebb of his misery,
was seldom without a few hidden crowns — the
savings of hunger and rags — ready to take advan
tage of the necessities of his ' Seigneur,' and to
indulge the ruling instinct of his nature — the acqui
sition of land — and that in this way it is calculated
that he had gradually acquired the ownership of at
1 For instance, uncultivated land taken up remained
fifteen years free from tax : this was an edict of 1766.

INTRODUCTION.

least a quarter of the soil. And, further, we must
take account not only of the indefatigable industry
and frugality of the French lower classes, but also
of that providential law of Nature which enables
her to recover from neglect, as distinguished from
violence, with marvellous and most beneficent
rapidity. At all events, the reader will perceive
that my father was not one inclined to see things
merely couleur de rose. His short passage through
German territory shows this. There was no pre
existing reason why he should not have taken the
same favourable view of the German people and
their agriculture, as he did of that of the French.
If his means of judgment, from the rapidity with
which they travelled, were but superficial, they
were equally so for both lands alike.
As to the happiness of the lower classes, I am
far from equally claiming the infallibility of my
father's judgment on that score. The gaiety of
the people, it is true> would appear to have been
greater before the Revolution than it is now. For
this the incessant changes and vicissitudes they
have passed through may be partially the cause.
Nor can certain alterations in the laws be left out
of the account. That law which equalised the
division of property has increased the habits of self-
help and knowledge of business, but also increased
the cares and thoughtfulness of every man and
woman in France.1
1 Reasoning on this subject, Tocqueville says, ' II faut se
de"fier de la gaiete" que montre souvent le Frangais dans ses

INTRO D UCTION.

Another question remains to be answered,
namely, how it came to pass that a people thus par
tially relieved, a country thus redeemed — with its
long sinning ecclesiastics and noblesse ready to fore
go many of their pecuniary privileges, though not
others equally as unjust — and with high and low
unanimously agreed on the necessity of reforms —
how such a convulsion as the Revolution should
have occurred exactly when the causes that led to
it were in the act of subsiding. This question has
hitherto defied all who have endeavoured in any
categorical form to disentangle the web of cause
and effect, ignorance and mistake, suffering and
barbarity, heroism and cowardice which envelopes
and obscures the subject. If, as we have said, it is
one on which inquiry is insatiable and materials
interminable, it may also be added — and solution
impossible. Concessions and reforms, a guileless King, a
noble Queen, no sacrifices within the powers, or
expedients within the knowledge of those who then
ruled, could have arrested, it may be said, the in
exorable march of that evil so long and so persist
ently invoked, and now due. Who shall say to
the overcharged spirit of long outraged humanity,
' So far shalt thou rend, and no further ' ? Only the
French Revolution could have taught its own pos-
plus grands maux ; elle prouve seulement que, croyant sa
mauvaise fortune inevitable, il cherche a s'en dislraire en
n'y pensant point, et non qu'il ne la sent pa.s.'—L'ancien
Regime, p. 205.

INTRODUCTION.

sibility. Those who lived before it belonged to a
different class of reasoners to those who have lived
since. Even with the power of judging after the
event, we remain stupefied rather than enlightened
at the spectacle. Yet, if the awful convulsion
burst forth just when measures were being taken
for its prevention, it did but follow in that respect
the course of natural law, namely, as to time ; for
nations, like individuals, are appointed to suffer for
what they have been, rather than for what they are.
And equally is it appointed that the innocent, ' to
the third and fourth generation,' should suffer for
the guilty. Were it otherwise — did the penalty
only fall where it is due — the crimes committed in
popular excesses would have a colour of justifica
tion. We are told that it was Voltaire, Rousseau,
Diderot, and, generally speaking, the irreligious
philosophers of the eighteenth century, who pro
duced the Revolution ; but this only brings us to
the next question. What produced them ? But,
granting that the reforms needed were such as
could be effected only by the overthrow of the
whole social structure, why should they have been
accompanied with outrages and atrocities disgrace
ful to humanity ; which have made the French
Revolution a horror and a byeword ? To a certain
degree, it must be admitted that these atrocities,
weighed relatively with the causes that led to them,
have assumed an undue preponderance.
If the enormities of the ' Terror,' and the enor
mities of the ' Ancien Regime,' as to intensity and
a

INTRODUCTION.

duration of suffering, numbers of those sacrificed,
and innocence of the victims, were read side by side
in double columns, there can be no doubt which
columns would be the blackest. The annals of
human oppression and human misery which such
writers as Tocqueville, Lanfrey, and Taine have,
during latter years, laid bare, have for the first
time placed us in a position to form impartial
judgment.1 Even Burke, in his ' Reflections on the
French Revolution,' was totally misled in his pre
mises ; for he judged the upper, and what he
considered the governing classes by the English
standard. But in France all knowledge and habit of
governing on the part of the noblesse was entirely
wanting. They had bartered the real importance
and dignity of high position for the contemptible
privilege of exemption from burthens which they
threw on the poor. The oppression they had thus
exercised for generations proved, by a natural law
of retribution, their own destruction ; it rendered
1 ' Le monde qui a precede" la revolution francaise est
presque aussi difficile k retrouver et k comprendre, que les
epoques ante"diluviennes. Le cataclysme de notre revolution
n'a laisse" que des de"bris recouverts par le nouveau sol, et
qu'il faut retirer dela, un a un, pour en rdcomposer un monde
a jamais detruit. En conside"rant toutes les choses que
m'apprend cette e"tude preliminaire, et toutes les pense"es
qu'elle me suggere, je crois m'apercevoir que ce qui a le plus
manque" a ceux qui ont voulu parler de la revolution franchise
et meme du temps present, ce sont des idees vraies et justes
sur ce qui avait pre'ce'de".'— Letter to Mrs. Grote, CEuvres de
Tocqueville, vol. ii. p. 243.

INTRODUCTION.

them impervious to the first laws of cause and effect,
and deprived them of all power of political calcula
tion. The short-sighted selfishness of those who
sow such storms leaves them utterly unprepared
for the whirlwind. They fell before it without a
struggle. Thus Evil was left to triumph, simply
because Good, such as it was, was helpless. It had
not even arguments in its own defence ; for Arthur
Young calls attention to the fact that while pens
innumerable poured forth seditious pamphlets as
many as ninety in a week, not a pen moved on the
side of a Government which first despised and then
collapsed before the enemy. It would seem there
fore, by a fatal and self-created necessity, that evil
in such extreme cases is destined only to be over
come with evil. The French Revolution began by
the hands of Patriots, Philanthropists, and Enthu
siasts, but it ended in those of the Fates and the
Furies. As regards my father's letters from parts of
Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, his movements
were too rapid to enable him to form little more
than a passive judgment on the character of the
landscape and the appearance of the people. Still,
the cursory impressions, independent of guides and
handbooks, ninety years ago, even of things now
familiar, have a freshness of interest which in this
instance is their only recommendation.
I will add a plea for my father's style. That it
should sound occasionally somewhat old-fashioned
after such a lapse of time, needs no explanation.

xviii INTRODUCTION.
The peculiarity of his writing consists rather in the
ardent expressions on all subjects connected either
with the freedom and happiness, or the oppression
and misery of the human race. This was partly the
result of his own generous and enthusiastic tem
perament ; partly also the effects of the time. It
must be remembered that when he wrote, that
movement of reform in England which is now
taken as a matter of course had hardly begun to
stir ; and accordingly, in proportion to the slowness
of what we now call ' Progress ' was the impatience
and warmth of spirit which characterised those who
were its earliest advocates. It may safely be
affirmed that few men responded to the needs and
wrongs of their fellow-creatures with greater sym
pathy, or anticipated future improvements with
truer insight, than he whose private letters now for
the first time see the light. At the same time, I am
well aware that far from helping us to comprehend
the spectacle which France presented in 1789, they
only add fresh evidence of the intricacy and diffi
culty of the subject.1
1 Dr. Rigby's letters were addressed to his first wife
and to their two daughters, long since deceased.

DR RIGBY'S LETTERS
FROM FRANCE &c.
IN 1789

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

Dover : Thursday Evening, July 2. 1789.
My dear Loves, — Having been detained in
London a little while, we were not able to get
to this place till this evening, and are under
the necessity of lodging here. The day has
been throughout fine, and we have had a
most pleasant journey. The road between
Canterbury and Dover is very beautiful —
small swelling hills well covered with wood.
About two miles from Dover a beautiful
valley opened upon us, which terminated in a
view of the Castle of Dover, the sea beyond
it, and the distant coast of France. This
was a most striking picture. Dover is sin
gularly situated ; a large straggling town built
under the chalk cliffs which overhang the
ocean. The cliffs here are in the form of
an amphitheatre or crescent, and the land
B 2

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

below them has evidently been once covered
with water. The cliffs being white are
striking objects, but I don't think they are
higher or more romantic looking than those -
at Mundsley, on the Norfolk coast. We have
just had a most delightful walk on the beach,
which is not, as at Yarmouth, sand, but small
pebbles; the yellow-horned poppy grows
abundantly among the pebbles, and is cer
tainly more supported by what it derives from
above than from what it grows in. We wan
dered about till we lost daylight, but there
being a good moon the scene became still
more pleasing ; the wind was still, the sea
smooth, the slowly moving waves gently
breaking on the shore. My companions were
well disposed to enjoy such a scene, and our
gratification was much increased by Morgan's
admirable remarks on the formation of the
earth, the changes which this globe has un
dergone, the constant fluctuation of the sea,
and such subjects. Though I have already
had great enjoyment from this short expedi
tion, I begin to feel that my pleasure will in
every instance be lessened by not having you
with me. We have settled with the master

ARRIVAL AT CALAIS.

of the ' Nymph ' packet, and expect to set
sail at five in the morning.
Friday Morning, July 3. — A beautiful day ;
now half-past five. A favourable breeze has
sprung up and we must be off. The sea is very
fine, and if ever there can be a sail without
danger, ours must be so. I wrote above that
the cliffs here were not higher than those at
Mundsley, but I find on inquiry they are higher
— some of them 360 feet from the sea.
9 o'clock. — We came on board at six ;
several other packets were preparing to sail.
The one we are in is a very neat vessel,
properly fitted up for passengers ; cabin fur
nished with beds. The day being fine, the
wind moderate, and the sea smooth, there is
no probability of any of us being sick. We
took some provision on board from the Ship
tavern at Dover, but though most exorbi
tantly dear, tongue \s. and chicken 2s. 6d.,
they were not eatable, therefore the Captain
favoured us with some tea, though not very
good. I drank a basin of it. The coast of
France now lies before us.
Calais. — At twelve o'clock we set foot on
the French shore, which is flat, and the beach

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

very sandy. We were becalmed about four
miles from Calais, but a pilot boat came out to
us and we were rowed into the harbour by
five merry and active Frenchmen. One had
an earring in his ear, another a ring on his
finger. A number of waiters from different
inns met us ; we preferred the Silver Lion,
and the waiter immediately marched before
us. As we went we soon found a difference
in the appearance of the people, especially of
the women. Those of the lower class seem
uncommonly strong and muscular ; their legs
are quite naked, with neither shoe nor stock
ing ; and those who have shoes and stockings
have petticoats no less short, but they are
used to it, and do not blush. We were
stopped at the Bureau, or Custom House, to
write our names in a book which is shown to
the chief magistrate. Calais is a better place
than I expected, and I am still more surprised
at the populousness of the place ; at least the
streets are full, perhaps because it is a fine day.
A girl is just come into the room, dressed, I
suppose, as the girls here have been for many
years — a cap with two wings or blinkers, the
hair little seen, no curls on the sides or hang-

FRENCH SOLDIERS.

ing locks behind. Her jacket, too, is singular,
but I cannot describe it. She has two long
pendants at the ears, a necklace, and a
shining cross in front. The carriage and
trunks are not yet arrived, nor will they be
till to-morrow, so we must stay here all night,
but hope to have no more obstacles after to-day.
We dined here at three o'clock, had mackerel
dressed d la Francaise; the other dishes
English, the beer bad, but the French wine
good, and the Burgundy excellent. About six
we walked to the port to see our packet
come in. Much company on the Jetty, many
boys bathing ; they asked for un petit far din ;
women were fishing. . . . Walked on the ram
parts, where we saw three regiments of soldiers,
fine, strong fellows ; when on guard very clean,
but at exercise not so neat as English soldiers.
They did not all wear the same coloured stock
ings. There was a large crucifix near one of the
gates and several women praying before it.
The streets were crowded, and great numbers
were returning from the country before the
gates were shut ; some smart women well-
dressed a I ' Anglaise. After our supper we
walked by moonlight on the ramparts, and

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

were stopped by a soldier who called out
tournez. The streets still full of walkers,
particularly women and children, all gay and
cheerful. The population is considerable,
consisting of 11,000 inhabitants, besides
soldiers, sailors, and strangers. I shall write
very often, but it must be uncertain whether
you can receive my letters regularly. Pray
continue your walks every evening. If it be
as fine with you as it is here, I am sure you
must enjoy it much after the bad weather.
Is the hay up ? and is that behind the house
begun to be cut ? God bless you. E. R.
Lisle : Sunday Morning, five o'clock, July 5, 1789.
My dear Loves, — We are just risen, and
a very unusual, and to us new scene is before
us. We are at Lisle, in French Flanders—
at the principal inn, Hotel de Bourbon, in a
room which looks into the market. There is
scarcely an object but what differs entirely
from those I have been accustomed to. In
Norwich, at this hour, one perhaps might see
here and there a single person walking
through the market, here it has been crowded
for an hour or two. Men and women, soldiers,

FRENCH POSTS AND ROADS. 9
chaises, and waggons going backwards and
forwards — some, I believe, going to church,
others coming to market — many I suppose
walking for the sake of the air merely. I can
see hundreds of women, but all without hats.
But I must return to Calais. We left it
yesterday at six o'clock ; we had two French
postilions and six horses, or rather five horses
and a mule. These animals are here in a
state of nature, with long tails, long manes,
rough heels, and the harness made of ropes.
An Englishman, therefore, is sure to abuse
them ; but we found they went very well, a
steady pace, about seven miles an hour, with
out being whipped or seeming much fatigued.
The postilions, indeed, have whips which
they crack very loudly, throwing them dexter
ously backwards and forwards over their
heads ; but they use them as the guards do
the horns on the mail coaches in England, to
give notice, when near a town, to make way
for the Poste royale ; for all the posts here
belong to the King. We were told to expect
nothing but rough paved roads. They are
paved in some places, but in others as good.
as English turnpikes. Very near Calais the

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

country is flat, and there is a good deal of
pasture land, but full of small villages and
cottages. Trees are everywhere planted on
each side — willows, elms, Lombardy poplars,
&c. The most striking character of the
country through which we passed yesterday
is its astonishing fertility. We went through
an extent of seventy miles, and I will venture
to say there was not a single acre but what
was in a state of the highest cultivation. The
crops are great beyond any conception I
could have had of them — thousands and ten
thousands of acres of wheat superior to any
which can be produced in England ; oats ex
traordinarily large. There is also an immense
quantity of beans, a good deal of flax, some
tobacco, and woad (I satis tinctorid). We were
told at Calais of the scarcity of corn, but there
is no appearance of it here. To behold the
face of this country one would suppose a
scarcity could never take place ; but when we
come into the towns the crowds are so
immense that a prodigious quantity of corn
must be consumed. We passed through St
Omer at ten o'clock, a large, strongly fortified
town of 24,000 inhabitants. We called at a

SIGNS OF PROSPERITY.

convent to see Miss Hatfield — a poor place.
The roads are not only planted with trees,
but in some places, for miles, are in straight
lines, which is not very pleasant. They go
on in a line from one village to another, so
that when we leave one we immediately see
the church of another at the extremity of the
vista. The roads were full of people, carriages,
carts, waggons, &c. The general appearance
of the people is different to what I expected ;
they are strong and well made. We saw
many most agreeable scenes as we passed along
in the evening before we came to Lisle ; little
parties sitting at their doors ; some of the
men smoking, some playing at cards in the
open air, and others spinning cotton. Every
thing we see bears the mark of industry, and
all the people look happy. We have, indeed,
seen few signs of opulence in individuals, for
we do not see so many gentlemen's seats as
in England, but then we have seen few of the
lower classes in rags, idleness, and misery.
What strange prejudices we are apt to take
regarding foreigners ! I will own I used to
think that the French were a trifling, insignifi
cant people, that they were meagre in their

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

appearance, and lived in a state of wretched
ness from being oppressed by their superiors.
What we have already seen contradicts this,1
the men are strong and athletic, and the face
of the country shows that industry is not dis
couraged. The women, too — I speak of the
lower class, which in all countries is the
largest and most useful — are strong and well-
made, and seem to do a great deal of labour,
especially in the country. They carry great
burdens, and seem to be employed to go to
market with the produce of the fields and
gardens on their backs. An Englishwoman
would, perhaps, think this hard, but the
cottagers in England are certainly not so well
off; I am sure they do not look so happy.
These women, with large and heavy baskets
at their backs, have all very good caps on,
their hair powdered, earrings, necklaces, and
crosses. We have not yet seen one with a
hat on. What strikes me most in what I
have seen is the wonderful difference between
this country and England. I don't know
what we may think by-and-by, but at present
1 'Observe that this was written in French Flanders.'
— Note by Dr. Rigby.

LISLE. 13
the difference seems to be in favour of the
former ; if they are not happy, they look at
least very like it. We came to Lisle at
eight o'clock in the evening, and were, as
usual, astonished at the crowds in the streets.
This is a very large place, the capital of
French Flanders, and the residence of many
genteel families. It is a fortified town with
many soldiers, about 10,000, well-dressed and
good-looking fellows. We have had an ex
cellent breakfast with coffee. A valet de
place attended us to the citadel. The fortifi
cations are strong and extensive, with gardens
in the ditches, cultivated by the soldiers with
vegetables. The soldiers are very clean ; so
far from being meagre and ill-looking fel
lows, as John Bull would persuade us, they
are well formed, tall, handsome men, and
have a cheerfulness and civility in their coun
tenances and manner which is particularly
pleasing. They likewise look very healthy ;
great care is taken of them. It began to
rain, and we took a coach and went to St.
Peter's Church during mass. The building,
the rich ornaments of the priests, the music,
-&c, were very striking. The musical instru-

14 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
ments were principally basses and double
basses, serpents, &c, but no organ ; being
very loud they think it would injure the
building. We have also been to two convents,
at one of them the nuns were at mass ; a very
melancholy sight in my opinion, yet they did
not seem unhappy, I had an unsealed letter
from Mr. Suffield to the Abbe Moore, but it
contains such extravagant praises of me that
I had not the impudence to deliver it. The
shops were now all open, and the people as
busy as on another day. Sunday, indeed,
seems to differ only in having more amuse
ment. Religion, one would think, is little
understood — the people said their prayers
with great indifference and hurry, appearing
eager to finish them. Had they a little more
devotion in the churches, I should much ap
prove the gay and cheerful manner in which
their Sundays are spent, for I am sure it con
tributes to their happiness.
Chantilly : Tuesday Morning, July y, 1789.
My dear Loves, — My last was dated from
Lisle, which we left at two o'clock, and about
six o'clock were at Douay, where Master

DOUAY AND CAMBRAY. 15
Pitchford is. His college1 is a very excellent
one, and Mr. Gibson, the president, to whom
I had a letter, a very polite and sensible man.
Douay is an university, and contains as many
scholars as Oxford. Like the other towns,
it was full of inhabitants ; it is fortified and
well built. Between Lisle and Douay were
many parties merrily dancing in the evening.
Cambray was the next town ; another very
large and fortified place ; many old houses,
but also many good buildings. There was a
large one erecting in the Grande Place as large
as Somerset House.2 Cambray is an arch
bishop's see, and in the cathedral is shown
the tomb of the celebrated Fenelon, author of
' Telemachus.' We visited this by candlelight,
owing to the importunity of a Frenchman
who stood near the door of the hotel. We
had reason to thank him for his importunity.
The cathedral3 is here beyond description
grand, if the most massive silver can make it
so. We supped and lodged here. We like
the French living much; their cooking is
1 The English college.
3 The present Hotel de Ville.
3 The Cathedral at Cambray and the tomb of Fenelon
were both destroyed in 1793.

16 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
admirable ; such fricassees as would delight a
Norwich alderman. Yesterday we travelled
more than ninety miles with perfect ease ; the
roads are most excellent, the horses are good
for travelling, I really think better than the
English, but they are all rough, with long
manes and tails, and no trimmed or cropped
ears, which I believe makes the English abuse
them. We passed through a most delightful
country, for here it begins to be more varied
than in Flanders. The cultivation of this
country is indeed incredible, we have tra
velled 200 miles through it, and not seen an
inch but which is highly cultivated and fertile.
The agriculture is chiefly done by women.
All the land is weeded by hand. They sow
carrots with wheat, and draw up the stubble
by hand, leaving a tolerable crop of carrots ;
an extraordinary instance of industry. I am
sure these people have the means of happi
ness ; everything we see bears the marks
of industry and cheerfulness. The women
we saw yesterday are much handsomer
than those we before noticed. At a place
called Royes they are. indeed strikingly beau
tiful, and almost every woman we saw might

BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AT ROYES. 17
be an object of admiration. Their dress is
charmingly simple, their heads very neatly
covered ; their faces full of sweet smiles —
they seem to have the simplicity of nature
and innocence. They told us the water is so
good at Royes that it makes them all hand
some. We opened the landau to-day, and
for the last twelve miles passed through a
forest which has been planted many centuries
ago by the hand of Nature. It belongs to
the Prince de Conde, cousin to the King, and
is the undisturbed residence of deer, wild
boar, pheasants, and all kinds of game. It
brought us to the Palace of Chantilly, which
is not unworthy of such an approach. France
seems to be a wonderful country : I wish you
were all here with me to enjoy the variety of
pleasures it is likely to afford me. I am sure
travelling is capable of affording more than
amusement ; it is the greatest source of
information and improvement, and is the
only thing that can remove prejudices, which,
I begin to think, exist as plentifully among
my countrymen as elsewhere. But I must
conclude. Your affectionate, E. R.

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

Paris : Thursday morning, July 9, 1789.
My dear Loves, — I resume from Tuesday.
After breakfast we went to visit the Prince
de Conde' s chateau and gardens. The latter
are very extensive, but are laid out in a very
bad taste : long, straight walks, pieces of
water artificially confined by stone walls —
cascades, rocks, fountains, &c, which cost a
great deal of money, but produce no effect,
being unnatural and very ill-placed. There
are some capital trees, the production of
Nature only, the largest black poplars I ever
saw. The chateau, or palace, is a large pile
of stone building : it is actually placed in the
water. It contains some truly magnificent
apartments, but throughout the whole too
much gilding and finery. There is also a
Museum of Natural History, which gave us
much pleasure ; the minerals are extremely
well arranged. Monsieur Bomare, a cele
brated naturalist, who has written many
things, has the care of this valuable treasure ;
he was there, and finding we were English
and knew something of mineralogy, was very
attentive to us. . . . The stables belonging

ARRIVAL IN PARIS. 19
to this palace are more magnificent than the
house. They were full of English horses, of
which the Prince is very fond. Chantilly
upon the whole is a charming place. The
vast woods round it, and the open parks
which are accessible to everybody, are charm
ing spots. The Regiment de Provence passed
through Chantilly on Tuesday, on its way to
Paris — a fine regiment, but the men seemed
a little tired. We arrived at Paris on Tues
day evening, and were not detained by the
commis at the gate, but gave him 2s. 6d.
Though in the course of our journey from
Calais we went seldom more than one hundred
yards without seeing some people, yet when
we approached Paris we did not observe the
crowds which fill the roads in the vicinity of
London ; but the streets make up for it, being
everywhere full of carriages and persons
walking. We took lodgings at the Grand
Hotel of the Palais Royal — much like
Osborne's in London, where we were when
we returned from Bath, but I think dearer
and cleaner. We also hired a coach for the
week at five louis. We walked in the Palais
Royal, which is a large square lately built by
c 2

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

the Duke d' Orleans, full of shops. The
square in the middle is divided by trees into
walks, which were full of people. Our first
visit was to Mr. Dallas, a polite and intelli
gent man, who went with us to many places
we could not have thought of. We saw the
manufactory of tapestry at the Gobelins,
where the most valuable paintings are accu
rately copied in worsted. The colours of the
worsted are beautifully vivid and all dyed in
an adjoining office, where I observed to the
workmen that I supposed their excellent
method of dyeing was a secret. They said it
was not so : their only art consisted in cleanli
ness and accuracy. ' Every article is carefully
weighed and measured, and our implements,'
pointing to the coppers, &c, 'are clean.'
Amongst others there was an admirable copy
of Raphael's celebrated School of Athens.
The churches we visited were modern build
ings, none so large as St. Paul's. We dined
at a coffee-house in the Palais Royal, rather
cheaper than in London, and in the evening
went to the Theatre Italien. The form of
the house is different to those in London;
like an amphitheatre ; the entrance and differ-

THEATRE ITALIEN.

ent approaches to the boxes were very commo
dious, and superior to those in London, but
it was not so well lighted, nor the company
so well dressed. Two pieces were acted, the
first was Le petit Souper de Famille, very
insipid but full of sentiment, and the French
applauded it highly : the other was Richard
Cceur de Lion, some good songs in it, and
better acting. It was very instructive to
observe the accurate pronunciation of the
words, and even of the syllables, so that with
the help of a book we could very well under
stand. We afterwards walked to the Boule
vards ; these are much frequented walks which
surround the city ; there are many good houses
on them. July 9. We visited the church of Notre
Dame, a very beautiful Gothic building,
richly ornamented, with many chapels and
paintings, and much fine carving in wood ii?
the choir. From the top of this church we
had a complete bird's-eye view of Paris — not
so large as London, but the buildings being
of stone, and white, the effect is more striking.
We have now seen enough of Paris to be
convinced that it is not that dirty, ill-built,

22 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
inconvenient place, which our ill-tempered
countrymen have described it. There are
more magnificent buildings than in London ;
all the places worth seeing are likewise more
accessible than in London ; it costs less to
be admitted, and many may be seen without
paying anything. The people, too, are very
communicative. I own, I am disposed to
think very highly of this people. Everyone
is talking politics. Papers are sold at the
corners of the streets, and large parties are
constantly in the Palais Royal, earnestly talk
ing. 'Les Tiers Iitats' is the popular cry.
In the morning our carriage was stopped by
some men, who were paving the street. On
looking in, they said, ' Laissez-les passer ; ils
sont Messieurs des Tiers Mtats.' We are to
go to Versailles in a few days, where we
expect to hear the Debates in the National
Assembly, which will be a great gratification
at so very important a period. After seeing
Notre Dame, we visited the Arsenal, but
could not get permission to see the Place
d'Armes. The celebrated M. Lavoisier1
1 This great man was guillotined in the prime of his life,
May 1794.

MANUFACTORY OF PLATE GLASS. 23
lives in a handsome hotel near. I had a
letter to him, from Dr. Priestley, but he was
engaged on urgent business. In the arsenal,
nitre is purified for gunpowder, under the
direction of M. Lavoisier. We saw some
beautiful crystals of nitre. We thence went
to the manufactory of plate glass, which is a
most extensive business. We saw plates of
a very large size, and the application with tin
the same as in England, but being on a larger
scale, it seems to be done with more accuracy.
We also saw the Bastille, a formidable build
ing. We dined at a table d'hote, and had
an excellent dinner, with wine and fruit, at
is. Sd. each. In the evening, we went again
to the Theatre Italien, and saw Madame
du Gazon, in the Barbe bleue. It was
altogether a fine specimen of the bad taste of
the French drama ; but Madame du Gazon
has certainly great power, and a fine voice.
She managed the shriek on opening the closet
door, and seeing her predecessors hanging,
admirably well. We supped with Mr. Dallas,
and walked in the Palais Royal, between
eleven and twelve; it was full of people,
agitated and talking politics.

24 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
July io. We visited the Bibliotheque
du Roi, an admirable establishment. We
also went to the Hotel-Dieu, which is very
dirty and crowded, containing 8,000 patients.
The best ward is for stone patients. In the
evening we went to the Opera. Some of the
scenes were showy, and we saw extraordinary
dancing by Vestris, but the whole was tedious
and uninteresting. We are all perfectly well,
and have found no inconvenience of any kind
since we left England, except bugs, of which
my companions complain, but I have escaped
entirely. Yours affectionately, E. R.
Paris : Monday morning, July 13, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Lest any alarming
accounts of the unhappy commotions which
have taken place in this city should have
reached you before you receive this, I must
begin my letter with assuring you, that we
are all perfectly safe and quite out of harm's
way. I need not inform you of the unsettled
state in which the French Government has
been for some time. After various disputes

SYMPTOMS OF REVOLUTION. 25
which have subsisted between the popular
party and the friends of the old establish
ment, a very serious disturbance took place
yesterday. A favourite minister, M. Necker, retired
on Saturday, and as soon as it was known in
Paris the popular party, who had for some
time past daily assembled in the Palais Royal,
met in large bodies, and sent a deputation to
all the theatres and places of public amuse
ment, which, it being Sunday, were all open,
to request they would not exhibit, as they
conceived the friends of freedom had received
a severe blow by the departure of the
minister. For about a week, large bodies of
troops .have entered Paris, and encamped
themselves in a plain within the city; but
many of them left the camp and came to the
populace, and took an oath, that whatever
should happen, they would not fire on their
countrymen. About seven last night, an
alarm was spread that some soldiers had
attacked a party of the citizens. This was
unfortunately believed, and it was resolved
that they should arm themselves, and request

26 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
that the soldiers favourable to them should
incorporate themselves with them. This was
soon done, but, as you may believe, in so
tumultuous a manner as to alarm the peace
able citizens. A great number of the soldiers
did join them, and they have been parading
the streets all night ; some mischief they say
has been done, from the confusion of crowds.
We have heard a great deal of noise, but
there can be no danger to those who are with
in doors, and it is hoped that a few hours will
restore peace ; for great confidence is placed in
the National Assembly, who met yesterday as
soon as it was known that M. Necker was
gone. I am not able to give any opinion as
to the present state of politics. All that I
can do is to lament that an enlightened and
amiable people should be involved in public
calamities. You may rely on our discretion
with regard to ourselves ; we have all left
friends in England whom we love too well to
risk anything for the sake of gratifying what
to us must be mere curiosity. We hope to
leave Paris to-day, and shall write from the
next post ; but as the posts are very irregular,
don't be frightened if you should not hear

UNHAPPY STATE OF PARIS.

immediately. I must again repeat that we
will take care of ourselves. God bless you.
E. R.
Paris : Thursday morning, July 16, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Having this moment
heard that there is a chance of a letter going
to England, I wish to inform you, that we
are perfectly well, and have received no other
inconvenience from the present unhappy
state of Paris than being delayed a few
days longer than we proposed. I have not
yet had your letters, and they are probably
gone to Lyons. Be assured that we will take
care of ourselves ; there is every reason to
believe all danger is over from this time.
Yours affectionately, E. R.
Paris : Saturday morning, July 18, 1789.
My dear Loves, — The interruption of the
post, occasioned by the late disturbances in
this city, may probably have prevented your
receiving several of my letters. I hope,
however, that the last, which I wrote on
Thursday, will have arrived, and that you
will have become easy with respect to me.

28 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
I have been witness to the most extra
ordinary revolution that perhaps ever- took
place in human society. A great and wise
people struggled for freedom and the rights of
humanity ; their courage, prudence and per
severance have been rewarded by success,
and an event which will contribute to the
happiness and prosperity of millions of
their posterity, has taken place with very
little loss of blood, and with but few days
interruption to the common business of the
place. The particulars of this wonderful
event, which I have been witness to, have
made a lasting impression on my mind, and
it will be among my greatest pleasures when
I return to give you a detail of them.
Before we came to Paris we had sufficient
proof that the French were not that ignorant
and trifling people which our countrymen
have so often represented them. Nothing
could more effectually have confirmed this
opinion than the" scene which has been
before us for the last six days. Such
presence of mind, such cool intrepidity, such
an admirable arrangement, such care to
prevent disturbances in the streets, and such

HOPES OF RESULTS OF REVOLUTION. 29
general attention and kindness to strangers,
were never, perhaps, before exercised at one
time by so many thousand persons, suddenly
called to arms on an occasion, of all others,
the most likely to call forth the ruder and
more violent passions. I shall always feel
the strongest partiality for the people, and I
hope that in no future time the wrong-headed
politics of our country will oblige us to con
sider them as our enemies. To the eye of
the moralist and philosopher the prospect of
the effect of this Revolution on science, man
ners and human happiness, can but be most
gratifying. The population of this country
is so great, and the inhabitants, even when
living under many disadvantages, have given
such proofs of their industry and ingenuity,
that it is inconceivable to what a height of
improvement with regard to knowledge and
wealth they will arrive when they are at liberty
to exercise the powers of the mind, and secure
to enjoy its fruits. We have been detained
here a week longer than we expected, and
this will prove a little inconvenient on our
future journey. But all this is compensated
by the satisfaction of having been here at a

30 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
period of such extraordinary importance.
We are very well. I hope I shall soon be
able to resume the narrative of our journey.
Write to me at Geneva, poste restante.
Yours affectionately, E. R.
(The last letters show that my father had
not time, or did not think it prudent, to enter
into the details of what he had witnessed till
he should have quitted France. He and his
companions left Paris on July 19, and travelled,
via Lyons, Marseilles, Nice, and over the
Col di Tenda to Turin, returning over the
Mont Cenis to Geneva, whence, in a long
letter, dated August 11, he addressed to his
family a circumstantial account of his experi
ence during the critical days in Paris. I divert
this letter from its place as to real date, feeling
that it may be more properly inserted here.
I have also interpolated it with passages
from a brief journal he kept, whenever I
have felt that this journal either contributes
fresh interest to the narrative, or is more
interesting than the letter itself.)
My dear Loves, — The general circum-

RETROSPECT OF EVENTS. 31
stances which led to the late revolution in
France, and the principles which actuated the
people in effecting it, you are probably in
some measure acquainted with ; but many
events which immediately preceded this ex
traordinary change in the government must be
totally unknown to you, and even those you
may have read some account of in the English
papers, I have reason to think have been
very imperfectly related. To supply in
some degree this deficiency, and to fulfil a
promise I made to you in some of my former
letters, I shall give you a hasty sketch of what
I was in part a witness of, and of what I in
part received from report in Paris, in the
already memorable period between the 10th
and 19th of the last month.
We arrived in Paris at the beginning of
July. Sometime previous to this, symptoms
of agitation in the public mind had appeared
throughout the whole of France ; a general
-discontent, by degrees more and more loudly
expressed by the people, had manifested
itself ; a disposition also to hazard extreme
measures for obtaining redress from the
burden of taxes, and the oppressions of the

32 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
Government had been too repeatedly and un
equivocally declared by the great mass of
society not to be understood by the Court * of
France. Partial disturbances in different
provinces had already been the consequence
of this state of the public mind ; and Paris
being the focus which received the rays
reflected from every spot in that extensive
country, and Versailles the residence of the
King and the more immediate seat of govern
ment, each were more particularly the scenes
of these popular agitations.
One of the most considerable of them
took place at Versailles, a fortnight before our
arrival. Necker had been dismissed by the
1 Mr. Croker, in his ' Essays on the French Revolution,'
ridicules the idea of ascribing the malgovernment of France
to the Court, and treats it as a vulgar catchword to incrimi
nate an innocent and humane monarch, whom this same
Court readily forsook. But it must be remembered that the
long dominant and execrable system, by which France had
been ruled, had deeply imbued the popular mind with that
conviction, and that the whole Revolution turned upon it.
They had had reason sufficient to believe that the Noblesse,
the Court, and the Government were one and the same
power, and that power the source of all their miseries. In
the words of Taine, ' La Cour e"tait le tombeau de la Nation.'
(( Origines de la France cotemporaine,' p. 93.) It was in this
popular sense that my father used the word, it being the sense
in which he found it used.

PARISIAN POPULACE AT VERSAILLES. 33
mistaken policy of the Court, who falsely and
fatally thought itself in most danger when it
retained a minister who had the reputation of
being a friend to the popular cause. On this
event being known at Paris a large body
of the people proceeded to Versailles, and
approached the palace with loud demands for
the restoration of their favourite minister.
The Count d' Artois, who was in the palace,
answered in the way most obvious to his
comprehension ; he ordered the guards to fire
upon the people. The guards, however, re
fused ; the people pressed forward, and
Louis XVI. with the Queen and the Dauphin
came to the window or balcony, where he not
only promised that Necker should be restored,
but solemnly pledged his royal word that the
deliberations of the Assembly should not be
disturbed, and that he would impose no taxes
without the consent of that body. The
people were satisfied with this declaration
and returned to Paris, loudly proclaiming the
royal goodness and the important concession
made to their demands.j In the same light
was this transaction considered in most parts
of France. It was the subject of universal
D

34 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
satisfaction and joy, and was celebrated as a
great political event in some places by a
public display of festivity. The evening
before our arrival at Calais the houses of
that city had been illuminated on this occasion,
and we were congratulated by the good host
of the inn that we should find Paris perfectly
free from disturbance.
But our good host, as well as his brethren,
were rather too confident in royal promises.
They should have recollected that the circum
stances under which they were made not a
little took from the character of a free-will
offering. Necker, however, was restored, but
on our way to Paris we found sufficient
evidence that the King's promise was not to
be fully kept, and we found also person^ who
had the frankness to avow that it neither
would nor ought to be kept. For, in a conver
sation with an English priest of the Catholic
Church, we repeated the congratulations
respecting the tranquillity of Paris and the
concessions of the King which had been made
to us at Calais ; his answer was, that he knew
nothing of the King's promises, but he knew
what the intentions of the Court were ; he

MILITARY IN PARIS AND VERSAILLES. 35
knew that many regiments were hastening to
Paris, well provided with artillery, and he
doubted not but the people would soon be
brought to their senses, and be cured of
interfering with what did not belong to them.
At Lisle, Cambray, and Chantilly, we passed
several regiments marching to Paris, and on
our arrival we found they had been pouring
in for several days from all quarters ; that
military arrangements were making in and
round Paris, and that a very large camp was
formed in the very centre of the city. These
unequivocal marks of the royal intention not
to keep his word already produced not only
agitation in Paris, but occasioned a spirited
address from the National Assembly to the
King. They demanded why troops were
assembled at Paris and Versailles ; they
feared the freedom of debate in the Assembly
would be destroyed by the near approach of
an armed force, and were persuaded that one
of the causes of popular discontent at Paris,
which was the scarcity of bread, would not
be lessened by the introduction of so many
thousand soldiers into the city.
An evasive and cautious answer was given
D 2

36 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
to this address ; the motive assumed by the
King for collecting troops round Paris was
merely to suppress popular tumult, and pre
serve the peace of the city. We had not
been long in Paris when we found that the
Palais Royal, a large square lately built by
the Duke of Orleans, was the place where all
political intelligence was to be obtained ; for
it was here all persons assembled who took a
part in the great political drama — here that
political questions were first discussed — and
popular resolutions formed and arrangements
made ; here, as well, that the earliest communi
cations from the National Assembly, which
holds its sittings at Versailles, twelve miles
from Paris, were received, and that the
printed debates of the Assembly were first
circulated. Finally, it was here also that news
papers of a kind before unknown under the
monarchy began to show themselves ; and that
the multifarious publications on the various
political subjects which, day after day, issued
from every quarter, first obtained a reading.
To this place was our attention most directed,
and to enable us to be frequent witnesses to
these transactions we took lodgings at an

PALAIS ROYAL, CENTRE OF EXCITEMENT. 37
hotel contiguous to it. We rose early in the
morning and found the Palais Royal crowded
at an hour when, even in London, the streets
would have been empty. The French, every
where, are in the habit of very early rising.
We found it so at Calais, and, as I before told
you, we particularly observed it at Lisle.
But their early rising at Paris had now an
additional motive. The debates of the
Assembly and the various transactions of the
preceding day and evening were printed
during the night, and made their appearance
at the break of day, and thus with the diffu
sion of the light of heaven spread intelligence
of the most interesting kind ; and the Palais
Royal being the centre of communication, it
became in consequence crowded at the first
dawn of day. It was peculiarly interesting
to observe the impression on the multitude
at this moment, the eagerness of the crowd
to procure these papers, and the several dis
cussions which instantly took place among
the different classes who composed the crowd
and who were divided into many motley
groups, each distinguished by one or two
orators. The address of the Assembly to the

38 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
King had just been read when we entered the
square, and also the spirited debate on the
King's answer. Mirabeau had been distin
guished in both of these, and especially in
the latter ; the whole place resounded with
his praise, and the warmest tribute of applause
was paid to the Assembly for its firmness. A
second address was voted by the Assembly,
but the Court having made further progress in
their military arrangements the King propor
tionately abated of his gentleness and caution ;
to the third address, which was couched in
strong terms of manly remonstrance, he re
plied in the insolent language of royal
security. He had been induced to believe
that a sufficient military force had arrived in
Paris to prevent popular resistance, and think
ing the loyalty of his troops could not be
shaken, he was directed to say to the Assem
bly : ' The army is mine, I shall use it accord
ing to my will.' Under these circumstances
a conflict was inevitable, and symptoms of its
near approach multiplied every hour.
Early on Saturday morning (July 1 1),
we ! went to Versailles, and entered the
Assembly — a glorious sight ! Everyone was

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 39

admitted without difficulty. \ We were in time
to hear La Fayette make the motion for a
declaration of rights, which will probably be
considered one of the most prominent events
in this revolution. His speech was short, but
animated and expressive. Lally de ToUendal
supported the motion. Neither of them
delivered long speeches, but they were re
ceived with enthusiastic approbation by the
greater part of the Assembly, and by the crowd
of auditors who surrounded them. A Cure,
habited in the shabby dress of an humble
ecclesiastic, but with an expressive and in
genuous countenance, stood near us, and
seemed to catch every patriotic sentiment ;
reiterating his approbation with actions and
gestures the most enthusiastic. One of our
party having letters to Mirabeau, Target,1
and some others of the popular characters in
the Assembly, we called upon them in the
afternoon. Target was the only one at home.
He conversed very freely on the state of
France. He said that the crisis was fast
approaching ; that the Court was driven to
1 Target was a prominent member of the Assembled
Nationale.

40 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
an extremity. But he knew they had re
solved to get rid of the control of the Assem
bly, to strike a decisive blow against the
growing resistance of the people, and to ex
onerate themselves from the public debt.
' We,' said he, ' Mirabeau, La Fayette, myself,
and others, are all proscribed ; but we are sure
of the people, and not without a reasonable
hope that the army will declare for us. We
know the imbecility which prevails in the
Court, and the want of vigour in the adminis
tration. We therefore,' said this member of
the Assembly, ' have great confidence that
the struggle will terminate favourably to the
people, and though as individuals we must
necessarily be exposed to various dangers,
yet, as a body, we experience a calmness and
confidence which our enemies do not give us
credit for, and infinitely more than they them
selves possess.'
At this time the Assembly discontinued
its sittings on Sunday, and the amusement of
that part of the day in which we remained at
Versailles was but little political. In the
afternoon we walked in the parks, gardens,
and woods belonging to the Palace— a fine

MARIE ANTOINETTE. 41
country, but the grounds badly laid out. In
these walks we saw many members of the
Assembly, particularly of the Tiers Etats in
black gowns, conversing apparently with
much earnestness. It reminded us of the
Athenian groves filled with philosophers.
Nor could we see the splendour of the Palace,
nor witness the King and Queen going to
mass, gazed upon by such a mixed multitude,
without adverting in thought to the peculiar
situation of the country ; nor could we behold
the face of Marie Antoinette, and not see
symptoms of no common anxiety marked on
it. The dignity of countenance which, accord
ing to various descriptions, formed at an
earlier period of her life a most interesting
addition to those charms of natural beauty so
profusely bestowed on her, might be said,
indeed, to remain, but it had assumed more
of the character of severity. The forehead
was corrugated, the eyebrows thrown for
ward, and the eyes but little open, and, turning
with seeming caution from side to side, dis
covered, instead of gaiety or even serenity,
an expression of suspicion and care which
necessarily much abated of that beauty for

42 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
which she had once with truth been celebrated.1
,  As I gazed upon her my attention
was diverted by a whisper from one of the
gens d'armes who attended in the church and
made room for me on the side of one of the
pillars ; for he asked me if I came from Paris
that day, and whether a tumult was not ex
pected. I said I believed not, he said it was
certainly at hand, and his countenance and
manner by no means marked his disapproba
tion. After church we were to have seen the
large collection of pictures in the Palace, but
the intelligence thus obtained, and the fact
that soldiers were marching hastily to Paris,
induced us to return thither early. It was
fortunate that we set out at once, for before
night the intercourse between the two cities
was stopped, and on our way we passed two
regiments of infantry, marching and sweating
with hasty steps. On our arrival we found
only the same kind of agitation we had wit
nessed before. We dined quietly with Mr.
Dallas, and went with him to the Theatre
Frangais. We had scarcely arranged our-
1 In addition to her anxiety regarding the state of the
country, the Queen had lost the first Dauphin by death about
a fortnight before.

THEATRES CLOSED. 43
selves when one of the performers, with a grave
face, informed the audience that there would
be no performance, and requested them to take
back their money at the door. ' Why, why ? '
was instantly exclaimed from every quarter of
the house. ' A deputation of the people,' re
plied the actor, ' has j ust been here, and declared
that there should be no theatric exhibitions in
Paris this night.' We, therefore, immediately
quitted the house, and soon learned that
Necker had again been dismissed from the ad
ministration — that he had set off privately the
day before for Geneva, and that an administra
tion of more daring persons had been formed,
who had resolved to risk everything to pre
serve the uncontrolled power of the Court ;
and our intelligent informer added, ' We all
know what is meant to follow ; a bankruptcy
will be declared to-morrow, and the submis
sion of the people will be secured by the
point of the bayonet. This we know is the
plan of the Court ; we see the military arrange
ments within our walls, and we also know the
cold-blooded calculations which have been
made respecting the sacrifice of life which the
execution of this may entail, and of the many

44 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
thousands of families which will be ruined by
the- insolvency of the National Treasury.1
But,' he added with energy, ' the people of
France will not submit to it ; coercion will
not now be borne; Paris will set them an
example of courage, and you Englishmen,
who have the reputation of loving liberty,
will probably soon witness the struggle.'
That we might behold the first emotions
excited by this situation, we hastened to the
Palais Royal. We were at that moment at a
considerable distance from it, and on our way
we passed through the gardens of the
Tuileries, which were full of well-dressed
people walking about, as in St. James's Park,
London. These gardens were soon to
acquire a new celebrity, as the spot where
the revolutionary explosion first took place.
There was no appearance of disturbance here,
but when we came to the Palais Royal we
found the people much agitated. Discussion
had become more than ordinarily loud, and
dissatisfaction at the conduct of the Court
1 Necker had first introduced the system of loans, and
the French people, then as since, had eagerly deposited their
savings with the Government.

ORATORS IN PALAIS ROYAL. 45
more and more clamorous. Suspicion and
alarm reciprocally increased each other, and
it was evident that impressions of so power
ful a nature would soon call forth those
passions which, when operating upon large
numbers, are so difficult to control. Many of
the very persons whom we had before
repeatedly seen haranguing groups seemed
to be sufficiently aware of this danger, and
the whole force of their eloquence was
employed to calm the rising fury, and to
prevent any indiscreet act of violence which
might be considered an excuse for the inter
ference of the military. Forbearance and
moderation were recommended as necessary
even to the salvation of the people. For
a while this excellent advice was attended to,
and, after something like discussion, it was
resolved to send a deputation of the electors
of Paris to the National Assembly, to report
the alarming state of the city, and to receive
its instructions respecting the measures to be
pursued. But discussion was soon at an end,
for scarcely had the above resolve been made
when the whole mass was agitated afresh by
the appearance of a man with a green coat,

46 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
whose countenance and manner bespoke the
utmost consternation. ' To arms, citizens,' x
he cried, ' the Dragoons have fired on the
people in the Tuileries gardens, and I my
self have received a wound,' pointing to his
leg. This acted like an electric shock. It
was in vain that the orators still attempted to
check the rage excited, and that Camille Des-
moulins,2 I think it was, urged the people
to be calm. ' The man,' he said, ' might have
been sent to excite them to some act of indis
cretion. Our good King,' he added, 'could
not possibly have ordered his troops to fire
on the people.' But the fact was soon
unequivocally proved by further testimony,
for other persons rushed into the square with
the same account, and by a Dragoon's horse
which was brought in, its rider having been
either killed or wounded. From this moment
nothing could restrain the fury of the people ;
they burst forth into the streets calling Aux
amies — aux armes. Every house likely to
afford any, was immediately entered, the gun
smiths' shops were ransacked, and in a very
1 The title ' Citizen' appeared in letters as early as 1765.
2 Guillotined April 1794, along with Danton.

ARMING OF THE MOB. 47
short time the principal streets were filled
with a tumultuous populace, armed variously
with guns, swords, pikes, spits and every instru
ment of offence and defence. At half-past nine
many crowded into the Palais Royal thus
armed, and also carrying torches. The scene
became too menacing to make it prudent for
persons in our situation to remain in the
streets. We returned to the hotel, and went
to bed (the night of July 12), but soon
rose again. The streets were full of mob
and soldiers, with general symptoms of alarm
— shouts — firing of arms — the ringing of
large bells — the glare of torches — and the
appearance of distant fires. Towards morn
ing (July 13), though the streets were still
filled with this motley armed multitude, we
were able without danger to walk abroad,
and we soon learned from several respectable
and concurring testimonies the following
account of the preceding evening ; one of our
informants being Mr. Jefferson, the American
Resident at Paris, whose house was in the
Champs Elysees. About seven in the even
ing, Prince Lambesc, who commanded a
regiment of German Dragoons, suddenly

48 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
entered the Tuileries gardens. The com
mander was attached to the Court, and the
soldiers were countrymen of the Queen,1 and
there was an obvious policy in engaging such
a regiment in this service. But loyalty and
zeal were not alone sufficient. The Prince's
ignorance of Paris, it would seem, led him in
the outset into a fatal mistake : he mistook
the place, the time, and the objects of the

1 It has been suggested that the name ' Royal Allemand '
borne by this regiment was merely a complimentary title, and
that the regiment did not really consist of Germans. But
there is evidence that the feelings of distrust of the King, both
on the part of the National Assembly and of the Parisian
populace, were greatly aggravated by the fact that regiments
consisting of foreign troops were stationed both at Versailles
and in and round Paris, 'Toujours des troupes, et des troupes
e"trangeres, des Pandours (Hungarians), des Suisses, tant \
Paris qu'aux environs.' — Moniteur, du i" au 4 Juillet, 1789.
And again, ' Cependant, de nouveaux regiments arrivent tou
jours des frontieres, et on remarque avec inquietude qu'ils sont
la plupart Suisses, Allemands, Irlandais.' — Moniteur, du 4 au
6 Juillet, 1789. These precautions, if so intended, were of no
avail, for the German soldiers mutinied in the hour of trial
no less than the Gardes Francaises. The 'Ancien Regime,'
which gave promotion and distinction only to the privileged
orders, had by these means alienated the great body of the
army, and thus prepared the way to the Revolution. Arthur
Young, apropos of toy-drums, which he observed were the
fashion for the children of the bourgeois class, says, ' Why a
drum ? Have they not had enough of the military in a king
dom where they are excluded from all the honours, respect,
and emoluments that flow from the sword ? ' p. 117.

PRINCE LAMBESC IN TUILERIES GARDENS. 49

attack. The Palais Royal should have been
the place, and the crowds occupying it
obviously the persons, and he certainly should
not have drawn his sword until there had
been a sufficient time for the report in the
change of administration to have operated
with its fullest impression on the minds of
the Parisians ; in which case he would pro
bably have had the, not to be calculated,
advantage of an aggression on the part of the
people. It would also have been contended by
the Court that the military had acted only in
self-defence. But, as I before said, he made
the Tuileries gardens the scene of action,
and its crowds of gay citizens the subjects of
his attack : persons who were the least likely
of any to trouble their heads about politics,
and who probably knew nothing of the
sudden change of administration. Against
this crowd he led his troops, and with not
less folly than cowardice commanded the
people to disperse, and enforced his com
mands by a sudden discharge of musketry.
The terrified multitude fled in all directions,
and the middle of the square was suddenly
cleared of all but a feeble old man, whose
ii

50 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
infirmities denied him the power of running.
Against this single defenceless individual the
cowardly Prince lifted up his arm, and either
desperately wounded or killed him with one
stroke of his sabre.1 This detestable action
roused the indignation of the crowd, many of
whom having in some measure secured them
selves from the further pursuit of the dragoons,
by ascending a considerable pile of stones
collected on one side of the square for some
large building, they recovered a little from
their panic, and the spot furnishing them, at
least, with one kind of weapon, they hurled
the stones at the soldiers, dismounting some,
and wounding others. The whole regiment,
with the Prince, retreated at the first effort
of resistance on the part of the people ; the
consequence, probably, either of a want of
firmness on the part of their commander, or
still more probably of a reluctance on the
part of the troops to act on so odious a service.
The Tuileries ceased from this time to be
the scene of action, and the troops for seve
ral hours were dispersed inactively through
1 The old man, according to other accounts, was not killed,
for the Prince struck him with the flat of his sword.

BURNING OF GUARD-HOUSES. 51

different parts of the city, and concealed by
the obscurity of the night; but the roused
spirit of the indignant inhabitants, and more
especially the fury of the now incensed popu
lace, with arms in their hands, were not
likely to be quiescent. Under these feelings
every object which reminded them of the
Court excited fresh indignation, and the
different emblems of royalty which decorated
many parts of Paris became objects of the
grossest insult. The barriers of the city were
at once custom-houses for the receipt of
heavy duties, and guard-houses, imposing
irksome, or at least mortifying, restraints on
the passage in and out of Paris ; they were
also the King's houses, and as such were
attacked by the populace and burnt, the
burning of these being the fires we had dis
tinguished in the night.
It was said that the Prince de Lambesc
attempted to save these buildings, and once
more appeared against the people ; and was
again obliged to retreat, either because his
troops were still averse to the service, or that
other soldiers, as was strongly reported, had

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

joined the people.1 The Prince escaped, but
his coach was seized, and we saw it pass by
in triumph. At about eleven o'clock on the
Monday (July 13) we went to the Post-
office and found all in confusion ; one of the
clerks in an agony of distress, crying and
biting his hands. We also called at Sir John
Lambert's, our banker, but could get no cash,
the Caisse d'escompte refusing to do any
business. The populace still continued par
ading the streets in large bodies. We met
one containing at least four thousand going
into the Palais Royal, who 'insisted on our
taking off our hats. All the prisons except
the Bastille were opened on this day, and we
saw one prisoner, Lord Massareene, an Irish
nobleman, pass through the streets. He is
said to have been a captive twenty-three years;
he was dressed in a white frock, like a cook,
and had a bar of iron on his shoulders.2
1 Lambesc and his troops, as they rode back, were fired
upon by the Gardes Franchises from their barracks in the
Chausse"e d'Antin. On the 13th the Gardes Franchises came
over to the people in a body, leaving their officers.
2 The Earl of Massareene was released, July 13, 1789,
from the prison of the Chatelet, where he had been confined
for debts contracted, according to some accounts, less on his
own behalf than, by the duplicity of a Syrian adventurer, who

ALARM IN PARIS. 53

Paris had not before perhaps been in such
real danger as on this day, with such numbers
of exasperated rabble within its walls, such a
formidable army without, and at Versailles an
enraged and disappointed Court ready to strike
the moment an opportunity should offer of
renewing the attack. Symptoms of general
apprehension exhibited themselves, with all
the circumstances likely to be produced in
a populous and so variously peopled city.
Crowds of strangers and even of the inhabit
ants hastily left Paris ; and we would have
done the same, but not applying at the post-
house for horses sufficiently early, we were
told that an order had just been received from
the magistrates forbidding anyone to leave
the city. Business of all kinds was immedi-
had persuaded him to give his name to a plan for supplying
France with salt. The Gentleman's Magazine for July 1789
contains this paragraph : ' Lord Massareene, who was freed
from the Chatelet, had nearly been stopped at Calais on Friday.
On landing at Dover his Lordship was the first to jump out of
the boat ; and in the fulness of his joy, and in gratitude to
Heaven for his deliverance, immediately fell on his knees,
and kissing the ground thrice, exclaimed " God bless this land
of liberty."' Further, in the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1789 is
this entry : ' On August 19, married, Lord Massareene, lately
arrived from France, to Madame Borcier, the lady who ac
companied him to England.'

54 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
ately at a standstill, and the shops shut.
These and similar circumstances sufficiently
pointed out the degree of alarm which operated
on all classes. There were, however, other
circumstances, which, though alike the effect
of the general apprehension, bespoke good
sense and collectedness. The magistrates
assembled at the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall),
and the inhabitants of the several districts
were called together in the churches, to
deliberate upon the measures proper to be
taken under circumstances of such peculiar
danger and urgency. It was resolved that a
certain number of the more respectable in
habitants should be enrolled and immediately
take arms ; that the magistrates should sit
permanently at the Hotel de Ville, and that
committees, also permanent, should be formed
in every district of Paris, to convey intelligence
to the magistrates and receive instructions
from them. This important and most neces
sary resolution was executed with wonderful
promptitude and unexampled good manage
ment. It was necessary not only to arm a
description of persons who could be relied
upon, but to disarm those from whom little

ARMING OF CITIZENS. 55
protection was to be expected, and who might
become disorderly and mischievous ; and the
effecting this required considerable address.
Early in the afternoon (July 13) we began to
perceive among the motley groups of mob
who paraded the streets with such symptoms
of irritation as must soon have produced
excess, here and there a man of decent exterior,
carrying a musket, and assuming a respectable
military appearance. The number of these
gradually increased, and it was evidently their
intention at once to conciliate and disarm the
irregular band ; and this appeared to be prin
cipally effected before the evening, at which
time the regularly armed citizens almost
exclusively occupied the streets, and were
divided into different parties, some forming
posts of guards at different stations, others
patrolling, and all arranged under leaders.
About this time some of them began to be
distinguished by a cockade, but its colour was
green.1 I should also observe that large
1 The green cockade originated with Camille Desmoulins,
who, addressing the crowd in the Palais Royal, on the re
ported dismissal of Necker, snatched a few leaves from a
tree as a rallying sign. The colour green thus became the
badge of the Liberal party, until it was remembered that it
was the D 'Artois colour; when the tricolour, representing

1 1 1 1 1

56 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

bodies of citizens, previous to their arming,
exhibited themselves in the Palais Royal soon
after they had recorded their names at the
Hotel de Ville ; and these in several instances
consisted of persons of similar occupations,
forming something like companies. Not the
least numerous, least respectable, and least
manly was the company of the Maitres
Perruquiers, said to be a thousand of them,
each having four or five garfons. Many of
them were remarkably fine fellows. As these
bodies passed through the streets they neces
sarily inspired confidence and received marks
of applause. Whilst The Barbers' Company,
if I may so express myself, were passing they
were particularly applauded, and, catching
the same spirit which animated the spectators
I called out 'corps gallant! I had hardly
pronounced these words, when a pale-faced
gentleman with long gold pendants at his ears,
eyed both the corps and me with no little
contempt, and answered my ' corps gallant'
with ' Vermine ! ' He was heard by some of
the old Paris city colours, red and blue, joined, some say to
the Bourbon, others to the Constitutional white, drove it from
the field, and gave rise to the too famous revolutionary
cockade.

EXCELLENT MEASURES OF PARISIANS. 57
the multitude, who would have resented this
reproach, and probably not in the gentlest
way, had not the gentleman been alert. He
saw his danger, and slipped hastily into one of
the passages which led to the Palais Royal,
and lost himself in the crowd. As night
came on, very few of the persons who had
armed themselves the preceding evening were
to be seen. Some, however, had refused to
give up their arms, and proved in the course
of the night how just were the suspicions of
the inhabitants concerning them, for they
began to plunder ; but it was too late to do
it then with impunity. They were soon dis
covered and apprehended, and we were told
the following morning that several of these
unhappy wretches who had been taken in the
act had been executed.
This disarming the populace and establish
ing a well-armed military body of citizens,
may be -considered as one of the most im
portant steps which could have been taken by
the Parisians at this period of the revolution,
and the extraordinary address and temper
they discovered in doing it will probably ever
be mentioned with admiration. The following

58 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
morning (July 14) sufficiently exhibited the
good effects of it. By means of public criers
and by handbills (placards), fixed in different
parts of the city, the magistrates informed the
inhabitants of the important arrangements
that had been made ; that there was a very
ample supply of provisions in the city ; that
the great corn hall [Halle de Bids) was well
stored with flour and wheat ; that a sufficient
quantity of arms and ammunition had been
obtained ; and that the number of persons
who had taken up arms was fully sufficient for
the defence of the city. It was therefore re
commended that the citizens should pursue
their usual occupations, and that the shops
should be opened ; the country people and
gardeners immediately without the city being
encouraged to bring in provisions without
fears of molestation. In the streets were no
longer seen a rude and threatening populace ;
it had given place to the citizen soldiers, who
became every hour more organised and
better prepared, not only to defend the city,
but even to undertake an enterprise of no
trifling magnitude. We had intended leaving
Paris this day at ten o'clock, but were in-

REPORT OF ATTACK ON BASTILLE. 59
formed at the Poste royale that no persons
were permitted to leave the city until the
commotion had subsided, and the following
note, most beautifully written, was given us.
' 77 n'est permis de sortir de la ville, ni avec
chevaux de posies, ni d'autres! We also
applied to the directors of the post, and to
the president and magistrates at the H6tel
de Ville for leave to depart, but were refused.
In the course of the forenoon we had been
several times into the Palais Royal, which
was still filled with the most popular persons
who took an active part in the revolution. A
Canadian Frenchman, whom we found in the
crowd and who spoke good English, was the
first who intimated to us that it had been re
solved to attack the Bastille. We smiled at
the gentleman, and suggested the improba
bility of undisciplined citizens taking a citadel
which had held out against the most experi
enced troops in Europe ; x little thinking it
would be actually in the hands of the people
before night. From the commencement of
the struggle on Sunday evening there had
1 Henry IV. and his veteran army had attacked it in vain
in the siege of Paris, 1 587-1 594.

60 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
been scarcely any time in which the firing of
guns had not been heard in all quarters of the
city, and, as this was principally produced by
exercising the citizens in the use of the musket,
in trying cannon, &c, it excited, except at
first, but little alarm. Another sound equally
incessant was produced by the ringing of
bells to call together the inhabitants in dif
ferent parts of the city. These joint sounds
being constantly iterated, the additional noise
produced by the attack on the Bastille was
so little distinguished that I doubt not it had
begun a considerable time, and even been
completed, before it was known to many
thousands of the inhabitants as well as to
ourselves. So little indeed did we expect
such an event, and such was the apparent
security of the streets, that, with a part of
my companions, I was induced in the early
part of the afternoon to visit the celebrated
gardens of the Duke of Orleans, called
Monceaux, and this happened to lead us to a
part of the city very distant from the Bastille.
In our way thither we found, indeed, a regi
ment of soldiers who had joined the popular
party, in a state of considerable agitation —

THE BASTILLE ATTACKED. 61
occasioned by an absurd report that an attempt
had been made to destroy the whole regiment
by poisoning their bread. On our return
two hours later (about five o'clock), we found
the same regiment again in motion — the
drums were beating to arms, the men were
forming, and began a hasty march. On en
quiring of some of the soldiers, as well as of
the surrounding people, we found that the
Bastille had been attacked and that ihey were
going to assist the brave citizens. We felt a
desire to get as near the scene of action as
was consistent with our personal safety. It
was but a little out of our way to call at the
hotel, and we were induced to do it because
one of our companions had remained there.
We had just found him and were preparing
to o-o, when an unusual noise ia the Rue St.
Honore and an agitation all around us an
nounced something new. Our servant, who
had been in the street, came to us with great
haste and eagerness, calling on us to come
down. We followed him into the street, and
with crowds of all descriptions of persons,
summoned by the same circumstances, we ran
to the end of the Rue St. Honore. We here

62 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
soon perceived an immense crowd proceeding
towards the Palais Royal with acclamations
of an extraordinary kind, but which sufficiently
indicated a joyful event, and, as it approached
we saw a flag, some large keys, and a paper
elevated on a pole above the crowd, on which
was inscribed 'La Bastille est prise ct les
portes sont ouvertes!
The intelligence of this extraordinary
event thus communicated, produced an im
pression upon the crowd really indescribable.
A sudden burst of the most frantic joy instan
taneously took place ; every possible mode in
which the most rapturous feelings of joycould
be expressed, were everywhere exhibited.
Shouts and shrieks, leaping and embracing,
laughter and tears, every sound and every
gesture, including even what approached to
nervous and hysterical affection, manifested,
among the promiscuous crowd, such an in
stantaneous and unanimous emotion of ex
treme gladness as I should suppose was never
before experienced by human beings. We
were recognised as Englishmen; we were
embraced as freemen, ' for Frenchmen.' said
they, ' are now free as well as yourselves ;

THE TWO HEADS ON PIKES. 63
henceforward no longer enemies, we are
brothers, and war shall nevermore divide us.'
We caught the general enthusiasm, we joined
in the joyful shouts of liberty ; we shook
hands most cordially with freed Frenchmen.
For myself I shall ever be proud to remember
the emotion that was raised in me at the
time ; never was a scene more intensely
interesting, never were my feelings so truly
delightful. The crowd passed on to the
Palais Royal, and in a few minutes another
succeeded. Its approach was also announced
by loud and triumphant acclamations, but, as
it came nearer, we soon perceived a different
character, and though bearing additional
testimony to the fact reported by the first
crowd, the impression by it on the people was
of a very different kind. A deep and hollow
murmur at once pervaded them, their counte
nances expressing amazement mingled with
alarm. We could not at first explain these
circumstances ; but as we pressed more to
the centre of the crowd we suddenly partook
of the general sensation, for we then, and not
till then, perceived two bloody heads raised
on pikes, which were said to be the heads of

64 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the
Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prevot
des Marchands! It was a chilling and a
horrid sight ! An idea of savageness and
ferocity was impressed on the spectators, and
instantly checked those emotions of joy which
had before prevailed. Many others, as well
as ourselves, shocked and disgusted at this
scene, retired immediately from the streets.
We returned to the hotel. The impression
we had just received, and the critical state
of Paris, were not calculated to inspire us
with comfortable reflections. The night ap
proached ; the crowd without continued
agitated. Reports of a meditated attack upon
the city that night by a formidable army
under the command of the Count d'Artois and
the Mardchal Broglie were in circulation, and
gained such credit as to induce the inhabitants
to take measures for opposing them. Trees
were cut down and thrown across the principal
approaches to the city ; the streets were un-
paved, and the stones carried to the tops of

1 It was the head of M. de Losmes, the humane Command
ant of the Bastille, but M. Flesselles was massacred by the
people on the same day.

THE MILICE BOURGEOISE. 65
houses which fronted the streets through
which the troops might pass (for the fate of
Pyrrhus was not unknown to the French) ;
and the windows in most parts of the city
were illuminated. The night passed with
various indications of alarm ; guns were firing
continually ; the tocsin sounded unceasingly ;
groups of agitated citizens passed hastily
along, and parties of the Milice Bourgeoise
(for such was the name already assumed by
those who had taken arms the day before)
paraded the streets. We had already passed
two unquiet nights, but we suffered this night
from more than want of sleep. I will confess
that my spirits began to flag. I felt our
situation becoming a very serious one. I
could not but reflect on the danger and mis
chief which might reach strangers under our
circumstances, should the struggle between
the Court and the people proceed to still
further extremities. I considered myself as
in a besieged town, and my imagination
readily brought before me the horrors of such
a situation. I thought of England, and of my
dear connections there, and for a while I was
truly miserable. But still the night passed

66 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
on without any new sources of alarm ; the
apprehensions which arose in the evening
had not been realised, and by degrees our
anxiety became less.
I have often observed to you, when
obliged to pass nights of anxiety and fatigue
in my professional attendances, and in which
it is difficult to say whether body or mind
suffers most, that the dawn of day has always
refreshed me. Light, I am persuaded, under
such circumstances acts as a stimulus, excit
ing in men, as well as in vegetables, fresh
energy. I experienced this cordial effect of
the break of day in a very singular degree on
this occasion. My mind was very much
relieved, and I soon found myself disposed to
go down into the streets. I went (July 15),
and was led by the sound of an approaching
crowd towards the end of the Rue St. Honore,
and I there witnessed a most affecting spec
tacle. The Bastille had been scarcely entered
and the opposition subdued, when an eager
search began to find out and liberate every
unhappy captive immured within its walls.
Two wretched victims of the detestable
tyranny of the old Government had just been

THE TWO PRISONERS OF THE BASTILLE. 67
discovered and taken from some of the most
obscure dungeons of this horrid castle, and
were at this time conducted by the crowd
to the Palais Royal. One of these was a
little feeble old man, I could not learn his
history ; he exhibited an appearance of child
ishness and fatuity ; he tottered as he walked,
and his countenance exhibited little more than
the smile of an idiot. The powers of his
mind had fallen a sacrifice to his situation, and
there cannot surely be a more dreadful effect
of captivity than loss of intellect. The other
was a tall and rather robust old man ; his
countenance and whole figure interesting in
the highest degree ; he walked upright, with
a firm and steady gait ; his hands were folded
and turned upwards, he looked but little at
the crowd ; the character of his face seemed
a mixture of surprise and alarm, for he knew
not whither they were leading him, he knew
not what fate awaited him ; his face was
directed towards the sky, but his eyes were
but little open. Had he really been, as I was
then told, two and forty years shut up in one
of those cells where the light of Heaven is
denied an entrance, it is easy to explain why

68 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS
his eyes were so little open. He had a
remarkably high forehead, which, with the
crown of his head, was completely bald ; but
he had a very long beard, and on the back of
his head the hair was unusually abundant,
exhibiting a singularity which had the appear
ance of a disease not unknown to the human
species, called the Plica Polonica. It had
grown behind to an incredible length, and not
having been combed, as was said, during the
long period of his confinement, it had become
matted together and divided into two long
tails, very much resembling the tail of a
monkey. These tails, I should suppose,
would have nearly reached the ground, but,
as he walked, he supported them on one of
his arms. His dress was an old greasy,
reddish tunic ; the colour and the form of the
garb were probably some indication of what
his profession or rank had been ; for we after
wards learned that he was a Count d'Auche,
that he had been a major of cavalry, and a
young man of some talent, and that the offence
for which he had sustained this long imprison
ment had been his having written a pamphlet
against the Jesuits. And though, some time

PR/SONERS FOUND IN THE BASTILLE. 69
after, the Government adopted his veiy senti
ments on the subject, and expelled the Jesuits
from France, yet he was suffered to remain in
prison, either because he was forgotten, because
he had then no friend at Court to petition for
his enlargement, or because it was thought
impolitic to forgive, more especially where the
Court had acted on an error ; on the principle
so much contended for under the old systems,
that Governments should never acknowledge
their errors or expose their weakness.1 Every
one who witnessed this scene probably felt, as
I did, an emotion which partook of horror and
detestation of the Government which could so
obdurately as well as unjustly expose human
beings to such sufferings ; and of pity for the
1 According to the report of the Moniteur, Juillet 24, 1789,
seven prisoners in all were released from the Bastille ; four
of them imprisoned on accusation of forgery, but never tried,
and the fifth, M. de Solage, detained for seven years by a
lettre de cachet, on the part of his father, who had died in the
interim. The names of the two prisoners thus conducted
through the streets have apparently never been positively as
certained. They are given by the Moniteur as M. Tavernier,
a prisoner since 1759, and M. Whyte, of whom both the
original offence and the term of detention had been forgotten.
He had lost his reason, and the same is said by the Moniteur
of the other prisoner, whom my father was told was a Count
d'Auche. But if the incident related further on, p. 94, may
be relied on, it is evident that he had retained his senses.

70 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
miserable individuals before us..) The latter
feeling increased as my attention became
more fixed upon them ; my mind had been
softened at least, if not weakened, by the
circumstances of the night, and I was less
able than usual to check that effect of pity
which sometimes produces impassioned grief.
Perhaps to some persons I should be ashamed
to acknowledge it, but you will not think the
worse of me ; I was no longer able to bear the
sight, I turned from the crowd, I burst into
tears. On my return to the hotel I related the
circumstances which had just occurred ; my
companions came into the street, and, follow
ing the crowd into the Palais Royal, I believe,
had all a sight of the released prisoners. It
was now Wednesday (July 15), and we soon
learned that in the night intelligence had been
received from several quarters that the King,
either from being abandoned by his courtiers,
or because he was convinced that under the
circumstances it was most prudent so to do,
had given up the contest and ordered the
troops to be withdrawn which surrounded
Paris. At an early hour in the morning this

THE KING AND THE ASSEMBLY. 71

news was confirmed by the arrival of some
members of the National Assembly, who
related that, late in the evening, not long
after the intelligence of the fall of the Bastille
had reached the Palace, the King, with
scarcely any attendants, came on foot through
the streets of Versailles, and presented him
self before the Assembly; throwing himself
on their protection, demanding their advice,
and promising to be guided implicitly by their
decisions. The magistrates took the earliest and
most ready means of diffusing this important
and most welcome intelligence through the
city. Public criers proclaimed it, and large
handbills stuck upon the most conspicuous
places announced it. The latter also added
that strangers at this time were at liberty to
leave Paris, on condition of applying pre
viously to the magistrates at the Town Hall
for passe-ports, and of not taking away with
them either arms or provisions. We felt a
wish to take advantage of this permission,
and after having consulted with our intelligent
guide, philosopher, and friend, Mr. Dallas (for
in all these capacities had he acted towards

72 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
us), and having accidentally met with a con
fidential domestic of the Duke of Orleans, who
was an Englishman of the name of Smith,
and who had shown us some civilities the day
before, at the gardens of Monceau — his
opinion being that it would be most prudent
for us to leave Paris immediately, knowing
from his situation that the danger was by no
means at an end, — we determined, if practic
able, upon setting out before noon. The
first necessary step for this purpose was to go
to the Hotel de Ville for a passe-port. In
our way thither we passed the Place de Greve
— the place of public executions ; and near
this was the Place des Morgues, a melancholy
place indeed, where were deposited not
only the bodies of executed criminals, till
buried or removed by their friends, but such
dead bodies as during the night time were
found in the streets, and which were here
exposed to be owned by their friends. . . .
To this place had been carried the bodies
of some of those who had fallen before the
Bastille. A crowd which surrounded this
place soon directed us to it, and we were
induced to take a view of it under these

PLACE DES MORGUES. 73
peculiar circumstances. The mangled bodies
were promiscuously thrown together. I should
think there were from twenty to thirty bodies.
The sight of these was horrid and disgust
ing, but the sight of some living bodies near
them excited a more painful horror. Those
who had missed their friends in the night,
repaired to this spot, under the dreadful
apprehension that they might be among the
unfortunate dead. Parents who could not
find their sons, wives who had lost their
husbands, came to seek them in the Place des
Morgues. Several wretched women were
here on this painful errand. They were
turning over the bodies, and so altered were
they by death and the effects of large lacerated
wounds, that it was no easy matter to recognise
those whom living they would have known
by the most transient glance. It became
therefore necessary to examine the features
and the dress with a degree of minuteness,
which to a near relation must have been
dreadful indeed. We saw a woman at the
moment of discovering her husband or her
son ; the loudest and most thrilling shriek I
have ever heard, though you know I have

74 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
heard Mrs. Siddons, was the signal of her
discovery. The surrounding crowd felt the
shriek, retreated back, and seemed to re-echo
it. The woman literally pulled handfuls of
hair off her head, then lifted up her hands
and eyes to Heaven, with a countenance of
such horror as I can neither describe nor
even wish to recollect, and fell suddenly on
the corpse. We felt the shock ; it was too
painful, and we retired. This was a scene
little calculated to increase our desire of
remaining in Paris. We therefore hurried to
the Town Hall, for our passports. The
magistrates received us with the utmost
politeness, expressed the greatest readiness
to comply with our request, and, indeed, said
they would not refuse it after the public
declaration they had made on the subject,
but, unless we had very powerful motives for
quitting Paris, they advised us not to go that
day. The agitation of the people, they
observed, was still considerable ; they were
very suspicious respecting those who were
leaving the city, and particularly jealous lest
any who had the appearance of noblesse should
get away. There had also, they further

ATTEMPT TO LEAVE PARIS. 7$
urged, been scarcely time for the order of the
magistrates to be sufficiently known and
understood throughout the city, and more
especially in the outskirts, to secure us from
interruption, or perhaps from insult. But we
were impatient to go, and resolved to make
the attempt. We therefore received from
the magistrates a passport, and a bon voyage
politely expressed. Our next step was to
obtain post horses, and on showing our pass^
port at the post house, horses were without
reluctance ordered, but we were requested to
accompany the postillions with them to our
hotel, where the carriage was, that, if they
were stopped, the passport might be shown.
We stayed, therefore, while the horses were
getting ready, and this gave us an opportunity
of witnessing the alertness of Frenchmen on
a sudden emergency ; for while we were
standing in the yard, and amused with seeing
the postillions get into, I cannot say put on,
their jackboots, a report reached the place
that the Court had acted treacherously, and
that a body of troops had reached Paris.
The postillions instantly jumped out of their
boots, ran each for a musket, and in two or

76 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
three minutes appeared as military men, and
with almost all the other postillions and
attendants who had done the same thing,
marched into the street, and immediately
joining others of their neighbours, formed
very soon a respectable armed body. On
the supposition that the troops were coming
that way, the inhabitants drew carts, and
hogsheads, and large pieces of timber into
the streets, to blockade the passage. The
most animated exertions continued to be
made for about a quarter of an hour, when
the report was found to be unfounded, and
they all returned to their occupations with a
gaiety which probably none but Frenchmen
could have reassumed so soon after so serious
an alarm. The postillions were soon ready with their
horses, and we set off with them. We had
scarcely arrived at the end of the first street
when we found the necessity there was for
our accompanying them ; some armed citizens
who were parading in that part stopped the
postillions, demanding whither they were
going. They called to us to show the pass
port ; they were satisfied, and we proceeded.

PREVENTED LEAVING PARIS. 77
The same occurred at every place where we
found the same description of persons in arms ;
and such was the distance from the post
house to the hotel, that we were stopped five
or six times before we arrived there. We
considered ourselves now secure of our de
parture, the horses were put to the carriage,
and off we marched. But, alas ! we had gone
but a little way before we were stopped.
Our passport was produced, and after some
demur we were suffered to proceed ; but it was
only to the next guard. There it was again
demanded whither we were going and who we
were. The passport was again exhibited as
our authority, and would probably have again
availed us, had not a quick-eyed citizen
peeped into the coach and spied out a pair of
pistols which had been foolishly placed in the
carriage when in London, as a necessary part
of travelling furniture. 'You carry arms,'
cried he impatiently, ' and it is contrary to the
orders of the magistrates.' We answered
that it had been done inadvertently, that we
had brought them from England merely to
guard us from robbers. ' There are none in
France,' he replied, ' all the world knows it,

78 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
and therefore there is no occasion to carry
pistols.' A more benignant-looking mortal,
who stood by, observed our embarrassment,
and endeavoured to soften his rage. He said
it was clear, both from the passport and from
our appearance, that we were vdritables
Anglais ; that all strangers were entitled to
civility, and he should be sorry any one
should leave Paris under an impression of ill-
treatment. But neither his gentleness nor
his good sense availed ; the enraged man
continued to demand the pistols. It was
pretty clear, by way of proving that there were
no robbers in France, that he had taken a
fancy to them, and we gave them him without
reluctance, glad to compromise on such terms
for leave to proceed. After this we made a
much further progress than before, for the
persons on guard happened to be less sus
picious. But still we were not free, for before
we arrived at the barriers we were stopped
effectually ; the horses' were suddenly turned
about, and we were ordered to the Town Hall
to be examined. From this moment every
thing assumed a new aspect. The populace
in the streets, who before had been perfectly

RETURN TO THE TOWN HALL. 79
quiet, and even the ladies at the windows
who, as we passed along, had waved kind
adieus to us with their hands and their hand
kerchiefs, now began to insult us, the one with
coarse language, the other with reproaches ;
but we only suffered the common lot of re
versed fortune. Before, we passed along
with apparent authority, and perhaps the
dash we cut with an English coach and six
horses contributed somewhat to the respect
which even the ladies expressed towards us.
But now we were dragged along with in
dignity as captives. It was soon known that
we were going before the magistrates ; we were
suspected persons ; ' they are noblesse', cried
the populace. ' They wanted to run away,
but the scdldrats are catched.' Everywhere
looks of indignation and gestures of menace
followed us ; even the carriage was eyed with
contempt and spat upon. At length we
arrived at the Town Hall, and were happy to
find the same magistrates we had before seen
there. They smiled at our embarrassment,
and rallied us on account of the difficulties we
had incurred by not attending to their advice ;
at the same time reproving the persons who

80 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
had interrupted us. They gave us a fresh
passport couched in still stronger terms, and
to secure us more effectually they gave us
a guard of respectable and armed citizens.
We thanked them, and again took our leave.
We instantly found the good effects of the
new arrangements, and proceeded unmolested
through the streets in a style of military
dignity, having at least six armed guards on
each side of the carriage, till we arrived at
the barrier. Here the carriage stopped, but
we supposed nothing unusual in this, for we
had been stopped when we entered Paris.
The door of the coach was immediately
opened, and a man said he must search the
trunks. This we supposed was only the old
custom, and as was the old custom we offered
him a fee. His angry refusal convinced us
that he was not one of those who formerly
kept the barrier, for we had experienced in
the different cities we had passed not a single
instance of an officer of a barrier refusing a
fee. We therefore all turned out, and the
search began ; it was finished, however, with
every appearance of satisfaction, and we were
desired to resume our places. This we did

A SECOND RETURN TO THE TOWN HALL. 81
with light hearts, concluding that all was
right. But a very fierce, ill-looking fellow,
armed with a musket, soon convinced us to
the contrary. He jumped into the carriage,
placed himself in the middle of us with his
bayonet fixed, and ordered the postillions to
drive to the Town Hall.1 We had again,
therefore, to run the gauntlet through the
streets, in which we had a still more un
pleasant specimen of the popular indignation
than before. We were followed with hisses
and contemptuous speeches all the way, and
when we arrived at the square in which the
Town Hall stands we found it so crowded
that the carriage could not get up to the hall,
and we were obliged to stop in one of the
narrow streets which led to the square. Nor
would our ill-tempered guard suffer more
than one of us to go to the hall with him.
It was my fortune to be one of the three who
remained in the coach. The crowd around
increased very much, and became so ex
asperated against us that we certainly were
in considerable danger of suffering some act
1 It is to be supposed that the escort they had received
took leave of them on arriving at the barrier.

82 DR RIGBY'S LETTERS.
of violence from them, insomuch that it was
at one time a matter of deliberation with us
whether it would not be most discreet to slip
out of the coach and abandon it and its con
tents to their fury. An incident, however,
occurred during this unpleasant detention
which relieved us. While the populace was
thus giving vent to its indignation, a woman
among the crowd, and who had been pretty
clamorous against us, suddenly sprang
forward towards our servant, who was on
horseback behind the carriage, and embraced
him, crying out, ' My dear brother, is it you ? '
He was really her brother, and they had
not seen each other for many years. Finding
from him who we were, she instantly became
our advocate. The sudden and unexpected
meeting of persons dear to one another is
always interesting, and the French are not
backward to receive impressions of sentiment.
They felt it on the present occasion, its in
fluence softened them, and we found the good
effects of it in their forbearance.
But it was a very long while before our
friend returned. The business before the
magistrates had multiplied in the interval of

ATTEMPT TO LEAVE GIVEN UP. 83

our absence, and it was a considerable time
before they could attend to our case. But
when an audience was obtained he was again
recognised by the gentleman who had before
shown us such civility, and the suspicions of
the person who had brought us back were
not admitted as matter of accusation. We
were once more at liberty, and our request
being now merely to be safely conducted to
an hotel, we once more set off and directed
the postillions to go to the Hotel St. Michel,
because it was much nearer than where we
were before, and because we were there likely
to meet with our good friend, Mr. Dallas.
But even in this short passage we were not
without our difficulties, for we were stopped
by a party on guard within sight of the hotel,
who insisted on our turning out and submit
ting to be searched ; which ceremony would
have taken place in the street, had not Mr.
Dallas, who appeared as opportunely for us
as our servant's sister, so far softened the
severity of the jack-in-office who commanded
the guard as to obtain his leave to have the
search take place in the yard of the hotel.
But though we were there free from the noise
g 2

84 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
and insults of the populace, our patience was
completely exhausted by the extreme tedious-
ness of this process. Every article in the
coach was minutely examined, every paper in
our trunks minutely looked through, and our
pockets and our persons ransacked. And
when we thought all was over, the poor devils
of postillions, who had been as much fatigued
as ourselves by this ill-fated day's journey,
were ordered to strip into buff in the yard,
and had every pocket and every part of their
dress examined. However, as, after all, no
discovery was made to our disadvantage, the
gentleman who had given us all this trouble
at length took himself off, and, I believe, had
even the grace to wish us a goodnight. Once
more out of the scrape, we thought it best to
reconcile ourselves to a stay in Paris, and
wait patiently until more favourable circum
stances should admit of our departure. Inde
pendent of the revolution, Paris had enough
to interest strangers had we been much longer
detained, and its political state still furnished
ample matter to excite our attention.
The following day, Thursday (July 16),
we employed in viewing some of the public

ACCOUNT OF TAKING OF BASTILLE. 85
places which I believe I haA'e before men
tioned to you, and in receiving further details
of those events which we had not personally
witnessed. The taking the Bastille being the
most extraordinary of these, we were desirous
of obtaining an accurate account of it. But,
strange as it may seem, scarcely two persons
agreed respecting the particulars of it ; and
the following account I give you only as
that which appeared most probable, and
which we received from the most respectable
quarter. In the afternoon, a little after four, a
large body of armed citizens presented them
selves before the citadel, with cannon, demand
ing the Governor to surrender. He made a
semblance of submission by immediately
hoisting a flag of truce, and ordering the
drawbridge, which communicated with the
street, to be let down. The crowd eagerly
rushed in, and when about four hundred of
them had entered the fosse, the bridge was in
stantly drawn up, and some invalid soldiers who
were upon the ramparts, and who did the duty
of the garrison, fired upon them with cannon-
shot. This horrid act of treachery could not

86 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
but excite the indignation of those who were
without. They became infuriated, and their
rage was with one consent directed against
the drawbridge. Various attempts were made
to break the massive chain which supported
it, and at length, cannon being planted against
it, a ball had the good fortune to strike and
cut it. The bridge dropped. Again another
crowd impetuously pressed in, and when they
were within musket-reach of the platform
where the soldiers and cannon were, they all
fired upon them, and, as it appeared after
wards, killed every man who stood at the
guns. The Bastille cannon, of course, ceased
immediately, and the citizens, not knowing
the cause, apprehended another snare, but
a few of the most daring scaled the walls and
rushed forward to the Governor's house. He
saw his danger, and set fire to his house with
the view of obstructing the approach, and en
deavoured to elude the search of the exaspe
rated citizens by retiring to an obscure part of
the principal building. A brave soldier, fear
less either of high walls or of the fire which
was raging, was the foremost in the enter
prise, and, gaining the interior of the Bastille,

TE DEUM AT NOTRE DAME. 87
after a considerable search he found the
Governor in a small secret room, lying on a
sofa almost in a state of insensibility. He
dragged him out and brought him to the
populace, where he soon fell a sacrifice to
their fury. His head was afterwards taken
off and carried about on a pole, as we had
seen. The other head, which we before had
been told was the head of Monsieur Flesselles,
was now said to have been that of the Major
Commandant of the Bastille, whose character
was a very good one, and whose conduct on
this occasion, had the people been sufficiently
cool to reflect, was particularly commendable,
as he had endeavoured to prevent the firing.
Either on the 15th or 16th a Te Deum was
performed at the Church of Notre Dame, and
some of the brave fellows who were most
distinguished in taking the Bastille received
civic crowns. This was said to have been a
very interesting ceremony, and we much
lamented that it escaped our notice. The
streets were now much quieter, and exhibited
signs of cheerfulness and confidence. But
amidst this general appearance of security,
means were not neglected to guard against

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

new dangers, and among these we observed
with some surprise that the bourgeois guards
were doubled each night after the taking
of the Bastille.
It had been reported that the King was to
come to Paris on the Thursday (July 16) and
great crowds filled the streets through which
it was expected he would pass ; but his coming
did not take place till the Friday (July 17).
We were very desirous of witnessing the
spectacle of the monarch thus, I might
almost say, led captive. The spectacle was
very interesting, though not from the artificial
circumstances which have usually given dis
tinction to royal processions. The impression
made on the spectator was not the effect of
any adventitious splendour of costly robes or
glittering ornaments, — the appearance of the
King was simple, if not humble ; the man was
no longer concealed in the dazzling radiance
of the sovereign. To a philosophic mind it
could not but be interesting to reflect, that one
of the most populous and best-informed
nations in the world was making an effort to
regulate civil society, to extend the exercise
of man's intellectual faculties, and to reform

KINGS ENTRY INTO PARIS. 89
the principles of polity and government. We
were fortunate in obtaining a situation well
calculated to afford a perfect view of the pro
cession. It was on a balcony belonging to
Mr. Sykes, in the Place Palais Royal, through
which it was to pass to the Rue St. Honore.
The streets were lined with the armed bour
geois, three deep — forming a line, as we were
assured, of several miles extent. The proces
sion began to pass the place where we were
at a quarter past three. The first who ap
peared were the city officers and the police
guards ; some women followed them, carrying
green branches of trees which were fancifully
decorated ; then more officers ; then the
PreVot des Marchands and different mem
bers of the city magistracy. Many of the
armed bourgeois followed on horseback ; then
some of the King's officers, some on horse
back and some on foot ; then followed the
whole body of the Etats G6neraux on foot,
the noblesse, clergy, and Tiers Etats, each in
their peculiar dresses. That of the noblesse
was very beautiful ; they wore a peculiar kind
of hat with large white feathers, and many of
them were tall, elegant young men. The

90 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
clergy, especially the bishops and some of the
higher orders, were most superbly dressed ;
many of them in lawn dresses, with pink
scarfs and massive crosses of gold hanging
before them. The dress of the Tiers Stats
was very ordinary, even worse than that of
the inferior order of gownsmen at the Eng
lish universities. More of the King's officers
followed ; then the King in a large plain
coach with eight horses. After him more
bourgeois ; then another coach and eight
horses with other officers of state ; then an
immense number of the bourgeois, there
having been, it was said, two hundred thou
sand of them in arms. The countenance of
the King was little marked with sensibility,
and his general appearance by no means
indicated alarm. He was accustomed to
throw his head very much back on his
shoulders, which, by obliging him to look
upwards, gave a kind of stupid character to
his countenance by increasing the apparent
breadth of his face, and by preventing that
variation of expression which is produced by
looking about. He received neither marks of
applause nor insult from the populace, unless

THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS. 91
their silence could be construed into a negative
sort of disrespect. N or were any insults shown
to the noblesse or clergy, except in the in
stance of the Archbishop of Paris, a very tall
thin man. He was very much hissed, the
popular clamour having been excited against
him by a story circulated of his having en
couraged the King to use strong measures
against the people, and of his attempting to
make an impression on the people by a super
stitious exposure of a crucifix. He looked a
good deal agitated, and whether he had a
leaden eye or not I know not, but it certainly
loved the ground. The warm and enthu
siastic applause of the people was reserved
for the Tiers Etats. They were considered
as the champions of the people, and their firm
and manly exertions in the National Assembly
were thought to have been as instrumental in
the overthrow of despotism as the bravery of
the Parisian bourgeois in the capture of the
Bastille. Vivent les Tiers Etats! Vive la
Liberie" ! were loudly iterated as they passed.
It would have been impracticable to have
followed the procession, for the streets were
so lined with armed bourgeois that none

92 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
could pass but those who formed a part of it.
The King went to the Hotel de Ville, and
was received with great respect by the magis
tracy : he was addressed by Monsieur Bailly,
who, I think, had been chosen mayor. He
attempted an. answer to it, or rather an
address to the people, but he was embar
rassed, and either Bailly or some other person
who stood near him said something for him ;
after which, as an outward and visible sign of
his assent, he put on the popular cockade.
This produced a burst of applause, and he
returned amidst the acclamations of Vive le
Roi ! The rest of the day was spent in festive
and triumphant gaiety. In the Palais Royal
crowds dined in the open air, and patriotic
toasts were given in the English fashion. In
the evening there were illuminations, and the
Town Hall displayed a device emblematic
of the events that had taken place, and
complimentary to the King, who in a trans
parent inscription was honoured with the title
of ' Father of his People ' and ' Restorer of
French Liberty.' On the Saturday (July 18)
we visited more of the public places, but the
most interesting object, and which attracted

DESTRUCTION OF THE BASTILLE. 93
the greatest number of spectators, was the
Bastille. We found two hundred workmen
busily employed in the destruction of this
castle of despotism. We saw the battlements
tumble down amidst the applauding shouts of
the people. I observed a number of artists
taking drawings of what from this time was
to have no existence but upon paper. We
thought ourselves fortunate in witnessing the
downfall of this object of terror ; we should,
however, have been more completely gratified
had not our prudence or our fears prevented
it, for an opportunity was offered us of visit
ing the interior of this celebrated place. A
gentleman, to whom we had been introduced
a few days before, was the captain of a party
of the armed bourgeois who were to mount
euard within the Bastille. He offered to take
us with him as part of the guard, in which
case we must have carried a musket and have
remained there a certain number of hours ;
but, much as we wished to have thus gratified
our curiosity, we were apprehensive that we
might have been exposed to some unpleasant
consequences. The situation of Paris and
the state of the Revolution were too uncer-

94 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
tain to secure us from the possibility of danger
in such a place ; for had any sudden alarm
taken place at that time — and every hour pro
duced fresh alarms in all parts of Paris — it
would surely have been a little awkward for
four Englishmen to have been found in the
Bastille carrying arms. We have, indeed,
since repented that we did not profit by this
occasion, but our repentance, like that of many
other good people, was the effect of subse
quent circumstances, and not of conviction
that at the time it would have been right to
have so acted.
We this evening, and for the last time,
visited the magistrates, and received another
passport, and an assurance that, if we were
at the barrier early in the morning, before the
streets were filled with the populace, we
should get away unmolested, which a former
letter would tell you we did do on Saturday,
July 19. One of our party, though it escaped
my notice, says that he saw the Count
d'Auche, the Bastille prisoner, sitting with
the magistrates, and apparently very happy.
And this reminds me of our having a second
time seen the other prisoner, the feeble old

THE OLD PRISONER. 95
man. He was placed conspicuously at a
window opposite the house where we saw
the King pass, and at that time he was brought
forward and made to wave his hat, having a
three-coloured cockade on it. The attention of
the people, thus excited for a short time,
appeared to have some effect on the King,
and, either by accident or design, the coach
made a little pause, and probably obliged the
King to notice him.
I trust I have now pretty well fulfilled
my engagement, and if I have not tired you
with the length of my tale, I think at least I
have puzzled you to read my wretched scrawl.
I shall probably, however, not yet have done
with you, for the events I have recorded, and
the circumstances connected with them, will
furnish ample matter for reflections, both
moral and political, which I may perhaps
arrange and commit to paper when I return
to England, and catch an interval of leisure.
God bless you. — E. R.
Tuesday morning, July 21, 1789.
My dear Loves, — I write to you from
Dijon in Burgundy, about two hundred miles

96 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
beyond Paris. We left Paris early on Sunday
morning, July 19, without any difficulty, as
the tumult had entirely subsided, and the police
of the city was restored to its usual regularity.
Our journey from Paris to Dijon has been a
most pleasing one ; the weather has been
favourable, the roads good, and no obstacles
of any kind have interrupted us. I wonder
who it was that told me travelling was so
inconvenient in France, that the roads were
execrable, the horses so bad that they could
not get on, &c. &c. We have had sufficient
experience that these things are not so, and
that many other reports that prevail in
England, unfavourable to this country and
its inhabitants, are equally untrue. My '
astonishment at the magnitude of this empire,
its wonderful population, the industry of the
inhabitants, and the excellence of the climate,
only increases the further we penetrate into
the country. We have now travelled between
four and five hundred miles in France, and
have hardly seen an acre uncultivated, except
two forests and parks, the one belonging to
the Prince de Conde, as I mentioned in a
former letter, the other to the King of France

FONTAINEBLEAU. 97
at Fontainebleau, and these are covered with
woods. In every other place almost every
inch has been ploughed or dug, and at this
time appears to be pressed with the weight
of the incumbent crop.1 On the roads, to the
very edge where the travellers' wheels pass,
and on the hills, to the very summit, may be
seen the effects of human industry. Since
we left Paris we have come through a country
where the vine is cultivated. This grows on
the sides and even on the tops of the highest
hills. It will also flourish where the soil is
too poor to bear corn, and on the sides of
precipices where no animal could draw the
plough. Our first halt on leaving Paris was at
Fontainebleau, where we breakfasted, and
saw some ropes made of the bark of trees.
Thence through the forest by Moret, a small
I J It is known that the harvest of 1789 was plentiful, and
that stores of grain remained from the preceding years. The
distress for want of bread which existed then, and was always
more or less occurring, was owing to the mischievous and
ignorant interference of the Government, which interdicted
the circulation of grain between one province and another,
required the people to buy as much barley as wheat, forbade
them to buy more than two bushels of wheat at one market,
with other insane regulations which exasperated the peasants,
and at this critical time led to riots.
H

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

but populous town, to Sens, all the way was
beautiful. Sens is a large city, the houses
principally of wood, and the streets narrow.
In the square or Place, soldiers and citizens
were under arms, surrounded with spectators,
and with ladies from windows or balconies
applauding them. At Soigny, and other
towns we passed, the people were all animated
and wearing the national cockade, and very
inquisitive for news from Paris. On Monday
night we slept at Auxerre, an old city in
Burgundy, and from our inn, Les Trots
Couronncs, we could see the river Yonne,
which is broad, and divided by some islands,
forming in one part a natural Weir, or cas
cade over stones, and roaring loudly as it
tumbles over them. This place furnishes the
true Burgundy wine, which is very cheap..
At half-past five next morning, July 21, we
left Auxerre, the road very hilly and the
prospects extensive, but the soil poor, con
sisting of limestone and gravel, but still full
of vineyards. At a little town called Vitteaux,
which we reached about three o'clock, we
ascended a very steep hill, as precipitate and
high as that which leads to Matlock or to

CLEARNESS OF THE AIR. 99
Castleton, in Derbyshire. At the top we
were surprised to find an almost level plain,
extending every way as far as the eye could
reach, equally as well cultivated as the
country we had before passed, but the ground
being almost covered with pieces of rock, and
the situation so elevated, the crops were not
so good as those in the valleys. After riding
about twelve miles over this plain, which
proved to be the summit of a great ridge of
hills which extend a considerable way over
this part of France, we came to the edge of
the opposite declivity. It was about seven
o'clock, the sun a little clouded, but still
shining through several openings so as to
illuminate many large patches in the prospect
before us. I should tell you that the air is
so perfectly clear here, especially in the even
ing, that the most distant objects may be
seen with utmost distinctness. On the edge
of this hill stands a magnificent old castle,
built by some baron of old, who must have
had grand ideas to have chosen such a place
for his residence. Near this venerable castle,
now in ruins, a most extensive prospect
opened to us, with hills suddenly rising, deep
H2

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

valleys, and immense forests of wood, through
which huge rocks every now and then reared
their heads. In the valleys were numerous
villages ; the lowest parts either pastures
full of cattle, hay land full of haymakers, or
cornfields ; the sides of the hills covered with
grand natural woods which have probably
flourished for centuries, and in parts covered
with vines. The sun shining on different
portions of this fine scene much added to
its beauty, while the extensive woods, which
were dark and gloomy in shade, gave magni
ficence to the whole. We rattled down this
hill several miles, amidst the same picturesque
scenery, till we came to the bottom of the
valley and crossed a small river. From that
place to Dijon there is a good road at the
foot of a ridge of hills, covered with rocks
and wood, very much resembling Matlock.
Dijon is an old city, situated among these
natural beauties. We are going to take a
walk, and as Monsieur de Virly, who was in
Norwich about two years ago, lives here, I
shall call upon him. When I am surrounded
by such scenery as we beheld yesterday, I
wish you were all with me, but when the

LETTER FORWARDED.

troubles began at Paris I blessed myself that
you were all safe at Framingham. However,
we have escaped all dangers of that kind.
I am perfectly well. We go to Lyons to
morrow, where I expect to find your letters.
God bless you all. E. R.
Lyons : Friday morning, July 24, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Before I resume the
narrative of my journey, I must thank you
for your letter, which I received last night ;
and being the first intelligence I have had of
you since I left Norwich, it was most welcome
to me. You may wonder that I did not
receive it at Paris, for it was directed there,
but, on account of the commotions, we pro
posed leaving Paris on Monday the 1 3th, and
therefore requested the master of the post to
forward my letters to Lyons. This, there
fore, came to Lyons before me, for the troubles
were such for several days at Paris that the
post-office was shut. I shall expect another
letter from you before I leave this place ; if
not, I shall desire it to be forwarded to
Geneva. My last letter was written on

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

Tuesday morning from Dijon, before we had
seen the city. It is not very large, but clean,
and the houses well built. There are like
wise some good buildings.
M. de Virly was in the country. He is
one of the noblesse ; and the bourgeois, who
have made the late noble and successful stand
for liberty, at present oblige them to keep
where they are, whether in town or country,
till the council of the nation shall have formed
a constitution and re-established public order.
Not finding him at home, I called upon
Monsieur Leroux, a surgeon, to whom I had
sent one of my publications by M. de Virly.
He was not at home, but when I gave my
name and requested to see the hospital, three
of his pupils attended me. I was never more
pleased with an establishment of this kind ;
charity and good sense seemed to have built
this hospital. It is large and lofty, outside
the walls of the city, receiving the pure air
from the neighbouring mountains and hills.
There are three hundred beds, all of iron,
the coverings and furniture of white cotton, as
clean and neat as any Quaker's in Norwich. I
could detect nowhere the slightest impure or

HOSPITAL AT DIJON 103
offensive smell. The wards are very wide, and
at least thirty feet high. Some are for infirm
old people and incurables, some, detached, for
lunatics, and there are two wards for illegiti
mate children, called enfans trouvts, as is
really the case, for they are always found at
the gate of the hospital. But what struck me
most was a large ward full of beds, fitted up
in the same comfortable manner, for the re
ception of the wandering stranger. Here the
weary traveller may at once find an asylum
and take his repose. He is permitted to stay
three days, and is supplied with everything
his situation requires, and if he be penniless
a supply of money is given him at his depar
ture. I never beheld a more interesting
scene. Many of the beds were then occupied
by sunburnt travellers, who were snoring
away in perfect security, undisturbed by those
apprehensions which in many cases must
interrupt the sleep of those who are at a
distance from home. I really envied the
founder of this delightful establishment. I
almost envied the persons who had the
pleasing task of fulfilling his benevolent in
tention. I am sure I had reason to praise

104 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
them, for such an appearance of neatness,
convenience, and comfort could not be kept
up without the utmost attention ; but I must
drop this subject. I will resume it when at
home, and if you be half as much affected by
my relation as I was with the reality, it will
bring tears to your eyes. Even the kitchen
was equally clean and neat, and the apothe
cary's shop or dispensary the neatest I have
seen anywhere, but it was too small and not
well lighted. The medicines also seemed
principally vegetable, and the materia mcdica
was not a good one — they give little bark or
opium. In our way from Dijon to Lyons we
travelled for the most part on a level plain,
highly cultivated, having on our right hand a
continuance of the same beautiful ridge of
hills which we first saw about twenty miles
before we came to Dijon. These hills (in
England we should call them mountains) are
covered even to their very tops with flourish
ing vineyards ; with houses, villages, and
towns without number at their feet. We
were constantly exclaiming as we passed
along, ' What a country is this ! What

MISTAKEN FOR NOBLESSE. 105

fertility in the soil ! What industry in the
inhabitants ! What a charming climate ! '
We left Dijon at one o'clock ; the road so
good that we travelled expeditiously, reaching
Barague, seven and a half miles, in an hour.
There are beggars at every stage. Thence
to Beaune ; the road still through vineyards
which produce the richest Burgundy wine.
Within a mile of this place we overtook many
bourgeois in arms — in carriages, on horseback,
and on foot. Some of those on foot stopped
our carriage and cut the ropes of the harness,
taking us for noblesse ; but some gentlemen
came up to us and set us at liberty, politely
apologising for the improper behaviour of the
others. Beaune is an old fortified town full of
churches and inhabitants, and numbers came
out to meet the bourgeois, eager to learn
intelligence of their proceedings, calling out,
Vivent les Tiers L^tats, and wearing cockades.
The women in Beaune were very pretty, and
hundreds, both men and women, busy cutting
and carrying harvest.
We arrived at Chalons at a quarter-past
eight, the roads just as good, but the land not
so fertile ; we even observed some pieces of

106 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
waste. Chalons is on the Saone — a fine river,
with an excellent bridge and a fine quay, with
several rows of magnificent stone houses.
The city is full of convents and churches, the
streets narrow, and the houses old. It teems
with inhabitants, and walking after dusk we
saw many monks, some talking to the girls.
The streets were brilliantly lighted with
argand lamps, and we observed in some
shops a peculiar game played with cross-bows,
&c. We lodged here, but not in good quarters.
We left Chalons Wednesday morning (July
22), rising at half-past four, the road leading
through a fine level of meadows, with wheat,
maize, hemp, &c, growing plentifully. We
reached Tournay, an old town on the Saone,
at eight o'clock, having walked two miles over
a hill, where we were well rewarded, as we as
cended, by a most excellent prospect. Below,
the Saone was seen for many miles, winding
through a most extensive fertile plain, full of
towns and villages, and beyond all, the Alps
were plainly visible, though more than sixty
miles distant. Tournay was full of people,
with narrow streets and old houses. At the
doors of some of the shops were pieces of

MACON. 107

ochre or iron ore. The rocks in this neigh
bourhood appear to be calcareous, mixed
with some granite and flint, which takes a
polish and forms a tolerably good marble.
We intended to have reached Lyons to-day,
but were detained about six miles from
Tournay by something amiss in one of our
wheels. This obliged us to dine at St. Albers,
the worst inn we have yet been in ; for we
dined in a room where there were three beds,
and on pigeons we had just seen the servant
kill. In every place the same spirit of free
dom seemed to prevail, and the same dislike
to the noblesse. An Abbe or Curd with whom
we conversed expressed the same sentiments.
We reached a large fortified town called
Micon, on the Sa6ne, for night, where we
were sufficiently entertained. The principal
street is, I should suppose, nearly a mile long,
with well-built houses which front the river.
It is very broad, with a good pave on one
side, which was crowded with people of all
ranks, enjoying the air and the pleasures of
conversation. The bridge was also filled in
the same way, and being about the middle
of the quay, and more elevated, had a most

108 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
pleasing effect. There were hundreds of
well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, enjoying
themselves, talking, and sitting in the porticos
on chairs and benches near the river. For a
moment I wished I was an inhabitant of
Macon, and could sit among this happy
people. I am sure we do not make so much
of society as the French do, and I am also
sure we are great losers by it. Some women
came to us during supper to offer knives,
scissors, and other articles of cutlery. They
said they were manufactured at Macon, but —
I know not why — we suspected they came
from Birmingham. Yesterday morning, July
23, we rose early and started, the sun shining
most beautifully across the river. No ladies
or gentlemen could now be seen where such
numbers had been the evening before, but
the sight of many industrious people going
to work was perhaps not less pleasing. The
boats began to be crowded, and hundreds of
neat women were going to the river to wash
linen, which is here all done at the river's side.
We observed more cockades here than usual,
but they were all blue and white. Our ride
to Lyons has surpassed everything in our

APPROACH TO LYONS. 109
journey ; the same kind of country, but
infinitely more picturesque. The houses now
assumed a peculiar appearance ; the roofs
broad and flat, and considerably overhanging
the walls. This has an odd effect, but it pro
duces shade ; most of the upper windows were
not glazed. The corn harvest was here
nearly over, and the land already being
ploughed again and sown with brank [Poly
gonum). For the first time I saw ploughs
here with no wheels. We observed no
cockades here, nor any calling out for the
Tiers Etats. Two very smart ladies rode
past us on horseback, astride, each having an
umbrella. The riding-habit was divided in
the petticoat part, forming something like
long trousers. I observed the same at
Chantilly, but at no other place.
From Puits d'Or to Lyons the scenery
was picturesque beyond description ; all the
way descending, with hills and deep valleys
on each side, highly cultivated and adorned
with woods, vineyards, orchards, &c. The
approach to Lyons is uncommonly beautiful,
with such a multitude of chateaux and
country houses, belonging to the rich manu-

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

facturers of the city, of farm-houses and neat
cottages, all commanding beautiful prospects,
as is perhaps not to be equalled in any part
of the world.1 Our first walk was on the
quay next the Rhone, which here unites itself
with the Saone. What a noble stream ! and
how rapid ! But I must conclude. I am
perfectly well, and only want you all with me
to complete my felicity. God bless you. E. R.

Sunday morning, July 26, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Though I am at a con
siderable distance from any post-town, yet,
as my situation admits of my beginning a
letter, and as writing is the greatest pleasure
I enjoy at this distance from you, I have
taken out my pen and ink. We are now on
the Rhone, about seventy miles below Lyons,
which we left yesterday. This is a most
wonderful stream for the breadth, depth,
and great length of its course, and more
especially for its rapidity. We are carried
1 Gray the poet describes the environs of Lyons in his
time as ' bedropped and besprinkled with country houses,
gardens, and plantations of rich merchants and bourgeois.'

LYONS.

by the force of the stream only, an oar or
the rudder being occasionally used to guide
it. But before I say anything of the country
through which it passes, I must return to
Lyons, whence I last wrote, at which time
I had seen but little of the city.
There are many mills on the Rhone at
Lyons, as at Paris on the Seine, and at
Chalons and Macon on the Saone ; numerous
mills also for various of the Lyons manufac
tories, the rapidity of the stream giving
a power equal to any mechanical force re
quired. We entered the city through the
faubourgs, which are built between a high
chain of rocks and the Saone. Unfortunately,
a street has been built where there should be
but one row of houses. The houses being
so high and the street so narrow, the air can
not be pure in the lower regions. We found
this to be the case by the execrable stench we
experienced ; but, notwithstanding this, all
the houses at every storey seemed to be
crammed with inhabitants. I should think
this street must be more than a mile long.
Some of the houses are built on the rock,
some even on the summits of very high rocks,

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

the access in the front to the street being by
ladders, placed most frightfully perpendicular.
On approaching Lyons, these peculiarly
situated buildings have a most singular
appearance. In the evening we went to the
Comddie, a very good theatre, but not well
attended, and few pretty or well-dressed
women. The performance was execrable,
the actors bad, and the singing wretched.
We lodged at the H6tel de Malthe, in a little
square — a good house and clean, but too many
fleas in it. Next day we called upon M.
Rey, a merchant, to whom Mr. Boddington
had a letter of credit. He behaved most
politely to us, and asked us to dine with him,
saying he would invite company to meet us,
but we could not accept his invitation.1 He
went with us to agree for the boat to take us
to Avignon : the rascal asked eighteen louis
and took nine. My companions went to see
the small remains of an aqueduct, about two
miles off, but I preferred going to the
hospital, the Hotel Dieu, being encouraged
to this from the satisfaction I had experienced
in seeing that of Dijon. But I was much
1 At that time the French dined at 12 o'clock.

HOSPITAL AT LYONS. 113
disappointed. This is an enormous quad
rangular building, having a square within, ill
calculated to admit free ventilation, the
front towards the Rhone, more than 400
yards long, and in a good style of architecture.
There are 1,100 patients, one only in a bed.
There were formerly more, but a late sub
scription has enabled them to increase the
number of the beds. The bedsteads are of
iron, with linen furniture, but not clean. The
wards are large, but too much crowded. A
very large ward was appropriated for accidents,
and it was very full : a proof of the populous-
ness of the city and neighbourhood. There
are 250 attendants, including physicians,
surgeons, sisters of charity, priests, pupils,
servants, &c. The premier mddecin is an
Englishman, he visits the hospital early in
the morning and late in the evening. I was
sorry I could not see him.1
The public library is a good building,
containing 60,000 volumes, well arranged and
neatly kept, and, like the King's Library at
Paris, it is open three days in the week for
six hours, and any one may read or make
1 This hospital was destroyed in the siege of Lyons, 1793.
I

ii4 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
extracts from books ; but nobody takes the
benefit of it, except now and then a stranger.
In the afternoon we were highly gratified by
a visit to the country house of M. Rey. We
crossed a branch of the Saone in a small boat,
then went about a mile in a voiture, and then
walked up a very steep hill, through a narrow
lane, which had been made steeper and more
rugged by the torrents of rain which had fallen
this summer. The situation of the house
and the surrounding grounds is picturesque
beyond description. We rambled among his
vineyards and plantations to the different
points most distinguished for prospects. Such
a variety of views, sure, were never united in
one place. On one side that most stupendous
of all mountains, Mont Blanc, lifts up his
mighty head, though about ninety miles distant
in a straight line, his snowy head as visible as
Strumpshaw Hill is at Framingham. Other
snowy mountains were also visible on the
remote parts of the eastern horizon ; the
celebrated Pila was nearer, renowned by
botanists for the rare plants with which it
abounds. About half-a-mile from this spot,
through a very romantic walk, we came to the

COUNTRY HOUSES AT LYONS. 115
ruins of a Roman aqueduct, a stupendous
work — the arches here being sixty feet high,
formed of a mixture of various stones and
fluid mortar ; the stones were, however, prin
cipally lamellated granite, with which this
country abounds. This wonderful building
was originally seven leagues long, and was
erected to convey a remarkably fine water
from a fountain which the Romans, who were
very nice with respect to water, had discovered
at this distance from Lyons.
This gentleman's house in England would
be sufficient for the residence of persons of
the first fortune. It is fitted up in the most
comfortable manner imaginable, and there ap
peared to be beds to accommodate twenty or
thirty strangers. The mother of M. Rey and
three sisters were here, all very polite and
one very handsome. We found by his account
that there are great numbers of such places —
not only every merchant, but every shop
keeper and artificer in Lyons having his
country house, situated in places equally
romantic ; but, though so charming, they are
attended with very little expense. The rents
are so low, and provisions so astonishingly
1 2

116 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
cheap round Lyons, that this gentleman
assured me a person with a wife and a small
family might live well for sixty pounds a year.
What a charming country this, for people
of small fortunes ! a few hundreds a year
would be here a most capital income. There
are many English families settled here, and I
should imagine there will soon be more, as
the form of government is likely to be so
much improved. The manners of the people,
moreover, seem particularly calculated for
social intercourse ; they appear, as I have
remarked before, to derive more happiness
from this source than we do ; they are not
so formally dull as the English, but are all
vivacity and politeness. There are upwards
of 180,000 inhabitants in Lyons. The large
buildings on the quay are let to many families ;
in the house where M. Rey has rooms there
are six hundred persons, the rent being alto
gether two thousand guineas per annum.
Coals are plentiful ; they are found a few
leagues from hence, and are brought to Lyons
by water. We expected to have found it
intolerably hot ; and in the middle of the day,
if the sun be very bright, it is so, for the

PLENTIFUL HARVEST. 117
buildings are all of white stone, and the
streets and roads all white. We have had no
inconvenience from the scarcity of provisions.
I am sorry I did not mention this before, as I
am afraid you were made a little uneasy by
the accounts in the papers. There has indeed
been a great scarcity, and I dare say the poor
people have experienced some hardship from
it, but the harvest is begun in most parts of
France, and is over here, and has been a
most plentiful one.
The post being stopped at Paris, and it
being thought improper to write on political
subjects from that place, prevented my giving
you any particulars of the Revolution ; but the
general circumstances you will by this time
learn from the papers, and when I return I
will give you a detail of what I was an eye
witness to.1 I saw enough to frighten me
pretty handsomely, and enough to make my
heart ache ; but, as we have escaped all
danger, I am glad I was there on so memor
able an occasion. I wish you to keep my
letters ; for though I have kept a little journal
ever since I came out, and have probably
1 See explanation, p. 30.

n8 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
made sufficient memorandums to assist me in
giving you an account of the principal objects
which have struck me, yet there may be some
noticed in them which I may have omitted in
my itinerary. In my next I will begin with
an account of our passage down the Rhone.
We shall go to Avignon and Marseilles ; the
latter will be the most southern part of our
journey. Had we not been detained a week
longer than we expected at Paris, we should
have gone a little way into Italy, but that
cannot be now. God bless you all, again
and again. My compliments to all who ask
for me. E. R.
Nismes : Monday evening, July 27, 1789.
My dear Loves, — My last letter, which
was written on Sunday while we were pass
ing down the Rhone, gave you some account
of our stay at Lyons. Two very fine rivers,
the Saone and the Rhone, unite their waters
at that city, and run in one course, taking the
name of the Rhone only, until they empty
themselves into the Mediterranean. We got
on board at eight on Saturday, July 25. At
nine the thermometer was 65 °. From Lyons

ON THE RHONE. 119
to Avignon on the river is about 150 miles,
and as we stopped at some towns, we did not
reach Avignon until Sunday evening. The
rapidity of the river, which I mentioned before,
is owing to its passing through a mountainous
country which will not admit of its spreading
itself, and it is this circumstance which renders
a voyage down it so particularly romantic.
From our leaving Lyons till our reaching
Avignon there is scarcely a spot which does
not display some magnificence of nature.
Rocks of enormous height and of the most
irregular and fantastical shapes were almost
constantly before us, and where these were
wanting the eye travels but a little way before
it sees some of the stupendous mountains of
the Alps. Those of Grenoble, which, though
in France, are connected with the mountains
in Savoy, are visible in many places, and add
grandeur to the scene. The Rhone is of
different breadths, and in many parts its
course is very circuitous. We often thought
ourselves in the middle of a vast lake, and I
remember in one spot we seemed surrounded
with a circus of mountains. Moreover, in
some places the river divides itself and forms

120 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
islands, so that almost every natural variety is
presented to the admiring traveller. Inde
pendent of the natural objects which excite
attention, there are others which have been
produced by the hand of man. The Rhone
was much distinguished in the time of the
Romans ; it was always a very formidable
barrier to them, and particularly so when they
attacked Gaul. In the same way, it was an
equally difficult pass to the enemies of Rotne
who wished to invade the empire. Andj in
latter ages, before the invention of gun
powder, its shores were strongly fortified by
castles and citadels of various strength a(id
extent. The remains of some Roman build
ings and of many Gothic castles still exist On
the banks of this river, many of them on the
very summits of its highest rocks, and in this
exposed situation have braved the storms and
tempests of many ages. The neighbourhood
of the Rhone also, particularly the upper,
part, is extremely populous : towns, villages,)
and farms without end. Every spot of ground,
and even the fissures in the rocks which time
has filled with a little mould, are cultivated to
the utmost. Vines seem to flourish where no

VIENNE.

121

other plant can live ; they seem only to
require to be kept fast to the rock, and the
air and the sun supply all the principles of
vegetation. Towards the more southern
parts mulberry trees grow in great abund
ance, and near Avignon we began to see the
olive tree.
The first place we stopped at was
the ancient city of Vienne, where many
manufactures are carried on. It is also the
see of an archbishop and the residence of
many rich and indolent ecclesiastics. We
left the boat in order to view the Roman
antiquities in the city, and were accompanied
by a woman who knew nothing about the
matter. After climbing several narrow and
dirty streets of considerable ascent, we came
to a singular place, something like an apart
ment in a rock, where a gentleman who came
from another part of the excavated rock asked
us if we were English. He then asked us to
look at a monument erected to the memory
of a young Englishman who died about a
year ago, but having been buried in unholy
and ignoble ground, leave had been obtained
to appropriate this place to the interment of

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

strangers, and of those who had professed a
foreign religion, and the remains of his
deceased friend and our countryman were
about to be placed there. The deceased
proved to be a Dr. Stark, or the brother of
a Dr. Stark, aged but twenty-four. The
gentleman much urged us to attend the
funeral, but as it was not to take place till
after sunset that evening, we could not spare
the time. There was something melancholy
and interesting in this circumstance, and he
much regretted that we could not comply
with his request. His politeness, however,
induced him to accompany us about the city,
and we were indebted to him for the sight of
some curious Roman antiques in the College
of Vienne. We there saw M. Schneider,
Professor of Design. This gentleman seems
to have been placed there very judiciously, as
he is endeavouring to preserve by drawings
what still remains of these beautiful specimens.
He had some fine and perfect pieces of mosaic,
some parts of antique figures, a curious
Roman talisman which gave an impression on
wax of various heads, and a Priape. There
were also fragments of ancient columns with

ANTIQUITIES AT VIENNE. 123
Corinthian capitals, and specimens of lead ore,
of stalactites, of granite, and an enormous
bone of an animal which had been dug up in
this neighbourhood. We were shown like
wise the remains of a Roman Prsetorium, a
most beautiful building ; the columns and
portal of the Corinthian order, with a perfect
pediment, are still remaining, but the bar
barians of a few generations back built up
the spaces between the pillars and made a
church of it. We also saw the remains of a
triumphal arch in memory of Augustus, and
at a little distance from the city a pyramid in
honour of Severus ; but this is a clumsy build
ing, evidently erected when architectural taste
was on the decline.1 The city was once very
large, and from its situation must have been
of great importance to the Romans ; the
remains of a bridge on the Rhone, and of an
aqueduct five leagues long, are proofs of this.
The present city is populous, containing,
we were assured, 18,000 inhabitants. The
cathedral is a large building, and its ' style
of architecture seems to prove that it was
erected when the Roman style was giving
1 Now called V Aiguille.

124 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
way to the Gothic. There is a considerable
manufacture of rateens and other stuffs, and
a good trade in wine. Also an iron-foundry
near, where anchors are made ; iron and lead
are found in the neighbouring mountains, and
plenty of coal is near. Our gentleman
walked with us for about two hours, and
then insisted on our stopping at his house,
and tasting the wine of the country, which is
in great estimation.
In my next I must continue my narrative
from Vienne. I shall be impatient to reach
Geneva, that I may have letters from you.
It seems long since I heard of you. I wish
a little bird could whisper in my ear that you
are all well, but I will hope it. God bless
you all. E. R.
Aix : Wednesday morning, 4 o'clock, July 29, 1789.
My dear Loves, — I take up my narrative
from Vienne, which we left on Saturday the
25th, and arrived at Tain at 9 o'clock p.m.,
having gone fifty miles in the boat. This
town has a romantic position at the foot of
the Hermitage mountains which produce the
celebrated wine of that name. On the oppo-

BRIDGE OF PONT ST. ESPRIT. 125
site shore of the Rhone there is another large
town called Tournon ; the wine on that side of
the river not so good as on this. These towns
are in different provinces ; Tain in Dauphin^,
and Tournon in Vivarais. We slept here
and rose at half-past four. The next stage
on our voyage was to Valence, a large city
close to the Rhone, with an enormous rock on
the opposite shore, crowned with a magnifi
cent castle in ruins.1 Hence to Pont St.
Esprit 2 the river is most rapid, and the sides
still more rocky, mountainous, and picturesque :
the mountains of Grenoble, with their irregu
lar tops and vast chasms, being still in sight.
We passed under the beautiful bridge of
Pont St. Esprit at half-past three. At this
season of the year the passage is perfectly
safe, but in high floods and when the wind is
powerful it must be dangerous. It is an
admirable structure, and we counted twenty-
two arches, but there may be more. The
bridge is astonishingly light, every buttress, a
little above the surface of the water, being
perforated with a small arch, which lessens
1 Chateau de Crussol ?
2 Then the only bridge over the Rhone.

126 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
the weight considerably. This Pont St.
Esprit was built by the Romans about two
thousand years ago, and is perhaps the most
perfect monument of this kind of architecture
now remaining. Within four leagues of
Avignon, Mont Ventoux, the highest moun
tain in France, was visible ; its top and sides
very white, the rocks being chalky. We landed
finally at Avignon at half-past eight (July 26),
and as we approached we observed many
parties strolling on the shore, and some
dancing to pipes and tabors. Avignon is an
old city, and some centuries ago it was the
residence of the Popes ; it still belongs to the
Pope, and is governed by a legate ; we were
therefore required to take a passport on
leaving it. All that we remarked in it is
that the streets are very narrow and nasty,
from a filthy custom of the inhabitants. It is
full of churches, and, I should add, there are
many very pretty women in it. We walked
on some high rocks which are within the
walls of the city, whence we had a good view
of the country and the course of the Rhone
for some distance. We crossed the river in
a boat on our way to Nismes very near an

DESTRUCTION OF OLIVE TREES. 127
old bridge which has been in a state of ruin
for centuries. The journey from Avignon to
Nismes was in one respect the most singular
of any since we left home. Had I been at
once placed in this country, I should have
supposed myself in another world, for there
is scarcely a tree or a plant an English
man would recognise. There are indeed
thousands of mulberry trees, but these grow
much more vigorously, and the verdure of
their foliage is much more beautiful than in
England. The other trees, equally, or, I be
lieve, more plentiful, are the olives. These at
the best have not a good foliage, or, rather, the
colour of their leaves is not a good green.
They look somewhat like the common willow,
and, added to this, they are at present seen
under a great disadvantage, for the severity
of last winter's frost, which extended to these
southern regions, totally destroyed thousands
of these trees. Their appearance in such a
desolated state, and through such an extent
of country, was really melancholy. The loss
of a whole year's crop of the principal support
of the inhabitants is one of the greatest
natural calamities, and in this case the loss

128 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
cannot be supplied by fresh trees of equal
vigour in less than thirty years. The other
trees planted for profit are the vine and the
almond ; the shrubs are myrtles of different
kinds, and mixing with them, are the ilex, the
juniper, some species of cypress, the wild
lavender, the mountain thyme, and, what
was more striking than any other, the pome
granate, which now shows its beautiful red
flowers, and is as abundant in the hedges as
the thorn is in England.
Our visit to Nismes was in great measure
to view the celebrated Roman antiquities in
that place and neighbourhood. The first we
visited formed part of a stupendous aqueduct
called the ' Pont du Gard.' It passes over a
deep valley, through which runs the rapid
mountain stream the Gardon. The scenery
of the spot corresponds well with the magni
ficence of these ruins. Immense rocks have
been piled on one another by nature, and
immense arches have been piled on one
another by the skill of the Romans. We
climbed the rocks and walked to the top of
the building, where, though perfectly safe, the
view of the great depth below was tremendous.

NISMES. 129

I gathered some Dyanthus virginianus on the
Pont du Gard. Nismes is also an old city,
but the streets are wide, and there are many
open spaces in it, now used as promenades.
Here are some vestiges of Roman fountains
and baths which have been lately repaired,
and serve still, as they did under the Romans,
to supply the city with excellent water. A
part also of a beautiful temple of Diana
remains, and an amphitheatre sufficiently
preserved to give an idea of its original mag
nitude, of the kind of spectacles the Romans
were fond of, and of the great population
which could require such a space for them.
But the vast area is now filled with houses,
and several streets pass through it1 The
most perfect monument of Roman architecture,
however, is a temple of the composite order,
called la maison carrde. Besides these, on
the summit of a high rock, are the remains of
something like an enormously high tower. I
persuaded my companions that this was an
ancient gazebo, and that was probably the
use it served, as it must have commanded an
immense prospect. We left Nismes on
1 All cleared now.
K

130 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
Tuesday morning, and found the roads
crowded with people going to a fair at
Beaucaire, about twenty miles off.1 Here we
had another specimen of the populousness of
this country. The streets were full of people,
every house was a shop, and a long quay was
crowded with booths full of different kinds of
merchandise. Besides these there were a
number of vessels in the Rhone, lying along
side the quay, full of articles for sale, and no
less crowded with people, access being had
to them by boards laid from one to the other.
I observed many articles in cast iron. From
Beaucaire the country was, I think, more
romantic than any we had passed through.
At St. Remy, a small town between Beaucaire
and Orgon, I bought a few peas of an old
woman, who was dressing some in a sieve.
They were of a singular kind. She said they
were not eaten green, but when ripe they
made good soup, pour les malades?
Aix is a pretty town, many of the houses
well built, the streets wide, and with a capital

1 This feir is still kept, closing now as then on July 28.
2 This proved to be the Pisum mons pessutannm. I
brought it to England and it grows at Framingham.

FIRST SIGHT OF MEDITERRANEAN. i3I
promenade under some fine venerable elms,
which have afforded shade to the inhabitants
for many a year. It was full of company last
night. We have been fortunate in this re
spect, having arrived at several places when
the walks were thus filled. I finish this
letter from Marseilles, which promises to
please us much. About two miles before we
reached it we had a beautiful first sight of
the Mediterranean. The colour of the sea
very striking ; near the shore, green, further
into the sea perfectly blue, and still further
purple. ... E. R.
Marseilles : Wednesday Evening, July 29, 1789.
My dear Loves, — The conclusion of the
letter which I wrote and sent away this
morning, would inform you of our arrival in
this city. It is situated in a beautiful valley,
defended on the land side by a ridge of those
rocky mountains which I before described as
belonging to this part of France ; and on the
other by the Mediterranean, which here forms
a fine bay, created by a projection of a strong
chain of rocks. In the centre of this bay are
several rocks ; on one of these is the prison,
K 2

132 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
upon another the Lazaretto, and all the ships
which come from the Levant perform quaran
tine here and land their goods, before they
can be admitted into the harbour. This is
done to prevent the introduction of that
horrid disease, the plague. We were told
that there were two patients under the disease
in the Lazaretto at this time. The inner
harbour, where a large number of merchant
ships, usually about 600, are as safely moored
as in the docks at Liverpool, is within the
city, and has been in some measure made by
art. It is a most commodious and secure
situation, and being surrounded by an exten
sive quay, full of warehouses and shops, is
admirably adapted for the purposes of a sea
port. We have here again experienced the
politeness and kindness of a respectable
merchant, M. Carthalan, to whom we had a
letter, who took us to several parts of the city,
and especially to an eminence near, on which
stands an old castle ; part of it used as a fort
ress, and part as a chapel, dedicated to the
Holy Virgin.1 She is a great favourite with
1 Notre Dame de la Garde.

MARSEILLES. 133
the sailors, and, attributing their escapes from
shipwrecks and storms to her divine inter
position, they have decorated the church with
models of ships, pieces of cables, and other
more valuable offerings to her, as marks of
their gratitude. There is a most striking
view from this place of the city, the sea, and
adjacent country, the latter, full of chateaux,
country houses, and neat cottages. As it
happened to be a very stormy day, we had
an opportunity of observing another religious
custom practised here. The fishermen, being
unable to get out to sea, set the bells in their
part of the city ringing in a way which they
call a prayer to God.
A great part of the city has been built
within forty years. The houses are lofty, and
composed of a beautiful white stone, the
streets are wide and remarkably well paved ;
moreover they are very clean and much
purified by streams of water, which flow
through many of them. The promenades
are also wide, extensive, and shaded by
good trees. The population is large, and
appeared the more so, from the circumstance
of public affairs having made it necessary for

134 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
many thousands of the inhabitants to asso
ciate themselves for the purpose of defence in
case of disturbances. Every person wears a
cockade, and those belonging to the militia of
the citizens have a neat uniform ; we are told
that there are 12,000 citizens armed, with
2,000 officers. I have hitherto thought it
prudent to be silent on political subjects, and
on the present state of affairs in Paris and
France ; but, as I find there is now only one
party, and every one speaks without reserve
on the subject, I shall now no longer need
to be so cautious. (A very interesting spec
tacle was exhibited here this forenoon. More
than seventy persons who had been im
prisoned months ago in the prison at Aix for
having, we are told, opposed some of the
measures of the court party, were rescued by
a body of Marseilles citizens who went to
Aix, which is more than twenty miles off, for
that purpose. Had the Revolution not taken
place they would probably have been hanged])
Among these were several women and two
babes, who had been born during the im
prisonment of their mothers. There were
also prisoners who had been confined for

ENFRANCHISED PRISONERS. 135
years. One pretty young woman was
pointed out to us as having been cruelly
treated by her master, and who, to prevent
her complaining, had the address to get her
conveyed to the prison at Aix, where she had
been confined for nine years. All these were
led along the streets, with drums and musical
instruments, protected by the armed citizens,
and were received by their respective friends
amidst the loud acclamations of the people.
We set off for Toulon to-morrow, and I hope
to drop this into a post-office on our way
thither. God bless you all. Good-night E. R.
Toulon ; Friday Morning, July 31, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Our journey yesterday
was from Marseilles, which we left at five
o'clock, to this place. The storm had sub
sided in the night, and the sky was perfectly
clear ; indeed, it is here seldom clouded. A
delay at Brousset, a small town, but full of
people and carriages detained like us by a
scarcity of horses, was the first difficulty of
the kind we have experienced in travelling
almost a thousand miles in this country.

136 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
The roads also were rough, but we have been
more than repaid by the gratification which
the ride afforded us. You must smile, I am
sure, when you find me constantly saying
that the last scenes surpass in beauty all the
former ones. I think, after what we saw
yesterday, I shall cease to make the same
remarks, for I imagine the scenery cannot be
equalled in its kind by anything we shall see
again. Almost the whole length of the way,
about forty-six miles, the road was between
very high rocks and over high hills. About
eight miles of it was what, in the language of
Derbyshire, would be called a dale, and if you
call to your remembrance Dovedale, Middle-
ton Dale, &c, in England, you may have some
idea of this place, only that in magnitude and
variety of shape in the rocks this very much
exceeds those. In one respect, however, Dove-
dale has permanently a beauty which these
dales have only occasionally. Dovedale has
a river constantly running through it, but in
these a stream only exists in the winter time,
and after rain in the summer, but then it is
evident, from the depth of the narrow channel,
from the projecting masses of rock which line

ROCKY SCENERY 137
its sides, and from the high arches of the
bridges which cross it, that it must be a
torrent indeed. About four miles more of
this dale is narrowed into a road, in some
places just wide enough to let the carriage
pass, winding so much that we could seldom
see more than a few hundred yards before us.
The rocks here are in some places absolutely
perpendicular, and the highest my eyes ever
beheld. They are broken into the most
various shapes, split down in some instances
from their tops to their very bases ; in some
parts forming arches through which we could
see other similar rocks, and in others, mouths
of caverns, which seemed to lead to dreadful
abodes in the mountain. The shock that
could overturn such vast masses, the power
which could lift up such weights from low
situations, and break into fragments such
immense, and, at the same time, such hard
substances as compose these rocks, must have
been great indeed. As rocks alone, these
were very striking objects, but there is a
circumstance in this happy climate which
gives a further beauty to these scenes. Every
rock, except those which were absolutely

138 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
perpendicular, was clothed with natural
forests of pine, not quite the same as our fir
trees, but of the same family. Some of these
rocky hills are thus clothed for miles, with
myrtles in perfection below, and wild rose
mary, lavender, thyme, and other aromatic
plants. Wherever, also, there was the
smallest valley, the ground was cultivated
and bore corn and grapes, and even in the
clefts of the rocks, where there was the least
quantity of soil, the industry of the inhabi
tants had planted various vegetables ; and
among others, in holes on the sides of the
rocks, the caper plant, a beautiful flower,
Polyandria monogynia, then in blossom.
What a situation for a naturalist! Olive
trees were also among the rocks, and as we
came nearer Toulon the hills and valleys
were crowded with them, and in the fullest
vigour, for the desolation of the last winter
had not reached them.
Toulon is a large, well-built city, the great
naval arsenal for the Mediterranean. Here
are two harbours (Rades), the outer and inner,
both well secured. In the inner were many
vessels, and on one side a number of ships of

TOULON. 139

war, unrigged, and regularly moored along
side each other. Several vessels were land
ing melons from the Isle of Hieres ; we
bought some very large and excellent ones
for sixpence each, which, we were told, was
much above the common price. We saw no
cockades here, nor any marks of rejoicing
on account of the Revolution. Toulon, of
course, is a government town, its principal
inhabitants holding offices connected with the
marine. E. R
Nice : Sunday Morning, 5 o'clock, August 2, 1789.
My dear Loves. — You will perhaps be
surprised to find that I date from this place,
as in a former letter I told you we had given
up all thoughts of extending our journey so
far* but having since that time been very alert
in getting forward, we found we had time just
to peep at this celebrated land. We shall go
through Turin to Geneva, and so down the
Rhine to England. My last was written at
Toulon in the morning, when my companions
were teasing me to get into the coach, so that
I hardly recollect what I said. Did I describe
Toulon ? if not, let me say that it is a well-

140 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
built fortified city, situated on a most beauti
ful bay of the Mediterranean. It is one of
the King of France's principal harbours for
ships of war, and is at this time well filled
with very noble vessels. The stores are kept
in the arsenal, which few foreigners, and par
ticularly not the English, are permitted to see.
Everything appears in good order and well
arranged, and there is a quay on which in the
evenings are crowds of well dressed people
walking. This city, being inhabited princi
pally by officers and others holding place
under the King, did not exhibit the same
revolutionary signs. Elsewhere, in every
city, town, and village we had passed, every
hat was adorned with a Revolution cockade,
and our ears were saluted from every quarter
with ' Vive la Nation, et les Tiers litats! At
Toulon there were no cockades to be seen,
no acclamations to be heard, none but the
usual appearances of French mirth, which are
ever seen in the smiles of the women, and the
lively manner in which the men with them
sit round their doors to converse, and enjoy
the pleasures of their delightful evening air.
We left Toulon on Friday morning, and came

SOUTHERN VEGETATION. 141
to Frejus that day. It was the hottest day
we had travelled ; the thermometer was for
several hours 850 and at one o'clock 870.
The road was also rough, and though it led
us through uncultivated hills, covered with
myrtles, tamarisks, box, cypress, juniper, &c,
it was not sufficiently picturesque to make us
insensible to the incessant jolts of the carriage,
and to the extreme heat of the atmosphere.
Towards evening, when the air became more
temperate, our attention was pleasingly excited
during a few miles by the profusion of those
evergreens which in England are raised and
preserved with difficulty in hothouses, among
which the myrtles were in greatest abundance.
The sides of some of the hills from their tops
down to the low valleys were completely
clothed with the vivid green of this charm
ing shrub, many of them in blossom, and
contributing, with the many other aromatic
plants which flourish under the bright light
of this southern sun, to fill the air with frag
rance. In the course of this day's journey
we first saw the cork tree, a native of these
wild mountains, which, I should tell you,
are a part of the Alps; that part which

142 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
extends nearest to the Mediterranean Sea.
We arrived at Frejus, for the first time
handsomely tired/ and, not having been
able to get refreshment on the road, very
hungry. There was nothing in the appearance of
Frejus to give us comfort. It is an old town
evidently in decay, and, though near the sea,
yet not near enough to be considered a sea
port, nor near enough to admit of our refresh
ing ourselves by a stroll on the beach. We
were just able to crawl about to behold the
ruins of an amphitheatre, an old Roman gate
way, and part of an aqueduct. They are all
much in decay, and I should suppose will
crumble very fast, but we were glad to see
the amphitheatre, for there was a part of it
remaining which seemed to explain to us
what was concealed by houses at Nismes.
Our inn moreover was a very nasty one, but
we did make shift to get a supper. Yester
day we rose soon after four and took leave of
this wretched town. We were told to expect
a fatiguing day's journey, as the road lay over
a high mountain, but the air was cooler and
there was a pleasant breeze.

ANTIBES.

143

To l'Estrelles the road was very strik
ing, passing through quite a different country,
in one,, continued ascent for several miles.
The hills were clothed to the top with
pines, myrtles, arbutus, rosemary, &c, varied
with some deep valleys, and now and then a
beautiful view of the Mediterranean; the road
sometimes frightfully near the edge of steep
precipices. At the post-house of l'Estrelles
we did not get out, but had some eggs brought
to us. At Napoule the country became
plain and level, the road being near the sea
side, where we first saw the aloe growing.
The land projects here so irregularly into the
sea that it forms a succession of bays, which,
being surrounded by high ground, must be
secure places for ships to run into. On several
of these projections were small but pretty
towns, and about 12 o'clock we came to
Antibes, which is built on one of the least of
these bays. This is a clean and well-built
town, and being a frontier town it is well
fortified. We were here asked for our pass
port from Paris, and not having been told that
it was necessary to keep it, we, for a moment,
thought we had lost it. When we found it,

146 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
siderable depth. And such beautiful water !
such a blue unclouded sky ! such a land
scape of hills, woods, and rocks ! and such
a clear atmosphere ! I no longer wonder
these scenes have been so much celebrated
by poets and painters ; scenes which, indepen
dent of the knowledge that this country has
been inhabited by one of the first nations of
antiquity, would alone suffice to render it
interesting. The country all round is highly
cultivated ; the olive trees much larger and
more vigorous than those we before saw, and
this year most plentifully loaded with fruit.
The fig-tree is also very frequent, and seems
to grow wild. The aloe too, though I
believe not applied to any use, appears in
some places to have been planted in lines,
perhaps as hedges, for its thick fleshy leaves,
sharply pointed at the ends, must be no trif
ling barrier to the approaches either of man or
beast. The boundary which here separates the
two kingdoms is the river Var ; a mountain
stream, broad and rapid in some of its channels,
and easily fordable in the summer, but in the
winter and after heavy rains it must be a
formidable river to cross, as there is neither

COLOUR OF SEA. 145
hoped the French now would have a more
complete one.
We are very well ; I wish I could at this
moment be certain that you were so. But I
shall hear at Geneva. God bless you, E. R.

Nice: Sunday Mornirg, 10 o'clock, August 2, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Though I have already
written to you this morning, yet, as we make
rather a longer stay here than elsewhere, and
as it is rather too warm to walk out, I begin
another letter. My last gave you an account
of our leaving Antibes. The road thence to
this place is along the sea shore. The
appearance of the sea is very striking, and
differs in many respects from that which
surrounds our islands. There being no tides,
the waves, except in stormy weather, are very
small, and in this calm weather the sea
presents a beautiful level surface. Its colour
too is very different ; near the shore, abso
lutely green, further in, a perfect blue ; even
under the small boats which passed by the
shore, we could see the water green to a con-
L

1 46 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
siderable depth. And such beautiful water !
such a blue unclouded sky ! such a land
scape of hills, woods, and rocks ! and such
a clear atmosphere ! I no longer wonder
these scenes have been so much celebrated
by poets and painters ; scenes which, indepen
dent of the knowledge that this country has
been inhabited by one of the first nations of
antiquity, would alone suffice to render it
interesting. The country all round is highly
cultivated ; the olive trees much larger and
more vigorous than those we before saw, and
this year most plentifully loaded with fruit.
The fig-tree is also very frequent, and seems
to grow wild. The aloe too, though I
believe not applied to any use, appears in
some places to have been planted in lines,
perhaps as hedges, for its thick fleshy leaves,
sharply pointed at the ends, must be no trif
ling barrier to the approaches either of man or
beast. The boundary which here separates the
two kingdoms is the river Var ; a mountain
stream, broad and rapid in some of its channels,
and easily fordable in the summer, but in the
winter and after heavy rains it must be a
formidable river to cross, as there is neither

LEAVING FRANCE. 147
bridge nor ferryboat.1 On the French side is
a small town in a state of ruin, but few of
the houses being inhabited, and the rest
tumbling down as fast as they can. Here
were two or three soldiers on guard, who
asked us for the commandant's billet, and
then wished us a good journey. Believe me,
il left France with regret. I shall probably
never see it more, and I am indebted to this
journey through it, and to the public circum-
, stances at this time, for impressions which can
never be erased from my mind. I have been
much pleased with the country ; I have been
delighted with the people ; industry, cheerful
ness and good sense are conspicuous marks
in their character. The late political event,
so important to their future welfare, has been
brought about by the courage and perseverance
of the middle ranks, who appear to me more
enlightened here than with us. In England,
men alone talk politics, and this they do in
taverns, where they are not animated, but
rather confused, with drinking ; here, in the
public promenades and streets, the inhabitants
1 There is now a wooden bridge, and a railway bridge,
both constructed with difficulty.

148 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
of whole towns and districts all meet together,
and mutually give and receive information])
But I must stop. This subject, so^pecu-
liarly pleasing^ to me, would lead me too far,
for I have been a witness to many of the
effects produced by it. Let me return to
my narrative.
On this side of the river we found our
selves in Italy, and though the face of the
country is much the same as we had left in
France, yet we soon remarked a difference in
the dress and appearance of the people, espe
cially of the Piedmontese women, who wear
large umbrella hats, with their hair tied up
tight round their heads. They are brown,
have black eyes, and white teeth ; I speak of
the lower classes. We are in an hotel at
Nice kept by an Englishman, everything
comfortable, and we had a dinner yesterday
tout a I Anglaise, which we relished much —
plain roast beef and boiled potatoes, with
some special good draughts of porter.1 Our
beds too are good and clean, and a nice net
surrounds them, which protects us effectually
1 This was an excess of former times, for my father was
a strict water-drinker in the latter part of his life.

GALLEY SLAVES AT NICE.

149

from the mosquitoes, very troublesome in this
hot season. We took a delightful walk last
night by moonlight. The peculiar clearness
of the air makes an evening walk much more
agreeable than in England. Every object
even by moonlight is distinctly seen, and far
more illuminated than in our northern land.
The sea, with the beams of the moon playing
upon its almost smooth surface, the white
rocks which in some places overhang the sea,
the neat and lofty houses of Nice, and the
company strolling about and sitting in groups,
produced a pleasant scene — but I do not think
the people seemed so merry as in France,
or perhaps I only supposed it. After a good
night's rest, we walked this morning towards
the sea-side, and it soon became too hot to
extend our walk ; but we saw the poor galley
slaves go to church — about 200 of them,
chained, some of them, two and two together,
and guarded by soldiers. We followed them to
church, and heard an Italian priest preach to
them. We had heard much of these unhappy
creatures, and it is certainly melancholy to
behold so many human beings in such a state
of bondage, and some of them for their lives,

150 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
but they did not look miserable ; some of
them sang as they went along. They were
nearly in the same condition as the English
convicts at Woolwich. I am again sorry to
find I am come to the limit of my paper.
God bless you. E. R.
Monday, Noon, August 3, 1789.
My dear Loves, — I am now writing in an
inn at a small village in the Alps, about ten
miles from Nice, on our way to Turin. Our
mode of travelling is changed since we left
France, and, believe me, much for the worse.
In France we found horses at every stage, for
the most part good, and the postillions very
careful and civil, and, if we chose, we could
travel 100 miles a-day, but at Nice we were
obliged to make a bargain with the postman,
or one who lets the horses and calls himself
the post, to take us about sixty miles over
the Alps, which is always done here with the
same horses* — and usually takes three days.
And as we were obliged to take six horses
and one for the servant, this unconscionable
scoundrel would have charged us twenty-four
louis and a half for this journey ; after some

BRITISH CONSUL AT NICE. 151
hesitation he agreed to take ten, and I believe
has even now cheated us.
We left Nice at seven o'clock, having been
detained by a blacksmith, who was to have
come at three to repair a bolt. The road
was remarkably fine, as good to travel upon
as the turnpike roads in Norfolk. The horses
went a good trot for about half a mile, but
when we were expecting that they would
quicken their pace, the first postillion put
himself in a good position for repose and took
a nap, whilst the other dismounted and took
care that the horses should not crawl faster
than he chose to walk. In this way we were
three hours reaching this place. Here they
mean to stop four hours, and proceed in the
afternoon with the same rapidity. The
country all around is very mountainous, and
it is now so hot between the white rocks that
we are obliged to stay within.
Soon after I had written to you yesterday,
we were waited upon by Mr. Green, the
British Consul. He said he came to pay his
respects to us, hearing we were English, but
the true reason was to hear news from Paris.
He is the only one we have met since we left

152 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
Paris who is not a blue and white, for that, I
must tell you, is the colour of the cockade
worn in some places since the Revolution
took place ; in others it is blue, white, and red.
He was, however, very polite, and asked us
to drink tea with him, which we could not do.
Another gentleman, Signor Farandi, a medi
cal man who attends English families at Nice,
also called on us, and offered his services in
showing us the town. We found him a very
intelligent man, speaking English well. He
went with us on board a felucca to a neigh
bouring port, called ' Villa Franca,' situated
in one of the commodious bays with which I
told you this coast abounds. We were rowed
by eight Genoese sailors, singing all the way.
The evening was very fine, and the sea of an
intense blue colour. The rocks on the shore
are dreadful — they project into, and in many
places overhang the sea, and must on stormy
nights be very dangerous. On our way back
we passed the place where the galley slaves are
confined for the night — a wretched abode —
indeed, very like a large dog-kennel for a pack
of hounds, and not much cleaner. We could
see them all through the rails, and were sur-

ALPINE PASS. 153

prised to see them so cheerful. One of them
put his hand through, and said, ' I sarve
Inglitch two years, give me something.' I
gave him sixpence ; he said, ' God bless
Inglitch.' The beautiful moon was by this
time risen, and we walked a little while on the
promenade, which was crowded with the best
company in Nice. We then retired to the
hotel, from the windows of which we were
for a little while amused by seeing two women
and a soldier dance a favourite and nimble
Piedmontese dance, called the Courante,
another soldier playing a lively tune on the
mandoline. Tuesday, Noon, August 4, 1789.
You would find by the former part of this
letter, which was written yesterday, that 1
was at that time just a little out of humour
with our mode of travelling ; but the journey
in the afternoon reconciled us to it, for I
found the nature of the country admitted of
no other. Immediately after leaving the
place where we dined, we began to ascend a
true Alpine mountain. The road all the way
from Nice has been made only two years,

154 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
and is a wonderful monument of human
industry,1 being, as we mounted higher, an
artificial zig-zag, cut at an enormous expense
on the sides of some of the highest mountains
we have yet seen. The ascent was as gradual
as the mountain admitted, and the road a
most excellent one. The view down some
of the precipices made us almost giddy,
though the edge of the road was guarded by
a secure wall. From one high part we could
distinctly see the Mediterranean and the
isthmus on which Antibes stands ; this was
our farewell view of this beautiful sea. When
half-way up we thought we had gained the
highest part, and got out of the carriage and
amused ourselves by throwing bits of rock
down the precipice into a river, now a small
stream, but which, after rain and the melting
of snow, must be a mighty torrent. We were,
however, much deceived in thinking this the
summit. To our surprise we ascended in the
same zig-zag way two hours more, and found,
long before we were really at the top, that the
peaks whose vast height had excited our
1 Over the Col di Tenda, a road made by Vittor Amadeo
III., seldom travelled now. The French revolutionary troops
gained possession of this road in 1793.

SO SP ELLO. 155

wonder were now below us. About half-past
five we began to descend : we left the carriage
and walked a nearer way than the new road,
but it was very rough and rocky, being in fact
the old road, and not practicable for carriages.
After walking in this way about an hour, a
beautiful valley opened to us, well cultivated
and full of houses, and, in the midst, the little
town of Sospello, which lay before us like a
map, and seemed so near that we imagined a
short walk would bring us to it. But instead
of this it took us more than two hours' fair
walking to reach it ; the carriage, which con
tinued almost all the way within sight, taking
almost as long. We preferred walking on the
old road because it was nearer, and because
we wished to see how former travellers had
made their way in this Alpine region. What
a road ! how steep in some places, how narrow
and rough in all ! We met some mules, which,
being singularly sure-footed, and shod in a
peculiar way, were just able to keep their feet.
When we came near the town we found some
symptoms of cheerfulness even in this seques
tered spot. A few young men and women
who had been making hay were dancing

156 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
merrily, and we thought gracefully, to a lively
tune from the violin which another peasant
played as he lay on a little hay. On remark
ing their cheerfulness to a priest who had
joined us, ' Yes,' he said ' they do this, pour
oublier leur misere! We left Sospello at 4
o'clock (August 4), and by about 1 1 o'clock
reached an inn near a small town called
Broglio.1 The road to it was very similar to
that we passed yesterday afternoon. We were
nearly as long ascending another mountain,
and we were foolish enough to walk down it
in the broiling sun. However, we have been
well refreshed by breakfast, and shall be able
to proceed in a few hours. God bless you all.
E. R.
Limo :2 Wednesday Morning, August 5, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Though the letter which
I wrote yesterday is not yet posted and must
wait for our arrival at Turin to-morrow, yet,
having a little leisure while the poor animals
1 More properly Breglio (see Rampoldi). A sanguinary
conflict took place here in 1794 with the revolutionary troops,
who gained possession of the little town and castle.
2 More properly Limona, the entrance to the Col di
Tenda on the southern side, a place of some importance.

ALPINE TRAVELLING. 157
are reposing in the middle of the day, I cannot
forbear writing you an account of our progress
within the last 24 hours. Could a line be
drawn from the place we were then at and
this place, it would measure a very few miles
— indeed, if the whole way which the carriage
traversed were measured, I believe it would
be about 30 miles. I must not say that what
we saw yesterday surpassed all that had gone
before ; it was totally different, for, by the
afternoon the road lay entirely at the bottom
of a valley by the side of a river which runs
to Nice, and which we had seen several times
before. Here there was only space for the
road and the stream, the road itself having in
some places been cut out of the rock with
enormous labour, and sometimes excavated
in the form of an arch, which had a very
pleasing effect as we passed under it. The
scenery being so very picturesque and the
high rocks above us affording a good shade,
we opened the landau, and you may conceive
the treat it was to be thus slowly drawn for
many miles through such a country. The
mountains here were higher than any we had
before seen, and more irregular in form. Our

1 58 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
eyes ached with looking at so many objects
presented to our view, and I am sure the back
of my neck ached in looking up at the tops of
these perpendicular rocks. Their sides were
in many places much broken, and many a
projecting mass seemed as if ready to be
thrown down by the first wind. Streams of
water, here and there, were pouring from
their clefts, forming even in this dry season
no inconsiderable cataracts. In some places
the water issued from the very bottom of the
rock, and must have travelled a wonderful
way through the interior of the mountain
before finding such a vent. The pines which
abounded in the former parts of the road gave
way in this neighbourhood to the chestnut,
and the change was much for the better. In
the midst of a natural grove of these noble
trees, and in a situation less rude than many
we had passed, was a convent ; a well built
house, but without inhabitants. They told us
it was to be converted into an inn ; a better
purpose, you will think, to entertain the weary
traveller, than to support a number of unsocial
and laz)' beings.
This country is not without inhabitants ;

TENDA. 1 59

we saw dwellings in situations so elevated
that one wonders how they could have been
built, and how human beings could have
been prevailed upon to inhabit them. In one
place, not the least picturesque of those we
have seen, there was actually a town appa
rently as little accessible. It seemed to hang
in the air, and to be attached on one side
only to the rock. I think I told you before
that this wonderful road had been lately
made at the expense of the present King of
Sardinia. On the face of a rock on the side
of the road is a large Latin inscription, de
noting that this capital road was made by
him ' Ferro et Flamma,' the latter being
sufficiently evident in a thousand places. At
Tenda we found the worst inn and the worst
treatment we have yet experienced in the
whole of our journey — the house a wretched
one, with no chimney, nor any glass in the
windows, and every part offensively dirty.
The master of it attempted the most extrava
gant imposition, but our servant, who had
been here before, found out the commandant,
who obtained better treatment for us. Yes
terday (August 4) we rose at three, being

160 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
anxious to quit this wretched place as early
as possible. We were three hours ascending
to a house in the mountains, where we got
some eggs. The form of this mountain was
so unfavourable to a road, that an attempt
had been made to perforate a way in a
straight line through the body of the moun
tain, which would certainly have been the
most extraordinary road ever formed by
human hands, and would have saved fifteen
miles ; but the workmen had not penetrated
far when they came to a cavern extending
downwards which they could not fathom, and
which proved an insuperable obstacle to the
attempt. We are now (Wednesday evening) arrived
at a town called Coni x — a poor town and a
stinking inn. For some miles before we
arrived we lost the mountains and passed
over a fertile and well-watered plain, full of
corn and mulberry trees, with fine chestnut
trees, and some neighbouring hills of beech.
The road was also full of crucifixes and
chapels, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Coni
1 More properly Cuneo. The French, after the Battle ot
Marengo, razed the fortifications to the ground.

ARRIVAL AT TURIN. 161
is a fortified town ; on approaching it we were
disgusted with the sight of many skulls
nailed to different gallows not far from the
gates. In the principal streets many persons
were playing at ball, and ladies and gentle
men, officers and abbess, with crowds of
common people, were looking on.
Thursday evening. — Arrived at Turin,
and for the first time saw an English paper.
I was pleased to read Mr. Windham's speech
respecting supplying the French with corn.
We shall soon be at Geneva, where I shall
have your letter. God bless you !
E. R.

Geneva : Tuesday Morning, August u, 1789.
My dear Loves, — It is four days since I
have had the pleasure of writing to you, for
since we left Turin we have been constantly on
the road in the daytime, and in the evenings
I have had no opportunity of taking out my
paper-case. We arrived here last night, so
that I have not yet had the happiness of
getting your letters, but shall not finish this
until I have them. I think in my last, which
M

1 62 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
was sent from Turin, my narrative extended
no further than our arrival at Coni ; I shall
therefore resume it from that place. We
lodged there, and notwithstanding the bad
air with which the whole inn, and especially
our rooms, were impregnated, I slept soundly,
and found myself perfectly well on Thursday
morning. Our route to Turin was through a
vast plain ; in some places it is, I should
suppose, about sixty miles across, bounded,
as appeared to us, almost circularly by high
mountains. It is covered with an excellent
soil, and watered by a variety of streams
which are occasionally let over its whole
surface. Nothing can surpass the fertility
of this extended level, of which you may
form some idea when I tell you that hemp
grows here with a luxuriance equal to that
which is described as growing in America,
by the author of the ' American Farmer's
Letters,' and which account until now I
thought fabulous. In many places it acquires
more than fifteen feet in height, and is pro
portionately strong and branching. There
are large tracts covered with forests of this
vegetable— of this tree I may almost say.

IRRIGATION AND FERTILITY. 163
Wheat, Turkey corn, rice, clover, and com
mon grass, are equally vigorous ; the grass
they usually cut four times in the year. There
are circumstances which will sufficiently
account for this extraordinarily productive
vegetation, for scarcely any limits can be set
to the growth of plants where they are fa
voured with a rich soil, a warm atmosphere,
strong light, and abundant moisture. This
whole plain has probably been at one time a
vast lake, and its surface is composed of the
accumulated animal, vegetable, and mineral
matter deposited. The warmth of this sum
mer atmosphere, and the bright and almost
constant light the sun affords where the rays
are seldom intercepted by clouds, are suffici
ently obvious ; but the abundance of water
which vegetables meet with here, and with
out which the rich soil and bright sun could
do little to promote their growth, I must
explain. To obtain this, human industry has
taken advantage of natural circumstances.
From the sides and bases of these mountains
streams are constantly issuing, which must
fall into this plain, but would, if left to their
natural course, soon unite in the Po, and con-
M 2

164 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
tribute only to the increase of that river.
But the exact level of the plain having been
taken, the water from the higher grounds has
been conveyed so artfully over its surface as
to irrigate, when necessary, every part. This
excellent method of watering this plain is
not, however, a modern improvement, but
was known and practised by the Romans, and
it was the extraordinary fertility of this plain
which they say Hannibal,1 when he had
passed the Alps, pointed out to his tired and
almost exhausted troops, as affording an
ample reward for the fatigue they had under
gone in this, perhaps, most extraordinary of
human enterprises. But I scarcely know
where my subject is leading me ; I meant only
to have conveyed you across the plains of
Piedmont to Turin, and I already find myself
in Hannibal's camp, and see him haranguing
his brave soldiers. In the midst of this
beautiful plain stands the city of Turin. This
is the capital of the King of Sardinia, who
resides here as Prince of Piedmont, of which
Turin is the metropolis. We reached this at
four o'clock, and were required to give our
1 ' Count Stolberg's Travels,' p. 197. Note by Dr. Rigby.

TURIN. 165
names at the gate. It is a well fortified city,
and having fine squares and some public
buildings in a good style of architecture, it is
reckoned one of the best cities in Europe.
It fails, however, in one circumstance of the
first consequence to the appearance and
salubrity of a town, I mean in cleanliness.
The same streams which with so much art
have been conveyed over the whole of the
surrounding plain, are, it is true, here intro
duced, and pass through every street with a
broad and rapid current, but notwithstanding
this, Turin is a filthy place, and, as the nose
bears sufficient testimony, the air is very
impure in every part of the city. This is in
some measure accounted for by the mode in
which the principal houses are built and let.
To produce a magnificent appearance, most
of the houses are so large as to be inhabited
by many families ; in some there are from ten
to twenty. One approach to the several apart
ments is from an inner court, into which the
back windows look. Compared with the
height of the house, for some I observed to
be seven stories high, this is a very small
quadrangle, and as there is no other reservoir

166 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
for the various kinds of dirt produced by
so many families than this court and the
outer street, it is all deposited either in the
one or the other. The street being wide,
well ventilated, and well watered, the air
is less intolerable than one would expect ;
but in the confined courts, where the filth i6
perpetually accumulating, the air is beyond
description offensive, and I wonder it does
not become a source of constant infection.
How lamentably indeed are the advantages
of this excellent climate lost through the bad
management of its inhabitants, and I must
add, by the form of government, which, not
withstanding the acknowledged goodness of
the present monarch, is arbitrary, and shows
itself in a thousand disagreeable effects. For
to bad government must be ascribed the
circumstance that the city is full of ecclesias
tics, soldiers, and beggars. Among the latter
miserable beings are such instances of de
formity as I never saw before — such dwarfs
with bent legs, crooked bodies, and cadaver
ous countenances, as must shock every one not
familiarised to such objects. The sight of
the King's palace presented too great a con-

TURIN. 167

trast to the things without to give us pleasure.
The rooms were numerous and large, all
superabounding with looking-glasses, and
with gilding without end. There were two
galleries full of paintings, but few of the best
masters. There were, however, some things
which afforded pleasure at Turin, though
there is, I am persuaded, a vast deal of
misery. When the heat of the day was over,
the thermometer having been 8o° at four
o'clock, we betook ourselves to the prome
nades. The two evenings we were at Turin
the moon shone beautifully, and the streets
and walks were full of people of different
ranks, all apparently, even the poorest and
most miserable, enjoying themselves. We
met parties who were walking and singing,
accompanied by that pleasing instrument
which seems peculiar to this part of the world,
the mandoline. I am no great judge of sing
ing, but I think if some of the voices which
we heard in the streets of Turin were heard
in the Cathedral close of Norwich, they would
be in no small estimation. We were also
much pleased with the Italian theatre, where
we saw a very natural and laughable comedy.

168 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
But the greatest pleasure was derived from
the kindness of M. Negri, one of the most
respectable merchants here, who is a very
polite and sensible man. He accompanied
us to many places, and, among others, to the
Hospital, a very large and dirty building,
with 600 beds, few of them of iron, and in
which, besides the filthy crowded wards, the
most striking thing I remarked was in the
apothecary's room, where a young man was
making 200 blisters !
Nine o'clock. — We have been to the Post-
Office, and, to our surprise, found no letters.
This circumstance has distressed me more
than I can say. I have been longing with
even a painful expectation to arrive at this
place, that I might enjoy the greatest pleasure
I can have during absence from my dear
family, and I scarcely know how to bear the
disappointment. A thousand painful reflec
tions crowd into my mind, the possibility of
what may have happened in five weeks to
those I so much love. But let me compose
myself : I will suppose that the confusion in
France has interrupted the post, and I will
still hope to hear in a few days. I only hope

MONT CENTS. 169

you have had my letters, for I have written
every day but two since I have been away,
and I fervently trust that this may reach you,
if it be only to tell you that I am well.
God bless you all. E. R.
Geneva : Tuesday Evening, August 11, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Since I wrote in the
morning I have been made more happy by
receiving one letter from S., dated July 15,
.... and I will endeavour to continue my
narrative. On Saturday morning last we left
Turin and turned our faces towards the
North. About twenty miles of our road was
through the same fertile plain I described
before. We passed Susa, a fortified town
among the rocks, rendered impregnable
apparently both by art and nature. At
Novalese, the next stage, a town at the foot
of the Alps, we were obliged again to change
our mode of travelling, the mountains being
here higher and more precipitous than those
we had before passed, and, though still in the
King of Sardinia's dominions, his Majesty
had not here constructed such a road as that
between Nice and Turin. It was accord-

170 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
ingly necessary that the carriage should be
taken in pieces, and carried on mules, and
that we should ourselves mount the same
animals. We thus began our march over
Mont Cenis, the summit of which we had
for some time seen, covered with everlasting
snow. This being the month of August,
which in England is usually hot, and in this
climate in the valleys exceedingly so, it was
very striking to behold the effects of two
such opposite climates — the torrid zone on
the plains, and the frigid zone on the tops of
the mountains — the poor traveller fainting
under the most oppressive heat, while he has
before his eyes such vast tracts of snow.
The road, though attended with some incon
veniences, was perfectly safe. We were
much struck by the numerous cascades pro
duced by the melting of the snow, and as we
ascended they increased in number and rapi
dity. Near the highest part of the road there
is a lake of great depth, which probably in
this high region had been the crater of a
volcano. Some fine alabaster rocks (sul
phate of lime) surround this singular spot.
At the post-house near, which I think was

LANSLEBOURG. 171
called l'H6pital, we unexpectedly found ex
cellent refreshment ; good butter, cheese,
cream, bread and wine. It was about six in
the evening when we reached the summit of
the road, and began to descend on the north
side. Here fresh mules were provided for
us, but we thought it safer to walk down.
This we did with no inconsiderable fatigue,
and as the sun was set before we reached
our place of destination, our walk in spite of
the beautiful moon was a little unpleasant.
On approaching Lanslebourg the road be
came very precipitous, and in the winter-time
when covered with snow travellers descend
this part in a sledge. We reached Lansle
bourg before nine, and got some refresh
ment. The next morning presented us a
most extraordinary view. Immense forests
of lofty spruce and larch firs, with patches
here and there of beautiful green, where the
fine grass had been mowed. To the right
and left the mountains rose still higher, and
were covered with snow seemingly very near
us, while below us was a rapid snow torrent
We now proceeded through a most wild and
picturesque country. In the valleys we ob-

172 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
served many villages, and the land appeared
to be well cultivated, but in many places the
corn was not ripe. We also saw gooseberry
bushes and red currants, but not ripe, which
was sufficiently accounted for by the thermo
meter being only 51° this morning. Our
next stage was St. Michel — always in sight of
rapid torrents which became wider and wider,
fed by the many cascades which tumble into
them from the mountain tops. Their roaring
noise, their foaming surface, the masses of rock
over which they tumble, are very striking ;
while the dense forests around, the residence
of bears and wolves, add not a little to the
horrid grandeur of the scene. Where cul
tivation has been possible there appear to be
good crops of corn. Here there were a few
vines and strawberries — the latter a proof of
the difference of climate between this place
and Turin. Our route, which, I may add,
for more than forty miles was on the descent,
now took us through St. Jean de Maurienne,
a pretty town, near which we observed some
large rocks of mica and alabaster. We slept
at a dirty place called Aiguebelle, where
goitres, which we had seen from time to

SECHERON. 173

time, were more abundant both in men and
women. We left this at five, and passing
through a populous country, fertile beyond
description, reached Chambery at half-past
nine. This is the capital of Savoy, an old
city full of inhabitants, but very dirty. The
roads in this neigbourhood were excellent,
and the city is surrounded with charming
country-houses delightfully situated. Some
distant mountains with snow on them were
still visible. There were some very pretty
women at the inn where we stopped, and
some of the French runaway Noblesse were
also here. To Aix Les Bains, where we
found the temperature of the hot spring to
be 108°, and on to Roumilly we observed
the same fertile country, reaching Corrouge
near Geneva, where we passed the night, at
half-past ten. This morning, before five
o'clock we passed through Geneva to Sec-
heron to the Hotel d'Angleterre, whence I
now write. We soon walked into Geneva,
and called on M. Pasteur, to whom we had
letters. The houses of the old town are sin
gular ; large arched roofs overhang the streets
and shade the shops. I visited the hospital,

174 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
which is large, and admits lunatics, having in
all 600 beds, but they are much too near
each other, and the curtains are woollen and
dirty. We also saw St. Peter's Church, built
when the Catholic religion was professed
here, but stript at the Reformation of all its
ornaments. We returned on the Lake, and
have been again in the same way in the
afternoon, when we enjoyed a sail of two
hours on the blue waters of this most beau
tiful lake. Let me thank S. again for her
kind letter. God bless you all. E. R.
Vevay : Monday Noon, August 17, 1789.
My dear Loves. — On our way from
Geneva to this place I have hitherto been
without the means of writing, as our journey
has been principally on foot, and I was there
fore under the necessity of packing up my
writing-case, &c, in the trunk. This has
been no small mortification to me, as one of
my greatest pleasures is to write to you. . . .
I shall resume my narrative from Geneva.
You have often heard of Geneva as dis
tinguished by the excellent form of govern-

GENEVA. 175
ment established there, and we were long
enough there to be convinced that it is one of
the best regulated cities we have yet seen.
The people are remarkably orderly and well
behaved, industrious, well clothed and well
fed. Geneva seems also a desirable residence
for well educated and literary persons. The
climate is excellent, the environs beautiful,
the society good, and perhaps in no other
place are the middle classes of society so well
informed and so literate. The city is full of in
habitants, and the surrounding country, which
belongs to the Republic, is crowded with
houses, delightfully situated on the declivities
of hills which border upon the Lake ; these
houses are principally inhabited by an indus
trious peasantry, and among them are scattered
the country houses of the more wealthy in
habitants of Geneva. The number of car
riages which passed our inn at S^cheron, full
of genteel people and handsome women,
made the road very lively. The situation of
the city is most romantic, at the head of the
beautiful Lake where the Rhone pours forth
its rapid current. Prince Edward of England
(Duke of Kent) was here; we saw him

176 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
several times driving and riding, attended
only by an English groom. We were told
that he gave frequent concerts in Geneva.
We left this most agreeable place on Thurs
day, the 13th, and took our way for the
glaciers. The road being for the most part
impassable for a large carriage, we sent the
coach and servant to Lausanne, and took a
carriage from Geneva to Salenche, a distance
of about 30 miles. At Bonneville we entered
Savoy, which, being a Catholic country, we
again met with our old acquaintances, monks,
soldiers, and beggars. The morning being
cloudy, the neighbouring hills were concealed
from our view. We reached Salenche at
3 o'clock, a town situated in a picturesque
valley surrounded by mountains, Mont Blanc
being distinguished among them like a giant
among tall men. The cloudy, rainy weather
that had prevailed for the last few days had
totally hidden the snowy summit of this ex
traordinary mountain, to the disappointment
of the multitudes who were assembled at
Salenche to behold it ; and we had met two
Englishmen going to Geneva to wait till the
weather should be clearer. But Mont Blanc

THE WALK TO CHAMOUNY. 177
was very civil to us. We had not been at
Salenche a quarter of an hour before he un
covered his majestic head. Tremendous
sight! The way in which the journey is
usually continued is on mules or in chars a
bancs, which are the carriages of the country,
but there was so much company at Salenche
that every thing was engaged. Here, there
fore, our difficulties began, if such they would
be called to persons who went laughing all
the way. There was nothing to be done but
to foot it all the way to Chamouny : this was
18 miles off, and it was now four o'clock in
the afternoon. But we took courage, and
began our march, taking with us two cheerful
guides, to show the way and carry our luggage.
For the first five or six miles the road was
totally level, but before we were half over it
it began to rain most abundantly, and we were
soaked through in a few minutes. For, let
me tell you, the mountain showers here are
not the gentle, soft-descending showers of
England, but are produced by big and heavy
clouds, fully charged with water, which seem
to let it go the instant they touch the tops or
sides of these mountains. In this condition

178 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
we trudged up several high hills whose rough
and broken surfaces were not only unpleasant
to the feet, but in some degree dangerous ;
more especially as we had occasionally to
pass through torrents which at this time were
much increased in volume. But as no small
degree of exertion was necessary in perform
ing this journey, and it lasted six hours, we
had never time to cool, and therefore took no
harm. In one part we passed some deep
caverns, with mines of lead and silver dust.
We stopped about seven o'clock at a home
among the rocks near there, where we got
some refreshments, and I put on a dry shirt
and waistcoat. We here saw curious models
of the glaciers which they urged us to buy,
and certainly they were more interesting and
probably more correct than any maps or
plans of such a peculiar country could be.
It was dark long before we reached
Chamouny, and as we approached it we were
met by two men who offered themselves as
guides, and told us that no beds were to be
had at either of the inns. We were much
pleased with one of them, and engaged them
both. They conducted us to the inn where

THE 'MONTAGNE VERTEX 179
we supped, and then passed a rather uncom
fortable night in a Savoyard cottage. The
next morning (Friday, August 14), though our
slumbers had not been very perfect, we found
ourselves quite well, and ready to ascend
another hill. Mont Blanc was immediately
before us, the sun shone bright and the atmo
sphere was clear. The various accounts
which I had heard of the glaciers represented
a visit to them as full of difficulties and
dangers, but, believe me, both are such only
as a very moderate degree of perseverance
and care will overcome. We set off each of
us with a long staff, like so many Foresters.
We had been so well trained to the practice
of climbing mountains that we were less fa
tigued with scrambling up to the Montagne
verte, which is the way to the first glacier,
than we had expected. We were indeed
three hours in ascending, and were frequently
obliged to repose ourselves on pieces of rock,
or broken trees, 'pour souffler ' as the guides
called it, but even at such times we were well
rewarded for our labour by the delightful
prospect before us which more and more
opened on our sight as we ascended. The
N 2

180 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
part of the mountain properly called green is
about 2000 yards higher than the level of the
sea, and in this place assumes a less rude
appearance, and offers moreover a little pas
turage for a few cows which are sent up for
a few months in the summer. A miserable
little hut, which is theresidenceof two hideous
Savoyard women who have the care of the
cows, afforded us a refreshing draught of
excellent milk. Within two or three hundred
yards of this spot we came to the edge of a
steep declivity which opened to our view the
extraordinary valley of ice which was the
object of our visit. This valley is bounded
on each side by high rocks whose summits
are covered with snow, and from those
opposite to us several cascades poured out
in considerable streams into this ocean of ice.
As several parties had ascended before us,
the scene was rendered still more picturesque
by different groups scattered about, some
walking on the ice, some scrambling up the
hill, and some lying down on the sunny bank
of the Green Mountain, refreshing themselves
with provisions they had brought with them.
We soon found our way to the ice, the

LA MER DE GLACE. 181
surface of which is much undulated, and in
several places with deep fissures, through
which streams of water are continually run
ning. Some of them — the guides told us —
had not been fathomed, and when a stone was
thrown in we long heard the sound of its
knocking against the sides.
What a wonderful and magnificent thing !
An immense valley of solid ice, surrounded by
stupendous mountains with their summits
covered with snow. Not unaptly is it called
La Mer de Glace, from its extent and its
undulated surface. We walked some way
upon it It is not clear, slippery ice, like
that produced by the freezing of large sur
faces of water, but has evidently been all
originally snow, the surface of which has been
partially melted, and then frozen again. But
had it been slippery, our staffs with pointed
iron ends would have secured us from falling.
There are many deep cavities in which the
ice appears blue, but this is a fallacy, it being
only a blue shadow produced by the intercep
tion of the sun's light It was the deepest
blue in the fissures, and on the shaded side
of every prominence. There are frequent

r82 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
streams also in the clefts of the ice. We
drank some of the clear, cold water, which
one of our guides facetiously remarked must
be good because no frogs could get to it
The Rhododendron ferrugineum grows
most abundantly here, even very near the
ice, but I did not see the Cyclamen, which
grew plentifully between Bonneville and Sa
lenche — indeed there were few conspicuous
flowers in this high region. We boiled water
to ascertain how much the weight of the at
mosphere was diminished at this elevation.
It began to boil at 1920, but in a second ex
periment, after boiling for some time, it rose
to 2030 (at Chamouny it boiled at 2080 9).
We returned another way down the moun
tain, to see the formation of one part of the
glaciers, where a very singular phenomenon
takes place. The snow which is constantly
melting produces numberless cascades, which
run down the surface of the mountain — but
in some parts the water passes under the ice
and issues from under an enormous arch of
ice, in such a quantity as to form a river
called the Arve. From seven in the morn
ing to five in the afternoon was thus employed

PROSPERITY OF THE VALLEY. 183

in our visit to the glacier, and we found on
our return that we had not walked less than
twenty miles.
The mines in this neighbourhood abound
with rock crystal, amiantus, molybdaena and
pyrites. The boys came with good speci
mens to sell as in Derbyshire. I was much
struck with their open countenances and in
genuous manners. Our intelligent guide —
Melchiort Symond, as he has written his name
in my memorandum book, informed us that
there are three thousand inhabitants in the
valley, and described his own family as an
instance of the happiness they enjoyed. He
has a wife and five children — a cottage and a
small piece of land which is his own — he has
six cows and six sheep which feed on the
mountain, he has a little corn and plenty of
milk and honey, and of course he keeps bees.
In the summer he earns something as a
guide, and in the winter he works as a car
penter. On the following morning (Saturday,
August 1 5) we meant to have visited another
glacier, the glacier called Les Boissons,1 which
is nearer and more accessible, but our guides
1 Des Bossons.

184 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
could not attend us till the afternoon. It
was the day of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin, when a peculiar mass was to
be said, and a procession to take place which
it was their duty to attend. Moreover, we
accompanied them to church, and were much
struck with the simplicity and devotion of
the rustic congregation. One single priest
did the whole duty, a good, honest-looking
Curd ; his manner was in keeping with that
of his congregation. He exhibited an ap
pearance of genuine devotion and ingenuous
simplicity, and seemed calculated to do more
honour to his religion than the more digni
fied priests of France and Italy. During
the service all the women and some of the
men put on a white dress, something like the
countrymen's slop in Norfolk — each of them
being provided with a bougie. I found that
these were to be the principals in the proces
sion, which began in the church, the priest
leading the way and followed closely by men
carrying different kinds of crosses. The
whole crowd thus arranged went once round
the church, and then returned to their respec
tive places in it as before, where the mass

PRICE OF LAND IN CHAMOUNY. 185
continued half an hour longer. Our guides
were now ready to attend us to the Boissons,
our walk to which was less fatiguing and
more agreeable than that of the day before.
We did not ascend so high a mountain, nor
get into the same kind of valley ; this glacier
being formed on the side of the mountain,
like an enormous icicle streaming from the
main body. The ice, however, was here
more clear and glossy, and the projections
higher and more rocky in shape, forming a
much wilder and more romantic scene than
the other. In our descent we observed some
enormous masses of rock which had been
precipitated from the higher part of the
mountain, as M. Symond said, with a tre
mendous noise, destroying many trees. These
rocks are all of granite of different kinds, and
very beautiful. I obtained some statistical in
formation from our worthy guide. The best
land in Chamouny sells for thirty sous the
loise carrie, three hundred toises make
an arpent. Un grand dcu et demi de
France is given for a year's rent. He said
that for some exceptional land twenty louis
an arpent had been given. The inhabitants

1 86 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
pay an annual quit rent to the Canons of St.
James' of Salenche. They wished to be re
leased from this burden, and the Canons
demand 58,000 French livres to exonerate
them. A purse is making for this purpose
among the people, and he had already paid
four louis for himself and his family. The
magistracy of the valley consists of six coun
sellors and a Syndic. M. Symond is one of
the Counsellors, and in two years will be a
Syndic. But I am again stopped by want of
room. On the Sunday morning, August 16,
we rose before three and set off on mules to
pass another mountain on our way into
Switzerland. The morning was clear, and
the little moon there was shone brightly, and
we took our leave of Mont Blanc, which was
visible to his very summit ; not a cloud rest
ing upon him. A most sublime appearance !
The same respectable man who was our
guide to the glaciers, attended us over the
mountain to Bex. God bless you all, my
loves ; I wish I were with you, to be certain
you are all well. E. R.

JOURNEY OVER COL DE BALME. 187

Lausanne : Monday Night, August 17, 1789.
My dear Loves, — You will find by the
appearance of this letter that I have again
taken possession of my writing apparatus.
Our journey on Sunday was from Chamouny
which is in Savoy, to Bex1 which is in one of
the cantons of Switzerland. We were fur
nished with four mules, and had a muleteer
beside our sensible guide. We were mounted
by three o'clock, but two of my companions,
not liking the peculiar paces of these extra
ordinary animals, thought proper to walk;
but, as I learned that a great part of the road
would be such as to oblige me to walk, I
preferred to save my legs where I could.
Part of the way was a descent, and as the
way was steep and rocky, and moreover, one
which very few travellers go, we found it a
horrid road indeed, and for a little while I
was not without apprehensions that my beast
would stumble and send me headlong down
some of the precipices ; but M. Symond, in
whom we now placed great confidence, as
suring me that these animals scarcely ever
1 By the Col de Balme.

188 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
fell down, and himself leading the way, 1
advanced boldly, though on such roads as
one would suppose no four-footed animal
could pass; but it is wonderful with what
care and apparent discernment these crea
tures pick their way. I was eager to get as
near the top of the mountain as I could before
the sun rose, having often heard that the
snowy tops of these hills are particularly
beautiful when the rays first touch them, and
I was not disappointed. The air was clear,
and the whole of that grand ridge of moun
tains which is connected with Mont Blanc,
was distinctly visible by the light of the
moon. By degrees the Eastern sky began
to be light, and at the time when, had we
been on a plain, we should have seen the sun
rise, the very top of Mont Blanc began to
be illuminated, and appeared of a beautiful
orange colour. As the sun rose higher the
colour turned more yellow, and in a short
time the perfect white of the snow showed
itself. The tops of all the hills, some of them
with sharp-pointed peaks, soon became bright,
and, contrasted with the dark woods on their
sides, and the fertile valleys below, still in

JOURNEY OVER COL DE BALME. 189
shade, produced a most picturesque scene.
The hill we were climbing being between us
and the East, deprived us of the benefit of
the sun's rays for about two hours, which
was a subject of no small lamentation, for in
that high region it was very cold. By the
time we began to feel the warmth of the sun
we found ourselves on a part of the mountain
less steep and but little rocky. Here nature
had clothed the ground with a very fine
pasturage, of which the peasants below take
advantage, and send up every summer a
certain number of cows. There were 160
cows here, which range free, and are tended
by a little society of eight or ten men, two
women, and some boys. It is the business
of these people to milk them and convert the
milk into cheese, for which they are paid by
the owners so much per head. Our faithful
guide, M. Symond, had three cows here, so
that through his means we got milk and
cream, which, with bread and cheese we had
brought from Chamouny, afforded us an ex
cellent breakfast. The short grass which
grows here seems to produce the best milk,
being probably unmixed with plants which

190 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
elsewhere affect its colour and flavour.
Water boiled here at 1980. This place was
about nine miles from Chamouny, and we
were yet not near the summit, so up we con
tinued our route, passing several large
patches of snow hard enough to bear us ;
ar.d a little before nine came to the highest
part of the mountain. On this spot is a
large stone as a boundary mark between
Savoy and Switzerland. Here we com
manded the most extraordinary prospect.
On the one side was the whole valley of
Chamouny, with Mont Blanc, the glacier
mountains, and other equally stupendous
mountains in the Valais, all of which, and
especially Mont Blanc, appeared higher than
we had before seen them. On the other side
lay Switzerland — a country of mountains only,
rising one above the other with the utmost
variety of forms. We could see but little
valley, though in one of them which was
very distant, we just caught sight of the
Rhone. From this point we began to des
cend, and as the road was very steep and
rocky, we had to abandon our mules and
take to our feet. It was a most fatiguing

DESCENT TO MARTIGNY. 191
journey, and the sun being then in our faces
and shining with considerable force, we were
pretty handsomely sweated. In the course
of this descent we were struck with many
singular aspects of Alpine scenery. Several
valleys seemed to be inhabited, and there
was one full of buildings, called houses, which
seemed scarcely fit for the residence of human
beings. The houses, as far as we could
judge at our distance from them, seemed to
be built of large blocks and pieces of rock,
rudely placed together. They were much
below us, and the valley looked like a vast
burying-ground — the houses much resembling
rude tombs scattered over its whole surface.
It being Sunday there were several parties
on the road ; the women seemed all of one
family — they so much resembled each other.
They were tall and muscular, with large
aquiline noses. Our whole descent from the
top of the mountain to Martigny was about
twelve miles. About a mile from Martigny
we mounted the mules again and arrived
there at half-past one.1
1 Martigny was seen to advantage then. The calamity
which overwhelmed the place by the bursting of the waters
of the Drance above it, took place in 1818.

192 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
From Martigny to Bex, which we reached
at half-past seven, we rode all the way, the road
being through one continued valley bounded
by the same romantic rocks. The Rhone here
issues suddenly from between two high rocks,
as if the mountain had just separated wide
enough to give it a passage. On our way
we stopped to see a most beautiful cascade;
where the water falls perpendicularly about
200 feet, and is so divided in its fall that it
does not look like water but like white foam
or froth, yet, when its particles unite again at
the foot of the rock, it immediately forms a
river as big as that at Norwich. The Rhone,
which here begins to be rapid, the little town
of St. Maurice built under a rock, and the
many pretty women we saw between St.
Maurice and Bex, were pleasing objects on
the way. The evening was fine, and the
slow ride on the mules very pleasant. At
Bex, which is in the canton of Berne, we
found a most comfortable inn ; we supped at
a table d'hote, waited upon by the master, his
son, and his daughter. Several parties of
ladies and gentlemen who seemed to be
taking excursions in the country supped with

SWISS PROSPERITY. i93

us ; they all spoke French. The most per
fect political freedom seems to be enjoyed
here, and there is no tax, except a small one
on salt, and that, it was expected, would be
taken off, as a new and productive salt-spring
has been discovered in a neighbouring hill,
which, with others long worked at Bex, will
give the Government a considerable revenue.
The men bear arms, when necessary, for the
defence of the country. The soil is fertile, and
abounds in corn, vines, and fruit ; the lower
classes are much at their ease, and the master
of the inn assured me there was not one who
had not the means of subsistence. We had
ordered the carriage from Lausanne to meet
us here at Bex, and when we found it we
congratulated ourselves on our walks being
over. This morning at six we left Bex, and
at nine entered Villeneuve, a small town
situated at the eastern extremity of the lake
of Geneva. The view of the lake which here
suddenly opened to our sight was inexpres
sibly pleasing. From this to Lausanne the
road was all the way on the side of the lake,
and for about twenty miles is charming in
deed. We stopped at Vevay, a well-built
o

49i DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
town. Tell B., who, if I mistake not, is an
admirer of Rousseau, that this is the place
which he celebrates as the residence of Julie,
of Wolmar, &c. In the window of the inn
I read a well-written panegyric on Vevay,
expressing the writer's regret at leaving a
city so full of innocence and happiness, and
where, he adds, so many Julies, so many
Wolmars, and so many Claras still reside.
The beauty of the neighbouring country, the
peculiar picturesqueness of the lake, the
happy temperature of the climate, the abun
dance produced by a fertile soil, the perfect
freedom of the Government, a religion with
out superstition, and the little intercourse of
the inhabitants with the rest of the world,
may perhaps have realised in this favoured
spot what has so often been the subject of
the moralist's and poet's praise, but has
been supposed to exist only in the imagina
tion of enthusiasts. Opposite Vevay, and
plainly distinguishable from it across the lake,
are the rocks of Meilleree, also immortalised
by the same pen as the melancholy residence
of St. Preux. At Vevay we saw large blocks
of marble cut by machinery moved by a

HONESTY OF THE SWISS. i9S

water-wheel, and we bought a few specimens
of the marble. We also here witnessed, and
one of our companions profited by, an instance
of the honour and honesty of the respectable
innkeeper at Bex. We had not been long
at Vevay when Mr. Woodhouse missed his
watch, and concluded he had left it at Bex.
I rallied him, and said he had given it to
Annette, the pretty young woman who had
waited upon us at supper. We thought it
right, however, to endeavour to recover it,
and I requested the master of the inn to pro
cure a man and horse to go to Bex, which he
agreed to do immediately ; but on telling him
the errand, he smiled, and said it would not
be necessary, as if the gentleman had left his
watch at Bex, it would be sent after him, as
he was persuaded there was not an innkeeper
in Switzerland who would be tempted to keep
any article of value left by a traveller. How
ever, he would order a horse to go. Mean
while, I took a stroll into the street, and a
heavy shower coming on, stood under an arch
with some others to avoid the rain. To my
surprise, in a few minutes, I saw the innkeeper's
son from Bex walking quickly in the middle
o 2

196 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
of the street, regardless of the rain. I went
up to him and said at once, ' I know what
you bring.' I conducted him to our inn,
where the watch was restored to the owner,
and we were as much gratified by this trait of
republican honesty as by our friend's recovery
of his property. We gave him a louis, which
he said was much more than his demand
for walking twenty miles. We arrived at
Lausanne at half-past six. The streets were
full of carriages. Prince Edward of England
and a lady were in a chaise and four, going
to a concert given by Prince Reuss. Prince
Edward was to give one to-morrow. We
saw many ladies well painted and fashionably
dressed. I forgot to remark that the largest goitres
we saw were at Martigny. One was a man,
who was obliged always to lean back in order
to support the tumour, and he usually, as when
we saw him, laid on his back. But the
largest was on a woman ; it was much larger
than a common sized head.
But now God bless you. I hope to have
your letters at Basle. E. R.

LAUSANNE. ll)7

Balstel : Thursday Evening, August 20, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Though I am only half
a day's journey from Basle, where I expect
your letters, and from which place I shall of
course write in answer, yet having a quarter
of an hour before supper, I cannot forbear
devoting it to you. In my last letter I had
just brought you to Lausanne, but I had not
been into the town. The following morning,
in the course of a few hours, we not only
walked all over the city, but visited an emi
nence in the neighbourhood, whence the eye
commands a view as agreeable as can be con
ceived, for it contains every variety that can
give pleasure. The principal object is the
expanded Lake of Geneva, the whole length
of which from Geneva to Villeneuve may be
seen when the air is clear, though including
a length of sixty miles. It is here about
twelve miles across, and the towns, rocks,
and mountains of Savoy, which are on the
opposite shore, are distinctly visible. Stand
ing where we were, Lausanne was between
us and the Lake, and added much to the

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

scene. The ground all around is very irre
gular, swelling into hills, and sinking into
small protected valleys, richly cultivated, and
their sides, descending to the Lake, covered
with vineyards. I have seen many prospects
which have more excited my wonder — the
vast height of the Alpine mountains, the huge
and broken masses of rocks, the immense
tracts of snow and ice — but neither the eye
nor the mind can dwell long on such prodigies
of nature without something like fatigue,
and as they are not connected with the idea
of human residence, or, at least, of a comfort
able existence, the continued view of them
would be oppressive. The scene at Lau
sanne is the very reverse of this. Almost
every one would say, ' I wish I could live
here ! ' and that many have been similarly
affected is evident from the number of
foreigners, especially English, who take up
their abode here. Most of the upper classes
are literary. What a delightful place to retire
to ! Mr. Gibbon's house is near this eminence,
and commands the same enchanting view.
He has adverted to it with enthusiasm in
the preface to the last volume of his celebrated

BERNE.

199

history. Many of the unfortunate French
noblesse were already in Lausanne.
Friday, 3 o'clock. We are just arrived at
Basle, and I am made happy, very happy, by
S's letter. I was till now very anxious to be
satisfied that your uneasiness respecting my
stay at Paris was at an end. You will know,
moreover, long before you receive this, that
the accounts of the tumults in the provinces are
not true ; none at least existed in the course of
our long peregrination through France. Our
journey from Lausanne, by Moudon and
Payerne, to Berne, was through a tame country,
the scene consisting principally of pasture land
and extensive woods of spruce. We slept at
Moudon, which we left at half-past three,
but though Berne was only at a distance of
thirty-six miles, and the roads good, we did
not reach it till eight o'clock p.m. This was
owing to our having the same horses the whole
way, which required them to rest a consid
erable while on the journey — a miserable
arrangement this for travellers, which might
be so easily altered. Between Payerne and
Morat we passed the Lake of Morat, which
is small but very beautiful, with several towns

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

on the margin. On the road near there is an
immense pile of human bones, under an open
building, yet not accessible to the passenger.
They are the gathered remains of the Duke
of Burgundy's conquered army in 1472. The
battle was fought between the Swiss and the
Duke, the town of Morat being besieged by
him. We lodged one night at Berne, the
capital of the largest canton in Switzerland ;
a large city but not very populous, most of
the houses built on piazzas. The approach
to the town is very pleasing ; there are pro
menades in and near it, which command a
very agreeable prospect of a small but rapid
river which flows almost round the town,
added to which there is a distinct view of an
enormous chain of mountains almost rivalling
Mont Blanc himself in height, and equally
covered with everlasting snow. I visited the
hospital ; it is in part an infirmary, or, as we
should call it, a workhouse. The wards were
clean and airy. I had some conversation
with the apothecary, he said Mr. Howard had
lately been there on his way to Turkey, &c.
We saw some convicts in the streets, such as
are described by H oward. They were chained

BASLE. 201
to small light wagons. They looked healthy,
were all smoking, and busily employed in
sweeping the streets.
Basle is an old city, the capital of the
canton Basle, well situated on the Rhine, a
river that almost rivals the Rhone in the
rapidity of its stream, and surpasses it in
volume of water. Basle is still less populous
than Berne, and of course more dull. Except
in the market place, there is a good crop of
grass throughout the whole town, but notwith
standing this, we have passed the afternoon
very agreeably. Mr. Iselin's letter introduced
us to his relations, who are people of the first
consequence here. Two of his brothers, one
of whom is the gentleman who was once at
Framingham, were at their country houses,
but his brother-in-law's house being within
half a mile of the town, we paid him a visit
there, and I had much conversation with Mr.
Iselin's sister, who is a very sensible woman.
The brother-in-law, M. Merrian, walked with
us all round the city, and assisted us essen
tially in some matters relating to our depar
ture. From this place we hasten home the
shortest way we can, and I hope many days in

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

September will not elapse before I shall have
the happiness of embracing you at Framing-
ham. I should have told you, that I have
bought two neat watches for my dear girls, at
Geneva. I was some time hesitating which
I should buy, plain gold ones or enamelled ;
but M. Pasteur, the intelligent gentleman
who accompanied us, said the plain ones by
all means ; they are more fashionable, and the
works sure to be good, so I took his advice,
and I hope you will like them. If you have
received half the letters I have written, you
must have heard often of me, for I have
written, I know, upwards of thirty. Tell Mr.
Bunn I cannot give an answer respecting Mr.
Britain's estate till I return, for I really forget
what was the sum talked of. I am sure I
won't have it unless it be a pennyworth.
God bless you,
E. R.
Mayence : Tuesday Morning, August 25, 1789.
My dear Loves, — Could we travel as
quickly as the post does, I should probably
be with you as soon as this letter, for we are
now hastening as fast as we can on our return

STRASBURG. 203

to England, but the uncertainty of travelling
in this country, where the people are not half
so alert as in France, and the still greater
uncertainty of the sea, render it impossible to
fix precisely the day of our getting to England.
I think my last brought you to Basle.
We left that place on Saturday morning
(August 22), and travelled all that day
through a province of France as far as Stras
burg. That city is in Alsace, and being on
the borders of Germany, and the inhabitants
originally Germans, they speak that language,
and are evidently not so lively as true born
French. The whole journey was through
one continued plain, very flat, and contrasted
with the romantic scenery we had so lately
known — very dull and uninteresting. The
soil is poor, but everywhere cultivated. We
noticed tobacco, hemp, wheat, oats, &c, and
many dead walnut trees, the victims of last
winter's severity. Towards evening, how
ever, we were much gratified by seeing
numbers of peasants exercising the liberty of
killing game on the land they occupied, a
privilege granted them by an Act of the
National Assembly since the Revolution

204 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
took place. Before that Act, so severe were
the game laws, that if anyone killed a hare
or a partridge, or any animal with which his
fields were overrun, he was sent to the
galleys. At Strasburg also we found the
effects of this change in the game laws ; we
had a hare and brace of partridges for supper.
Strasburg belongs to France, and the inhabi
tants carry on a considerable trade. The
Bourgeois were here all armed, and seemed
happy in the great change that had taken
place in their freedom. We went into the
Cathedral, a large and light Gothic building,
with some fine painted windows. On Sun
day morning (Aug. 23) we left Strasburg,
and crossing the Rhine about a mile off we
entered Germany, a country to which nature
has been equally kind as to France, for it has
a fertile soil, but as yet the inhabitants live
under an oppressive Government. We
passed through many towns, some of them
well and very regularly built, but in almost
all there is a palace of a German Prince who
owns the surrounding territory, the greater
part of which consists of large forests, which
he appropriates to the maintenance of deer

SCHWETZINGEN GARDENS. 205
and other game, by which far too small a
portion of land is cultivated for the support
of the people. The consequence is, that the
towns being without trade, and inhabited
almost solely by dependants on the courts of
these Princes, they are but half-peopled and
very dull, while the country has scarcely any
dwellings, the very reverse of France, which
is full of houses and inhabitants. Several of
these palaces, which so much abound here,
are built with great magnificence, and are
surrounded with gardens of considerable
extent, on which enormous sums have been
expended to adorn them, but in a style totally
devoid of true taste. Not far from Bruchsal
we saw the gardens of the Elector of the
Palatinate at a place called Schwetzingen,
which are celebrated as the finest in Europe,
but they are laid out with the same bad and
unnatural taste that prevails at Versailles,
Chantilly, &c. Many long straight walks,
many figures of animals spouting water —
temples — rude perspective paintings at the
termination of some walks, which deceived us
till we came nearer — ruins, &c. A Turkish
mosque was building at this time, which,

2o6 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
as probably a correct specimen of Mahome
tan building, was the only thing that inter
ested us. We reached Manheim at one
o'clock. The same Elector of the Palatinate
has a palace here with a large gallery of
pictures, more than 500 in number, but those
who are better judges than myself say there
are few good ones. This is a large town,
built with the utmost regularity. It is per
fectly dull, and though the inhabitants seem
more numerous than in other towns of the
same kind, they appear to be all asleep.
Worms was the next city we came to of any
consequence ; it seemed large and clean, but
if we had staid there long, I should have been
in danger of dislocating my jaws by gaping.
There were many French noblesse hastily
passing through as runaways, and the Ger
man waiters laughed very much at them.
From Worms to Mayence the country is a
little more varied, and our ride this morning
from Oppenheim was a pleasant one ; on
one side small hills full of flourishing vine
yards, on the other the Rhine, which here
spreads into a noble stream, and beyond it a
fertile plain, bounded by some tolerably high

FRENCH REFUGEES. 207

hills. In this neighbourhood, however, were
marks of sad ravages from a tremendous
storm of wind and rain, which took place on
July 30, the very day on which we noticed
an extraordinary storm of wind, without rain,
at Marseilles. Mr. Morgan observed then
that as this violent agitation of the air must
have been produced by a great vacuum in the
atmosphere, it probably was attended some
where by a great and sudden fall of rain.
When near Oppenheim we lamented to see
many pretty gardens of the citizens ruined by
the storm ; the fences were all down, and the
whole exhibited a sad picture of devastation.
We have had some few delays on
account of the scarcity of horses, for the road
is at present full of the unhappy French
refugees, the unpopular princes and noblesse.
The Count d' Artois and the Prince de Conde\
the first, the King's brother, and the second,
his cousin, are among these runaways. They
have as yet found no abiding place, and seem
to be shifting from place to place, not know
ing where they are secure. Nobody seems
to pity them, even the waiters and common
servants at the inns speak of them with con-

208 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
tempt, and laugh at their forlorn situation.
The National Assembly seems determined
to frame such a system of laws as shall put it
out of the power of the great to oppress the
small. They have begun by cutting the
wings of the noblesse and the clergy. All
religious orders of monks and friars are sup
pressed, all tithes taken away, and no priest
can have more than one living. The noblesse
have no longer the exclusive right of hunt
ing, shooting, fishing, &c. ; all rights of manors
are taken from them, and the peasants are
relieved from the heavy services which here
tofore have been imposed on them by the
seigneurs. How will their industry, which "
they have practised even under the most dis
couraging circumstances, now be rewarded !
Mayence is a fine old city, well fortified,
and full of inhabitants. A bridge across the
Rhine, which is here a noble stream, built on
forty-seven boats, measured 637 paces, so
that it is certainly more than a third of a mile
across. The country round is very fertile, ancl
the prospect is terminated in every direction
by fine hills. A wharf on the side of the river
was full of people, and a good many vessels

ON THE RHINE. 209

were full of merchandise, wood, coals, &c.
When we came near the Cathedral and other
public buildings, we found them wretched
specimens of taste. They were all daubed over
with red ochre, and deformed by a profusion of
wretched carvings. But I must stop now.
God bless you. I long to be with you.
E. R.
Wednesday Morning, August 26, 1789.
My dear Loves,— I begin this letter to
you in a place which does not allow me to
give it a name, for we are in a boat on the
Rhine, about twelve miles from Mayence,
which we left this morning at about six
o'clock. The scenery of the borders of this
river, though very different from that of the
Rhone, is very pleasing, presenting as it
does the constant view of a well-cultivated
country, rising into gentle hills from the
river, whose banks are crowded with cities,
towns, palaces, and convents. Mr. Gibbon
has said, that from one extremity to the other
of this noble river, there are 500 cities, I
believe it, for we have already seen too
many to count them. As we leave one,
p

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

another immediately appears in view, so that
the shore seems one continued line of human
habitations. Opposite to Mayence, not far
down, is a palace of the Prince of Nassau.
Half-past ten. — The view from the
water is here very beautiful. Immediately
before us is the town of Bingen, situated on
the water's edge. On one side is another
town ; the hills here are higher and steeper ;
the sides are full of vineyards, and the tops
well cultivated with wood. There are also
magnificent ruins of castles ; — one large one
especially in the highest part of Bingen, —
which shows that this was formerly a place of
no small consequence. The surface of the
water is here perfectly smooth, the expanse
is very great, the sun shines brightly without
annoying us with too much heat, the oars are
uniformly moving, dashing the water with
slow and gentle strokes, yet bringing us forward
at a very gOod rate. Indeed, judging by the
carriages on the post road near the river, we
go much quicker than they do. The whole
scene is most charming, and I hope I shall
long retain the picture of it in my mind's eye.
As we came nearer Bingen, we saw crowds

ON THE RHINE.

of people upon the shore, on a wharf where
there are several vessels at anchor. At this
place I just see at the extremity of the view a
tower, as if it were rising out of the water,
and indeed so it proves to be, for it is built
upon a small rock in the middle of the river.
Near this, the Rhine becomes much narrowed,
and the rapidity of its stream proportionately
increased ; and here, running over a bottom of
rocks, it begins to roar, and shakes the boat
as it passes along, but without exposing us
to any danger. Indeed, during the whole
passage, the navigation is perfectly secure,
especially as sails are seldom used. I am
more and more astonished at the number of
towns here. The river winds so much that
I am sure I cannot see two miles before me,
yet there are not less than four considerable
towns in sight, which seem alternately placed
on each side of the river, like the lamps in
the streets of London. More and more mag
nificent ruins also come in sight. These
buildings were destroyed by Gustavus
Adolphus and his generals; melancholy
monuments of the devastations of war ! At
most of the towns a small tax is paid by
P 2

212 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
every vessel which passes. This is trouble
some, as well as oppressive, and certainly not
a little impolitic. In one place which I have
mentioned, on a tower upon a rock in the
middle of the river, soldiers are constantly on
guard, and when a vessel approaches, a bell
rings, and you must stop and pay the duty, or
incur the risk of being fired upon.
I begin to think we shall have almost as
pleasant a passage down this river as that
down the Rhone. We expect to be at
Amsterdam in three days, and shall soon get
to Helvoetsluys, whence we take the packet
for Harwich. We have all been wonderfully
well. God bless you all. E. R.
Diisseldorf : Friday Evening, August 28, 1789.
My dear Loves, — I expected to have
written this letter at or near Amsterdam,
and that it would have been the last which I
should have had the opportunity of sending
before I reached England, but the bad
arrangements of the German posts have
delayed us most unexpectedly more than
two days, which is particularly unpleasant, as

COBLENTZ. 213

we proposed being in England on or before
September 5. We still hope to accomplish
it, and if so, I shall be with you on Saturday
or Sunday, the 5th or 6th. It is very dis
agreeable to be detained in this part of our
journey, as the country since we left the
Rhine is very flat and dull, and the towns
are all alike equally barren of entertainment
to such travellers as we are. If you have
suspected that my disposition to be pleased
with the most moderate beauties of nature
has, in many cases, made me magnify those
I have seen, giving you rather the description
of what I, labouring under that happy
enthusiasm, have felt, than of what was
really before my eyes, I wish now to give you
a proof that I am as capable of finding fault
as of praising. But to return to my narrative,
the last of which was written on the Rhine
after leaving Mayence. We arrived that
evening at Coblentz, a large city, fifty-five
miles from Mayence. Two large palaces,
a strong fortress on a high rock which over
awes as well as overlooks the town, and, as
usual, a number of churches, were the prin
cipal objects which appeared in view as we

214 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS
approached, and as it was just before sunset
it was not the least pleasant view we had had.
We walked about the town, and though there
were many streets, there were but few people,
and everything looked very dull. We walked
also on the bridge over the Moselle, which
here falls into the Rhine. That we might
recover the time we had lost in being detained
at Mayence, we rose the next morning
(Thursday) before three, and went immedi
ately on board, hoping to get to Cologne in
tim^ to admit of our going post to Dusseldorf
the same evening. Our voyage down the
Rhine continued to be prosperous ; we- were
that day equally entertained by the sight of
the many towns, which seemed to pass in
perpetual review before us. One of the
principal of these was the city of Bonn, the
residence of the Archbishop and Elector of
Cologne. . As usual, the Prince has a large
palace, and the rest of the town seems to
suffer in proportion to the wealth expended
upon the habitation of one individual. Before
reaching Bonn, we observed the great post
road was here near the river, and many
carriages upon it. I counted at one time six

COLOGNE. 215

together, which I fancied were conveying the
unfortunate ill-judging French noblesse from
their native country. About three o'clock
we arrived at Cologne, in very good time to
have gone on in the carriage to Dusseldorf,
which is but twenty miles further. But the
postmaster told us, in a very surly manner,
that he could not let us have any horses.
He would not condescend to give us any
reason for his refusal, nor could all our most
earnest persuasions prevail on him to promise
us any till the next day. Finding it impos
sible to overcome his German obstinacy, we
endeavoured to make the best of our situation,
got our dinner, and set out to see the town.
It is one of the largest we have yet seen,
except Paris, and is said to be nine miles
round, but I cannot believe this. It is, how
ever, very thinly inhabited, containing they
say only 36,000 inhabitants, and not without
reason, for surely of all places under heaven,
it is the, last a reasonable creature would wish
to reside in. Tyranny and superstition seem
to have taken up their abode here. The
number of armed soldiers which we met at
every corner, were sufficient proof of the one,

216 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
and the crowd of ill-looking fat priests and
monks — the only crowd in the place, except the
beggars — equally proved the dominion of the
other. There was a gloom and appearance
of disease in almost every man's face we saw ;
their persons also look filthy. The state of
wretchedness in which they live seems to
deprive them of every power of exertion, even
of that of keeping themselves clean. The
only women we met who appeared healthy,
were a few peasants bringing provisions, and
even these must pay for a ticket of admission
to sell them. I observed one poor woman
in great distress because she had lost hers.
The streets are in some places overgrown
with grass, and in others so full of filth, that
the nose is offended at every step. The
country which surrounds this city, and which
belongs to the Archbishop, bespeaks suf
ficiently the character of its owner. The
land is never cultivated in the dominions of a
tyrant This remark we have had occasion
to repeat in the whole of our journey from
Cologne to Holland, for the whole country is
divided between the Archbishop and the
King of Prussia. I never felt more abhor-

COLOGNE. 217

rence of tyranny and superstition than when
we were pent up in this wretched place. At
the same time one's pity for the oppressed is
mixed with contempt, for surely if they had
the spirit of human beings, they would rouse
themselves to throw off a yoke which must
so severely gall them ; indeed, I cannot help
thinking that the day will come when some
of the numerous churches and convents will
be converted into houses of industry and
manufactures, and when the laziness of the
monks will give place to the activity of the
merchant and the mechanic, for no place can
be better calculated for these purposes than
this city. It is finely situated in a fertile
country, with a temperate climate, and one of
the finest rivers in Europe runs by its side.
These reflections obviously occurred in the
course of our walk about the city, and more
especially when we went to the promenade,
which, in all other places, and particularly in
France, is the resort of the principal inhabi
tants, who meet for conversation. But how
were we disappointed, how disgusted, to find,
instead of the usual scene of gaiety and cheer
fulness, only two groups of beings ; at one

218 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
corner there were about twenty soldiers, and
at the other as many priests, yawning away
their time and their existence. The Cathedral
is an old Gothic building, very rich in that
style of architecture, but it is in a state of ruin,
the chancel end being alone perfect. In St.
Peter's Church we saw the crucifixion of that
saint by Rubens. Wishing to leave this
place, which could only give us the vapours,
as soon as possible, we had ordered the horses
at four in the morning, and as the post
master had solemnly promised them at that
time, we rose at half-past three, but no horses
came. We went then to the man ; we thought
he would have snapped our noses off, and
though we saw plenty of horses in the stable,
the scoundrel would not let us depart. till nine
o'clock, and then we were dragged so slowly
that we did not arrive here till half-past three.
The posts here, as in France, belong to the
Government, but how differently are they
managed ! In France at every, post-house a
table of rules is hung on the walls, and every
traveller is requested to complain if either
postmaster or postillion behave ill. Here,
the management is entrusted to some half-pay

DUSSELDORF. 219
or reduced officer of the army, who has no
other law than that of his own will. Here
also, to our mortification, though we are got
into another Prince's dominions, we have the
same story over again, with this difference,
that the postmaster speaks civilly and assures
us we shall have horses certainly early in the
morning. We have here seen the picture
gallery. Raphael's ' Holy Family,' a single
figure of ' St. John the Baptist,' by Raphael,
an ' Assumption,' by Guido, ' Jupiter and
Antiope,' by Vandyke, several by Rubens,
and one by Albert Durer, were the most
distinguished paintings. Dusseldorf is an old
dirty town, full of churches, priests, and
soldiers. This unpleasant part of our journey
makes us all wish to be in England again,
and yet we find that many English travellers
who come abroad for a few weeks, confine
themselves to Holland, and to some of these
German towns. Had we not been in France,
Italy, and Switzerland, and had we only formed
an opinion of the Continent from the country
and the people we see here, we should have
returned with very unfavourable impressions.
I fear you will find this the least interesting

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

of my letters, but I hope you will blame the
subject, and not me. God bless you all.
E. R.
Amersfort : Monday Morning, August 31, 1789.
My dear Loves, — We have been so long
delayed in coming through Germany, that
we have not yet reached Amsterdam, though
we have for the last forty- eight hours travelled
night and day. The country through which
we have passed has been so uninteresting,
the roads so bad, and the post so infamously
arranged, that we have been dragged from
stage to stage in a manner that would exhaust
the patience of Job himself. In every town
we passed, we suffered from the rascality of
the postmasters ; they cheated us in the price
of the horses, and deceived us as to the time
between stage and stage. They will not
change a louis without a heavy loss ; the
postillions will not set off unless they are
paid first, and if you have only large money
which requires change, they bring it you
back short of the value. We flattered our
selves that when we got into Holland, our
difficulties would be over, and with this

DUSSELDORF.

221

expectation how we did rejoice yesterday
morning about seven o'clock, when we were
told that we were in the territory of the
Dutch. The face of the country for a little
way sufficiently discovered that more industry
had been exercised than in any place we had
seen for several days, for from the frontier to
Arnheim we travelled through a fertile country,
with good dwellings ; but from Arnheim to
this place, which is twenty-seven miles, the
road lay through one continued wide extended
waste, where there was not a single mark of
cultivation, not a cottage or a tree to relieve
the eye. The roads, too, were so bad, and
the drivers and horses so lazy, that we were
actually thirteen hours coming this short
journey, though the postmaster assured us
we should do it in six. But my last was
written from Dusseldorf. We found that
town larger than we expected, and, what was
a new circumstance in Germany, we found it
an increasing town, for there were some houses
building, and the appearance of some trade.
Indeed, in all the towns situated on the Rhine
there must be some trade, notwithstanding
that the different governments under which

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

the people live are so unfavourable to it.
From Dusseldorf we set off on Saturday
morning very early, expecting by being brisk
in our movements to have reached Amster
dam late in the evening. We got to Duys-
burg before ten, where we breakfasted, and
ordered the horses for the next stage, which
was fifteen miles further. The postmaster
gave us good words, and promised we should
have them in half an hour, but it was full
two hours before we found ourselves in the
carriage again. It is a common trick with
these infamous scoundrels to make travellers
wait, that there may be the chance of some
returned horses, in which case he sends them
with these, makes the poor traveller pay for
fresh horses, and cheats the King by dividing
the money between the returning postillion
and himself. This very scheme this fellow
put in execution in our case. Unfortunately
it succeeded so far that we were sent off with
the return horses, and instead of getting to
the next stage in three hours, we were seven
doing it. But he overshot the mark in
another respect ; he made an extravagant
overcharge for the horses, which our intelli-

PRUSSIAN TYRANNY. 223

gent valet soon discovered, and as we
threatened to complain to the Commandant
at Wesel, he sent the difference after us.
Impositions of all kinds we began to ex
perience as soon as we entered a country
governed by a despot, for we were here in the
King of Prussia's dominions. Bad money
was also in circulation here. The next town
we entered was Wesel, which is strongly
fortified, and has 14,000 soldiers in it. These
poor devils lead a life of the most abject
slavery ; they have but three-pence a day, do
hard duty, and are not permitted to walk out
of the gates, unless under peculiar circum
stances. One of them followed the carriage,
and asked if we were not English. He
advised us not to stay all night at Wesel lest
we should be ill-treated, and told us he was
an Englishman, and had served in the
American war ; that on his return to England
he wanted employment, and having an uncle
in Germany, he came over to see him, but
lucklessly passing through Wesel, he was
detained and imprisoned for several days, and
harshly treated till he enlisted. But he said
he looked forward to the time when he should

224 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
be discharged, to be able to return to England,
for the Prussian soldiers are enlisted only for
ten years and a day, and he had already
served six. We pitied the poor fellow, who
seemed very miserable, and gave him a little
money and some good advice. I had an
opportunity afterwards of telling this tale to a
Prussian officer, and he said ' Yes, he will be
discharged if, at the end of the term, he is
disabled or in any way unfit for service, but
if otherwise, and he should demand his dis
charge, he would immediately be tied up to
the halberds and well flogged, and that would
be called a renewal of the contract' What
an instance is this of tyranny. How can a
country flourish under a government capable
of such actions ; but it does not flourish ;
the land is uncultivated and depopulated. In
the dominions of this fool of a king there is
scarcely any peasantry ; every new-born babe
is made a soldier, and in a little while there
will be no inhabitants left to till the ground.
Through those parts of the Duchy of Cleves
which we passed, not one hundredth part of
the land is cultivated, and where it is, the
only crop seems to be buckwheat, which we

DUTCH CHEATING. 225
found was the food both of cattle and men.
Who would wish to live in Germany ! But
these despotic systems must have an end,
and the tyrants who divide this country, so
favoured by Nature, must expect a fall.
About ten days ago the inhabitants of the
Bishoprick of Liege actually threw off the
yoke ; the Bourgeois armed themselves, drove
the soldiers out of the town, surrounded the
palace, and brought the bishop to the Hotel
de Ville, where they made him sign a declara
tion of rights. How every country and
every people we have seen since we left
France sink into comparison with that ani
mated country ! We are much disappointed
in the appearance of Holland. We expected
a rich and well-cultivated country, and an
active people, but hitherto we have seen
scarcely anything but wide wastes, and the
people seem all stupid. They can, however,
cheat very handsomely. We have not had a
regular meal since Friday, and yet they have
attempted to cheat us at every inn we stopped
at. This will be my last letter, and may
perhaps not arrive before me. I hope to see
you on Sunday or Monday, but as we have
Q

226 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
been hitherto so much more delayed than we
expected, you must not be alarmed if I do
not arrive at that time. We shall probably
be at Rotterdam on Wednesday (September
2). Should there be a Yarmouth ship then
going off immediately, we may go by it, if.
not by the packet to Harwich. God bless
you. E. R.
This was the last letter addressed by Dr.
Rigby to his family. I therefore add conclud
ing passages from his journal, which became
more copious after ceasing to write to his
home. He and his companions did not
land in England till September 9, having
been detained at Helvoetsluys by contrary
Avinds. Amsterdam, September 1, 1789. Tuesday
morning. — We arrived here yesterday even
ing at six o'clock. In coming to the inn, we
passed through the Jews' quarters ; some of
them followed the carriage and asked to be
paid for showing us the way. We walked
out in the evening ; what a scene of melancholy

AMSTERDAM. 117

dulness ! How the canals stink ! the inflam
mable air rising from them might fill a balloon.
We rose at half-past five this morning, went
to the quay, took a boat, and were rowed
round the harbour ; a very fine sight, a large
number of ships, and very commodiously
arranged. We went to the Stadt House, a
large stone building, with pilasters of no
architectural order. Many rooms full of old
paintings. From the top there is a fine view
of the city, harbour, &c. The city is large,
and being built on ground gained from
the sea, it makes a striking effect. Went on
Change ; it was not so full as in London, nor
did the merchants appear so much like gentle
men. We also visited the house of correction.
The prisoners seemed to work hard in rasping
wood. An Englishman and an American
were confined six months for fighting ; all
seemed healthy and tolerably clean. Then
to the workhouse, which is a large new-built
house, containing 800 paupers. In the work
rooms women were picking hemp, carding it,
spinning it, and weaving it into a coarse
wrapper. Boys were exercising, and perform
ing the manual in the slowest way possible.

DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.

We also went to the medical, or botanical
garden. Amsterdam, September 2, 1789. Wednes
day  Rose at five, could but again remark
how dull the place was. I went to the
hospital and asked permission to see it, but
the porter said he could not give me leave.
I returned about an hour later, rang the bell
with an air of authority, and marched in
without asking any questions or being inter
rupted by any one. The account this week
was 666 patients — ninety-five admitted, fifty-
four discharged, and ten dead. I counted
ninety-seven beds in one ward, which was
seventy paces long, about 200 feet. At five
every morning every patient who is able
gets up, and the wards are washed. A
woman in a state of delirium was shut up in a
kind of closet, something like a small pulpit,
being open at the top. The whole was very
clean. We dined this day at Mr. Hope's
splendid house, and saw his counting-house.
He gave us tickets for the French play ; a
small house and not good actors. He gave
us also an order to see his country house and
gallery of paintings at Haarlem.

THE HAGUE. 229

Thursday morning, September 3, Amster
dam. — Rose at half-past four, and went to the
green market ; the vegetables and fruit very
fine, and there were some enormously large
white currants, brought to the market in boats.
We arrived at Haarlem at half-past eight.
We were gratified by the sight of Mr. Hope's
house, &c. It is built upon a slight elevation,
dignified by the name of a hill. It might as
well have been called a mountain. The house
has been building four years. The picture
gallery is very magnificent. I am sorry so
often to remark the knavery of the Dutch.
They charged us twenty guldens for four
horses from Amsterdam to this place, which
is almost 2/., and yet are so slow that they
made us wait more than two hours for a
change of horses. At three o'clock we were
near Leyden.
Arrived at the Hague at six in the even
ing. Within eight or ten miles of it, the road
is through a wood, in which are many solitary
and melancholy looking houses, and near the
Hague a palace for the Stadtholder. This
town is neat, but, like Amsterdam, full of
stagnant canals, the receptacles of animal

230 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
and vegetable substances, and the perpetually
generating source of inflammable air which
circulates so much here and at Amsterdam
as to tarnish the silver in common use. We
were in time to go to the comedy, a small,
very ordinary and badly lighted theatre. The
Prince of Orange and his two daughters were
in the stage box, his son and two other ladies
in the next
The Hague, September 4. — There is no
thing but fraud and imposition in this country.
They make us pay more than 2/. to be con
veyed hence to Rotterdam, which is only
nine miles. The Hague is very well built,
and contains good houses, squares and prome
nades, but they are all dull.
Delft, a large town, clean and dull.
Rotterdam at half-past one. This is a
very large town, the best we have seen in
Holland. There are many good houses, but
most of them considerably out of the perpen
dicular ; the ground on which they are built
having settled. The haven was full of ships,
and the water in the Maas clean and pure,
very unlike that of the canals seen before.
September 5, 1789. — We left Rotterdam

HEL VOETSL UYS.

early, after some bustle about the carriage,
crossed the Rhine twice in boats, and break
fasted at a small town, where we were
cheated by the master of the inn, and the
imposition was so gross that we applied to a
magistrate for redress, but to no purpose.
We were cheated and deceived again by the
postillions, who had engaged to take us from
Rotterdam to Helvoetsluys in five hours, and
we were only half-way when four hours and
a half had elapsed. We were not better
treated by the boatmen. Fraud and lies
are certainly here the order of the day.
We arrived at Helvoetsluys at half-past
one, through bad roads and wretched country,
but better cultivated. The winds being high
and contrary, we stayed all night.
September 6, 1789. Helvoetshiys,6 dilock. —
The wind is still contrary and squally, and
we must wait longer.
Wednesday morning, September 9, 1789 —
On board a fishing boat on the Suffolk coast.
We left Helvoetsluys on Sunday, the 6th, at
a quarter before four p.m., in Captain Flynn's
packet. A hard gale sprang up soon after we
set sail, and, being contrary, we were tossed

232 DR. RIGBY'S LETTERS.
about very much till this morning, when we
discovered land, and found ourselves near
Southwold. Mr. Morgan and I, seeing a fishing boat
bound for Yarmouth, hailed her, and with
some difficulty got on board her. Mr.
Boddington and Mr. Woodhouse continued
in the packet, expecting to reach Harwich
before evening. We soon made Yarmouth,
and landed on the jetty, and were quickly
conveyed to Norwich in a chaise, without
having any more reason to complain of impos
ing postmasters or bad postillions.

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