and yet the gardens themselves cannot be deemed fine, being used chiefly for airing in a coach. The parks commence near the house, and extend many miles, in which the amusement of hunting is the constant practice.

VERSAILLES.

From St. Cloud we walked to Versailles, a distance of two leagues, through pleasant parks and woods. The road ways were paved in the centre with a good breadth of stone, for the convenience of the King's travelling with his attendants in their coaches, all round his palaces; wearrived just at the time when his Majesty and his Court came back to Versailles, from a complimentary visit of condolence to King James the Third of England, as the King of France had proclaimed him to be.

Of the Palace of Versailles, erected by his present Majesty, I will attempt no description. In size it is prodigious, and in magnificence, suppose equal, if not superior, to any in Europe. The stables, which are detached, have the appearance of a second palace. The gardens are of great size, and adorned with vast waterworks, fountains, cascades, canals, statues, walks, groves, alcoves, seats, and all things that can be imagined to be in the finest gardens in the world, to a prodigy. The front next the garden, which is of astonishing extent, jets out in the midst for a considerable space, adorned with pillars and pilasters of marble, from whence by a descending wide walk you come a considerable distance to a canal of great breadth and length, whereon were several galleys and a sort of brigantines for sailing upon it for pleasure. It so happened that at the time we entered, the water-works were playing all over the gardens, which we understood was a rare thing; for a considerable charge to the King is incurred every time they play, there being no water there but what is brought up over hills from Marli by vast and expensive works. Being well satisfied with what we had this afternoon seen, we went into the town to seek for lodgings, which we soon procured.

Versailles is a very regular town. The houses are uniformly built, but not lofty, in number about 2000. The

market-place is spacious, and the streets are of considerable width,

Sept. 11. We went again to the palace, and viewed more of the gardens and parks. We were informed they were twelve miles or more in circumference. The latter are well shaded with woods, and have long avenues cut through them, a league and an haif, and sometimes more in length. This day we went to chapel, and saw the King, who is very tall and lusty, at mass, attended by three Bishops and many other great men. The music was grand and fine; and the performers, instrumental and vocal, amounted to one hundred and fifty-and here, whilst I was gazing at the King, inattentive to the ringing of a little belt which denoted the elevation of the host, and not thinking of kneeling, a sentinel came behind and knocked me down with the butt-end of his musket; and, had I fallen forwards, instead of backwards, my bulky body would have gone over the rails of the gallery down among the priests and people; where, as I should by my fall have certainly interrupted both music and ceremo nies, great must have been the confusion. The staircase leading to the chapel is of marble, and the chapel itself strikingly fine and beautiful.

It being understood that the King would this afternoon go to Fontainebleau with the whole Court, we waited until they took coach, when we saw the King again with his jolly red face and dark brown wig. Next came the Dauphin, thick and short, with a wig of fair-coloured hair. He was followed by the Duke of Burgundy, crooked and meagre, wearing his own dark brown locks; and last in order appeared the 'Duke of Berry, a lively handsome youth, with his own hair of a light colour. The Duke of Aujou, a younger son of the Dauphin, was gone into Spain, having been proclaimed King there. We saw also the Duchess of Burgundy, a pretty young woman with a dark but ruddy complexion. There were many great persous who followed in carriages, but unknown to us. I cannot conclude my observations on this enormous house without remarking, that the rooms which we saw, were in general of small size, and not one that might be called large and stately;

but

but there may be others to which we had not access.

We walked into the park to look at the Menagerie. Here are kept lions, tigers, wolves, vultures, ostriches, storks, cranes, and a great variety of other beasts and birds. In the park also is the Duchess of Burgundy's dairy-house, &c. newly built, where she comes and milks cows and makes butter and cheese with her own hauds for her amusement, and takes, it seems, great delight in it. She also raises poultry here; and the butter, cheese, and fowls are from hence sent to the King's table.

We proceeded to view the famous machine that throws up the water from Marly to Versailles. It was designed by Monsieur de Ville, a native of Liege, who lives in a neat house contiguous to the machine, and to whom the King allows a pension of one thousand pounds sterling per annum for the invention. The water is drawn up from the River Seine by the force of many wheels, which the stream turns without the help of horses or men, and is forced up to the top of a hill 540 feet in height accounting it perpendicularly, through great iron pipes or canals, and from thence, sometimes under ground and sometimes through aqueducts, constructed on the tops of walls very thick, and 60 or 80 yards high, along a distance of two leagues to Versailles. The whole is a prodigious work, carried on and completed at an unlimited expence, and which, from the excessive labours incurred in its progress, and endless fatigues consequent thereon, cost the lives of an incredible number of men.

MARLY.

Sept. 12. We rested at a small village here last night, and this day went to Marly, hard by. This is an house to which the King retires from business, and consults with Madame Maintenon. The house is circular, of no great size. In the centre of the interior is a saloon, crowned by a lantern to admit the light, and wherein the stair-case is placed. All around this space are lodging-rooms. It is devoid of all state-apartments, and is merely an house for pleasure in the Summer; but the gardens are large and fine, and have in them here and there some small buildings appropriated for the

use of a few of the great men who wait on the King when he makes his excursions here. The exterior of the house seems to be rough cast. The lodgings within are lofty, and very finely furnished. The person who shewed the house refused to take any fee.

The water-works in the gardens here are many, with cascades, fountains, and statues, the whole far short of those at Versailles in size or stateliness, yet beautiful; but we had not the good fortune to see the waterworks here play, as was the case at the former place.

ST. GERMAINE EN LAYE.

Our next route was to St. Germaine's, a large town, filled at present with English, Scotch and Irish, who followed the fortunes of King James; the greater number poor wretches, with hardly shoes on their feet or cloaths to their backs. English is of course talked in almost every house.

We took a view of the palace, a large lofty old building in the manner of a castle, encompassed with a dry ditch. It is pleasantly situated on au eminence, and the gardens fall down with terraces below it. This is one of the most ancient houses of Lewis the XIVth, and he himself was born here.

At present all looks melancholy; and we saw no guards about it. RETURN TO PARIS.

From hence we returned to Paris, distant four leagues, and reached our lodgings about eight in the evening, much pleased with what we had seen, but very tired, though not yet satisfied.

Sept. 13. We visited the College of the Sorbonne, an University founded by the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu, who lies buried in the middle of the Chapel, with a fine marble monument over him, on which is his figure in a recumbent posture of excellent sculpture; from thence we stepped to La Sainte Chapelle, remarkable for its curious and finely-painted glass; and so on to the Palais Royale, where is a large Exchange of shops, and where the Parliament of Paris sits as a Court of Justice.

Sept. 14. This day was spent in viewing some hotels or palaces of the nobility, particularly that of Luxembourg (now Orleans). This is a noble edifice, with fine large gardens, well frequented in an evening like

hose

those at the Tuilleries. We concluded our afternoon's amusement by another visit to the Chapel of Val de Grace; where we again heard very fine musick.

Sept. 15. Proposing to go to Fontainebleau by water, we bought a cold roast turkey for fifteen pence, and an halfpenny extraordinary for salt, which is very dear here. With this provision we went on board a boat called La Coche Royale par Eau, for Fontainebleau, where the Court was, and commonly is yearly about this time for two months. This coach, as they call it, is drawn up the Seine against stream by six horses, and I believe will carry 150 persons. In it are small boxes on each side, with benches and tables in them for the passengers; and between them is a path-way through the middle of the boat. Above is a deck covered with a tarpaulin canopy; and every one carries his own provision, though wine is sold in the boat, but very dear. About a league up the river, on the left hand, we passed by Charenton, a considerable and wellbuilt village, where is a palace of the Archbishop of Paris, with large gar. dens; and farther on we also passed the following places; St. George, Villeneuve, Ablen, Chatillon (a town), Melun (a city with 6 Churches therein), Fontaine-le- port, Barreau, and Samois. About nine at night we arrived at Valoin, distant from Paris about 20 leagues. From thence we went to an adjoining village, called La Basse Loche, where we slept at an auberge newly built, it being too late to proceed that evening to Foutainebleau, which was a league further.

FONTAINEBLEAU.

Sept. 16. This morning early we continued our voyage to Fontainebleau, which we found to be an old town, not so big or neat as Versailles. The chateau is large, built of stone, but old and irregular, with additions made thereto by several Kings at various times. Here are four large Courts or Squares. The Chapel is very fine and rich, and far superior to that at Versailles, though the latter is a newer building. We were shewn this palace by a person who said he was a very old servant, and the only one of the King's domesticks allowed for such a purpose to take money. So his Majesty rewards an

cient services at the expence of strangers, whom curiosity may draw to Fontainebleau.

We were shewn the bed wherein the Dauphin was born; which, as are also all those of the King and Princes, was very rich. We had another view of the King as he went out to shoot partridges, and of the Duke of Burgundy; and heard the latter pay his compliments to Madame the Duchess of Noailles and two of her daughters, whom he met in the gallery, and to all of whom he seemed very free and complaisant. This gallery is large, but not long, curiously wainscoted, and painted after the old fashion. It is said that the King intends to make great alterations, and to have every thing here more modern and ornamental. On a corner of the wainscot by a window are several notches to denote the progressive growth of the King year by year when he was young. I pulled off my shoes and measured myself there, and found that I wanted about two inches of the uppermost notch. I am six feet high without shoes; and therefore, considering the height of his Majesty, and that he is a bulky man, you may conclude he is what we vulgarly call

a swapper.

This is the King's country-house, to which he retires for the express purpose of diverting himself with shooting, hunting the wild boar and stag, &c. He goes out almost every day on some sport or other. The situation is in a forest, and wild, enclosed with mountains and rocks, and much resembling that of Chatsworth in Derbyshire, belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. From the top of one of these rocks, about three quarters of a league off, comes the water that serves the water-works in the gardens. These are not very fine or large, save that in them is a great cascade adorn ed with rock-work, which we play, as did all the other water-works for the amusement of several strangers who had this day come to Court; but the gardens are so little valued that the coaches of the King and of the Nobility and attendants drive through most of the walks. guide told us that he had every day for forty-two years past fed a couple of swans, male and female, with bread; and he called them to him, and they ate out of our hands. He

saw

Our

shewed

shewed us likewise a small round building in a little island in the garden, where Henry the IVth of France used to give audience to Ambassadors; and in a balcony surrounding this building, musick was customarily performed. There is no access to it except by a boat.

We were next led to the stables, where was abundance of fine horses from Barbary, Germany, Poland, Spain, &c. and particularly from England, which are much prized here, especially for hunting. We were informed that the King has in all for coach and siddle 500 horses, a prodigious number, if true; but every thing Royal must in France be on a scale of boundless magnificence and extravagance! They have, it seems, an odd custom here, that if any enter the stables, not being strangers, (though even princes of the blood) with both gloves on, they forfeit 50 pistoles each; and, if strangers, then only a piece of money to drink. Having received due caution from our guide, we each put one glove in our pockets. The park of Fontainebleau is very large, and contains abundance of game well preserved; and the country seems calculated for sports of the field. We had here at our dinuer the best Burgundy we had yet tasted; and after our refreshment we walked to the summit of an high rocky mountain in the park, about half a league from the palace; from thence we had a pretty prospect of Fontainebleau and of the castle and country round. This appeared to be generally woody, but well planted with vineyards, as was the country through which we should have passed

if we had journeyed by land. 1 forgot to mention that at the back of the stables is a nice mall, planted with rows of trees on each side; but it is neither so long nor so wide as that in St. James's Park in England.

PASSAGE BACK TO PARIS. Sept. 17. Intending now to return to Paris, we went to Valoin, where the Coche d'Eau was stationed, and there embarked for the capital; at which we arrived in good time, going now with the stream, though we had only two horses to draw the boat. In this our passage back we observed several things which before had escaped our notice from being sometimes under deck, such as many

chateaux or country seats of gentlemen, and particularly the very fine house on this river with large gardens, belonging to Madame de Montespan, one of the King's mistresses. The Seine was, throughout our passage, generally as wide as the Thames at Kingston. For breadth and length, of course it is supposed to be the second river in France. The wood with which Paris is supplied for fuel is floated down in parcels, bound together four or five feet in thickness, in vast quantities, swimming in the water, and guided by men without boats.

Sept. 18. This day we spent in making purchases of a few odd things, in reviewing some places which we had seen before, and slightly looking at others of no great note, and likewise in conversations of inquiry. We were informed that there are in Paris 3200 houses, 260 parishes, 60 convents and seminaries of men, and 50 nunneries. There are nine bridges, four of them with houses built upon them as on London Bridge. The Parisians use very big language, talking of their City. They say 5000 infants are born in a night, a gross absurdity! perhaps they may dispute our landlord's assertion that there are not less than 50,000 rogues in it.

Sept. 19. This day, here called the 29th and the Feast of Saint Michael, we spent all the morning in hearing the musick at Notre Dame; and in the evening went to see the Fair of St. Laurence, at the further end of the town, near Porte St. Denis. It is here kept in a large inclosed place, and is holden three or four times a year, coutinuing three weeks each Fair. The rows of shops for sale of articles of every kind were numerous; with diversions of all sorts, consisting of bull-baiting, bear-baiting, shows of wild beasts, puppet-shows, drolls, &c. &c.; and when the Fair is over, the gates are shut up.

But now the propriety of a speedy return to England could not but present itself to our minds; for the expectation of war increased, by reason of the French King having proclaimed the son of the late King James, King of England, and in a solemn manner by heralds at arms, likewise by the rise in value of English coin, and by several other circumstances. We thought it therefore prudent to bend our course homewards, though sooner

then