Young Americans Abroad Part 16

The clergy present at this convocation were from various parts of France and all the Swiss cantons, and I never saw a finer set of men in any clerical a.s.sembly. Pastor Malan is exceedingly venerable in his appearance. He is about sixty-eight years of age, his hair gray, and worn long in the neck, with a good deal of curl to it. His gait is quick, and he has much the manner of the venerable Dr. Beecher. This patriarch of Geneva is very cheerful, knows every one, and has a word for every one. He told me that he loved Americans, but that they had spoiled his habitation by stealing two of his daughters, who, he explained to me, were married to excellent clergymen in the United States.

We met with great kindness in this city from Mr. Delorme, a gentleman who once resided in New York. He invited us to accompany his family on an excursion to the summit of the Saleve, a mountain in Savoy, which is three thousand one hundred and fifty feet above the lake. We went in two carriages, and stopped at a village on the mountain side, where we had cakes, coffee, and wine. Here, in a sweet little arbor, surrounded with roses, we gazed at Mont Blanc, and on a near summit could very clearly trace the profile of Napoleon. He looks "like a warrior taking his sleep." The illusion surpa.s.ses in accuracy of expression any thing that I know of that is similar; there are chin, nose, eye, and the old c.o.c.ked hat, while the eternal vapor over the summit of the peak forms the feather.

We looked down in a ravine and saw the Aar with its icy stream. The carriages went round to meet the party, and the ascent was made. The mountain seems to hang over Geneva, though several miles off. We were greatly pleased with a few good houses, in fine positions; but Savoy is not Switzerland. Here Popery is rampant and pauperism evident. Beggars beset our carriages, and the people looked squalid.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Swiss Cottage.]

I forgot to tell you how much we were pleased with the cottages in Switzerland; they are quite cheerful looking,--some very fine affairs,--but many are not very unlike our western log-houses.

We returned to Geneva at about ten, and found at our friend's house a most sumptuous repast provided for our entertainment. I never sat down at a more elegant supper table. Every luxury seemed placed before us, including the richest wines of the Rhine.

The Roman salad, a peculiar kind of lettuce, which we saw in France, and here again, seemed to us all as quite different from our ordinary kinds; and I have at Genera obtained four or five varieties of the seed for home cultivation.

While at this city we procured some good specimens of wooden ware, Swiss cottages, &c., and the boys bought watches, jewelry, &c., for presents.

We were all delighted with a little island in the centre of a bridge which goes across the lake; it was a favorite retreat of Rousseau, and there is a statue to his memory.

Calvin's residence is still to be seen, No. 116 Rue des Chanoins. We saw the place where Servetus was burnt. The place and prospect were too beautiful for such a foul desecration. But Calvin's virtues were his own, and the faults he fell into belonged to the influence of the age.

It was much so with those greatest and best of men, the New England Pilgrim Fathers. I know they had faults, but they were only spots upon the polished mirror. G.o.d reared them up, a rare race of men, for a rare purpose; and I do not like to hear them abused because they were not perfect. If Laud had come to Plymouth Rock instead of Brewster, Bonner instead of Carver, what kind of a community would have been established and handed down?

In Geneva, too, we had the pleasure to meet a valued friend, Mr. B., from Providence, who has been travelling extensively, and gathering up the treasures of other cities to enrich the one of his birth.

To-morrow we are off for Paris, and go by diligence to Dijon; thence by railroad.

Yours affectionately,

J.O.C.

Letter 47.

PARIS.

DEAR CHARLEY:--

We started from Geneva in the diligence for Dijon, a long drag of one hundred and twenty miles. The weather was oppressively hot, and certainly the roads could not well be more dusty. We had two very gentlemanly companions, Swiss, who were going to London to visit the exhibition. We entered France about four miles on our way, and came to Ferney, where Voltaire so long resided. We pa.s.sed Gex, and ascended the Jura; then to La Vattay. The view from the mountain of the lake and Mont Blanc, together with the Alpine range, is never to be forgotten by one who has the good fortune to see it. I feel that I am acquiring new emotions and gathering up new sources of thought in this journey, and that I cannot be a trifler and waster away of life in such a world as that I live in. I find in every place so much to read about, and study over, and think upon, that I now feel as if life itself would not be long enough to do all I should like to effect. One thing is certain, Charley; I cannot be indolent without feeling that, with the motives and stimulus of this tour pressing upon me, I shall be very guilty.

The scenery of this journey has set me thinking; and so I have written rather sentimentally, but truly.

At St. Laurent we came to the French custom-house, and a pretty thorough overhauling they made. I believe the fellows hooked some of our engravings, which they carried out of the room.

Still up, till we reached Morez, the Jura's greatest elevation. The last half was travelled in the night; so I cannot give you the line of march.

We got to Dijon about eight in the morning, and only had time to get a hasty breakfast at the railroad station; but we had quite a look at the city before entering the cars for Paris.

Dijon is the capital town of the old Burgundy, and is a fine old place, with nearly thirty thousand inhabitants. Here is a great show of churches, and they seem built for all ages. The Cathedral is a n.o.ble-looking edifice. We had no time to see the old ducal palace, which has so many historical events connected with it. We saw some beautiful promenades, but only glanced at them. Bossuet was born here, and St.

Bernard only a mile outside the walls, in a castle yet standing.

The new railroad had just been opened to Paris, and is one hundred and ninety-six miles and a half of most capital track. We went through Verrey, Montbard, Nuits, Tonnerre, La Roche, Joigny, Sens, Montereau, Fontainebleau, Melun, to Paris. Montbard gave birth to Buffon, the naturalist. Nuits is famous for the vintage of its own name, Romanee, and other choice wines of Burgundy. Near Tonnerre is the chateau of Coligny d'Audelot, brother to the admiral ma.s.sacred on St. Bartholomew's night. Sens is famous for its Cathedral, which is apparently very splendid; and here are the vestments of Thomas a Becket, and the very altar at which he knelt, all of which I wanted to see. Fontainebleau is beautifully placed in the midst of a forest. Here is a palace, and at this place Napoleon bade farewell to the Old Guard, in 1814. This place is celebrated for its grapes, raised in the vicinity. Melun was known in Caesar's time, and in 1520 was taken by Henry V., of England, and held ten years. We reached Paris on the evening of Sat.u.r.day, and again occupied our old quarters at the Hotel Windsor. I went off to my favorite bathing-house at the Seine, and felt wondrously refreshed after the heat and dust of more than three hundred miles and two days'

journeying.

Yours affectionately,

JAMES.

Letter 48.

PARIS.

DEAR CHARLEY:--

We have again arrived at this charming city, and hope to pa.s.s a few pleasant days, which will be chiefly devoted to purchases of clothing and some of the beautiful articles which are so abundant in the shops of this metropolis. Besides, we have some few places to visit before we return to England. On Sabbath day we went to the Methodist Chapel, near the Church of the Madeleine, and heard a capital sermon from Dr.

Ritchie, the president of the Canadian Conference. In the evening I preached. The congregations were very good, and the preacher of the chapel seems a very gentlemanly and pleasant man. In the congregation I had the pleasure to meet with our eloquent countryman and my old friend, the Rev. James Alexander, D.D., of New York, and I announced that he would preach on Wednesday evening. We went into the Madeleine and spent nearly an hour. The house is very splendid; but it does not appear devotional, or likely to inspire suitable feelings. I prefer the Gothic pile, or a plainer temple. It is all painting, gilding, flowers, and form. Here Popery shows her hand, and outdoes every thing that she dares yet show in New England. The music was exquisite, and the voices of the boys very sweet. Many of the people seemed in earnest. The priests appeared to me devoid of interest. We went one morning to the Pantheon. This n.o.ble church was formerly known as St. Genevieve, and was rebuilt, in 1764, by a lottery under the auspices of Louis XV. The portico is an imitation of the one at Rome on its namesake, and consists of Corinthian columns nearly sixty feet high, and five feet in diameter.

The interior form is that of a Greek cross. Every thing here is grand and majestically simple. Above the centre of the cross rises a dome of great beauty, with a lantern above. In this building are one hundred and thirty columns. The church is three hundred and two feet by two hundred and fifty-five. In this building are the tombs and monuments of some of the great men of France. Voltaire, Rousseau, Mirabeau, and Marat were here buried, but were taken up by the Bourbons, at the restoration. La Grange and Lannes also rest here. Here we saw seven copies of the famous frescoes of Angelo and Raphael, in the Vatican, and several pieces of statuary. The vaults extend beneath the church to a great length. I believe this is the highest spot in Paris. On leaving the place, I looked again at the dome, which greatly pleased me. It is three hundred feet above the floor of the church; and the painting, by Gros, is very fine. I think we have seen nothing of the kind that is so beautiful. It is princ.i.p.ally historical; and among the figures are Clovis, Clotilda, Charlemagne, St. Louis, Louis XVIII., and the d.u.c.h.ess d'Angouleme, with the infant Duke of Bourdeaux; and above all these, as in heaven, are Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII., and Madame Elizabeth.

We were all thankful enough to find that the Louvre is at last open. We walked there, looking with interest at the Tuileries, which I cannot help admiring, although some think it devoid of architectural merit. Its wide-spread pavilions of one thousand feet, looming up with time-darkened walls, always please me. The palace of the Louvre is an older edifice than the Tuileries; the newer portion was the work of the reign of Louis XIV. The quadrangle is very fine, and the proportions of the entire building admirable. Our business was with that part called the Musee Royal, and here are the paintings and statues which have given such a renown to Paris. You must recollect, my dear fellow, that we cannot tell you all about these pictures, for the gallery is nearly one third of a mile in length, and each side is filled up with canvas, and the rooms are lofty. There was a time when almost all that continental Europe thought exquisite in art was to be found here.

Bonaparte levied contributions on all the capitals he conquered, and here he deposited his ill-gotten spoils. Once were seen in this place the great masterpieces of Raphael, Guido, t.i.tian, Domenichino, Murillo, Rubens, Rembrandt, Potter, and a host of other artists who created beauty; but when right overcame might, these pictures were returned to their original owners. The catalogue we bought was a volume of five hundred pages, and was only of statuary; and what could we do but walk, wonder, and admire? To examine would be a task and pleasure for three months. The department of statuary is very large; and here we saw surprising fragments of the Grecian and Roman schools. The paintings by Rubens here are numerous, but by no means as fine as those we saw at Antwerp and in the museums of Holland. All the great masters are here, and their works are finely arranged. We saw some of Claude Lorraine's that were beautiful; and some pictures that I missed, since I was here in 1836, have been transferred, I learn, by Louis Philippe, to Versailles and other palaces. The gallery has been thoroughly painted and beautified; and I never saw a place more radiant with gilding and frescoes. The ceilings are very gorgeous.

We selected a fine day for an excursion to Versailles; and, that we might have our pleasure consulted as to sight-seeing, we preferred a private carriage to the railroad. Versailles is about twelve miles from Paris, and has some twenty-five or thirty thousand inhabitants. Henry IV. used to resort here for hunting. Louis XIII. had a lodge here for his comfort when following the chase. Louis XIV. turned the lodge into a palace, and began operations in 1664. In 1681, he removed with his court to this place. The Chapel was begun in 1699, and finished in 1710. The Theatre was inaugurated at the marriage of Louis XVI., in 1770. A new wing was built by Louis XVIII. Louis Philippe made great additions, and devoted the palace to the n.o.ble purpose of a national depot of all that is glorious in the history of France. What Louis Philippe did here you may imagine, when I tell you that on the restoration and improvement of Versailles he expended fifteen millions of francs. Why, Charley, the stables are like mansions, and fine ones, too. The grand court is three hundred and eighty feet wide, and the Place d'Armes, which leads to it, is eight hundred feet wide. The iron railings which divide these are very richly gilt. On either side the court are ranges of buildings intended for the ministers of the king; and here are sixteen colossal marble statues, which I well remember, at the Pont de la Concorde, in Paris. They are great names of old and modern renown. In the centre of the court is a colossal equestrian statue of Louis XIV. Now comes another court devoted to royalty; and north and south are wings and pavilions, one built by Louis XV., and the other by Louis Philippe. Next we see the Cour de Marbre, around which is the old palace of Louis XIII., crowned with bal.u.s.trades, vases, trophies, and statues. South of the Cour Royale is a small court called Cour des Princes, and divides the wing built by Louis XVIII. from the main body of the southern wing.

The Grand Commun is a vast square edifice, enclosing a court. It has one thousand rooms; and when Louis XIV. lived here, three thousand people lodged: in this building. The chapel is exceedingly beautiful. It is in Corinthian style, and is one hundred and forty-eight feet by seventy-five, and ninety feet high. The front of the palace is magnificent in the highest degree. "It presents a large projecting ma.s.s of building, with two immense wings, and consists of a ground floor, first floor of the Ionic style, and attic. The wings exceed five hundred feet in length. The central front is three hundred and twenty feet long, and each of its retiring sides two hundred and sixty feet. The number of windows and doors _of this front_ are three hundred and seventy-five." To describe the paintings and statuary would require a volume. Let me say that here on the walls is all the history of France that conduces to her glory. Every battle by land or sea, that she ever won, is here; but not an allusion to her defeats. I looked hard for Agincourt and Cressy; to say nothing of later conflicts, but they were not to be seen. Some of these pictures have great merit, while others are coa.r.s.ely designed and executed. The historical series begins with the Baptism of Clovis, in 495, and comes down to the present period, with the ill.u.s.tration of about eleven hundred subjects. Then there are about one hundred views of royal palaces, and series as follows: Portraits of the kings of France, of French admirals, of constables of France, and of marshals of France, to the number of some two hundred and fifty; of French warriors, of personages who became celebrated in different ways, which amount to nearly eighteen hundred; and here we found several Americans. We noticed the likeness of Mr. Webster, by Healy; but the canvas is too small, and the picture has faded. It is not equal to the n.o.ble painting by Harding, which we saw just before we left home. These last portraits afforded us a great treat; and here we saw fine likenesses of the great ones of the earth. All the old pictures have dates of death, and many of birth. The sculpture gallery is very rich. There are more than six hundred figures, some of them exceedingly expressive and beautiful. I should think that more than two hundred and fifty of the historical paintings relate to events and persons connected with the power of Napoleon.

A very conspicuous feature is the series ill.u.s.trating the conquest of Algiers. These are four in number, and are immense as to size--I should think thirty or forty feet in length. They are by Horace Vernet, and are very effective. The apartments of the palace are perfectly regal. They quite come up to one's preconceived ideas of the days of Louis le Grand.

I looked with interest at the door through which Marie Antoinette made her escape, and whence she was dragged by the mob. The chamber of Louis XIV. is just as it was in his time. Here the grand monarch died upon that bed. There is the bal.u.s.trade which fenced off the bed of majesty.

The ceiling of this room has the n.o.blest painting in France. It is Jove launching his bolts against the t.i.tans, and was done by Paul Veronese.

Napoleon brought it from Venice. There seemed no end to the apartments.

We saw those of Madame Maintenon, the royal confessional, and the dining-room of Louis XIV., which was the cabinet of Louis XVI. In this room Louis XIV. entertained Moliere when he had been ill treated or neglected by his ministers and courtiers. "I am told that the officers of my household do not find that you were made to eat with them. Sit down at this table, and let them serve us up breakfast." This was his language to the great poet, when he had called him to his presence. The king then helped him to a fowl's wing, and treated him in the most gracious manner. He knew the worth of genius. The king could make a marshal, but he could not make a poet. All the innumerable rooms have beautiful paintings and works of art. One room, called the Saloon of the Crusades, was delightfully interesting; and the great pictures of that apartment did much to impress the events of the holy wars upon our minds.

George was in ecstasies with the _souvenirs_ of his idol the emperor; and as we shall leave him for five or six months in Paris, I expect that, in addition to the vast amount of knowledge which he really possesses of the history of Napoleon, he will return home posted up with all the _on dits_ of the wors.h.i.+ppers of the emperor.

The Theatre is very fine. It is quite large, and would be admired in any capital. It was built by Louis XV., at the instance of Madame Pompadour.

It was Used by Louis Philippe, and we saw his seat.

The gardens are world renowned; so we _must_ admire them. They did not quite come up to my notions. The fountains, statuary, ponds, orange-trees, are all very grand; but I cannot say that I was as pleased as the boys were. Perhaps I was weary; I know I was anxious. I had an old and valued friend living in Versailles, and was unable to ascertain her residence.

We went to the Grand and Pet.i.t Trianon. The great Trianon is a palace with one story, and having two wings. The little Trianon has two stories. Here royalty has loved to loiter when tired of the splendors of the stupendous palace close by. Here are some exquisite paintings, brought by Louis Philippe from the Louvre.

We repaired to a good _cafe_ close by the palace, had a satisfactory dinner with Mr. Hodgson and his family, and then took our carriage for Paris.

Our route to Versailles was through Pa.s.sy, where our Dr. Franklin lived in 1788, at No. 40 Rue Ba.s.s. Beranger resides in this village. It seems a favorite resort for genius; for here have resided the Chancellor D'Aguesseau, Boileau, Moliere, and Condorcet.

We pa.s.sed through Sevres, where the beautiful china is manufactured, and drove through the Park of St. Cloud, the palace being in sight.