306 JOHN LEDYAED. 



side, forming a beautiful course for coaches and 

 horsemen ; but the farmers-general, to prevent illicit 

 trade, are walling it in, at the expense of a thou- 

 sand lamentations of the Parisians and several 

 millions of livres. I have been once at the king's 

 library. Papa Franklin, as the French here cal'. 

 him, is among a number of statues that I saw. 

 The bust of Paul Jones is also there. Did you 

 ever know that Captain Jones was two or three 

 nights successively crowned with laurels, at the 

 great Opera House in Paris, after the action between 

 the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis ? 



"I find at our minister's table between fifteen 

 and twenty Americans, inclusive of two or three 

 ladies. It is very remarkable that we are neither 

 despised nor envied for our love of liberty, but very 

 often caressed. I was yesterday at Versailles. It 

 was the feast of St. Louis; but I never feasted so ill 

 in all my life as at the hotel where I dined, and never 

 paid so dear for a dinner. I was too late to see the 

 procession of the king and queen ; but I was little 

 disappointed on that account, as I had already seen 

 those baubles. The king I saw a fortnight before 

 to very great advantage, being near to him while he 

 was shooting partridges in the fields. He was 

 dressed in common musquito trowsers, a short linen 

 frock, and an old laced hat without a cockade. He 



