176 
NT. E.. Smith to Mrs. Howorth. 
My dear Madam, Paris, Sept. 24, 1786. 
I abhor the thought of staying any part of the 
winter at Paris: the streets are so dirty, and the 
houses so cold, with nothing but brick floors and 
marble tables, that the idea chills one. 
I have lately had a most agreeable jaunt, in which 
I wished for nothing more than your company, to 
visit the tomb of Rousseau. My companion was 
an Englishman of great taste and sensibility, who 
enjoyed the expedition no less than I did. We 
went first to Chantilly, about twenty miles from 
Paris, where the Prince of Condé has a noble seat, 
with very fine gardens, perpetual fountains, and 
every decoration that art can furnish, but all in the 
old style; *tis however worth seeing, as being one 
of the finest things in its way, and we have nothing 
like it in England. Here we slept, and next day 
had a very romantic ride of eight miles through the 
forest to Ermenonville ; we arrived about dusk, and 
put up at a little inn, where the present Emperor, 
and the King of Sweden had been accommodated 
before us. The landlord knew Rousseau, and spoke 
of him with the greatest esteem. The day of his 
death this man saw him about seven o’clock bo- 
-tanizing; he complained of having had a sleepless 
night, from the headach. Before ten he was dead. 
Water was found collected in his head. Our land- 
lord preserves his snuff-box, and the shoes in which 
