I 1 8 Travels in France 



the Marechal de Belleisle at Bissy near Vernon; the attempts 

 repeatedly made by the society for the encouragement of arts 

 at London to introduce silk into England had made the similar 

 undertakings in the north of France more interesting. I accord- 

 ingly made all the inquiries that were necessary for discovering 

 the success of this meritorious attempt. Bissy is a fine place, 

 purchased on the death of the Due de Belleisle by the Due de 

 Penthievre, who has but one amusement which is that of varying 

 his residence at the numerous seats he possesses in many parts 

 of the kingdom. There is something rational in this taste; I 

 should like myself to have a score of farms from the vale of 

 Valencia to the Highlands of Scotland, and to visit and direct 

 their cultivation by turns. From Vernon, cross the Seine, and 

 mount the chalk hills again; after which mount again and to 

 La Roche Guyon, the most singular place I have seen. Madame 

 d'Anville and the Due de la Rochefoucauld received me in a 

 manner that would have made me pleased with the place had it 

 been in the midst of a bog. It gave me pleasure to find also the 

 Duchess de la Rochefoucauld here, with whom I had passed so 

 much agreeable time at Bagnere de Luchon, a thoroughly good 

 woman, with that sim.plicity of character which is banished by 

 pride of family or foppery of rank. The Abbe Rochon, the 

 celebrated astronomer of the academy of sciences, with some 

 other company, which, with the domestics and trappings of a 

 grand seigneur, gave La Roche Guyon exactly the resemblance of 

 the residence of a great lord in England. Europe is now so 

 much assimilated that if one goes to a house where the fortune 

 is £15,000 or £20,000 a-year, we shall find in the mode of living 

 much more resemblance than a young traveller will ever be 

 prepared to look for. — 23 miles. 



loih. This is one of the most singular places I have been at. 

 The chalk rock has been cut perpendicularly to make room for 

 the chateau. The kitchen, which is a large one, vast vaults, 

 and extensive cellars (magnificently filled by the way), with 

 various other offices, are all cut out of the rock with merely fronts 

 of brick; the house is large, containing thirty-eight apartments. 

 The present duchess has added a handsome saloon of forty-eight 

 feet long and well proportioned, with four fine tablets of the 

 Gobelin tapestry, also a library well filled. Here I was shown 

 the ink-stand that belonged to the famous Louvois, the minister 

 of Louis XIV., known to be the identical one from which he signed 

 the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and I suppose also the 

 order to Turenne to burn the Palatinate. This Marquis de 



