Paris 129 



seen when before at Paris ; it is a vast apartment and, as all the 

 world knowSj nobly filled. Everything is provided to accom- 

 modate those who wish to read or transcribe — of whom there 

 were sixty or seventy present. Along the middle of the rooms 

 are glass cases containing models of the instruments of many 

 trades preserved for the benefit of posterity, being made on the 

 most exact scale of proportion; among others the potter, 

 founder, brickmaker, chemist, etc., etc., and lately added a very 

 large one of the English garden, most miserably imagined ; but 

 with all this not a plough or an iota of agriculture; yet a farm 

 might be much easier represented than the garden they have 

 attempted and with infinitely more use. I have no doubt but 

 there may arise many cases in which the preservation of instru- 

 ments unaltered may be of considerable utility; I think I see 

 clearly that such a use would result in agriculture, and if so, why 

 not in other arts? These cases of models, however, have so 

 much the air of children's play-houses that I would not answer 

 for my little girl, if I had her here, not crying for them. At 

 the Duchess d'Ajiville's, where meet the Archbishop of Aix, 

 Bishop of Blois, Prince de Laon, and Due and Duchess de la 

 Rochefoucauld, the three last of my old Bagnere de Luchon 

 acquaintance. Lord and Lady Camelford, Lord Eyre, etc., etc. 



AH this day I hear nothing but anxiety of expectation for what 

 the crisis in the states will produce. The embarrassment of the 

 moment is extreme. Every one agrees that there is no ministry : 

 the queen is closely connecting herself with the party of the 

 princes, with the Count d'Artois at their head; who are all so 

 adverse to Monsieur Necker that everything is in confusion: 

 but the king, who is personally the honestest man in the world, 

 has but one wish, which is to do right ; yet being without those 

 decisive parts that enable a man to foresee difficulties and to 

 avoid them, finds himself in a moment of such extreme perplexity 

 that he knows not what council to take refuge in : it is said that 

 Monsieur Necker is alarmed for his power, and anecdote reports 

 things to his disadvantage which probably are not true: — of 

 his trimming — ^and attempting to connect himself with the Abbe 

 de Vermont, reader to the queen, and who has great influence in 

 all affairs in which he chooses to interfere ; this is hardly credible 

 as that party are known to be exceedingly adverse to Monsieur 

 Necker; and it is even said that as the Count d'Artois, Madame 

 de Polignac, and a few others were but two days ago walking in 

 the private garden of Versailles they met Madame Necker and 

 descended even to hissing her : if half this is true it is plain enough 



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