306 
which go regularly to Nantes, which lies 
at the mouth of the Loire, nearly two 
hundred miles from Orleans. 
‘There is alfo a canal near Orleans, by 
which the Leire is conneéted withthe Seine, 
and Orleans communicates with Paris. 
This town is Jarge, and rich enough to 
fupport its Theatre, and a tolerable good 
fet of actors, for the greateft part of the 
year. I mentioned to you in my laft, that 
cf all my fellow-travellers from Bour- 
deaux to Paris, I fhould only defcribe one. 
—Commoen characters, fuch as are to be 
feen. every day, in every country,” are 
hardly .worth defcribing; but, when a 
character is met. with, whofe intereft- and 
whofe hiftory is derived from the preju- 
dices of the country through which one 
travels, from the barbarous pride of an 
order which no longer exifts in France ; 
the defeription of fuch-a character will 
give fomething of hiftorical ‘information 
refpecting the manners of the times that 
are pait. Abont twelve leagues on the 
fouth fide of Tours, a lady of about 
twenty-five years of age entered the car- 
riage, with her attendant. She was tall, 
and well-formed, her features were regu- 
lar, her eyes large, but vacant. Reafon 
had long quitted its feat; and her foul, 
having loft its obje, had forgotten to ani- 
mate her countenance, or {parkle in her 
eyes. Its pulfes had almoft ceafed to 
beat. Scarcely had fhe taken her feat, 
when her talkative attendant informed us 
—Lile eft folle, She is out of her reafon. 
On enquiring into her ftory, fhe told me, 
that Mademoifelle étoit de la plus haute no- 
blefe; that is, belonged to the higheft 
rank of nobility; that fhe dared not tell 
her name; but that her ftory was, that 
in her youth fhe had fallen in love witha 
neighbouring bourgeois, who was young, 
rich, and handfome, and equally in love 
with her; but that, as it was zmpoffible for 
parents dela plus haute nobleffe toconfent 
that their daughter fhould marry a dour- 
geois, whatever qualifications he _ might 
have, theconfequence was, that the young 
lady grew deranged, had been feven years 
in the condition I then faw ‘her, and no 
hopes were entertained of her recovery. 
Such are the melancholy cffeéts I have 
wiineficd with my own eyes, of the dil- 
tinéiions that once fubfifted between fa 
plus haute noblefe, and la bourgeocifie.— 
Who isit that would withtorevive fuch 
diftingtions? 
From .Osleans to Paris, the road is 
paved, and, I am told, thattothenorth of 
Paris allthe high roads are pavés. On this 
road, particularly as one approachesParis, 
Letters of an American Traveller in France. 
[May f, . 
one meets with many magnificent houfesy 
demefnes, and parks (the country-feats of 
the great nobles, who ufually refided at 
Veriailles orParis).The villa that once be- 
longed to the celebrated Madame de Pom- 
padour, miftrefs to Louis XV. is very 
‘grand; butthe moft magnificent country- 
{eat on the road belongs to Monfieur, for- 
merly Marquis, D’ Argenfon, fon to a far- 
mer-general, who built this place during 
his adminittration. - This place may com- 
pare with the Duke of Bedford’s feat at 
Woburn for grandeur and magnificence. 
The park, which is in the higheft ftate of 
cultivation, contains between three and 
four thoufand acres, furrounded with a 
ftone-wall, eight feet high, and of the 
neateft mafonry. ‘The money expended 
on this wall alone would purchafe a confi- 
derable eftate. .The manfion-houfe, and 
the village, which may be confidered as an 
appurtenance to it, are, in every refpect,” 
fuitable to the grandeur of this park. I 
was much furprifed that a Marquis, a fon 
of a Farmer-general and Minifter of Fi- 
nance, fhould be permitted to retain this 
fine property, acquired probably out of 
the revenues of the nation. On enquiring 
the caufe of it,-I was informed, that at 
ealt nine-tenths of the old nobility of 
‘France would have preferved their proper- 
ty as well as Monfieur D’Argenfon, if they 
had not chofen toemigrate, and abandon 
their eftates, in hopes of recovering them 
again, with the titles and privileges that 
the Revolution had aboliffied.: Moft of 
them chojt to fake their fortunes on this 
chance, and they loft them; as to thofe 
who quitted the country in the reign of 
terror,they arenot confidered as emigrants, 
and very little of their property has been 
fold. As to this Monfieur D’Argenfon; 
he confiantly refided ‘at his cowntry-feat, 
and all the harm he fuffered during the 
revolution was, that, in the times of the 
Sans Culottini, fome of his neighbours 
broke down part of his park-wall, and 
turned their cattle into it; but, when the 
levelling {pirit had {pent its rage, and go- 
vernment wasa little better eftablifhed, he 
repaired his wall, and has enjoyed his fine 
demefne very peaceably ever fince. ~ : 
7 
It therefore appears to me, that all the 
compaffion due to the French emigrants, 
as a body, is what misfortune may claim, 
even when the effect of imprudence. If, 
without any neceffity, they chofe to ftake 
their fortunes on a moft hazardous fpecu- 
lation, they muft, in fome degree, blame 
themfelves for the confequences. —Thofe 
who have purchafed the eftates of emi- 
grants ufually allow an annuity out of 
bisa | them» 
. 
Mine hemi 
