Title: [August 1784]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      Sunday August 8th. 1784.

       Left London, travelled to Sittingbourne. 43. miles.

   In the latter part of Dec. 1783, JA and JQA traveled from London to Bath via Oxford, but were unable to remain long at the famous spa because of the unsettling news that the Dutch loan which JA had obtained the previous summer had been overdrawn. Although JA’s health had improved little during his short stay in England, he and JQA left London on 2 Jan. 1784 for Amsterdam in order to secure another loan. They arrived at The Hague ten days later, after a long, exhausting, and disagreeable journey across the channel and a difficult trip, partially by foot, across the Dutch islands of Goeree and Over Flackee and then to the mainland by iceboat (JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 3:151–154; JQA to Peter Jay Munro, 13, 16 Jan. 1784, NNMus).

   During winter and spring at The Hague, JQA was “wholly devoted to his studies” and giving JA “intire Satisfaction” with his work (Book of Abigail and JohnThe Book of Abigail and ohm Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, and Mary-Jo Kline, Cambridge, 1975., p. 374). In these months JQA completed a 237-page English translation of the Aeneid (M/JQA/45, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 240), a 462-page French translation of Suetonius’ Lives of the Twelve Caesars (M/JQA/44, same, Reel No. 239), and a 60-page French translation of Tacitus’ Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (same).

   JQA’s studies were interrupted by his trip to London in May 1784. For some time AA had entertained the hope of eventually joining her husband in Europe, but it was not until the completion of the Definitive Treaty and the prospect of termination by congress of JA’s commission in the near future that JA wrote and insisted that she and AA2 join him and JQA as soon as they were able to come. Believing that AA and AA2 would take passage on John Callahan’s ship, scheduled to sail in April 1784, JA sent JQA to London in May to meet his mother and sister. JQA’s trip served a double purpose, as JA also wanted him to visit the House of Commons and the law courts. But as the weeks went on with no sign of the Adams women, JA impatiently recalled his son, remarking that “you have had a Taste of the Eloquence of the Bar and of Parliament: but you will find Livy and Tacitus, more elegant, more profound and Sublime Instructors, as well as Quinctilian Cicero and Demosthenes” (JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 3:156; Book of Abigail and JohnThe Book of Abigail and ohm Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, and Mary-Jo Kline, Cambridge, 1975., p. 363–364; AA to JA, 3 Jan. 1784; Isaac Smith Sr. to JA, 13 March 1784; JQA to JA, 20 May, 1 June 1784; JA to JQA, 28 May, 21 June 1784, all in Adams Papers).

   In late July, a month after JQA’s return to The Hague, he and his father received word that AA and AA2 had arrived in London and were staying at Osborn’s Adelphi Hotel. On 30 July, JQA was in London, and within a little more than a week the Adamses were joined by JA (William Vans Murray to JQA, 23 July; JQA to JA, 30 July; JA to JQA, 1 Aug., Adams Papers). The whole family soon left for Paris and Auteuil, where JQA was to remain until the following May, when he returned to America. Throughout the remainder of 1784, JQA continued with his classical studies, making another English translation of Horace’s Art of Poetry (M/JQA/45, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 240) and a 253-page English translation of Sallust’s History of Catiline (M/JQA/27, same, Reel No. 222); possibly he continued his English translations of Tacitus (M/JQA/45, same, Reel No. 240), whose works he had begun earlier in the year. JQA’s scattered and somewhat sketchy diary entries from this point until the end of the year, when he began a more complete day-by-day accounting of his activities, are supplemented in part by AA2’s journal.

       9th.

       Monday arrived at Dover and sailed for Calais.

   The trip from London to Paris is reported in fuller detail by AA2 (Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:7–14).

       10th.

       Tuesday 5. A. M. arrived at Calais, in the afternoon took Post, and went as far as Boulogne, 4. Posts.

       11th.

       Wednesday went from Boulogne to Amiens.

       12th.

       Thursday, from Amiens to Chantilly.

       13th.

       Friday, visited the curiosities at Chantilly. Arrived at Paris.

   The Adamses visited the seat of the Prince of Condé and saw his kennel, stables, theater, and gardens (sameJournal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., p. 11–14).

      Sunday August 15th. 1784.

       Dined at Mr. Barclay’s.

      Monday 16th.

       Dined at Mr. Hartleys.

      Tuesday 17th.

       Moved out to Auteuil.

   Over the course of the preceding four months, JA in correspondence with Thomas Barclay had made arrangements to rent the house in which he and JQA had obtained apartments shortly after the signing of the Definitive Treaty (entry for 10 Aug. 1783, note 2, above). The Hôtel de Rouault and the Adamses’ life there are colorfully described by AA in Howard C. Rice Jr., ed., The Adams Family in Auteuil, 1784–1785 . . ., MHS Picturebook, Boston, 1956.

      Wednesday 18th.

       Coll. Humphreys arrived.

   David Humphreys, a former aide-decamp to Washington, was appointed on 12 May secretary to the Commission (which included JA, Franklin, and Jefferson) to negotiate treaties of amity and commerce with foreign powers (DABAllen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928-1936; 20 vols, plus index and supplements.; JCCWorthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Washington, 1904-1937; 34 vols., 27:375). Humphreys later became known as one of the Hartford Wits.

       19th.

       Thursday went into Paris shopping.

      Saturday. 21st.

       Went to Paris. Gave Gregson a watch to repair. Am to have it again, Wednesday next.

      Sunday August 22d.

       Mr. Jefferson and his Daughter, Coll: Humphreys, and Genl. dined with us.

   Martha Jefferson had only recently arrived with her father in Paris from America. She remained in France, attending school and studying French, until the end of Jefferson’s diplomatic mission in 1789 (Edward T. James and others, eds., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, 3 vols., Cambridge, 1971).

   Left blank in MS. Probably Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who sailed from New York on 15 July and left Paris for Poland on 27 Aug. (AA2, Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:16; Memorial Exhibition: Thaddeus Kosciuszko . . . Revealed in a Collection of Autograph Letters by Him . . . Being the Collection Formed by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Kahanowicz, N.Y., [1927], introduction, p. 3, text, p. 14).

       24th.

       Tuesday morning. Went to Paris.

       25th.

       Wednesday dined at the Abbé de Chalut’s.

      Thursday 26th.

       Went to Gregson’s for Watches. He was not at home.

       27th.

       Friday dined with the Abbés at Passi.

      Saturday28th.

       We had a large Company to dine with us.

   The company included the Abbés Arnoux, Chalut, and Mably, Benjamin Franklin, David Hartley, and John Paul Jones (AA2, Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:17).

       30th.

       Monday afternoon went into Paris. Subscribed for the Journal de Paris. Drank tea with Mrs. Valnais.

   Mrs. Joseph Dupas de Iden de Valnais, née Eunice Quincy (1760–1793), daughter of Henry Quincy (1727–1780) and distant cousin of JQA. Eunice married Valnais in 1781 while he served as French consul in Boston. He was recalled to France shortly thereafter (Descendants of Edmund Quincy, comp. HollyDescendants of Edmund Quincy, 1602-1637, Who Settled in What is Now Quincy, Massachusetts in 1635, comp. H. Hobart Holly, Quincy, 1977., p. 8; Sibley-Shipton, Harvard GraduatesJohn Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- ., 14:667–670).


Title: [2d.]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Thursday morning went into Paris.


Title: Friday [3d].
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. and Mrs. Mather, and Mrs. Hay dined with us. Went to the French Comedy and saw le mariage de Figaro.


Title: Saturday[4th].
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dined with Mr. Jefferson. Went to the Italian Comedy in the Evening; had la fausse magie, and Zemire et Azor.


Title: [5th.]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Sunday dined at Mr. Grand’s at Passy. Went after dinner to the Chateau de la Muette and saw the Dauphin.


Title: [6th.]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Monday Mr. Tracy dined with us.


Title: [10th.]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Friday went into Paris in the afternoon.


Title: Saturday[11th].
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Had Company to dine with us.


Title: [September 1784]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      Wednesday September 1st.

       Dined at Dr. Franklin’s.

       2d.

       Thursday morning went into Paris.

      Friday 3d.

       Mr. and Mrs. Mather, and Mrs. Hay dined with us. Went to the French Comedy and saw le mariage de Figaro.

   Samuel Mather and his wife, Margarette (Gerrish) Mather; he was the son of the Rev. Samuel Mather. Young Samuel had been chief clerk of the Boston customs office until he fled to England with the loyalists, but he returned to Massachusetts after his father’s death (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard GraduatesJohn Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- ., 7:233).

   Mrs. Katharine Hay, wife of Capt. John Hay and daughter of Daniel Farnham, a tory lawyer in Newburyport. She was a traveling companion of the Mathers while in France (Thomas Aston Coffin to Mary Aston Coffin [Mrs. William Coffin], 21 March 1786, MHi:Thomas Aston Coffin Coll.; Samuel Jr. to Rev. Samuel Mather, 7 May 1785, MHi:Samuel Mather Coll.; Currier, NewburyportJohn J. Currier, History of Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1764-1905, Newburyport, 1906-1909; 2 vols., 2:258–260).

      Saturday4th.

       Dined with Mr. Jefferson. Went to the Italian Comedy in the Evening; had la fausse magie, and Zemire et Azor.

   La fausse magie, Paris, 1775, by Jean François Marmontel, with music by André Ernest Modest Grétry. The pair also collaborated on Zémire et Azor, Paris, 1771 (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

       5th.

       Sunday dined at Mr. Grand’s at Passy. Went after dinner to the Chateau de la Muette and saw the Dauphin.

   Ferdinand Grand, the Paris banker of the American ministers, lived at La Chaise, Passy (MHS, Procs.Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections and Proceedings., 54 [1920]: 107–108).

   The Château de la Muette, originally a hunting lodge in the Bois de Boulogne, was rebuilt by Louis XV, and Louis XVI often resided there (Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universelPierre Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel du XlXe siècle ..., Paris, [1865]; 15 vols, and supplements.).

       6th.

       Monday Mr. Tracy dined with us.

   Nathaniel Tracy had come to France via Cowes with Jefferson and his daughter Martha aboard his vessel Ceres, which had sailed from Boston in early July. His purpose was to settle claims against his firm; his lack of success eventually contributed to his worsening financial plight (Jefferson, PapersThe Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd and others, Princeton, 1950- ., 7:363–364; Sibley-Shipton, Harvard GraduatesJohn Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- ., 17:250).

      Tuesday7th.

       Dined at Mr. Tracy’s and went in the evening to see la métromanie, and Crispin Rival de son Maitre, at the french Comedy.

   Alexis Piron, La métromanie, ou, le poète, Paris, 1738 (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.). JQA had seen Le Sage’s Crispin while living in St. Petersburg.

       10th.

       Friday went into Paris in the afternoon.

      Saturday11th.

       Had Company to dine with us.

   Following this last entry in D/JQA/9 are the following notations:

   Wednesday Octr. 13th. first made a fire in my Chamber.

   Filled my J. S. Decr. 4th. took 3. p:

   March 20. 1785. no fire.


Title: [Dedication]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris J. Q. Adams: August: 20th. 1783.

        Vitanda est improba Syren, Desidia.


Title: January 1st. 1785. Saturday.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Compliments to the Royal family at Versailles. My father carried twenty Guineas to distribute among the servants of the great folks, a tribute every minister is obliged to pay annually.


Title: 4th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Varietés; at the palais Royal. Small Théatre, built in three weeks time. Le nouveau parvenu. Le palais du bon gout. L’lntendant Comédien malgré lui. Le mensonge excusable. Volange, an excellent actor for the lowest kind of Comic-plays seven or eight parts in one piece with a wonderful facility. One or two other actors, good in their way. Yet I wonder how people of any delicacy, and especially Ladies can frequent this and the other small
        Théatres in Paris. The plays acted have seldom much wit, and almost universally are very indecent. I know not what this People would not run to; their taste seems to be entirely corrupted. The french Théatre is deserted, when those pieces, which do honour to the nation are represented, and these theatres are always crowded, though they present nothing but low buffoonery, and scrurrility. O tempora, O mores! Letters from America when we return’d. None for me.


Title: 4th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Old Mr. Grand, and Dr. Bancroft. In the evening Mr. Chaumont and Mr. Franklin.


Title: 10th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Varietés. Le faux talisman, La théatromanie; Oui ou non. Poor Stuff. A good deal of genteel Company.


Title: 19th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Mr. Appleton, and Mr. Parker, went for England. Saw Mr. Waring. Breakfasted at the Hôtel de Modene. Appleton and Parker set off in the diligence, at about 12 1/2.


Title: 20th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mlle: Remaldi, appeared last night at the Italian Comedy, for the first time, in the part of Lyse, in le jugement de Midas, and succeeded very well.


Title: 21st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Dined at Mr. Jeffersons. Captn. Paul Jones told us the Marquis de la Fayette was arrived. Vrais Principes de la Langue Française, Synonimes François de M: l’Abbe Girard. Abdir, a new piece was announced for to day at the French Théatre, but is put off to next Wednesday. Mr. Blanchard cross’d from Dover to Calais in an air balloon, the 7th of the month, accompanied by Dr. Jefferies. They were obliged to throw over their cloathes to lighten their balloon. Mr. Blanchard met with a very flattering reception at Calais, and at Paris. He and his companion, have been applauded at the Théatres. The king has given him twelve thousand livres, and a pension of 1200 livres a year. All that has as yet been done relative to this discovery, is the work of the French. Montgolfier, Pilâtre de Rozier, and Blanchard will go down, hand in hand to Posterity.


Title: 26th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. A: Paris. A Gentleman brought a Letter from Mr. Jay, which came by the Marquis de la Fayette: who will arrive this evening at Versailles.


Title: 27th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Company to dine Mr. d’Asp, and another Swedish gentleman. Mr. Setaro a Portuguese gentleman in the Evening. Mr. Williams spent the evening with us. Coll. Humphreys presented to Mr. A: a copy of his Poem address’d to the Armies of the United States. It appears very well written. The versification is in general noble, and easy. It is a recapitulation of some of the principal events that happened during the course of the late Revolution, and contains predictions concerning the future grandeur of the United States. May they be verified!


Title: 28th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris in the Evening. French Theatre. Iphigenie en Aulide, of Racine, and l’Aveugle Clairvoyant. Though the tragedy is perhaps the best that is acted upon the Theatre, and though they had last night several of the best players, to act it, the House was not half full. Such is the present taste in this Kingdom. Brizards in Agamemnon is not I think so good as in some other parts: though it is a very disagreeable Character to support. De la Rive, in Archilles is excellent. Mlle. Saintval in Iphigenia, Mlle. Raucourt in Clytemnestra, and Mlle. Thenard in Eriphile, are good. Fleury in the small piece was, admirable. When we returned, found 3. Letters, for me. W. Warren. C. Storer. Mr. Dumas.


Title: 29th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris afternoon, alone. Mr. Jeffersons. He looks much afflicted. The last letters, brought him news of the death of one of his daughters: he has a great deal of Sensibility. Bought books.


Title: 30th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. A. met Mr. Jefferson, at Paris, in the forenoon.
       31 The Marquis de la Fayette was here in the evening. He appears very well satisfied with his last voyage to America.


Title: 31st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris in the afternoon. French Theatre. Abdir, and le Roi de Cocagne. Abdir is a new piece. This was only the 2d. Representation: ’tis the history of young Asgill, brought upon the Stage, under feigned names. G. Britain is Nangés. Vazercan is General Washington. Abdir is Asgill. The King of Persia is the King of France, who at the end of the Piece sends an Ambassador to the new Republic, requesting the pardon of Abdir. The Author has not given so much interest I think to the piece, as the Subject is susceptible of; and it is something so new, that I don’t know by what name to call it. It is not a Tragedy: for the Hero of the piece is a private person, who is known only by that even which was produced merely by chance. It is not a Comedy, for there is not a character in it, that has any thing comic in it, and the drift of the Piece, is entirely tragic. There are however a number of excellent, and very liberal sentiments. The compliments paid to the French king and nation, are not outrés. Much is said in praise of Liberty, and of the People that defended it. Even the British are treated in a very generous manner, as they always are upon the french Stages although the English upon their Theatres take every opportunity they can to ridicule and debase this Nation. Nolé in Abdir, and Madame Vestris in the mother, made as much of their parts as they could. Le Roi de Cocagne, is one of the most laughable, and most absurd pieces I ever saw; Dugazon, delivered the part of the King very well.


Title: [January 1785]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      January 1st. 1785. Saturday.

       Compliments to the Royal family at Versailles. My father carried twenty Guineas to distribute among the servants of the great folks, a tribute every minister is obliged to pay annually.

      4th.

       Paris. Varietés; at the palais Royal. Small Théatre, built in three weeks time. Le nouveau parvenu. Le palais du bon gout. L’lntendant Comédien malgré lui. Le mensonge excusable. Volange, an excellent actor for the lowest kind of Comic-plays seven or eight parts in one piece with a wonderful facility. One or two other actors, good in their way. Yet I wonder how people of any delicacy, and especially Ladies can frequent this and the other small
        Théatres in Paris. The plays acted have seldom much wit, and almost universally are very indecent. I know not what this People would not run to; their taste seems to be entirely corrupted. The french Théatre is deserted, when those pieces, which do honour to the nation are represented, and these theatres are always crowded, though they present nothing but low buffoonery, and scrurrility. O tempora, O mores! Letters from America when we return’d. None for me.

   JQA most likely intended to continue his Diary on 2 Jan., but “4th.” has been written over in its place. The fourth is probably the correct date (and hence, the entry following this is incorrect), as AA in letters she wrote between 3 and 7 Jan. makes several references to letters received on 4 Jan. (See letters by her cited in note 4, below.) On the other hand, AA2 has placed these events in her diary on 3 Jan. (Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:39–40).

   Le nouveau parvenue, Paris, 1782, Le palais du bon goût, n.p., n.d., but first produced in 1785, and Le mensonge excusable, Paris, 1783, all by Charles Jacob Guillemain; La fête de campagne, ou, l’intendant comédien malgré lui (title and subtitle are sometimes reversed), Paris, 1784, by Louis Dorvigny (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

   Maurice François Rochet, called Volange (Lyonnet, Dict. des comédiens françaisHenry Lyonnet, Dictionnaire des comediens français (ceux d’hier) biographie, bibliographie, iconographie ..., Paris, 1908-[1911?]; 2 vols.).

   These included at least four letters, all dated 6 Nov. 1784: Elizabeth Cranch to AA, Adams Papers (reply, 3–4 Jan., in AA, Letters, ed. CFA, 1848Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams. With an Introductory Memoir by Her Grandson, Charles Francis Adams, 4th edn., Boston, 1848., p. 222–226); Royall Tyler to JA, and to AA2 (letters not found, but referred to in AA to Tyler, 4 Jan., Adams Papers); and Mary Smith Cranch to AA, Adams Papers (reply, 7 Jan., MWA).

      4th.

       Old Mr. Grand, and Dr. Bancroft. In the evening Mr. Chaumont and Mr. Franklin.

   Dr. Edward Bancroft, physician, scientist, and writer, Franklin’s confidential associate, and double agent during the Revolution (JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 4:71–72; Julian Boyd, “Silas Deane: Death by a Kindly Teacher of Treason?” WMQWilliam and Mary Quarterly., 3d ser., 16:176–182, 319–342, 515–550 [April, July, Oct. 1959]).

      7th.

       Company to dine. The Abbés wrote a billet to excuse themselves.

      10th.

       Varietés. Le faux talisman, La théatromanie; Oui ou non. Poor Stuff. A good deal of genteel Company.

   Le faux talisman, ou, rira bien qui rira le dernier. Paris, 1782, by Charles Jacob Guillemain; La théâtromanie. Paris, 1783, by Pierre (Baron) de La Montagne; Oui ou non, Paris, 1780, by Louis Archambault Dorvigny (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

      14th.

       Paris. At the post; paid 235. livres for a parcel of packets. Walk’d in the Palais Royal. Large Company. Few Ladies.

      17th.

       Paris. Italian Theatre. 1st. Representation of Alexis et Justine. Went before 5. o’clock. Could not find one place high nor low. Went to the Grands Danseurs du Roi, in a fiacre, for neither Servants nor carriage were to be found. Le trousseau d’Agnes. Le Qui-pro-quo de l’hotellerie.Rope dancing. Sophie de Brabant, Pantomime. Just such another Théatre as the Varietés. Plays just calculated to please the mob. Rope dancing, is surprizing at first sight, and pleases. Placide. Le petit Diable et la jeune Anglaise, very good. Comedy of Errors all this evening. Lost Appleton, and the Ladies. We however all met at Mr. Jefferson’s, where my father spent the Evening. Late before we got home.

   Alexis et Justine, Paris, 1785, by Jacques Marie Boutet de Monvel, with music by Nicolas Dezède (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

   A vaudeville troupe founded by Jean Baptiste Nicolet, which performed “au fronton de” Théâtre de Nicolet on the Boulevard du Temple. These outdoor performances or “parades” were used to draw a crowd, and this company, within the theater, performed comic opera from the repertoire of the Comédie Italienne. Louis XV gave the troupe its title of the Grands Danseurs du Roi in 1772. They performed the two pieces described in note 4 (Emile Campardon, Les spectacles de la foire, 2 vols., Paris, 1877, 1:384; 2:151–152; René Héron de Villefosse, Histoire de Paris, Paris, 1950, p. 225–226; Journal de Paris, 17 Jan.; Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

   A small French hackney coach.

   Le trousseau d’Agnès, ou, la veuve à marier, an unpublished parade by Alexandre Louis Bertrand Robineau Beaunoir; Le quiproquo de l’hôtellerie, Paris, 1779, by Antoine François Quétant (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

   "Placide" was Alexandre Placide (1750–1812), a French ballet dancer and acrobat, who performed in London from 1780 to 1785. "Le petit Diable was probably Placide’s friend Pol; "le jeune Anglaise, likely another member of Placide’s performance troupe, has not been identified (ANB; Sylvie Chevalley, "The Death of Alexandre Placide," The South Carolina Historical Magazine, 58:63 [April 1957]).

      18th.

       Ambassador’s day at Versailles, every Tuesday. Mr. A. went. Alexis et Justine, succeeded very well last night at the Italians. Words, Monvel, music, de Zede, celebrated authors. Dr. Jemm dined with us. A singular Character.

   Possibly Guillaume Jaume, of Lyons, a friend of the Abbés Chalut and Arnoux, who advised Franklin and Col. Gabriel Johonnot on the education of their grandson and son, respectively (Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S.I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols., 2:409; 4:64, 446).

      19th.

       Paris. Mr. Appleton, and Mr. Parker, went for England. Saw Mr. Waring. Breakfasted at the Hôtel de Modene. Appleton and Parker set off in the diligence, at about 12 1/2.

   John Parker Jr., a South Carolinian admitted to the Middle Temple in 1775 who later served in the Continental Congress (Edward Alfred Jones, American Members of the Inns of Court, London, 1924, p. 166; Biog. Dir. Cong.Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949, Washington, 1950.).

   Possibly Dr. Thomas Waring, who was in Europe to complete his medical education (Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S.I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols., 3:69, 4:100; Joseph I. Waring, The History of Medicine in South Carolina, 1670–1900, 2 vols., Columbia, S.C., 1964, 1:343).

      20th.

       Mlle: Remaldi, appeared last night at the Italian Comedy, for the first time, in the part of Lyse, in le jugement de Midas, and succeeded very well.

   By Thomas Hales, known as d’Hèle, Paris, 1778, with music by André Grétry (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

      21st.

       Paris. Dined at Mr. Jeffersons. Captn. Paul Jones told us the Marquis de la Fayette was arrived. Vrais Principes de la Langue Française, Synonimes François de M: l’Abbe Girard. Abdir, a new piece was announced for to day at the French Théatre, but is put off to next Wednesday. Mr. Blanchard cross’d from Dover to Calais in an air balloon, the 7th of the month, accompanied by Dr. Jefferies. They were obliged to throw over their cloathes to lighten their balloon. Mr. Blanchard met with a very flattering reception at Calais, and at Paris. He and his companion, have been applauded at the Théatres. The king has given him twelve thousand livres, and a pension of 1200 livres a year. All that has as yet been done relative to this discovery, is the work of the French. Montgolfier, Pilâtre de Rozier, and Blanchard will go down, hand in hand to Posterity.

   Jones was in Paris as congressional agent to recover prize money due officers and men of three ships. Shortly after his arrival in Dec. 1783, Franklin augmented Jones’ authority to include the prize money due to any American ship formerly under his command. Jones’ negotiations with the French minister of Marine concluded in Oct. 1784, but payment was long delayed (Samuel Eliot Morison, John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography, Boston, 1959, p. 336–341).

   Lafayette was returning from a short, sentimental, and successful tour of the United States begun the previous August (Gottschalk, LafayetteLouis Gottschalk, Lafayette, Chicago, 1935-1950; 4 vols. [vol. 1:] Lafayette Comes to America; [vol. 2:] Lafayette Joins the American Army; [vol. 3:] Lafayette and the Close of the American Revolution; [vol. 4:] Lafayette between the American and the French Revolution (1783 -1789)., 4:83–138).

   Gabriel Girard, Synonymes françois . . . nouvelle édition . . . augmentée . . . de notes, par M. Beauzée, 2 vols., Paris, 1769, and his Les vrais principes de la langue françoise, 2 vols., Paris, 1747. These are both in JA’s library at MB. A copy of Synonymes françois, Amsterdam, 1766, with JQA’s bookplate is at MQA; there are also three copies of Les vrais principes, two in JA’s library, and another at MQA, but none bears JQA’s bookplate.

   Abdir, Paris, 1785, by Edme Louis Billardon de Sauvigny, was first produced the following Wednesday, 26 Jan., then reduced to three acts on 31 Jan., when JQA saw and described it (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.; Journal de Paris, 26 Jan.).

   François Blanchard (usually called Jean Pierre), the French aeronaut, and John Jeffries, the Massachusetts-born loyalist and physician to the Adamses when they later lived in London. After an initial experimental flight together on 30 Nov., Blanchard and Jeffries made their historic crossing of the Channel on 7 Jan., landing in the Forest of Guines, near Calais (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.; Mary Beth Norton, “America’s First Aeronaut: Dr. John Jeffries,” History Today, 18:722–729 [Oct. 1968]; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 25–27 Feb. 1787, MWA).

      25th.

       Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Short. The Marquis de la Fayette is not arrived. Mrs. Barclay.

   William Short, private secretary to Jefferson in Paris from 1785 to 1789 (George Green Shackelford, “William Short, Diplomat in Revolutionary France,” Amer. Philos. Soc., Procs.American Philosophical Society, Proceedings., 102:596–612 [Dec. 1958]).

      26th.

       Mr. A: Paris. A Gentleman brought a Letter from Mr. Jay, which came by the Marquis de la Fayette: who will arrive this evening at Versailles.

   John Jay to JA, 13 Dec. 1784 (Adams Papers).

      27th.

       Company to dine Mr. d’Asp, and another Swedish gentleman. Mr. Setaro a Portuguese gentleman in the Evening. Mr. Williams spent the evening with us. Coll. Humphreys presented to Mr. A: a copy of his Poem address’d to the Armies of the United States. It appears very well written. The versification is in general noble, and easy. It is a recapitulation of some of the principal events that happened during the course of the late Revolution, and contains predictions concerning the future grandeur of the United States. May they be verified!

   Per Olof von Asp, secretary of the Swedish embassy at Paris (Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon;Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon, Orebro and Stockholm, 1857-[1907]; 10 vols. entry for 18 April, below).

   Jonathan Williams Jr., who joined his great-uncle Benjamin Franklin in France in 1776 and served as U.S. commercial agent at Nantes (DABAllen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928-1936; 20 vols, plus index and supplements.).

   “A Poem, Addressed to the Armies of the United States of America,” New Haven, 1780, repr. Paris and London, 1785 (Dexter, Yale GraduatesFranklin Bowditch Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, with Annals of the College History, New York, 1885-1912; 6 vols., 3:417–418). JA’s presentation copy, presumably of the Paris edition (see AA2, Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:45), has not been found.

   A red exclamation mark here was probably added after 1 Feb., when JQA began to record dates in red ink.

      28th.

       Paris in the Evening. French Theatre. Iphigenie en Aulide, of Racine, and l’Aveugle Clairvoyant. Though the tragedy is perhaps the best that is acted upon the Theatre, and though they had last night several of the best players, to act it, the House was not half full. Such is the present taste in this Kingdom. Brizards in Agamemnon is not I think so good as in some other parts: though it is a very disagreeable Character to support. De la Rive, in Archilles is excellent. Mlle. Saintval in Iphigenia, Mlle. Raucourt in Clytemnestra, and Mlle. Thenard in Eriphile, are good. Fleury in the small piece was, admirable. When we returned, found 3. Letters, for me. W. Warren. C. Storer. Mr. Dumas.

   Paris, 1674; and Paris, 1716, by Marc Antoine Legrand (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.).

   Jean Baptiste Britard, called Brizard (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

   Probably Jean Mauduit de La Rive or Larive; Marie Blanche Alziari de Roquefort, called Saint-val; Françoise Clairien, called Saucerotte, but more familiarly known as Raucourt; Marie Magdalaine Claudine Chevalier Perrin, called Thenard (sameJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.; Michaud, Biog. universelle;Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, Paris: Michaud Frères, 1811-1862; 85 vols. Lyonnet, Dict. des comédiens françaisHenry Lyonnet, Dictionnaire des comediens français (ceux d’hier) biographie, bibliographie, iconographie ..., Paris, 1908-[1911?]; 2 vols.).

   Abraham Joseph Bénard, known as Fleury, the celebrated French comedian (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

   Winslow Warren to JQA, 4 Jan.; C. W. F. Dumas to JQA, 21 Jan.; the third not found (both in Adams Papers).

      29th.

       Paris afternoon, alone. Mr. Jeffersons. He looks much afflicted. The last letters, brought him news of the death of one of his daughters: he has a great deal of Sensibility. Bought books.

   Jefferson received the news of the death of Lucy Elizabeth (b. 1782), his second daughter by that name, in a letter from James Currie, 20 Nov. 1784, which was received on 26 Jan., carried by Lafayette (Jefferson, PapersThe Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd and others, Princeton, 1950- ., 6:186; 7:441, 538–539).

   None has been positively identified.

      30th.

       Mr. A. met Mr. Jefferson, at Paris, in the forenoon.
       31 The Marquis de la Fayette was here in the evening. He appears very well satisfied with his last voyage to America.

      31st.

       Paris in the afternoon. French Theatre. Abdir, and le Roi de Cocagne. Abdir is a new piece. This was only the 2d. Representation: ’tis the history of young Asgill, brought upon the Stage, under feigned names. G. Britain is Nangés. Vazercan is General Washington. Abdir is Asgill. The King of Persia is the King of France, who at the end of the Piece sends an Ambassador to the new Republic, requesting the pardon of Abdir. The Author has not given so much interest I think to the piece, as the Subject is susceptible of; and it is something so new, that I don’t know by what name to call it. It is not a Tragedy: for the Hero of the piece is a private person, who is known only by that even which was produced merely by chance. It is not a Comedy, for there is not a character in it, that has any thing comic in it, and the drift of the Piece, is entirely tragic. There are however a number of excellent, and very liberal sentiments. The compliments paid to the French king and nation, are not outrés. Much is said in praise of Liberty, and of the People that defended it. Even the British are treated in a very generous manner, as they always are upon the french Stages although the English upon their Theatres take every opportunity they can to ridicule and debase this Nation. Nolé in Abdir, and Madame Vestris in the mother, made as much of their parts as they could. Le Roi de Cocagne, is one of the most laughable, and most absurd pieces I ever saw; Dugazon, delivered the part of the King very well.

   A musical comedy by Marc Antoine Legrand, Paris, 1719, with music by the actor Jean Baptiste Maurice Quinault (Brenner, Bibliographical ListClarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947.); for Abdir, see entry for 21 Jan., note 4 (above).

   Charles Asgill, the British officer captured at Yorktown, who was selected for execution in retaliation for the hanging by American loyalists of Capt. Joshua Huddy of the New Jersey militia. His ultimate release came through the initiative of his mother, who sent an appeal for her son’s life to Vergennes, who, in turn, laid the matter before Louis XVI and his queen. So moved were they by the plea, that they directed Vergennes to write to Washington, who sent the letter to the congress, which voted for Asgill’s release (DNBLeslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885-1900; 63 vols, plus supplements.).

   Not identified.

   Françoise Rose Gourgaud was known on stage by her married name (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

   Jean Baptiste Henri Gourgaud (or Gourgault), called Dugazon, the brother of Mme. Vestris (Lyonnet, Dict. des comédiens françaisHenry Lyonnet, Dictionnaire des comediens français (ceux d’hier) biographie, bibliographie, iconographie ..., Paris, 1908-[1911?]; 2 vols.).


Title: 3d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. In the afternoon with Mr. A. went for the books arrived from London. Not to be found. Bought other books. Weather somewhat cold. The whole month of January very mild.


Title: 4th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Snowy, stormy weather all the morning, but clear in the afternoon. Mrs. and Miss A. went to Paris, and at length got, the long expected Books.


Title: 6th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Enter Miss A. in the evening, and cries out, “Callahan is arrived, and a bushel of Letters. One for you Sir from C. Storer:” and away she flew. Miss had a dozen at least: there were very few for any body else.


Title: 11th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris Afternoon. Coll. Humphreys and Mr. Short, went with us to see Astley’s equestrian exercises which, may be seen once or twice with pleasure, but which are tiresome, to one who has seen them as often as I have. Astley exhibits from October till february in Paris, and the rest of the year in London. His Amphitheatre here, is generally very full: he might make a very large fortune, but spends as much as he gains. Ce qui vient par la flute, s’en retourne par le tambour say the french. This evening a contest arose between two persons about a place; one of them appeared to be a Gentleman, and was well drest. The other look’d like an upper Servant: he was there to keep three places which had been taken beforehand. The Gentleman wanted to place a Lady he had with him, in one of the Places, and after a few words had passed, he called for the Officer that was to keep the Peace maintain order who immediately decided that the Gentleman was in the right: this is always the case, in France, and I believe that had the other Person, been a Chevalier de St. Louis, or a person of distinction, the Officer would have decided the matter very differently. In England they fall into the other extreme, and the Populace commit the most outrageous disorders, unpunish’d. Of the two evils, the french I think is the most supportable; you are only exposed to humiliation, whereas in England, your life is really not out of danger. Mr. Jefferson informed us that he has learnt by a Letter from New-York dated Jany. 5 that Congress are sitting in that City.


Title: 12th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. A. Dined in Paris at the Duke of Dorset’s. Very cold weather: as much so, I think, as any, we have had this Season.


Title: 14th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dined at Dr. Franklin’s with a great deal of Company, among the rest Dr. Jeffries who lately cross’d with Mr. Blanchard, from Dover to Calais. He is a small man: has not an agreeable address, but seems to be very sensible: he related his voyage: in which his intrepidity had well nigh been fatal to him: the balloon descended he says, ¾ of a mile in 2. minutes: he and Mr. Blanchard were both of them obliged to throw almost all their cloaths in the water. At one time they were not more than 20 yards above the surface. Mr. B——g——m who decides upon all subjects in a more positive manner than I think he would if he was versed well in any, said it was impossible for a balloon to remain steady in one place; because said he, there is nothing to resist it: Messrs. Roberts in the account they gave of their last voyage in the air say that at one time for five minutes their balloon did not stir forward: they saw the shadow of it upon the ground, and were therefore sure of what they advanced: this was alledged but Mr. B——g——m said M: M: Roberts were fools: this was the shortest way by which he could prove the truth of his assertion.


Title: 15th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris, afternoon. Carried Mr. A’s Letter to the Abbé de Mably, requesting him to write a moral, and political Catechism. The Abbés de Chalût and Arnoux read it. Went to Messieurs le Couteulx, for money, and was bad to come tomorrow. Bought the abridgement of Wolff’s course of Mathématics in french.


Title: 16th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris, afternoon. Returned to Messrs: le Couteulx, for Mr. Gs business and finished it. Mr. Jefferson’s. A man of universal learning and very pleasing manners. Memorandum: borrowed 2 vols. of the Tableau de Paris.


Title: 21st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       All dined at the Marquis de la Fayette. There was a considerable company, mostly composed of Americans. We saw two of the Marquis’s children; he has three; but the other is out at nurse at Versailles. His son is called George Washington: about 4 years old, a very pretty child: the Legislature of the State of Connecticut have lately made his father and him, citizens of that State. The Marquis’s youngest daughter is named Virginia. Madame is a very agreeable woman, and has a pleasing countenance: She is extremely fond of her husband and children, which is a most uncommon circumstance: especially as when they were married, neither of them was more than 12 years old: She told my father that Mrs. Jay, did not like the french Ladies. “Ni moi, non plus.” And that if Monsr. le Marquis goes to America again, she will go with him. The Marquis brought with him from America, a young Gentleman, of the age of about 14: his name is Colwel and his father was barbarously murdered by the British, during the War in New Jersey.


Title: 22d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       My father went to Versailles. Mr. Short went with him to be presented at Court. Variable Weather: much Snow in the morning, fair weather at noon, and Stormy again, in the Evening. The Duke of Dorset said to my father, while they were passing from one chamber to another “what nonsensical business all this noisy parade is!” My father said it was curious that a person like him, who had from his Childhood been brought up to it, should speak in that manner of it: “I have always hated it,” replied the Duke, “and I have avoided it whenever I possibly could.” Thus it is almost universally. People who pass all their lives in Pomp and Parade, are as much averse to it, as any body; and yet they do not abolish it; and nothing is more difficult than laying aside established customs, though every body agrees, that they are absurd.


Title: 24th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris in the morning. Mr. Williams and Mr. Franklin went with us. They breakfasted at M: de St. Olympe’s. I went to Gogué et Née de la Rochelle, booksellers Quai des Augustins. Bought Rollin’s histoire Romaine, and Mr. Necker’s book. Mr. Jefferson was not at home: nor any body at his House. Mr. Franklin has taken lessons of animal magnetism, he laugh’d at it much; yet said it was a very useful discovery.


Title: 25th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. At the Opera. Panurge dans l’lsle des Lanternes; a new Opera. 12th time. Words, which are very indifferent M: Morel: music, which is exquisite M: Gretri. I dont know how it happens, but the more this gentleman composes, the better his music is, I think. The dancing was also admirable, Gardel, and Vestris, perhaps the two best dancers in the world, performed together; and strove to surpass one another. Mesdemoiselles Saunier, Langlois and Zacharie, were much applauded. Such magnificent Scenery, such rich dresses, such delicious music, vocal and instrumental, and such inimitable dancing, combined together, appear rather an effect of enchantment than of art: I never yet saw an Opera, with so much Pleasure. The words are very bad.


Title: 26th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       M: de St: Olympe: Mr. Franklin and Mr. Williams dined with us. The first is a west Indian; who is going in a short time to America: Mr. Franklin has been so long in France, that he is more a Frenchman than an American: I doubt whether he will enjoy himself perfectly if he returns to America.


Title: 28th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Bought of Froullé bookseller quai des Augustins Crevier’s Histoire des Empereurs Romains. Spent half an hour with Mr. Blakely: he goes for London next monday. Mr. Pickman was not at home, nor Mr. Waring, nor any body at Mr. Jefferson’s; I waited there an hour for them to return; but in vain. I passed an hour with the abbés de Chalût and Arnoux: Abbé de Mably was with them. This gentleman is very famous in the litterary world: he has written a great deal; upon the subject of morals and politics, and of late four letters containing Observations upon the Constitutions of America, which he addressed to my father.


Title: [February 1785]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      3d.

       Paris. In the afternoon with Mr. A. went for the books arrived from London. Not to be found. Bought other books. Weather somewhat cold. The whole month of January very mild.

   JQA began this month with the date “Tuesday February 1st. 1785.,” but his first entry is on the third.

   Neither set of books has been identified.

      4th.

       Snowy, stormy weather all the morning, but clear in the afternoon. Mrs. and Miss A. went to Paris, and at length got, the long expected Books.

      5th.

       Stormy Weather. Mr. A. went to Passy in the morning, and to the Marquis’s afternoon. A Letter from Mr. Dana: a vessel arrived at L’Orient from Boston.

   Dana to JA, 12 Dec. 1784 (Adams Papers).

      6th.

       Enter Miss A. in the evening, and cries out, “Callahan is arrived, and a bushel of Letters. One for you Sir from C. Storer:” and away she flew. Miss had a dozen at least: there were very few for any body else.

   Presumably Capt. John Callahan, Boston shipmaster; it was probably his vessel that JQA referred to in his previous entry (JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 3:215–216).

   Letter not found.

   Among them probably was Mary (Smith) Cranch to AA, 6 Dec. 1784 (Adams Papers), as referred to in AA to Mary (Smith) Cranch, 20 Feb.–13 March 1785 (MWA). The letters to AA2 are presumably lost.

      7th.

       Dined at Mr. Jefferson’s. Masks in the rue de Fauxbourg St. Antoine and in the ruë St. Honoré. With reason, are the Parisians called by all the rest of the Nation badauds de Paris, for nothing can be conceived more stupid, than this Carnaval amusement. An hundred people perhaps run about the streets in masks, and there are ten thousand people without masks looking upon them: it is said however that this diversion is going much out of fashion; and that the Police, are obliged to hire a vast number of People, to set the example: two thirds of the Masks, are paid, say they. Thus does this government take every measure imaginable, to keep the eyes of the People shut, upon their own situation: and they really do it very effectually.

   A pre-Lenten carnival culminating in a masked ball that evening (AA2, Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:46–47).

   Idle, frivolous persons.

      8th.

       Coll. Humphreys. In the afternoon, went through Passy, to Paris. Mr. Jefferson’s. Saw the Masks again, a vast number more to day than yesterday. Shrove Tuesday last day of the Carnaval. French Comedy. But could get no places. A rare thing.

      11th.

       Paris Afternoon. Coll. Humphreys and Mr. Short, went with us to see Astley’s equestrian exercises which, may be seen once or twice with pleasure, but which are tiresome, to one who has seen them as often as I have. Astley exhibits from October till february in Paris, and the rest of the year in London. His Amphitheatre here, is generally very full: he might make a very large fortune, but spends as much as he gains. Ce qui vient par la flute, s’en retourne par le tambour say the french. This evening a contest arose between two persons about a place; one of them appeared to be a Gentleman, and was well drest. The other look’d like an upper Servant: he was there to keep three places which had been taken beforehand. The Gentleman wanted to place a Lady he had with him, in one of the Places, and after a few words had passed, he called for the Officer that was to keep the Peace maintain order who immediately decided that the Gentleman was in the right: this is always the case, in France, and I believe that had the other Person, been a Chevalier de St. Louis, or a person of distinction, the Officer would have decided the matter very differently. In England they fall into the other extreme, and the Populace commit the most outrageous disorders, unpunish’d. Of the two evils, the french I think is the most supportable; you are only exposed to humiliation, whereas in England, your life is really not out of danger. Mr. Jefferson informed us that he has learnt by a Letter from New-York dated Jany. 5 that Congress are sitting in that City.

      12th.

       Mr. A. Dined in Paris at the Duke of Dorset’s. Very cold weather: as much so, I think, as any, we have had this Season.

   John Frederick Sackville, third Duke of Dorset, the English ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary at Paris, 1783–1789 (DNBLeslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885-1900; 63 vols, plus supplements.).

      14th.

       Dined at Dr. Franklin’s with a great deal of Company, among the rest Dr. Jeffries who lately cross’d with Mr. Blanchard, from Dover to Calais. He is a small man: has not an agreeable address, but seems to be very sensible: he related his voyage: in which his intrepidity had well nigh been fatal to him: the balloon descended he says, ¾ of a mile in 2. minutes: he and Mr. Blanchard were both of them obliged to throw almost all their cloaths in the water. At one time they were not more than 20 yards above the surface. Mr. B——g——m who decides upon all subjects in a more positive manner than I think he would if he was versed well in any, said it was impossible for a balloon to remain steady in one place; because said he, there is nothing to resist it: Messrs. Roberts in the account they gave of their last voyage in the air say that at one time for five minutes their balloon did not stir forward: they saw the shadow of it upon the ground, and were therefore sure of what they advanced: this was alledged but Mr. B——g——m said M: M: Roberts were fools: this was the shortest way by which he could prove the truth of his assertion.

   That is, William Bingham, Philadelphia banker and land speculator, whom JQA met in London.

      15th.

       Paris, afternoon. Carried Mr. A’s Letter to the Abbé de Mably, requesting him to write a moral, and political Catechism. The Abbés de Chalût and Arnoux read it. Went to Messieurs le Couteulx, for money, and was bad to come tomorrow. Bought the abridgement of Wolff’s course of Mathématics in french.

   Letter not found, but see Mably’s reply, 25 Feb. (Adams Papers).

   Le Couteulx & Cie., Paris merchant bankers (JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 3:61, 151).

   JQA’s “abridged” version has not been found, but JA’s library contains a copy of Christian Wolff’s Cours de mathématique, contenant toutes les parties de cette science... Traduit en François, & augmenté, ed. Charles Antoine Jombert, 3 vols., Paris, 1757.

      16th.

       Paris, afternoon. Returned to Messrs: le Couteulx, for Mr. Gs business and finished it. Mr. Jefferson’s. A man of universal learning and very pleasing manners. Memorandum: borrowed 2 vols. of the Tableau de Paris.

   Either Ferdinand or Georges Grand, Paris bankers.

   [Louis Sebastien Mercier], Tableau de Paris. Nouvelle édition corrigée & augmentée. Jefferson had only the first six of twelve volumes, which were published in Amsterdam in 1782–1783 (E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 5 vols., Washington, 1952–1959, 4:122–123; entry for 11 March, below).

      19th.

       Dined at the Swedish Ambassadors: the Company was not very numerous: a number of Sweeds, one, who lately came from America: the Ambassador said to me: mon dieu que Mlle. vôtre soeur est jolie! j’ai vu peu d’aussi jolies femmes qu’elle: he thought doubtless, that I should tell her what he said: he is a very agreeable man. The Gentleman lately from America, professes to be charmed with the Country: especially with NewPort in Rhode Island: he admired the Ladies very much. We had a very elegant dinner, served entirely in silver, but it was not so splendid, as I have seen at the same table: the generality of the foreign Ambassadors here live in a great degree of magnificence: the Sweedish Ambassador pays nine thousand livres a year for his house without an article of furtinure in it. Mr. Brantzen, one of the Dutch Ambassadors gives for his house, all furnished eighteen thousand livres per an: and I have heard him boast of his having it very cheap. Count d’Aranda, the Spanish Ambassador gives twenty eight thousand livres every year for his house: every thing else must be in proportion; the same Count d’Aranda has sixty persons in his service, and spends doubtless more than ten thousand pound sterling annually. No Ambassador at this Court spends less, I am persuaded, than 6,000 sterling.

   Erik Magnus, Baron Staël-Holstein, minister plenipotentiary and ambassador extraordinary to France, 1783–1796, 1798–1799 (Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller LänderRepertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Lander seit dent Westfalischen Frieden (1648), ed. Ludwig Bittner and others, Oldenburg, &c, 1936-1965; 3 vols., p. 408).

      21st.

       All dined at the Marquis de la Fayette. There was a considerable company, mostly composed of Americans. We saw two of the Marquis’s children; he has three; but the other is out at nurse at Versailles. His son is called George Washington: about 4 years old, a very pretty child: the Legislature of the State of Connecticut have lately made his father and him, citizens of that State. The Marquis’s youngest daughter is named Virginia. Madame is a very agreeable woman, and has a pleasing countenance: She is extremely fond of her husband and children, which is a most uncommon circumstance: especially as when they were married, neither of them was more than 12 years old: She told my father that Mrs. Jay, did not like the french Ladies. “Ni moi, non plus.” And that if Monsr. le Marquis goes to America again, she will go with him. The Marquis brought with him from America, a young Gentleman, of the age of about 14: his name is Colwel and his father was barbarously murdered by the British, during the War in New Jersey.

   Anastasie Louise Pauline de Lafayette, later Comtesse de Latour-Maubourg; George(s) Washington de Lafayette, godson of Washington, and later a soldier and politician; Marie Antoinette Virginie de Lafayette, later Marquise de Lasteyrie; Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles de Lafayette, wife of the Marquis (Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, ed. Stanley J. Idzerda and others, Ithaca, N.Y., 1977– , I:xliv-xlv, 477–478; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

   John Edwards Caldwell, son of Rev. James Caldwell of Elizabethtown, N.J., whom Lafayette had educated in a French boarding school. Caldwell later returned to the United States, where he was a philanthropist in New York city and a founder of the American Bible Society (Louis Gottschalk, LafayetteLouis Gottschalk, Lafayette, Chicago, 1935-1950; 4 vols. [vol. 1:] Lafayette Comes to America; [vol. 2:] Lafayette Joins the American Army; [vol. 3:] Lafayette and the Close of the American Revolution; [vol. 4:] Lafayette between the American and the French Revolution (1783 -1789)., 4:142, 161–162; Nicholas Murray, “A Memoir of the Rev. James Caldwell, of Elizabethtown,” N.J. Hist. Soc., Procs., 1st ser., 3:88 [May 1848]).

      22d.

       My father went to Versailles. Mr. Short went with him to be presented at Court. Variable Weather: much Snow in the morning, fair weather at noon, and Stormy again, in the Evening. The Duke of Dorset said to my father, while they were passing from one chamber to another “what nonsensical business all this noisy parade is!” My father said it was curious that a person like him, who had from his Childhood been brought up to it, should speak in that manner of it: “I have always hated it,” replied the Duke, “and I have avoided it whenever I possibly could.” Thus it is almost universally. People who pass all their lives in Pomp and Parade, are as much averse to it, as any body; and yet they do not abolish it; and nothing is more difficult than laying aside established customs, though every body agrees, that they are absurd.

      24th.

       Paris in the morning. Mr. Williams and Mr. Franklin went with us. They breakfasted at M: de St. Olympe’s. I went to Gogué et Née de la Rochelle, booksellers Quai des Augustins. Bought Rollin’s histoire Romaine, and Mr. Necker’s book. Mr. Jefferson was not at home: nor any body at his House. Mr. Franklin has taken lessons of animal magnetism, he laugh’d at it much; yet said it was a very useful discovery.

   A French West Indian with business interests in Martinique and North America (AA2, Jour. and Corr.Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols., 1:50–51; Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S.I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols., 3:168; 4:110, 116).

   Charles Rollin, L’ Histoire romaine, depuis la fondation de Rome jusqu’à la bataille d’Actium . . ., 7 vols., Paris, 1738–1741. JQA’s set mentioned here may be one of two different sixteen-volume editions at MQA, both of which bear his bookplate, and one of which also carries his autograph. Of the several works of Jacques Necker, French financier and statesman, in the Adams libraries, the only contemporary publication bearing JQA’s bookplate is De l’administration des finances de la France, 3 vols., [Paris], 1784.

   William Temple Franklin, the natural son of Benjamin Franklin’s natural son William, had served as his grandfather’s secretary since 1776. Temple was a member of the Paris Société de L’Harmonie, a group founded by the followers of Frederick Anthony Mesmer. Mesmer, a Vienna-trained physician, claimed to have discovered the property of animal magnetism, a fluid conducted by a kind of occult force in himself which contained curative powers. Owing in large part to Mesmer’s great success in Paris, Louis XVI appointed Benjamin Franklin in March 1784 a member of a royal commission to examine the subject of animal magnetism, which was denounced in their report that summer. Franklin doubted its existence, and the cures claimed for it strengthened his belief in mankind’s credulity (Franklin, PapersThe Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree, William B. Willcox (from vol. 15), and others, New Haven, 1959- ., 1:lxii; JA, Diary and AutobiographyDiary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols., 2:356; 3:102–103, 169; Claude-Anne Lopez and Eugenia W. Herbert, The Private Franklin, N.Y., 1975, p. 255–258).

      25th.

       Paris. At the Opera. Panurge dans l’lsle des Lanternes; a new Opera. 12th time. Words, which are very indifferent M: Morel: music, which is exquisite M: Gretri. I dont know how it happens, but the more this gentleman composes, the better his music is, I think. The dancing was also admirable, Gardel, and Vestris, perhaps the two best dancers in the world, performed together; and strove to surpass one another. Mesdemoiselles Saunier, Langlois and Zacharie, were much applauded. Such magnificent Scenery, such rich dresses, such delicious music, vocal and instrumental, and such inimitable dancing, combined together, appear rather an effect of enchantment than of art: I never yet saw an Opera, with so much Pleasure. The words are very bad.

   A comedy by Étienne Morel de Chédeville (sometimes Chefdeville), Paris, 1785, with music by André Grétry; it was performed at the Académie Royal de Musique (Brenner, Bibliographical List;Clarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947. Journal de Paris, 25 Feb.).

   Probably Pierre Gabriel Gardel, “le jeune,” French dancer and choreographer and brother of Maximilien Joseph Léopold Gardel (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale;J. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols. Journal de Paris, 1 March 1783).

   Probably Marie Auguste Vestris, son of the Italian dancer Gaetano Apollino Baldassare Vestri, called Vestris (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. généraleJ. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols.).

      26th.

       M: de St: Olympe: Mr. Franklin and Mr. Williams dined with us. The first is a west Indian; who is going in a short time to America: Mr. Franklin has been so long in France, that he is more a Frenchman than an American: I doubt whether he will enjoy himself perfectly if he returns to America.

      27th.

       Mr. Pickman brought a Letter from Mr. Tracey. Cold weather.

   Benjamin Pickman, son of the Salem merchant of the same name. The father disapproved of the course of pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts politics and left America for England in 1775. The son was making a tour of France and returned to Boston via London with his father in the spring. Later he studied law, spending some time in Theophilus Parsons’ law office with JQA; but like his father, he entered commerce (George Francis Dow, The Diary and letters of Benjamin Pickman . . . and Genealogy of the Pickman Family, Newport, R.I., 1928, p. 27–28, 146; Sibley-Shipton, Harvard GraduatesJohn Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- ., 14:489–492; entry for 23 Feb. 1788, below).

   Letter not found.

      28th.

       Paris. Bought of Froullé bookseller quai des Augustins Crevier’s Histoire des Empereurs Romains. Spent half an hour with Mr. Blakely: he goes for London next monday. Mr. Pickman was not at home, nor Mr. Waring, nor any body at Mr. Jefferson’s; I waited there an hour for them to return; but in vain. I passed an hour with the abbés de Chalût and Arnoux: Abbé de Mably was with them. This gentleman is very famous in the litterary world: he has written a great deal; upon the subject of morals and politics, and of late four letters containing Observations upon the Constitutions of America, which he addressed to my father.

   This may be the twelve-volume, Paris, 1749–1755, edition of Jean Baptiste Louis Crevier’s Histoire des empereurs romains, depuis Auguste jusqu’a Constantin at MQA, which bears JQA’s bookplate.

   Observations sur le gouvernment et les loix des Etats-Unis d’Amérique, Amsterdam, 1784; transl. Remarks Concerning the Government and Laws of the United States of America: In Four Letters, Addressed to Mr. Adams, London, 1784. Copies of both are in JA’s library at MB.


Title: 2d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris afternoon. La Servante Maitresse, and, the 20th. Representation of Richard Coeur de Lion, an Opera, at the Italian Comedy. The words are of Sèdaine and the Music of Gretri. It is a delightful Piece, and the music like all the rest of Mr. Gretri’s compositions is admirable. We were early, but could get only very bad places; I never saw any Théatre more crowded, and a vast number of persons could get no Places at all. Philippe play’d Richard, and Clairval Blondel: this is a charming Character, and was very well acted. Mlle. Rosalie in Blondel’s guide, was interesting, as also Mlle. Colomb, in the Countess of Flanders. The First Piece, is a translation of the Serva padrona, of the famous Pergolezzi, but it is a very bad one. The music, is perhaps some of the best ever composed, but the piece has no effect upon the Théatre. There are in this Piece only two speaking Characters and one mute personage.


Title: 5th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Company to dine. Mr. Bleakly took charge of some Letters for London, one for Mr. Elworthy. He goes on Monday. Mr. Pickman sets out for London too, in the Course of the next week. I dined with him last June at London, on board Captn. Callahan’s ship. He belongs to Salem, and is a very agreeable young Gentleman. Mr. Waring thinks of going to America in May, about the time I shall: Indeed it is not improbable that we shall go together: though he wishes to go from London, first. Mrs. Bingham came in the evening, and spent an hour with the Ladies. She looks very unwell: has had the tooth ache, violently for almost ten days. She is going to Switzerland, and to Italy next summer. Mr. B. made a very large fortune during the War by privateering, and since the Peace, came to Europe to enjoy it.


Title: 7th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dined at the Marquis de la Fayettes. The Chevalier de la Luzerne dined there has been in the Country for some Months past. M: de Camaran a young french gentleman who went to America with the Marquis the last time was asked by Mrs. B. what part of America he liked best. He did not know from what part she was, and answered Boston. “I never was there” said Mrs. B. The Gentleman was embarass’d when he found she was a Philadelphian; but she added j’aime beaucoup mieux l’Europe que l’Amerique. Mrs. B. is handsome, about 20 years of age, and her husband is supposed to be, and lives as if he was, very rich; so it is not very astonishing that she prefers Europe to her own Country.


Title: 9th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Mr. Williamos went with us to see the Gallery of Pictures belonging to the Duke de Chartres in the Palais Royal. It is one of the finest Collections in Europe. There are a great number of Pictures by the first Masters of the Art. More of Raphael, than in any Collection I ever saw. The cieling is painted in Fresco by Antony Coypel. The paintings are very fine, and it is a pity they will be destroyed as the building will soon be demolished in order to continue those, they are now erecting. Among the numerous admirable paintings in this gallery I distinguished particularly the few following. Our Saviour dead, with four women round him by Raphael. The Swiss said to us, “c’est le tableau le plus precieux qu’il y ait dans l’univers.” The virgin Mary is represented in a swoon. The expression of grief in the other faces is such as one cannot conceive without seeing the painting. Inexpressible distress is seen in all. Yet the character of each is different; it is impossible to see it without being deeply affected. The colouring is still extremely fresh, though the picture is two hundred years old. A Saint John placed above the other. It is only St. John with his Gospel before him; but it is a Master Piece. A child Jesus receiving cherries from St. Joseph, by Raphael also which is admirable. The history of Constantine in a course of painting by Jules Romano and Raphaël. A Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen, by Raphael. A judgment of Paris by Rubens. This is the only remarkable painting of that Master in the Collection. Among the Portraits, a burgermaster of Amsterdam by Rembrandt is admirable. As indeed are almost all the pictures there. There are however some so bad, that I was astonished to find them there, and some that are absurd and ridiculous. There is one where St. Joseph is at work as a Carpenter; our saviour as a child is holding a line, and the virgin Mary, devoutly sewing a shirt. In another she is washing linen, Christ is taking it as she washes it, gives it to Joseph, who hands it up to a parcel of angels: and they hang it upon the branches of a tree to dry. I am not a sufficient connoisseur in Pictures to decide whether they were good, but I know that the Ideas are groveling, despicable, and impious. There are several allegories, such as Mars and Venus tied together by Cupid. Mars is Henry the fourth, and Venus Gabrielle d’Estrées; but allegories are not the thing in Painting. Upon the whole I don’t know of any Collection of Pictures I have ever seen that gave me so much Pleasure. There are in this gallery a number of models of the different trades. The Shops of the artists in each trade are compleat, and all are made at the rate of an inch per foot. The Duke de Chartres intended to have the whole Encyclopedia, thus in miniature, but his buildings in the Palais Royal have been so amazingly expensive, and he pays so high an interest for the money he borrows, that he wanted money I suppose to continue the models, he has already the joiner, Carpenter, Apothecary, Chimist, Anatomist and a number of others. It were to be wished he had completed the Collection.
       We afterwards went to see Mademoiselle Bertin’s magazin de modes. She is the Queens milliner, and the first millener in Europe. Mademoiselle Bertin is the most celebrated person in the Kingdom: the heroes that have acquired so much naval glory must all strike their flaggs before Mlle. Bertin. Their reputation lasted perhaps a month in Paris. Hers has lasted years and will last years still if she lives. She keeps her Equipage, and makes I suppose 100,000 livres a year. She has at least twenty women working in her magazine at a time. She is at this time occupied in making dresses for an Infanta of Spain aged 10 years who is to be married in a short time to a Prince of Portugal aged 12. Three hundred thousand livres have already been advanced to Mlle. Bertin. But as this sum, which is only 12000 guineas is so small a trifle, she is left at her own Discretion: and that discretion is such that she will probably go to four times the sum that has been advanced. We saw a petticoat there, which at a moderate evaluation, I suppose amounts to about a thousand guineas, and all the rest is in Proportion. All this is very pretty; but some morose, surly fellow might say, where does all this money come from. “Ay, there’s the rub.” We must be contented with admiring the magnificence of the Robes and go no further. I dined at Dr. Franklin’s. M: de St. Olympe was there; and M: Dusaulx a Member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; who has published a translation of Juvenal, of which he spoke with sufficient complaisance.


Title: 11th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris afternoon. Got of Froullé Brindley’s Virgil. Went to see Mr. Pickman, at the Hotel de york. He intends setting away for London, next Monday. Spent the evening with Mr. Jefferson whom I love to be with, because he is a man of very extensive learning, and pleasing manners. Memorandum took the 4 last volumes of The tableau de Paris. Mr. Williamos, with Mr. and Mrs. Rooker, were at Auteuil in the morning.


Title: 14th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Walk’d into Paris in the morning. Hôtel de York Rue Jacob. Mr. Pickman set away for England by the Diligence, at noon. Found Mr. Boling at the Hotel de York. He arrived in Paris only three or four days ago. Mr. West of Philadelphia, arrived from London, at the Hôtel; before Mr. Pickman went away: he said he had a letter from Mr. Jackson, for my father. I went with Mr. Boling, to the hotel de Bretagne, and saw Mr. Waring, who thinks of going to England, in the Course of next week. Returned to Auteuil on foot. The walk was too long. The distance from the village to the place de Louis 15. is more than 3 miles and I did not walk less than 2. about the City. A Large Company to dine with us. Mr. Brantsen, the Dutch Ambassador extraordinary, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, Marquis and Marquise de la Fayette, Mr. and Mrs. Rooker, Miss Ramsay, Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, and Coll. Humphreys, Mr. Williamos, &c. Mr. and Mrs. Rooker lately arrived in Paris and propose staying here about a fort’night. They came in a very dull time for, the Theatres were shut up last Sunday, for Three weeks, as they are yearly. The only public amusements open during that time are at the foire St. Germain, and three concerts a week at the Chateau des Tuileries.


Title: 15th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris in the afternoon, with Mr. A. Got of Froullé, the Horace and Ovid of Brindleys edition. While I was in the Shop, we heard a little bell in the Street; immediately every body in the shop, but myself, fell on their knees, and began to mutter prayers and cross themselves. It was a priest, carrying le bon dieu, to a dying man. This is one of the most revered ceremony of the Romish Religion. Whenever this bell rings, (which is to inform People, that god is passing by) every man woman and child fall upon their knees and remain so till it has passd quite by. Every carriage that meets it, even the kings, is obliged to stop; and the persons in it bend the knee: formerly they were obliged to get out of the carriage and kneel in the street: but this is no longer customary. The Priest that performs this ceremony is called porte-dieu. (The word is to revolting for me to translate it.)
       Louis 15 revenant du palais de la justice, ou il venait d’exercer un acte d’autorité envers le parlement de Paris, rencontra au bas du Pont Neuf le viatique de la paroisse Saint Germain l’Auxerrois. Tout son cortège royal s’arrêta; il descendit précipitamment de son carrosse, se mit à genoux dans les boues, et le prêtre sortant de dessous son dais, jadis rouge, lui donna la bénédiction. Le peuple émerveillé de cet acte pieux, oublia l’acte d’autorité qui lui déplaisait, et se mit à crier vive le roi! Et tout le long du jour il répéta: il s’est mis a genoux dan les boues!

       Le porte-dieu à qui cette bonne chance arriva, eut une pension de la cour.
       Tableau de Paris vol: 4: ch: 28. title porte-dieu
       Went to see Messrs. les abbés. Abbé Arnoux told me that Beaumarchais was set at Liberty. I imagine he will be pretty humble, after this lesson. We spent all the evening with Mr. Jefferson.


Title: 17th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dined at Dr. Franklin’s with a considerable large Company. Mr. Brillon, an old french gentleman very gay and talkative. Young Mr. Chaumont who goes to America by the April packet from l’Orient. Mr. Boling, a descendent of an Indian Queen, of somewhat a dark complexion, and his manners, are not perfectly pleasing to the Ladies. Mr. Norris, an American Quaker, turned Catholic. His turns of mind seems rather melancholic, and while Mr. B. gave himself up to unbounded laughter at the wit of our old french guest, Mr. N. did not relax one feature of his face: he hardly spoke a word the whole time. Mr. Dalrymple, Secretary to Mr. Crawford the British Commissary, for making a Treaty of Commerce with France. The Treaty of Commerce, is said to be just as far advanced as it was, when Mr. C. left England, which was about 9 months ago. In the meantime Mr. C. is determined to be of some service to his Country and has been employing his time in forming a project, to pay off the national debt of G. Britain which he proposes to accomplish by borrowing more money. He pretends that his scheme will suit as well for America as for England; and in that he is very right. This project has nothing in common with my dining at Dr. Franklin’s, but the anecdote is so curious that I cannot help taking notice of it, here. But it must be known that Mr. C. is a great partisan for Mesmer, who he says, has, mended his health very materially. I think however, that a few grains of hellebore, would be of still more use to him. Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, and Commodore Jones, Coll. Humphreys’, and Mr. Williamos, and several other gentlemen dined at the Doctor’s. The old gentleman, is perfectly well, except the Stone, which prevents him from riding in a Coach, and even from walking; he says he is determined to return to America this Spring. The motion of a Vessel, would not, he thinks, be painful to him.


Title: 20th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       My father went to Versailles in the morning to see the Count de Vergennes, upon the subject of a Treaty between the U. States, and the Powers of Barbary. The Emperor of Morocco has taken an American vessel belonging to Mr. Fitz Simmons of Philadelphia. He has made the Master and the crew prisoners; but has not suffered them to be made slaves. He has ordered his People not to take any more untill Congress may send a Consul to him: and he offers to treat with us, upon the same footing that he does with all the Powers of Europe. This matter gives the American Commissioners, a great deal of trouble at present. Mr. West, Mr. Norris, Mr. Waring and Mr. Boling dined with us. I promised Mr. West to introduce him to the Marquis de la Fayette, someday this week. Mr. Boling sets off for London tomorrow. The Foire St. Germain closed last evening.


Title: 23d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris. Hotel de york, rue Jacob: for Mr. West. I went with him and presented him to the Marquis de la Fayette, and afterwards to Mr. Jefferson. Walk’d after that, in the Palais Royal. This place furnishes a vast fund of entertainment to an observer. It is the most frequented walk in Paris. At every hour of the day, and of the night too, you will never fail of finding company there, and it is very curious to see the different dresses and appearances of the People you find there. Dined at the hotel de York with Mr. Rooker. In the afternoon the Ladies went to Auteuil, and I went with Mr. West, to the Theâtre des Varietés, to see le sieur Pinettiprofesseur de Physique, Mathématiques, &c. perform his Experiences. Le sieur Pinetti, is a very great quack, and his Experiences, are nothing but a parcel of jugglers tricks, which every mountebank of a fair, performs as well for 12 sols, as he does for 6. livres. He had not much Company this evening; I suppose on account of the promenade de Longchamps, which began this day.


Title: 26th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Paris afternoon. Froullé, books upon astronomy. Went to see Mr. West and Mr. Waring but neither was at home. Messieurs Van den Yver bankers Ruë Royale, Butte St. Roch. Spent part of the evening with the abbés. While I was there a Gentleman came in, who was a great partisan, for animal magnetism, that he very strenuously defended. Speaking of Dr. Franklin, he said j’aime beaucoup M: Franklin, c’est un homme de beaucoup d’esprit et de génie; je suis seulement faché pour lui, qu’il ait signé ce rapport des Commissaires. He spoke this with so much naïveté that I could not help smiling. When he went away the abbés told me he was a man, worth 50,000 livres a year, of an exceeding benevolent disposition, and that he does a great deal of good: a sensible man, but very firmly persuaded of the reality of animal magnetism. Mesmer the pretended discoverer, has certainly as yet, behaved like a mountebank, and yet he has persuaded a great number of People, and some persons of great Sense and learning, that he has made an important discovery. An extraordinary System, a great deal of mystery, and the art of making People, pay a hundred louis d’ors for a secret which no body receives, have persuaded almost half this kingdom, that Mesmer really has the secret that he pretends to have.


Title: 27th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Sunday. Mr. Adams dined with Mr. de St. Olympe’s and spent the evening at Mr. Jefferson’s. At about seven o’clock in the evening the Queen, was delivered of a Son, who is Monseigneur le Due de Normandie: this is one of the most important events that can happen in this kingdom; and every Frenchman has been expecting it, as if the fate of his life depended upon it. One would think that after having a Dauphin they would be easy, and quiet, but say they, the Dauphin is young and may die; and tho’ the king has two brothers one of whom has several children, yet the Capital point is that the crown should pass down eternally from father to Son: insomuch that they would prefer being governed by a fool or a tyrant, that should be the Son of his predecessor, than by a sensible and good prince, who should only be a brother. The Canons announced to us the birth of the Prince. The Queen was taken ill only an hour before her delivery, a Circumstance which must have been very agreeable to her, for a few minutes before she is delivered, the doors of her apartment are always opened, and every body that pleases is admitted, to see the child come into the world, and if there had been time enough, all Paris would have gone pour voir accoucher la Reine. The name of the young Duke of Normandy, is not yet known.


Title: 28th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Snow in the morning sufficient to cover the ground. Dined at the Marquis de la Fayette’s. When I arrived there the Marquis was not returned from Versailles, where he went last evening immediately upon hearing of the Queen’s delivery, but could not get there soon enough to be present at the Christening. He told me a curious Circumstance. The Queen was so large, that it was suspected she might have twins, and Mr. de Calonne, the controuler general had prepared two blue ribbands, in case two Princes should be born, for the kings children must be decorated with those badges, immediately after they come into the world. The Count and Chevalier de la Luzerne dined with us. After dinner I went with Mr. West to see Mr. and Mrs. Rucker, and afterwards we took a walk together in the Palais Royal. It is curious to hear the sagacious reflections and remarks upon the event of yesterday, made by the badauds: and it is pleasing to see how joyful how contented they look. All take the title given to the Prince, as a doubtless presage, of his future Conquests, and are firmly perswaded that it was expressly given him, that England may be a second time subdued by a Duke of Normandy: if they dared, they would mention another point, in which, the pretended, conqueror may resemble the real one. The Palais Royal, the Spanish Ambassador’s hotel, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Ecole militaire, and several other buildings were illuminated in the evening.


Title: 29th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dr. Franklin’s early in the morning. Coll. Humphreys breakfasted with us, and went with Mr. Adams to Versailles, where they were presented for the first time, to the new born Prince, who received them in bed: there were half a dozen ladies in the chamber. There were three beds joining each other, and in the middle one laid M: le Duc. Probably that in the night one of the Ladies sleep in each of the other beds to prevent Monseigneur from falling out. The king was exceedingly gay, and happy, and his brothers appeared so too.


Title: 30th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. Adams dined at the Spanish Ambassador’s, Count d’Aranda, an old man 70 years of age, who married, last year a young woman of 20. Peace be with him!


Title: 31st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Madame de la Fayette sent a Card to offer us places for the Te Deum, which is to be sung tomorrow at Nôtre Dame, when the king is to be present. Mr. Adams dined at Count Sarsfield’s.