| Description | [Diary Transcription]
52
1819
May
promiscuously with others – the coffins (unplaned deal boxes) seemed however to be
placed alongside one another very regularly – a police officer present – Some beautiful tombs
at the top of the ground, whence a good view of the city – 50 francs for space for a body
to be buried in by itself, the ground to be held in perpetuity – Beautiful tomb, in the
form of an open Ionic temple of 8 marble columns, with a pedestal and urn [Diagram – pedestal and urn] in the
middle of black or dark coloured marble Ici repose Mariano Louis d’Urquino
ancien ministre et premier secrétaire d’état d’Espagne. Decedé à Paris
le 3 Mai 1817 agé de 49 ans, etc, etc – not far, a little lower down, a beautiful Gothic
tomb [Diagram – gothic tomb] (4 sides – this with the door, fronting Paris – the dotted line all along the wall
meant to represent a beautiful raised border something like [Diagram – raised border] - )
Stuck up on a post was a long printed notice of rules to be observed respecting this cimetière
de l’Est – among the rest were the following Les fosses particuliers doivent être creusées
à 4 pieds et demie de profondeur – the expense of exhumation (moving a corpse from one
part of the ground to another) is 27 francs i.e. à Monsieur le commissionaire de police
10 francs au concierge 5 francs au fossoyeur 12 francs – Beautiful white marble column to the
memory of “Massena mort la 4 avril 1817” the only inscription – the column stands
on the verge of the ground from whence is a fine view of the Castle of Vincennes – looking
towards the castle is a beautifully done head of Massena in white marble, like all the rest of their column and ornaments – on the opposite side, his arms
beautifully sculptured, small – on the 2 opposite sides a scroll of parchment on each,
wrapped in fleurs de lis – the base of the marble pedestal is perhaps 1 1/2 yard high and stands
on a floor of stone forming 2 steps on every side – the column and pedestal together may perhaps be
8 or 10 yards high, enclosed by an iron-railing in a space perhaps 6 or 7 yards square –
It began to look dark, rained a little before we had got far from the cimètiere, and we were only
just in time to take shelter at the nearest barrier, before a tremendously heavy
came on that would have wet us thoroughly in 2 or 3 minutes – Took a fiacre from hence
to our Restaurateur – Potage au vermicelle, not quite so good as potage au riz –
Pieds de mouton à la poulette (done with truffles and morels, I did not think sheep’s
feet could have been made so good) – petits pois – and compotte de pommes, preserved
apple, good enough – Drank a whole bottle of Champaign (mousseux, sparkling) between us –
certainly it mounted a little – my aunt came home, went to bed and had a good sleep – I was rather
53
1819
May
muddy, and little fit to settle with Loloy, who, confusing the accounts of yesterday and Tuesday
together, forgot (denied) that I had settled with him on Tuesday night – Should have gone to
the fête at Tivoli gardens but for the rain – settled my accounts and wrote this journal of
today which took me till 11 1/4 – Loloy went to the opera for us last night about 11, before
it was over; for we came away after the 1st piece, and there were 2 more – the people might
well give us sortie tickets, supposing that of course we meant to go back again – Fine
morning – terribly hot walking to the cemetery – the very heavy shower as we returned was
succeeded by mild rain which lasted all the evening and cooled the air a little –
Friday 21
5 1/2
12 1/2
Off at 7 from the rue de Rivoli for Versailles – distance 4 lieues, 12 miles, French,
or 9 1212/1760 English – Just 2 hours going – one gentleman ourselves, and Loloy in the
cabriolet – went immediately to a Restaurateur, and my aunt and I breakfasted (coffee and bread and butter)
for 18 sols each – very comfortably, having the room quite to ourselves – got to the palace
(close to the town) about 10 – near 2 hours seeing this, and the chapel, and theatre – Old family
pictures standing all round the stage, put there to be out of the way – the suite
of state halls we were shewn through, with beautifully painted vaulted ceilings,
magnificent, though unfurnished; several of the walls bare, and some shewing large
compartments of torn plaster from the removal of pictures § - 1/2 hour walking from hence,
through the grounds, to the Petit Trianon – the poplars, forming the great avenues of
approach have been all planted since the revolution, and astonished me by their
immense size – found them 3 yards in circumference at 1 1/2 yard from the bottom and should guess them 100 feet high –
The house is small, but very pretty – In what used to be Marie Antoinette’s
chambre à coucher, on the ground floor, is an elegant bed with gold muslin curtains – the walls of the
room are hung with blue satin, embroidered with gold
sprigs – the top with white satin, supported by gold cords meeting and fastened by
a beautiful gold tassel in the middle – On a large marble slab stand two
beautiful oval wash-hand basins, each of one piece of the finest agate – but all
§ The profusion of marble in columns and wainscot, struck me exceedingly. In the
late queen’s dressing room (cabinet à toilette) is a recess, the top and 3 sides entirely
lined with mirror, and consequently reflecting a perfect view of the whole person – They shewed
us the door whence this unfortunate princess escaped.
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