Henry Digby Beste - Four Years in France Or Narrative of an English Familys Residence There

FOUR YEARS IN FRANCE;
OR,
NARRATIVE
OF AN
ENGLISH FAMILY'S RESIDENCE THERE
DURING THAT PERIOD;
PRECEDED BY SOME ACCOUNT OF
THE CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR
TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH .

Rien n'est beau que LE VRAI.

LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

1826.

Printed by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.

Page

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH, IN 1798.

The author's father and grandfather, prebendaries of Lincoln.The Cathedral service described.The service in Magdalen College Chapel at Oxford.The author's mother and his maternal ancestry.November 5th.School at which the author studies.Mrs. Ravenscroft, a Catholic neighbour.Dr. Geddes.The author matriculates at Oxford.The Tale of a Tub, its speciousness.The Douay Translation of the New Testament.Advice of a schoolmaster.Gibbon the Historian.Defence of the Reformed Church.Argument derived from the exclusive antiquity of the Roman Catholic Church.The Kirk of Scotland denies that it can be in the wrong, as strenuously as the Church of England does.Infallibility.Richard Paget.Archbishop Laud.The author takes the degree of Master of Arts.In Deacon's orders: he fills a curacy in Lincoln.Becomes a fellow of his college.He resides on his fellowship.His probationary exercise.His sermon at St. Mary's Church, Oxford.Its success.He preaches against non-residence.Decease of his mother.The author resigns his fellowship, and removes to Lincoln.The Bampton lecture.Dr. Routh.M. l'Abb Beaumont, an emigrant priest at Lincoln.A disputation.Catholic arguments which impress the author's imagination.Nicole and Arnaud.Bossuet.Ward's errata.Of the sacraments.Of purgatory.Chillingworth.Of abstinence.The author convinced, after investigation, of the genuineness of the Roman Catholic doctrines, visits London.He attends high mass.His conversation with Dr. Douglas, the R. C. metropolitan bishop.Rev. Mr. Hodgson appointed to be his priest and confessor.His conversion completed.The author baptised.The author's apology to the Protestants, on account of his having been in holy orders of the Established Church.He receives confirmation in the chapel of Virginia-street.The author's idea that the Roman Catholic worship should be by law the established religion in Ireland.Anecdote of Archdeacon Paley; who declared that he considered such a concession to the Irish nation expedient.

CHAP. I.

Spirit of adventure of the English.English fox-hunters.Money spent abroad.Migration through France and Switzerland into Italy.Return.The English associate together.In what consist their reasons for foreign residence.Distrust with respect to Napoleon.Gallery of the Louvre.Its dispersion.Exaggeration of the number of English absentees.The foreign notions of our motives for travelling.Reflections on international intercourse.Nature of the author's observations gleaned during a long residence abroad.Remarks on the character of the French revolution.Its effects.Elevation of Napoleon.Great results that have accrued from the French revolution in the West Indies, in South America; and that may possibly take place in Africa.

CHAP. II.

The author repairs with his two sons to Southampton.They set sail for Havre de Grce.Gale of wind.Fcamp in sight.Continue their course for Havre.Land after a long passage.The routes from London to Paris compared.Port regulations.The English Htel.Htel de la Ville du Havre.Damp sheets, how aired.Strong coffee.Mass.Douanier.Extortion by porters.Imposition respecting passports.Ill-breeding of certain parrots.Commissaire de Police.Embouchure of the Seine.Legend and statue of St. Denis.Inquiring peasant-boy.French exactness.The Rogation days.Insolence of vulgar assistants in travelling abroad.Commodious diligence.Normandy.Norman predilection.Petition in verse.The king of Yvetot.Rouen.Magny.Abstinence, variously understood, and how practised.Road along the banks of the Seine.Village of St. Clair.Pontoise.Arrival at Paris.Rate of travelling.Lodge in the Rue de la Chausse d'Antin.

CHAP. III.

Description of Paris.Place Louis XV.Palais Bourbon.Triumphal arch of Neuilly.Champs Elyses.The Louvre.Its gallery of paintings, and museum.Excellent arrangement of the statues.The Italian school.Progress of the French school of painting.The Jardin des Plantes.Museum of Natural History.Mnagerie.Manners of the Bourgeois.Palais du Luxembourg.King's library.New structure at the Place du Carousel.Pont Neuf.glise de Notre Dame.Ste. Genevive.Sepulture in that church.Church of St. Sulpice.Dome of the Invalides.The Halle aux Bleds.Pillar of the Place Vendme.Young Napoleon.Duc de Bordeaux.Preponderance of Russia.History of the "Victoires et Conqutes, &c."Model of the elephant, designed for the Place de la Bastille.Le Marais.Agreeableness of the Boulevards.Great advantage of quais.Htel Dieu.La Morgue.Manufactory of the Gobelins.Le Palais Royal.

CHAP. IV.

Cemetery of Pre la Chaise.Graves there become a property.Reflections respecting church-yards.Computation of deaths, and room requisite for graves.The Catacombs.Arrival at Paris of the author's family.Palace of Versailles described.Royal chapel.Anecdote of a mandarin.Orange trees.The gardens.The Grand and Petit Trianon.St. Germains.Its terrace.St. Cloud.Its park.Remark of George III.Malmaison.Marly.Fine prospect.Stability of the peace.Meudon.The Dauphiness (Duchesse d'Angoulme).Manufacture of porcelain.St. Denis.The abbey of St. Denis.Sceaux, popular festivities here.Castle of Vincennes.Duc d'Enghin.Ancient oak.Confluence of the Seine and the Marne.The author attends mass in the Royal Chapel at the Tuilleries.

CHAP. V.

Celebrated statues.Various political opinions detailed.Bargaining.Two prices.English travellers reputed to be very rich.Parties.The military.Spoliation of the clergy.Ambition of Bonaparte.Prudence of Louis XVIII.Increase of Paris.Explanation of ' la lanterne.'Observations on the main streets of Paris.High rents.The Fauxbourg St. Germain.The allied armies evacuate France.

CHAP. VI.

Inventory of a furnished apartment.The pane of glass.The author quits Paris.Voiturier.Berline with three horses.Travelling arrangements.Agreement for stipulated sums.Comparison betwixt travelling by a voiture, thus agreed for, and travelling post.Louis the coachman.Sup at Essonne.

CHAP. VII.

The family of Fitz-James, settled at Essonne.Description of Fontainebleau.The Forest.The King's bed.The garden.Marchal de Coigny.Tomb of a Dauphin at Sens.Auxerre.Banks of the Yonne.Use of the hot-bath.Cleanliness of the French.Hilly country.Vintages injured by the cold of 1816.The coopers in activity.The Plain of the Sane.Coche d'eau.Tournus.Image of the Virgin.Arrival at Lyons.Fte de St. Louis.The Cathedral.Place Bellecour.Cathedral at Vienne.The Isere.Valence.Memoranda discovered at the 'Grand Monarque' Inn.Country of the olive.Flat roofs.Bad inns.Triumphal arch at Orange.

CHAP. VIII.

The entrance into Avignon.The Place de la Comdie.Warm baths.Expense of the journey from Paris to Avignon.A ngociant serves for a banker.The Duke of Gloucester passes through Avignon.Imprisonment of the hostess.M. Moulin.Visit paid by the author to the Prefect.Also to the Mayor; an old noble.His confiscated house repurchased.The author inspects various houses.Conditions of tenure.Description of the house which he takes.He furnishes it.Observations on French trades-people.

CHAP. IX.