mucilage of isinglass; the paste is then poured into hollow glass beads, which thus receive from within the peculiar colour of pearl. I asked him if he had any fresh water and muscle pearl? He said, yes; and shewed me one which weighed twenty-three grains, perfectly globular, and of a bluish or carnation colour. This he valued at four hundred pounds, because, he said, it would match with the oriental sea-pearl. He told me that he had seen pearls which were made of fresh-water muscles, that weighed each more than sixty grains, and some of them were pyriform. He added that many pearls were found in the rivers in Lorraine and at Sedan. The manufactory of the Gobelins, once so famous, is miserably fallen into decay, the probable reason of which is, that the king, having furnished all his palaces, has now no further occasion for it. I saw there the process of inlaying marble tables with all sorts of coloured stones; I also saw the attelier, or workshop, of the two celebrated sculptors Tuby, in which was an admirable copy of a Laocoon in white marble; and those of Quoisivox, in which last, among other rare pieces of sculpture, was an exceedingly beautiful and large Castor and Pollux, after the antique. At Hubins, the artificial eye-maker's, I saw several drawers full of all sorts of eyes, which were admirable for their contrivance, and for their being adapted to match any iris whatever. In this art the exactest nicety is required, the slightest degree of mis-matching being intolerable. Hubins was formerly an artificial pearl maker; he affirmed that the glass pearls were merely painted in the inside with a paste made of the scales of the bleake; and that necklaces of these pearls formerly sold at great prices, viz. two or three pistoles each. Near Montmartre I saw the plaster-quarries, and the manner of burning the stone, which is by kindling an open fire against it. In the space of two or three hours the hardest stone is sufficiently burned. This stone is not peculiar to France, there being quarries of it near Clifford Moore, in Yorkshire, where it is called Hall plaster. There seems no reason why this stone should not be employed like lime in fertilizing the ground. I cannot omit the mill-stones, with which wheat is ground at Paris, and in other parts of France. They are very serviceable, being perfectly free from any ill taste; and so firm, that not the least grit is ever found in the bread. They are generally formed of different pieces, two, three or more being fastened together with a cement, and surrounded with an iron hoop. The stone is of the honeycomb kind, and produced by stalactites, or the petrification of water of a particular kind. The very same stone is met with on the river banks at Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, and is well worthy of being used in the north of England, where the bread is extremely gritty; a quality which is to be attributed to the use of the sand or moor stone with which the corn is ground there. CHAP. VII. OF THE FOOD OF THE PARISIANS. BREAD and herbs constitute the principal part of the diet of the people of Paris. The bread is, as with us, of two kinds; the common bread is of a good colour and light, it is sold in loaves of three pounds, at three-pence a pound; as for the fine bread, or manchet, it is inferior to the French bread made in London, and since the use of beer is become so common, is often so bitter as not to be eatable. The gray salt which is used in France, is incomparably better and far more wholesome than our white salt, which spoils every thing that is intended to be preserved by it. For our salt, whether boiled from the inland salt pits, or from sea-water, is little less than quick lime, and burns whatever it touches. It is certain that good salt is not to be made by fierce and vehement boiling, which is the method in use with us, but should be kerned or granulated by the heat of the sun, which is the French way. The only place in England where I ever saw it rightly made is at Milthrope, in the Washes of Lancashire, where the brine is full and weighty; yet even there they boil it, al though it might be made to deposit the salt without the aid of fire. During Lent the common people make great use of the white kidney-bean, and the white or pale lentil, of which there are great supplies in the markets dressed and fit to be eaten. The lentil is a kind of pulse with which we are unacquainted in England; although in all other respects our seed shops, and consequently our gardens are much superior. I was much pleased with it. The roots in France differ much from ours; the turnip in particular which here is long, small and excellently tasted, is more useful than ours, being proper for soups, &c. for which ours are too strong. Of late we have indeed cultivated this sort in England, but the seeds when sown there produce roots from six to ten times larger than those which grow in France. Nor do our gardeners understand the management of this root. In France the seed is sown some short time after Midsummer, and before the frost comes the roots are dug up, and being put into sand, without the This turnip is tap-rooted and shaped like our carrot. Paris is entirely supplied with it; it is called Navette de Virtu, from the place where it is cultivated. It is certainly sweeter than our turnips and far superior for pottage, and less stringy. It requires a deep light soil, and admits of being sown thicker than the round turnip. The times for sowing are the middle of March and August. They may be preserved in a hole in the ground, if it be not too damp, provided they be covered with lime, and then earthed over so as to throw off the rain. Phillips's Hist. of Cultiv. Veg. v. 2, p. 166. tops, are deposited in cellars under ground, where they will keep good till Easter or Whitsuntide; whereas if the frost is permitted to affect them they are rendered quite useless. Carrots are preserved in the same manner. The potatoe, which is so great a relief and blessing to the people of England, and so wholesome and nutritious a root, is scarcely seen in the French markets, but there is a great abundance of Jerusalem artichokes. Of cabbages, except the red sort and the savoy, the French do not seem fond, nor did I once see sprouts in the markets, nor any stalks reserved in the public gardens. To make amends for this, however, the large red onion and garlick are in profusion, and the sweet white onion of Languedoc, leeks, rocambole and escalots are much in use. It has been observed that the northern people of Europe are very fond of the cabbage, which is a native of the north, and certainly thrives best in cold countries. On the other hand the inhabitants of the south prefer the onion, because the heat, which gives rankness to the cabbage, makes the onion mild. The beech-kail which grows wild on the sea-shore is also ripened and made much more tender and palatable by the cold. Leeks are smaller here than with us, yet they are thrice as long, being planted earlier and deeper, and blanched with greater ease. There is no plant of the onion kind so hardy as the leek, and on that account so proper for the cold mountains, as is shewn by the use which the Welch in all ages have made of it. It is moreover celebrated for its medicinal properties, and is very efficacious against spitting of blood, and all disorders of the throat and lungs. |