 | Letters of Mrs. Adams, |  |
Your letter by way of Amsterdam had a quick
passage, and was matter of great pleasure to me.
I thank you for all your kind and friendly communications,
by which you carry my imagination back
to my friends and acquaintance, who were never
dearer to me than they now are, though so far
distant from me.
I have really commiserated the unhappy refugees
more than ever, and think no severer punishment
need to be inflicted upon any mortals than that of
banishment from their country and friends. Were
it my case, I should pray for death and oblivion.
The consolation which Bolingbroke comforted himself
with would afford me little satisfaction; for,
though the same heavens were spread over me
and the same sun enlightened me, I should see the
heavens covered with darkness, and the sun bereft
of its splendor.
We reside here at this village, four miles distant
from Paris. It is a very agreeable summer situation,
but in winter I should prefer Paris, on many
accounts; but upon none more than that of society.
The Americans who are in France, and with whom
I have any acquaintance, all reside in Paris; they
would frequently fall in and spend an evening with
us; but to come four miles, unless by particular
invitation, is what they do not think of; so that our
evenings, which are very long, are wholly by ourselves.
You cannot wonder that we all long for the
social friends whom we left in America, whose
places are not to be supplied in Europe. I wish
our worthy and sensible parson could visit us as he
used to do in America; his society would be very
precious to us here.
I go into Paris sometimes to the plays, of which
I am very fond; but I so severely pay for it, that I
refrain many times upon account of my health. It
never fails giving rne a severe headache, and that in
proportion as the house is thin or crowded, one, two,
or three days after. We make it a pretty general
rule to entertain company once a week. (I do not
call a transient friend or acquaintance dining, by
that name.) Upon those occasions, our company
consists of fifteen, eighteen, or twenty, which commonly
costs us as many guineas as there are persons.
You will naturally be surprised at this, as I
was when I first experienced it; but my weekly
bills, all of which pass through my hands, and are
paid by me, convince me of it. Every American
makes his visit, and pays his respects, to the American
ministers; all of whom, in return, you must dine.
Then there are the foreign ministers, from the different
courts, who reside here, and some French
gentlemen. In short, there is no end of the expense,
which a person in a public character is obliged to
be at. Yet our countrymen think their ministers
are growing rich. Believe me, my dear sister, I
am more anxious for my situation than I was before
I came abroad. I then hoped that my husband, in
his advanced years, would have been able to have
laid up à little without toiling perpetually; and, had
I been with him from the first, he would have done
it when the allowance of Congress was more liberal
than it now is; but cutting off five hundred
[guineas] at one blow, and at the same time increasing
our expenses, by removing us from place
to place, is more than we are able to cope with, and
I sec no prospect but we must be losers at the end
of the year. We are now cleverly situated. I have
got a set of servants as good as I can expect to find;
such as I am pretty well satisfied with; but I abprehend,
that, in the month of January, we shall, be
obliged to give up our house, dismiss our servants,
and make a journey to England. This is not yet
fully agreed upon; but, I suppose the next letters
from the Court of England will determine it; and
this has been Mr. Adams's destiny ever since he
came abroad. His health, which has suffered greatly
in the repeated attacks of the fevers he has had,
genteel lodgings in Paris under twenty-five or
thirty guineas a month; which is much dearer than
we give for this house, besides the comfort of having
your family to yourself. When I speak of twenty-five
and thirty guineas per month, not a mouthful of
food is included.
As to speaking French, I make but little progress
in that; but I have acquired much more facility
in reading it. My acquaintance with French
ladies is very small. The Marquise de la Fayette
was in the country when I first came, and continued
out until November. Immediately upon her coming
into Paris, I called and paid my compliments to her.
She is a very agreeable lady, and speaks English
with tolerable ease. We sent our servant, as is the
custom, with our names, into the house, to inquire If
she was at home. We were informed that she was
not. The carriage was just turning from the door,
when a servant came running out to inform us that
Madame would be glad to see us; upon which Mr.
Adams carried me in and introduced me. The
Marquise met me at the door, and with the freedom
of an old acquaintance, and the rapture peculiar to
the ladies of this nation, caught me by the hand and
gave me a salute upon each cheek, most heartily
rejoiced to see me. You would have supposed I
had been some long absent friend, whom she dearly
loved. She presented me to her mother and sister,
who were present with her, all sitting together in
her bed-room, quite en famille. One of the ladies
gown. She is a middle-sized lady, sprightly and
agreeable; and professes herself strongly attached
to Americans. She supports an amiable character,
is fond of her children, and very attentive to
them, which is not the general character of ladies
of high rank in Europe. In a few days, she returned
my visit, upon which we sent her a card of
invitation to dine. She came; we had a large
company. There is not a lady in our country,
who would have gone abroad to dine so little
dressed; and one of our fine American ladies, who
sat by me, whispered to me, "Good Heavens! how
awfully she is dressed." I could not forbear returning
the whisper, which I most sincerely despised,
by replying, that the lady's rank sets her
above the little formalities of dress. She had on a
brown Florence gown and petticoat,—which is the
only silk, excepting satins, which are worn here in
winter,—a plain double gauze handkerchief, a
pretty cap, with a white ribbon in it, and looked
very neat. The rouge, 't is true, was not so artfully
laid on, as upon the faces of the American ladies
who were present. Whilst they were glittering
with diamonds, watch-chains, girdle-buckles, &c.,
the Marquise was nowise ruffled by her own different
appearance. A really well-bred French lady
has the most ease in her manners, that you can
possibly conceive of. It is studied by them as an
art, and they render it nature. It requires some
time, you know, before any fashion quite new becomes
ladies has the most taste and variety in it, of any
I have yet seen; but these are topics I must reserve
to amuse my young acquaintance with. I have
seen none, however, who carry the extravagance of
dress to such a height as the Americans who are
here, some of whom, I have reason to think, live at
an expense double what is allowed to the American
ministers. They must, however, abide the consequences.
Mr. Jefferson has been sick, and confined to his
house for six weeks. He is upon the recovery,
though very weak and feeble. Dr. Franklin is
much afflicted with his disorder, which prevents his
going abroad, unless when the weather will permit
him to walk.
| Letters of Mrs. Adams, | |