“ Here I am, Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison quarrée, like a lover at his mistress. the stocking weavers & silk-spinners around it consider me as a hypocondriac Englishman, about to write, with a pistol, the last chapter of his history. this is the second time I have been in love since I left Paris. the first was with a Diana at the Chateau de Laye-Epinaye in Beaujolois. a delicious morsel of sculpture, by M. A. Slodtz. this you will say was in rule, to fall in love with a female beauty, but, with a house! it is out of all precedent. no, madam, it is not without a precedent, in my own history. while in Paris, I was violently smitten with the Hotel de Salm, and used to go to the Thuileries almost daily to look at it . . .

" . . . loving, as you do Madam, the precious remains of antiquity, loving architecture, gardening, a warm sun & a clear sky I wonder you have never thought of moving Chaville to Nismes. this, as you know, has not always been deemed impracticable; and therefore the next time a Surintendant des batiments du roi, after the example of M. Colbert, sends persons to Nismes to move the Maison Carrée to Paris, that they may not return empty handed, desire them to bring Chaville with them to replace it . . . ” [See illustration]

In a letter to Thomas Lee Shippen, at the time touring in Switzerland, dated from Paris, September 29, 1788, Jefferson wrote: “ . . . I am sorry you are obliged to abridge your tour. with respect to your route from Milan to London, on which you are pleased to consult me, I would certainly prefer Genoa, thence along the coast to Nice (absolutely by land in defiance of all the persuasions you will be exposed to to go by water) thence to Toulon & Marseilles. there it will depend on your time, whether you will go by Nismes, the Canal of Languedoc (in the post boat) Bordeaux, Paris & Calais, or whether you must come on directly from Marseilles to Paris & Calais. but even in the latter case, make the small deviation to Nismes, to see the most perfect remains of antiquity which exist on earth . . . ”

In his Memorandums taken on a journey from Paris into the Southern parts of France, and Northern of Italy, in the year 1787 , Jefferson recorded his visit to Nîmes under dates March 19 to 23, but made no mention of the Maison Carrée. The entry reads in part: . . . at Nismes, the earth is full of limestone. they use square yokes as in Dauphiné. the horses are shorn. they are now pruning the olive. a very good tree produces 60. lb of olives, which yield 15. lb of oil: the best quality selling at 12 ^s the lb retail, & 10 ^s. wholesale. the high hills of Languedoc still covered with snow. the horse-chestnut & mulberry are leafing; apple trees & peas blossoming. the first butterfly I have seen. after the vernal equinox they are often 6. or 8. months without any rain. many separate farmhouses, numbers of people in rags, & abundance of beggars. the Miné of wheat, weighing 30. lb costs 4-10 ^s. wheat bread 3 ^s. the pound. vin ordinaire, good & of a strong body 2 ^s. or 3 ^s. the bottle. oranges 1 ^s. apiece. they are nearly finishing at Nismes a grist mill worked by a steam engine . . .

Jean François Dieudonné de Maucomble, 1735-1768. The criticism aroused by this book caused the author to abandon his project of writing similarly the histories of other cities of France. The second edition, 1806, was published with the author’s name on the title-page.

Entered by Jefferson in his undated manuscript catalogue, with the price, 3.0.

James [ or John James] Rutledge, 1743-1794, a publicist of Irish descent, resident in Paris. For another work by him and a note, see no. 2685.