After obtaining an order from the municipality, we went to see the
gardens and palace of the Bishop, who has emigrated. The garden has
nothing very remarkable, but is large and well laid out, according to the
old style. It forms a very agreeable walk, and, when the Bishop possest
it, was open for the enjoyment of the inhabitants, but it is now shut up
and in disorder. The house is plain, and substantially furnished, and
exhibits no appearance of unbecoming luxury. The whole is now the
property of the nation, and will soon be disposed of.--I could not help
feeling a sensation of melancholy as we walked over the apartments.
Every thing is marked in an inventory, just as left; and an air of
arrangement and residence leads one to reflect, that the owner did not
imagine at his departure he was quitting it perhaps for ever. I am not
partial to the original emigrants, yet much may be said for the Bishop of
Arras. He was pursued by ingratitude, and marked for persecution. The
Robespierres were young men whom he had taken from a mean state, had
educated, and patronized. The revolution gave them an opportunity of
displaying their talents, and their talents procured them popularity.
They became enemies to the clergy, because their patron was a Bishop; and
endeavoured to render their benefactor odious, because the world could
not forget, nor they forgive, how much they were indebted to him.
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