Wednesday 25th June 1834

Up at 7. breakfasted 8.15 wrote journal, off at 15 to 10…  [in pencil: for Fossard -] country very beautiful to Joigny – hillside planted with vines, diversified with small strips sown with wheat, barley &c. – At Sens got some Cofé [Café] au lait, & saw Cathedral. a very fine monument of the Dauphin son of Louis 15th by Coustou, his chef d’ouvre [oeuvre], opposite the Altar is the figure of Religion & that of Immortality holding the compass with which it appears to measure with attention the surface of the globe. &

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one recognises Immortality by the crown upon her head, but still more by the circle she holds in her hand. She appears to occupy herself in forming with complacency a bundle of symbolical attributes of different virtues which characterised the Dauphin such as the balance of Justice, the mirror & serpent of Prudence the bed of purity & candour &c – Religion is known by the cross in her hand, & the veil upon her head, her right hand rests upon two urns which she contemplates, a crown of stars symbolical of celestial rewards. This figure is full of majesty & sweetness &the draperies are admirable. On the back part of the pedestal one sees Time standing upon ruins & debris of every kind which he tramples under his feet. By means of this elevation he has already enveloped in his veil one of the urns, the Dauphin dying first, & one sees him endeavouring to extend it over that of the Dauphine, who was living when this Mausoleum was begun & who preferred the model of it to many others – At the side of Time is conjugal love, under the figure of a young man, he holds the torch of Hymen extinguished & reversed & regards with grief a child who so afflicts himself by the sight, as to break, a wreath of flowers in his hands symbolical of the union of the spouse – This part of the mausoleum is most rich in composition & of the most dignified & affecting expression. The figure of Time is boldly developped delivered with strength, & learnedly contrasted with that of conjugal love – This contrast gives effect & warmth to all that part of the Mausoleum, it puts itself in opposition with the anterior which is as it ought to be more dignified & grave – on the sides of the pedestal are engraved the Epitaphs of the Dauphin & the Dauphine written by Cardinal de Luynes, Archbishop of Sens. 1st almoner (formerly) to the Dauphine – under the epitaphs are [word crossed out] emblazoned their escutcheons. without any other ornament than branches of Cypress which are preciously finished.

Monsieur Coustou the artist died in 1777 aged 61. The figures of Religion & Hymen were executed by Julian celebrated sculptor brought up by Coustou.

Epitaph

Here lies, the excellent Prince

Louis Dauphin.

Having acquired in the flower of his age

All that maturity requires

for governing.

In spite of the ardent prayers which

Which all France offered to God,

during his sickness.

Death, jealous of our happiness

Took him from us –

Thus France weeps for a Prince

Adorned with all the gifts of Nature

Versed in all the Sciences

Which are the resource of Kings.

Passionately fond of his country

and the people

Whom he was one day to govern

The most respectful

towards his august father.

A faithful husband.

A Father who made it a duty

To form himself

His august children to virtue

By his precets [precepts] & example

That Religion weeps for a Prince

Who, not content

To hear merely the name of Christian

Rendered it still more venerable

by the sanctity of his works

Who, from his earliest youth

Always possessed the most pure manners

Commendable by profound

Religion towards God

And the most exact observation

And the utmost fidelity to his holy law –

Full of the most lively faith

Of the firmest hope,

The most ardent charity

He was seen to approach his end

With heroism, truly Christian.

Absolutely despising all earthly things

Sighing with all his soul

After the possession of eternal worth

Full of heavenly consolation

He died

Leaving inexpressible regret

20 December year Notre Seigneur 1765.

Aged 36 years 3 months & a half –

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Maria-Joseph of Saxe

Dauphine of France

Whose grief for the death of

Her husband is irremediable

Wished to be interred after her death,

in the same tomb –

In order that the reunion of their ashes

Might remain to posterity          

An eternal monument

of their mutual love.

Equal to Her husband

In virtues as in tenderness

Yielding at last

To the bitterness of grief

She died

Worthy of all our regret

13 March 1767. Notre Seigneur

aged 35.

And having wished to preserve

her conjugal [word crossed out] vows even after her death,

She was deposited the 23rd of the same

month & the same year

In this tomb,

Which we have bathed with tears.

The dead rest in Peace.

[double horizontal line drawn]

One cannot help admiring the noble & imposing architecture of this cathedral, of which St. Anastatius, archbishop of this city, began the foundations 972. It was completely finished under the Episcopacy of Tristan de Salazar 1532 – his tomb is in the Cathedral  Three beautiful roses, in painted glass, placed above the side door, one also remarks; that of the north side representing Paradise is the most esteemed – In the Chapel of St. Eutropius are also glass windows very much admired by connoi[s]seurs, they were painted by the celebrated John Cousin, one of the founders of the french school, who was born at Soucy near Sens. The high altar of the choir, & the magnificent drapery which crowns it were put up in 1742 under the design of Servandoni. 

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Country about Joigny remarkably pretty – arrived at Joigny [gap] walked to the Church, neat & small, two Oleanders on each side of the Altar, a very old tomb, five women regarding it two of them the Marys – at one end of it, the man holding the Sponge, at the other the crown of thorns Our Saviour cut in marble on the top of the tomb, & even the blood streaming from his side, & the [word crossed out] incisions of the nails in his hands & feet represented – Walked on boulevard – a very fine bridge – dinner at 8 – very comfortable rooms, good – dinner & vin ordinaire. 

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale WYC:1525/7/1/5/1/10 & 11

[up at] 8 1/2

[to bed at] 11

no kiss crept into my own separate bed without kissing or awaking her – very fine morning Fahrenheit 78° at 8 1/2 a.m. breakfast till 9 3/4 off from Fontainebleau 10 13/.. – at Moret at 11 10/.., nice little walled ville with large square tower remaining of old castle – picturesque old porte de ville at each end of the goodish street we passed thro’ – very pretty close round the ville – good old bridge (stone) over broad shallow Loing with its poplared banks, and mills, and washerwomen – and a little beyond bridge over good navigable canal – At Sens at 3 35/.. – sent the carriage to La poste and Adney and I stopt at café (just on entering the ville) and in 3/4 hour milk got (sought at 5 or 6 places) and boiled and Adny had had café au lait which warmed her and took off her sensation of faintness – the woman had coffee ready made in the morning and kept in a pot-jar pour la fraîcheur – she made it by pouring over at least 1/4 a litre full of coffee a litre of boiling water (a litre is about an English pint) thro’ a strainer – the café au lait was very good – then saw the handsome cathedral – the monument in the choir to the memory of the dauphin and the daup[h]iness father and mother of Louis 16, very fine – worthy of being the chef d’œuvre of Coustou – In the carriage again and off at 4 10/.. – Sens is a nice little ville – chiefly one good long street thro’ which we passed terminated by 2 belles portes de ville the country around agreeable, closed in by a beautifully shaped range of limestone or chalk hill beautifully covered with corn and vine and pretty well wooded – soon see the Yonne a broad shallow stream (here and there reeds peeping up in the very middle of it) flowing thro’ a fine valley – the vine clad woody hills with stripes of corn, very pretty – very pretty drive from Sens to Villeneuve Leroy – a little ville, much smaller than Sens, but with 2 portes de ville, as at Sens – At Joigny at 7 10/.. – beautiful drive along the fine valley of Yonne all the way from Sens to Joigny – we had a most agreeable shady drive, chiefly thro’ the forest from Chailly to Fontainebleau, and partly thro’ the forest from Fontainebleau to Fossard a nice little town – ordered dinner at Joigny (Hotel des 5 mineurs in the faubourg on this side the 7 arched handsome stone bridge over the Yonne) and Miss Walker and I walked back into the town and up the steep narrow streets to the church not very large but remarkable for its very lofty nave – the chateau was destroyed in the 1^st revolution – then walked along the pretty Elm shaded public promenade along the river – (soldiers at drill on the ground near it) – out 50 minutes and pretty good dinner at 8 35/.. – had our bottle of champagne we brought from my cave rue St. Victor – wants drinking – very fine day – Fahrenheit 72° at 10 35/.. p.m. –

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale, SH:7/ML/E/17/0046