rs of the nobility, were publicly burnt in _la Place Vendome_,
after due notice had been given of the time and place by advertisements
pasted against the walls. A wicked wag observed, that it was a pity all
their books of divinity, and almost all those of law and physic, were
not added to the pile but he comforted himself with reflecting that _ca
viendra_.

All the coats of arms which formerly decorated the gates of _Hotels_ are
taken away, and even seals are at present engraven with cyphers only.

_The Chevaliers de St. Louis_ still continue to wear the cross, or the
ribband, at the button-hole; all other orders of knighthood are
abolished. No liveries are worn by servants, that badge of slavery is
likewise abolished; and also all corporation companies, as well as
every other monopolizing society; and there are no longer any _Royal_
tobacco nor salt shops.

I went once to the _Cafe de la Regence_,[16] with the intention of
playing a game at chess, but I found the chess-men so very little
different in colour, that I could not distinguish them sufficiently to
be able to play. It seems it is the fashion for chess-men at present to
be made of box-wood, and all nearly of the same colour. I then went to
another coffee-house frequented by chess-players, and here the matter
was worse; they had, in addition to the above-mentioned fashion,
substituted the _cavalier_, or _knight_, for the _fou_, or _bishop_, and
the _bishop_ for the _knight_, so that I left them to fight their own
battles.

[Note 16: Rousseau used to play at chess here almost every day,
which attracted such crowds of people to see him, that the _Lieutenant
de Police_ was obliged to place a sentinel at the door.]

Books of all sorts are printed without any _approbation_ or _privilege_.
Many are exposed on stalls, which are very improper for the public eye.
One of these was called the _Private Life of the Queen_, in two volumes,
with obscene prints. The book itself is contemptible and disgusting, and
might as well have been called the _Woman of Pleasure_. Of books of this
sort I saw above thirty, with plates. Another was on a subject not fit
even to be mentioned.

I read a small pamphlet, entitled "_le Christ-Roi_, or a Parallel of the
Sufferings of Lewis XVI. &c." I can say nothing in favor of it.

I found no new deistical books, the subject has already been exhausted,
and every Frenchman is a philosopher now; it may be necessary here to
recollect, that th