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John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Docno: AFC03d218
Recipient: Adams, Thomas Boylston
Date: 1780-02-22
[dateline] Passy February the 22d 1780
[salute] My dear Brother
I am once more settled down in a school and am very content with my situation. I was the other night at the Foire St Germain in Paris which is a publick place and full of curiosities.1 We went and saw a Woman who (in truth) was not very tall but who weigh'd 450 weight. The large part of her arm was as big round as my body and she cover'd With her thumb a Crown peice. Her thimble was big enough to put my thumbs in to and so was her ring which she wore on her little finger.
{p. 280}
[salute] As I must write to all my Freinds I can write only a short Letter to each and must conclude in subscribing myself your affectionate Brother,
[signed] John Quincy Adams
1. An account of this annual winter fair appears in Thiéry, Almanach du voyageur à Paris
, p. 290:
“La Foire S. Germain, située dans le voisinage de S. Sulpice, à I'extrémité de la rue de Tournon, fut établie par Louis XI dès 1'an 1482, & donnée à 1'Abbaye S. Germain-des-Près. Elle ouvre le 3 Février, & dure jusqu'à la veille du Dimanche des Rameaux. C'est un quarré régulier, percé de rues couvertes qui rendent les unes dans les autres. Ces rues sont garnies de boutiques occupées par des Marchands, des Cafés, des Jeux & des Spectacles, tels que les Variétés amusantes, l'Ambigu-Comique, les Danseurs de corde, le Waux-Hall d'hiver, &c. La quantité de monde qui s'y rend, présente un coup-d'oeil fort gracieux.
“On y vend toutes sortes de choses. Cette Foire est franche, & tous Marchands de dehors peuvent y venir vendre leurs merchandises.”
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/