Dined at Mr. Jefferson's. Masks in the rue de Fauxbourg St. Antoine and
in the ruë St. Honoré.1 With reason, are the
Parisians called by all the rest of the Nation badauds2 de Paris, for nothing can be conceived more stupid, than this
Carnaval amusement. An hundred people perhaps run about the streets in masks, and there are
ten thousand people without masks looking upon them: it is said however that this diversion
is going much out of fashion; and that the Police, are obliged to hire a vast number of
People, to set the example: two thirds of the Masks, are paid, say they. Thus does this
government take every measure imaginable, to keep the eyes of the People shut, upon their
own situation: and they really do it very effectually.
2211.
A pre-Lenten carnival culminating in a masked ball that evening (AA2, Jour. and Corr., 1:46–47).