An Irish Peer on the Continent (1801-1803) - Catherine Wilmot

Excerpt from An Irish Peer on the Continent (1801-1803): Being a Narrative of the Tour of Stephen, 2nd Earl Mount Cashell, Through France, Italy, Etc
The following narrative was written in circumstances in some respects similar to the present day. England had made peace with her greatest European rival, and the Continent being again open to travel, crowds were flocking abroad.
At this time there were special reasons to draw the world to France. The War of 1793-1801, the first phase of the Napoleonic campaigns, had precluded travelling in that country, and, taking into consideration the disturbances there since 1789, it may be said to have been closed to tourists for almost a decade.
During that period epoch-making events had taken place. A monarchy hallowed by centuries of tenure had been swept away; the forces that then triumphed had been in their turn displaced; and that amazing sequence of events known as the French Revolution had effectually overturned every existing institution. It would seem as if, when modern ideals had failed, man had turned to classic models. France threw off the tyranny of the most Christian King for the thinly-veiled despotism of a pagan Republic, with its Consuls, its Senators, its Temple to Mars, its toga-clad officials, its Eagles for standards; it demanded that the very world should begin anew, and, having renounced the Christian era, it formulated the Revolutionary Calendar.
In the English Press these events were duly chronicled and unduly exaggerated.
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