Temporary record

The author of this diary, known only by his surname, recounts his travels in England and France in late 1830 and early 1831. He was particularly interested in architecture, as evidenced by several very detailed descriptions of a variety of English castles. He even included a hand-drawn plan of Kenilworth Castle. Steele also visited the most popular spots in London and made a pilgrimage to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare's tomb. In France, he continued his descriptions of native architecture, though with some distaste. In line with his anglophilic tendencies, he considered most French architecture to be hedonistic or even vulgar. He describes the Palais Royal in the following manner: "the Palais Royal is to Paris what Paris is to every other metropolis in the world. the [sic] ne plus ultra of pleasure and vice." Steele was in Paris in February, 1831, and he watched mobs destroy the Church of St.Germaine l'Auxerois and the archbishop's residence next to Notre Dame. The violence was inspired by dissatisfaction with Louis Phillipe's reforms of July, 1830. Steele concluded that these riots would eventually lead to Louis' abdication, but his predictions proved too extreme. Louis remained in power, though the violence caused him to shy away from the policies of republican reform with which he had experimented. This diary, then, has value not only as a record of an American's reaction to Europe, but also as an eye-witness account of an important event in French political history.

M-2196a

Subjects

Architecture
France--Description and travel
France--Politics and government
France. Sovereigns. Louis XVIII
Great Britain--Description and travel
Kenilworth Castle

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