Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1785-05-03
Mr. A: went to Versailles, it being Ambassador's Day. As he was passing through an entry
at the Count de Vergennes's, a Servant presented him a small canister, containing perhaps a
little more than half a pound of tea, and ask'd him if he did not want some very excellent
tea, that had come through Russia, by land from China; my father could not Refuse it, and
enquired the price. Un Louis, Monsieur, said the fellow very
coolly; and in that manner he put every one of the foreign Ministers to contri-262bution, even in the House, of the King of France's prime Minister. I
don't know whether such practices correspond, with their ideas of dignity; if so they are
very different from mine.