Note: This blog post is based on the first draft of part 4 of my forthcoming paper with Alain Alcouffe, “Adam Smith and the salons of pre-revolutionary Paris” (footnotes omitted):

Located just a few steps from the Rue du Colombier was the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld (formerly, the Hôtel de Liancourt), the Paris townhouse of one of Adam Smith’s Geneva contacts, Louise Elisabeth de La Rochefoucauld (1716-1797), Madame la duchesse d’Enville. Although she was little-remembered until the recent studies of Michèle Crogiez (2018) and Daniel Vaugelade (2002), in her lifetime she was a well-known salonnière and femme de lettres who hosted and corresponded with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Adam Smith. Her Paris townhouse, the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld, was located on the rue de Seine in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, just around the corner from the Rue du Colombier.

Her hôtel particulier was originally built in 1623 for the Count of Liancourt, who bequeathed it to his nephew, François de La Rochefoucauld, and it remained in the de La Rochefoucauld family until it was confiscated by the Revolution. As it happens, the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld and its surrounding gardens—even a fountain and the individual trees in the garden—are represented in the Turgot map, a close-up of which is presented below:

So, did Adam Smith visit the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld during his sojourn in Paris in 1766? How could he not have? Described as “a woman of great ability” and a “devoted friend of Turgot” (Rae 1895, p. 192), she first befriended Adam Smith during his sojourn in Geneva in late 1765. In summary, according to Dugald Stewart (1793, III.10; Wightman 1982, p. 303), it was in Geneva that Adam Smith “received many attentions” from the duchesse. For his part, John Rae (1895, p. 192) goes further. According to Rae, Smith was a “steady guest” at her house during his sojourn in Geneva. (See also Alcouffe & Guerra-Pujol, forthcoming.)

Accordingly, given their pre-existing friendship, the fact that both Smith and the duchesse found themselves in Paris for most of 1766, and the geographical proximity of their Parisian townhouses (see the close-up of Plate 11 of the Turgot map, pictured above), it is highly likely that Adam Smith attended the Duchesse d’Enville’s salon in Paris. Also, given the close friendship between the Duchesse d’Enville and the intendant Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, it is likely that it was here—in the salon of the Duchesse d’Enville—that Adam Smith met the influential free-market économiste.

Alas, the Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld was demolished after the Revolution in 1825. Today, this stretch of the rue de Seine, situated in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, is popular among tourists, since it is so close to many famed Parisian landmarks, including the Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, and the Jardin du Luxembourg. For visual reference, pictured below are the original façade (as seen from the rue de Seine) and ground-floor plan of the original Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld (Hôtel de Liancourt) before it was torn down in 1825: