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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/21256-8.txt b/21256-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0136c56 --- /dev/null +++ b/21256-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6854 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels through the South of France and the +Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808, by Lt-Col. Pinkney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 + +Author: Lt-Col. Pinkney + +Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21256] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH OF FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + + + + + + + +TRAVELS THROUGH THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, + +AND + +IN THE INTERIOR OF THE PROVINCES + +OF + +PROVENCE AND LANGUEDOC, IN THE YEARS 1807 AND 1808, + +BY A ROUTE NEVER BEFORE PERFORMED, BEING ALONG THE BANKS OF + +THE LOIRE, THE ISERE, AND THE GARONNE, + +THROUGH THE GREATER PART OF THEIR COURSE. + +MADE BY PERMISSION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. + +BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PINKNEY, OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE RANGERS. + +_LONDON_: + +PRINTED FOR T. PURDAY AND SON, NO. 1, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND TO BE HAD OF +ALL BOOKSELLERS: BY B. McMILLAN, BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1809. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. I. + +_Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular +Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during +the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais_ + +CHAP. II. + +_Morning View of Port--Arrival and landing--A Day at Calais--French +Market, and Prices of Provisions_ + +CHAP. III. + +_Purchase of a Norman Horse--Visit in the Country--Family of +a French Gentleman--Elegance of French domestic Economy--Dance +on the Green--Return to Calais_ + +CHAP. IV. + +_French Cottages--Ludicrous Exhibition--French Travellers--Chaise +de Poste--Posting in France--Departure from Calais--Beautiful +Vicinity of Boulogne_ + +CHAP. V. + +_Boulogne--Dress of the Inhabitants--The Pier--Theatre--Caution +in the Exchange of Money--Beautiful Landscape, and +Conversation with a French Veteran_--_Character of Mr. +Parker's Hotel_--_Departure, and romantic Road_--_Fête Champetre +in a Village on a Hill at Montreuil_--_Ruined Church and +Convent_, + +CHAP. VI. + +_Departure from Montreuil_--_French Conscripts_--_Extreme Youth_--_Excellent +Roads_--_Country Labourers_--_Court for the Claims +of Emigrants_--_Abbeville_--_Companion on the Road_--_Amiens_, + + +CHAP. VII. + +_General Character of the Town_--_Public Walk_--_Gardens_--_Half-yearly +Fair_--_Gaining Houses_--_Table d'Hôtes_--_English at +Amiens_--_Expence of Living_, + +CHAP. VIII. + +_French and English Roads compared_--_Gaiety of French +Labourers_--_Breteuil_--_Apple-trees +in the midst of Corn-fields_--_Beautiful +Scenery_--_Cheap Price of Land in France_--_Clermont_--_Bad +Management of the French Farmers_--_Chantilly_-_Arrival +at Paris_, + +CHAP. IX. + +_A Week in Paris_--_Objects and Occurrences_--_National Library_--_A +French Rout_--_Fashionable French Supper_--_Conceits_--_Presentation +at Court_--_Audience_, + +CHAP. X. + +_Departure from Paris for the Loire_--_Breakfast at Palaiseau_--_A +Peasant's Wife_--_Rambouillet_--_Magnificent Chateau_--_French +Curé_--_Chartres_--_Difference of Old French and English +Towns--Subterraneous Church_--_Curious Preservation of +the Dead_--_Angers_--_Arrival at Nantes_, + +CHAP. XI. + +_Nantes_--_Beautiful Situation_--_Analogy of Architecture with the +Character of its Age_--_Singular Vow of Francis the Second_--_Departure +from Nantes_--_Country between Nantes and Angers_--_Angers_, + +CHAP. XII. + +_Angers_--_Situation_--_Antiquity and Face of the Town_--_Grand_ +_Cathedral_--_Markets_--_Prices of Provisions_--_Public Walks_--_Manners +and Diversions of the Inhabitants--Departure from_ +_Angers_--_Country between Angers and Saumur_--_Saumur_, + +CHAP. XIII. + +_Tours_--_Situation and general Appearance of it_--_Origin of the +Name of Huguenots_--_Cathedral Church of St. Martin_--_The +Quay_--_Markets_--_Public Walk_--_Classes of +Inhabitants_--_Environs_--_Expences +of Living_--_Departure from Tours_--_Country +between Tours and Amboise_, + +CHAP. XIV. + +_Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois--Ecures_--_Beautiful +Village_--_French Harvesters--Chousi_--_Village +Inn_--_Blois_--_Situation_--_Church_--_Market_--_Price +of Provisions_, + +CHAP. XV. + +_Houses in Chalk Hills_--_Magnificent Castle at Chambord_--_Return +from Chambord by Moon-light_--_St. Laurence on the +Waters_, + +CHAP. XVI. + +_Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns--Tremendous +Hail Storm_--_Country Masquerade_--_La Charité_--_Beauty +and Luxuriance of its Environs_--_Nevers_--_Fille-de-Chambre_--_Lovely +Country between Nevers and Moulins_-_Treading +Corn_--_Moulins_--_Price of Provisions_ + +CHAP. XVII. + +_Country between Moulins and Rouane_--_Bresle_--_Account of the +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois_--_Climate_--_Face +of the Country_--_Soil_--_Natural Produce_--_Agricultural Produce_--_Kitchen +Garden--French Yeomen--Landlords_--_Price +of Land_--_Leases_--_General Character of the French Provincial +Farmers_ + +CHAP. XVIII. + +_Lyons_--_Town-Hall_--_Hotel de Dieu_--_Manufactories_--_Price of +Provisions_--_State of Society_--_Hospitality to Strangers_--_Manners_--_Mode +of Living_--_Departure_--_Vienne_--_French Lovers_ + + +CHAP. XIX. + +_Avignon_--_Situation_--_Climate_--_Streets and Houses_--_Public +Buildings_--_Palace_--_Cathedral_--_Petrarch and Laura_--_Society +at Avignon--Ladies_--_Public Walks-_--_Prices of Provisions_--_Markets_ + + +CHAP. XX. + +_Departure from Avignon_--_Olive and Mulberry Fields_--_Orgon_--_St. +Canat_--_French Divorces_--_Inn at St. +Canat_--_Aix_--_Situation_--_Cathedral_--_Society_--_Provisions_--_Price +of Land--Marseilles_--_Conclusion_ + + + + +A + +TOUR, + +&c. &c. + + + + +CHAP. I. + +_Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular +Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during +the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais._ + + +FROM my earliest life I had most anxiously wished to visit France--a +country which, in arts and science, and in eminent men, both of former +ages and of the present times, stands in the foremost rank of civilized +nations. What a man wishes anxiously, he seldom fails, at one period or +other, to accomplish. An opportunity at length occurred--the situation +of my private affairs, as well as of my public duties, admitted of my +absence. + +I embarked at Baltimore for Liverpool in the month of April, 1807. The +vessel, which was a mere trader, and which had likewise some connexions +at Calais, was to sail for Liverpool in the first instance, and thence, +after the accomplishment of some private affairs, was to pass to Calais, +and thence home. I do not profess to understand the business of +merchants; but I must express my admiration at the ingenuity with which +they defy and elude the laws of all countries. I suppose, however, that +this is considered as perfectly consistent with mercantile honour. Every +trader has a morality of his own; and without any intention of +depreciating the mercantile class, so far I must be allowed to say, that +the merchants are not very strict in their morality. Trade may improve +the wealth of a nation, but it most certainly does not improve their +morals. + +The Captain with whom I sailed was a true character. Captain Eliab +Jones, as he related his history to me, was the son of a very +respectable clergyman in the West of England. His mother died when he +was a boy about twelve years of age, leaving his father with a very +large family. The father married again. Young Eliab either actually was, +or fancifully believed himself to be, ill-treated by his step-mother. +Under this real or imaginary suffering he eloped from his father's +house; and making the best of his way for a sea-port, bound himself +apprentice to the master of a coasting vessel. In this manner he +continued to work, to use his own expressions, like a galley-slave for +five years, when he obtained the situation of mate of an Indiaman. He +progressively rose, till he happened unfortunately to quarrel with his +Captain, which induced him to quit the service of the Company. In the +course of his voyages to India, and in the Indian seas, he made what he +thought an important discovery relative to the southern whale fishery: +he communicated it to a mercantile house upon his return, and was +employed by them in the speculation. He now, however, became unfortunate +for the first time: his ship was wrecked off the island of Olaheite, and +the crew and himself compelled to remain for two or three years on that +barbarous but beautiful island. + +Such is the outline of Captain Eliab's adventures, with the detail of +which he amused me during our voyage. His character, however, deserves +some mention. If there is an honest man under the canopy of Heaven, it +was Captain Eliab; but his honesty was so plain and downright, so simple +and unqualified, that I know not how to describe it than by the plain +terms, that he was a strictly just and upright man. He had a sense of +honour--a natural feeling of what was right--which seemed extraordinary, +when compared with the irregular course of his life. Had he passed +through every stage of education, had he been formed from his childhood +to manhood under the anxious supervision of the most exemplary parents, +he could not have been more strict. I most sincerely hope, that it will +be hereafter my fortune to meet with this estimable man, and to +enumerate him amongst my friends. I must conclude this brief character +of him by one additional trait. A more pious Christian, but without +presbyterianism, did not exist than Captain Eliab. He attributed all his +good fortune to the blessing of Providence; and if any man was an +example that virtue, even in this life, has its reward, it was Captain +Eliab. In dangers common to many, he had repeatedly almost alone +escaped. + +I had no other companion but the worthy Captain: I was his only +passenger, and we passed much of our time in the reading of his voyages, +of which he had kept an ample journal. His education having been rude +and imperfect, the style of his writing was more forcible than pure or +correct. I thought his account so interesting, and in many points so +important, that I endeavoured to persuade him to give it to the public; +and to induce him to it, offered to assist him, during our voyage, in +putting it into form. The worthy man accepted my offer, but I found that +I had undertaken a work to which I was unequal. I laboured, however, +incessantly, and before our arrival had completed so much of it, as to +induce the Captain to put it into the hands of a bookseller, by whom, as +I have since understood, it was transferred into the hands of a literary +gentleman to complete. In some misfortune the manuscript has been lost; +and the Captain being in America, there is probably an end of it for +ever. All I can now say is, that the public have sustained an important +loss. + +In this employment our voyage, upon my part at least, passed +unperceived, and I was at Liverpool, before I was well sensible that I +had left America. Nothing is more tedious than a sea voyage, age, to +those whose minds, are intent only upon their passage. In travelling by +land, the mind is recreated by variety, and relieved by the novelty of +the successive objects which pass before it; but in a voyage by sea, it +is inconceivable how wearisome are the sameness and uniformity, which, +day after day, meet the eye. When I could not otherwise occupy my mind, +I endeavoured to force myself into a doze, that I might have a chance of +a dream. One of the best rules of philosophy is, that happiness is an +art--a science--a habit and quality of mind, which self-management may +in a great degree command and procure. Experience has taught me that +this is true. I had made many sea voyages before this, and therefore had +repeated proofs of the observation of Lord Bacon, that, of all human +progresses, nothing is so barren of all possibility of remark as a +voyage by sea; nothing, therefore, is so irksome, to a mind of any +vigour or activity. If a man, by long habit, has obtained the knack of +retiring into himself--of putting all his faculties to perfect rest, and +becoming like the mast of the vessel--a sea voyage may suit him; but to +those who cannot sleep in an hammock eighteen hours out of the +twenty-four, I would recommend any thing but travel by sea. Cato, as his +Aphorisms inform us, never repented but of two things; and the one was, +that he went a journey by sea when he might have gone it by land. + +The sight of land, after a long voyage, is delightful in the extreme; +and I experienced the truth of another remark, that it might be smelt as +we approached, even when beyond our sight. I do not know to what to +compare its peculiar odour, but the sensations very much resemble those +which are excited by the freshness of the country, after leaving a +thick-built and smoky city. The sea air is infinitely more sharp than +the land air; and as you approach the land, and compare the two, you +discover the greater humidity of the one. The sea air, however, has one +most extraordinary quality--it removes a cough or cold almost +instantaneously. The temperance, moreover, which it compels in those who +cannot eat sea provisions, is very conducive to health. + +We reached Liverpool without any accident; and as the Captain's business +was of a nature which would necessarily detain him for some days, I +availed myself of the opportunity, and visited the British metropolis. +No city has been more improved within a short period than London. When I +saw it before, which was in my earlier days, there were innumerable +narrow streets, and miserable alleys, where there are now squares, or +long and broad streets, reaching from one end of the town to the other: +I observed this particularly, in the long street which extends from +Charing Cross to the Parliament Houses. In England, both government and +people concur in this improvement. + +From London, finding I had sufficient time, I visited Canterbury, and +thence Dover. If I were to fix in England, it should be in Canterbury. +The country is rich and delightful; and the society, consisting chiefly +of those attached to the cathedral church, and to such of their families +as have fixed there, elegant, and well informed, I have heard, and I +believe it, that Salisbury and Canterbury are the two most elegant +towns, in this respect, in England, and that many wealthy foreigners +have in consequence made them their residence. + +Dover is an horrible place--a nest of fishermen and smugglers: a noble +beach is hampered by rope-works, and all the filth attendant upon them. +I never saw an excellent and beautiful natural situation so miserably +spoilt. + +The Captain being ready, and my necessary papers procured, I joined, and +having set sail, we were alternately tossed and becalmed for nearly +three weeks, and almost daily in sight of land. Some of the spring winds +in the English seas are very violent. A favourable breeze at length +sprung up, and we flew before the wind. "If this continues," said our +Captain, "we shall reach Calais before daylight." This was at sunset; +and we had been so driven to sea by a contrary wind on the preceding +day, that neither the coast of England nor France were visible. From +Dover to Calais the voyage is frequently made in four hours. + +Several observations very forcibly struck me in the course of my +passage, one of which I must be allowed to mention. I had repeatedly +heard, and now knew from experience, the immense superiority of the +English commerce over that of France and every nation in the world; but +till I had made this voyage, I never had a sufficient conception of the +degree of this superiority. I have no hesitation to say, that for one +French vessel there were two hundred English. The English fleet has +literally swept the seas of all the ships of their enemies; and a French +ship is so rare, as to be noted in a journal across the Atlantic, as a +kind of phenomenon. A curious question here suggests itself--Will the +English Government be so enabled to avail themselves of this maritime +superiority, as to counterweigh against the continental predominance of +the French Emperor?--Can the Continent be reconquered at sea?--Will the +French Emperor exchange the kingdoms of Europe for West India Colonies; +or is he too well instructed in the actual worth of these Colonies, to +purchase them at any price?--These questions are important, and an +answer to them might illustrate the fate of Europe, and the probable +termination of the war. + +I must not omit one advice to travellers by sea. The biscuit in a long +voyage becomes uneatable, and flower will not keep. I was advised by a +friend, as a remedy against this inconvenience, to take a large store of +what are called gingerbread nuts, made without yeast, and hotly spiced. +I kept them close in a tin cannister, and carefully excluded the air. I +found them most fully to answer the purpose: they were very little +injured when I reached Liverpool, and, I believe, would have sustained +no damage whatever, if I had as carefully excluded the air as at first. + + + + +CHAP. II. + +_Morning View of Port--Arrival and landing--A Day at Calais.--French +Market, and Prices of Provisions._ + + +THE Master's prediction proved true, and indeed in a shorter time than +he had expected. An unusual bustle on the deck awakened me about +midnight; and as my anxious curiosity would not suffer me to remain in +my hammock, I was shortly upon deck, and was told in answer to my +inquiries, that a fine breeze had sprung up to the south-west, and that +we should reach the port of our destination by day-break. This +intelligence, added to the fineness of the night, which was still clear, +would have induced me to remain above, but by a violent blow from one of +the ropes, I was soon given to understand that it was prudent for me to +retire. The crew and ship seemed each to partake of the bustle and +agitation of each other; the masts bent, the timbers cracked, and ropes +flew about in all directions. + +It may be imagined, that though returning to my hammock, I did not +return to my repose. I lay in all the restlessness of expectation till +day-break, when the Captain summoned me upon deck by the grateful +intelligence that we were entering the port of Calais. Hurrying upon +deck, I beheld a spectacle which immediately dispelled all the uneasy +sensations attendant upon a sleepless night. It was one of the finest +mornings of the latter end of June; the sun had not risen, but the +heavens were already painted with his ascending glories. I repeated in a +kind of poetical rapture the inimitable metaphoric epithet of the Poet +of Nature; an epithet preserved so faithfully, and therefore with so +much genius, by his English translator, Pope. The rosy-fingered morn, +indeed, appeared in all her plenitude of natural beauty; and the Sun, +that he might not long lose the sight of his lovely spouse, followed her +steps very shortly, and exhibited himself just surmounting the hills to +the east of Calais. + +The sea was unruffled, and we were sailing towards the pier with full +sail, and a gentle morning breeze. The land and town, at first faint, +became gradually more distinct and enlarged, till we at length saw the +people on shore hurrying down to the pier, so as to be present at our +anchoring and debarkation. The French in general are much earlier risers +than either the Americans or the English; and by the time we were off +the pier, about seven in the morning, half of the town of Calais were +out to receive and welcome us. The French, moreover, as on every +occasion of my intercourse with them I found them afterwards, appeared +to me to be equally prominently different from all nations in another +quality--a prompt and social nature, a natural benevolence, or habitual +civility, which leads them instinctively, and not unfrequently +impertinently, into acts of kindness and consideration. Let a stranger +land at an English or an American port, and he is truly a stranger; his +inquiries will scarcely obtain a civil answer; and any appearance of +strangeness and embarrassment will only bring the boys at his heels. On +the other hand, let him land in any French port, and almost every one +who shall meet him will salute him with the complacency of hospitality; +his inquiries, indeed, will not be answered, because the person of whom +he shall make them, will accompany him to the inn, or other object of +his question. + +I have frequently heard, and still more frequently read, that the +English nation were characteristically the most good-natured people in +the world, and that the Americans, as descendants from the same stock, +had not lost this virtue of the parent tree. I give no credit to the +justice of this observation. Experience has convinced me, that neither +the English nor the Americans deserve it as a national distinction. The +French are, beyond all manner of doubt, the most good-humoured people on +the surface of the earth; if we understand at least by the term, +_good-humour_ those minor courtesies, those considerate kindnesses, +those cursory attentions, which, though they cost little to the giver, +are not the less valuable to the receiver; which soften the asperities +of life, and by their frequent occurrence, and the constant necessity in +which we stand of them, have an aggregate, if not an individual +importance. The English, perhaps, as nationally possessing the more +solid virtues, may be the best friends, and the most generous +benefactors; but as friendship, in this more exalted acceptation of it, +is rare, and beneficence almost miraculous, it is a serious question +with me, which is the most useful being in society--the light +good-humoured Frenchman, or the slow meditating Englishman? + +There was the usual bustle, as to who should be the bearers of our +luggage; a thousand ragged figures, more resembling scarecrows than +human beings, seized them from the hands of each other, and we might +have bid our property a last farewell perhaps, had it not been for the +ill-humour of our Captain. He laid about him with more vigour than +mercy, and in a manner which surprised me, either that he should +venture, or that even the miserable objects before us should bear. Had +he exerted his hands and his oar in a similar manner either in England +or in America, he would have been compelled to vindicate his assumed +superiority by his superior manhood. Here every one fled before him, and +yielded him as much submission and obedience, as if he had been the +prefect himself. + +The French seem to have no idea of the art of pugilism, and with the +sole exception of the military, no point of honour which renders them +impatient under any merited personal castigation. They take a blow with +great _sang froid_. Whether from good humour, or cowardice; whether that +they thought they deserved it, or that they feared to resent it, the +single arm of our Captain chastised a whole rabble of them, and they +made a lane for as many of us as chose to land, accompanied by such +porters as we had ourselves selected. Three or four of them, however, +were still importuning us to permit them to show us to an inn; but as we +had already made our selection in this point likewise, our Captain +returned them no answer, but by a rough mimickry of their address and +gesticulation. + +After our luggage had undergone the customary examination by the +officers of the customs, in the execution of which office a liberal fee +procured us much civility, we were informed that it was necessary to +present ourselves before the Commissary, for that so many Englishmen had +obtained admission as Americans, that the French government had found it +necessary to have recourse to an unusual strictness, and that the +Commissary had it in orders not to suffer any one to proceed till after +the most rigid inquiry into his passport and business. + +Accordingly, having seen our luggage into a wheel-barrow, which the +Captain insisted should accompany us, we waited upon the Commissary, but +were not fortunate enough to find him at his office. A little dirty boy +informed us, that Mons. Mangouit had gone out to visit a neighbour, but +that if we would wait till twelve o'clock (it was now about nine), we +should infallibly see him, and have our business duly dispatched. The +office in which we were to wait for this Mons. Mangouit for three hours, +was about five feet in length by three in width, very dirty, without a +chair, and in every respect resembling a cobler's stall in one of the +most obscure streets of London. Mons. Commissary's inkstand was a +coffee-cup without an handle, and his book of entries a quire of dirty +writing-paper. This did not give us much idea either of the personal +consequence of Mons. Mangouit, or of the grandeur of the Republic. + +The boy was sent out to summon his master, as a preferable way to our +waiting till twelve o'clock. Monsieur at length made his appearance; a +little, mean-looking man, with a very dirty shirt, a well-powdered head, +a smirking, bowing coxcomb. He informed us with many apologies, +unnecessary at least in a public officer, that he was under the +necessity of doing his duty; that his duty was to examine us according +to some queries transmitted to him; but that we appeared gentlemen, true +Americans, and not English spies. + +After a long harangue, in which the little gentleman appeared very much +pleased with himself, he concluded by demanding our passport, upon sight +of which he declared himself satisfied, and promised to make us out +others for passing into the interior. We were desired to call for these +in the evening, or he would himself do us the honour to wait upon us +with them at our hotel. Considering the latter as a kind of +self-invitation to dine with us, we mentioned our dinner hour, and other +_et ceteras_. Mons. Mangouit smiled his acquiescence, and we left him, +in the hopes that he would at least change his linen. + +Upon leaving the Commissary, our wheel-barrow was again put in motion, +and accompanied us to Dessein's. This hotel still maintains its +reputation and its name. After seeing almost all France, we had no +hesitation in pronouncing it to be the only inn which could enter into +any reasonable comparison with any of the respectable taverns either of +England or America. In no country but in America and England, have they +any idea of that first of comforts to the wearied traveller, a clean and +housewife-like bed. I speak from woeful experience, when I advise every +traveller to consider a pair of sheets and a counterpane as necessary a +part of his luggage as a change of shirts. He will travel but few miles +from Calais, before he will understand the necessity of this admonition. + +We ordered an early dinner, and sallied forth to see the town. It has +nothing, however, to distinguish it from other provincial towns, or +rather sea-ports, of the second order. It has been compared to Dover, +but I think rather resembles Folkstone. The streets are irregular, the +houses old and lofty, and the pavement the most execrable that can be +imagined. There was certainly more bustle and activity than is usual in +an English or in an American town of the same rank; and this appeared to +us the more surprising, as we could see no object for all this hurry and +loquacity. To judge by appearance, the people of Calais had no other +more important business than to make their remarks upon us as we passed +their doors or shops. There was no shipping in the harbour, and even the +stock in the shops had every appearance of having remained long, and +having to remain longer in its fixed repose. + +Being the market-day, we had the curiosity to inquire the price of +several articles of provision, and to compare them with those of their +neighbours on the opposite side of the channel. The market was well +stocked; there was an incredible quantity of poultry, lamb, butter, +eggs, and herbs. A couple of fowls were three livres, at a time that +they were seven or eight shillings in London; a young goose, two livres +twelve sous (2_s._ 2_d._). Lamb was sold as in England, by the quarter +or side, and was about sixpence English money per pound; beef about +fourpence halfpenny, and mutton (not very good) fourpence. Upon the +whole, the money price of every thing appeared about one-half cheaper +than in England; but whether this difference is not in some degree +compensated in England by the superiority of quality, is what I cannot +exactly decide. The beef was certainly not so good as that to which I +had been accustomed in London; but, on the other hand, in the progress +of my journey, the mutton and lamb, when I could get it dressed to my +wishes, appeared sweeter. The short feed gives it the taste of Welsh +mutton, but the consumption of it is scarcely sufficient to encourage +the feeders. The manner, moreover, in which these meats are employed and +served in French cooking, is such as not to encourage the feeder to any +superior care. Lean meat answers the purposes of _bouillé_ as well as +the fat meat, and it is of little concern what that joint is which is +only to be boiled down to its very fibres. The old proverb, that God +sent meats, and the d--- l cooks, is verified in every kitchen in France. + +We returned to Quillac's to dinner, which, according to our orders, was +composed in the English style, except a French dish or two for Mons. +Mangouit. This gentleman now appeared altogether as full-dressed as he +had before been in full dishabille. We exchanged much conversation on +Calais and England, and a word or two respecting the French Emperor. He +appeared much better informed than we had previously concluded from his +coxcomical exterior. He seemed indeed quite another man. + +He accompanied us after dinner to the comedy: the theatre is within the +circuit of the inn. The performers were not intolerable, and the piece, +which was what they call a proverb (a fable constructed so as to give a +ludicrous verification or contradiction to an old saying), was amusing. +I thought I had some obscure recollection of a face amongst the female +performers, and learned afterwards, that it was one of the maids of the +inn; a lively brisk girl, and a volunteer, from her love of the drama. +In this period of war between England and France, Calais has not the +honour of a dramatic corps to herself, but occasionally participates in +one belonging to the district. + +The play being over very early, we finished the evening in our own +style, a proceeding we had cause to repent the following day, as the +_Cote rolie_ did not agree with us so well as old Port. I suffered so +much from the consequent relaxation, that I never repeated the occasion. +It produced still another effect; it removed my previous admiration of +French sobriety. There is little merit, I should think, in abstaining +from such a constant use of medicine. + + + + +CHAP. III. + +_Purchase of a Norman Horse--Visit in the Country--Family of +a French Gentleman--Elegance of French domestic Economy--Dance +on the Green--Return to Calais._ + + +NOTWITHSTANDING the merited reprobation to be met with in every +traveller, of French beds and French chamberlains, we had no cause to +complain of our accommodation in this respect at Dessein's. This house, +though it has changed masters, is conducted as well as formerly, and +there was nothing in it, which could have made the most determined lover +of ease repent his having crossed the Channel. + +After our breakfast on the morning following our arrival, I began to +consider with myself on the most suitable way of executing my +purpose--of seeing France and Frenchmen, the scenery and manners, to the +best advantage. I called in my landlord to my consultation; and having +explained my peculiar views, was advised by him to purchase a Norman +horse, one of which he happened to have in his stables; a circumstance +which perhaps suggested the advice. Be this as it may, I adopted his +recommendation, and I had no cause to repent it. The bargain was struck +upon the spot; and for twenty-seven Louis I became master of a horse, +upon whom, taking into the computation crossroads and occasional +deviations, I performed a journey not less than two thousand miles; and +in the whole of this course, without a stumble sufficient to shake me +from my seat. The Norman horses are low and thick, and like all of this +make, very steady, sure, and strong. They will make a stage of thirty +miles without a bait, and will eat the coarsest food. From some +indications of former habits about my own horse, I was several times led +to conclude, that he had been more accustomed to feed about the lanes, +and live on his wits, as it were, than in any settled habitation, either +meadow or stable. I never had a brute companion to which I took a +greater fancy. + +Having a letter to a gentleman resident about two miles from Calais, I +had occasion to inquire the way of a very pretty peasant girl whom I +overtook on the road, just above the town. The way was by a path over +the fields: the young peasant was going to some house a mile or two +beyond the object of my destination, and, as I have reason to believe, +not exactly in the same line. Finding me a stranger, however, she +accompanied me, without hesitation, up a narrow cross-road, that she +might put me into the foot-path; and when we had come to it, finding +some difficulty in giving intelligibly a complex direction, she +concluded by saying she would go that way herself. I was too pleased +with my companion to decline her civility. I learned in the course of +my walk that she was the daughter of a small farmer: the farm was small +indeed, being about half an arpent, or acre. She had been to Calais to +take some butter, and had the same journey three mornings in the week. +Her father had one cow of his own, and rented two others, for each of +which he paid a Louis annually. The two latter fed by the road-sides. +Her father earned twenty sols a day as a labourer, and had a small +pension from the Government, as a veteran and wounded soldier. Upon this +little they seemed, according to her answers, to live very comfortably, +not to say substantially. Poultry, chesnuts, milk, and dried fruit, +formed their daily support. "We never buy meat," said she, "because we +can raise more poultry than we can sell." + +The country around Calais has so exact a resemblance to that of the +opposite coast, as to appear almost a counterpart, and as if the sea had +worked itself a channel, and thus divided a broad and lofty hill. It is +not, however, quite so barren and cheerless as in the immediate +precincts of Dover. Vegetation, what there was of it, seemed stronger, +and trees grow nearer to the cliffs. There were likewise many flowers +which I had never seen about Dover and the Kentish coast. But on the +whole, the country was so similar that I in vain looked around me for +something to note. + +The gentleman to whom I had brought a letter of introduction was at +Paris; but I saw his son, to whom I was therefore compelled to introduce +myself. The young man lamented much that his father was from home, and +that he could not receive me in a manner which was suitable to a +gentleman of my appearance; the friend of Mr. Pinckney, who was the +beloved friend of his father. All these things are matter of course to +all Frenchmen, who are never at a loss for civility and terms of +endearment. A young English gentleman of the same age with this youth +(about nineteen), would either have affronted you by his sulky reserve, +or compelled you as a matter of charity to leave him, to release him +from blushing and stammering. On the other hand, young Tantuis and +myself were intimates in the moment after our first introduction. + +Upon entering the house, and a parlour opening upon a lawn in the back +part, I was introduced to Mademoiselle his sister, a beautiful girl, a +year, or perhaps more, younger than her brother. She rose from an +English piano as I entered, whilst her brother introduced me with a +preamble, which he rolled off his tongue in a moment. A refreshment of +fruit, capillaire, and a sweet wine, of which I knew not the name, was +shortly placed before me, and the young people conversed with me about +England and Calais, and whatever I told them of my own concerns, with +as much ease and apparent interest, as if we had been born and lived in +the same village. + +Mademoiselle informed me, that the people in Calais had no character at +all; that they were fishermen and smugglers, which last business they +carried on in war as well as in peace, and had no reputation either for +honesty or industry; that she had no visiting society at Calais, and +never went to the town but on household business; that the price of +every thing had doubled within four years, but that the late plenty, and +the successes of the Emperor, were bringing every thing to their former +standard; that her father payed very moderate taxes; her brother stated +about five Louis annually; but they differed in this point. The house +was of that size and order, which in England would have paid at least +thirty pounds, and added to this was a domain of between sixty and +seventy arpents. + +The dinner, whether in compliment to me, or that things have now all +taken this turn in France, was in substance so completely English, and +served up in a manner so English, as almost to call forth an exclamation +of surprise. When we enter a new country, we so fully expect to find +every thing new, as to be surprised at almost any necessary coincidence. +This characteristic difference is very rapidly wearing off in every +kingdom in Europe. A couple of fowls, a rice-pudding, and a small chine, +composed our dinner. It was served in a pretty kind of china, and with +silver forks. The cloth was removed as in England, and the table covered +with dried fruits, confectionary, and coffee; a tall silver epergne +supporting small bottles of capillaire, and sweetmeats in cut glass. The +fruits were in plates very tastily painted in landscape by Mademoiselle; +and at the top and bottom of the table was a silver image of Vertumnus +and Pomona, of the same height with the epergne in the centre. The +covering of the table was a fine deep green cloth, spotted with the +simple flower called the double daisy. + +I am the more particular in this description, as the dinner was thus +served, and the table thus appointed, without any apparent preparation, +as if it was all in their due and daily course. Indeed, I have had +occasion frequently to observe, that the French ladies infinitely excel +those of every other nation in these minor elegancies; in a cheap and +tasteful simplicity, and in giving a value to indifferent things by a +manner peculiar to themselves. Mademoiselle left us after the first cup +of coffee, saying, that she had heard that it was a custom in England, +that gentlemen should have their own conversation after dinner. I +endeavoured to turn off a compliment in the French style upon this +observation, but felt extremely awkward, upon foundering in the middle +of it, for want of more familiar acquaintance with the language. +Monsieur, her brother, perceived my embarrassment, and becoming my +interpreter, helped me out of it with much good-humour, and with some +dexterity. I resolved, however, another time, never to tilt with a +French lady in compliment. + +Being alone with the young man, I made some inquiries upon subjects upon +which I wanted information, and found him at once communicative and +intelligent. The agriculture of the country about Calais appears to be +wretched. The soil is in general very good, except where the substratum +of chalk, or marle, rises too near the surface, which is the case +immediately on the cliffs. The course of the crops is bad +indeed--fallow, rye, oats. In some land it is fallow, wheat, and barley. +In no farm, however, is the fallow laid aside; it is considered as +indispensable for wheat, and on poor lands for rye. The produce, reduced +to English Winchester measure, is about nineteen bushels of wheat, and +twenty-three or twenty-four of barley. Besides the fallow, they manure +for wheat. The manure in the immediate vicinity of Calais is the dung of +the stable-keepers and the filth of that town. The rent of the land +around Calais, within the daily market of the town, is as high as sixty +livres; but beyond the circuit of the town, is about twenty livres +(sixteen shillings). Since the settlement of the Government, the price +of land has risen; twenty Louis an acre is now the average price in the +purchase of a large farm. There are no tithes, but a small rate for the +officiating minister. Labourers earn thirty sous per day (about +fifteen-pence English), and women, in picking stones, &c. half that +sum. Rents, since the Revolution, are all in money; but there are some +instances of personal service, and which are held to be legal even under +the present state of things, provided they relate to husbandry, and not +to any servitude or attendance upon the person of the landlord. Upon the +whole, I found that the Revolution had much improved the condition of +the farmers, having relieved them from feudal tenures and lay-tithes. Oh +the other hand, some of the proprietors, even in the neighbourhood of +Calais, had lost nearly the whole of the rents, under the interpretation +of the law respecting what were to be considered as feudal impositions. +The Commissioners acting under these laws had determined all old rents +to come under this description, and had thus rendered the tenants under +lease proprietors of the lands. + +The young lady who had left as returned towards evening, and by her +heightened colour, and a small parcel in her hand, appeared to have +walked some distance. Her brother, doubtless from a sympathetic nature, +guessed in an instant the object of her walk. "You have been to Calais," +said he. "Yes," replied she, with the lovely smile of kindness; "I +thought that Monsieur would like some tea after the manner of his +countrymen, and having only coffee in the house, I walked to Calais to +procure some." I again felt the want of French loquacity and readiness. +My heart was more eloquent than my tongue. I rose, and involuntarily +took and pressed the hand of the sweet girl. Who will now say that the +French are not characteristically a good-humoured people, and that a +lovely French girl is not an angel? I thought so at the time, and though +my heart has now cooled, I think so still. I feel even no common +inclination to, describe this young French beauty, but that I will not +do her the injustice to copy off an image which remains more faithfully +and warmly imprinted on my memory. + +The house, as I have mentioned, opened behind on a lawn, with which the +drawing-room was even, so that its doors and windows opened immediately +upon it. This lawn could not be less than four or five English acres in +extent, and was girded entirely around by a circle of lofty trees from +within, and an ancient sea-stone wall, very thick and high, from +without. The trunks of the trees and the wall were hid by a thick copse +or shrubbery of laurels, myrtles, cedars, and other similar shrubs, so +as to render the enclosed lawn the most beautiful and sequestered spot I +had ever seen. On the further extremity from the house was an avenue +from the lawn to the garden, which was likewise spacious, and surrounded +by a continuation of the same wall. In the further corner of the latter +was a summer-house, erected on the top of the wall, so as to look over +it on the fields and the distant sea. + +Tea was here served up to us in a manner neither French nor English, but +partaking of both. Plates of cold chicken, slices of chine, cakes, +sweetmeats, and the whitest bread, composed a kind of mixed repast, +between the English tea and the French supper. The good-humour and +vivacity of my young friends, and the prospect from the windows, which +was as extensive as beautiful, rendered it a refreshment peculiarly +cheering to the spirits of a traveller. + +Before the conclusion of it, I had another specimen of French manners +and French benevolence. A party of young ladies were announced as +visitors, and followed immediately the servant who conducted them. +Speaking all at once, they informed Mademoiselle T----, that they had +learned the arrival of her English friend (so they did me the honour to +call me), and knowing her father was at Paris, had hurried off to assist +her in giving Monsieur a due welcome. They mentioned several other +names, which were coming with the same friendly purpose; a piece of +information, which caused the young Monsieur T---- to make me a hasty +bow, and leave me with the ladies. He returned in a short time, and the +sound of fiddles tuning below on the lawn, rendered any explanation +unnecessary. We immediately descended; the promised ladies, and their +partners, soon made their appearance; and the merry dance on the green +began. As the stranger of the company, I had of course the honour of +leading Mademoiselle T----. In the course of the dance other visitors +appeared, who formed themselves into cotillions and reels; and the lawn +being at length well filled, the evening delightful, and the moon risen +in all her full glory, the whole formed a scene truly picturesque. + +After an evening, or rather a night, thus protracted to a late hour, I +returned to Calais; and was accompanied to the immediate adjacency by +one of the parties, consisting of two ladies and a gentleman. I was +assailed by many kind importunities to repeat my visit; but as I +intended to leave Calais on the morrow, I made my best possible +excuses. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + +_French Cottages.--Ludicrous exhibition.--French Travellers--Chaise +de Poste.--Posting in France.--Departure from Calais.--Beautiful +Vicinity of Boulogne._ + + +TWO days were amply sufficient to see all that Calais has to exhibit. +After the first novelty is over, no place can please, except either by +its intrinsic beauty, or the happy effect of habit. Calais, has no such +intrinsic charms, and I was not disposed to try the result of the +latter. I accordingly resolved to proceed on my road; but as the heat +was excessive, deferred it till the evening. + +The exercise of the preceding night had produced an unpleasant ferment +in my blood, attended by an external feeling of feverish heat, and +checked perspiration. Every traveller should be, in a degree, his own +physician. I had recourse to a dip in the sea, and found immediate +relief. Nothing, indeed, is so instantaneous a remedy, either for +violent fatigue, or any of the other effects following unusual exercise, +as this simple specific. After a ride of sixty or seventy miles through +the most dusty roads, and under the hottest sun of a southern +Midsummer, I have been restored to my morning freshness by the cold +bath. + +By the buildings which I observed to be going forward, I was led to a +conclusion that Calais is a flourishing town; but I confess I saw no +means to which I could attribute this prosperity. There was no +appearance of commerce, and very little of industry. One circumstance +was truly unaccountable to me. Though there were two or three ships +laying unrigged, but otherwise sound, and in the best navigable +condition, there was a building-yard, in which two new vessels were on +the stock. These vessels, indeed, were of no considerable tonnage; but I +confess myself at a loss to guess their object. + +About a mile from Calais, is a beautiful avenue of the finest walnut and +chesnut trees I have ever seen in France. They stand upon common land, +and, of course, are public property. In the proper season of the year, +the people of Calais repair hither for their evening dance; and such is +the force of custom, the fruit remains untouched, and reserved for these +occasions. Every one then takes what he pleases, but carries nothing +home beyond what may suffice for his consumption on the way. + +In my walk thither I passed several cottages, and entered some. The +inhabitants seemed happy, and to possess some substantial comforts. The +greater part of these cottages had a walnut or chestnut tree before +them, around which was a rustic seat, and which, as overshadowed by the +broad branches and luxuriant foliage, composed a very pleasing image. +The manner in which the sod was partially worn under most of them, +explained their nightly purpose; or if there could yet be any doubt, the +flute and fiddle, pendant in almost every house, spoke a still more +intelligible language. + +I entered no house so poor, and met with no inhabitant so inhospitable, +as not to receive the offer either of milk, or some sort of wine; and +every one seemed to take a refusal as if they had solicited, and had not +obtained, an act of kindness. If the French are not the most hospitable +people in the world, they have at least the art of appearing so. I speak +here only of the peasantry, and from first impressions. + +The rent of one of these cottages, of two floors and two rooms on each, +is thirty-five livres. They have generally a small garden, and about one +hundred yards of common land between the road and the house, on which +grows the indispensable walnut or chestnut tree. The windows are glazed, +but the glass is usually taken out in summer. The walls are generally +sea-stone, but are clothed with grape vines, or other shrubs, which, +curling around the casements, render them shady and picturesque. The +bread is made of wheat meal, but in some cottages consisted of thin +cakes without leven, and made of buck-wheat. Their common beverage is a +weak wine, sweet and pleasant to the taste. In some houses it very +nearly resembled the good metheglin, very common in the northern +counties of England. Eggs, bacon, poultry, and vegetables, seemed in +great plenty, and, as I understood, composed the dinners of the +peasantry twice a week at least. I was surprised at this evident +abundance in a class in which I should not have expected it. Something +of it, I fear, must be imputed to the extraordinary profits of the +smuggling which is carried on along the coast. + +I was pleased to see, that even the horrible Revolution had not banished +all religion from Calais. I understood that the church was well +attended, and that high mass was as much honoured as hitherto. Every one +spoke of the Revolution with execration, and of the Emperor with +satisfaction. Bonaparte has certainly gained the hearts of the French +people by administering to their national vanity. + +Returning home from my walk, I was witness to a singular exhibition in +the streets. A crowd had collected around a narrow elevated stage, +which, at a distant view, led me to expect the appearance, of my friend +Punch. I was not altogether deceived: it was a kind of Bartholomew +drama, in which the parts were performed by puppets. It differed only +from what I had seen in England by the wit of the speakers, and a kind +of design, connexion, and uniformity in the fable. The name of it, as +announced by the manager, was, The Convention of Kings against France +and Bonaparte. + +The puppets, who each spoke in their turn, were, the King of England, +the King of Naples, the Emperor of Austria, the Pope, and the Grand +Signor. The dialogue was indescribably ridiculous. The piece opened with +a council, in which the King of England entreated all his brother +sovereigns to declare war against France and the French Emperor, and +proceeded to assign some ludicrous reasons as applicable to each. "My +contribution to the grand alliance," concludes his Majesty, "shall be in +money; both because I have more Louis to spare, and because the best +advantage of a rich nation is, that it can purchase others to light its +battles!" The Grand Signor approves the proposal, and throws down his +cimeter. "I will give my cimeter," says he; "but being a prophet as well +as a sovereign, and having such a family of wives, I deem it unseemly to +use it myself. Let England take it, and give it to any one who will use +it manfully." The Pope, in his turn, gives his blessing. "If the war +should succeed, you will have to thank my benediction for the victory; +if it should fail, it will be from the efficacy of the blessing that a +man of you will be saved alive." The Emperor then asks what is the +amount of England's contribution; and his British Majesty throws him a +purse. His Imperial Majesty, after feeling the weight, takes up the +cimeter of the Grand Signor, and retires. The drama then proceeds to the +representation of the different battles of Bonaparte, in all of which it +gave him the victory, &c. + +After a light dinner, in which with some difficulty I procured fish, and +with still more had it dressed in the English mode, I mounted my horse, +and proceeded on my journey in the road to Boulogne. I had now my first +trial of my Norman horse; he fully answered my expectations, and almost +my wishes. He had a leisurely lounging walk, which seemed well suited to +an observant traveller. It is well known of Erasmus, that he wrote the +best of his works, and made a whole course of the Classics, on +horseback; and I have no doubt but that I could have both read and +written on the back of my Norman. To make up, however, for this +tardiness, he was a good-humoured, patient, and sure-footed beast; but +would stretch out his neck now and then to get a passing bite of the +wheat which grew by the road side. I wished to get on to Boulogne to +sleep, and therefore tried all his paces; but found his trotting +scarcely tolerable by human feeling. + +The road from Calais, for the first twelve miles, is open and hilly. On +each side of the main way is a smaller road, which is the summer, as the +other is the winter one. The day being very fine, and not too warm, I +enjoyed myself much. I passed many fields in which the country people +were making hay: they seemed very merry. The fellow who loaded the cart +had a cocked hat, and by his erectness I should have thought to have +been a soldier, but that every one who passed me had nearly the same +air, and the same hat. Some of the hay-makers called to me, but in such +barbarous _patois_, that I could make nothing of them. One company of +them, saluting me from a distance, deputed a girl to make known their +wishes. Seeing her to be young, and expecting her to be handsome, I +checked my horse; but a nearer view correcting my error, and exhibiting +her only a coarse masculine wench, I pushed forwards, without waiting +her embassy. The peasant women of France work so hard, as to lose every +appearance of youth in the face, whilst they retain it in the person; +and it is therefore no uncommon thing to see the person of a Venus, and +the face of an old monkey. I passed by a set of these labourers sitting +under a tree, and taking that repast which, in the North of England, is +called "fours," from being usually taken by harvest labourers at that +time of the day. The party consisted of about a dozen women and girls, +and but one man. I was invited to drink some of their wine, and being by +the road side, could not refuse. My horse was led under the tree: I was +compelled to dismount, and to share their repast, such as it was. Some +money which I offered was refused. I made my choice amongst one of my +entertainers, and could do no less than salute her. This produced great +noise and merriment, and gave free reins to French levity and coquetry; +in a word, I was obliged to salute them all. My favourite and first +choice gave me her hand on my departure: she might have sat for Prior's +Nut-Brown Maid. + +The main purpose of my journey being rather to see the manners of the +people, than the brick and mortar of the towns, I had formed a +resolution to seek the necessary refreshment as seldom as possible at +inns, and as often as possible in the houses of the humbler farmers, and +the better kind of peasantry. About fifteen miles from Calais my horse +and myself were looking out for something of this kind, and one shortly +appeared about three hundred yards on the left side of the road. It was +a cottage in the midst of a garden, and the whole surrounded by an +hedge, which looked delightfully green and refreshing. The garden was +all in flower and bloom. The walls of the cottage were robed in the same +livery of Nature. I had seen such cottages in Kent and in Devonshire, +but in no other part of the world. The inhabitants were simple people, +small farmers, having about ten or fifteen acres of land. Some grass was +immediately cut for my horse, and the coffee which I produced from my +pocket was speedily set before me, with cakes, wine, some meat, and +cheese, the French peasantry having no idea of what we call tea. +Throwing the windows up, so as to enjoy the scenery and freshness of the +garden; sitting upon one chair, and resting a leg upon the other; +alternately pouring out my coffee, and reading a pocket-edition of +Thomson's Seasons, I enjoyed one of those moments which give a zest to +life; I felt happy, and in peace and in love with all around me. + +Proceeding upon my journey, two miles on the Calais side of Boulogne I +fell in with an overturned chaise, which the postillion was trying to +raise. The vehicle was a _chaise de poste_, the ordinary travelling +carriage of the country, and a thing in a civilized country wretched +beyond conception. It was drawn by three horses, one in the shafts, and +one on each side. The postillion had ridden on the one on the driving +side; he was a little punch fellow, and in a pair of boots like +fire-buckets. The travellers consisted of an old French lady and +gentleman; Madame in a high crimped cap, and stiff long whalebone stays. +Monsieur informed me very courteously of the cause of the accident, +whilst Madame alternately curtsied to me and menaced and scolded the +postillion. The French postillions, indeed, are the most intolerable set +of beings. They never hesitate to get off their horses, suffer them to +go forwards, and follow them very leisurely behind. I saw several +instances in which they had suffered the traces to twist round the +horses' legs, so that on descending an hill, their escape with life must +be a miracle. + +I shall briefly observe, now I am upon this subject, that posting is +nearly as dear in France as in England. A post in France is six miles, +and one shilling and threepence is charged for each horse, and +sevenpence for the driver. The price, therefore, for two horses would be +three shillings and a penny; but whatever number of persons there may +be, a horse is charged for each. The postillions, moreover, expect at +least double of what the book of regulations allows them, as matter of +right. + +I reached Boulogne about sunset, and was much pleased with its vicinity. +On each side of the road, and at different distances, from two hundred +yards to a mile, were groves of trees, in which were situated some +ancient chateaux. Many of them were indeed in ruin from the effects of +the Revolution. Upon entering the town, I inquired the way to the Hotel +d'Angleterre, which is kept by an Englishman of the name of Parker, +Bonaparte having specially exempted him from the edicts respecting +aliens. I had a good supper, but an indifferent bed, and the close +situation rendered the heat of the night still more oppressive. Mr. +Parker himself was absent, and had left the management with a French +young woman, who would not suffer me to write uninterrupted, and seemed +to take much offence that I did not invite her to take her seat at the +supper table. I believe I was the only male traveller in the inn; and +flattery, and even substantial gallantry, is so necessary and so natural +to French women, that they look to it as their due, and conceive +themselves injured when it is withholden. + + + + +CHAP. V. + +_Boulogne--Dress of the Inhabitants--The Pier--Theatre--Caution +in the Exchange of Money--Beautiful Landscape, and +Conversation With a French Veteran--Character of Mr. Parker's +Hotel--Departure, and romantic Road--Fête Champetre +in a Village on a hill at Montreuil--Ruined Church and Convent._ + + +I had heard so bad a report of Boulogne, as to be agreeably surprised +when I found it so little deserving it. I spent the greater part of a +day in it with much pleasure, and but that I wished to get to Paris, +should have continued longer. + +Boulogne is very agreeably situated, and the views from the high grounds +on each side are delightful. The landscape from the ramparts is not to +be exceeded, but is not seen to advantage except when there is high +water in the river. There is an evident mixture of strangers and natives +amongst the inhabitants. There are many resident English, who have been +nationalized by express edict, or the construction of the law. I heard +it casually mentioned, that these were not the most respectable class of +inhabitants, though many of them are rich, and all of them are active. +The English and French women, whom I met with in the streets, were each +dressed in their peculiar fashion; the English women as they dress in +the country towns of England; the French without hats, with close caps, +and cloaks down to the feet. This fashion I found to be peculiar to +Boulogne and its promenade. The town is, upon the whole, clean, lively, +brisk, and flourishing; the houses are in good repair, and many others +were building. + +I walked down to the pier, and my conclusion was, that the English +Ministry were mad when they attempted any thing against Boulogne. The +harbour appeared to me impregnable. I must confess, however, that the +French appeared to me equally mad, in expecting any thing from their +flotilla. Three English frigates would sink the whole force at Boulogne +in the open sea. The French seem to know this; yet, to amuse the +populace, and to play upon the fears of the English Ministry, the farce +is kept up, and daily reports are made by the Commandant of the state of +the flotilla. There is a delightful walk on the beach, which is a flat +strand of firm sand, as far as the tide reaches. In the summer evenings +when the tide serves, this is the favourite promenade this is likewise +the parade, as the soldiers are occasionally here exercised. + +There is a tolerable theatre, but the dramatic corps are not +stationary. They were not in the town whilst I was there, so that I can +speak of their merits only by report. One of the actresses was highly +spoken of, and had indeed reached the reward of her eminence; having +been called to the Parisian stage. Bonaparte is notoriously, perhaps +politically, attached to the drama, and is no sooner informed of any +good performer on a provincial stage, than he issues his command for his +appearance and engagement at Paris. + +The principal church at Boulogne is a good and respectable structure, +and I learned with much satisfaction and some surprise, that on the +Sabbath at least it was crowded. The people of Boulogne execrate the +Revolution, and avert from all mention and memory of it, and not without +reason, as their environs have been in some degree spoiled by its +excesses. Several miles on the road from Boulogne, those sad monuments +of the popular phrensy, ruined chateaux, and churches converted into +stables or granaries, force the memory back upon those melancholy times, +when the property and religion of a nation became the but of bandits and +atheists. May the world itself perish, before such an era shall return +or become general! + +I had received from an American house in London some bills on a +mercantile house at Boulogne; a very convenient method, and which I +would therefore recommend to other travellers, as they hereby save very +considerably, such bills being usually given at some advantage in +favour of those who purchase them by coin. Bills on Boulogne, Bourdeaux, +and Havre, are always to be had of the American brokers, either in +London or in New York. One advantage in this exchange is, that bills may +be had of any date, in which case you may suit the occasions, and put +the discount into your own pocket. My bill on Boulogne was for 3000 +francs, about 130_l._ English. I received it in Louis d'ors and écus. In +the progress of my journey, several of the Louis were refused, as +deficient in weight, and I was advised in future never to take a Louis +without seeing that it was weight. The French coin is indeed in a very +bad state, which here, as elsewhere, is attributed to the Jews. + +On the Paris side of Boulogne is a landscape and walk of most exquisite +beauty. The river, after some smaller meanders, takes a wide reach +through a beautiful vale, and shortly after flows into the sea through +two hills, which open as it were to receive it. I walked along the banks +to have a better view, and got into converse with a soldier, who had +been in the battle of Marengo. He gave me a very lively account of the +conduct of that extraordinary man, the French Emperor, in this grand +event of his life. His expression was, that he looked over the battle as +if looking upon a chess-board: that he made it a rule never to engage +personally, till he saw the whole plan of the battle in execution; that +he would then ride alternately to each division, and encourage them by +fighting awhile with them: that he visited all the sick and wounded +soldiers the day after the battle, inquired into the nature of their +wound, where and how it was received; and if there were any +circumstances of peculiar merit or peculiar distress, noted it down, and +invariably acted upon this memorandum: that he punished adultery in a +soldier's wife, if they were both in the camp, by the death of the +woman; if the offending was not in the field, and therefore not within +the reach of a court-martial, the soldier had a divorce on simple proof +of the offence before any mayor or magistrate. I demanded of this +veteran, pointing to the flotilla, when the Emperor intended to invade +England? He perceived the smile which accompanied this question, and +instantaneously, with a fierce look of suspicion and resolution, +demanded of me my passport. Though the abruptness of his conduct +startled me, I could not but regard him with some admiration. A long, +thin, spare figure of 55, was so sensible of the honour of his country, +as to take fire even at a jest at it as at a personal insult. It is to +this spirit that France owes half her victories. + +As soon as the heat of the day had declined, having satisfied my +curiosity as to Boulogne, I called for my bill and my horse, intending +to get on to Montreuil, where I had fixed upon sleeping. My bill was +extravagant to a degree; a circumstance I imputed to the want of some +due attentions to Madame. These kind of people have always the revenge +in their own hands. As I did not see Mr. Parker, I know not whether to +recommend his inn or not. He has some excellent Burgundy, but the +charges are high, the attendance not good, and the situation in summer +close and stifling. Madame, however, is a very pretty woman, and seems a +very good-humoured one, if her expectations are answered. She is a true +French woman, however, and expects gallantry even from a weary +traveller. + +I found the road improve much as I advanced; the country became more +enclosed, and bore a strong resemblance to the most cultivated parts of +England. The cherry trees standing in the midst of the corn had a very +pretty effect; the fields had the appearance of gardens, and some of the +gardens had the wildness of the field. The season was evidently more +advanced than in England; there were more fruits and flowers, and the +bloom was more bossy and luxuriant. Several smaller roads led from the +main road, and the spires of the village churches, as seen in the side +landscape, rising above the tops of the trees, invited the fancy to +combine some rural images, and weave itself at least an imaginary +Arcadia. The persons I met or overtook upon the road were not altogether +in unison with what I must call the romance of the scene. Every carter +drove his vehicle in a cocked-hat, and the women had all wooden shoes. +Boys and girls of twelve years old were in rags, which very ill covered +them. Nor was there any of the briskness visible on a high road in +England. A single cart, and a waggon, were all the vehicles that I saw +between Boulogne and Abbeville. In England, in the same space, I should +have seen a dozen, or score. + +Not being pressed for time, the beauty of a scene at some little +distance from the road-side tempted me to enter into a bye-lane, and +take a nearer view of it. A village church, embosomed in a chesnut wood, +just rose above the trees on the top of a hill; the setting sun was on +its casements, and the foliage of the wood was burnished by the golden +reflection. The distant hum of the village green was just audible; but +not so the French horn, which echoed in full melody through the groves. +Having rode about half a mile through a narrow sequestered lane, which +strongly reminded me of the half-green and half-trodden bye-roads in +Warwickshire, I came to the bottom of the hill, on the brow and summit +of which the village and church were situated. I now saw whence the +sound of the horn proceeded. On the left of the road was an ancient +chateau situated in a park, or very extensive meadow, and ornamented as +well by some venerable trees, as by a circular fence of flowering +shrubs, guarded on the outside by a paling on a raised mound. The park +or meadow having been newly mown, had an air at once ornamented and +natural. A party of ladies were collected under a patch of trees +situated in the middle of the lawn. I stopt at the gate to look at +them, thinking myself unperceived: but in the same moment the gate was +opened to me by a gentleman and two ladies, who were walking the round. +An explanation was now necessary, and was accordingly given. The +gentleman informed me upon his part, that the chateau belonged to Mons. +St. Quentin, a Member of the French Senate, and a Judge of the District; +that he had a party of friends with him upon the occasion of his lady's +birth-day, and that they were about to begin dancing; that Mons. St. +Quentin would highly congratulate himself on my accidental arrival. One +of the ladies, having previously apologized and left us, had seemingly +explained to Mons. St. Quentin the main circumstance belonging to me, +for he now appeared, and repeated the invitation in his own person. The +ladies added their kind importunities. I dismounted, gave my horse to a +servant in waiting, and joined this happy and elegant party, for such it +really was. + +I had now, for the first time, an opportunity of forming an opinion of +French beauty, the assemblage of ladies being very numerous, and all of +them most elegantly dressed. Travelling, and the imitative arts, have +given a most surprising uniformity to all the fashions of dress and +ornament; and, whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a very +slight difference between the scenes of a French and English polite +assembly. If any thing, however, be distinguishable, it is more in +degree than in substance. The French fashions, as I saw them here, +differed in no other point from what I had seen in London, but in +degree. The ladies were certainly more exposed about the necks, and +their hair was dressed with more fancy; but the form was in almost every +thing the same. The most elegant novelty was a hat, which doubled up +like a fan, so that the ladies carried it in their hands. There were +more coloured than white muslins; a variety which had a pretty effect +amongst the trees and flowers. The same observation applies to the +gentlemen. Their dresses were made as in England; but the pattern of the +cloth, or some appendage to it, was different. One gentleman, habited in +a grass-coloured silk coat, had very much the appearance of Beau +Mordecai in the farce: the ladies, however, seemed to admire him, and in +some conversation with him I found him, in despite of his coat, a very +well-informed man. There were likewise three or four fancy dresses; a +Dian, a wood-nymph, and a sweet girl playing upon a lute, habited +according to a picture of Calypso by David. On the whole, there was +certainly more fancy, more taste, and more elegance, than in an English +party of the same description; though there were not so many handsome +women as would have been the proportion of such an assembly in England. + +A table was spread handsomely and substantially under a very large and +lofty marquee. The outside was very prettily painted for the +occasion--Venus commemorating her birth from the ocean. The French +manage these things infinitely better than any other nation in the +world. It was necessary, however, for the justice of the compliment, +that the Venus should be a likeness of Madame St. Quentin, who was +neither very young nor very handsome. The painter, however, got out of +the scrape very well. + +A small party accompanied me into the village, which was lively, and had +some very neat houses. The peasantry, both men and women, had hats of +straw; a manufactory which Mons. St. Quentin had introduced. A boy was +reading at a cottage-door. I had the curiosity to see the book. It was a +volume of Marmontel. His mother came out, invited us into the house, and +in the course of some conversation, produced some drawings by this +youth; they were very simple, and very masterly. The ladies purchased +them at a good price. He had attained this excellence without a master, +and Mons. St. Quentin, as we were informed, had been so pleased with +him, as to take him into his house. His temper and manners, however, +were not in unison with his taste, and his benefactor had been compelled +to restore him to his mother, but still intended to send him to study at +Paris. The boy's countenance was a direct lie to Lavater; his air was +heavy, and absolutely without intelligence. Mons. St. Quentin had +dismissed him his house on account of a very malignant sally of passion: +a horse having thrown him by accident, the young demon took a knife from +his pocket, and deliberately stabbed him three several times. Such was a +peasant boy, now seemingly enveloped in the interesting simplicity of +Marmontel. How inconsistent is what is called character! + +I had a sweet ride for the remaining way to Montreuil by moon-light, +accompanied by two gentlemen on horseback, who lived in that town. They +related to me many melancholy incidents during the revolutionary period. +Montreuil was formerly distributed into five parishes, and had five +churches; but the people doubtless thinking that five was too many for +the religion of the town, destroyed the other four, and sold the best +part of the materials. Accordingly, when I entered the town, my eye was +caught by a noble ruin, which upon inquiry I found to be the church of +Notre Dame. This ruin is beautiful beyond description. The pillars which +remain are noble, and the capitals and carving rich to a degree. It is +astonishing to me that any reasonable beings, the inhabitants of a town, +could thus destroy its chief ornament; but in the madness of the +revolutionary fanatics, the sun itself would have been plucked from +Heaven, if they could have reached it. I was sincerely happy to learn +that religion had returned, and that there was a general inclination to +subscribe for the repair, or rather rebuilding, of Notre Dame. + +My friends took leave of me after recommending to me an inn kept by two +sisters, the name of which I have forgotten. They were so handsome as to +resemble English women, and what is very uncommon in this class of +people in France, were totally without rouge. Whilst my supper was +preparing, I had a moon-light walk round the town. The situation of it +is at once commanding and beautiful. The ruins of a chateau, seen under +the light of the moon, improved the scenery, and was another memento of +the execrable Revolution. There are a number of pretty houses, and some +of them substantial. One of them belonged to one of the gentlemen who +accompanied me from Mons. St. Quentin's, and was his present residence, +being all that remained to him of a noble property in the vicinity. This +property had been sold by the nation, and the recovery of it had become +impossible, though the gentleman was in tolerable favour with the +government. Bonaparte had answered one of this gentleman's memorials by +subscribing it with a sentence in his own writing: "We cannot +re-purchase the nation." This gentleman spoke highly, but perhaps +unjustly, of the vigour of Bonaparte's government, of his inflexible +love of justice, and his personal attention to the administration. I +compelled him, however, to acknowledge, that in his own immediate +concerns, the justice of the French Chief was not proof against his +passions. I mentioned the Duke of Enghien; the gentleman pushed on his +horse, and begged me to say no more of the matter. + +Upon my return I had an excellent supper, and what was still more +welcome, a bed which reminded me of those at an English coffee-house. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + +_Departure from Montreuil--French Conscripts--Extreme Youth--Excellent +Roads--Country Labourers--Court for the Claims +of Emigrants--Abbeville--Companion on the Road--Amiens._ + + +AS I wished to reach Paris as soon as possible, I had ordered the +chambermaid to call me at an early hour in the morning; but was awakened +previous to the appointed time by some still earlier travellers--a very +numerous detachment of conscripts, who were on their march for the +central _depôt_ of the department. The greater part of them were boys, +and were merry and noisy in a manner characteristic of the French youth. +Seeing me at the window, one of them struck up a very lively +_reveillée_, and was immediately joined by others who composed their +marching band. They were attended, and their baggage carried, by a +peculiar kind of cart--a platform erected on wheels, and on which they +ascended when fatigued. The vehicles were prepared, the horses +harnessed, and the young conscripts impatiently waiting for the word to +march. + +When I came down into the inn-yard, no one was stirring in the house +except the ostler, who, upon my mentioning the component items of my +entertainment, very fairly, as I thought, reckoned them up, and received +the amount, taking care to remind me of the chambermaid. Having with +some difficulty likewise procured from him a glass of milk, I mounted my +horse, and followed the conscripts, who, with drum and fife, were +merrily but regularly marching before me. The regularity of the march +continued only till they got beyond the town, and down the hill, when +the music ceased, the ranks broke, and every one walked or ran as he +pleased. As they were somewhat too noisy for a meditating traveller, I +put my horse to his mettle, and soon left them at a convenient distance. + +I must cursorily observe, that the main circumstance which struck me in +this detachment, was the extreme youth of the major part. I saw not a +man amongst them, and some of them had an air the most perfectly +childish. Bonaparte is said to prefer these young recruits. No army in +Europe would have admitted them, with the exception of the French. + +The road was truly excellent, though hilly, and indeed so continued till +within a few miles of Abbeville. The present Emperor acts so far upon +the system of the ancient monarchy, and considers the goodness of the +highways as the most important and most immediate object of the +administration; accordingly, the roads in France are still better than +under the Bourbons, as Bonaparte sees every thing with his own eyes. +Nothing, indeed, is wanting to quick travelling in France, but English +drivers and English carriages. How would a mail-coach roll upon such a +road! The French postillions, and even the French horses, such as I met +on the road, have a kind of activity without progress--the postillions +are very active in cracking their whips over their heads, and the horses +shuffle about without mending their pace. + +I passed several country labourers, men and women, going to their daily +toil. I was informed by one of them, that he worked in the hay-field, +and earned six-and-thirty sous (1_s._ 6_d._) a day; that the wages for +mowers were fifty sous (2_s._ 1_d._), and two bottles of wine or cyder; +that his wife had fourteen sous and her food; and boys and children old +enough to rake, from six to twelve sous. He paid 25 livres annually for +the rent of his cottage. When he had to support himself, he breakfasted +on bread, and a glass or more of strong wine or brandy; dined on bread +and cheese, and supped on bread and an apple. He wore leather shoes, +except in wet weather, when he wore _sabots_, which cost about twelve +sous per pair. + +I passed more _chateaux_ in ruins, and others shut up and forsaken. Some +of them were very prettily situated, in patches of trees and amidst +corn-fields. Several, as I understood, belonged to emigrants, whom +Bonaparte had recalled by name, but who had not as yet returned. I +learned with some satisfaction, that some shew of justice was still +necessary. Where the property of the emigrants is unsold, and still in +the hands of the nation, the emigrated proprietor is not totally without +a chance of restitution. If he can come forwards, and prove, in a court +established for the purpose, that he has merely been absent; that his +absence was not without sufficient reasons; that he has not taken up +arms against France; and finally, had returned as soon as he possessed +the means--under these circumstances, the lands are restored. Even his +children may succeed where himself shall fail. Upon proof of infancy at +the time of emigration, and that they have at no time borne arms against +the empire, the lands are not unfrequently decreed to them, even when +the father's claim has been rejected. + +I reached Bernay to breakfast, and, for the first time in France, met +with a surly host and a sour hostess. The bread being stale, salt, and +bitter, I desired it to be changed. The host obeyed, so far as to carry +it out of the room and bring it in again. It was in vain, however, that +I insisted upon the identity, till I desired him to bring what he had +removed, and to compare it with what he had brought. He then flatly told +me, that I must either have that or none; that it was as good bread as +any in France, and that he intended to eat it for his own breakfast. +His wife came in, hearing my raised voice, and maintained her husband's +assertions very stoutly. For the sake of peace, I found it necessary to +submit. He is a true hero who can support a contest with a man and his +wife. The girl who waited on me seemed made of kinder materials. She +laughed with much archness when I shewed her the bread, and its vigorous +resistance to the edge of my knife. She was born in Musilius, and told +me, with true French coquetry, that her sisters were as handsome as +herself. She mentioned some English name (that of a valet, I suppose), +and asked me if I knew him in London. If I should hereafter meet him, I +was to remind him of Bernay. The charges, contrary to my expectations, +were as moderate as the breakfast was indifferent; and the host did me +the honour to wish me good morning. The hostess, however, was inflexibly +sour, and saw me depart without a word, or even a salutation. + +I had a most unpleasant ride to Abbeville, the heat of the day being +extreme, and the road totally without any shelter. I imagined, however, +that the heat was less oppressive than heat of the same intensity in +England; but I know not whether this difference was any thing but +imaginary. In foreign countries, we are so much upon the hunt for +novelty, and so well predisposed to find it, that in things not strongly +nor immediately the objects of sense, our impressions are not altogether +to be trusted. + +Abbeville, which I reached in good time for the _table d'hôte_, which is +held on every market-day, is a populous but a most unpleasant town. The +inhabitants are stated to exceed 22,000; but I do not conceive that they +can amount to one half of that number. The town has a most ruinous +appearance, from the circumstance of many of the houses being built with +wood; and by the forms of the windows and the doors, some of them must +be very ancient. There are two or three manufactories of cloth, but none +of them were in a flourishing condition. I went to visit that of +Vanrobais, established by Louis XIV. and which still continues, though +in ruins. The buildings are upon a very large scale; but too much was +attempted for them to execute any thing in a workmanlike manner. There +are different buildings for every different branch of the manufacture. I +cannot but think, however, that they would have succeeded better if they +had consulted the principle of the sub-division of labour. A man who is +both a weaver and a spinner, will certainly not be both as good a weaver +and as good a spinner, as another who is only a spinner or only a +weaver: he will not have the same dexterity, and therefore will not do +the same work. No business is done so well as that which is the sole +object of attention. I saw likewise a manufactory of carpets, which +seemed more flourishing. In the cloth manufactory, the earnings of the +working manufacturers are about 36 sous per diem (1_s._ 6_d._): in the +carpet manufactories, somewhat more. The cloths, as far as I am a +judge, seemed to me even to exceed those of England; but the carpets +are much inferior. From some unaccountable reason, however, the cloths +were much dearer than English broad cloth of the same quality. Whence +does this happen, in a country where provisions are so much cheaper? +Perhaps from that neglect of the sub-division of labour which I have +above noticed. + +Abbeville, like all the other principal towns through which I passed, +bore melancholy marks of the Revolution. The handsome church which stood +in the market-place is in ruins--scarcely a stone remains on the top of +another. Many of the best houses were shut up, and others of the same +description, evidently inhabited by people for whom they were not built. +In many of them, one room only was inhabited; and in others, the second +and third floors turned into granaries. Indeed, along the whole road +from Abbeville to Paris, are innumerable _chateaux_, which are now only +the cells of beggars, or of the lowest kind of peasantry. + +An officer who was going to Amiens, joined company with me on the road +to Pequigny, and, like every Frenchman of this class, became +communicative almost in the same instant in which we had exchanged +salutes. I found, however, that he knew nothing, except in his own +profession; and I very strongly suspect, that he even here gave me some +details of battles in which he had never been, or at least he made two +or three geographical mistakes, for which I cannot otherwise account. He +made no scruple of moving the Rhine a few degrees easterly; and +constructed a bridge over the Adige without the help of the mason. I +have not unfrequently, indeed, been surprized at the unaccountable +ignorance betrayed by this class of men. It is to be hoped, that in +another age this will pass away. My companion, however, had a +good-humour which compensated for his ignorance; he alternately talked, +sung, and dismounted from his horse to speak to every peasant girl who +met us on the road; he seemed at home with every one, and made the time +pass agreeably enough. He sung, at my request, the Marseillois, and sung +it with such emphasis, energy, and attitude, as to make me sincerely +repent the having called forth such a deafening exhibition of his +powers. Though one or two travellers passed us whilst he was thus +exhibiting, my gentleman was not in the slightest degree discomposed, +but continued his song, his attitudes, and his grimaces, as if he were +in the midst of a wood. + +After a very long journey, in which my little Norman had performed to +admiration, I reached Amiens about eight o'clock, on the sweetest summer +evening imaginable. The aspect of Amiens, as it is approached by the +road, resembles Canterbury--the cathedral rising above the town--the +town, as it were, gathering around it as its parent and protector. My +companion would not leave me till he had seen me to the inn, the _Hotel +d'Angleterre_, when he took a farewell of me as if we had been intimate +for years, and I have no doubt, thought no more of me after he had +turned the corner of the street. These attentions, however, are not the +less pleasing, and answer their purpose as well as if they were more +permanent. Having ordered my supper, and seen my horse duly provided +for, I walked through the town, which is clean, lively, and in many +respects resembling towns of the third rate in England. I visited the +cathedral, which pleased me much; but has been so often described, that +I deem it unnecessary to say more of it. It was built by the English in +the time of Henry VI. and the regency of the Duke of Bedford, and has +much of the national taste of that people, and those times. Though +strictly Gothic, it is light, and very tastefully ornamented: it +infinitely exceeds any cathedral in England, with the exception of +Westminster Abbey. I went to see likewise the _Chateau d'Eau_, the +machine for supplying Amiens with water. There is nothing more than +common in it, and the purpose would be answered better by pipes and a +steam-engine. It excited one observation which I have since frequently +made--that the French, with all their parade of science and ostentation +of institutions, are still a century behind England in real practical +knowledge. My Tour in France has at least taught me one lesson--never to +be deceived by high-sounding names and pompous designations. I have not +visited their schools for nothing. The French talk; the English act. A +steady plodding Englishman will build an house, while a Frenchman is +laying down rules for it. There is more of this idle pedantry in France +than in any country on the face of the globe: every thing is done with +science, and nothing with knowledge. + +Walking through the market-place, my attention was taken by an unusual +bustle--the erecting of scaffolds, booths, and other similar +preparations. I learned, upon inquiry, that the half-yearly fair was to +be held on the following day; a piece of information which confirmed my +previous intention of passing that day at Amiens. + +Upon returning to the inn, I had a supper as comfortable as any I had +ever sat down to, even in England. The landlord, at my particular +request, took his seat with me at table. He complained bitterly of the +oppression of the taxes, and more particularly of their uncertainty, +which was so indeterminate, according to his assertions, that the +collectors took what they pleased, and employed their offices as means +of favour, or to gratify their personal piques. One of the collectors of +Amiens, it seems, was likewise an inn-keeper, who availed himself of the +power of his office to harass his rival. There is no appeal, as long as +the collector is faithful to the government, and pays in what he +receives. The manner in which defaulters are treated, is peculiar to +the French government. If the sum assessed be not paid within the +appointed time, a soldier is billeted at the house of the defaulter, and +another is daily added till the arrear be cleared. The greater part of +the taxes have been imposed during the strong days of the Revolution; +and as they are sufficiently productive, and the present government have +not the odium of their first institution, they are suffered to continue +upon their old foundation--that is to say, upon an infinite number of +successive decrees, many of which contradict each other. No one, +therefore, knows exactly what he has to pay, and any one may be made to +pay according to the caprice of the collector. + + + + +CHAP. VII. + +_General Character of the Town--Public Walk--Gardens--Half-yearly +Fair--Gaming Houses--Table d'Hôtes--English at +Amiens--Expence of Living._ + + +THE noise of the people collecting for the fair, and the consequent +bustle of the inn, awoke me at an early hour in the morning; and after a +breakfast which reminded me of England, I sallied forth to see the town +and the lions. A vast multitude of people had assembled from the +surrounding country, and were collected around the several booths. The +day was fine, the bells were ringing, and the music playing; every one +was dressed in their holiday clothes, and every one seemed to have a +happy and careless face, suitable to the festivity of the occasion. + +Amiens is most delightfully situated, the country around being highly +cultivated. It is, in every respect, one of the cleanest towns in +France; and the frequent visits and long residence of Englishmen, have +produced a very sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the +inhabitants. Though some of the houses are very ancient, and the streets +are narrow, it has not the ruinous nor close appearance of the other +towns on the Paris road. It has been lately newly paved; and there is +something, of the nature of a parish-rate for keeping it clean, and in +summer for watering the streets. + +Though Amiens has suffered very considerably by the war, it has still, +in appearance at least, an extensive trade. The manufactures are of the +same kind as those at Abbeville. Besides their cloths, however, they +work up a considerable quantity of camblets, callimancoes, and baizes, +chiefly red and spotted, for domestic consumption. They were in great +distress for wool, and could procure none but by land-carriage from +Spain, Portugal, and Flanders. Upon examining two or three of their +articles, I thought them very dear, but very good. I visited two or +three of their manufactories, and upon inquiring for others, was +informed that they had been shut up. The effect of the war had been, to +raise prices to double their former rate: every one expressed an anxious +wish for peace, and imputed the continuance of the war to the English +Ministry. + +The general character of the people of Amiens is, that they are lively, +good-humoured, and less infected by the revolutionary contagion than any +town in France: as many of them as I had an opportunity of conversing +with, spoke with due detestation of jacobinism, and with an equal wise +submission to the present order of things. Besides the native +inhabitants, there are many foreign residents, and some English. As +these are in general in good circumstances, they have usually the best +houses in the town, and live in the substantial style of their +respective countries. The English denizens very well understand that +they are constantly under the eye of the French government, and its +spies: they live, therefore, as much as possible in public; and in their +balls, and dinners, and entertainments, have a due mixture of French +visitants. Several of them avoid this restraint by passing for +Americans; but the detection of this deception is most severely +punished. The English have contrived, however, to procure both the good +will and the good word of the people of Amiens, and even the French +government seems to regard them with peculiar favour. + +Every considerable town in France has its public walk, and Amiens has +one or more of singular beauty; but being situated in an unenclosed +country, and amongst corn-fields, its private walks are still more +frequented than its ancient promenade. I was informed that the English +had brought these private walks into general fashion, and I considered +it as an additional proof of their good sense and natural taste. + +The multitude of people assembled from every part of the province, gave +me an opportunity of seeing the national costume of the peasantry. The +habits of the men did not appear to me so various, and so novel, as +those of the women. The greater part of the former had three-cocked +hats, some of straw, some of pasteboard, and some of beaver; jackets, +red, yellow, and blue; and breeches of the same fancy colours. The women +were dressed in a variety both of shape and colour, which defies all +description. When seen from a distance, the assembly had a very +picturesque appearance: the sun shining on the various colours, gave +them the appearance of so many flowers. The general features of the fair +did not differ much from the fairs in England and America. There were +two streets completely filled with booths: the market-place was occupied +with shows, and temporary theatres. I observed, however, two or three +peculiar national amusements; one of them called the _Mats de Cocagne_, +the other the _Mats de Beaupré_. The _Mats de Cocagne_ are long poles, +some of them thirty feet in height, well greased, and erected +perpendicularly. At the top of them is suspended by a string, a watch, a +shirt, or other similar articles, which become the prize of the +fortunate adventurer who can ascend and reach them. A few sous are paid +to the proprietor of the _mat_, for the chance of gaining the prize; it +is the fault, therefore, of the proprietor, if the _mat_ be not so well +greased as to render the ascent almost impossible. I saw many fruitless +attempts made: one fellow had nearly gained the top, and was within +reach of the prize; he stretched his hand out to take it, and having by +this act diminished his hold, came down with the most frightful +rapidity. The crowd laughed; and another adventurer, nothing dismayed, +succeeded him in the attempt, and in the failure. The prize, however, +was at length obtained; but the adventurer, I should think, had not much +cause to congratulate himself on his good luck. His descent was of a +rapidity which caused the blood to gush out of his mouth and his nose, +and for some time, at least, frightened the multitude from repeating the +same sport. + +The _Mats de Beaupré_ are upon the same principle; they are soaped +poles, laid horizontally, but very high from the ground. At the further +extremity of them are the same prizes, and which are gained upon the +same condition--the men to walk over, the women to scramble over them in +any manner which they might deem best. To break the violence of the +fall, the ground immediately under the poles was thickly laid with +straw. Several women, and innumerable girls, made an attempt to gain the +prize at these _Mats de Beaupré_, and in the course of their efforts had +some tumbles, which much delighted the mob. Indeed, this kind of sport +seemed peculiarly intended for the females: the men seemed to prefer the +_Cocagnes_. + +The chief enjoyment of the multitude, however, seemed to be dancing. +Several scaffolds, with benches rising one above another, were erected +in every part of the town: these were the orchestras, which, as far as I +saw, were supported by the voluntary contributions of the companies +which danced to their music. A subscription was always made after every +dance, and each dancer subscribed a sous. The ladies, I believe, were +excused by the payment of their partners. The dancing was excellent, and +the music by no means contemptible. + +The shows were much of the same kind as those in Bartholomew fair, in +London, and which travel from town to town during the summer in America. +The mountebanks and merry-andrews appeared more dexterous and more +humorous. One of the former seeing me, entreated the crowd to make way +for me; and when I turned my back, "Nay, my good friend," said he, "do +not mistake me. I have no intention of asking you for the money which +you owe to me for your last cure; you are very welcome to it. I delight +in doing good. I am paid sufficiently by your recovery. If you choose, +however, to remember, my young man"--The merry-andrew was here at my +side, and I deemed it most prudent to drop a few sous into his cap, and +effect my escape. The crowd understood the jest, and laughed heartily. +One of them, however, of more decent appearance, made me a very pleasing +apology, repeating at the same time a French proverb--that a pope and a +mountebank were above all law. + +Amongst the commodities exhibited for sale, I was agreeably surprised to +find two or more booths well supplied with English and French books; +and my surprise was still greater, to find that the former had many +purchasers. I took up several of them, and found them to be English +Gazetteers, Tours in England, Wales, Scotland; Travels in America, +Dictionaries, and Grammars. From some cause or other, the English seem +in particular favour in and about Amiens, and Lord Cornwallis is still +remembered with respect and affection. + +There, were other booths which excited less pleasing reflections; these +were the temporary gaming tables, the admission to which was from six to +twelve sous. I had the curiosity to enter one of them: it was already +full. One party was at eager play, and others were waiting to succeed +them. I could make nothing of the game, only that it was one of chance, +and that the winnings and losings were determined in every three casts. +I saw a decent young man take off and stake his neckcloth: fortune +favoured him, and he had the uncommon fortitude to retire, and play no +more. There was another booth of rather a singular kind--a temporary +pawnbroker's, and who appeared to have a good brisk trade. + +My attention, however, was more peculiarly attracted by a marquee, open +on all sides, and with an elevated floor: a chair, covered with green +velvet, was here placed, and occupied by a man of much apparent gravity. +I found, upon inquiry, that this was the president, judge, or +magistrate of the fair; that he was elected by votes of the +booth-holders, and determined all disputes on the spot; that his +authority was supported by the police, and his sentence enforced by the +municipality. He was a portly man, wore a three-cocked hat, and an old +scarlet cloak, which had served the same purpose time out of mind. + +I returned to my hotel to dinner; and being informed that there was a +_table d'hôte_, and that it would be very numerously attended, I +preferred it to dining in my own apartment, and at the appointed hour +took my seat. The company was indeed numerous--men, women, girls, and +children; officers of the army, exhibitors of wild beasts, actors and +actresses of the booth-theatres. A separate table was set for the +officers of the army. I had here a specimen of the manners of the French +revolutionary officers. A party of them, to the number of fifteen or +twenty, had already placed themselves at table, when the commandant, or +at least a superior officer, entered the room. They all immediately got +up to make room for him, and handed him a chair in a manner the most +servile and fawning. "I hope I disturb no one," said he, at the same +time throwing himself into the chair, but not offering to move his hat. +He continued during the whole of the dinner the same disgusting +superiority, and the subordinate officers several times called out +silence to the adjoining table, that they might better hear the vapid +remarks of their commander. The waiters, and even the whole _table +d'hôte_ seemed in great awe of these military gentlemen; and one fellow +excused himself for leaving a plate before me by hastily alleging that +the commander was looking around him for something. I was still more +disgusted by one of the officers rising, and proposing this important +gentleman's health to both tables; and my surprise was greater by +recognizing, in the tone of this proposal, the barbarous twang of an +Irishman. Some of the French regiments are half filled with these Irish +renegades. I cannot speak of them with any patience, as I cannot +conceive any voluntary degradation more contemptible, than that of +passing from any thing British or American into any thing French or +Italian. I have a respect for the Irish in the German service; they are +still members of a people like themselves. I say not this in contempt of +the French themselves, but of the English or Irish become French. + +In the evening I went to one of the theatres, accompanied by an English +physician, with whom I dined at the _table d'hôte_. This gentleman came +into France after the peace of Amiens, and was of course included in the +number detained by the French Emperor. Having some friends in the +Institute, they had drawn up a memorial in his favour, in which they +represented him, and very justly, as a man of science, who had come into +France to compare the English and French system of medicine, and whose +researches had already excited much interest and inquiry amongst the +French physicians. This memorial being delivered into the hands of the +Emperor himself, was subscribed by him in the following words: "Let him +remain in France during the war, on his parole that he will not leave +the French territories, and will have no correspondence with England." + +The performance at the theatre was too contemptible for mention, and in +the pantomime, or rather spectacle, became latterly so indelicate, that +I found it necessary to withdraw. I should hope that the performances +are not always of the same character: perhaps something must be allowed +for the occasion. The French, however, have no idea of humour as +separated from indecencies. In this respect they might take a very +useful lesson from the English. The English excel in pantomime as much +as the French in comedy. + +Dr. M---- returned to supper with me, and gave me some useful +information. Every trace of the Revolution is rapidly vanishing at +Amiens. Religion has resumed her influence: the cathedral is very well +attended, but auricular confession is not usual. The clergy of Amiens, +however, are very poor, having lost all their immense possessions, and +having nothing but the national stipend. The cathedral had been repaired +by public subscription. The poor are sent to the armies. There were no +imposts but those paid to the government. + +Amiens is still a very cheap town for permanent residence, though the +war has very seriously affected it. A good house may be rented for +thirty pounds per annum, the taxes upon the mere house being about a +Louis. Mutton seldom exceeds threepence English money per pound, and +beef is usually somewhat cheaper. Poultry of all kinds is in great +plenty, and cheap: fowls, ducks, &c. about two shillings per couple. A +horse at livery, half a Louis per week; two horses, all expences +included, a Louis and two livres. Board and lodging in a genteel house, +five-and-twenty Louis annually. Dr. M---- agreed with me, that for three +hundred a year, a family might keep their carriage and live in comfort, +in Amiens and its neighbourhood. I must not forget another observation; +the towns in France are cheaper than the villages. The consumption of +meat in the latter is not sufficient to induce the butchers to kill +often; the market, therefore, is very ill supplied, and consequently the +prices are dear. A few miles from a principal town, you cannot have a +leg of mutton without paying for the whole sheep. + +A stranger may live at an inn at Amiens for about five shillings, +English money, a day. The wine is good, and very cheap; and a daily +ordinary, or _table d'hôte_, is kept at the _Hotel d'Angleterre_. +Breakfast is charged one livre, dinner three, and supper one: half a +livre for coffee, and two livres for lodging; but if you remain a week, +ten livres for the whole time. The hotels, of which there are two, are +as good as those of Paris, and lodgings are far more reasonable. A +_restaurateur_ has very lately set up in a very grand style, but the +population of the town will scarcely support him. The company at the +_table d'hôte_ usually consists of officers, of whom there is always a +multitude in the neighbourhood of Amiens. Some of them, as I was +informed, are very pleasant agreeable men; whilst others are ruffians, +and have the manners of jacobins. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +_French and English Roads compared--Gaiety of French +Labourers--Breteuil--Apple-trees in the midst of Corn-fields--Beautiful +Scenery--Cheap Price of Land in France--Clermont--Bad Management +of the French Farmers--Chantilly--Arrival at Paris._ + + +I left Amiens early on the following morning, intending to reach +Clermont in good time. + +The roads now became very indifferent, but the scenery was much +improved. I could not but compare the prospect of a French road with one +of the great roads of England. It is impossible to travel a mile on an +English road without meeting or overtaking every species of vehicle. The +imagination of a traveller, if as susceptible as a traveller's +imagination should be, has thus a constant food for its exercise; it +accompanies these several groups to their home or destination, and calls +before its view the busy market, the quiet village, the blazing hearth, +the returning husband, and the welcoming wife. No man is fit for a +traveller who cannot while away his time in such creations of his +fancy. I pity the traveller from my heart, who in a barren or uniform +road, has no other occupation but to count the mile-stones, and find +every mile as long as the three preceding. Let such men become drivers +to stage-coaches, but let them not degrade the name of travellers by +assuming it to themselves. + +On a French road, there is more necessity than objects for this exercise +of the imagination. A French road is like a garden in the old French +style. It is seldom either more or less than a straight line ruled from +one end of the kingdom to the other. There are no angles, no curvatures, +no hedges; one league is the exact counterpart of another; instead of +hedges, are railings, and which are generally in a condition to give the +country not only a naked, but even a slovenly, ruinous appearance. +Imagine a road made over an heath, and each side of it fenced off by a +railing of old hurdles, and you will have no imperfect idea of a French +great road. Within a mile, indeed, of the neighbourhood of a principal +town, the prospect usually varies and improves. The road is then planted +on each side, and becomes a beautiful avenue through lofty and shady +trees. This description, however, will only apply to the great roads. +Some of the cross and country roads, as I shall hereafter have occasion +to mention, not only equal, but greatly exceed, even the English roads, +in natural beauty and scenery. + +In the course of the road between Amiens and Clermont, I had again too +frequent opportunity to remark the slovenly management of the French +farmers, as compared with those of England, and even with those of +America. In America, the farmers are not without a very sufficient +excuse. The scarcity of hands, the impossibility of procuring labourers +at any price, compel an American farmer to get in his harvest as he can, +to collect the crop of one field hastily, and then fly to another. In +France there is no such excuse, and therefore there should be no such +slovenly waste. Yet in some of the hay-fields which I passed, at least +one-fifth _of_ the crop was lying scattered on the roads and in the +fields. The excuse was, that the cattle would eat it, and that they +might as well have it one way as another. It would be folly to say any +thing as to such an argument; yet in these very fields the labour was so +plentiful and minute, that the greater part of the crop was carried from +the fields on the shoulders of the labourers, men, women, and boys. It +is difficult to reconcile such inconsistencies. + +In such of the fields as I saw carts, the most severe labour seemed to +be allotted to the share of the women. They were the pitchers, and +performed this labour with a very heavy, and as it appeared to me, a +very awkward fork. Whilst the women were performing this task, two or +three fellows, raw-boned, and nearly six feet high, were either very +leisurely raking, or perhaps laying at their full length under the +new-made stacks. In other fields I saw more pleasing groups. At the +sound of a horn like the English harvest horn, the pitchers, the +loaders, and every labourer on the spot, left their work, and collected +around some tree or hay-cock, to receive their noon refreshment. The +indispensable fiddle was never wanting. Even the horses, loosened from +the carts, and suffered to feed at liberty, seemed to partake in the +general merriment, and looked with erect ears at the fiddler and his +dancing group. When, the hour allotted to this relaxation expired, the +labourers were again called to the several duties by the summons of the +same horn, which was now sounded from the top of the loaded cart, as it +had before been sounded under the tree or hay-cock. I had forgotten to +mention, that the tree or hay-cock, the appointed place of refreshment, +was distinguished by pennants of different coloured ribbons attached to +a stick as a flag-staff, and which waving in the wind, under a beautiful +midsummer sky, had an effect peculiarly pleasing. As I saw the same +spectacle in several fields, I believe it to be national. + +Breteuil, which I reached in time for a late breakfast, is a very paltry +town; the houses are all built in the ancient style, and bear an +unfavourable resemblance to English farm-houses; their gable-ends are +turned to the streets, and the chimneys are nearly as large as the +roofs. There was no appearance of business, not even of a brisk retail, +or of a lively thoroughfare. A crowd collected around us as I entered +the inn, as if a decent stranger, travelling on horseback, were a +miracle in that part of the country. + +Whatever, however, was wanting in the town, was more than made up by the +surrounding country, which becomes very beautiful in the immediate +environs of Breteuil. For the five or six miles beyond the town, towards +Clermont, the scenery is enchanting. The vines, which here commence, +were in bloom, the road fringed with orchards, and even the corn-fields +hedged round with apple-trees. In the middle of every field was an elm +or a chesnut, which by the luxuriance of its foliage seemed planted in +other ages. On each side of the road, moreover, at the distance of a +mile or a league, were the towers of village churches rising from amidst +similar groves, whilst a chateau perhaps crowned the hill, and completed +the landscape. Bye-paths, and narrow roads, leading to one or other of +these villages, intersected the corn-fields in every direction; and as +the corn was full-grown and yellow, and the day beautifully serene, +nothing could be more grateful than this prospect. The heart of man +seems peculiarly formed to relish the beauties of Nature, and to feel +the bounties of Providence. What artificial beauty can equal that of a +corn-field? What emotion is so lively, and so fully pervades every +feeling, as that excited by the cornucopia of Nature, and the flowery +plenty of the approaching harvest? + +The same scenery continues with little variation to Clermont, the +country improving, and the roads becoming worse. In this interval, +however, I passed several chateaux in ruins, and several farms and +houses, on which were affixed notices that they were to be let or sold. +On inquiring the rent and purchase of one of them, I found it to be so +cheap, that could I have reconciled myself to French manners, and +promised myself any suitable assistance from French labourers, I should +have seriously thought of making a purchase. An estate of eleven hundred +acres, seven hundred of which were in culture, the remainder wood and +heath, was offered for sale for 8000 Louis. The mansion-house was indeed +in ruin beyond the possibility of repair, but the land, under proper +cultivation, would have paid twenty-five per cent. on the +purchase-money. The main point of such purchases, however, is contained +in these words: Under proper cultivation. Nothing is so absurd as the +expectation of a foreign purchaser, and particularly of a gentleman, +that he will be able to transfer the improved system of cultivation of +his own country into a kingdom at least a century behind the former. As +far us his own manual labour goes, as far as he will take the plough, +the harrow, and the broadcast himself, so far may he procure the +execution of his own ideas. But it is in vain to endeavour to infuse +this knowledge or this practice into French labourers; you might as well +put a pen in the hand of a Hottentot, and expect him to write his name. +The ill success of half the foreign purchasers must be imputed to this +oversight. An American or an Englishman passes over a French or German +farm, and sees land of the most productive powers reduced to sterility +by slovenly management. A suggestion immediately arises in his mind--how +much might this land be made to produce under a more intelligent +cultivation? Full of this idea he perhaps inquires the price, and +finding it about one-tenth of what such land would cost in England, +immediately makes his purchase, settles, and begins his operations. Here +his eyes are soon opened. He must send to England for all his +implements; and even then his French labourers neither can or will learn +the use of them. An English ploughman becomes necessary; the English +ploughman accordingly comes, but shortly becomes miserable amongst +French habits and French fellow-labourers. + +In this manner have failed innumerable attempts of this kind within my +own knowledge. It is impossible to transplant the whole of the system of +one country into another. The English or the American farmer may +emigrate and settle in France, and bring over his English plough and +English habits, but he will still find a French soil, a French climate, +French markets, and French labourers. The course of his crops will be +disturbed by the necessity of some subservience to the peculiar wants of +the country and the demands of the market. He cannot, for example, +persevere in his turnips, where he can find no cattle to eat them, no +purchasers for his cattle, and where, from the openness of the climate +in winter, the crop must necessarily rot before he can consume it. For +the same reason, his clover cultivation becomes as useless. To say all +in a word, I know not how an English or an American farmer could make a +favourable purchase in France, though the French Government should come +forward with its protection. The habits of the country have become so +accommodated to its agriculture, that they each mutually support the +other, and a more improved system can only be introduced in the +proportion in which these national habits can be fundamentally changed. +But such changes must necessarily be gradual and slow, and must not be +reckoned upon by an individual. + +I found myself so indisposed at Clermont, that I retired very early to +my bed. My complaint was a giddiness in the head, brought on by riding +in the sun. Every country has its peculiar medicine as well as its +religion, and in every country there are certain family receipts, +certain homely prescriptions, which, from their experienced efficacy, +merit more attention than a member of the faculty would be inclined to +give them. My host at Clermont accordingly became my physician, and by +his advice I bathed my feet in warm water, and getting into bed between +the blankets, after drinking about a quart of cold spring-water, I can +only say that the remedy had its full effect. After a violent +perspiration in the night I fell into a sound sleep, and awoke in the +morning in such complete health and spirits, as to ride to Chantilly to +breakfast. + +Throughout the morning's journey, the scenery was very nearly similar to +what I had previously passed, except that it was richer and more varied +with habitations. The peasantry, moreover, were occupied in the same +manner in getting in their hay-harvest, which, from reasons that I +cannot comprehend, seemed more backward as I approached to the +metropolis. This may partly, indeed, be owing to what will appear a very +extraordinary cause--the excellence of the climate. The French farmer +can trust the skies; he sees a cloudless sky in the night, and has no +fear that its serenity will be shortly disturbed. He is a total stranger +to that vicissitude of sunshine, rain, and tempest, which in a moment +confounds all the labours of the English husbandmen. The same sun that +shines to-day will shine to-morrow. In this happy confidence he stacks +his hay in small cocks in the field where it grows, and only carries it +away at his leisure. His manner of carrying is as slovenly as all his +other management. Annette carries an apron-full, Jeannette an +handkerchief-full, and Lubin a barrow-full. Some of it is packed in +sheets and blankets. Some of this hay was very bad in quality, and as +crops, still worse in quantity. Being too much exposed to the sun, it +was little better than so much coarse straw. Being merely thrown +together, without being trodden, when carried into the hay-loft, it +loses whatever fragrance it may have hitherto retained. I do not think +an English horse would eat it. + +Chantilly totally disappointed my expectations. The dæmon of anarchy has +here raised a superb trophy on a monument of ruins. The principal +building has been demolished for the sake of the materials; the stables, +and that part of the ancient establishment denominated Le petit Chateau, +are all that remain. I was informed by the people of the inn, that the +whole had been purchased in the revolutionary period by a petty +provincial builder, who had no sooner completed his installments, than +he began the demolition of the building, and the cutting down the trees +in the grounds. Buonaparte, fortunately for Chantilly, became Chief +Consul before the whole was destroyed; Chantilly was then re-purchased, +and is now the property of the Government. + +The road now began to have some appearance of an approach to the capital +of the kingdom. I could not however but still observe, that there were +but few carriages compared to what I had seen within a similar distance +of London, and even of New York. The several vehicles were mostly +constructed in the same manner as vehicles of the same distinction in +England. The charette, or cart in common use, was the only exception on +the favourable side. This vehicle seemed to me so well adapted to its +purpose, as to merit a particular description. + +The charette, then, consists principally of two parts--the carriage, and +the body. The carriage part is very simple, being composed of two long +shafts of wood, about twenty feet in length, connected together by cross +bars, so as to form the bed, and on which boards are laid, as the +occasion may require. In the same manner the sides, a front, and back, +may be added at pleasure. The axle and wheels are in the usual place and +form. Upon this carriage is fixed the moveable body, consisting of a +similar frame-work of two shafts connected by cross bars. This body +moves upon an axletree, and extending some feet beyond the carriage +behind, it is let down with ease to receive its load, which the body +moving, as before described, on a pivot, or axle, is easily purchased up +from before. + +Nearly half way between Chantilly and Paris, I passed a handsome chateau +to the right, which is now occupied as a school. This establishment was +commenced by an Englishman, in the short interval of the peace of +Amiens, and he was upon the point of making a rapid fortune, when in +common with the other Englishmen at that time in France, he was ordered +to Verdun. His school now passed to his French usher, who continuing to +conduct it upon the same plan, that is, with the order and intelligence +common in every English school, has increased its reputation, and reaps +his merited reward by general encouragement. The rate of the boarders at +this academy may serve to illustrate the comparative cheapness of every +thing in France. The boarders are provided with classic instruction of +every kind, as likewise the most eminent masters in all the fine arts, +and personal accomplishments, to which is to be added clothes, at forty +guineas per annum. An English or American school on the same plan, and +conducted in the same style, could not be less than double, if not +triple the above-mentioned sum. + +I reached Paris at an early hour in the afternoon, and having letters +for Mr. Younge, the confidential secretary to Mr. Armstrong, immediately +waited upon him, that his information might assist me as to finding +suitable apartments. Lodgings in Paris are infinitely more expensive +than in London, and with not one-half the comfort. I did not find Mr. +Younge at his house; but upon hearing my name, his Lady received me as +an expected friend, and relieved me from the necessity of further +search, by informing me that Mr. Younge had expected me, and provided +apartments for me in his own house. I shall have future occasion to +mention, that the beautiful Lady of this Gentleman was a Frenchwoman, +and that he had been about six months married to her when I arrived in +Paris. She was the niece of the celebrated Lally Tolendal, and had all +the elegance, beauty, and dignity which seems characteristic of that +family. I never saw a woman, whose perfect beauty excited in me at first +sight such a mixed emotion of wonder, awe, and pleasure. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + +_A Week in Paris--Objects and Occurrences--National Library--A +French Route--Fashionable French Supper--Conceits--Presentation +at Court--Audience._ + + +AS my purpose in visiting France was not to see Paris, I resolved to +make my stay in this gay capital as short as possible. I entered it on +the Tuesday afternoon, and determined to leave it and pursue my journey +into the provinces on the following Monday. I had therefore little time +to see the singularities of this celebrated metropolis; but I made the +best of this time, and had the advantage of Mr. Younge's knowledge and +guidance. + +There is no place in the world, perhaps, more distinguished for literary +eminence, in every part of art and science, than Paris. The literary +institutions of Paris, therefore, were the objects of my first visit. +Every capital has its theatres, public gardens, and palaces; but Paris +alone has its public libraries on a scale of equal utility and +magnificence. In Paris alone, science seems to be considered as an +object of importance to mankind, and therefore as a suitable object for +the protection of Government. In Paris alone, to say all in a word, the +poorest student, the most ragged philosopher, has all the treasures of +princes at his command; the National Library opens at his call, and the +most expensive books are delivered for his use. + +On the morning following my arrival, Mr. Younge accompanied me to the +National Library. On entering it, we ascended a most superb staircase +painted by Pellegrine, by which we were led to the library on the first +floor. It consists of a suite of spacious and magnificent apartments, +extending round three sides of a quadrangle. The books are ranged around +the sides, according to the order of the respective subjects, and are +said to amount to nearly half a million. Each division has an attending +librarian, of whom every one may require the book he wishes, and which +is immediately delivered to him. Being themselves gentlemen, there is no +apprehension that they will accept any pecuniary remuneration; but there +is likewise a strict order that no money shall be given to any of the +inferior attendants. There are tables and chairs in numbers, and nothing +seemed neglected, which could conduce even to the comfort of the +readers. + +The most complete department of the library is that of the manuscripts. +This collection amounts to nearly fifty thousand volumes, and amongst +them innumerable letters, and even treatises, by the early kings of +France. A manuscript is shewn as written by Louis the Fourteenth: it is +entitled, "Memoirs of his own Time, written by the King himself." I much +doubt, however, the authenticity of this production. Louis the +Fourteenth had other more immediate concerns than writing the history of +France. France is full of these literary forgeries. Every king of +France, if the titles of books may be received as a proof of their +authenticity, has not only written his life, but written it like a +philosopher and historian, candidly confessing his errors and abusing +his ministers. + +The second floor of the building contains the genealogies of the French +families. They are deposited in boxes, which are labelled with the +several family names. They are considered as public records, and are +only producible in the courts of justice, in order to determine the +titles to real property. No one is allowed to copy them except by the +most special permission, which is never granted but to histriographers +of established name and reputation. The cabinet of antiques is stated to +be very rich, and, to judge by appearances, is not inferior to its +reputation. The collection was made by Caylus. It chiefly consists of +vases, busts, and articles of domestic use amongst the Romans. The +greater part of them have been already copied as models, in the +ornamenting of furniture, by the Parisian artists. This fashion indeed +is carried almost to a mania. Every thing must be Greek and Roman +without any reference to Nature or propriety. For example, what could +be so absurd as the natural realization of some of these capricious +ornaments? What lady would chose to sleep in a bed, up the pillars of +which serpents were crawling? Yet is such realization the only criterion +of taste and propriety. + +The cabinet of engravings detained us nearly two hours. The portfeuilles +containing the prints are distributed into twelve classes. Some of these +divisions invited us to a minute inspection. Such was the class +containing the French fashions from the age of Clovis to Louis the +Sixteenth. In another class was the costume of every nation in the +world; in a third, portraits of eminent persons of all ages and nations; +and in a fourth, a collection of prints relating to public festivals, +cavalcades, tournaments, coronations, royal funerals, &c. France is the +only kingdom in the world which possesses a treasure like this, and +which knows how to estimate it at its proper value. + +From the National Library we drove to the Athenée, a library and lecture +institution, supported by voluntary subscription. It is much of the same +nature as an institution of a similar kind in London, termed the British +Institute; but the French Athenæum has infinitely the advantage. The +subscription is cheaper, being about four Louis annually, and the +lectures are more elegant, if not more scientific. There are usually +three lectures daily; the first on sciences, and the other two on +belles lettres. The lecture on science is considered as very able, but +those on the belles lettres were merely suited, as I understood, to +French frivolity. The rooms were so full as to render our stay +unpleasant, and we thereby lost an anatomy lecture, which was about to +commence. I should not forget to mention, that all the Parisian journals +and magazines, and many of the German periodical works, were lying on +the tables, and the library seemed altogether as complete as it was +comfortable. The subscribers are numerous, and the institution itself in +fashion. How long it will so last, no one will venture to predict. + +The library of the Pantheon and that of the Institute finished our +morning's occupation. They are both on the same scale and nearly on the +same general plan as the National Library. The library of the Institute, +however, is only open to foreigners and the members of the Institute. +The Institute holds its sitting every month, and, according to all +report, is then frivolous enough. I had not an opportunity of being +present at one of these sittings, but from what I heard, I did not much +regret my disappointment. + +We returned home to dress for dinner. Mr. Younge informed, me, that he +expected a very large party in the evening, chiefly French, and as his +lady herself was a French woman, and had arranged her domestic +establishment accordingly, I felt some curiosity. + +About eight, or nearer nine, Mr. Younge and myself, with two or three +other of the dinner company, were summoned up to the drawing-room. The +summons itself had something peculiar. The doors of the parlour, which +were folding, were thrown open, and two female attendants, dressed like +vestals, and holding torches of white wax, summoned us by a low curtsey, +and preceded us up the great staircase to the doors of the anti-chamber, +where they made another salutation, and took their station on each side. +The anti-chamber was filled with servants, who were seated on benches +fixed to the wall, but who did not rise on our entry. Some of them were +even playing at cards, others at dominos, and all of them seemed +perfectly at their ease. The anti-chamber opened by an arched door-way +into an handsome room, lighted by a chandelier of the most brilliant cut +glass; the pannels of the room were very tastily painted, and the +glasses on each side very large, and in magnificent frames. The further +extremity of this room opened by folding doors into the principal +drawing-room, where the company were collected. It was brilliantly +lighted, as well by patent lamps, as by a chandelier in the middle. The +furniture had a resemblance to what I had seen in fashionable houses in +England. The carpet was of red baize with a Turkish border, and figured +in the middle like an harlequin's jacket. The principal novelty was a +blue ribbon which divided the room lengthways, the one side of it being +for the dancers, the other for the card-players. The ribbon was +supported at proper distances by white staves, similar to those of the +court ushers. + +The ball had little to distinguish it from the balls of England and +America, except that the ladies danced with infinitely more skill, and +therefore with more grace. The fashionable French dancing is exactly +that of our operas. They are all figurantes, and care not what they +exhibit, so as they exhibit their skill. I could not but figure to +myself the confusion of an English girl, were she even present at a +French assembly. Yet so powerful is habit, that not only did the ladies +seem insensible, but even the gentlemen, such as did not dance, regarded +them with indifference. + +Cotillons and waltzes were the only dances of the evening. The waltzes +were danced in couples, twenty or thirty at a time. The measure was +quick, and all the parties seemed animated. I cannot say that I saw any +thing indecorous in the embraces of the ladies and their partners, +except in the mere act itself; but the waltz will never become a current +fashion in England or America. + +There is no precedency in a French assembly except amongst the Military. +This is managed with much delicacy. Every group is thrown as much as +possible into a circle. The tables are all circular, and cotillons are +chiefly preferred from having this quality. + +I did not join the card-players; there were about half a dozen tables, +and the several parties appeared to play very high. When the game, or a +certain number of games were over, the parties rose from their seats, +and bowing to any whom they saw near them, invited them to succeed them +in their seats. These invitations were sometimes accepted, but more +frequently declined. The division of the drawing-room set apart for the +card-players served rather as a promenade for the company who did not +dance; they here ranged themselves in a line along the ribbon, and +criticised the several dancers. Some of these spectators seemed most +egregious fops. One of them, with the exception of his linen, was +dressed completely in purple silk or satin, and another in a +rose-coloured silk coat, with white satin waistcoat and small clothes, +and white silk stockings. The greater part of the ladies were dressed in +fancy habits from the antique. Some were sphinxes, some vestals, some +Dians, half a dozen Minervas, and a score of Junos and Cleopatras. One +girl was pointed out to me as being perfectly _á l'Anglaise_. Her hair, +perfectly undressed, was combed off her forehead, and hung down her back +in its full length behind. She reminded me only of a school-boy playing +without his hat. + +We were summoned to the supper table about three in the morning. This +repast was a perfect English dinner. Soup, fish, poultry and ragouts, +succeeded each other in almost endless variety. A fruit-basket was +served round by the servants together with the bread-basket, and a small +case of liqueurs was placed at every third plate. Some of these were +contained in glass figures of Cupids, in which case, in order to get at +the liqueur, it was necessary to break off a small globule affixed to +the breast of the figure. The French confectioners are more ingenious +than delicate in these contrivances; but the French ladies seem better +pleased with such conceit in proportion to their intelligible +references. Some of these naked Cupids, which were perfect in all their +parts, were handed from the gentlemen to the ladies, and from the ladies +to each other, and as freely examined and criticised, as if they had +been paintings of birds. The gentlemen, upon their parts, were equally +as facetious upon the naked Venuses; and a Swan affixed to a Leda, was +the lucky source of innumerable pleasant questions and answers. Every +thing, in a word, is tolerated which can in any way be passed into an +equivoque. Their conversation in this respect resembles their dress--no +matter how thin that covering may be, so that there be one. + +So much for a French assembly or fashionable rout, which certainly +excells an English one in elegance and fancy, as much as it falls short +of it in substantial mirth. The French, it must be confessed, infinitely +excell every other nation in all things connected with spectacle, and +more or less this spectacle pervades all their parties. They dance, they +converse, they sing, for exhibition, and as if they were on the stage. +Their conversation, therefore, has frequently more wit than interest, +and their dancing more vanity than mirth. They seem in both respects to +want that happy carelessness which pleases by being pleased. A +Frenchwoman is a figurante even in her chit-chat. + +It may be expected that I did not omit to visit the theatres. Mr. Younge +accompanied me successively to nearly all of them--two or three in an +evening. Upon this subject, however, I shall say nothing, as every book +of travels has so fully described some or other of them, that nothing in +fact is further required. + +I had resolved not to leave Paris without seeing the Emperor, and being +informed that he was to hold an audience on the following day, I applied +to Mr. Younge to procure my formal introduction. With this purpose we +waited upon General Armstrong, who sent my name to the Grand Chamberlain +with the necessary formalities. This formality is a certificate under +the hand of the Ambassador; that the person soliciting the introduction +has been introduced at his own Court, or that, according to the best +knowledge of the Ambassador, he is not a Merchant--a _Negociant actuel_. +It may be briefly observed, however, that the French Negotiant answers +better to the English Mechanic, than to the honorable appellation, +Merchant.--General Armstrong promised me a very interesting spectacle in +the Imperial audience. "It's the most splendid Court in Europe," said +he: "the Court of London, and even of Vienna, will not bear a comparison +with it." Every one agreed in the justice of this remark, and my +curiosity was strongly excited. + +On the appointed day, about three o'clock, Mr. Younge accompanied me to +the Palace, where we were immediately conducted to a splendid saloon, +which is termed the Ambassadors' hall. Refreshments were here handed +round to the company, which was very numerous, and amongst them many +German Princes in their grand court dress. The conversation became very +general; those who had seen Bonaparte describing him to those who were +about to be introduced. Every one agreed that he was the most +extraordinary man that Europe had produced in many centuries, and that +even his appearance was in no slight degree indicative of his character. +"He possesses an eye," said one gentleman, "in which Lavater might have +understood an hero." Mr. Younge confirmed this observation, and prepared +me to regard him with more than common attention. + +The doors of the saloon were at length thrown open, and some of the +officers of the Grand Chamberlain, with white wands and embroidered +robes and scarfs, bowing low to the company, invited us, by waving their +staves, to follow them up the grand staircase. Every one now arranged +themselves, in pairs, behind their respective Ambassadors, and followed +the ushers in procession, according to the precedence of their +respective countries, the Imperial, Spanish, and Neapolitan Ambassadors +forming the van. The staircase was lined on both sides with grenadiers +of the Legion of Honour, most of whom, privates as well as officers, +were arrayed in the order. The officers, as we passed, exchanged salutes +with the Ambassadors; and as the Imperial Ambassador, who led the +procession, reached the door of the anti-chamber, two trumpeters on each +side played a congratulatory flourish. The ushers who had led us so far, +now took their stations on each side the door, and others, in more +splendid habits, succeeded them in the office of conducting us. + +We now entered the anti-chamber, in which was stationed the regular +guard of the palace. We were here saluted both by privates and officers, +the Imperial Guard being considered as part of the household. From the +anti-chamber we passed onwards through nearly a dozen most splendid +apartments, and at length reached the presence-chamber. + +My eyes were instantly in search of the Emperor, who was at the farther +extremity, surrounded by a numerous circle of officers and counsellors. +The circle opened on our arrival, and withdrew behind the Emperor. The +whole of our company now ranged themselves, the Ambassadors in front, +and their several countrymen behind their respective Ministers. + +Bonaparte now advanced to the Imperial Ambassador, with whom, when +present, he always begins the audience. I had now an opportunity to +regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well +composed; his features regular, but in their _tout ensemble_ stern and +commanding; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was +dressed very splendidly in purple velvet, the coat and waistcoat +embroidered with gold bees, and with the grand star of the Legion of +Honour worked into the coat. + +He passed no one without notice, and to all the Ambassadors he spoke +once or twice. When he reached General Armstrong, he asked him, whether +America could not live, without foreign commerce as well as France? and +then added, without waiting for his answer, "There is one nation in the +world which must be taught by experience, that her Merchants are not +necessary to the existence of all other nations, and that she cannot +hold us all in commercial slavery: England is only sensible in her +compters." + +The audience took up little less than two hours, after which the Emperor +withdrew into an adjoining apartment; and the company departed in the +same order, and with the same appendages, as upon their entrance. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Departure from Paris for the Loire--Breakfast at Palaiseau--A +Peasant's Wife--Rambouillet--Magnificent Chateau--French +Curé--Chartres--Difference of Old French and English +Towns--Subterraneous Church--Curious Preservation of +the Dead--Angers--Arrival at Nantes._ + + +ON my first arrival at Paris, I had intended to remain there only till +the following week; but the kind importunities of Mr. Younge and his +family, induced me to consent to prolong my stay for some days, and an +arrangement was at length made, which caused me most cheerfully to +protract it still further. This arrangement was, that if I would remain +in Paris till after the National Fêtes, Mr. Younge, his lady, and her +niece, Mademoiselle St. Sillery, would form a travelling party, and +accompany me in my tour along the banks of the Loire, and thence along +the Southern Coast. As I had no other purpose but to see France, its +scenery and its manners, nothing could possibly have fallen out more +correspondent with my wishes. I shall here cursorily mention, that +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, with the single exception of her aunt, was the +handsomest woman I had yet seen in France. + +If I pass over the National Fêtes, it is because they differed nothing +from those which preceded them, and which have been minutely detailed by +every Traveller who has written his Tour. These national spectacles have +nothing in them which rewards the trouble of pressing through the mob to +see them. It consisted of nothing but a succession of buffooneries and +fire-works. The fire-works were magnificent--all the other sports +contemptible. In a word, I was so anxious to leave Paris, and to get +into the woods and fields, that the bustle around me scarcely attracted +my attention. + +At length, the morning of the 28th of July arrived, and after all due +preparations, I had the long wished-for pleasure of seeing Mr. Younge's +coach at the door, with its travelling appendages. Mr. Younge preferring +to accompany me on horseback, the coach was left to the ladies. In this +manner we left Paris at six o'clock on a lovely summer's morning, and in +less than half an hour were three miles on the road to Chartres, which +we hoped to reach to sleep. + +I had again occasion to observe, how much the environs of Paris differed +from those of London. Scarcely had we reached our first stage (about +seven miles), before every appendage of a metropolitan city had +disappeared. With the single exception of the road, which still +continued worthy of a great nation, the scenery and objects were as +retired as in the most remote corner of England. This absence of +commercial traffic has, however, one advantage--it adds much to the +beauty and romance of the country. In England, the manners, habits, and +dress of the capital, pervade to the remotest angle of the kingdom: +there is little variety in passing from London to Penzance. On the other +hand, in France, every Province has still its characteristic dress and +manners; and you get but a few miles from Paris, before you find +yourself amongst a new order of beings. + +We breakfasted at Palaiseau, a beautiful village, about twelve miles +from Paris. The inn being dirty, and having no appearance of being in a +situation to accommodate us to our wishes, Mr. Younge ordered the coach +to drive to a small cottage at the further end of the village. Our party +here dismounted; a small trunk, containing a breakfast equipage, was +taken from the coach, and the table was covered in an instant. The woman +of the house had been a servant of Mrs. Younge's, and married from the +family; her husband was a petty farmer, and was out in his fields. +Nothing could persuade Susette to sit in the presence of our ladies; but +she was talkative in the extreme, and seemed to be much attached to Mrs. +Younge, playing as it were with her hair as she waited behind her chair. +To Mr. Younge's questions, whether she was happy, and how she liked her +new state, she replied very carelessly, that her husband was as good as +husbands usually are; that, indeed, he had an affair with another +woman; but that he was gay, and not jealous, and therefore that she +overlooked it. Whilst she was saying this, the latch of the door was +raised, and a sturdy young peasant made his appearance; but seeing an +unexpected company, drew back in some confusion. Mr. Younge cast a +significant look at the ladies and Susette, whose looks explained that +they were not without foundation. Such are the morals, or rather the +manners, of the lower order of French wives. Gallantry is, in fact, as +much in fashion, and as generally prevalent through all orders, as in +the most corrupt æra of the monarchy--perhaps, indeed, more so; as +religion, though manifestly reviving, has not yet recovered its former +vigour. + +Having remounted our horses, and the ladies re-ascended into their +coach, we continued our journey through a country continually changing. +My observations on the road, undeceived me in a point of some +importance. I had hitherto believed France to have been an open country, +almost totally without enclosures, except the pales and ditches +necessary to distinguish properties. This opinion had been confirmed by +the appearances of the road from Calais to Paris. It was now, however, +totally done away, as the country on each side of me was as thickly +enclosed, as any of the most cultivated counties in England. Hereafter, +let no traveller assert that France is a country of open fields; +three-fourths of the kingdom is enclosed, even to the most minute +divisions. The enclosures, indeed, have not the neatness of those of +England; the hedges are rough and open, and there are few gates, and no +stiles. The French farmers, however, have already began to adopt much of +the English system in the management of their farms. According to the +information of Mr. Younge, many of the emigrés having returned to +France, have given some valuable instructions to the people in these +important points; France is accordingly much better cultivated than +hitherto. + +Mr. Younge had the politeness to answer my questions respecting the +country through which we were passing, in the utmost possible detail; +and as he himself had traversed France in all directions, and was not +without some purpose of future settlement, his information was accurate +and valuable. He gave me to understand that, with the single exception +of the good enclosures, nothing could be so miserable as the system of +agriculture along the whole road from Paris to Mans. The general quality +of the soil is light and sandy, and exactly suited to the English system +of alternate crops of corn and roots; yet on such a soil, the common +course is no other than, fallow, wheat, barley, for nine years +successively; after which the land is pared and burnt, and then suffered +to be a fallow in weeds for another year, when the same course is +recommenced. "Under such management," continued Mr. Younge, "you will +not be surprised that the average produce of the province of Bretagne +does not exceed twelve bushels of wheat, and eighteen of barley. Turnips +they have no idea of; and as the proportion of cattle is very small, the +land is necessarily still farther impoverished from want of manure. The +rents are about 18 livres, or 15_s._ English; the price in purchase from +15_l._ to 18_l._ English. The size of the farms is generally about 80 +acres English; they are usually held from year to year, but there are +some leases. Having got rid of tithes, and the taxes being very +moderate," said Mr. Younge, "the price of land in France, both as to +rent or purchase, is certainly very moderate; and if we could but import +English or American workmen, or bring the French labourers to English or +American habits, no good farmer would hesitate a moment as to settlement +in France. But the French labourers are obstinate in proportion to their +ignorance, and without exception are the most ignorant workmen in the +world. Nothing is to be done with them; and though the Emperor has +issued a decree, by which foreigners settling with a view to agriculture +or manufactures, and giving security that they will not leave the +kingdom, may become denizens, I must still hesitate as to recommending a +foreigner to seek a French naturalization." + +In this conversation, after a long but not wearisome journey, we reached +Rambouillet. The trunk was again brought from the coach, and a table +furnished with knives, spoons, and clean linen--a kind of essentials +seldom to be seen in a French inn, and more particularly in such inns as +we had reason to expect at some of our stages, in the course of our long +tour. A servant had likewise been sent before, so that a tolerable +dinner was already in a state of preparation. Being informed, however, +that we had an hour still good, Mr. Younge and Mademoiselle St. Sillery +insisted upon taking me to see the celebrated chateau in which Francis +the First, breathed his last. + +Nothing can be more miserable, nothing more calculated to inspire +melancholy, than the situation and approach to this immense and most +disproportioned building. It is situated in a park, in the midst of +woods and waters, and most unaccountably, the very lowest ground in a +park of two thousand acres is chosen for its site. The approach to it +from the village is by a long avenue, planted on both sides by double +and treble rows of lofty trees, the tops of which are so broad and thick +as almost to meet each other. This avenue opens into a lawn, in the +centre of which is the chateau. It is an heavy and vast structure, +entirely of brick, and with the turrets, arches, and corners, +characteristic of the Gothic order. The property of it belongs at +present to the Nation, that is to say, it was not sold amongst the +other, confiscated estates; something of an Imperial establishment, +therefore, is resident in the chateau, consisting of a company of +soldiers, with two officers, and an housekeeper. One of the officers had +the politeness to become our guide, and to lead us from room to room, +explaining as he went whatever seemed to excite our attention. + +Louis the Fourteenth held his court in this castle for some years; and +from respect to his memory, the apartment in which he slept and held his +levee, is still retained in the same condition in which it was left by +that Monarch. This chamber is a room nearly thirty yards in length by +eighteen in width, and lofty in proportion: the windows like those of a +church. On the further extremity is a raised floor, where stands the +royal bed of purple velvet and gold, lined with white satin painted in a +very superior style. The colours, both of the painting and the velvet, +still remain; and two pieces of coarse linen are shewed as the royal +sheets. The counterpane is of red velvet, embroidered as it were with +white lace, and with a deep gold fringe round the edges: this is +likewise lined with white satin, and marked at the corners with a crown +and fleur de lys. On each side of the bed are the portraits of Louis the +Fourteenth and Fifteenth, of Philip the Fourth of Spain, and of his +Queen. The portrait of Louis the Fourteenth more peculiarly attracted my +attention, having been mentioned by several historians to be the best +existing likeness of that celebrated Monarch. If Louis resembled his +picture, he was much handsomer than he is described to have been by the +memoir-writers of his age: his countenance has an air of much +haughtiness and self-confidence, but without any mixture of ill-humour. +The chief peculiarity in his habit was a deep lace ruff, and a doublet +of light blue, very nearly resembling the jacket of the English light +cavalry. This portrait was taken when the King was in his twenty-eighth +year, and therefore is probably a far more correct resemblance than +those which were taken at a more advanced period--so true is the +assertion, of the poet, that old men are all alike. + +Immediately over that line of the apartment where the raised floor +terminates, is a gilded rod extending along the ceiling. When the King +held his court at Rambouillet, a curtain only separated his chamber and +the levee-room. In the latter room are several portraits of the Peers of +France during the reign of Louis the Fifteenth, with those of some +Spanish Grandees. + +We visited several other rooms, all of them magnificently furnished, and +all the furniture apparently of the same æra. The grand saloon appeared +to me to be the largest room I had ever seen; the floor is of white +marble, as are likewise two ranges of Corinthian pillars on each side of +the apartment. Its height, however, is not proportioned to its length, a +defect which, added to its narrowness, gives it the air of a gallery +rather than of a banquetting-room. + +We had not time enough to walk over the gardens; but, from a cursory +view of them, did not much regret our loss. They appeared spacious +enough; but so divided and intersected into plots, borders, narrow and +broad walks, terraces, and flowerbeds in the shape of stars, as to +resemble any thing but what would be called a garden in England and +America. This style of gardening was introduced into France by Le Notre, +and some centuries must yet pass away before the French gardeners will +acquire a more correct taste. What would not English taste have effected +with the capabilities of Rambouillet? A park of two thousand acres in +front, and a forest of nearly thirty thousand behind--all this, in the +hands of Frenchmen, is thrown away; the park is but a meadow, and the +forest a neglected wood. + +Upon our return to dinner, we found the _Curé_ of the village in rapid +conversation with Madame. The appearance of our equipage, consisting of +four horses in the coach, and three riding horses, had attracted him to +the inn; and Madame, having seen him, had invited him to join us at +dinner. He was a pleasant little man, and related to us many traditional +anecdotes of Louis the Fourteenth. This King was notoriously one of the +most gallant of the race of Capet. "Whilst resident at Rambouillet," +said the Curé, "being one day hunting, and separated from his suite, he +fell in with two young girls, the daughters of the better kind of French +farmers. The girls were nutting in the forest, and perfectly strangers +to the King's person. Louis entered into conversation with them, and--" + +The good Curé's narrative was here interrupted by dinner, much to the +disappointment of Mademoiselle St. Sillery, who entreated him to resume +his narrative upon the disappearance of the first dish. "I should think, +Angela," said Mrs. Younge, "that Monsieur Curé would continue it to more +advantage in the coach. The gentleman has informed me," continued she, +addressing herself to Mr. Younge, "that he has some business at +Chartres; and thinking it would add much to our general pleasure, I have +invited him to take the spare seat in our carriage." Mr. Younge could do +no less than second this invitation, and our party was thus reinforced +by the addition of a little gossiping French Curé. + +Monsieur Guygny, the name of this gentleman, was not however so much a +Curé, as to be deficient in gallantry to the ladies, and Mademoiselle +St. Sillery, as I thought, seemed to consider him as a valuable +acquisition to our travelling suite; she re-ascended the coach with +increased spirit, and the good Curé followed with true French agility. +Thus is it with French manners. Upon inquiry from Mr. Younge I learnt, +that not one of the party had ever seen or heard of Monsieur Guygny +before they had now met at Rambouillet. + +I felt some curiosity as to the interrupted narrative, even in despite +of the evident frivolity of the narrator. The arrangement of the party +in the coach compelled me to hear it at second hand, and I found it less +frivolous than I had anticipated: it was an amour between the King and a +peasant's daughter, in which the King conducted himself in a manner as +little excusable in a monarch, as in a more humble individual. The amour +was at length discovered by the pregnancy of the unfortunate girl, who +believed herself married to the King in the character of an officer of +his suite, and who, upon discovering the deception, died of shame and +grief. Her tomb is said to be still extant, and to be distinguished by a +fleur de lys impressed on it by command of the King. The story is said +to be well founded: be this as it may, our ladies seemed to have +received it as gospel. + +We readied Chartres by sunset. Nothing could be more delightful than the +approach to the town, which is situated upon the knoll of an hill, the +houses intermixed with trees, and the wetting sun gilding the spires of +the churches and convent. The town is divided into two parts by a small +river; the further part was situated upon the ascent, the other part +upon the banks of the river. On each side of the town are hills, covered +with woods, from the midst of which were visible the gilded spires of +convents and churches, whilst the intervening plains were covered with +corn-fields. The peasantry, as we passed them, seemed clean, well-fed, +and happy; we saw several groups of them enjoying themselves in the +evening dance. Our carriage was overtaken by them more than once; they +presented flowers and fruits to our ladies, and refused any return. Some +of the younger women, though sun-burnt, were handsome; and many of them, +from their fanciful dresses, resembled the cottagers as exhibited on the +stage. The men, on the other hand, were a most ugly race of beings, +diminutive in size, and with the features of an old baboon. Mr. Younge, +indeed, in some degree accounted for this, by the information that the +best men had been taken for the armies. + +Having taken our tea, and seen the necessary preparation for our beds, +our ladies changed their dresses, and, attended by the Curé, sallied +forth to the evening promenade still customary in all the French towns. +Mr. Younge and myself availed ourselves of this opportunity to visit the +curiosities of the town. + +I have frequently had occasion to remark, that the old French towns have +a very prominent distinction. The inland towns of England, be their +antiquity what it may, retain but little of their ancient form; from the +necessary effects of a brisk trade, the several houses have so often +changed owners, and the owners have usually been so substantial in +their circumstances, that there is scarcely a house, perhaps, but what +in twenty years has been rebuilt from its fundamental stone. It is not +the same with the houses in the old towns of France. A French +tradesman's house is like his stocking--he never thinks that he wants a +new one, as long as he can in any way darn his old one; he never thinks +of building a new wall, as long as he can patch his old one; he repairs +his house piece-meal as it falls down: the repairs, therefore, are +always made so as to match the breach. In this manner the original form +of the house is preserved for some centuries, and, as philosophers say +of the human body, retains its identity, though every atom of it may +have been changed. + +It is thus with Chartres, one of the most ancient towns in France, which +in every house bears evident proofs of its antiquity, the streets being +in straight lines, and the houses dark, large, but full of small rooms. +The town, as I have before said, is divided into two parts, by the river +Eure, and thence, according to the French historians, was called +_Autricum_ by the Romans. It is surrounded by a wall, and has nine +gates, the greater part of them of stone, and of a very ancient +architecture; they are all surmounted by a figure of the Holy Virgin, +the former patroness of the city. The cathedral church, if the +traditional accounts may be believed, was formerly a temple of the +Druids, dedicated to the _Virgo Paritura_; and though this antiquity +may be fairly disputed, the structure is evidently of the most remote +ages. According to the actual records, it was burnt by lightning in the +year of our Lord 1020, and was then rebuilt upon its ancient +foundations, and according to its former form, by Fulbert, at that time +the Bishop. It is thus, in every respect, the most ancient monument in +France, and is well deserving of being visited by travellers. We were +lost in astonishment as we descended from the upper church into a +subterraneous one, extending under the whole space of the one above it, +and having corresponding walls, choir, and even stalls. The bishops, +chapter, and principal persons of the city, are here buried. + +From the cathedral church, we were conducted to the other curiosities of +the city, one of which is well worthy of mention. This is a cave or +vault in the parish church of St. André. Upon descending it, our guide +removed successively the covers of six coffins, and desired us to +examine the bodies. They consisted of four men and two women; the faces, +arms, and breasts were naked, and had all the freshness as if dead only +the preceding day. One of the men had the mark of a wound under his left +breast; it seemed as if made by a pointed sword or pike, and was florid, +red, and fresh. "These persons," said our guide, "as you may see by the +inscriptions, have been buried from fifty to an hundred years; the +wounded man was the Mayor of the town about sixty years since, and was +wounded in an affray, of which wound he died." Upon receiving this +information, I had the curiosity to examine the vault more accurately: +it was walled all around, paved with stones closely cemented, and was +evidently more than commonly dry. + +We remained at Chartres the whole of the following day; and on the +morning of the next, still accompanied by the Curé, continued our +journey to Le Mans, where we likewise remained a day, and thence +proceeded for Angers. As our projected Tour along the Loire was to +commence at Nantes, we were eager to gain that city, and indeed scarcely +made use of our eyes, however invited, till we reached it. + +Mr. Younge and myself had an hour's walk over Angers; but as we saw it +more in detail as we descended the Loire, in the progress of our future +Tour, I shall say nothing of it in this place. + +Throughout the greater part of this road, as well as of that from Angers +to Nantes, nothing could be more delightful than the scenery on both +sides, and nothing better than the roads. From La Fleche to Angers, and +thence to Ancennis, the country is a complete garden. The hills were +covered with vines; every wood had its chateau, and every village its +church. The peasantry were clean and happy, the children cheerful and +healthy-looking, and the greater part of the younger women spirited and +handsome. There was a great plenty of fruit; and as we passed through +the villages, it was invariably brought to us, and almost as invariably +any pecuniary return refused with a retreating curtsey. One sweet girl, +a young peasant, with eyes and complexion which would be esteemed +handsome even in Philadelphia, having made Mr. Younge and myself an +offering of this kind, replied very prettily to our offer of money, that +the women of La Fleche never sold either grapes or water; as much as to +say, that the one was as plentiful as the other. Some of these young +girls were dressed not only neatly, but tastily. Straw hats are the +manufacture of the province; few of them, therefore, but had a straw +bonnet, and few of these bonnets were without ribbons or flowers. + +We were most unexpectedly detained at Chantoce by an accident to our +coach, which was three days before it was repaired. We the less, +however, regretted our disappointment, as it rained incessantly, with +thunder and lightning, throughout the whole of this time. The weather +having cleared, our coach being repaired, and our spirits being +renovated by the increased elasticity of the air, the preceding heat +having been almost intolerable, we resumed our progress, and at length +reached Nantes on or about the evening of the 1st of August. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + +_Nantes--Beautiful Situation--Analogy of Architecture with the +Character of its Age--Singular Vow of Francis the Second--Departure +from Nantes--Country between Nantes and Angers--Angers._ + + +THE plan of our Tour was, to descend the Loire from Nantes, and thence +traversing its banks through nearly two-thirds of its course, cross it +by La Charité, and continue our journey in the first place for +Languedoc, and thence across that delightful province into Provence, and +along the shores of the Mediterranean. Chance in some degree varied our +original design; but it will be seen in the sequel, that we executed +more of it than we had any reason to anticipate. A traveller in France +cannot reckon upon either his road, or his arrival, with as much +certainty as in England. Some of the cross roads are absolutely +impassable; and the French gentry of late have become so fond of jaunts +of pleasure, that if a travelling family should visit them in passing, +they will have great difficulty to get away without some addition to +their party, and some consequent variation from their projected road. + +We remained at Nantes three days, during which time I had leisure enough +to visit the town and the neighbourhood. + +Nantes is one of the most ancient cities in France; it is the +_Condivunum_ of the Romans, and the _Civitas Namnetum_ of Cæsar. It is +mentioned by several Latin writers as a town of moat considerable +population under the Roman prefects; and there is every appearance, in +several parts of the city, that it has declined much from its original +importance. It is still, however, in every respect, a noble city, and, +unlike most commercial cities, is as beautifully as it is advantageously +situated. It is built on the ascent and summit of an hill, at the foot +of which is the Loire, almost as broad, and ten times more beautiful, +than the Thames. In the middle of the stream, opposite the town, are +several islets, on which are houses and gardens, and which, as seen by +the setting sun, about which time there are dancing parties, and +marquees ornamented with ribbons, have a most pleasing effect. The town, +however, has one defect, which the French want the art or the industry +to remove: the Loire is so very shallow near the town, that vessels of +any magnitude are obliged to unload at some miles above it. This is a +commercial inconvenience, which is not compensated by one of the finest +quays in Europe, extending nearly a mile in length, and covered with +buildings almost approaching to palaces. If Spain, as the proverb says, +have bridges where there is no water, I have seen repeated instances in +France where there are quays without trade. This is not, however, the +case with Nantes: it has still a brisk interior commerce, and the number +of new houses are sufficient proofs that its inhabitants increase in +opulence. + +Nantes was the residence and the burying place of the ancient Dukes of +Bretagne; in the town and neighbourhood, therefore, are many of the +relics of these early sovereigns. On an hill to the eastward is the +castle in which these princes used to hold their court: it is still +entire, though built nearly nine hundred years ago; and the repairs +having been made in the character of the original structure, it remains +a most perfect specimen of the architecture of the age in which it was +built. One room, the hall or banquetting-room, as in all Gothic castles, +is of an immense size, and lofty in proportion. The ornaments likewise +partake of the character of the age; they are chiefly carved angels, +croziers, and other sacred appendages. A remark here struck me very +forcibly, that many curious conclusions as to the characters, manners, +and even of the detail of domestic economy of men in the early ages, +might be deduced from the remains of their architecture. I have read +very curious and detailed histories founded only on the figures on +medals; the early history of Greece, and that of the lower empire of +Rome, have scarcely a better foundation. Now, why may not the same use +be made of architecture? Is not the religion of our ancestors legible in +the very ornaments of their house? Are not their excessive ignorance +and credulity equally visible in the griffins, sphinxes, dragons, +mermaids, and chimeras, which are so frequently carved in Gothic roofs, +and which are so absurdly mistaken for angels and devils? The analogy +might be extended much farther. + +The monument of Francis the Second, Duke of Bretagne, and father to Anne +of Bretagne, the Queen of France, is one of the most magnificent of the +kind in France, and from this circumstance, I suppose, has been suffered +to survive the Revolution undefaced. This monument was the work of +Michael Colomb, and is one of those works of art which, like the Apollo +Belvidere, is sufficient of itself to immortalize its artist. The +figures are a curious mixture of the wives and children of the deceased +Duke, with angels, cherubs, &c.; but this was the taste of the age, and +must not be imputed to Michael Colomb. The heart of Anne is likewise +buried in a silver urn in the same vault. The inscription on the tomb +relates a vow made by Francis to the Holy Virgin, that if he should +obtain a child by his second marriage, he would dedicate a golden image +to the Virgin. The prince obtained the child, and the image was made and +dedicated. + +It would be an injustice, in this account of Nantes, not to mention the +inn called the Hotel of Henry the Fourth. It is one of the largest and +most magnificently furnished in Europe. It makes up 60 beds, and can +take in 100 horses, and an equal proportion of servants. The rooms are +let very cheap, considering their quality: two neat rooms may be had for +four shillings a day; and a traveller may live very comfortably in the +house, and be provided with every thing, for about two guineas per week. +Horses are charged at the rate of two shillings only for a day and +night. And one thing which ought not to be forgotten, the beds are made, +and ladies are attended, by female servants, all of whom are neat, and +many of them very pretty girls. The contrary practice, which is almost +universal in France, is one of the most unpleasant circumstances to a +man educated in old English habits; for my own part, I never could +divest myself of my first disgust, at the sight of a huge, bearded, +raw-boned fellow, having access to the chamber at all hours, and making +the beds, and removing any of the usual appendages of a chamber, in the +presence of the ladies. + +Having seen enough of Nantes, and exchanged our coach for a kind of open +barouche, particularly adapted for the French cross roads, being very +narrow, and composed entirely of cane, with removable wheels, so as to +take to pieces in an instant, we resumed the line of our Tour, and took +the road along the Loire for Ancennis. + +It was a beautiful morning, and there being a fair at Mauves, a village +on the road, nothing could be more gay than our journey at its +commencement. I have forgotten to mention, that Mr. Younge and myself, +at the proposal of the ladies, had sent our horses forwards, and +therefore had taken our seats in the landau. The conversation of the +ladies was so pleasing and so intelligent, that hereafter I adopted this +proposal as often as it was offered, and as seldom as possible had +recourse to my horse. + +Mauves, which was our first stage, is most romantically situated on a +hill, which forms one of the banks of the Loire. The country about it, +in the richness of its woods, and the verdure of its meadows, most +strongly reminded me of England; but I know of no scenery in England, +which together with this richness and variety of woodland and meadow, +has such a beautiful river as the Loire to complete it in all the +qualities of landscape. On each side of this river, from Nantes, are +hills, which are wooded to the summit, and there are very few of these +wood-tufted hills, which have not their castle or ruined tower. In some +of these ancient buildings, there was scarcely any thing remaining but +the two towers which guarded the grand portal; but others, being more +durably constructed, were still habitable, though still retaining their +ancient forms. I have frequently had occasion to observe, that the +French gentry, in making their repairs, invariably follow the style of +the building; whether through natural taste, or because they repair by +piece-meal, and therefore do only what is wanted, I know not. But there +is one necessary consequence from this practice, which is, that the +remains of antiquity are more perfect in France than in any other +kingdom in Europe. From Mauves to Oudon, where we dined, the country is +still very thickly wooded and inclosed; the properties evidently very +small, and therefore innumerable cottages and small gardens. These +cottages usually consist of only one floor, divided into two rooms, and +a shed behind. They were generally situated in orchards, and fronted the +Loire. They had invariably one or two large trees, which are decorated +with ribbons at sunset, as the signal for the dance, which is invariably +observed in this part of France. Some of the peasant girls, which came +out to us with fruit, were very handsome, though brown. The children, +which were in great numbers, looked healthy, but were very scantily +clad. None of them had more than a shift and a petticoat, and some of +them girls of ten or twelve years of age, only a shift, tied round the +waist by a coloured girdle. As seen at some distance, they reminded me +very forcibly of the figures in landscape pictures. + +We remained at Oudon till near sunset, when we resumed our road to +Ancennis, where we intended to sleep. As this was only a distance of +seven miles, we took it very leisurely, sometimes riding, and sometimes +walking. The evening was as beautiful as is usual in the southern parts +of Europe at this season of the year. The road was most romantically +recluse, and so serpentine as never to be visible beyond an hundred +yards. The nightingales were singing in the adjoining woods. The road, +moreover, was bordered on each side by lofty hedges, intermingled with +fruit-trees, and even vines in full bearing. At every half mile, a cross +road, branching from the main one, led into the recesses of the country, +or to some castle or villa on the high grounds which overlook the river. +At some of these bye-ways were very curious inscriptions, painted on +narrow boards affixed to a tree. Such were, "The way to 'My Heart's +Content' is half a league up this road, and then turn to the right, and +keep on till you reach it." And another: "The way to 'Love's Hermitage' +is up this lane, till you come to the cherry-tree by the side of a +chalk-pit, where there is another direction." Mademoiselle Sillery +informed me, that these kind of inscriptions were characteristic of the +banks of the Loire. "The inhabitants along the whole of the course of +this river," said she, "have the reputation, from time immemorial, of +being all native poets; and the reputation, like some prophecies, has +perhaps been the means of realizing itself. You do not perhaps know, +that the Loire is called in the provinces the River of Love; and +doubtless its beautiful banks, its green meadows, and its woody +recesses, have what the musicians would call a symphony of tone with +that passion." I have translated this sentence verbally from my +note-book, as it may give some idea of Mademoiselle Sillery. If ever +figure was formed to inspire the passion of which she spoke, it was +this lady. Many days and years must pass over before I forget our walk +on the green road from Oudon to Ancennis--one of the sweetest, softest +scenes in France. + +We entered the forest of Ancennis as the sun was setting. This forest is +celebrated in every ancient French ballad, as being the haunt of +fairies, and the scene of the ancient archery of the provinces of +Bretagne and Anjou. The road through it was over a green turf, in which +the marks of a wheel were scarcely visible The forest on each side was +very thick. At short intervals, narrow footpaths struck into the wood. +Our carriage had been sent before to Ancennis, and we were walking +merrily on, when the well-known sound of the French horn arrested our +steps and attention. Mademoiselle Sillery immediately guessed it to +proceed from a company of archers; and in a few moments her conjecture +was verified by the appearance of two ladies and a gentleman, who issued +from one of the narrow paths. The ladies, who were merely running from +the gentleman, were very tastily habited in the favourite French dress +after the Dian of David; whilst the blue silk jacket and hunting cap of +the gentleman gave him the appearance of a groom about to ride a race. +Our appearance necessarily took their attention; and after an exchange +of salutes, but in which no names were mentioned on either side, they +invited us to accompany them to their party, who were refreshing +themselves in an adjoining dell. "We have had a party at archery," said +one of them, "and Madame St. Amande has won the silver bugle and bow. +The party is now at supper, after which we go to the chateau to dance. +Perhaps you will not suffer us to repent having met you by refusing to +accompany us." Mademoiselle Sillery was very eager to accept this +invitation, and looked rather blank when Mrs. Younge declined it, as she +wished to proceed on her road as quickly as possible. "You will at least +accompany us, merely to see the party."--"By all means," said +Mademoiselle Sillery. "I must really regret that I cannot," said Mrs. +Younge. "If it must be so," resumed the lady who was inviting us, "let +us exchange tokens, and we may meet again." This proposal, so perfectly +new to me, was accepted: the fair archers gave our ladies their pearl +crescents, which had the appearance of being of considerable value. +Madame Younge returned something which I did not see: Mademoiselle +Sillery gave a silver Cupid, which had served her for an essence-bottle. +The gentleman then shaking hands with us, and the ladies embracing each +other, we parted mutually satisfied. "Who are these ladies?" demanded I. +"You know them as well as we do," replied Mademoiselle Sillery. "And is +it thus," said I, "that you receive all strangers +indiscriminately?"--"Yes," replied she; "all strangers of a certain +condition. Where they are evidently of our own rank, we know of no +reserve. Indeed, why should we? It is to general advantage to be +pleased, and to please each other."--"But you embraced them, as if you +really felt an affection for them."--"And I did feel that affection for +them," said she, "as long as I was with them. I would have done them +every service in my power, and would even have made sacrifices to serve +them."--"And yet if you were to see them again, you would perhaps not +know them."--"Very possibly," replied she. "But I can see no reason why +every affection should be necessarily permanent. We never pretend to +permanence. We are certainly transient, but not insincere." + +In this conversation we reached Ancennis, a village on a green, +surrounded by forests. Some of the cottages, as we saw them by +moon-light, seemed most delightfully situated, and the village had +altogether that air of quietness and of rural retreat, which +characterizes the scenery of the Loire. Our horses having preceded us by +an hour or more, every thing was prepared for us when we reached our +inn. A turkey had been put down to roast, and I entered the kitchen in +time to prevent its being spoilt by French cookery. Mademoiselle Sillery +had the table provided in an instant with silver forks and table-linen. +Had a Parisian seen a table thus set out at Ancennis, without knowing +that we had brought all these requisites with us, he would not have +credited his senses. The inns in France along the banks of the Loire, +are less deficient in substantial comforts than in these ornamental +appendages. Poultry is every where cheap, and in great plenty; but a +French inn-keeper has no idea of a table-cloth, and still less of a +clean one. He will give you food and a feather-bed, but you must provide +yourselves with sheets and table-cloths. Our accommodations, with +respect to lodging for the night, were not altogether so uncomfortable: +the house had indeed two floors, but there were no stairs; so that we +had to ascend by a ladder, and that not the best of its kind. There +being, moreover, but two rooms, the one occupied by the landlord, his +wife, and two grown girls, there was some difficulty as to the disposal +of Mademoiselle Sillery and myself. It was at length arranged, that all +the females in the house should sleep in one room, and all the males in +another. When I came to take possession of my bed, I found that Mrs. +Younge had contrived to exempt her husband from this arrangement: he was +now sleeping by the side of the handsomest woman in France, whilst I was +lying at one end of a dirty room, the other being occupied by the +snoring landlord. Fatigue, however, according to the proverb, is better +than a bed of down; I accordingly soon fell asleep, and Mademoiselle +Sillery was not absent from my dreams. I should not forget to mention, +as another specimen of French manners, that I learned from this lady on +the following day, that she had slept with her sister and her husband. +Such are French manners. + +On the following morning, induced by the example of the landlord, and by +the beauty of the rising sun, I rose early, and accompanied by my host, +walked into the fields round the village. The environs of Ancennis +appeared to me extremely beautiful; whether from the mere effect of +novelty, or that they really were so, I know not. Some of the neater +cottages were situated in gardens very carefully cultivated, and so much +in the style of England, that, but for some characteristic frivolities, +I could scarcely believe myself in France. In every garden, or orchard, +I invariably observed one tree distinguished above the rest; it had +usually a seat around its trunk, and where its top was large enough, a +railed seat, or what is called in America a look-out, amongst its +branches. I had the curiosity to ascend to some of these, for the garden +gates were invariably only latched, and small pieces of wood were nailed +to the trunk, so as to assist the ascent of the women. The branches, +which formed the look-out, were carved with the names of the village +beauties, and in one of the seats I found a French novel, and a very +pretty paper work-box. I saw enough to conclude, that Ancennis was not +without the characteristic French elegance; and I must once for all say, +that the manners of Marmontel are founded in nature, and that the +daughters of the yeomanry and humbler farmers in France have an +elegance, a vivacity, and a pleasantry, which is no where to be found +out of France. + +On my return I found Mademoiselle Sillery at the breakfast table; and in +answer to her inquiries as to the object of my walk, informed her of my +observations. She replied, that they were very well founded, and added a +reason for it which seemed to me very satisfactory. "The French girls," +said she, "all at least who learn to read, are formed to this elegance +and softness by the very elements of their education; their class-book +is Marmontel, and La Belle Assemblée, the last, one of the prettiest +novels in France. They are thus taught love with their letters, and they +improve in gallantry as they improve in reading; and I will venture to +say," continued this elegant girl, "that by this method of instruction +we make a great earned where there is a love-story at the end of it." + +We shortly afterwards resumed our progress, and passed through a country +of the same kind as on the preceding day, alternate hill and valley. The +Arno, as described by the Tuscan poets, for I have never seen it, must +bear a strong resemblance to the Loire from Ancennis to Angers; nothing +can be more beautiful than the natural distribution of lawn, wood, hill +and valley, whilst the river, which borders this scenery, is ever giving +it a new form by its serpentine shape. The favourite images in the +landscapes of the ancient painters here meet the eye almost every +league: cattle resting under the shade, and attentively eyeing the +river, whilst the country around is of a nature and character, which the +fancy of a poet would select for the haunt of Dian and her huntresses. +The peasantry, as many of them as we met, seemed to have that life and +spirits the sure result of comfort; if they were not invariably well +clothed, they seemed at least sufficiently so for the climate of the +province. The younger women had dark complexions and shining black eyes; +their shapes were generally good, and their air and vivacity, even in +the lowest ranks, such as peculiarly characterize the French people. If +addressed, they were rather obliging than respectful, and had all of +them a compliment on their tongues' end. It was not indeed easy to get +rid of them with a mere word or question. I must add, however, that I am +here describing their manner towards Mr. Younge and myself. Towards the +ladies it was somewhat different. When Madame or Mademoiselle spoke to +them, they seemed modest and respectful in the extreme; to the latter, +indeed, they were more familiar, and many of them, on giving the adieu +after a ten minutes' conversation, very prettily embraced her, gently +putting their arms round her neck, and kissing the left shoulder; a form +of salutation very common in the French provinces. In a word, the more I +saw of the French character, the more did I wish that the more weighty +and valuable qualities of the English and American character, their +honesty and their sincerity, were accompanied by the gentleness, the +grace, the affectionate benevolence, which characterise the French +manners. + +Ingrande, where we dined, is the last town of the province of Bretagne, +on the Loire, and thenceforwards we had entered Anjou. It is a town of +above three hundred houses, built round the base of a sandy hillock, the +church being on the hill. The houses are intermingled with trees, and +the country very prettily planted. It is not to be expected that the +habitations in such a town could be any thing better than cottages; but +they were tolerably clean, and not very ruinous. + +We had now passed through the province of Bretagne as it lies along the +Loire, and it is but justice to say, that in point of natural scenery, +in the wildness and tranquillity which constitute what I should term the +romance of landscape, it exceeds every thing in Europe. Along the banks +of the Loire, France has meadows, the verdure of which will not sink in +comparison with those of England. Along the banks of the Loire, +moreover, France has woodlands, and lawns, and an, intermixture of wood +and water, and of every possible variety of surface, which no country in +the world but France can produce. The Loire is perhaps the only river in +Europe which is bordered by hills and hillocks, and which, in so long a +course, so seldom passes through a mere dead level. Accordingly, from +the earliest times of the French monarchy, the rising grounds of the +Loire have been selected for the sites of castles, monasteries, abbeys, +and chateaux, and as the possessors have superadded Art to Nature, this +natural beauty of the grounds has been improving from age to age. The +Monks have been immemorially celebrated for their skill as well in the +choice of situations as in their improvement of natural advantages; +their leisure, and their taste, improved by learning, have naturally +been employed on the scenes of their residence, on their vineyards and +their gardens. Innumerable are the still remaining vestiges of their +taste and of their industry, and I have a most sincere satisfaction in +thus doing them justice; in thus bearing my testimony, that, so far from +being the drones of the land, there is no part of a province which they +possessed, but what they have improved. The scenery along the Loire has +a character which I should think could not be found in any other +kingdom, and on any other river. Towns, windmills, steeples, ancient +castles and abbeys still entire, and others with nothing remaining but +their lofty walls; hills covered with vines, and alternate woods and +corn-fields--altogether form a landscape, or rather a chain of +landscapes, which remind one of a poem, and successively refresh, +delight, animate, and exalt the imagination. Is there any one oppressed +with grief for the loss of friends, or what is still more poignantly +felt, for their ingratitude and unkindness? Let him traverse the banks +of the Loire; let him appeal from man to Nature, from a world of passion +and vice, to scenes of groves, meads, and flowers. His must be no common +sorrow who would not forget it on the banks of the Loire. + + + +After a short rest at Chantoce, a village of the same rank and +character with Mauves, we arrived at Angers, where we proposed to remain +till the following Monday, having arrived there on the Thursday evening. +We had scarcely reached the inn, before a gentleman of the name of Mons. +de Corseult, to whom we had sent forwards our letters from Nantes, +addressed himself to us, and insisted that we should continue our +journey to his house, about half a mile on the other side of the town. +The ladies at length acceded to this proposal, on the condition that our +horses, servants, &c. should be sent back to the inn, and that ourselves +only should be the visitors of Mons. de Corseult. + + + + +CHAP. XII. + +_Angers--Situation--Antiquity and Face of the Town--Grand +Cathedral--Markets--Prices of Provisions--Public Walks--Manners +and Diversions of the Inhabitants--Departure from +Angers--Country between Angers and Saumur--Saumur._ + + +WE had intended to have reposed ourselves at Angers, but Mons. de +Corseult, having been very lately married, had his house daily full of +visitors, and as we were strangers, parties were daily made for us. +Whatever time I could steal from this unintermitting round, I employed +in walks to the town, and in the neighbourhood. Mr. Younge generally +accompanied me, but I was sometimes fortunate enough to be honoured with +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, an happiness of which I should have been more +sensible, had it not usually tempted the intrusion of some coxcomb, who +converted a tour of information into a mere lounge of levity and +senseless gallantry. How miserable would have been an English girl, of +the beauty and wit of this young lady, with such gallants! Or is it with +ladies as with the poet in Don Quixotte--are love and flattery sweet, +though they may come from a fool and a madman? I should hope not, or at +least with Mademoiselle St. Sillery. + +In despite, however, of these intrusions, we had two or three pleasant +walks through Angers, in which the curiosity of Mademoiselle was of much +use to me. He must be less than a man, who could be wearied even by the +most minute interrogations of an handsome woman. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, as if resolved to be ignorant of nothing, put the most endless +questions to those who accompanied us about the town; and with true +French gallantry, the answers even exceeded the questions. I had little +to do but to look and to listen. + + + +Angers is situated in a plain, which, in the distance being fringed with +wood, and being very fertile in corn and meadow, wants nothing of the +richness and beauty which seem to characterize this part of the +province. It is parted into two by a river called the Mayenne, which is +a small branch of the Loire, and again falls into the main river about +five miles from the town. The French, like the Dutch, seemed to be +peculiarly attached to this kind of site, having a river run through +their towns, one half being built on one side, and one on the other. The +water of the Mayenne is so harsh, that it cannot be drunk or used for +cookery, and were it not for the proximity of the Loire, and some +aqueducts, Angers, though built on a river, must necessarily become +desolate for want of water. The same improvidence is visible in many +towns in France, and still more in Holland. + +The walls round this city were built by King John of England, and though +six centuries, have elapsed, are still nearly entire. Part of them were +indeed demolished by Louis the Eighth, but they were restored in their +original form by his successor, and remain a proof of the durable style +of building of that Age (1230). The castle of Angers was built at the +same time. It is situated on a rock which overhangs the river, and +though now in decay, has still a very striking appearance. The walls are +lofty and broad, the towers numerous, and the fosses deep. They are cut +out of the solid rock, and must have required long and ingenious labour. + + + +The cathedral of Anjou, the inner part of which exactly resembles +Westminster Hall, is chiefly celebrated for containing the monument of +Margaret of Anjou, the queen of Henry the Sixth of England. This woman +was in every respect a perfect heroine, and worthy of her illustrious +father, René, King of Sicily. She was taken prisoner in the battle of +Tewkesbury, and immediately committed, to the Tower, from which she was +ransomed by Louis the Eleventh, of France. This King, however, who was +never known to forget himself, and act otherwise than selfishly, had a +very different motive than humanity for this apparent generosity: having +gained possession of the person of Margaret, he immediately rendered her +his own prisoner, and caused her father to be informed that if he wished +to ransom her, he must give up all his hereditary rights to the duchies +of Anjou and Lorrain. So tenderly did René love his daughter, that he +made the sacrifice without hesitation. The history of this princess, as +collected from the French memoirs, has an air rather of romance than of +real history. Though the English historians all concur in her praise, +they seem to know very little of her. A remark here suggested itself: +that the best of the English historians seem totally to have overlooked +all the French records, and to have confined themselves to the writers +of their own country. + + + +The general appearance of Angers does not correspond with the +magnificence of its walls, its castle, and its cathedral. Its size is +respectable; there are six parish churches, besides monasteries and +chapters, and the inhabitants are estimated at 50,000. The streets, +however, are very narrow, and the houses mean, low, and huddled: there +is the less excuse for this, as ground is plentiful and cheap; there is +scarcely a good house inhabited within the walls. The towns in France +differ in this respect very considerably from those in England: in a +principal town in England you will invariably find a considerable number +of good houses, where retired merchants and tradesmen live in the ease +and elegance of private gentlemen. There is nothing of this kind in the +French towns. Every house is a shop, a warehouse, a magazine, or a +lodging house. I do not believe that there is one merchant of +independent fortune now resident within the walk of Angers. This, +indeed, may perhaps arise from the difference in the general character +of the two kingdoms: in England, and even in America, there are few +tradesmen long resident in a town, without having obtained a sufficiency +to retire; whilst the French towns being comparatively poor, and their +trade comparatively insignificant, the French tradesman can seldom do +more than obtain a scanty subsistence by his business. In all the best +French towns, the tradesmen have more the air of chandlers than of great +dealers. There are absolutely no interior towns in France like Norwich, +Manchester, and Birmingham. In some of their principal manufacturing +places, there may indeed be one or two principal men and respectable +houses; but neither these men nor their houses are of such number and +quality, as to give any dignity or beauty to their towns beyond mere +places of trade. The French accordingly, judging from what they see at +home, have a very contemptible idea of the term merchant; and if a +foreign traveller of this class should wish to be admitted into good +company, let him pass by any other name than that of a marchand or +negociant. To say all in a word, this class of foreigners are +specifically excluded from admission at court. + + + +I visited the market, which in Angers, and I believe throughout France, +is held on Sunday. This is one of the circumstances from which a +foreigner would be very apt to form a wrong estimate of the French +character, which now, whatever it might be, is decidedly religious. But +the Roman Catholics have ever considered Sunday as at once a day of +festivity and a holiday; they have no scruple, therefore, to sing and +dance, and to hold their markets on this day; all they abstain from is +the heavier kind of work--labour in the fields and warehouses. A French +town, therefore, is never so gay as on a Sunday. I inquired the prices +of provisions. Beef and mutton are about 2_d._ per pound; a fowl 5_d._; +and turkies, when in season, from 18_d._ to 2_s_.; bread is about +1-1/2_d._ a pound; and vegetables, greens, &c. cheap to a degree. A good +house in Angers about six Louis per year, and a mansion fit for a prince +(for there are some of them, but without inhabitants) from forty to +fifty Louis, including from thirty to forty acres of land without the +walls. I have no doubt but that any one might live at Angers on 250 +Louis per annum, as well as in England for four times the amount. And +were I to live in France, I know no place I should prefer to the +environs of this town. The climate, in this part of France, is +delightful beyond description. The high vault of heaven is clad in +ethereal blue, and the sun sets with a glory which is inconceivable to +those who have only lived in more northerly regions; for week after week +this weather never varies, the rains come on at once, and then cease +till the following season. The tempests which raise the fogs from the +ocean have no influence here, and they are strangers likewise to that +hot moisture which produces the pestilential fevers in England and +America. There are sometimes indeed heavy thunder storms, when the +clouds burst, and pour down torrents of rain: but the storm ceases in a +few minutes, and the heavens, under the influence of a powerful sun, +resume their beauty and serenity. + +The soil in the neighbourhood of Angers (I speak still with reference to +its aptitude for the residence of a foreigner, for I confess this dream +hung very strongly on my imagination) is fertile to a degree, and as far +as I could understand, is very cheap. Every house, as I have before +said, without the walls, has its garden, and all kind of fruits and +vegetables were in the greatest plenty. The fences around the gardens of +the villages were very fantastically interwoven with the wreaths of the +vine, which would sometimes creep up the trunk of a tree, and sometimes +hang over the casements. Nothing can be more delightful than the vine +when flourishing in all this unbridled wildness of its natural +luxuriance, and as if justly sensible of its beauty, the French +cottagers convert it to the double purpose of ornament or utility. +Whilst travelling along, my spirits frequently felt the cheering +influence of the united images of natural beauty and of human happiness. +Often have I seen the weary labourer sitting under a sunny wall, his +head shaded by the luxuriant branches of the vine, the purple fruit of +which furnished him with his simple meal. Bread and fruit is the +constant summer dinner of the peasantry of the Loire. Upon this subject, +the general plenty of the country, I should not have forgotten to +mention, that in the proper season partridges and hares are in great +plenty, and being fed on the heath lands of Bretagne and Anjou, are said +to have the best flavour. An Englishman will scarcely believe, that +whilst he is paying 12_s._ a couple for fowls, half a guinea for a +turkey, seven shillings for a goose, &c. &c.: whilst such I say are the +market prices in London, the dearest price in the market of Angers is +10_d._ a couple for fowls, a shilling a couple for ducks, 1_s._ 6_d._ +for a goose. As to the quality of these provisions, the veal and the +mutton being fed in the meadows on the Loire, are entirely as good as in +England; but the beef, not being in general use except for soups and +stews, is of a very inferior kind. Wood is the only article which is +dear; but an Englishman in this country would doubtless rise above the +prejudices around him, and burn coal, of which there is a great plenty +in every part of France. + +I must not take leave of Angers without mentioning, that it was a +favourite station of the Romans, who, like the monks, always consulted +natural beauty in the site of the towns and permanent encampments. Many +remnants of this people are still visible: some of the arches of an +aqueduct are yet entire, and without a guide speak their own origin. + +Accompanied by Mr. Younge and Monsieur de Corseult, I visited the +Caserne and the National School. The Caserne was formerly a Riding +School of general reputation, and is one of the most superb buildings +of the kind in the world. Peter the Great of Russia was here instructed +in the equestrian art, and many other illustrious men are on its list of +scholars. The National School has nothing worthy of peculiar remark. +Angers before the Revolution was celebrated as a seat of literature: its +university, founded in 1246, was only inferior to that of Paris; and its +Academy of Belles Lettres, founded in 1685, was the first after that of +the Nation. The chapel of the university is now a gallery for paintings. +The professors of these literary institutions have very competent +salaries: the sciences taught are Mathematics, Medicine, Natural and +Experimental Philosophy, and the Fine Arts. The best quality, however, +of these institutions is that the instructions, such as they are, are +gratuitous; the doors are open to all who choose to enter them; those +only who can afford it are expected to pay. + +Angers, being so near La Vendée, suffered much by the Chouans, and still +retains many melancholy traces of the siege which it had to maintain. +The people, with feelings which are better conceived than expressed, +spoke with great reluctance on their past sufferings: there seems indeed +one great maxim at present current in France, and this is to forget the +past as if it had never happened. A foreigner is sure to offend, who +interrogates them upon any thing connected with the horrible +Revolution. + +Nothing can be more delightful than the environs of Angers, whether for +those who walk or ride. The country is thickly enclosed, and on each +side of the river varied with hill and dale, with woodland and meadow. +The villages and small towns along the whole bank of the Loire are +numerous, and invariably picturesque and beautiful. In the vicinity of +Angers the vineyards are very frequent, and cover the hills, and even +the valleys, with their luxuriance; nothing can be more beautiful than +the natural festoons which are formed by their long branches as they +project over the road, and when the grapes are ripe, the landscape wants +nothing of perfect beauty. The peasantry, the Vignerons as they are +called, live in the midst of their vineyards: their habitations are +usually excavated out of the rocks and small hillocks on which they grow +their vines, and as these hillocks are usually composed of strata of +chalk, the cottages are dry and comfortable. Some of them, as seen from +the road, being covered even over their doors by the vine branches, had +the appearance of so many nests, and as many of them as had two stories, +were picturesque in the extreme. Upon the whole, the condition of the +peasantry in this part of France is very comfortable: they are +temperate, unceasingly gay, and sufficiently clad; their wants are few, +and therefore their labour, added to the fertility of the soil, is +sufficient to satisfy them. They repine not for luxuries of which they +can have no notion. + +We took leave of Monsieur de Corseult on the Wednesday instead of the +Monday, but he insisted upon accompanying us on horseback half way to +Saumur, where we proposed sleeping. The ladies could not but accept this +obliging offer, and the information which Mons. de Corseult was enabled +to give us, rendered his society equally agreeable to Mr. Younge and +myself. We learned from this gentleman, that though Anjou is reputed to +have a great proportion of heath and barren land, it does not yield to +any province in France either for beauty or fertility. As much of it as +lays along the Loire, I have already had occasion to describe, and what +we were now passing through was not a whit behind it. Every village was +most romantically situated; some in orchards, some in fenced gardens, +some in corn-fields, and others in vales and in recesses on each side of +the road. The corn being ripe, added much to the beauty of the +landscape. In some fields the reapers were at work, and the harvest was +going on with true French gaiety. Sometimes we would see them dancing in +the field; sometimes sitting round some central tree sporting and +gamboling with the women and girls. I never saw a scene in England which +could enter into comparison with a French harvest. I was sorry, however, +to see that the women had more than their due share of the labour; they +reaped, bound, and loaded. Some of the elder women were accordingly very +coarse, but the girls were spirited, and pleasing. They nodded to us +whenever we caught their eyes, and if we stopt our horses, would come to +us, at whatever distance, as if to satisfy our inquiries. + +We happened to pass an estate which was for sale, and the house being at +hand, inquired the price and particulars. There were six hundred acres +of land, a good house, and the purchase-money was five thousand pounds +English. Four hundred acres were arable, the other wood and heath. In +England, the price of such an estate would have been at least twenty +thousand pounds. The land, though stony, was good, and under the hands +of a tolerable farmer, might have cleared the purchase-money in five +years. There was a trout stream and fish-ponds, and the whole country +was even infested with game. The chateau itself would certainly have +required some repairs; it was large and rambling, and seemed to have +more wood than brick. The land, however, was richly worth the money four +times over. + +We reached Saumur very late in the evening; it is a small, but very +pretty town, on the southern bank of the Loire. There are here two +bridges over the river; the one from the northern shore to an island in +the middle of the river; the other from the island to the southern +shore. Saumur was formerly a fortified city, and though the +fortifications are now neglected and in perfect ruin, it still maintains +its rank as a military town, and the names of travellers are formally +required, and formally registered. The inn at which we put up was very +comfortable; but the beds were so scented with lavender as to prevent me +from sleeping. Here likewise, I had the happiness of being again waited +upon by females. A young woman, the daughter of the landlord, not only +lighted me to my room, but took her seat at the window, and retained it +till she saw that I was in bed. The French women have none of that +bashful modesty which characterises the women of England and America. +Before getting into bed I was about to close a door, which I perceived +half open at the extremity of the room opposite to that occupied by my +bed; but Felice prevented me, by informing me that her sister and +herself were to sleep there, and as a further proof, shewing me the bed. +"Then I must leave my own chamber-door open," said I. "Certainly," said +she, "if you are not afraid of my sister and me: I have only to see if +Madame and Mademoiselle are in want of any thing, and then I shall come +to bed." "Where does Mademoiselle sleep?" said I. "In the same chamber +with Monsieur and Madame; it is a double-bedded room, on the first +floor, fronting the road; you might have observed the casements of it +shaded with the barberry tree. But you seem curious as to Mademoiselle. +Perhaps there is a _petite affaire_ of the heart between you. Well, +Heaven bless Monsieur, and may you dream that you are walking with your +love in the corn-fields!" Saying this, the sprightly girl left me with +the characteristic trip of French gaiety. I had the curiosity to remain +awake till her sister and herself passed through my chamber to their +own. The girls laughed as they went through the room, and had not even +the modesty (for so I must call it) to close their own door. It remained +a third part open during the whole night; and as they talked in bed, +they prevented my sleep. One of these young women might be twenty; the +other, though tall, could not be more than fourteen. + +I rose early in the morning with the purpose of a walk in the fields +around the town, and finding Felice was going to fetch some milk from a +village about half a mile distant, I accompanied her. It is needless to +say that she played off all the coquetries which are natural to French +girls in whatever station. By dint of frequent questions, however, I +collected from her some useful information. I had adopted it as a rule, +to obtain information on three points in every French town or village +where I might happen to stop--the price of provisions, the price of +land, and the price of house-rent. The price of provisions at Saumur, as +I learned from this girl, was very cheap: beef, not very good, that is, +not very fat, about 1-1/2_d._ (English) per pound; mutton and veal about +2_d._;--two fowls 8_d._; two ducks 10_d._; geese and turkies from 1_s._ +6_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._.;--fuel, as much as would serve three fires for the +year, about 5_l._;--a house of two stories and garrets, two rooms in +front and two in back in each story, such being the manner in which they +are built, a passage running through the middle, and the rooms being on +each side--such a house, resembling an English parsonage, about five +Louis a year; or with a garden, paddock, and orchard, about eight +Louis;--butter 8_d._ per pound; cheese 4_d._; and milk a halfpenny a +quart. According to the best estimate I could make, a family, +consisting of a man, his wife, three or four children, two +maid-servants, a man-servant, and three horses, might be easily kept at +Saumur, and in its neighbourhood, for about 100_l._ a year. I am fully +persuaded that I am rather over than under the mark. The country +immediately about Saumur is as lively and beautiful as the town itself. +It chiefly consists of corn-fields studded with groves, or rather tufts +of trees, and divided by green fences, in which were pear and +apple-trees in full bearing. The fields near the town had paths around +them and across them, where the towns-folk, as I understood from my +informer, were accustomed to walk in the evening and which, the corn +being ripe and high, were pleasantly recluse. Felice and myself crossed +three or four of them, and if I may judge from the little scrupulosity +with which she ran amongst the corn, the proprietors of the lands must +gain little from their fields being the customary promenade of their +townsmen. One thing, however, I have observed peculiar to the +landholders in France--that wherever the free use of their property can +contribute in any thing to the enjoyment of others; wherever their +fields, or even their parks and gardens, lie convenient for a promenade, +those fields, parks, and gardens, are thrown open, and whatever they +contain, flowers, fruits, and seats, are all at the public disposal. A +Frenchman never thinks of stopping up a bye-path, because it passes +within half a mile of his window; a Frenchman never thinks of raising +the height of his own wall, in order to interrupt the prospect of his +neighbour. One quality, in a few words, pervades all the actions, all +the words, and all the thoughts of a Frenchman--a general benevolence, +an anxious kindness, which is daily making sacrifices to oblige and even +assist others. + +Upon my return to the inn, I found Mademoiselle at the breakfast table, +which was set in a back room fronting a very pleasant garden. She +rallied me pleasantly enough, but as I thought with an air of pique, +upon my morning walk and my fair companion, and Felice happening to +enter the room, asked her how she should like a foreign husband. "Very +well, Mademoiselle," replied the girl with great innocence, "after I had +taught him to talk in French: and I believe you are of the same opinion, +Mademoiselle," added she with more pertness. Mademoiselle, with true +French dexterity, here dropt a cup on the floor, and thus saved the +necessity of reply, and furnished an excuse for the confusion into which +the girl's impertinence had evidently thrown her. Shall I confess that +my vanity was gratified, but I will defy any one to travel through +France, without becoming something of a coxcomb. + +Having resumed our journey, we proceeded merrily, under a cheering sun +refreshed by a morning breeze, on the road for Tours, through les Trois +Volets, and Langes. The road was still along the banks of the Loire, +and continued on the southern side till we reached Chousay, a very sweet +village, about twelve miles from Saumur. We had here a repast of bread, +grapes, and a sweet wine peculiar to the country, but the name of which +I have not noted; and though together with our servants we drank nearly +four quart bottles, and ate a good quantity of grapes and bread, our +reckoning did not exceed seven francs. Nothing indeed surprised me so +much as the uncommon cheapness in this country. The country to Chousay +had a very near resemblance to what we had passed through the preceding +day, except that it was more hilly, and the hills being clothed in +vines, more beautiful. On some of these hills, moreover, amidst groves +or tufts of trees, and lawns extending down the declivity, were some +very pretty chateaus, which being white and clean, looked gay and +animated. The landscape, indeed, seemed to improve upon us as we +advanced; every mile was as charming as the preceding, but every mile +began to have a new character. Sometimes the river ran through a plain +in which the peasants were gathering in their harvest, to the very brink +of the water. Sometimes, the banks on each side were covered with +forests, from the centre of which were visible steeples, villas, +windmills, and abbeys. At Chousay, I saw the cleanly way in which the +Vignerons of the Loire bruise their grapes. In Spain and Portugal, they +are put into a mash tub, and the juice is trodden from them by the bare +feet of men, women, and girls hired for the purpose: here the practise +is to use a wooden pestle. The grapes being collected and picked, are +put into a large vat, where they are bruised in the manner I have +mentioned, and are thence carried to the press. The vintage had not +indeed as yet begun, but I saw the process performed on a small quantity +of grapes, which had been ripened in a garden. Every vineyard +proprietor, besides his stock-fruit, has some peculiar species of grape +from which he makes the wine for his own use and that of his immediate +friends: these grapes are very carefully picked and culled, and none but +the soundest and best are thrown into the tub. The wine thus made is +infinitely superior to the stock-wine for sale: when old, it is not +inferior to Hock, and I believe is frequently sold as such by the +foreign purchasers. + +Our next post was Planchoury, a small village, which we reached about +six o'clock in the evening, and where we agreed to remain for the night, +that our horses might have a rest, which they seemed to require. Our inn +here was a farm-house. We had for our supper a couple of roasted fowls, +and a dish which I had never seen before, some new wheat boiled with +pepper and salt. It was so savoury, and I have reason to believe so +wholesome, that I have frequently taken it since. I can say from +experience, that it is a powerful sudorific, and very efficacious in a +cold. I must not forget to mention that I slept on some straw, in a kind +of hay-oft, and to the best of my memory never slept more delightfully. +When I opened my razor case on the following morning, I found a paper, +upon unrolling of which I found a ringlet of hair, with the word Felice +on the envelope. Once for all, the French women can think of nothing but +gallantry, and live for nothing but love. Sweet girl, I will keep thy +ringlet, and when weary of the world, will remember thee, and +acknowledge that life may still have a charm. + +We remained at Planchoury till the noon of the following day, when we +resumed our journey, with the intention of dining at Tours. From +Planchoury throughout the whole way to Tours, the scenery exceeded all +the powers of description. The Loire rolled its lovely stream through +groves, meads, and flowers. On both sides was a border of meadow clad in +the richest green, varied sometimes by hills which hung over the river, +the sides of these hills robed in all the rich livery of the ripening +grape, and the towers and battlements of castles just surmounting the +woods in which they were embosomed. How delightful must it be to wander +in a summer's evening along these lovely banks, far from the din of the +distant world, and where the deep tranquillity is only interrupted by +the song of the nightingale, the whistle of the swain returning from +labour, or the carol of the milkmaid as she is filling her pail. Surely +man was formed most peculiarly to relish the charms of Nature. Would +Heaven grant me my fondest wish, it would be to wander with * * * * on +the banks of the Loire. How sweetly, and even justly, did Felice +express the true image of love, when she wished me the golden +dream,--that I was wandering with my love in the corn-fields of Saumur. + +We passed through Langeais, a small town, celebrated for its melons, +with which it supplies Paris, and all France. This town was known to the +Romans, by whom it was called Alingavia. We stopped to examine its +castle, which is celebrated in the history of France, as the scene of +the marriage of Charles the Eighth and Anne of Bretagne. The castle, as +may be expected, is now in ruins; but enough remains of it, to prove its +former magnificence. It frowns with much sublimity over the subject +land. I never remember to have passed through a more lovely country, +more varied scenery, abounding in vines, corn, meadow, wood, and water, +than the whole of the road between Saumur and Tours. Well might Queen +Mary of Scotland exclaim, when leaving the vines and flowers of France +for her Scotch kingdom, "Dear, delightful land, must I indeed leave +thee! Gay, lovely France, shall I never see thee more!" + +We reached Tours somewhat later than we expected. According to our +previous arrangement, we were to stay there only the whole of the +following day, but we again broke our resolution, and extended our time +from one day to three. I envy not that man's heart who can travel France +by his watch. + + + + +CHAP. XIII. + +_Tours--Situation and general Appearance of it--Origin of the +Name of Huguenots--Cathedral Church of St. Martin--The +Quay--Markets--Public Walk--Classes of Inhabitants--Environs--Expences +of Living--Departure from Tours--Country +between Tours and Amboise._ + + +WE remained at Tours three days, and though nearly the whole of this +time was occupied in an unceasing walk over the town and environs, I was +still unwearied, and my subject still unexhausted. + +Nothing can be more charming than the situation of this town. Imagine a +plain between two rivers, the Loire and the Cher, and this plain +subdivided into compartments of every variety of cultivated land, +corn-fields studded with fruit-trees, and a range of hills in the +distance covered with vineyards to their top, whilst every eminence has +its villa, or abbey, or ruined tower. The cities in France, at least +those on the Loire, have all somewhat of a rural character; this may be +imputed to their comparative want of that trade and manufactures, which +in England, and even in America, convert every thing in the vicinity of +a town into store-yards. In France, trade has more room than she can +well fill, and therefore has no occasion to trespass beyond her limits. +There are few towns but have larger quays than their actual commerce +requires, and still fewer but what have more manufactories than they +have capitals to keep them in work. + +The general appearance of Tours, when first entered by a traveller, is +brisk, gay, and clean; a great part of it having been burnt down during +the reign of the unfortunate Louis, nearly the whole of the main street +was laid out and rebuilt at the expence of that Monarch. What before was +close and narrow, was then widened and rendered pervious to a direct +current of air. The houses are built of a white stone, so as to give +this part of the town a perfect resemblance to Bath. Some of them, +moreover, are spacious and elegant, and all of them neat, and with every +external appearance of comfort. The tradesmen have every appearance of +being in more substantial circumstances than is usual with the French +provincial dealers; their houses, therefore, are neat and in good +repair, the windows are not patched with paper, the wood-work is fresh +painted, and the pavement kept clean. + +The name of the Huguenots, a party which so fatally divided France +during three reigns, originated in one of the gates of this city, which +is called the Hugon gate, from Hugo, an ancient count of Tours. In the +popular superstition and nursery tales of the country, this Hugo is +converted into a being somewhat between a fairy and a fiend, and even +the illustrious De Thou has not disdained to make mention of this +circumstance: "_Cæsaro duni_," says this celebrated historian, "_Hugo +Rex celebratur, qui noctu Pomæria civitatis obequitare, et obvios +homines pulsare et rapere dicitur_." Be this as it may, the party of the +Huguenots, according to Davila, having originated in this city, they +were thence called Huguenots, as a term of derision and reproach. + +We visited the cathedral, which, with more decency than in England, is +open at all hours of the day, and is not exhibited for money. There +might be some excuse for this, where any of the subjects of exhibition +are portable, and such as might be carried away. But who would feel any +disposition to pilfer the wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, or the hat of +General Monk, in Westminster Abbey? Why, therefore, is not this +disgraceful practice thrown aside? Why is a nation converted into a +puppet-show? The English Minister would doubtless be ashamed to bring +the returns of these exhibitions amongst the ways and means of the year; +yet it is effectually the same to suffer these taxes to be taken as the +prices for seeing the public buildings of the nation. There is nothing +of this kind in America, or in any other kingdom in the world. The +cathedral of Tours has nothing to distinguish it except its antiquity, +two beautiful towers, and a library of most valuable manuscripts. +Amongst these there is a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the +alphabet of the country, upwards of eleven hundred years ago. There is +likewise a copy of the four Evangelists, written in Saxon letters, in +the beginning of the fifth century, about fifty years after Constantine +declared Christianity to be the religion of the Roman Empire. Next to +the cathedral, St. Martin's church is usually shewn to strangers. It is +the largest church in France, but very dark, damp, and built in a very +bad taste. The tomb of St. Martin, whom tradition reports to be buried +here, is behind the great Altar; it is of black marble, and though very +simple, is very striking. The ancient kings of France used to come to +this tomb previous to any of their important expeditions, and after +having made the usual prayers of intercession used to take away the +mantle of the Saint as the banner under which they were to fight: this +mantle still remains. + +The quay is broad, brisk, and clean. Even the French merchants seem +never to lose sight of the union of pleasure and profit: their quays are +terraces, and serve them as well for promenades as for business. One +reason, however, for the superiority of the French over the English +quays, may be, that the French Government consider these quays as public +and national works, and therefore puts them, I believe, under the same +system of management as the roads. What Government does, and does with +attention, will be done well, because Government consults for the +general good; whilst individual proprietors are only actuated by their +own immediate interest. If the wharfs and quays on the Thames had been +laid out by the English Government, would they have so totally defaced +and degraded the banks of that noble river? + +There is an excellent market for provisions; I had not the opportunity +of seeing it on the market day, but was informed in answer to my +inquiries, that every article was plentiful, and very cheap. Wood, which +is so dear in every other part of France, is here very cheap, the +country being overspread with forests, and the river furnishing a ready +transportation. Houses are good and cheap: the rent of a house +consisting of a ground floor, two stories above, and attics, the windows +in front of each floor being from six to eight, with coach-house, +stables, garden and orchards, is about 20_l._ English money, the taxes +from 1_l._ 10_s._ to 2_l._, and parish rates about 10_s._ annually. I +should not forget to mention, that the gardens are large, sometimes two +or three acres, encompassed with high walls, and well planted with +fruit-trees, and particularly wall-fruit. In the back part of these +gardens are usually gates opening into the fields, which I have before +mentioned have walks around and across them, and are the common +promenade of all who choose to use them. In the season of harvest or +vintage, nothing can be more charming than these walks; the French +gaiety and simplicity, not to say puerility, is then seen in all its +perfection; it is then a common sport amongst the ladies and the +gallants of the town to chase each other amongst the standing corn, and +as they endeavour to keep to the furrows, which are too narrow for their +feet, the chace is generally terminated by the fall of the runners, the +one over the other. The interest of the farmers cannot but suffer by +these frolics; but as they participate in the enjoyment, for every one +may salute a lady whom he finds in the corn, there is no complaint, and +indeed care is taken to do as little mischief as possible. In the summer +evenings these fields are almost the sole promenade; and the Mall, or +public walk of the town is entirely deserted. On Sundays, however, the +Mall has its turn, and all the beauty of the province, and the fashion +of the town, may be seen walking up and down this beautiful avenue, +being nearly a mile and half in length, and planted on both sides with +ranges of elms apparently almost as ancient as the town. The magistrates +are so careful of this ornament of their town, that they suffer no one +to walk there after rain, and penalties are imposed on every species of +nuisance or abuse. + +The society of Tours is infinitely beyond that of any other provincial +town in France. I have already mentioned, that there are some excellent +houses within the city, and they are in great numbers in the immediate +vicinity. Tours, in this respect, resembles Canterbury or Salisbury, in +England. It is the favourite retreat of such advocates as have made +fortunes in their profession. The noblesse of the province have their +balls and assemblies almost weekly during the summer months; and even +in the winter, Tours is by many preferred to Paris. It would be an +unpardonable omission, whilst I am upon this subject, not to notice the +uncommon beauty of the younger women; a beauty, the effect of which is +much raised by their vivacity, and unwearied gaiety. Love and gallantry +seem the main business of the town, and whilst we were there, we were +amused with two or three stories of infidelities on all sides. There is +a very pretty custom at their balls: if a lady accepts a partner, she +presents him, if in summer, with a flower; if in winter, with a ribbon +of what she has adopted as her colour. Every unmarried lady has a colour +which she has adopted as her own, and which she always wears on some +part of her dress. + +Tours was formerly celebrated for its silk manufactory, and enough of it +still remains to invite and to gratify the curiosity of a traveller. The +attention of the French Government is now unintermittingly occupied in +efforts to raise the manufactures of the kingdom, but whilst the war +makes such large demands, trade must necessarily be cramped. The +manufactories, however, still continue to work, and produce some +beautiful flowered damasks, and brilliant stuffs. The weavers for the +most part work at their own houses, and have so much by the piece, the +silk being furnished them by their employers. The prices vary with the +pattern and quality of the work; two livres per day is the average of +what can be earned by the weavers. The women weave as well as the men, +and their earnings may be estimated at about one half. Upon the whole, +however, these manufactures are in a very drooping condition, and are +scarcely visible to a foreign visitant, unless the immediate object of +his inquiry. There is likewise a ribbon manufactory, but the ribbons are +very inferior to those of England. About 1000 persons may be employed in +these two manufactories. + +We visited the castle of Plessis les Tours, which is not more than a +mile from the city. This chateau was built by that execrable tyrant, +Louis the Eleventh, was his constant residence during his life-time, and +the scene of his horrible death. This monarch is one of those whom all +concur in mentioning with execration; Richard of England has found +apologists in this ingenious age, but no one has come forward to defend +the memory of the French Tiberius. The castle is built of brick, and is +very pleasantly situated, being surrounded by woods. In the chapel is a +portrait of Louis the Eleventh; he is painted as in the act of saluting +the Virgin Mary, and our Saviour as an infant. His features are harsh, +and something of the tyrant is legible even through the adulation of the +painter. The castle, though built about 1450, is still perfect in all +its parts, and has some large apartments. + +I believe I have already mentioned, that when I had occasion to stop in +any town, which I thought had a _primâ facie_ appearance of being a +place of pleasant residence or settlement for a foreigner, the main +object of my inquiries went to ascertain all those points which were +necessary to determine this question. Of all the cities which I had yet +seen, Tours appeared to me the best adapted for such a residence. The +country is delightful and healthy, the society good, and every necessary +article of life plentiful and cheap. Beef, veal, and mutton, are to be +had in great plenty, and the two latter excellent. Poultry is equally +plentiful and cheap. Fuel, to those who have horses, amounts almost to +nothing; house-rent likewise very reasonable. Land in purchase about +15_l._ per acre, one with another--wood, heath, and arable. In the +immediate neighbourhood of the town the meadow land is dear. I believe I +have now mentioned every thing. Young persons would find Tours a +delightful residence, as there is a never-ceasing course of balls and +parties. A carriage may be kept cheaply; in a word, I would venture +positively to say, that for 250_l._ English money annually, a family +might live at Tours in plenty and elegance; but let them not have +English or American servants. + +Having seen enough of Tours, we resumed our journey after our breakfast +on the third day, proposing to go no farther on that day than Amboise, +a distance short of twenty miles. Every traveller must have observed, +that the exhilaration of the animal spirits is never greater than after +an interval of fatigue succeeded by sufficient repose. A spirited horse, +for example, will perform his second stage, after a sufficient bait, +with more animation than his first: it is the same with travellers, or +at least I must assert it of myself. My satisfaction is always greater +in the progress, than in the commencement of a journey. There is a +dilatoriness, a _vis inertiæ_, which hangs on me on my first departure, +and which does not pass away, till worked off by the fermentation of the +blood and spirits. + +The whole party, and myself amongst the number, left Tours in this +enviable state of spirits; the sun shone brightly, but a refreshing +breeze, and intervals of the road well shaded, softened an heat, which +might otherwise have been oppressive. Mr. Younge and myself rode on each +side of the carriage, and travelling slowly, as our proposed day's +journey was short, enjoyed at once the scenes of nature, and the +conversation of these lovely women. + +"The next village we shall come to," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +"will be a singularity. Unless we were with you, you might perhaps pass +through it without seeing it. You might pass through the midst of three +or four hundred inhabitants without seeing either house, man, woman, or +child." + +"You are speaking of Mont Louis," said Mr. Younge. + +"Yes," replied Mademoiselle, "but I will not anticipate Monsieur's +gratification by more fully informing him." + +Mr. Younge, in the course of this conversation, gave me some important +information with respect to the climate of this part of France. I have +entered it in my note book as nearly as possible in his own words, and +therefore shall give it as such. + +"If an American, an English, or a Swedish gentleman, wished to settle in +France," said he, "I would recommend above all provinces either +Tourraine or the Limosin. What the country is as to natural beauty, and +as to fertility of soil, you may see through every league; it is that +mixture of the wild and of the cultivated, of the field, of the wood, of +the vineyard, and of the garden, which is not to be equalled in Europe, +and which has rendered this part of France the favourite of painters and +poets from time immemorial. Here the Troubadours have built their fairy +castles, have settled their magicians, and bound their ladies in +enchanted gardens; and even the popular superstition of the country +seems to have taken its tone and colour from the images around. +Tourraine, and all the country on the banks of the Loire, has a kind of +popular mythology of its own; it is the land of fairies and elfins, and +there is scarcely a glen, a grove, or a shady recess, but what has its +tale belonging to it. What one of the French poets has said of the +Seine, may be said with more truth of the Loire--all its women are +queens, and all its young men poets. If Mademoiselle St. Sillery were +speaking," continued he, smiling at this young lady, "she would say, +that love reigned triumphant amidst the charms of Nature. + +"The climate exactly corresponds to this singular beauty of the country. +In many years there is no such thing as snow, and frosts are not +frequent, and never severe. The rainy weather comes usually at once, and +is confined to the spring. There are no fogs and vapours as is usual in +the northern kingdom: the spring is a continuance of such weather as is +seen in England about the middle of May. The harvest begins about the +latter end of June, but is sometimes so late as the middle of July; it +continues a month. The vent de bize is very rare in these provinces. The +great heats are from the middle of July to the middle of August During +this time, the climate of Touraine certainly exceeds any thing that is +common in England. The heaths are covered with thyme, lavender, +rosemary, and the juniper-tree: nothing can be more delightful than the +scent of them, when the wind blows over them. The hedges are every where +interspersed with flowers; there are blossoms of some kind or other +throughout the year. I must not, however, disguise from you, that there +are some drawbacks from this excellence: the countries south of the +Loire are subject to violent storms of rain and hail, and the latter +particularly is occasionally so violent, as to beat down and destroy all +the corn and vintage on which it may fall. These hail-storms, however, +at least in this excessive degree, are not very frequent; they sometimes +do not occur once in five years. Some years ago, they were more frequent +than they are at present: they used to come on at that time with a +violence which swept every thing before them, even destroying the +cattle, and it is said that even men have been killed by these +hail-stones. Such storms, however, are now considered as natural +phenomena. + +"The plenty of these provinces, I speak of Touraine and Anjou, is such +as might be expected from their climate, and the fertility of the soil. +I am persuaded, that a family or an individual might live at one-fourth +of the expence which it would cost them either in England or in America. +Bread is cheaper by two-thirds, and meat of all kinds is about +one-fourth of the London market. Land, both in rent and purchase, is +likewise infinitely cheaper than in England, and if managed with any +skill, would replace its purchase-money in seven years. The French +farmers, for want of capital, leave half their land totally +uncultivated, and the other half is most scandalously neglected. An +English farmer would instantaneously double or quadruple the produce of +the province. The government, moreover, admits foreigners of any country +as denizens, under the condition that they shall apply themselves to +agriculture or manufactures. I am not, however, certain that +agriculture is included in this permission, but I am inclined to believe +that it is comprehended in it. Of one thing I am sure, that the +government would not refuse its protection, and if required, its special +licence, to any foreign agriculturist, who should be desirous of +purchasing and settling." + +In this and similar conversation we reached Mont Louis, and it exactly +answered the description which the ladles had given of it. We were in +the midst of the village and its inhabitants before we saw it. Imagine a +number of sandy hills on each side of the road, and the sides of them +scooped out into houses or rather caves, and you have a sufficient idea +of this French village, containing some hundreds of inhabitants. The +hills being hollowed out on the further extremity from the road, a +traveller might certainly pass through it, without perceiving any thing +of it. This style is even carried where there is not the same natural +advantage of a hill to hollow out. The village extends into the plain, +which is likewise dug out into subterraneous houses, and which are only +visible by the smoke issuing from the chimnies. I could not understand +the convenience or necessity for these kind of habitations. The ground, +indeed, being chalky, is at once dry and easily dug, but on the other +hand, the country so abounds in wood and clay, that a very little +industry, and a very little expence, might have provided these living +human beings with something better than a grave. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, however, made a remark which I must not pass over. "You must +not," said this lady, "necessarily infer the misery of our peasantry, +because you see them in such unfit habitations. When you compare the +French poor, with the poor in your own country, you must take all +circumstances with you. When you see the French peasantry so ill lodged, +and so scantily clad, you must bring into your view at the same time the +difference of the climate. Here, the same sun which now shines upon us, +shines on us the whole year round; our rains are short, and all confined +to their season; we know nothing of the northern damps: a piece of +muslin or fine linen hung in one of those caves for six months, would be +dry and unsullied when removed. Those caves, moreover, bad as they are, +belong to their inhabitants; the property is their own. Can your +peasantry say the same? Believe me, Monsieur, there are many very happy, +aye and very lovely faces, under those turf dwellings." + +We reached Amboise in good time, and as we intended leaving it on the +following morning, Mr. Younge and myself walked over the town, in the +interval between dinner and tea. The ladies reserved themselves for the +promenade, which in the provincial towns usually begins at seven, and +continues till nine. + +Amboise, like all the towns on the Loire, is very pleasantly situated, +but has nothing in its structure to recommend it to particular notice. +It consists of two streets and a chateau. Before the Revolution it was +very singularly divided into two parishes and two churches: all +gentlemen, all military officers, all landed proprietors who possessed +honorary fiefs, and all strangers who were temporary residents, were +considered as belonging to one parish, and the people and the bourgeois +were attached to the other. The Revolution has annihilated these absurd +distinctions, and every one now belongs to the parish in which he +resides, or has property. + +We visited the chateau, or castle, which is indeed well worthy of the +particular attention of travellers. It is built upon a lofty and craggy +rock, and overhangs the Loire, which flows at the bottom; the side on +the Loire is perpendicular, and of great height, so as to render it +almost inaccessible. This vast structure was not all the work of one +time, or of one author. The present castle was built upon the ruins of +one which was destroyed by the Normans in the year 882, but having gone +into decay, was repaired and enlarged by Francis the First and Charles +the Eighth. The latter prince was born in this castle, and during his +whole reign it was the constant summer residence of the court. The most +remarkable part of this structure is what is called the oratory of Louis +the Wicked; it is at a great depth beneath the foundation of the castle, +and the descent to it is by spiral or well-stairs. It is literally +nothing more than a dungeon, on a platform, in which is a prostrate +statue representing the dead body of our Lord, as taken from the Cross, +covered with streaks of blood, and the skin in welts, as if fresh from +the scourge. According to the tradition of the neighbourhood, this was +the daily scene of the private devotions of Louis the Eleventh; and the +character of the place and of the images around, have certainly some +symphony with the known disposition of that monarch. No one, even in the +horrible Revolution, has disturbed these relics; it is still exhibited +as the tyrant's dungeon, and no one enters or leaves it without feeling +a renewed idea of the character of that execrable monster. + +The conspiracy of Amboise having originated in this city, the walls and +dungeons of the castle still retain some relics of the ferocious +cruelties exercised by the triumphant party of the Guises. Spikes, +nails, and short iron gibbets and chains, are still shewn on the walls, +on which were suspended the bodies of the prisoners who fell into their +hands. How difficult is it to reconcile such ferocity to the known +greatness of the Duke of Guise; but religious fury has no limits, and a +true enthusiast comforts himself that he tortures the body to save the +soul. Thank Heaven, that the days of such infuriate zeal are over: but +Heaven forbid that we should pass to the other extreme. Great as may be +the evils of bigotry, the mischief of religious indifference, or in +other words, of no religion at all, would be infinitely greater. The +one may affect the world as a storm, the other is a perpetual +pestilence, beneath the influence of which every thing that is generous +and noble, morals, and even private honor, must fall to the ground. + + + + +CHAP. XIV. + +_Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois--Ecures--Beautiful +Village--French Harvesters--Chousi--Village Inn--Blois-- +Situation--Church--Market--Price of Provisions._ + + +ON the following morning we resumed our journey for Blois, a distance of +thirty miles, which we proposed to reach the same day. + +The country for some leagues very nearly resembled that through which we +had passed on the preceding day, except that it was more thickly spread +with houses, and better cultivated. Windmills are very frequent along +the whole line of the Loire, the wheat of the country being ground in +the vicinity of the river, so as to be more convenient for +transportation. These mills are beautifully situated on the hills and +rising grounds, and add much to the cheerfulness of the scenery. The +road, moreover, was as various as it was beautiful. Sometimes it passed +through open fields, in which the peasantry were at work to get in their +harvest. Upon sight of our horses, the labourers, male and female, +ceased from their work, and ran up to the carriage: some of the younger +women would then present us with some wheat, barley, or whatever was +the subject of their labour, accompanying it with rustic salutations, +and more frequently declining than accepting any pecuniary return. This +conduct of the French peasantry is a perfect contrast to what a +traveller must frequently meet in America, and still more frequently in +England. Amongst the inferior classes in England and America, to be a +stranger is to be a subject for insult. So much I must say in justice +for the French of the very lowest condition, that I never received any +thing like an insult, and that they no sooner understood me to be a +stranger, than they were officious in their attentions and information. + +I enquired of Mr. Younge what were the wages of the labourers in this +part of France. "Their wages," said he, "are very different according to +the season. In harvest-time, they have as much as 36 sols, about 1_s._ +6_d._ English money. The average daily wages of the year may amount to +24 sols, or a shilling English; they are allowed moreover, three pints +of the wine of the country. Their condition is upon the whole very +comfortable: the greater part of them have a cow, and a small slip of +land. There is a great deal of common land along the whole course of the +Loire, and the farmers have a practice of exchanging with the poor. The +poor, for example, in many districts, have a right of commonage, during +a certain number of days, over all the common fields; the farmers having +possession of these lands, and finding it inconvenient to be subject to +this participation, frequently buy it off, and in exchange assign an +acre or more to every collage in the parish. These cottages are let to +the labourers for life at a mere nominal rent, and are continued to +their families, as long as they remain honest and industrious. There is +indeed no such thing as parochial taxes for the relief of the poor, as +in England, but distress seldom happens without being immediately +relieved." + +"In what manner," said I, "do the French poor live?" + +"Very cheaply, and yet all things considered, very sufficiently. You, +who have lived almost the whole of your life in northern climates, can +scarcely form any idea, what a very different kind of sustenance is +required in a southern one. In Ireland, however, how many robust bodies +are solely nourished on milk and potatoes: now chesnuts and grapes, and +turnips and onions in France, are what potatoes are in Ireland. The +breakfast of our labourers usually consists of bread and fruit, his +dinner of bread and an onion, his supper of bread, milk, and chesnuts. +Sometimes a pound of meat may be boiled with the onion, and a bouillé is +thus made, which with management will go through the week. The climate +is such as to require no expence in fuel, and very little in clothes." + +In this conversation we reached Ecures, a village situated on a plain, +which in its verdure, and in the fanciful disposition of some trees and +groves, reminded me very strongly of an English park. This similitude +was increased by a house on the further extremity of the village: it was +situated in a lawn, and entirely girt around by walnut trees except +where it fronted the road, upon which it opened by a neat palisadoed +gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion, +that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was +freshly mown, and the flowers, the fresh-painted seats, the windows +extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of +the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from +getting on the lawn--all these were so perfectly in the English taste, +that I offered Mr. Younge any wager that the possessor had travelled. +"He is most probably a returned emigrant," said Mr. Younge; "it is +inconceivable how much this description of men have done for France. The +government, indeed, begins to understand their value, and the list of +the proscribed is daily diminishing." + +From Ecures to Chousi the country varies very considerably. The road is +very good, but occasionally sandy. To make up for this heaviness, it is +picturesque to a degree. The fields on each side are so small as to give +them a peculiar air of snugness, and to suggest the idea to a traveller, +how delightful would be a fancy-cottage in such a situation. For my own +part, I was continually building in my imagination. These fields were +well enclosed with thick high hedges, and ornamented with hedge-rows of +chesnut and walnut trees. There were scarcely any of them but what had a +foot-path on the side of the road; in others there were bye-paths which +led from the road into the country, sometimes to a village, the chimnies +only of which were visible; at other times to a chateau, the gilded +pinnacle of which shone afar from some distant hill. I observed several +fields of flax and hemp, and we passed several cottages, in the gardens +of which the flax flourished in great perfection, Mr. Younge informed +me, that every peasant grew a sufficient quantity for his own use, and +the females of his family worked them up into a strong, but decent +looking linen. "This is another circumstance," said he, "which you must +not forget in your comparison between the poor of France and other +kingdoms. The French peasantry, and particularly the women, have more +ingenuity than the English or American poor; they universally make every +thing that is connected with their own clothes. Their beds, blankets, +coats, and linen of all kind, are of the manufacture of their own +families. The produce of the man's labour goes clear to the purchase of +food: the labour of his wife and daughters, and even a small portion of +their labour, is sufficient to clothe him and to provide him with his +bed." + +We passed several groups of villagers reposing themselves under the +shade: I should not indeed say reposing, for they were romping, +running, and conversing with all the characteristic merriment of the +country. They saluted us respectfully as we passed them. In one of these +groups was a flageolet-player; he was piping merrily, his comrades +accompanying the tune with motions of their hands and neck. "Confess," +said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that we are a happy people: these poor +creatures have been at their labour since sunrise, and yet this is the +way they repose themselves." "Are they never wearied?" said I. "Never so +much so, but what they can sing and dance: their good-humour seems to +hold them in the stead of the more robust nerves of the north. Even +labour itself is not felt where the mind takes its share of the weight." + +"You are a philosopher," said Mr. Younge to her, smiling. + +"I am a Frenchwoman," replied she, "and would not change my cheerful +flow of spirits for all the philosophy and wisdom in the universe. +Nothing can make me unhappy whilst the sun shines." + +I know not whether I have before mentioned, that a great quantity of +maize is cultivated in this part of the kingdom. The roofs of the +cottages were covered with it drying in the sun; the ears are of a +bright golden yellow, and in the cottage gardens it had a beautiful +effect. I observed moreover a very striking difference between the +system of cultivating the flax in England and in France. In England the +richest land only is chosen, in France every soil indiscriminately. The +result of this difference is, that the flax in France is infinitely +finer than in England, a circumstance which may account for the +superiority of their lawns and cambrics. + +We reached Chousi to an early dinner. The woman of the house apologised +that she had no suitable room for so large a company, "but her husband +and sons were gathering apples in the orchard, and if we would dine +there, we should find it cheerful enough." We readily adopted this +proposal, and had a very pleasant dinner under an apple tree. +Mademoiselle and myself had agreed to divide between us the office of +purveyor to the party. It was my part to see that the meat or poultry +was not over-boiled, over-hashed, or over-roasted, and it was her's to +arrange the table with the linen and plate which we brought with us. It +is inconceivable how much comfort, and even elegance, resulted from this +arrangement. + +Mr. Younge and myself being engaged in an argument of some warmth, in +which Mrs. Younge had taken part, Mademoiselle St. Sillery had given us +the slip, and the carriage being ready, I had to seek her. After much +trouble I found her engaged in a childish sport with some boys and +girls, the children of the landlord: the game answered to what is known +in America by the name of hide and seek, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +when I found her, was concealed in a _saw-pit_. I have mentioned, I +believe, that this young lady was about twenty years of age; an elegant, +fashionable girl, and as far removed from a romp and a hoyden as it is +possible to conceive; yet was this young lady of fashion now engaged in +the most puerile play, and even seemed disappointed when she was called +from it. Such is the French levity, that sooner than not be in motion, +the gravest and most dignified of them would join in an hunt after a +butterfly. I have frequently been walking, with all possible gravity, +with Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when she has suddenly challenged me to +run a race, and before I could recover my astonishment, or give her an +answer, has taken to her heels. + +We reached Blois rather late; we had intended to have staid there only +the night, but as it was too late to see the town, and the following +morning was showery, we remained there the whole day, and very +pleasantly passed the afternoon in walking over the town, and informing +ourselves of its curiosities. The situation of Blois is as agreeable as +that of all the other principal towns on the Loire. The main part of it +is built upon an hill which descends by a gentle declivity to the Loire; +the remaining part of it is a suburb on the opposite side of the river, +to which it is joined by a bridge resembling that at Kew, in England. +From the hill on which the town stands is a beautiful view of a rich +and lovely country, and there is certainly not a town in France or in +Europe, with the exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such +a delightful landscape. It appeared, perhaps, more agreeable to us as we +saw it after it had been freshened by the morning rain. The structure of +the town does not correspond with the beauty of its site. The streets +are narrow, and the houses low. There are some of the houses, however, +which are very respectable, and evidently the habitation of a superior +class of inhabitants. They reminded me much of what are common in the +county towns of England. + +But the boast and ornament of Blois is its chateau, or castle. We +employed some hours in going over it, and I shall therefore describe it +with some fullness. + +The situation of it is extremely commanding, and therefore very +beautiful. It is built upon a rock which overhangs the Loire, all the +castles upon this river being built with the evident purpose of +controuling and commanding the navigation. What first struck us very +forcibly was the variety and evident dissimilarity of the several parts. +This circumstance was explained to us by our guide, who informed us that +the castle was the work of several princes. The eastern and southern +fronts were built by Louis the Twelfth about the year 1520, the northern +front was the work of Francis the First, and the western side of +Gaston, duke of Orleans. Every part accordingly has a different +character. What is built by Louis the Twelfth is heavy, dark, and +gothic, with small rooms, and pointed arches. The work of Francis the +First is a curious specimen of the Gothic architecture in its progress, +perhaps in its very act of transit, into the Greek and Roman orders; and +what has been done by Gaston, bears the character of the magnificent +mind and bold genius of that great prince. This comparison of three +different styles, on the same spot, gave me much satisfaction. + +The rooms, as I have said, such as were built by Louis the Twelfth, are +small, and those by Francis spacious, lofty, and boldly vaulted. Nothing +astonished me more than the minor ornaments on the points of the arches; +they were so grossly, so vulgarly indecent, that I was fearful the +ladies might observe me as I looked at them: but such was the taste of +the age. Others of the ornaments were less objectionable: they consisted +of the devices of the several princes who had resided there. + +We were shewn the chamber in which the celebrated Duke of Guise was +assassinated, and the guide pointed out the spot on which he fell. A +small chamber, or rather anti-chamber, leads to a larger apartment: the +Duke had passed through the door of this anti-chamber, and was opening +the further door which leads into the larger apartment, when he was +assassinated by order of Henry the Third. His body was immediately +dragged into the larger apartment, and the king came to view it. "How +great a man was that!" said he, pointing to his prostrate body. +Historians are still divided on the quality of this act, whether it is +to be considered as a just execution, or as a cowardly assassination. +Considering the necessary falsehood, and breach of faith, under which it +must have been perpetrated, the moralist can have no hesitation to +execrate it as a murder. + +We passed from this part of the castle to the tower at the western +extremity, called La Tour de chateau Regnaud, and so called, because a +seigniory of that name, though distant twenty-one miles, is visible from +its summit. The Cardinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which +his brother was assassinated, was imprisoned in this castle, and after +passing a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. The +dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to conceive: +the descent to them entirely indisposed us from going down. Imagine a +dark gloomy room, itself a horrible dungeon, and in the centre of the +floor a round hole of the size and shape of those on the paved footpaths +in the streets in London for shooting coals into the cellars. Such is +the descent to these dungeons: and in such a place did the great and +proud Cardinal of Guise terminate a life of turmoil and ambition. + +We next visited the Salle des Etats, or the States-hall, so called +because the States General were there assembled by Henry the Third: it +is a large and lofty room, but the part of it which chiefly attracts the +attention of travellers is the fire-place, where the bodies of the +Guises were reduced to ashes on the day following their murder. It is +not however easy to conceive, why vengeance should be carried so far. + +The western front of the castle, which was built by Gaston, Duke of +Orleans, is in every respect worthy of that great prince, and of the +architect employed by him, the illustrious Mansard. This architect +laboured three years upon this front, and having already spent three +hundred and thirty thousand livres, informed the prince, that it would +require one hundred thousand more to render it habitable. The prince, +however eager both to encourage the artist and to have the work +finished, could not muster up the money, which in that age was an +immense sum: the front, therefore, was left in the state in which it now +remains. It is as much to the credit of the Duke as to that of the +architect, that this noble front constituted his pride, and that he felt +the value of this work of Mansard. + +The gardens of the castle are worthy of the structure to which they are +attached: Henry the Fourth divided them by a gallery into the upper and +lower gardens, but nothing now remains of this gallery but the ruins. +The garden itself is now sold or let to private persons. + +Blois has several other buildings which are worthy of the attention of a +leisurely traveller: amongst these is the college, which formerly +belonged to the Jesuits, and which is at present a national school. The +church attached to the college combines every order of architecture: +there are two splendid monuments, moreover, the one to Gaston Duke of +Orleans, the other to a daughter of this prince. The courts, likewise, +in which the police is administered, are not unworthy of a cursory +attention; they are very ancient, having been built by the former Counts +of Blois. + +We were shewn likewise the aqueducts: the waters rise from a deep +subterraneous spring, and are conveyed in a channel cut in a rock. This +channel is said to be of Roman construction, and from its characteristic +boldness, and even greatness, it most probably is so. Whence is it, that +this people communicated their characteristic energy even to trifles. +The channel of the aqueduct empties itself into a reservoir adjoining +the city walls, whence they are distributed in pipes through all +quarters of the city. + + + + +CHAP. XV. + +_Houses in Chalk Hills--Magnificent Castle at Chambord--Return +from Chambord by Moon-light--St. Laurence on the +Waters._ + + +ON the following morning we resumed our journey. The country continued +very similar to that through which we had previously past, except that +it was more populous, and there were a greater number of chateaus. On +some parts of the road, the chalk hills on the side of the river +presented a very curious spectacle: smoke issued out of an hundred vents +on the sides and summits, and gave them the appearance of so many +volcanoes. The fact was, that the descent fronting the river was scooped +into houses or rather caves for the peasantry, and the roof was cut +upwards for the chimney. I was informed by Mr. Younge, that the other +circumstances of these houses and their inhabitants did not correspond +with the implied poverty in their construction. "The fronts of these +cottages," said he, "are very picturesque; they have casements, and the +walls are deeply shaded and embossed with vines. These caverns are in +some places in rows one above another. They are not all of them the +property of those who live in them: some of them are constructed at the +expence of the farmers, and are let out at a yearly hire of four or +five livres. The fronts are masonry: the small gardens which you see +above, belong to these cottagers; many of them have moreover a cow, +which they feed in the lanes and woods. Altogether, their condition is +more comfortable than you would imagine." + +As the distance between Blois and Orleans was too much for one day, we +had divided it into two, and arranged it so as to comprehend Chambord in +the first. This route indeed was considerably out of our direct way, but +Mr. and Mrs. Younge resolved that I should see Chambord, and would hear +of no excuses. + +In pursuance of this plan we turned out of the main road, and entered a +narrow one, which by its recluseness and solitude seemed to lead us into +the recesses of the country. Nothing can be more beautiful than these +bye-roads both in France and England. On the highways, and in the +vicinity or route of central and populous towns, the spirit of +improvement, and the caprice of wealth, too frequently destroy the +scenes of nature: the artist in fashion is set at work, and the field +and the meadow is supplanted by the park, the lawn, and the measured +avenue. In the bye-lanes, on the contrary, the country is generally left +in its natural rudeness, and therefore in its natural beauty: no one +thinks of improving the house, orchard, and fields of his tenant; no one +cares whether his gates are painted, or his hedges are trim and even. +The bye-road, therefore, has always been my favourite haunt; and if +ever I should make a pedestrian tour through Europe, I should go in a +track very different from any who have gone before. + +The scenery in this cross-road to Chambord, as to its general character, +was exactly what I had anticipated; recluse and romantic to the most +extreme degree. The fields were small, and thickly enclosed; nothing +could be more beautiful than the shocks of corn as seen through the +thick foliage of the hedges. "How pleasant," said Mademoiselle to me, +"would be a walk by sunset under those hedge-rows." I agreed in the +observation, and repeat it as conveying an idea of the character of the +scenery. The gates and stiles to these several fields seemed as if they +had been made by Robinson Crusoe: there is nothing in America more rough +and aukward. We passed several cottages very delightfully situated, and +without a single exception covered with grapes. The gradual approach to +them had something which spoke both to the imagination and the feelings. +Imagine the carriage driving very slowly onwards, when you suddenly hear +a sweet female voice carrolling away in all the wildness of nature, and +this without knowing whence it comes. On a sudden, coming nearer the +bottom of the hill, you see on one side of the road a cottage chimney, +peeping as it were from a tuft of trees in a dell, and immediately +afterwards, coming in front, behold a girl picking grapes for the press, +and chearfully singing over her toil. There are few of these cottages +but what have a garden fronting the road, and some of these gardens, in +the season of fruit and flowers, are inimitably beautiful. Where is it +that I have read, that a Frenchman has no idea of gardening? Nothing can +be more false: the French peasants infinitely excell the English of the +same order in the knowledge and practice of this embellishment. + +Nothing can be more obscure, more melancholy, than the situation of +Chambord; it is literally buried in woods, and the building, immense as +it is, is not visible till you are within some hundred yards of it. The +woods are not merely on one side, but entirely surround it, leaving only +a park in front, through the midst of which slowly flows a narrow river. +The day was overclouded, and I think I never beheld a more melancholy +scene. + +The style of building is strictly Gothic, and the architecture, +considering the order, is very good. It was built by Francis the First, +who, on his return from Spain, commanded the ancient chateau of the +Counts of Blois to be destroyed, and built this in its place. He is said +to have employed eighteen hundred workmen for twelve years, and even +then it was left unfinished. It is moated and walled round, and has +every appendage of the Gothic castle, innumerable towers and turrets, +drawbridges and portals. If seated upon an hill, it would be impossible +to conceive a finer object. + +The apartments correspond with its external magnitude; they are large +and spacious, but the effect of them is destroyed by what is very common +in old Gothic buildings; cross-beams from one side of the room to the +other. There is a silly story, that Catherine of Medicis had them so +placed by the advice of an astrologer, who having cast her nativity +discovered that she was in danger of perishing by the fall of an house. +The great Marshal Saxe lived and died in this chateau: the room in which +he breathed his last, is still shewn with great veneration. There is a +tradition that he was killed in a duel by the Prince of Conti, and that +his death was concealed. The Marshal lived here in great state; he had a +regiment of 1500 horse, the barracks of which are in the immediate +vicinity of the castle. The apartments which he occupied are in very +good taste; the ceilings are arched, and the proportions are excellent. +In one of the rooms is an admirable picture of Louis the Fourteenth on +horseback. The spiral staircase is a contrivance which it is impossible +to explain; it is so managed, as to contain two distinct staircases in +one, so that people may go up and down at the same time, without seeing +each other. The apartments are said to exceed twelve hundred. + +This castle was the favourite residence of Francis the First, and it was +here that he so magnificently received and entertained the Emperor +Charles the Fifth. Francis the First was in every respect a true French +Knight; gallant, magnificent, and religious in the extreme. There was +formerly a pane of glass in one of the windows of this chateau, on which +Francis the First had written the two following lines; + + Toute Femme varie, + Mal Habil qui s'y fie. + +This glass is now lost, and I transcribe the verses from a detailed +description of this chateau published at Paris. The castle has been +deserted since the death of Louis the Fourteenth. This monarch used +occasionally to hunt in its forests, but never made it a permanent +residence. + +We proposed to sleep at St. Laurence on the Waters, a beautiful village +on the high road to Orleans, and distant about twelve miles from +Chambord. It was evening before we left the castle, and the moon, though +not at the full, had risen, before we had performed the half our road. +Nothing could be more picturesque than the scenery, as now half +illuminated and half shaded. The cottage gardens looked like so many +fairy scenes. The peasant girls looking out of their windows, as they +were going to bed, added much to our mirth; and more particularly, as +our carriage was on a level with their windows. Whether the moon suited +their complexions better than the sun, or that they were different +individuals from those we had passed in the morning, I know not, but so +much I can say, that they appeared to me more delicate and beautiful. +One girl had the face of an angel: it is still imprinted on my mind, and +were I a painter, I could exhibit a most perfect resemblance of her, by +transferring the copy from my imagination to the canvass. There are some +faces which it is impossible to forget. + +We passed a group of gipsies: they were seated under a broad branching +oak by the road-side; there were twenty or more of them collected in a +circle, in the midst of which was a fire, and a pot boiling. "These +people," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "are realising the wish of our +good King Henry the Fourth: he wished that every peasant in France might +have a fire in his chimney, and a fowl in his pot:--- and fowls must be +very scarce, when these good folks are in want of them." + +"Whence is it," said I, "that such notorious thieves are tolerated." + +"From the humanity," said Mr. Younge, "which prevails from an indistinct +reference to their origin. They are generally considered as the refugees +from some persecution in their native land: they have fled from towns +and cities to the shelter of woods and fields. On the continent they are +almost universally called Bohemians, and regarded as the descendants of +those unfortunate exiles, who were driven out of that kingdom in the +religious wars. By others, they have been considered as descendants +from the Jews expelled from Syria and Judæa under the Roman emperors. In +short, every tradition concurs in representing them as having their +origin in some persecution." + +"But whatever this original stock must have been," said I, "it must +doubtless have long since perished, even in its posterity. Their +unsettled life is very unsuitable to keeping up their generation." + +Mr. Younge suggested, that the species had been supported by subsequent +additions; that it was a standing receptacle for all vagabonds and +beggars: "but there is something in the true gipsey," said he, "which I +cannot but consider as characteristic of a certain definite origin. They +are all tall, raw-boned, and with raven locks; and though like the Jews +of different countries they may have national traits, these traits are +never sufficient to merge a certain essential character; they seem +chiefly only minor differences added to others more strong and +indelible." + +We reached St. Laurence rather late, but were fortunate enough to +procure a good supper, two fowls being killed for the purpose. The +night, from some cause or other, was so chill, that we found it +necessary to have a fire, and being in excellent spirits, we sate up +late and talked merrily. + +On the following morning we continued our progress. The scenery had so +great a resemblance to the road of the preceding day, that I saw nothing +worthy of detailed remark. The country was rich in views and in +fertility. The agriculture, as far as I could judge of it, is very +slovenly: the wheat is mowed, and gathered in by hand and in small +carts. The labourers, however, appeared in tolerable good condition, and +what cottages we passed by the road side, had every appearance of much +comfort, and some substance. I must not forget to mention that I saw no +cottage without a slip of land, and in many parts of the road, on the +waste by its side, were single fruit trees railed round, which as I +understood from Mr. Younge were the property of labourers, whose +cottages were perhaps removed a league from their trees. These trees, +which were in full bearing, are so much respected by the usage of the +country, that they are never invaded. I was pleased with this trait of +general honesty and confidence: it is common in America, but not in +England. + +We passed several chateaus in meadows and lawns by the road side: some +of them were altogether in the ancient style, and so truly +characteristic of the French country house, as to merit a more detailed +description. + +In the ordinary construction of a French chateau, there is a greater +consumption of wood than brick, and no sparing of ground. It is usually +a rambling building, with a body, wings, and again wings upon those +wings; and flanked on each side with a pigeon-house, stables, and barns, +the pigeon-house being on the right, and the barns and stables on the +left. The decorations are infinitely beneath contempt; painted +weathercocks and copper turrets, and even the paint apparently as +ancient as the chateau. The windows are numerous, but even in the best +chateaus there is strange neglect as to the broken glass; sometimes they +are left as broken, but more frequently patched with paper, coloured +silk, or even stuffed with linen. The upper tier of windows, even in the +front of the house, is usually ornamented with the clothes of the family +hanging out to dry, a piece of slovenliness and ill-taste for which +there can assuredly be no excuse in the country where there is surely +room enough for this part of household business. Upon the whole, the +appearance of a French chateau, in the old style, resembles one of those +deserted houses which are sometimes seen in England, where the plaister +has been peeled or is peeling off, and where every boy that passes +throws his stone at the windows. + +The pleasure grounds attached to the chateau, very exactly correspond +with its style: the chateau is usually built in the worst possible site +of the whole estate. It generally stands in some meadow or lawn, and +precisely in that part of it which is the natural drain of the whole, +and where, if there were no house, there would necessarily be an +horse-pond. A grand avenue, planted on each side with noble trees, leads +up to the house, but is usually so overgrown with moss and weeds, as to +convey a most uncomfortable feeling of cold, dampness, and desolation. +The grass of the lawn is equally foul, and every thing of dirt and +rubbish is collected under the windows in front. The gardens behind are +in the same execrable state: gravel-walks over-run with moss and weeds; +flower beds ornamented with statues of leaden Floras, painted Mercurys, +and Dians with milk-pails. Every yard almost salutes you with some +similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped into peacocks, and not +unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen dancing a minuet. Pillars of +cypress, and pyramids of yew, terminate almost every walk, and if there +is an hollow in the garden, it is formed into a muddy pond, in which +half a dozen nymphs in stone, are about to plunge. The ill-taste of +these statues is not the worst; they are grossly indecent: nothing is +reserved, nothing is concealed; and yet the master of the house will not +hesitate to exhibit these to his female visitors, and what is worse, his +female visitors will look at them with a pleasant smile. Once for all, +there is no such thing as decency, as it is understood in other +kingdoms, to be found in France. Nature is the fashion of the day, and +according to the French philosophy, the passions are the best index to +what is natural. With a very few exceptions, the French women act up to +this doctrine, and are as natural as any one could wish them. + +We passed through many pretty villages, and amongst them Clery, where +Louis the Eleventh was buried. We visited the tomb of that memorable +tyrant: it is of white marble, and the taste of it is good. The King is +represented as kneeling, and in the attitude of addressing his prayers +to the Virgin. The church of Clery was built by this King, and it was +his express wish that he should be interred in it. The monument was +raised by Louis the Thirteenth. It contains likewise the heart of +Charles the Eighth, and the body of Charlotte of Savoy, the wife of +Louis the Eleventh. This monument has been much defaced, the hatred of +the tyrant extending to his remains. + +Clery was formerly a place of pilgrimage for the devout of all Europe. +There is an absurd story of a great bell in the church, which was said +to toll of itself, whenever any one, being in danger of any mischief by +sea or land, made a vow to the Holy Virgin, that if he escaped, he would +make a pilgrimage to Clery. The tolling of the bell was the acceptance +of the vow on the part of the Virgin. What a pity, that credulity should +injure the cause of true religion! + +We passed over the bridge of Mesmion, where Francis Duke of Guise was +assassinated. There is an ancient abbey of the Order of St. Benedict in +this village: The vineyards in this district were beautiful, and +apparently fertile to a degree. They are said * * * *. + +We reached Orleans to dinner, and whilst it was preparing had a walk +round the town. The ladies reserved themselves for the promenade, as we +intended to remain till the following morning. + +Orleans has a very near resemblance to Tours, though the latter town is +certainly better built, and preferable in situation; Orleans, however, +is situated very beautifully. The country is uneven and diversified, and +the fields have the air of pleasure grounds, except in the luxuriant +wildness of the hedges, and the frequent intermixture of orchard and +fruit trees. As seen from the road, the aspect of Orleans is extremely +picturesque: it reminded me strongly of some towns I had seen in the +interior of England. + +The interior of the town does not altogether correspond with the beauty +of the country in which it stands: some of the streets are narrow, the +houses old, and most execrably built. The principal street is in no way +inferior to that of Tours: it is terminated by a noble bridge, which has +lately been repaired from the ruinous state in which it was left by the +Chouans. The Grand Place is spacious, and has an air of magnificence. +The cathedral is worth peculiar attention: the first stone of it was +laid in the year 1287, but it was not finished till the year 1567. The +party of the Huguenots, having seized Orleans, destroyed a considerable +part of the cathedral; but Henry the Fourth, having visited the town, +caused it to be rebuilt. The chapels surrounding the altar are +wainscotted with oak, and the pannels are deeply cut into +representations of the histories of the New Testament. The +representation of our blessed Saviour on the cross, and the figures of +St. John and others of the Apostles, are very masterly. They are the +work of Baptiste Tubi, an Italian sculptor who sought refuge in France. + +The two towers built at the western extremity by Louis the Fifteenth, +are generally known and celebrated; by some they have been considered as +too highly ornamented, but their effect is great. Perhaps the ornaments +may indeed lose their own effect by being attached to a building which, +by exciting stronger emotions, necessarily merges the less. The prospect +from the summit of these towers exceeds all powers of description. The +country seems one boundless garden covered with vineyards, the richness +of which at this season of the year must be seen to be understood. No +description can convey it with force to the imagination. + +The Maid of Orleans, and the history of the times connected with her, +are too well known to render any detail of interest;--suffice it +therefore to say, that there are still several relics of her, and that +her memory is still held in veneration. In the Hotel de Ville is a +portrait of her at full length: her face is extremely beautiful, a long +oval, and has an air of melancholy grandeur which appeals forcibly to +the heart. She wears on her head a cap, or rather a bonnet, in which is +a white plume; her hair is auburn, and flows loosely down her back. Her +neck is ornamented with a necklace, surmounted by a small collar. Her +dress is what is termed a Vandyke robe; it fits closely, and is +scolloped round the neck, arms, and at the bottom. She holds a sword in +her hand. This picture is confirmed by its resemblance to her figure in +a monument in the main street. Charles the Seventh and the Maid of +Orleans are here represented kneeling before the body of our Saviour, as +it lies in the lap of the Virgin Mary. The King is bare-headed, his +helmet lying by him. The Maid of Orleans is opposite to him, her eyes +attentively fixed on Heaven. This monument was executed by the command +of Charles the Seventh, in the year 1458, and is therefore most probably +a correct representation both of the figure of the King himself and of +the Maid of Orleans. + +We attended the ladies in the evening to the promenade, or to the +parade, as it has now become the fashion to call it, since France, and +every thing in France, has taken a military turn. I was much pleased +with the beauty of the ladies, and still more with a modesty and simple +elegance in their dress, which I had not expected. But I have observed +more than once, that the fashions of the capital have improved as they +have travelled downwards into the provinces. They lose their excess, or +what we should call in wine, their rawness and their freshness. The +bosom which was naked in Paris has here at least some covering, and +there is even some appearance of petticoats. The colours, as being +adapted to the season, purple and straw, I thought elegant. There were +two or three of the younger ladies in the dresses of bacchanals; they +were certainly tasty, but they did not please me. + +We left Orleans at an early hour on the following day. The scenery +continued to improve as we advanced farther on the banks of the Loire. +For several miles it was so highly cultivated, and so naturally +beautiful, as to resemble a continued garden: the houses and chateaus +became neater, and every thing had an air of sprightliness and gaiety, +which might have animated even Despair itself. We observed that the +fields were even infested with game; they rose in the stubbles as we +passed along, and any one might have shot them from the road. Though +there are no game-laws in France, there is a decency and moderation in +the lower orders which answers the same purpose. No one presumes to +shoot game except on land of which he is the proprietor or tenant. + +I know not whether I have before remarked, that almost every chateau has +a certain number of fish-ponds, and a certain quantity of woodland, and +that these are considered as such necessary appendages, that an house +is scarcely regarded as habitable without them. The table of a French +gentleman is almost solely supplied from his land. Having a plenty of +poultry, fish, and rabbits, he gives very little trouble to his butcher. +Hence in many of the villages meat is not to be had, and even in large +towns the supply bears a very small proportion to what would seem to be +the natural demand of the population. + +Of all the provinces of France, those which compose the department of +the Loire are the richest, and best cultivated; and if any foreigner +would wish to fix his residence in France, let it be on the banks of +this river.--Fish, as I have said before, is cheap and plentiful, and +fowls about one-fourth of the price in England. The climate, not so +southerly as to be intolerably hot, nor so northerly as to be +continually humid, is perhaps the most healthy and pleasant in the +world--the sun shines day after day in a sky of etherial blue; the +spring is relieved by frequent intervals of sun, and the summer by +breezes. The evening, in loveliness and serenity, exceeds all powers of +description. The windows may be left safely open during the night; and +night after night have I laid in my bed, and watched the course of the +moon ascending in the fretted vault. Society, moreover, in this part of +the kingdom, is always within the reach of those who can afford to keep +it, and the expences of the best company are very trifling. I have +mentioned, I believe, that an establishment of two men servants, a +gardener, three maids, a family of from four to six in number, and a +carriage with two horses, might with great ease be kept in the French +provinces on an annual income from 250_l._ to 300_l._ per annum. + +One distinction of French and English visiting I must not omit. In +England, if any one come from any distance to visit the family of a +friend, he of course takes his dinner, and perhaps his supper, but is +then expected to return home. Unless he is a brother or uncle, and not +even always then, he must not expect to have a bed. To remain day after +day for a week or a fortnight, would be considered as an outrage. On the +other hand, in France, a family no sooner comes to its chateau for the +summer (for since the Revolution this has become the fashion), than +preparation is immediately made for parties of visitors. Every day +brings some one, who is never suffered to go, as long as he can be +detained. Every chateau thus becomes a pleasant assemblage, and in +riding, walking, and fishing, nothing can pass more agreeably than a +French summer in the country. As we passed along, we met several of +these parties in their morning rides; they invariably addressed us, and +very frequently invited us to their houses, though perfectly strangers +to us. The mode of living in these country residences differs very +little from what is common in the same rank of life in England. The +breakfast consists of tea, coffee, fruits, and cold meat. The dinner is +usually at two o'clock, and is served up as in England. The French +however have not as yet imitated the English habit of sitting at table. +Coffee in a saloon or pavilion, fronting the garden and lawn, +immediately follows the dinner: this consumes about two hours. The +company then divide into parties, and walk. They return about eight +o'clock to tea. After tea they dance till supper. Supper is all gaiety +and gallantry, and the latter perhaps of a kind, which in England would +not be deemed very innocent. The champagne then goes round, and the +ladies drink as much as the gentlemen, that is to say, enough to +exhilarate, not to overwhelm the animal spirits. A French woman with +three or four glasses of wine in her head, would certainly make an +English one stare; but France is the land of love, and it is an +universal maxim that life is insipid without it. + +We slept in a village, of which I have not noted the name: the ladies, +as usual, were huddled in one room, and Mr. Younge, as usual, was not +excluded from their party. For my own part I can sleep any where, and I +slept this night in the kitchen. The landlord, from civility, insisted +on having the honour of sleeping in the opposite corner. I very +willingly acceded to his request, and having made up a cheerful fire, we +composed ourselves in two chairs. The landlady seemed very indignant +that her husband should desert her bed: she was sure that Monsieur was +not afraid of remaining by himself. Her husband, she added, had a +rheumatism, and the night air might injure him. I was resolved, however, +for once to do mischief, or perhaps to do good, so said nothing, and the +husband was accordingly obliged to abide by his offer, and remain in the +kitchen. + + + + +CHAP. XVI. + +_Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns--Tremendous +Hail Storm--Country Masquerade--La Charité--Beauty +and Luxuriance of its Environs--Nevers--Fille-de-Chambre--Lovely +Country between Nevers and Moulins--Treading +Corn--Moulins--Price of Provisions._ + + +WE were two more days on our journey to La Charité: the scenery +continued the same, except that the surface became more level. On both +sides of the Loire, however, there was that appearance of plenty and of +happiness, of the bounty of Nature and of the cheerful labour of man, +which inspirits the heart of the beholder. The painters have very justly +adopted it as a maxim, that no landscape is perfect, in which there are +not the appendages of life and motion. The truth is, that man, as a +being formed for society, is never so much interested as by man, and it +is hence a maxim of feeling, as well as of moral duty, that nothing is +foreign to him as an individual which is connected with him in nature. + +In this part of our journey we saw more of French inns of all degrees +than we had hitherto experienced. I believe I have already mentioned, +that a very wrong idea prevails as to their comparative merit. In +substantial provision and accommodation, the French inns are not a whit +inferior to English of the same degree; but they are inferior to them in +all the minor appendages. In point of eating and drinking the French +inns infinitely exceed the English: their provisions are of a better +kind, and are much cheaper: we scarcely slept any where, where we could +not procure fowls of all kinds, eggs and wine. It is too true, indeed, +that their mode of cooking is not very well suited to an English palate; +but a very little trouble will remedy this inconvenience. The French +cooks are infinitely obliging in this respect--they will take your +instructions, and thank you for the honor done them. The dinner, +moreover, when served up, will consist of an infinite variety, and that +without materially swelling the bill. Add to this the dessert, of which +an English inn-keeper, except in the most expensive hotels, has not a +single idea. In France, on the other hand, in the poorest inns, in the +most ordinary hedge ale-house, you will have a dessert of every fruit in +season, and always tastily and even elegantly served. The wine, +likewise, is infinitely better than what is met with on the roads in +England. In the article of beds, with a very few exceptions, the French +inns exceed the English: if a traveller carry his sheets with him, he is +always secure of an excellent hair mattrass, or if he prefer it, a clean +feather-bed. On the other side, the French inns are certainly inferior +to the English in their apartments. The bed-room is too often the +dining-room. The walls are merely whitewashed, or covered with some +execrable pictures. There are no such things as curtains, or at least +they are never considered as necessary. There is neither soap, water, +nor towel, to cleanse yourself when you rise in the morning. A Frenchman +has no idea of washing himself before he breakfasts. The furniture, +also, is always in the worst possible condition. We were often puzzled +to contrive a tolerable table: the one in most common use is composed of +planks laid across two stools or benches. The chairs are usually of oak, +with perpendicular backs. There are no bells; and the attendants are +more frequently male than female, though this practice is gradually +going out of vogue. There is a great change moreover, of late years, in +the civility of the landlords--they will now acknowledge their +obligations to you, and not, as formerly, treat you as intruders. + +To sum up the comparison between a French and English provincial inn, +the expences for the same kind of treatment, allowing only for the +necessary national differences, are about one-fourth of what they would +be in England. In the course of our tour, we were repeatedly detained +for days together at some of the inns on the road, and our whole suite, +amounting to seven in number, never cost us more than at the rate of an +English guinea a day. In England I am confident it would have been four +times the sum. + +The last post but one before we reached La Charité, we were overtaken by +a tremendous shower of hail, a calamity, for such it is, which too +frequently afflicts this part of France. The hail-tones were at least as +large as nuts: some trees were at hand, under which we drove for +shelter. Had we been in an open exposed road, I have no doubt but that +the horses must have been hurt. I was informed, that these storms are +sometimes so violent as to kill the lambs, and even to wound in a very +dangerous manner the larger cattle. They usually happen about the end of +the spring and the summer. + +We passed some very pretty peasant girls, dressed in bodices laced +crossways with ribbon. They informed us that they were the daughters of +a small farmer, and were going to a neighbouring chateau to dance at the +birth-day of one of the ladies of the family. Mr. Younge complimented +them on their beauty; they smiled with more grace than seemed to belong +to their station. Our ladies at this instant came up; the young peasants +made a curtsey, which instantly betrayed their secret to Mrs. Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery. "Where is the masque?" said the latter. "In +the Chateau de Thiery," replied one of them, "about a fourth part of a +league through this gateway; perhaps, if you are going only to the next +post, you will join us. Papa and Mamma will be honored by your company." +The invitation was declined with many thanks to the charming girls. It +is needless to add, that they were young ladies habited as peasants, +and that there was a masque at the chateau. This kind of entertainment +is very common in this part of France. + +We reached La Charité in such good time, that we resolved to push on for +Nevers. I had a walk round the town whilst our coffee was preparing. The +interior of the town does not merit a word; the streets are narrow, the +houses low and dark, and this too in a country where the Loire rolls its +beautiful stream through meadows and plains, and where ground is +plentiful and cheap. I can readily account for the narrow streets in +capital cities, where locality has an artificial value, and where the +competition is necessarily great. But whence are the streets thus +huddled together, and the air thus carefully excluded, where there is no +such want of ground or value of building lots? It must here originate +purely in that execrable taste which characterized the early ages. + +The environs of the town, the fields, the meadows, the gently rising +hills, and the recluse vallies, compensate for the vile interior: Nature +here reigns in all her loveliness, and a poet, a painter, even any one +of ordinary feeling, could not see her without delight and admiration. +There are innumerable nightingales in the woods at a small distance from +the town. If the French noblesse had the taste of the English, the +vicinity of La Charité would be covered with villas. + +We took our coffee on a kind of raised mound, at the extremity of a +garden, which overhung the Loire. A lofty and spreading tree +overshadowed us, and stretched its branches over the river. In the fork, +formed where the trunk first divides into the greater branches, was a +railed seat and table. The view from hence over the meadow on the +opposite bank, was gay and picturesque. The peasant girls were milking +their cows and singing with their usual merriment. Parties of the +townsmen were playing at golf; others were romping, running, walking, +with all the thoughtless erility of the French character. I never +enjoyed an hour more sensibly. The evening was delightful, and all +around seemed gay and happy. + +Our journey to Nevers was partly by moon-light. The road exceeds all +powers of description. It was frequently bordered by hedges of flowering +shrubs, and such cottages as we passed seemed sufficient for the +climate. Why might not Marmontel have lived in such a cottage? thought +I, as I rode by more than one of them. This spot of France certainly +excells every part of the world. Even the clay and chalk-pits are +verdant: the sides are covered with shrubs which are raised with +difficulty even in the hot-houses of England. + +Our inn at Nevers, the Grand Napoleon, had nothing to correspond with +its sounding title; our bed-chambers, however, were pleasantly situated, +and for once since we had left Orleans, we had each of us his own +apartment. The fille-de-chambre too was handsome and cleanly-looking, +but somewhat more loquacious than a weary traveller required. She +endeavoured to bring me into a conversation on the subject of +Mademoiselle St. Sillery's beauty. The familiar impertinence of these +girls must be seen to be understood. One maxim is universal in +France--that difference of rank has no place between a man and a woman. +A fille-de-chambre is on a perfect footing of equality with a marshal of +France, and will address, and converse with him as such. They enter your +room without knocking, stay as long as they like, and will remain whilst +you are undressing. If you exhibit any modest unwillingness, they laugh +at you, and perhaps two or three of them will come in to rally Monsieur. +I must do them the justice, however, to add, that though their raillery +will be sometimes broad enough, it is never verbally indelicate. There +is less of this in the lower ranks in France than in England. The +decencies are observed in word, however violated in fact. + +Nevers is a pleasant town, and very agreeably situated on the +declivities of an hill, at the bottom of which flows the Loire. On the +summit of the hill is what remains of the palace of the ancient Counts; +it has of course suffered much from time, but enough still remains to +bear testimony to its original magnificence. We visited some of the +apartments. The tapestry, though nearly three centuries old, still +retains in a great degree the original brilliancy of its colours: the +figures are monstrous, but the general effect is magnificent. There is a +portrait of Madame de Montespan, the second acknowledged mistress of +Louis the Fourteenth. According to the fashion of the age, her hair +floats down her shoulders. She is habited in a loose robe, and has one +leg half naked. Her face has the French character; it is long, but +beautiful: its principal expression seemed to me voluptuousness, with +something of the haughty beauty. It is well known that her temper was +violent in the extreme, and perhaps the knowledge of this circumstance +might have impressed me with an idea which I have imputed to the +expression of the picture. + +The cathedral of Nevers is one of the most ancient in France. About one +hundred years since, in digging a vault, a body was discovered enveloped +in a long robe; some very old coins were found in the coffin, and the +habit in which the body was wrapped was of itself of the most ancient +fashion. According to the French antiquaries, this was the body of one +of the ancient dukes of Nevers. There are many other antiquities in the +town, but I do not find that I have noted them, except that they exist +in sufficient numbers to establish the ancient origin of this capital of +the Nivernois. + +Nothing can be more picturesque than the country between Nevers and +Moulins. Natural beauty, and the life and activity of cultivation, +unite to render it the most complete succession of landscape in France. +The road is gravel, and excellent to a degree. It is bordered by +magnificent trees, but which have been so planted, as to procure shade +without excluding air; the road, therefore, is at once shady and dry. +The chesnut trees, which are numerous in this part of the Bourbonnois, +in beauty at least, infinitely exceed the British oaks: they have a +bossy foliage, which reminds one of the Corinthian volutes. The French +peasantry are not insensible of this beauty--wherever there was a tree +of this kind of more than common luxuriance in its foliage, a seat was +made around the trunk, and the turf mowed and ornamented, so as to shew +that it was the scene of the village sports. Though England has many +delightful villages, and rustic greens, France beats it hollow in rural +scenery; and I believe I have before mentioned, that the French +peasantry equally exceed the English peasantry in the taste and rustic +elegance with which they ornament their little domains. On the great +scale, perhaps, taste is better understood in England than in France, +but as far as Nature leads, the sensibility of the French peasant gives +him the advantage. Some of the gardens in the provinces of France are +delightful. + +We passed several fields in which the farming labourers were treading +out their corn; indeed the country all around was one universal scene of +gaiety and activity in the exercise of this labour. The manner in which +it is done is, I believe, peculiar to France. Three or four layers of +corn, wheat, barley, or pease, are laid upon some dry part of the field, +generally under the central tree; the horses and mules are then driven +upon it and round it in all directions, a woman being in the centre like +a pivot, and holding the reins: the horses are driven by little girls. +The corn thrashed out is cleared away by the men, others winnow it, +others heap it, others supply fresh layers. Every one seems happy and +noisy, the women and girls singing, the men occasionally resting from +their labour to pay their gallant attentions. The scene is so animated +as to inspirit the beholder. It is evident, however, that this cheap +method of getting up their harvest, is only practicable in countries +where the climate is settled: even in this province they are sometimes +surprised with a shower, but as the sun immediately bursts out with +renewed fervour, every thing is soon put to rights. In Languedoc, as I +understood, they have no barns whatever, and therefore this practice is +universal. The wheat was not very heavy, it resembled barley rather than +wheat; the average crop about sixteen English bushels. Nothing is so +vexatious as the French measures; I do not understand them yet, though I +have inquired of every one. + +Moulins somewhat disappointed my expectation. It is indeed, beautifully +situated, in the midst of a rising and variegated country, with meadows, +corn-fields, hills, and woods, to which may be added the river Allier, +a stream so recluse and pretty, and so bordered with beautiful grounds, +as to give the idea of a park. These grounds, moreover, are laid out as +if for the pleasure of the inhabitants: the meadows and corn-fields are +intersected by paths in every direction; and fruit-trees are in great +number, and to all appearance are common property. There is something +very interesting in these characteristics of simple benevolence; they +recall the idea of the primæval ages. I have an indistinct memory of a +beautiful passage in Ovid, which describes the Golden Age. I am writing, +however, without the aid or presence of books, and therefore must refer +the classical reader to the original. + +The interior of the town does not merit description: the streets are +narrow, the houses dark, and built in the worst possible style. The +architect has carried the idea of a city into the country: there is the +same economy of ground and light, and the same efforts for huddling and +comprehending as much brick and mortar as possible in the least possible +space. Its origin was in the fourteenth century. The Dukes of Bourbon +selected it as a place of residence during the season of the chace, and +having built a castle in the neighbourhood, their suite and descendants +shortly founded a town. This, indeed, was the usual origin of most of +the provincial towns in Europe; they followed the castle or the chateau +of the Baron. As seen in the fields and meadows in the vicinity of the +town, Moulins has a very agreeable appearance. The river, and the +beautiful scenery around it, compensate for its disagreeable interior; +and some trees being intermixed with the buildings of the town give an +air of gaiety and the picturesque to the town itself. + +The market-place is only worthy of mention as introducing the price of +provisions. Moulins is as cheap as Tours: beef, and mutton, and veal, +are plentiful; vegetables scarcely cost any thing, and fuel is very +moderate. Fruit is so cheap as scarcely to be sold, and very good; eggs +two dozen for an English sixpence; poultry abundant, and about sixpence +a fowl. A good house, such a one as is usually inhabited by the lawyer, +the apothecary, or a gentleman of five or six hundred per annum, in the +country towns in England, is at Moulins from twelve to fourteen pounds +per year, including garden and paddock. + +Our inn at Moulins, however, was horrible: our beds would have +frightened any one but an experienced traveller. + + + + +CHAP. XVII. + +_Country between Moulins and Rouane--Bresle--Account of the +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois--Climate--Face +of the Country--Soil--Natural Produce--Agricultural +Produce--Kitchen Garden--French Yeomen--Landlords--Price +of Land--Leases--General Character of the French Provincial +Farmers._ + + +ON the following day we left Moulins for Lyons. The distance between the +two places exceeds an hundred miles; we distributed, therefore, our +journey into three days, making Rouane on the Loire, and Bresle, our +intermediate sleeping places. + +Between Moulins and Rouane, that is to say, during the whole of our +first day's journey, the country is a succession of hills and valleys, +of open and inclosed, of fields and of woodland, which render it to the +eyes of a northern traveller the most lovely country in the world. In +proportion, however, as the country becomes mere fertile, the roads +become worse. We had got now into roads comparatively very bad, but +still not so bad as in England and America. The beauty of the scenery, +however, compensated for this defect of the roads. We met many waggons, +the hind wheels of which were higher than those in front. This is one of +the few things in which the French farmers exhibit more knowledge than +the English. These wheels of the waggons were shod with wood instead of +iron. We passed several vineyards, in which the vines were trained by +maples, and festooned from tree to tree. They looked fanciful and +picturesque. The vines of this country, however, are said to yield +better in quantity than in quality. They produce much, but the wine is +bad, and not fit for exportation. + +In every hedge we passed were medlars, plumbs, cherries, and maples with +vines trained to them. This abundance of fruit gives an air of great +plenty, and likewise much improves the beauty of the country. The French +fruit of almost every kind exceeds the English. An exception must be +made with respect to apples, which are better in England than in any +country in the world. But the grapes, the plumbs, the pears, the +peaches, the nectarines, and the cherries of France, have not their +equal all the world over. They are of course cheap in proportion to +their abundance. The health of the peasantry may perhaps in good part be +imputed to this vegetable abundance. It is a constant maxim with +physicians, that those countries are most healthy, where from an +ordinary laxative diet, the body is always kept open. Half the diseases +in the world originate in obstructions. + +Rouane is a considerable town on the Loire; it is very ancient in its +origin, and its appearance corresponds with its antiquity. It is chiefly +used as an entrepôt for all the merchandize, corn, wine, &c. which is +sent down the Loire. It is accordingly a place of infinite bustle, and +in despite of the river, is very dirty. He must be more fastidious than +belongs to a traveller, who cannot excuse this necessary appendage of +trade, and particularly in a town on the Loire, where a walk of ten +minutes will carry him from the narrow streets into one of the sweetest +countries under Heaven. Even the necessary filth of commerce cannot +destroy, or scarcely deface the beauty of the country. + +Our inn at Rouane was execrable beyond measure. Without any regard to +decency, we were introduced into a sleeping room with three beds, and +informed that Monsieur and Madame Younge were to sleep in one, +Mademoiselle St. Sillery in another, and myself in the third. It was not +without difficulty that I could procure another arrangement. The beds, +moreover, were without pillows. + +From Rouane to Bresle the country assumes a mountainous form, and the +road is bordered with chesnut trees. We had got now into the district of +mulberries, and we passed innumerable trees of them. Like other +fruit-trees, they grow wild, in the middle of fields, hedge-rows, and by +the road side. A stranger travelling in France is led to conclude, that +there is no such thing as property in fruit. Every one may certainly +gather as much as he chuses for his own immediate use. The peasants of +this part of the province are land proprietors; some of them possess +twelve or fourteen acres, others an hill, others a garden or a single +field. They appeared poor but comfortable. They raise a great quantity +of poultry and pigs, and reminded me very forcibly of the Negroes in the +West India Islands--a hard-working, happy, and cheerful race. I should +not, perhaps, omit to mention, that the houses of the peasants were very +different from any that I had yet seen. For the most part, they are +square, white, and with flat roofs. They are almost totally without +glass in the windows; but the climate is generally so dry and +delightful, that glass perhaps would rather be an annoyance. We are apt +to attach ideas of comfort or misery according to circumstances +peculiarly belonging to ourselves. Tell an English peasant that a +Frenchman has neither glass to his windows, nor sheets to his bed, and +he will conclude him to be miserable in the extreme. On the other hand, +tell a French peasant, that an English rustic never tastes a glass of +wine once in seven years, and he will equally pity the Englishman. + +Bresle is one of those villages which impress a traveller with a strong +idea of the beauty of the country, and of the state of the comfort of +its inhabitants. It is broad, clean, and most charmingly situated. On +every side of it rises a wall of mountains, covered to their very +summits with vines, and interspersed with the cottages of the Vignerons. +The river Tardine flows through the valley. This is what is termed a +mountain river, being in summer a brook, and in winter a torrent. In the +year 1715 it rose so high as to sweep away half the town: the +inhabitants were surprised in their beds, and many of them were drowned. +The river, when we passed, had no appearance of being capable of this +tremendous force: it resembled a little brook, in which a shallow stream +of very transparent water rolled over a bed of gravel. "How happy might +an hermit be," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "in a cottage on the side +of one of those hills! There is a wood for him to walk in, and a brook +to encourage him, by its soft murmurs, to sleep." I agreed in the +observation which exactly characterizes the scenery. + +Our inn at this town was in the midst of a garden, covered with fruits +and flowers. Our beds reminded me of England, except that again there +were no pillows, and absolutely nothing in the chamber but a bed. Every +thing, however, was delightfully clean; and as I lay in my bed, I was +serenaded by a nightingale. + +The road between Moulins and Lyons is certainly the most picturesque +part of France; every league presented me with something to admire, and +to note. My observations were accordingly so numerous, that I have +deemed it necessary to arrange them in some form, and to present them in +a kind of connected picture. Mr. Younge had the kindness to answer all +my questions as far as his own knowledge went; and where he was at a +loss himself, seized the first opportunity of inquiry from others. In +France, this is more practicable than it would be in any other country. +The French of all classes, as I have repeatedly had occasion to observe, +are unwearied in their acts of kindness; they offer their minor services +with sincerity, and you cannot oblige them more than by accepting them, +nor disappoint them more than by declining them. They have nothing of +the surliness of the Englishman. It would be considered as the most +savage brutality to hesitate in, and more particularly to refuse with +rudeness, any possible satisfaction to a stranger. To be a stranger is +to be a visitor, and to be a visitor is to have a claim to the most +extreme hospitality and attention. I can never enough praise the French +people for their indiscriminate, their natural, their totally +uninterested and spontaneous benevolence. + +I wish to convey a clear idea of this garden of France: I shall +therefore give my observations in full under the heads of, its climate, +its produce, its agriculture, and the manners of its provincial +inhabitants. + +The climate of the departments of the Nievre and the Allier, which +include the provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois, is the most +delightful under Heaven, being at once most healthy, and such as to +animate and inspirit the senses and the imagination: it is an endless +succession of the most lovely skins, without any interruption, except by +those rains which are necessary to nourish and fertilize. The winters +are mild, without fogs, and with sufficient sunshine to render fires +almost unnecessary. The springs answer to the ordinary weather of May in +other kingdoms. The summer and autumn--with the exception of hail and +thunder, which are certainly violent, but not frequent--are not +characterized by those heavy humid heats, which are so pestilential in +some parts of South America: they are light, elastic, and cheering. The +windows of the bed-chambers, as I have before mentioned, are almost all +without glass; or, if they have them, it is for show rather than for +use: the universal custom is, to sleep with them open. It is nothing +uncommon to have the swallows flying into your chamber, and awakening +you by early dawn with their twittering. When these windows open into +gardens, nothing can be more pleasant: the purity of the air, the +splendor of the stars, the singing of nightingales, and the perfume of +flowers, all concur to charm the senses; and I never remember to have +enjoyed sweeter slumbers, and pleasanter hours, than whilst in this part +of France. + +In March and April, the ground is covered with flowers; and many which +are solely confined to the gardens and hot-houses in England, may be +seen in the fields and hedge-rows. The colours are perhaps not +altogether so brilliant as in more humid climates, but be they what they +may, they, give the country an appearance of a fairy land. Pease are in +common use on every table in March, and every kind of culinary vegetable +is equally forward. The meadows are covered with violets, and the +gardens with roses: the banks by the side of the road seem one continued +bed of cowslips. In plain words, Spring here indeed seems to hold her +throne, and to reign in all that vernal sweetness and loveliness which +is imputed to her by the poets. + +The health of the inhabitants corresponds with the excellence of the +climate. Gouts, rheumatisms, and even colds, are very rare, and fevers +not frequent. The most common complaint is a dysentery, towards the +latter end of the autumn. + +The face of the country throughout the two departments of the Nievre and +the Allier, is what has been above described--an uninterrupted +succession of rich landscape, in which every thing is united which +constitutes the picturesque. The country sometimes rises into hills, and +even mountains; none of which are so barren but to have vineyards, or +gardens, to their very summits. In many of them, where the surface is +common property, the peasantry, in order to make the most of its +superficial area, have dug it into terraces, on which each of them has +his vineyard, or garden for herbs, corn, and fruits. The industry of the +French peasantry is not exceeded in any part of the world: wherever they +possess a spot of land, they improve it to its utmost possible capacity. +Under this careful cultivation, there is in reality no such thing in +France as a sterile mountain. If there be no natural soil, they will +carry some thither. + +There are numerous woods and forests in these departments. The wood +being interspersed amongst the hills and valleys, contribute much to the +beauty of the scenery: the same circumstance contributes more, perhaps, +to the comfort of the inhabitants. Fuel, so dear in almost every other +part of France, is here cheap to an extraordinary degree. Coal is +likewise found at some depth from the surface; but, of course, no use is +made of it. The French woods are more luxuriant, and generally composed +of more beautiful trees than those in England and in America. The +chesnut-tree, so common in France, is perhaps unrivalled in its richness +of foliage. The underwood, moreover, is less ragged and troublesome. +Nothing can be more delightful than an evening walk in a French wood. + +The soil of the department of the Allier is rather light: on the hills +it is calcareous; in the vales it is a white calcareous loam, the +surface of which is a most fertilizing manure of marl and clay. The +hills, therefore, are peculiarly adapted for vines, which they produce +in great quantities; and when on favourable sites, that is to say, with +respect to the sun, the quality of the wine corresponds with the +quantity. In this province, perhaps, there is a less proportion of waste +land than in any other department in France. The people are industrious, +and the soil is fruitful. There are certainly some wastes, which, under +proper cultivation, might be rendered fertile. I passed over many of +these, when an idea naturally arose in my mind, what a different +appearance they would assume under English or American management. But +the bad management of the French farmers is no derogation from the just +praise of its rich soil. + +The natural and agricultural produce is such, as to render these +provinces worthy of their characteristic designation--they are truly the +garden of France. The most beautiful shrubs are common in the woods and +hedges: not a month in the year but one or other of them are in full +flower and foliage. The botanist might be weary before he had concluded +his task. To a northern traveller, nothing appears more astonishing than +the garden-like air of the fields in France: he will see in the woods +and forests, what he has been hitherto accustomed to see only in +hot-houses. The natural history of these provinces would be an +inexhaustible subject: the cursory traveller can only describe +generally. + +Wheat, barley, oats, grasses, roots, and vines, are the staple +agricultural produce. The wheat is certainly not so heavy as that in +England, but the barley is not inferior to any barley in the world. The +French farmers calculate upon reaping about sevenfold; if they sow one +bushel, they reap, between six and seven. Potatoes have likewise, of +late years, become an article of field-culture and general consumption +in every department of France, and particularly in those of the Loire, +the Allier, and the Nievre. Every city is supplied with them almost in +as much abundance as the cities of England and America. Where wheat is +scarce, the peasantry substitute them as bread. To say all in a word, +they have of late years got into general consumption; though before the +Revolution they were scarcely known. + +The kitchen-garden in the French provinces is by no means so +contemptible as it has been described by some travellers. In this +respect they have done the French great injustice. I will venture to +assert, on the other hand, that nothing is cultivated in the +kitchen-gardens of England and America, but what, either by the aid of a +better climate, or of more careful and assiduous culture, is brought to +more perfection, and produced in greater plenty, in the kitchen-gardens +of France. I have already mentioned potatoes, which are cultivated both +in the garden and in the field: artichokes and asparagus are in great +plenty, and comparatively most surprisingly cheap--as many may be bought +for a penny in France as for a shilling in England. The environs of +Lyons are celebrated for their excellent artichokes; they are carefully +conveyed in great quantities to the tables of the rich all over the +kingdom. Pease, beans, turnips, carrots, and onions, are equally +plentifully cultivated, equally good, and equally cheap. + +I have frequently had occasion to speak of the slovenly agriculture of +the French farmers, and I am sorry to have to add, that the fertility of +the provinces of Nivernois and the Bourbonnois, is rather to be imputed +to the felicity of their soil and climate than to their cultivation. +There is certainly a vast proportion of waste land in these provinces, +which only remains waste, because the French landlords and farmers want +the knowledge to bring it into cultivation. Many hundreds of acres are +let at about twelve sols (sixpence) per acre, and would be sold at about +a Louis d'or, which in three years, under English management, would be +richly worth thirty pounds. What a country would this be to purchase in, +if with himself an Englishman or an American could transport his own +labourers and ideas. But nothing is to be done without assistance. + +Many of the French landlords retain a great portion of their estates in +their own hands, and cultivate it with more knowledge and with more +liberality than their farmers. A gentleman, farming his own lands, is +always useful to the country, if not to himself. He may improve his +lands beyond their worth--he may ruin himself, therefore, but the +country is proportionately benefitted by having so many good acres where +it had before so many bad. Some of the restored Emigrants have most +peculiarly benefitted France, by bringing into it English improvements. +I have more than once had occasion to remark, that this change is +visible in many parts of the kingdom, and will produce in time still +more important effects. + +The price of land is by two-thirds cheaper than in England, I am +speaking now of the Nivernois and Bourboranois. It is generally about +eighteen or twenty years purchase of the rent. If the rent be about +300_l_. English for about five hundred acres of land--half arable, a +fourth forest, and a fourth waste--the purchase will be about 5500 +guineas. The very same estate in any part of England would be about +15,000. But in England the forest and waste would be brought into +cultivation. The forest is here little better than a waste, and the +waste is turned to as little purpose as if it were the wild sea beach. + +The farms in the Nivernois are very small; the farmers are by natural +consequence poor. They have neither the spirit nor the means of +improvement. They are in fact but a richer kind of peasantry. Those +writers have surely never lived in the country, who urge the national +utility of small farms. The immediate consequences of small farms are +an overflow of population, and such a division and sub-division of +sustenance, as to reduce the poor to the lowest possible point of +sustenance. Population, within certain limits, may doubtless constitute +the strength of a nation; but who will contend, that a nation of +beggars, a nation overflowing with a starved miserable superfluity, is +in a condition of enviable strength? + +There are few or no leases in these provinces, and this is doubtless one +of the reasons why agriculture has remained where it now is for these +four or five last centuries. The common course of the crops is wheat, +barley, fallow; or beans, barley, and wheat, and fallow. In some of the +provinces, it is wheat, fallow, and wheat, fallow, in endless +succession. + +I do not understand enough of the vine culture to give any opinion as to +the French vineyards, but by all that I have observed, I must fully +assent to the generally received opinion, that the vine is better +understood in France than in Portugal, and that wines are, in fact, the +natural staple in France. It is the peculiar excellence of the vine, +that it does not require fertile land. It will most flourish where +nothing but itself will take root. How happy therefore is it for France, +that she can thus turn her barrens into this most productive culture, +and make her mountains, as it were, smile. + +If an Englishman or an American were inclined to give a trial to a +settlement in France, I would certainly advise them to fix on one of +these central departments. They will find a soil and climate such as I +have described, and which I think has not its equal in the world. They +will find land cheap; and as it may be improved, and even the cheap +price is rated according to its present rent, they will find this +cheapness to be actually ten times as cheap as it appears. They will +find, moreover, cheerful neighbours, a people polished in their manners +from the lowest to the highest, and naturally gay and benevolent. + + + + +CHAP. XVIII. + +_Lyons--Town-Hall-Hotel de Dieu--Manufactories--Price of +Provisions--State of Society--Hospitality to Strangers--Manners--Mode of +Living--Departure--Vienne--French Lovers._ + + +WE reached Lyons in the evening of the third day after we left Moulins. +We remained there two days, and employed nearly the whole of the time in +walks over the city and environs. I adopted this practice as the +invariable rule on the whole course of my tour--to have certain points +where we might repose, and thence take a view both of the place itself, +and a retrospect of what we had passed. + +Nothing can be more delightful to the eye than the situation of Lyons. +Situated on the confluence of two of the most lovely rivers in the +world, the Rhone and the Saone, and distributed, as it were, on hills +and dales, with lawn, corn-fields, woods and vineyards interposed, and +gardens, trees, &c. intermixed with the houses, it has a liveliness, an +animation, an air of cleanness, and rurality, which seldom belong to a +populous city. The distant Alps, moreover, rising in the back ground, +add magnificence to beauty. Beyond all possibility of doubt, Lyons is +unrivalled in the loveliness of its situation. The approach to it is +like the avenue to fairy-land. + +The horrible ravage of the Revolution has much defaced this town. La +Place de Belle Cour was once the finest square which any provincial town +in Europe could boast. It was composed of the most magnificent houses, +the habitations of such of the nobility as were accustomed to make Lyons +their winter or summer residence. That demon, in the human shape, Collot +d'Herbois, being sent to Lyons as one of the Jacobin Commissioners, by +one and the same decree condemned the houses to be razed to the ground, +and their possessors to be guillotined. A century will pass before Lyons +will recover itself from this Jacobin purgation. In this square was +formerly an equestrian statue of Louis the Fourteenth, adorned on the +sides of the pedestal with bronze figures of the Rhone and the Saone. +This statue is destroyed, but the bronze figures remain. + +The town-hall of Lyons is in every respect worthy of the city. It is in +the form of a parallelogram, with wings on each side of the front, each +wing being nearly one hundred and fifty yards in length. The middle of +the wings are crowned with cupolas, and the gates have all Ionic +pillars. The walls and ceilings are covered with paintings. There are +several inscriptions in honour of the Emperor Napoleon; but as these +have been already noted in other books of travels, I deem it unnecessary +to say more of them. But the best praise of Lyons is in its institutions +for charity, in its hospitals, and in its schools. In no city in the +world have they so great a proportion to the actual population and +magnitude of the town. They are equal to the support of one eighth part +of the inhabitants. The Hotel Dieu is in fact a palace built for the +sick poor. The rooms are lofty, with cupolas, and all of them very +carefully ventilated. The beds are clean to an extreme degree, as was +likewise every utensil in the kitchen, and the kitchen itself. The +nursing, feeding, &c. of the sick is performed by a religious society of +about one hundred men, and the same number of women, who devote +themselves to that purpose. The men are habited in black; the women in +the dress of nuns. This charity is open to all nations; to be an +admissible object, nothing further is necessary than to stand in need of +its assistance. This is true charity. + +The cathedral is beautifully situated by the river: it is dedicated to +St. John, and is built in the ancient Gothic style. The clock is a great +favourite with the inhabitants. It is ornamented by a cock, which is +contrived so as to crow every hour. Before the Revolution, the church of +Lyons was the richest in France, or Europe. All the canons were counts, +and were not admissible, till they had proved sixteen quarters of +nobility. They wore a gold cross of eight rays. Since the Revolution, +the cathedral has fallen into decay; but it is to be hoped that, for the +honour of the town, it will be repaired. + +Lyons has two theatres, Le Grand, and Le Petit Spectacle. Neither of +them deserve any more than a bare mention. The performers had so little +reputation, that we had no wish to visit either of them. + +The manufactories of Lyons, being confined in their supply to the home +market, are not in the same flourishing state as formerly. They still +continue, however, to work up a vast quantity of silk, and on the return +of peace, would doubtless recover somewhat of their former prosperity. +Some years since, the silk stockings alone worked up at Lyons, were +estimated at 1500 pair daily. The workmen are unhappily not paid in +proportion to their industry. They commence their day's labour at an +unusual hour in the morning, and continue it in the night, yet are +unable to earn enough to live in plenty. + +Lyons appeared to me, from the cursory information which I could obtain, +to be as cheap as any town in France. Provisions of all kinds were in +great plenty, and were the best of their kind. There are three kinds of +bread--the white bread, meal bread, and black or rye bread. The latter +is in most use amongst the weavers. It is very cheap, but the measures +differ so much in this part of France, that I could not reduce them to +English pounds, except by a rough estimate. The best wheaten bread is +about one-third or rather more of the price that it is in England; beef +and mutton in great plenty, and proportionately cheap; a very large +turkey for about two shillings and sixpence, English money. Pit coal is +in common use in almost every house in Lyons: it is dug in the immediate +neighbourhood, and is very cheap. The best land in the province may be +had for about fifteen pounds (English) per acre in purchase. In the +neighbourhood of Lyons, the land lets high, and therefore sells +proportionately. Vegetables are of course in the greatest possible +plenty, and fruit so cheap and so abundant, as to be sold only by the +poorest people. Whoever is particularly fond of a dessert, let him seek +it in France: for a livre he may set out a table, which in London would +take him at least a Louis. + +Lyons has given birth to many celebrated men. Amongst them was De Lanzy, +the celebrated mathematician, and friend of Maupertuis. He lived to such +an extreme age as to survive his memory and faculties; but when so +insensible as to know no one about him, Maupertuis suddenly asked him +what was the square of 12, and he readily replied, 144, and died, as it +is said, almost in the same moment. This illustrious genius was as +simple as he was learned. His character, as given amongst the history +of the French literati, is very amiable--of great learning, of extreme +industry, simple and amiable to a degree, and invariably benevolent and +good-tempered. He was yet more distinguished by his charities than by +his learning. The learned Thon likewise was a native of this town. + +The society at Lyons very much resembles that of Paris; it is divided +into two classes--those in trade, _i. e._ merchants, and those out of +trade; the military, gentry, &c. The military, though many of them are +certainly of rather an humble origin, are characterized by elegant +manners, by great politeness, and by a gallantry towards the ladies +which would have done honour to the old court. It gave me great +satisfaction to hear this character of them. I should put no value on +any society in which the ladies did not hold their due place and perform +their due parts, and this is never the case, except where they are +properly respected. Gallantry has the same effect upon the manners which +Ovid attributes to learning--"_Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros_." + +A stranger at Lyons, who makes the city his temporary residence, is +received with the greatest hospitality into all the parties of the town; +he requires nothing but an introduction to one of them; and even if he +should be without that, an unequivocal appearance of respectability +would answer the same end. The fashionable world at Lyons, however, are +not accustomed to give dinners; they have no notion of that substantial +hospitality which characterizes England. Their suppers however are very +elegant: they have always fish, and sometimes soup, roasted poultry, and +in the proper season, game--pease, cauliflowers, and asparagus, almost +the whole year round. The sparkling Champagne then goes round, and +French wit, French vivacity, and French gallantry, are seen in +perfection. There is certainly nothing in England equal to the French +supper. It is usually served in a saloon, but the company make no +hesitation, in the intervals of conversation and of eating, to visit +every room in the house. Every room is accordingly lighted and prepared +for this purpose; the beds thrust into cupboards and corners, and the +whole house rendered a splendid promenade, most brilliantly lighted with +glass chandeliers and lustres. This blaze of light is further increased +by reflection from the large glasses and mirrors which are found in +every room. In England, the glasses are pitiful to a degree. In France, +even in the inns, they reach in one undivided plate from the top of the +room to the bottom. The French furniture moreover is infinitely more +magnificent than in England. Curtains, chair-covers, &c. are all of +silk, and the chairs fashioned according to the designs of artists. The +French music too, such as attends on their parties, exceeds that of +England; in a few words, a party in France is a spectacle; it is +arranged with art; and where there is much art, there will always be +some taste. + +In the neighbourhood of Lyons are numerous chateaus, most delightfully +situated, with lawns, pleasure-grounds, gardens, and green-houses, in +the English taste. In the summer season, public breakfasts are almost +daily given by one or other of the possessors. Marquees are then erected +on the lawn, and all the military bands in the town attend. The day is +consumed in dancing, which is often protracted so late in the night, as +almost to trespass on the day following. These kind of parties are +perhaps too favourable for intrigue, to suit English or American +manners, but they are certainly delightful in a degree, and recall to +one's fancy the images of poetry. + +The French ladies, as I believe I have before mentioned, are fond of +habiting themselves as harvesters: they frequently visit the farmers +thus _incog._ and hire themselves for the day. Though the farmer knows +them, it is the established custom that he should favour the sport by +pretending ignorance, and treating them in every respect as if they were +what they seemed. This is another means of indulging that general +disposition to gallantry which characterizes a Frenchwoman. They must +have lovers of all degrees and qualities; for vanity is at the bottom of +this assumed humility. + +Lodging at Lyons, in which I include board, is extremely cheap: for +about thirty pounds per annum you may board in the first houses, and I +was informed that every one is welcome but Italians. The French have an +extreme contempt for Italians. A house at Lyons may likewise be hired +very cheap. The pleasantest houses, however, are situated out of the +town; and I have no doubt, but that such an house as would cost in +England one hundred per annum, might be hired in the environs of Lyons, +in the loveliest country in the world, by the sides of the Rhone and the +Saone, and with a view of the Alps, for about twenty-five Louis annual +rent. Every house has a garden, and many of them mulberry orchards, a +wood, and pleasure-grounds. + +We left Lyons on the morning of the third day after our arrival, much +pleased with our stay, and with the general appearance of the city and +the inhabitants. Avignon was the next main point of our destination. As +the distance between Lyons and Avignon is about 120 miles, we +distributed our journey into three divisions, and as many days. + +Lyons is connected by a stone bridge with the beautiful village La +Guillotiere; it consists of twenty arches, and is upwards of 1200 feet +in length. I believe I have before observed, that the provincial +bridges, as well as the roads in France, are infinitely superior to any +thing of the kind in England, and that the cause of this superiority is, +that they are under the controul and supervision of the government. +Every thing connected with the facility of general access is considered +as of public concern, and therefore as an object of government. In +England, the roads are made and mended by the vicinity. In France, this +business belongs to the state and to the administration of the province. + +For many miles from Lyons, the road continued very various, occasionally +hill and dale, bordered by hedges, in which were flowers and flowering +shrubs, that perfumed the air very delightfully. It is not uncommon to +find even orange trees in the open fields: the very air of the country +seemed different from any through which I had before passed. There were +many of the fields planted with mulberry trees; I observed that this +tree seemed to flourish best where nothing else would grow--on stony and +gravelly soils. This indeed seems to be the common excellence of the +mulberry and the vine, that they may be both cultivated on lands which +would otherwise be barren. + +We passed several flower-mills on the river Gere; a beautiful stream, +occasionally very thickly wooded, and passing in a channel, which, as +seen from the road, has any appearance but that of a level. The smaller +rivers in France, like the bye lanes, are infinitely more beautiful than +the larger; the water, passing over a bed of gravel, is limpid and +transparent to a degree, and the grounds through which they roll, being +left in their natural rudeness, have a character of wildness, romance, +and picturesque, which is not to be found in the greater navigable +streams. An evening stroll along their banks, would favour the +imagination of a poet. I feel some surprize, that a greater proportion +of the writers of France are not their descriptive poets. + +The Gere is animated by numerous flower-mills; there are likewise many +paper-mills. They chiefly pleased me by their lovely situation. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery repeatedly sung a line of a French song, "O +that I were a miller's maid." It is but justice to this lady to say, +that she possessed a sensibility to the charms of Nature, which is +seldom found in tempers so apparently thoughtless. + +As we passed several cottages by the road-side, we saw the peasant girls +spinning; some of them were working in silk, others in cotton. They all +seemed happy, gay, and noisy; and where there were one or two of them +together, seemed to interrupt their labour by playing with each other. +It is impossible that a people of this kind can feel their labour. Some +of them, moreover, were really handsome. + +We reached Vienne to a late dinner, and resolved to remain there for the +night. Our inn had nothing to recommend it but its situation. Our dinner +however was plentiful, and what is not very common, was very well +dressed. The vegetables would not have disgraced an hotel in London. +Potatoes are becoming as common in France as in England, and the greens +of all sorts are to the full as good. "Confess," said Mr. Younge, "that +you would not have dined better in London, and the price will be about +one-fourth." "And confess," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that in +London you would not have had such an accompaniment to your dinner, such +a lovely sky, and a garden so luxuriant in flowers." The windows were +open, and looked backwards into the garden, which was certainly +beautiful and luxuriant to a degree. On the other side of the hedge, +which was at the further extremity, some one was playing on the +flageolet: the tune was simple and sweet, and perfectly in unison with +the scene. "Who is it," demanded I, "that plays so well?" "Some one who +has been at the wars," said Madame Younge. "The French boys in the army, +if they signalize themselves by any act of bravery, have sometimes one +year's leave of absence given them as a reward. This is some fifer who +has obtained this leave." + +We had coffee, as is still the custom in the provinces, immediately +after dinner; it was brought in by a sweet girl, who blushed and smiled +most charmingly as she fell over the corner of a chair. Her father +afterwards related her simple history in brief. She was the belle in +Vienne, and was courted by two or three of her own condition, but was +inflexibly attached to a young conscript. "You will doubtless hear him +before you depart," continued the landlord, "for he is almost always +behind that garden hedge, playing on his flageolet."--The lover it seems +was the young fifer. Mademoiselle St. Sillery now became very restless. +"You wish to see this gentleman," said Mrs. Younge to her, smiling. +Mademoiselle made no other answer than by beckoning to me, and in the +same moment putting on her bonnet. I could do no less than accompany +her. We went into the garden, and thence over a rough stile into the +fields. Much to our disappointment, Corydon was not to be seen. "I am +sure he must be a gentleman, by his taste and delicacy," said +Mademoiselle. + +We had not time to see much of the town, nor did it appear much to +deserve it. It is certainly very prettily situated on the Gere and the +Rhone, and is surrounded by hills, which give it pleasantness and +effect. It seemed to us to be comparatively a busy and thriving town--I +say comparatively, for as compared with the towns of England or America, +its trade was contemptible. There are two or three hardware +manufactories, where the steel is said to be well tempered. The town is +of great antiquity, and carries its age in its face. The streets are +irregular; the houses dark; one room in almost every house is very +large, and all the others most inconveniently small. This is the +invariable characteristic of the house architecture of towns of a +certain age. + +I understood from inquiry, that, with the exception of wood for fuel, +every thing was very reasonable in Vienne. Provisions were in great +plenty, and very cheap. The town, as I have said, is dull, but the +environs, the fields, and the gardens, delightful. + +On the following day we continued our journey, and having sent our +horses forward, took our seats in the carriage with the ladies. The +young conscript seemed to fill the head of Mademoiselle St. Sillery. +"These kind of adventures," said she, "are not so romantic in France as +they would be in England, and more particularly since the conscription +makes no distinction of ranks. It is reckoned an honour, or at least no +disgrace, to be a private in the conscripts. It is incredible, how great +a number of gentlemen fill the ranks of the French army. A foreigner +cannot conceive it." + +Mr. Younge confirmed this remark, and imputed much of the success of the +French arms to the spirit of honour and emulation which resulted from +this constitution. "Every conscript," said he, "indeed every French +soldier, knows that all the dignities of the army are open to him, and +he may one day be himself a General, if he can render himself prominent. +The chevaliers, moreover, are not only animated by a gallant spirit +themselves, but they infuse it into the army, and give it a character +and self-esteem, the effect of which is truly wonderful." + +We passed through some pleasant villages, and amongst these Condrieux, +which is celebrated in France for its excellent wine: it is thick and +sweet, and resembles Tent. The price is high, and as usual in the wine +countries, none that is good is to be had on the spot. The country about +this village was rugged, uneven, but wild and picturesque; it resembled +no part that I had before seen. The fields were still planted with +mulberry trees, and the hedges (for the country is thickly enclosed), +were perfumed with scented shrubs. We saw some women driving oxen carts. +One of them was a tall, and as far as good features went, a good-looking +girl, but her fate sun-burnt, and her legs naked. She handled the whip +moreover with great strength, and apparently with little temper. She +returned our smile as we passed her, but bowed her body to the ladies. +"Is it possible," said I, "that there can be any gentleness in that +creature?" "If by gentleness you mean a taste for gallantry, and an +expectation of it as her right," replied Mr. Younge, "she has it as much +as any Parisian belle. In France, indeed, gallantry is like water; it is +considered as a thing of common right; it is as unnatural to withhold it +as it is natural to receive it. If you were to meet that lady in a +village walk, she would think herself very ill treated, if you had not a +compliment on your tongue, and at least the appearance of a sentiment in +your heart." + +Several waggons of the country passed us; their construction was +awkward to a degree. The French are very far behind the English in the +ingenuity of the lower order of their artisans. A French watchmaker +usually exceeds an English one; but a French blacksmith, a French +carpenter, are as infinitely inferior. The things in common use are +execrable: not a window that shuts close, not a door that fits; every +thing clumsy, rough hewn, and as if made by Robinson Crusoe and his man +Friday. + +We reached St. Valier to sleep. It is a small town, but prettily +situated, and the environs fertile, highly cultivated, and naturally +beautiful. The landlord of the inn was a true Boniface; he had nothing +of the Frenchman but his civility to the ladies. In assisting Mrs. +Younge from the carriage, he contrived it so awkwardly that he fell on +his back, and pulled the lady upon him; the matter, however, was a mere +trifle to a Frenchwoman, and had no other effect but to raise her +colour. If there are any ladies in a carriage, it is the invariable +privilege of the French hosts that they hand them from their seats. +Boniface, however, compensated his personal awkwardness by setting +before us an excellent supper; indeed, the farther we travelled, the +cheaper and the better became our fare. The hostess was likewise a true +character: she made some observations so free, and even indelicate, in +the hearing of the ladies, as in some degree confounded me. But modesty +is certainly no part of the virtues of a Frenchwoman. + +My bed-chamber was scented with orange trees which occupied one end of +the room. The hostess herself came up to wish me good night, and to +express her compassion for Mademoiselle St. Sillery and me, because +truly, not being married together, we were obliged to sleep separate, +though so near each other. It came very strongly into my mind, that she +had been making a similar observation to Mademoiselle. The French women +certainly talk with a freedom which would startle an English or American +female. With the greatest possible _sang froid_ they will seat +themselves on the side of the bed, and remain in conversation with you +till they have fairly seen you in. They seem indeed to consider this +office as a matter of course. They enter your chamber at all times with +equal freedom; and if there happen to be two or more filles-de-chambre, +they will very coolly seat themselves and converse together. There is +indeed but one invariable rule in France, and that is, that a +fille-de-chambre is company for an emperor. + +Being very tired, I had slept sounder than usual, when I was called by +the landlady, accompanied by Mademoiselle St. Sillery. The latter indeed +remained at the door of the apartment, but the good-humoured boisterous +landlady awoke me with some violence by a toss of the clothes. "Rise, +Monsieur," said she, "and attend your mistress through the town; she +wants a walk. Shame upon a chevalier to sleep, whilst so much beauty is +awake!" I have translated literally, that I may give an idea of that +tone of compliment, and even of language, which characterizes the French +men and women, in speaking to or of each other. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, in the course of our journey, was as warmly complimented for +her beauty by the women as by the gentlemen. One woman in particular, +and an elderly one, embraced her with a kind of rapture, saying at the +same time, that she was as lovely as an angel. This extravagance of the +women towards each other is peculiar to France, or at least I have never +seen it elsewhere. + +As the morning was delightful, we resolved, much to the discontent of +the landlady, to reach Thein to breakfast. The horses were accordingly +ordered, and after much reluctance, and some grumbling, we procured +them, and departed. + +The road was continually on the ascent, and in every mile opened the +most lovely prospects. The trees in this part of France are uncommonly +beautiful; and where there are any meadows, as along the banks of the +rivers, they are adorned with the sweetest flowers, which here grow +wild, and attain a more than garden-sweetness and brilliancy. The birds, +moreover, were singing merrily, and all Nature seemed animate and gay. I +felt truly happy, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery was in such life and +spirits, that it was not without difficulty that we detained her in her +seat. + +Thein, where we breakfasted, was the Teyna of the Romans: it is +delightfully situated at the bottom of an hill, called the Hermitage, +and celebrated over all Europe and the world for its rich wines. The +soil on which these vineyards grow is a very light loam, supported by a +pan of granite, in which it resembles what is denominated in England the +Norfolk soil. Another hill on the opposite side of the river produces +the wine called the _côte rotie_. The average yearly produce is nearly +one thousand hogsheads, and the price of the wine on the spot, in +retail, is about 3_s._ 6_d._ English money the bottle. From the window +of the apartment in which we breakfasted, we had a view of the town of +Tournon, and the ruins of an old castle, which very pleasantly invited +our imagination into former times. + +Proceeding on our journey, ourselves, our horses, and our carriage, were +all transported over the river in a boat, which instead of being ferried +over by men, was dragged over by a pulley and rope on the opposite side. +I should imagine that this method is not very safe, but it certainly +saves labour and trouble; and it is impossible to build a bridge over a +river like the Rhone and the Isere. This river is very rapid, but not +very clear. Its banks are rocky, hilly, and occasionally open into the +most beautiful scenery which it is possible for poet or painter to +conceive. The Isere was well known to the ancients. + +We dined at Valence, which is delightfully situated in a plain six or +eight miles in breadth. It was well known to the Romans by the name of +Valentia, and is supposed to have been so called from its healthy scite, +or, according to other writers, from the military strength of its +situation. The rocks in its vicinity gave it an air of great wildness, +and there are many popular stories as to its former inhabitants. The +town however has nothing but its scite to recommend it. The streets are +narrow, without air, and therefore very dirty. There is a church of the +most remote antiquity: I had not leisure to examine it, but its external +appearance corresponded with its reputed age. It was evidently built by +the Romans, but has been so much altered, that it is difficult to say +whether its original destination was a theatre or a temple. In the Roman +ages, theatres were national works, and therefore corresponded with the +characteristic greatness of the empire, and every thing which belonged +to it. What play-house in Europe would survive two thousand years! This +single reflection appears to me to put the comparative greatness of the +Romans in a most striking point of view. They built, indeed, for +posterity, and their architecture had the character of their writing--it +passed unhurt down the stream of time. + +The inn-keeper at Valence amused us much by his empty pomposity. He was +a complete character, but civility made no part of his qualities. His +dinner however was excellent and possible humour on the following day. +Mrs. Younge replied very smartly to some questions of her husband. This +lady had a true affection, and I will take upon me to say, that the +fidelity of Mr. Younge was such as to merit it. + +Our road to Montelimart, our first or second stage (I really forget +which) was lined on each side with chesnut and mulberry trees. We passed +many vineyards, and innumerable orchards. For mile succeeding to mile it +was more like a garden than an open country. The fields, wherever there +was the least moisture, were covered with flowers; the hedges of the +vineyards breathed forth a most delightful odour; there was every thing +to cheer the heart and to refresh the senses. Some of the cottages which +we passed were delightfully situated: they invariably, however, whether +good or bad, were without glass to their windows; and the climate is so +dry and so mild, that they sleep with them thus exposed. + +Montelimart is situated in a plain, which is covered with corn and +vineyards; and being here and there studded with tufts of chesnut trees, +has a rural and pleasing appearance. It is built on the bank of a small +river which runs from the Rhone, is a walled town, and has usually a +tolerably strong garrison. It has the same character, however, as all +the other towns on the Rhone--the streets are narrow, and the houses +low. In plain words, the town is execrable, but its scite delightful. + +From Montelimart to where we slept, the name of which I have not noted, +the country improved in beauty; but we passed many peasant women, who +certainly were not so beautiful as the country. Their costume reminded +me very forcibly of Dutch toys--very broad-brimmed straw hats, and +petticoats not reaching to the knees. Add to this, naked legs, &c. Our +ladies smiled at my astonishment, and I smiled too, when I reflected to +what feelings and to what ideas people might be reduced by habit. In the +West Indies, a white lady feels no reluctance, no modest confusion, at +the sight of the nakedness of her male slave; and Madame Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, certainly the most modest women in France, +only smiled at my surprise, when these short petticoated women passed +me. So it is with custom. Time was, that many things startled me, which +I can now see or hear without wonder. But nothing, I hope, will ever +eradicate that modesty which is inseparable from a reflecting mind, and +which acts as a barrier against inordinate passions. + +The peasantry in this part of the country seemed very poor, though +contented and happy. Many of them were employed on a labour for which +their pay must have been very small--picking stones from the fields, and +dung from the roads. The dung is dried and burned, and is said to be an +healthy fuel to those who use it. + +On the following day we dined at Orange, but did not remain long enough +to examine the town, which was well worthy of minute attention. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery was seized with the symptoms of an +indisposition, which happily passed away, but whilst it lasted, left us +no inclination for any other employment but to assist and console her, +and to press forwards to Avignon, to procure medical assistance. +Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing but a mere dizziness resulting +from exposure to the sun. + +Under these circumstances we reached Avignon on the evening of the +fourth day after leaving Lyons; and whether the fear of the physician +had any effect, so much is certain, that Mademoiselle seemed to have +completed her recovery almost in the same instant in which the +battlements of the city saluted her eyes. + + + + +CHAP. XIX. + +_Avignon--Situation--Climate--Streets and Houses--Public +Buildings--Palace--Cathedral--Petrarch and Laura--Society +at Avignon--Ladies--Public Walks--Prices of +Provisions--Markets._ + + +WHEN we left Angers, we had ordered our letters to be addressed for us +at Avignon. I was daily in expectation of receiving one of a very +important nature, and General Armstrong, who was in the habit of a state +correspondence with Marseilles, and was allowed for that purpose an +extra post, had promised to dispatch it for me to Avignon, as soon as it +should reach him. This circumstance delayed us for some days at Avignon; +but I believe none of us regretted a delay, which gave us time to see +and to survey this celebrated city and its neighbourhood. + +The situation of this city is in a plain, equally fertile and beautiful, +about fifteen miles in breadth and ten in length. On the south and east +it is circled by a chain of mountains. The plain is divided into +cultivated fields, in which are grown wheat, barley, saffron, silk, and +madder. The cultivation is so clean and exact, as to give the grounds +the appearance of a garden. As the French farms are usually on a small +scale, they are invariably kept cleaner than those in England and +America. Not a weed is suffered to remain on the ground. The French want +nothing but a more enlarged knowledge and a greater capital, to rival +the English husbandmen. They have the same industry, and take perhaps +more pride in the appearance of their fields. This detailed attention +greatly improves the face of the country; for miles succeeding miles it +has the air of a series of parks and gardens. The English mansion is +alone wanting to complete the beauty of the scenery. From the high +ground in the city nothing can be finer than the prospect over the plain +and surrounding country. The Rhone is there seen rolling its animated +through meadows covered with olive trees, and at the foot of hills +invested with vineyards. The ruined arches of the old bridge carry the +imagination back into the ancient history of the town. On the opposite +side of the Rhone are the sunny plains of Laguedoc, which, when +refreshed by the wind, breathe odours and perfumes from a thousand wild +herbs and flowers. Mont Ventoux, in the province of Dauphiny, closes the +prospect to the North: its high summit covered with snow, whilst its +sides are robed in all the charms of vegetable nature. On the east are +the abrupt rocks and precipices of Vaucluse, distant about five leagues, +and which complete, as it were, the garden wall around Avignon and its +territory. + +The climate of Avignon, though so strangely inveighed against by +Petrarch, is at once healthy and salubrious. There are certainly very +rapid transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold, but from this very +circumstance neither the intensity of the heat nor of the cold, is of +sufficient duration to be injurious to health or pleasure. The air, +except in actual rain, is always dry, and the sky is an etherial Italian +blue, scarcely ever obscured by a cloud. When the rains come on they are +very violent, but fall at once. The sun then bursts out, and the face of +Nature appears more gay, animated and splendid than before. I do not +remember, that amongst all the pictures of the great masters, I have +ever seen a landscape in which a southern country was represented after +one of these showers. Homer has described it with equal force and +beauty, in one of his similies: but as the book is not before me, I must +refer to the memory of the classic reader. + +There is one heavy detraction, however, from the excellence of the +Avignonese climate. This is the wind denominated the Vent de Bize. The +peculiar situation of Avignon, at the mouth of a long avenue of +mountains, gives rise to this wind: it collects in the narrow channel of +the mountains, and bursts, as from the mouth of a barrel, on the town +and plain. Its violence certainly exceeds what is common in European +climates, but it is considered as healthy, and it very rarely does any +considerable damage. Augustus Cæsar was so persuaded of its salutary +character, that he deified it, as it were, by raising an altar to it +under the name of the Circian wind. The winters of Avignon, however, +are sometimes rendered by it most distressingly cold. The Rhone is +frequently covered with ice sufficiently strong to support loaded carts, +and the olive trees sometimes perish to their roots. + +Avignon is surrounded by walls built by successive Popes; they still +remain in perfect beauty and preservation, and much augment, +particularly in a distant view, the beauty of the town. They are +composed of free-stone, are flanked at regular distances with square +towers, and surmounted with battlements. The public walks are round the +foot of this wall. The alleys fronting the river, and which are bordered +by noble elms, are the summer promenade--here all the fashion of the +city assemble in the evening, and walk, and sport, and romp on the +banks. In the winter, the public walk is on the opposite side. The +fields likewise have their share, and the environs being naturally +beautiful, the spectacle on a summer's evening is gay and delightful in +the extreme. + +The interior of the city is ill built: the streets are narrow and +irregular, and the pavement is most troublesomely rough. There is not a +lamp, except at the houses of the better kind of people; the funds of +the town are still good, but they are all expended on the roads, public +walks, and dinners. The necessity of a constant attention to paving and +lighting, never enters into the heads of a French town-administration; +they seem to think that the whole business is done when the town is +once paved. From the nature of the climate, however, the streets are +necessarily clean. A hot drying sun, and frequent driving winds, remove +or consume all the ordinary rubbish; or if anything be left, the winter +torrent of the Rhone, rising above its bed, sweeps it all before it. +Avignon, therefore, is naturally a clean city. The police, moreover, is +very commendably attentive, to the price of provisions, and to the +cleanliness of the markets. + +I had the curiosity to enter some of the houses, and found them to +correspond with what I have before described as constituting the +character of house-architecture in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. They had one large room, and all the others small; a great +waste of timber and work in their construction; the walls being built as +thick as if intended for fortifications, and the beams being large +timber trees. Our ancestors thought they could never build too +substantially. + +The palace, the former residence of the Papal Legates, is well worthy of +being visited: it was founded by Benedict the Twelfth but is better +known as the subject of the elegant invective of Petrarch. The arsenal +still remains, containing 4000 stand of arms and as these instruments of +war are ranged according to their respective æras, the spectacle is +interesting, and to antiquaries may be instructive. The papal chair, +from respect to its antiquity, still remains, but the pannels of the +state rooms, which were composed of polished cedar, have disappeared. +The most curious parts of the palace, however, are the subterraneous +passages, the entrance to which is usually through some part of the +pillars; perfectly imperceptible till pointed out by the guide. +According to the tradition of the town, these passages have been the +scene of many a deed of darkness. A statue of Hercules was found on the +scite of the palace, and buried by Pope Urban, that the figure of a +Heathen Deity might not disgrace a papal town. + +The cathedral still retains many of its ancient decorations, and amongst +these, the monument of Pope John, who died in the year 1384. In the year +1759, the body was taken up to be removed, when it was found entire, and +with some of the vestments retaining their original colour. The first +wrapper round the body was a robe of purple silk, which was then +enveloped in black velvet embroidered in gold and pearls; the hands had +white satin gloves, and were crossed over the breast. The above +description is exhibited in writing to all travellers. The monument of +Benedict the Twelfth is likewise here. This Pope was as remarkable for +his integrity of life and simplicity of manners, as for his humility. +There are many illustrious men who lie buried beneath the cathedral, but +as I could give little account of them but their names, I shall pass +them over. + +We next visited the convent of St. Claire, where Petrarch first beheld +his mistress. From respect to the poet, or to his mistress, this convent +has survived the fury of the times, and is still entire. The description +of the first meeting of Laura and Petrarch is perhaps the best, because +the most simple and unlaboured part of his works.--"It was on one of the +lovely mornings of the spring of the year, the morning of April 6th, +1327, that being at matins in the convent of St. Claire, I first beheld +my Laura. Her robe was green embroidered with violets. Her features, her +air, her deportment, announced something which did not belong to mortal. +Her figure was graceful beyond the imagination of a poet--her eyes +beamed with tenderness, and her eye-brows were black as ebony. Her +golden ringlets, interwoven by the fingers of Love, played upon +shoulders whiter than snow. Her neck, in its harmony and proportion, was +a model for painters; and her complexion breathed that life and soul +which no painters can give When she opened her mouth, you saw the beauty +of pearls, and the sweetness of the morning rose. The mildness of her +look, the modesty of her gait, the soft harmony of her voice, must be +seen and felt to be conceived. Gaiety and gentleness breathed around +her, and these so pure and happily attempered, as to render love a +virtue, and admiration a kind of divine tribute." + +Our curiosity naturally passed from the convent of St. Claire to the +church of the Cordeliers, where Laura is reputed to have reposed in +peace. Her tomb is in a small chapel, dark, damp, and even noisome: it +is indicated only by a flat unadorned stone. The inscription, which is +in Gothic letters, is rendered illegible by time. The congenial nature +of Francis the First of France caused the tomb to be opened, and a +leaden box was found, containing some bones, and a copy of verses, the +subject of which was the attachment of the two lovers. Petrarch, with +all his conceits, which are sometimes as cold as the snows on Mount +Ventoux, well merits his reputation. His verses are polished, and his +thoughts almost always elegant and poetical. He must not be judged, on +the point of a correct taste, with those who followed him. He was the +first, as it were, in the field; he is to be considered as an original +poet in a dark age; or, according to his own beautiful comparison, as a +nightingale singing through the thick foliage of the beech tree. +Petrarch was truly an original; I know no one to whom he can be +compared. He has no resemblance to any English, French, or Italian. He +has more ease, more elegance, and a more poetic vein than Prior; he +resembles Cowley in his conceits, and Waller in his grace and sweetness. +He possesses, moreover, one quality in common with the Classic poets of +Italy--that he never has, and perhaps never will be, sufficiently +translated. No translation can give the elegant neatness of his +language. He is simple, tender, and sweet as his own Laura: time has +stampt his reputation, and posterity will receive him to her last +limit. + +We next visited the convent of the Celestins, which was founded by +Charles the Sixth of France, and in its architecture and dimensions is +worthy of a royal founder. The piety of the early ages has done more to +ornament the kingdoms of Europe than either public or private +magnificence. If we would become properly sensible how much we owe to +the early ages, let us divest a kingdom of what has been built by our +ancestors; let us pull down the churches, the convents, and the temples, +and what shall we leave?--The present town-administration of Avignon +extends a very commendable attention to its several public buildings, +the consequence of which is, that the town flourishes, and is much +visited both by travellers and distant residents. + +Avignon, however, is chiefly celebrated for its hospitals, the liberal +foundation and endowment of which have originated, perhaps in the +misfortunes of the city, and in the sympathy which is usually felt for +evils which we ourselves have experienced. Avignon has suffered as much +as Florence itself by the plague. In the year 1334 the city was almost +depopulated by this dreadful pestilence. It was in the nature of a dry +leprosy; the skin peeled off in white scales, and the body wasted till +the disease reached the vitals. In fourteen years afterwards the city +was again attacked, and the beautiful Laura became its victim. It is +stated to have swept off upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants. +The reigning pope contrived to escape the contagion by shutting himself +up in his palace, carefully excluding the air, and heating the rooms. +Another period of fourteen years elapsed, and the plague again made its +appearance, and nearly twenty thousand people, including a dozen +cardinals and an hundred bishops, fell its victims. Of late years, there +has fortunately been no appearance of this horrible disease. It was at +the time imputed to an extraordinary drought, attended by an uncommon +heat and stillness of the air, which, being without motion, and confined +as it were in a narrow channel, became putrid and pestilential. The vent +de bize is perhaps a greater blessing to this country than it has been +imagined. + +Avignon, with the above exceptions, would be a delightful place of +residence to a foreigner, and particularly if his circumstances +permitted him to live in an extended society. It constitutes, as it +were, a little kingdom in itself, and the inhabitants have clearly and +distinctly a character, and peculiar manners belonging to themselves. + +We visited the public walks of the town every evening during our stay, +and as the weather was delightful, and there was a division of soldiers +with their bands of music on the spot, they were always thronged, and +always gay and animated to a degree. + +The Avignonese ladies appeared to me very beautiful, and whether it was +fancy or reality, I thought I could trace in many of them the features +which Petrarch has assigned to Laura. I no doubt whatever, but that the +recorded loves of these accomplished persons have a very strong +influence on the character of the town. If I should have an Avignonese +for a mistress, I should most certainly expect to find in her some of +the characteristic traits of Laura. It must not, indeed, be concealed, +that these ladies have not the reputation of being virtuous in the +extreme: to say the truth, they are considered as dissolute, and as +having little restraint even in their married conduct. I cannot say this +of them from any thing which I observed myself--to me they appeared gay, +tender and interesting. + +In speaking of ladies, it would be unpardonable to omit something of +their dress. The ladies of Avignon follow the Paris fashions, but have +too much natural elegance to adopt them in extremes. On the evening +parade, they were habited in silk robes, which in their form resembled +collegiate gowns, and being of the gayest colours, gave the public walk +a resemblance to a flower-garden. Lace caps were the only covering of +their heads. The necks were not so exposed as at Paris, but were open as +is usual in. England and America in full dress. The gown was likewise +silk, embroidered in silver, gold, or worked flowers. The shoes of +velvet, with silver or gold clasps. The terms were naked almost up to +the shoulders, indeed almost indecently so. Being strangers, we were of +course objects of curiosity; when our eyes, however, met those of the +gazers, they invariably saluted us with a friendly smile. Mademoiselle +St. Sillery was much distressed that she had no dress so tasty as those +of the ladies. We could not at last persuade her to accompany us. This +young lady, with all her charms, and she possessed as many as ever fell +to the lot of woman, had certainly her share of vanity--an assertion, +however, which I should not have the presumption to make, if she had not +herself most frequently acknowledged it. + +Every thing connected with household economy is extremely cheap at +Avignon; a circumstance which must be imputed as much to the moderation +of the inhabitants as to the plenty of the country. An Avignonese family +seems to have no idea of a dinner in common with an Englishman or an +American. A couple of over-roasted fowls will be meat enough for a party +of a dozen. The most common dish is, I believe, a fowl stewed down into +soup, with rice, highly seasoned. It is certainly very savoury, only +that according to French cookery, too much is made of the fowl. + +The Avignonese, whilst under the papal jurisdiction, bore a general +reputation for the utmost profligacy both of principles and conduct. +This character has now passed away, and, with the exception of what is +termed gallantry, the Avignonese seem a gay, moral, and harmless people. +The poetry of Petrarch is perhaps too much read, and it is impossible +to read him without inspiring a warmth of feeling and imagination, which +is not very friendly to a correct virtue. Plato would certainly have +banished him from his republic, and the Avignonese would do well to keep +him out of their schools and houses. They will catch his ardour, who +want his moral sense and religious principles. + +We took our leave of Avignon, much delighted with the town and its +inhabitants, and, as I have before said, I saw many figures which +recalled most forcibly to my imagination the Laura of Petrarch. It may +be perhaps said, that every one has an image of his own fancy, which he +assigns to Laura, and that from the general description of the poet, it +is impossible to collect any thing of the personal lineaments of his +mistress. This is very true; but it is equally so, that the ladies of +Avignon appear to have certain characteristic features, and that many of +them possess that soft, sweet, and supreme beauty, which inspired +Petrarch to sing in strains, which still sound melodious in the ears of +his posterity. + +Avignon is the capital of the department of Vaucluse, the department +being so named rather from the celebrity of the poet, than from its +local relations. + + + + +CHAP. XX. + +_Departure from Avignon--Olive and Mulberry Fields--Orgon--St. +Canat--French Divorces--Inn at St. +Canat--Air--Situation--Cathedral--Society--Provisions--Price +of Land--Marseilles--Conclusion._ + + +THE letters which I had expected reached me at Avignon, and the result +of their perusal was the information, that my presence was necessary in +America. I have not, however, contracted so much of the impertinence of +a Frenchman by my tour in France, as to trouble the reader of my Notes +with my domestic affairs. Suffice it therefore to say, that some family +occurrences, of which I obtained some previous information, required my +immediate departure from France, and that in consequence I resolved to +embark at Marseilles. + +With this resolution, therefore, I left Avignon for Marseilles, a +distance of about seventy miles. We divided it therefore into two days; +arranging so as to reach St. Canat on the first night, and Marseilles on +the second. + +The road to Orgon, where we dined, presented us with a great variety of +scenery, though the surface was rather level. All the country was +covered with olive and mulberry trees, and innumerable fruit-trees grew +up wild in the fields, as likewise flowering shrubs in the hedges. The +climate of this part of France is so delightful, that every thing here +grows spontaneously which is raised only by the most laborious exertions +in northern countries. The cottages which we passed on the road were +picturesque to a degree: they were usually thatched, and vines or +barberry trees, or honey-suckles, entirely enveloped the walls or +casements. The peasantry, moreover, though without stockings, appeared +happy; the women were singing, and the men, in the intervals of their +work, playing with true French frivolity. We saw many women working in +the fields: the French women are invariably industrious and active. It +may be supposed that this labour and exposure to a southern sun is not +very favourable to beauty. Accordingly, we saw few good-looking damsels, +but many with good shapes and good eyes. How is it, that the French, so +generally gallant, can suffer their women to take the fork and hoe, and +work so laboriously in the fields? + +Orgon had nothing which merits even mention; I believe, however, it was +well known to the ancients, and is mentioned in some of the Latin +itineraries. A convent, very picturesquely situated, is now converted +into a manufacturing establishment. The town is surrounded by +chalk-hills and quarries, from which is dug a free-stone, of the most +delicate white. The town, on the whole, had an air of rusticity and +recluseness which might have delighted a romantic imagination. + +Between Orgon and St. Canat we travelled in a road occasionally bordered +by almond trees. The country on each side was rather barren, but being +an intermixture of rock and plain and being moreover new to us, it did +not appear tedious or uninteresting. We passed several houses of the +better sort, some in ruins, others evidently inhabited by a class of +people for whom they were not intended. This is one of the effects of +the Revolution. Where the proprietor emigrated, or was assassinated, the +nearest tenant moved into the mansion-house, and if he distinguished +himself by a violent and patriotic jacobinism, his possession, for a +mere trifle to the national fund, was converted into a right. In this +manner innumerable low ruffians have obtained the estates and houses of +their lords; but, faithful to their old habits and early origin, they +abuse only what they possess; live in the stables, and convert the +castle into a barn, a granary, a brew-house, a manufactory, or sometimes +dilapidate it brick by brick, as their convenience may require. + +The inn at St. Canat will be long remembered by me, for the unusual +circumstance of a most hearty welcome from a good-humoured host, a +widower, and his two daughters. The eldest was the most beautiful +brunette I have ever seen. She was as coquettish as if educated in +Paris, and as easy, as familiar, as inclined to gallantry, as this +description of ladies, in France at least, universally are. She had been +married during the æra of jacobinism, and had divorced her husband, +_because they could not agree_. "He was so triste, and withal very +jealous, which was the more absurd, because he was old."--This young +woman was tall, elegant, and with the most fascinating features; her age +might be about four and twenty; her teeth were the whitest in the world, +and her smile was a paradise of sweets. She had the fault, however, of +all the French filles--a most invincible loquacity, and would not move +from the chamber till repeatedly admonished to call me early in the +morning. + +I was awoke in the morning by a sweet-toned lark, which rising in the +ethereal vault of Heaven, made his watch-tower, as the poet calls it, +ring with his matin song. I know nothing more pleasing to a traveller +than to pass a night at one of these provincial inns, provided he gets a +good bed and clean blankets. The moon shines through his casement with a +soft and clear splendor unparalleled in humid climates; and in the +morning he is awoke by the singing of birds, whilst his senses are +hailed by the perfume of flowers and by the freshness of a pure æther. + +Having resumed our journey, we reached Aix at an early hour on the +following day, and passed an hour very pleasantly in walking over the +town and neighbourhood. + +Aix, the capital of Provence, is very pleasantly situated in a valley, +surrounded by hills, which give it an air of recluseness, and romantic +retirement, without being so close as to prevent the due circulation of +air. It is surrounded by a wall, but which, from long neglect, +originating perhaps in its inutility, has become dilapidated, and +interests only as an ancient ruin. In the former ages, when France was +subdivided into dutchies and minor kingdoms, and when her neighbours +were more powerful, such walls were a necessary defence to the town: a +change in manners and government has now rendered them useless, and in +few centuries they will wholly disappear all over Europe. The interior +of the town very well corresponds with the importance of its first +aspect. It is well paved, the houses are all fronted with white stone, +and the air being clear, it always looks clean and sprightly. Many of +them, moreover, have balconies, and some of them are upon a scale, both +outside and inside, which is not excelled by Bath in England. Aix is +almost the only town next to Tours, in which an English gentleman could +fix a comfortable residence. The society is good, and to a stranger of +genteel appearance, perfectly accessible either with or without +introduction. + +The cathedral of Aix is an immense edifice; the architecture is the +oldest Gothic, and has all the strength, the substance, and I was going +to add, all the tastelessness which characterizes that Order. The front +is ornamented with figures of saints, prophets, and angels, grouped +together in a manner the most absurd, and executed as if by the hands of +a working bricklayer. The grand portal, however is very striking. On the +side of the great altar is the magnificent tomb of the Counts of +Provence; the figures here, however, are as ridiculous as the style +itself is grand. The Gothic architects had better ideas of proportion +than of delicacy or beauty; they seldom err on the former point, whilst +their execution in the latter is contemptible in the extreme. Our +Saviour, and the Virgin Mary, have always enough to do on every tomb in +France; they are invariably introduced together, sometimes in a manner +and with circumstances, which really shock any one of common piety. +Several pictures, and some ancient jewellery, which have survived the +Revolution, are still shewn to all strangers: amongst them is a golden +rose, which Pope Innocent the Fourth gave to one of the Counts of +Provence six hundred years since. + +There are two or three other churches and convents, but which have +suffered so much by the execrable Revolution, as to have little left +that is worthy of remark. The piety of the inhabitants of Aix, however, +saved the greater part of the pictures and jewellery; and with still +more piety, have returned them to the churches. + +The promenade, or public walk, equals, if not excells, any thing of the +kind in Europe--it consists of three alleys, shaded by four rows of most +noble elms, in the middle of a wide street, the houses on each side +being on the most magnificent scale, and inhabited by the first people +of the city and province. There were several parties walking there even +at the early hour in the morning when we saw it, and I understood upon +enquiry, that in the evening it is exceedingly thronged both with +walkers and carriages. + +I did not omit to make my usual enquiries, as to the prices of land, +provisions, and the state of society, for a foreigner who should select +it as a place of residence. The following was the result: Land within a +few miles of Aix, is very reasonable; in a large purchase it will not +exceed five or six pounds (English money) per acre. In rating French and +English purchases, there is one considerable point of difference: +English estates are usually mentioned as being worth so many years +purchase, in which the purchase is rated according to the rent, and the +rent is considered as being the annual value of the land. In France, +where there is scarcely such a thing as an annual pecuniary rent equal +to the annual value of the land, the price must be estimated by the +acre. In large purchases, therefore, as I have said before, land is very +cheap: in small purchases it is very dear. The difference indeed is +surprising, but must be imputed to the strong repugnance of the small +proprietors to part with their paternal lands. + +In the town there are some very handsome houses: a palace almost, with a +garden of some acres, an orchard, and land enough for four horses and +three cows, may be hired for about thirty pounds per annum. + +Provisions of all kinds are in the greatest possible plenty: fish is to +be had in great abundance, and the best quality; meat is likewise very +reasonable, and tolerably good; bread is about a penny English by the +pound; and vegetables, as in other provincial towns, so cheap as +scarcely to be worth selling. + +The baths of Aix are very celebrated, and the town is much visited by +valetudinarians: they are chiefly recommended in scorbutic humours, +colds, rheumatisms, palsies, and consumptions. The waters are warm, and +have in fact no taste but that of warm water. + +Upon the whole, Aix is most delightfully situated, and the environs are +beyond conception rural and beautiful. They are a succession of +vineyards relieved by groves, meadows and fields. I did not leave them +without regret. The carriage drove slowly, but even under these +circumstances we repeatedly stopt it. + +We reached Marseilles without further occurrence; and as a ship was +ready there, after two or three days spent in the company of my friends, +who very kindly refused to leave me, I took my departure, and left a +kingdom which I have since never ceased to think. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels through the South of France +and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808, by Lt-Col. 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Pinkney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 + +Author: Lt-Col. Pinkney + +Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21256] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH OF FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>TRAVELS</h1> +<p class="c">THROUGH</p> +<h1>THE SOUTH OF FRANCE,</h1> + +<p class="c">AND</p> + +<h3>IN THE INTERIOR OF THE PROVINCES</h3> + +<p class="c">OF</p> + +<h3>PROVENCE AND LANGUEDOC,</h3> +<p class="c">IN THE YEARS 1807 AND 1808,</p> + +<p class="c">BY A ROUTE NEVER BEFORE PERFORMED,<br /><br /> +BEING ALONG THE BANKS OF</p> + +<h3>THE LOIRE, THE ISERE, AND THE GARONNE,</h3> +<p class="c">THROUGH THE GREATER PART OF THEIR COURSE.</p> + +<p class="c">MADE BY PERMISSION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.</p> + +<h3>BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PINKNEY,</h3> +<p class="c">OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE RANGERS.</p> + +<h3><i>LONDON</i>:</h3> + +<p class="c">PRINTED FOR T. PURDAY AND SON, NO. 1, PATERNOSTER-ROW,<br />AND TO BE HAD OF +ALL BOOKSELLERS:<br />BY B. M<sup>c</sup>MILLAN, BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br />1809.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="toc" id="toc"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<p class="cont"> +<a href="#CHAP_I"><b>CHAP. I</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Anxiety to see France—Departure from Baltimore—Singular<br /> +Adventures of the Captain—Character—Employment during<br /> +the Voyage—Arrival at Liverpool—Stay—Departure for Calais</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_II"><b>CHAP. II</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Morning View of Port—Arrival and landing—A Day at Calais—French<br /> +Market, and Prices of Provisions</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_III"><b>CHAP. III</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Purchase of a Norman Horse—Visit in the Country—Family of<br /> +a French Gentleman—Elegance of French domestic Economy—Dance<br /> +on the Green—Return to Calais</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_IV"><b>CHAP. IV</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>French Cottages—Ludicrous Exhibition—French Travellers—Chaise<br /> +de Poste—Posting in France—Departure from Calais—Beautiful<br /> +Vicinity of Boulogne</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_V"><b>CHAP. V</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Boulogne—Dress of the Inhabitants—The Pier—Theatre—Caution<br /> +in the Exchange of Money—Beautiful Landscape, and<br /> +Conversation with a French Veteran</i>—<i>Character of Mr.<br /> +Parker's Hotel</i>—<i>Departure, and romantic Road</i>—<i>Fête Champetre<br /> +in a Village on a Hill at Montreuil</i>—<i>Ruined Church and<br /> +Convent</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_VI"><b>CHAP. VI</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Departure from Montreuil</i>—<i>French Conscripts</i>—<i>Extreme Youth</i>—<i>Excellent<br /> +Roads</i>—<i>Country Labourers</i>—<i>Court for the Claims<br /> +of Emigrants</i>—<i>Abbeville</i>—<i>Companion on the Road</i>—<i>Amiens</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_VII"><b>CHAP. VII</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>General Character of the Town</i>—<i>Public Walk</i>—<i>Gardens</i>—<i>Half-yearly<br /> +Fair</i>—<i>Gaining Houses</i>—<i>Table d'Hôtes</i>—<i>English at<br /> +Amiens</i>—<i>Expence of Living</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_VIII"><b>CHAP. VIII</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>French and English Roads compared</i>—<i>Gaiety of French Labourers</i>—<i>Breteuil</i>—<i>Apple-trees<br /> +in the midst of Corn-fields</i>—<i>Beautiful<br /> +Scenery</i>—<i>Cheap Price of Land in France</i>—<i>Clermont</i>—<i>Bad<br /> +Management of the French Farmers</i>—<i>Chantilly</i>-<i>Arrival<br /> +at Paris</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_IX"><b>CHAP. IX</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>A Week in Paris</i>—<i>Objects and Occurrences</i>—<i>National Library</i>—<i>A<br /> +French Rout</i>—<i>Fashionable French Supper</i>—<i>Conceits</i>—<i>Presentation<br /> +at Court</i>—<i>Audience</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_X"><b>CHAP. X</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Departure from Paris for the Loire</i>—<i>Breakfast at Palaiseau</i>—<i>A<br /> +Peasant's Wife</i>—<i>Rambouillet</i>—<i>Magnificent Chateau</i>—<i>French<br /> +Curé</i>—<i>Chartres</i>—<i>Difference of Old French and English<br /> +Towns—Subterraneous Church</i>—<i>Curious Preservation of<br /> +the Dead</i>—<i>Angers</i>—<i>Arrival at Nantes</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XI"><b>CHAP. XI</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nantes</i>—<i>Beautiful Situation</i>—<i>Analogy of Architecture with the<br /> +Character of its Age</i>—<i>Singular Vow of Francis the Second</i>—<i>Departure<br /> +from Nantes</i>—<i>Country between Nantes and Angers</i>—<i>Angers</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XII"><b>CHAP. XII</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Angers</i>—<i>Situation</i>—<i>Antiquity and Face of the Town</i>—<i>Grand</i><br /> +<i>Cathedral</i>—<i>Markets</i>—<i>Prices of Provisions</i>—<i>Public Walks</i>—<i>Manners<br /> +and Diversions of the Inhabitants—Departure from</i><br /> +<i>Angers</i>—<i>Country between Angers and Saumur</i>—<i>Saumur</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XIII"><b>CHAP. XIII</b></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tours</i>—<i>Situation and general Appearance of it</i>—<i>Origin of the<br /> +Name of Huguenots</i>—<i>Cathedral Church of St. Martin</i>—<i>The<br /> +Quay</i>—<i>Markets</i>—<i>Public Walk</i>—<i>Classes of Inhabitants</i>—<i>Environs</i>—<i>Expences<br /> +of Living</i>—<i>Departure from Tours</i>—<i>Country<br /> +between Tours and Amboise</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XIV"><b>CHAP. XIV</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois—Ecures</i>—<i>Beautiful<br /> +Village</i>—<i>French Harvesters—Chousi</i>—<i>Village Inn</i>—<i>Blois</i>—<i>Situation</i>—<i>Church</i>—<i>Market</i>—<i>Price<br /> +of Provisions</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XV"><b>CHAP. XV</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Houses in Chalk Hills</i>—<i>Magnificent Castle at Chambord</i>—<i>Return<br /> +from Chambord by Moon-light</i>—<i>St. Laurence on the<br /> +Waters</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XVI"><b>CHAP. XVI</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns—Tremendous<br /> +Hail Storm</i>—<i>Country Masquerade</i>—<i>La Charité</i>—<i>Beauty<br /> +and Luxuriance of its Environs</i>—<i>Nevers</i>—<i>Fille-de-Chambre</i>—<i>Lovely<br /> +Country between Nevers and Moulins</i>-<i>Treading<br /> +Corn</i>—<i>Moulins</i>—<i>Price of Provisions</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XVII"><b>CHAP. XVII</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Country between Moulins and Rouane</i>—<i>Bresle</i>—<i>Account of the<br /> +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois</i>—<i>Climate</i>—<i>Face<br /> +of the Country</i>—<i>Soil</i>—<i>Natural Produce</i>—<i>Agricultural Produce</i>—<i>Kitchen<br /> +Garden—French Yeomen—Landlords</i>—<i>Price<br /> +of Land</i>—<i>Leases</i>—<i>General Character of the French Provincial<br /> +Farmers</i><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XVIII"><b>CHAP. XVIII</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lyons</i>—<i>Town-Hall</i>—<i>Hotel de Dieu</i>—<i>Manufactories</i>—<i>Price of<br /> +Provisions</i>—<i>State of Society</i>—<i>Hospitality to Strangers</i>—<i>Manners</i>—<i>Mode<br /> +of Living</i>—<i>Departure</i>—<i>Vienne</i>—<i>French Lovers</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XIX"><b>CHAP. XIX</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Avignon</i>—<i>Situation</i>—<i>Climate</i>—<i>Streets and Houses</i>—<i>Public<br /> +Buildings</i>—<i>Palace</i>—<i>Cathedral</i>—<i>Petrarch and Laura</i>—<i>Society<br /> +at Avignon—Ladies</i>—<i>Public Walks-</i>—<i>Prices of Provisions</i>—<i>Markets</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAP_XX"><b>CHAP. XX</b></a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Departure from Avignon</i>—<i>Olive and Mulberry Fields</i>—<i>Orgon</i>—<i>St.<br /> +Canat</i>—<i>French Divorces</i>—<i>Inn at St. Canat</i>—<i>Aix</i>—<i>Situation</i>—<i>Cathedral</i>—<i>Society</i>—<i>Provisions</i>—<i>Price<br /> +of Land—Marseilles</i>—<i>Conclusion</i><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="c">A</p> + +<h2>TOUR,</h2> + +<p class="c">&c. &c.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_I" id="CHAP_I"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. I.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Anxiety to see France—Departure from Baltimore—Singular<br /> +Adventures of the Captain—Character—Employment during<br /> +the Voyage—Arrival at Liverpool—Stay—Departure for Calais.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> my earliest life I had most anxiously wished to visit France—a +country which, in arts and science, and in eminent men, both of former +ages and of the present times, stands in the foremost rank of civilized +nations. What a man wishes anxiously, he seldom fails, at one period or +other, to accomplish. An opportunity at length occurred—the situation +of my private affairs, as well as of my public duties, admitted of my +absence.</p> + +<p>I embarked at Baltimore for Liverpool in the month of April, 1807. The +vessel, which was a mere trader, and which had likewise some connexions +at Calais, was to sail for Liverpool in the first instance, and thence, +after the accomplishment of some private affairs, was to pass to Calais, +and thence home. I do not profess to understand the business of +merchants; but I must express my admiration at the ingenuity with which +they defy and elude the laws of all countries. I suppose, however, that +this is considered as perfectly consistent with mercantile honour. Every +trader has a morality of his own; and without any intention of +depreciating the mercantile class, so far I must be allowed to say, that +the merchants are not very strict in their morality. Trade may improve +the wealth of a nation, but it most certainly does not improve their +morals.</p> + +<p>The Captain with whom I sailed was a true character. Captain Eliab +Jones, as he related his history to me, was the son of a very +respectable clergyman in the West of England. His mother died when he +was a boy about twelve years of age, leaving his father with a very +large family. The father married again. Young Eliab either actually was, +or fancifully believed himself to be, ill-treated by his step-mother. +Under this real or imaginary suffering he eloped from his father's +house; and making the best of his way for a sea-port, bound himself +apprentice to the master of a coasting vessel. In this manner he +continued to work, to use his own expressions, like a galley-slave for +five years, when he obtained the situation of mate of an Indiaman. He +progressively rose, till he happened unfortunately to quarrel with his +Captain, which induced him to quit the service of the Company. In the +course of his voyages to India, and in the Indian seas, he made what he +thought an important discovery relative to the southern whale fishery: +he communicated it to a mercantile house upon his return, and was +employed by them in the speculation. He now, however, became unfortunate +for the first time: his ship was wrecked off the island of Olaheite, and +the crew and himself compelled to remain for two or three years on that +barbarous but beautiful island.</p> + +<p>Such is the outline of Captain Eliab's adventures, with the detail of +which he amused me during our voyage. His character, however, deserves +some mention. If there is an honest man under the canopy of Heaven, it +was Captain Eliab; but his honesty was so plain and downright, so simple +and unqualified, that I know not how to describe it than by the plain +terms, that he was a strictly just and upright man. He had a sense of +honour—a natural feeling of what was right—which seemed extraordinary, +when compared with the irregular course of his life. Had he passed +through every stage of education, had he been formed from his childhood +to manhood under the anxious supervision of the most exemplary parents, +he could not have been more strict. I most sincerely hope, that it will +be hereafter my fortune to meet with this estimable man, and to +enumerate him amongst my friends. I must conclude this brief character +of him by one additional trait. A more pious Christian, but without +presbyterianism, did not exist than Captain Eliab. He attributed all his +good fortune to the blessing of Providence; and if any man was an +example that virtue, even in this life, has its reward, it was Captain +Eliab. In dangers common to many, he had repeatedly almost alone +escaped.</p> + +<p>I had no other companion but the worthy Captain: I was his only +passenger, and we passed much of our time in the reading of his voyages, +of which he had kept an ample journal. His education having been rude +and imperfect, the style of his writing was more forcible than pure or +correct. I thought his account so interesting, and in many points so +important, that I endeavoured to persuade him to give it to the public; +and to induce him to it, offered to assist him, during our voyage, in +putting it into form. The worthy man accepted my offer, but I found that +I had undertaken a work to which I was unequal. I laboured, however, +incessantly, and before our arrival had completed so much of it, as to +induce the Captain to put it into the hands of a bookseller, by whom, as +I have since understood, it was transferred into the hands of a literary +gentleman to complete. In some misfortune the manuscript has been lost; +and the Captain being in America, there is probably an end of it for +ever. All I can now say is, that the public have sustained an important +loss.</p> + +<p>In this employment our voyage, upon my part at least, passed +unperceived, and I was at Liverpool, before I was well sensible that I +had left America. Nothing is more tedious than a sea voyage, age, to +those whose minds, are intent only upon their passage. In travelling by +land, the mind is recreated by variety, and relieved by the novelty of +the successive objects which pass before it; but in a voyage by sea, it +is inconceivable how wearisome are the sameness and uniformity, which, +day after day, meet the eye. When I could not otherwise occupy my mind, +I endeavoured to force myself into a doze, that I might have a chance of +a dream. One of the best rules of philosophy is, that happiness is an +art—a science—a habit and quality of mind, which self-management may +in a great degree command and procure. Experience has taught me that +this is true. I had made many sea voyages before this, and therefore had +repeated proofs of the observation of Lord Bacon, that, of all human +progresses, nothing is so barren of all possibility of remark as a +voyage by sea; nothing, therefore, is so irksome, to a mind of any +vigour or activity. If a man, by long habit, has obtained the knack of +retiring into himself—of putting all his faculties to perfect rest, and +becoming like the mast of the vessel—a sea voyage may suit him; but to +those who cannot sleep in an hammock eighteen hours out of the +twenty-four, I would recommend any thing but travel by sea. Cato, as his +Aphorisms inform us, never repented but of two things; and the one was, +that he went a journey by sea when he might have gone it by land.</p> + +<p>The sight of land, after a long voyage, is delightful in the extreme; +and I experienced the truth of another remark, that it might be smelt as +we approached, even when beyond our sight. I do not know to what to +compare its peculiar odour, but the sensations very much resemble those +which are excited by the freshness of the country, after leaving a +thick-built and smoky city. The sea air is infinitely more sharp than +the land air; and as you approach the land, and compare the two, you +discover the greater humidity of the one. The sea air, however, has one +most extraordinary quality—it removes a cough or cold almost +instantaneously. The temperance, moreover, which it compels in those who +cannot eat sea provisions, is very conducive to health.</p> + +<p>We reached Liverpool without any accident; and as the Captain's business +was of a nature which would necessarily detain him for some days, I +availed myself of the opportunity, and visited the British metropolis. +No city has been more improved within a short period than London. When I +saw it before, which was in my earlier days, there were innumerable +narrow streets, and miserable alleys, where there are now squares, or +long and broad streets, reaching from one end of the town to the other: +I observed this particularly, in the long street which extends from +Charing Cross to the Parliament Houses. In England, both government and +people concur in this improvement.</p> + +<p>From London, finding I had sufficient time, I visited Canterbury, and +thence Dover. If I were to fix in England, it should be in Canterbury. +The country is rich and delightful; and the society, consisting chiefly +of those attached to the cathedral church, and to such of their families +as have fixed there, elegant, and well informed, I have heard, and I +believe it, that Salisbury and Canterbury are the two most elegant +towns, in this respect, in England, and that many wealthy foreigners +have in consequence made them their residence.</p> + +<p>Dover is an horrible place—a nest of fishermen and smugglers: a noble +beach is hampered by rope-works, and all the filth attendant upon them. +I never saw an excellent and beautiful natural situation so miserably +spoilt.</p> + +<p>The Captain being ready, and my necessary papers procured, I joined, and +having set sail, we were alternately tossed and becalmed for nearly +three weeks, and almost daily in sight of land. Some of the spring winds +in the English seas are very violent. A favourable breeze at length +sprung up, and we flew before the wind. "If this continues," said our +Captain, "we shall reach Calais before daylight." This was at sunset; +and we had been so driven to sea by a contrary wind on the preceding +day, that neither the coast of England nor France were visible. From +Dover to Calais the voyage is frequently made in four hours.</p> + +<p>Several observations very forcibly struck me in the course of my +passage, one of which I must be allowed to mention. I had repeatedly +heard, and now knew from experience, the immense superiority of the +English commerce over that of France and every nation in the world; but +till I had made this voyage, I never had a sufficient conception of the +degree of this superiority. I have no hesitation to say, that for one +French vessel there were two hundred English. The English fleet has +literally swept the seas of all the ships of their enemies; and a French +ship is so rare, as to be noted in a journal across the Atlantic, as a +kind of phenomenon. A curious question here suggests itself—Will the +English Government be so enabled to avail themselves of this maritime +superiority, as to counterweigh against the continental predominance of +the French Emperor?—Can the Continent be reconquered at sea?—Will the +French Emperor exchange the kingdoms of Europe for West India Colonies; +or is he too well instructed in the actual worth of these Colonies, to +purchase them at any price?—These questions are important, and an +answer to them might illustrate the fate of Europe, and the probable +termination of the war.</p> + +<p>I must not omit one advice to travellers by sea. The biscuit in a long +voyage becomes uneatable, and flower will not keep. I was advised by a +friend, as a remedy against this inconvenience, to take a large store of +what are called gingerbread nuts, made without yeast, and hotly spiced. +I kept them close in a tin cannister, and carefully excluded the air. I +found them most fully to answer the purpose: they were very little +injured when I reached Liverpool, and, I believe, would have sustained +no damage whatever, if I had as carefully excluded the air as at first.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_II" id="CHAP_II"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. II.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Morning View of Port—Arrival and landing—A Day at Calais.—French<br /> +Market, and Prices of Provisions.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Master's prediction proved true, and indeed in a shorter time than +he had expected. An unusual bustle on the deck awakened me about +midnight; and as my anxious curiosity would not suffer me to remain in +my hammock, I was shortly upon deck, and was told in answer to my +inquiries, that a fine breeze had sprung up to the south-west, and that +we should reach the port of our destination by day-break. This +intelligence, added to the fineness of the night, which was still clear, +would have induced me to remain above, but by a violent blow from one of +the ropes, I was soon given to understand that it was prudent for me to +retire. The crew and ship seemed each to partake of the bustle and +agitation of each other; the masts bent, the timbers cracked, and ropes +flew about in all directions.</p> + +<p>It may be imagined, that though returning to my hammock, I did not +return to my repose. I lay in all the restlessness of expectation till +day-break, when the Captain summoned me upon deck by the grateful +intelligence that we were entering the port of Calais. Hurrying upon +deck, I beheld a spectacle which immediately dispelled all the uneasy +sensations attendant upon a sleepless night. It was one of the finest +mornings of the latter end of June; the sun had not risen, but the +heavens were already painted with his ascending glories. I repeated in a +kind of poetical rapture the inimitable metaphoric epithet of the Poet +of Nature; an epithet preserved so faithfully, and therefore with so +much genius, by his English translator, Pope. The rosy-fingered morn, +indeed, appeared in all her plenitude of natural beauty; and the Sun, +that he might not long lose the sight of his lovely spouse, followed her +steps very shortly, and exhibited himself just surmounting the hills to +the east of Calais.</p> + +<p>The sea was unruffled, and we were sailing towards the pier with full +sail, and a gentle morning breeze. The land and town, at first faint, +became gradually more distinct and enlarged, till we at length saw the +people on shore hurrying down to the pier, so as to be present at our +anchoring and debarkation. The French in general are much earlier risers +than either the Americans or the English; and by the time we were off +the pier, about seven in the morning, half of the town of Calais were +out to receive and welcome us. The French, moreover, as on every +occasion of my intercourse with them I found them afterwards, appeared +to me to be equally prominently different from all nations in another +quality—a prompt and social nature, a natural benevolence, or habitual +civility, which leads them instinctively, and not unfrequently +impertinently, into acts of kindness and consideration. Let a stranger +land at an English or an American port, and he is truly a stranger; his +inquiries will scarcely obtain a civil answer; and any appearance of +strangeness and embarrassment will only bring the boys at his heels. On +the other hand, let him land in any French port, and almost every one +who shall meet him will salute him with the complacency of hospitality; +his inquiries, indeed, will not be answered, because the person of whom +he shall make them, will accompany him to the inn, or other object of +his question.</p> + +<p>I have frequently heard, and still more frequently read, that the +English nation were characteristically the most good-natured people in +the world, and that the Americans, as descendants from the same stock, +had not lost this virtue of the parent tree. I give no credit to the +justice of this observation. Experience has convinced me, that neither +the English nor the Americans deserve it as a national distinction. The +French are, beyond all manner of doubt, the most good-humoured people on +the surface of the earth; if we understand at least by the term, +<i>good-humour</i> those minor courtesies, those considerate kindnesses, +those cursory attentions, which, though they cost little to the giver, +are not the less valuable to the receiver; which soften the asperities +of life, and by their frequent occurrence, and the constant necessity in +which we stand of them, have an aggregate, if not an individual +importance. The English, perhaps, as nationally possessing the more +solid virtues, may be the best friends, and the most generous +benefactors; but as friendship, in this more exalted acceptation of it, +is rare, and beneficence almost miraculous, it is a serious question +with me, which is the most useful being in society—the light +good-humoured Frenchman, or the slow meditating Englishman?</p> + +<p>There was the usual bustle, as to who should be the bearers of our +luggage; a thousand ragged figures, more resembling scarecrows than +human beings, seized them from the hands of each other, and we might +have bid our property a last farewell perhaps, had it not been for the +ill-humour of our Captain. He laid about him with more vigour than +mercy, and in a manner which surprised me, either that he should +venture, or that even the miserable objects before us should bear. Had +he exerted his hands and his oar in a similar manner either in England +or in America, he would have been compelled to vindicate his assumed +superiority by his superior manhood. Here every one fled before him, and +yielded him as much submission and obedience, as if he had been the +prefect himself.</p> + +<p>The French seem to have no idea of the art of pugilism, and with the +sole exception of the military, no point of honour which renders them +impatient under any merited personal castigation. They take a blow with +great <i>sang froid</i>. Whether from good humour, or cowardice; whether that +they thought they deserved it, or that they feared to resent it, the +single arm of our Captain chastised a whole rabble of them, and they +made a lane for as many of us as chose to land, accompanied by such +porters as we had ourselves selected. Three or four of them, however, +were still importuning us to permit them to show us to an inn; but as we +had already made our selection in this point likewise, our Captain +returned them no answer, but by a rough mimickry of their address and +gesticulation.</p> + +<p>After our luggage had undergone the customary examination by the +officers of the customs, in the execution of which office a liberal fee +procured us much civility, we were informed that it was necessary to +present ourselves before the Commissary, for that so many Englishmen had +obtained admission as Americans, that the French government had found it +necessary to have recourse to an unusual strictness, and that the +Commissary had it in orders not to suffer any one to proceed till after +the most rigid inquiry into his passport and business.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, having seen our luggage into a wheel-barrow, which the +Captain insisted should accompany us, we waited upon the Commissary, but +were not fortunate enough to find him at his office. A little dirty boy +informed us, that Mons. Mangouit had gone out to visit a neighbour, but +that if we would wait till twelve o'clock (it was now about nine), we +should infallibly see him, and have our business duly dispatched. The +office in which we were to wait for this Mons. Mangouit for three hours, +was about five feet in length by three in width, very dirty, without a +chair, and in every respect resembling a cobler's stall in one of the +most obscure streets of London. Mons. Commissary's inkstand was a +coffee-cup without an handle, and his book of entries a quire of dirty +writing-paper. This did not give us much idea either of the personal +consequence of Mons. Mangouit, or of the grandeur of the Republic.</p> + +<p>The boy was sent out to summon his master, as a preferable way to our +waiting till twelve o'clock. Monsieur at length made his appearance; a +little, mean-looking man, with a very dirty shirt, a well-powdered head, +a smirking, bowing coxcomb. He informed us with many apologies, +unnecessary at least in a public officer, that he was under the +necessity of doing his duty; that his duty was to examine us according +to some queries transmitted to him; but that we appeared gentlemen, true +Americans, and not English spies.</p> + +<p>After a long harangue, in which the little gentleman appeared very much +pleased with himself, he concluded by demanding our passport, upon sight +of which he declared himself satisfied, and promised to make us out +others for passing into the interior. We were desired to call for these +in the evening, or he would himself do us the honour to wait upon us +with them at our hotel. Considering the latter as a kind of +self-invitation to dine with us, we mentioned our dinner hour, and other +<i>et ceteras</i>. Mons. Mangouit smiled his acquiescence, and we left him, +in the hopes that he would at least change his linen.</p> + +<p>Upon leaving the Commissary, our wheel-barrow was again put in motion, +and accompanied us to Dessein's. This hotel still maintains its +reputation and its name. After seeing almost all France, we had no +hesitation in pronouncing it to be the only inn which could enter into +any reasonable comparison with any of the respectable taverns either of +England or America. In no country but in America and England, have they +any idea of that first of comforts to the wearied traveller, a clean and +housewife-like bed. I speak from woeful experience, when I advise every +traveller to consider a pair of sheets and a counterpane as necessary a +part of his luggage as a change of shirts. He will travel but few miles +from Calais, before he will understand the necessity of this admonition.</p> + +<p>We ordered an early dinner, and sallied forth to see the town. It has +nothing, however, to distinguish it from other provincial towns, or +rather sea-ports, of the second order. It has been compared to Dover, +but I think rather resembles Folkstone. The streets are irregular, the +houses old and lofty, and the pavement the most execrable that can be +imagined. There was certainly more bustle and activity than is usual in +an English or in an American town of the same rank; and this appeared to +us the more surprising, as we could see no object for all this hurry and +loquacity. To judge by appearance, the people of Calais had no other +more important business than to make their remarks upon us as we passed +their doors or shops. There was no shipping in the harbour, and even the +stock in the shops had every appearance of having remained long, and +having to remain longer in its fixed repose.</p> + +<p>Being the market-day, we had the curiosity to inquire the price of +several articles of provision, and to compare them with those of their +neighbours on the opposite side of the channel. The market was well +stocked; there was an incredible quantity of poultry, lamb, butter, +eggs, and herbs. A couple of fowls were three livres, at a time that +they were seven or eight shillings in London; a young goose, two livres +twelve sous (2<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i>). Lamb was sold as in England, by the quarter +or side, and was about sixpence English money per pound; beef about +fourpence halfpenny, and mutton (not very good) fourpence. Upon the +whole, the money price of every thing appeared about one-half cheaper +than in England; but whether this difference is not in some degree +compensated in England by the superiority of quality, is what I cannot +exactly decide. The beef was certainly not so good as that to which I +had been accustomed in London; but, on the other hand, in the progress +of my journey, the mutton and lamb, when I could get it dressed to my +wishes, appeared sweeter. The short feed gives it the taste of Welsh +mutton, but the consumption of it is scarcely sufficient to encourage +the feeders. The manner, moreover, in which these meats are employed and +served in French cooking, is such as not to encourage the feeder to any +superior care. Lean meat answers the purposes of <i>bouillé</i> as well as +the fat meat, and it is of little concern what that joint is which is +only to be boiled down to its very fibres. The old proverb, that God +sent meats, and the d—- l cooks, is verified in every kitchen in France.</p> + +<p>We returned to Quillac's to dinner, which, according to our orders, was +composed in the English style, except a French dish or two for Mons. +Mangouit. This gentleman now appeared altogether as full-dressed as he +had before been in full dishabille. We exchanged much conversation on +Calais and England, and a word or two respecting the French Emperor. He +appeared much better informed than we had previously concluded from his +coxcomical exterior. He seemed indeed quite another man.</p> + +<p>He accompanied us after dinner to the comedy: the theatre is within the +circuit of the inn. The performers were not intolerable, and the piece, +which was what they call a proverb (a fable constructed so as to give a +ludicrous verification or contradiction to an old saying), was amusing. +I thought I had some obscure recollection of a face amongst the female +performers, and learned afterwards, that it was one of the maids of the +inn; a lively brisk girl, and a volunteer, from her love of the drama. +In this period of war between England and France, Calais has not the +honour of a dramatic corps to herself, but occasionally participates in +one belonging to the district.</p> + +<p>The play being over very early, we finished the evening in our own +style, a proceeding we had cause to repent the following day, as the +<i>Cote rolie</i> did not agree with us so well as old Port. I suffered so +much from the consequent relaxation, that I never repeated the occasion. +It produced still another effect; it removed my previous admiration of +French sobriety. There is little merit, I should think, in abstaining +from such a constant use of medicine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_III" id="CHAP_III"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. III.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Purchase of a Norman Horse—Visit in the Country—Family of<br /> +a French Gentleman—Elegance of French domestic Economy—Dance<br /> +on the Green—Return to Calais.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Notwithstanding</span> the merited reprobation to be met with in every +traveller, of French beds and French chamberlains, we had no cause to +complain of our accommodation in this respect at Dessein's. This house, +though it has changed masters, is conducted as well as formerly, and +there was nothing in it, which could have made the most determined lover +of ease repent his having crossed the Channel.</p> + +<p>After our breakfast on the morning following our arrival, I began to +consider with myself on the most suitable way of executing my +purpose—of seeing France and Frenchmen, the scenery and manners, to the +best advantage. I called in my landlord to my consultation; and having +explained my peculiar views, was advised by him to purchase a Norman +horse, one of which he happened to have in his stables; a circumstance +which perhaps suggested the advice. Be this as it may, I adopted his +recommendation, and I had no cause to repent it. The bargain was struck +upon the spot; and for twenty-seven Louis I became master of a horse, +upon whom, taking into the computation crossroads and occasional +deviations, I performed a journey not less than two thousand miles; and +in the whole of this course, without a stumble sufficient to shake me +from my seat. The Norman horses are low and thick, and like all of this +make, very steady, sure, and strong. They will make a stage of thirty +miles without a bait, and will eat the coarsest food. From some +indications of former habits about my own horse, I was several times led +to conclude, that he had been more accustomed to feed about the lanes, +and live on his wits, as it were, than in any settled habitation, either +meadow or stable. I never had a brute companion to which I took a +greater fancy.</p> + +<p>Having a letter to a gentleman resident about two miles from Calais, I +had occasion to inquire the way of a very pretty peasant girl whom I +overtook on the road, just above the town. The way was by a path over +the fields: the young peasant was going to some house a mile or two +beyond the object of my destination, and, as I have reason to believe, +not exactly in the same line. Finding me a stranger, however, she +accompanied me, without hesitation, up a narrow cross-road, that she +might put me into the foot-path; and when we had come to it, finding +some difficulty in giving intelligibly a complex direction, she +concluded by saying she would go that way herself. I was too pleased +with my companion to decline her civility. I learned in the course of +my walk that she was the daughter of a small farmer: the farm was small +indeed, being about half an arpent, or acre. She had been to Calais to +take some butter, and had the same journey three mornings in the week. +Her father had one cow of his own, and rented two others, for each of +which he paid a Louis annually. The two latter fed by the road-sides. +Her father earned twenty sols a day as a labourer, and had a small +pension from the Government, as a veteran and wounded soldier. Upon this +little they seemed, according to her answers, to live very comfortably, +not to say substantially. Poultry, chesnuts, milk, and dried fruit, +formed their daily support. "We never buy meat," said she, "because we +can raise more poultry than we can sell."</p> + +<p>The country around Calais has so exact a resemblance to that of the +opposite coast, as to appear almost a counterpart, and as if the sea had +worked itself a channel, and thus divided a broad and lofty hill. It is +not, however, quite so barren and cheerless as in the immediate +precincts of Dover. Vegetation, what there was of it, seemed stronger, +and trees grow nearer to the cliffs. There were likewise many flowers +which I had never seen about Dover and the Kentish coast. But on the +whole, the country was so similar that I in vain looked around me for +something to note.</p> + +<p>The gentleman to whom I had brought a letter of introduction was at +Paris; but I saw his son, to whom I was therefore compelled to introduce +myself. The young man lamented much that his father was from home, and +that he could not receive me in a manner which was suitable to a +gentleman of my appearance; the friend of Mr. Pinckney, who was the +beloved friend of his father. All these things are matter of course to +all Frenchmen, who are never at a loss for civility and terms of +endearment. A young English gentleman of the same age with this youth +(about nineteen), would either have affronted you by his sulky reserve, +or compelled you as a matter of charity to leave him, to release him +from blushing and stammering. On the other hand, young Tantuis and +myself were intimates in the moment after our first introduction.</p> + +<p>Upon entering the house, and a parlour opening upon a lawn in the back +part, I was introduced to Mademoiselle his sister, a beautiful girl, a +year, or perhaps more, younger than her brother. She rose from an +English piano as I entered, whilst her brother introduced me with a +preamble, which he rolled off his tongue in a moment. A refreshment of +fruit, capillaire, and a sweet wine, of which I knew not the name, was +shortly placed before me, and the young people conversed with me about +England and Calais, and whatever I told them of my own concerns, with +as much ease and apparent interest, as if we had been born and lived in +the same village.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle informed me, that the people in Calais had no character at +all; that they were fishermen and smugglers, which last business they +carried on in war as well as in peace, and had no reputation either for +honesty or industry; that she had no visiting society at Calais, and +never went to the town but on household business; that the price of +every thing had doubled within four years, but that the late plenty, and +the successes of the Emperor, were bringing every thing to their former +standard; that her father payed very moderate taxes; her brother stated +about five Louis annually; but they differed in this point. The house +was of that size and order, which in England would have paid at least +thirty pounds, and added to this was a domain of between sixty and +seventy arpents.</p> + +<p>The dinner, whether in compliment to me, or that things have now all +taken this turn in France, was in substance so completely English, and +served up in a manner so English, as almost to call forth an exclamation +of surprise. When we enter a new country, we so fully expect to find +every thing new, as to be surprised at almost any necessary coincidence. +This characteristic difference is very rapidly wearing off in every +kingdom in Europe. A couple of fowls, a rice-pudding, and a small chine, +composed our dinner. It was served in a pretty kind of china, and with +silver forks. The cloth was removed as in England, and the table covered +with dried fruits, confectionary, and coffee; a tall silver epergne +supporting small bottles of capillaire, and sweetmeats in cut glass. The +fruits were in plates very tastily painted in landscape by Mademoiselle; +and at the top and bottom of the table was a silver image of Vertumnus +and Pomona, of the same height with the epergne in the centre. The +covering of the table was a fine deep green cloth, spotted with the +simple flower called the double daisy.</p> + +<p>I am the more particular in this description, as the dinner was thus +served, and the table thus appointed, without any apparent preparation, +as if it was all in their due and daily course. Indeed, I have had +occasion frequently to observe, that the French ladies infinitely excel +those of every other nation in these minor elegancies; in a cheap and +tasteful simplicity, and in giving a value to indifferent things by a +manner peculiar to themselves. Mademoiselle left us after the first cup +of coffee, saying, that she had heard that it was a custom in England, +that gentlemen should have their own conversation after dinner. I +endeavoured to turn off a compliment in the French style upon this +observation, but felt extremely awkward, upon foundering in the middle +of it, for want of more familiar acquaintance with the language. +Monsieur, her brother, perceived my embarrassment, and becoming my +interpreter, helped me out of it with much good-humour, and with some +dexterity. I resolved, however, another time, never to tilt with a +French lady in compliment.</p> + +<p>Being alone with the young man, I made some inquiries upon subjects upon +which I wanted information, and found him at once communicative and +intelligent. The agriculture of the country about Calais appears to be +wretched. The soil is in general very good, except where the substratum +of chalk, or marle, rises too near the surface, which is the case +immediately on the cliffs. The course of the crops is bad +indeed—fallow, rye, oats. In some land it is fallow, wheat, and barley. +In no farm, however, is the fallow laid aside; it is considered as +indispensable for wheat, and on poor lands for rye. The produce, reduced +to English Winchester measure, is about nineteen bushels of wheat, and +twenty-three or twenty-four of barley. Besides the fallow, they manure +for wheat. The manure in the immediate vicinity of Calais is the dung of +the stable-keepers and the filth of that town. The rent of the land +around Calais, within the daily market of the town, is as high as sixty +livres; but beyond the circuit of the town, is about twenty livres +(sixteen shillings). Since the settlement of the Government, the price +of land has risen; twenty Louis an acre is now the average price in the +purchase of a large farm. There are no tithes, but a small rate for the +officiating minister. Labourers earn thirty sous per day (about +fifteen-pence English), and women, in picking stones, &c. half that +sum. Rents, since the Revolution, are all in money; but there are some +instances of personal service, and which are held to be legal even under +the present state of things, provided they relate to husbandry, and not +to any servitude or attendance upon the person of the landlord. Upon the +whole, I found that the Revolution had much improved the condition of +the farmers, having relieved them from feudal tenures and lay-tithes. Oh +the other hand, some of the proprietors, even in the neighbourhood of +Calais, had lost nearly the whole of the rents, under the interpretation +of the law respecting what were to be considered as feudal impositions. +The Commissioners acting under these laws had determined all old rents +to come under this description, and had thus rendered the tenants under +lease proprietors of the lands.</p> + +<p>The young lady who had left as returned towards evening, and by her +heightened colour, and a small parcel in her hand, appeared to have +walked some distance. Her brother, doubtless from a sympathetic nature, +guessed in an instant the object of her walk. "You have been to Calais," +said he. "Yes," replied she, with the lovely smile of kindness; "I +thought that Monsieur would like some tea after the manner of his +countrymen, and having only coffee in the house, I walked to Calais to +procure some." I again felt the want of French loquacity and readiness. +My heart was more eloquent than my tongue. I rose, and involuntarily +took and pressed the hand of the sweet girl. Who will now say that the +French are not characteristically a good-humoured people, and that a +lovely French girl is not an angel? I thought so at the time, and though +my heart has now cooled, I think so still. I feel even no common +inclination to, describe this young French beauty, but that I will not +do her the injustice to copy off an image which remains more faithfully +and warmly imprinted on my memory.</p> + +<p>The house, as I have mentioned, opened behind on a lawn, with which the +drawing-room was even, so that its doors and windows opened immediately +upon it. This lawn could not be less than four or five English acres in +extent, and was girded entirely around by a circle of lofty trees from +within, and an ancient sea-stone wall, very thick and high, from +without. The trunks of the trees and the wall were hid by a thick copse +or shrubbery of laurels, myrtles, cedars, and other similar shrubs, so +as to render the enclosed lawn the most beautiful and sequestered spot I +had ever seen. On the further extremity from the house was an avenue +from the lawn to the garden, which was likewise spacious, and surrounded +by a continuation of the same wall. In the further corner of the latter +was a summer-house, erected on the top of the wall, so as to look over +it on the fields and the distant sea.</p> + +<p>Tea was here served up to us in a manner neither French nor English, but +partaking of both. Plates of cold chicken, slices of chine, cakes, +sweetmeats, and the whitest bread, composed a kind of mixed repast, +between the English tea and the French supper. The good-humour and +vivacity of my young friends, and the prospect from the windows, which +was as extensive as beautiful, rendered it a refreshment peculiarly +cheering to the spirits of a traveller.</p> + +<p>Before the conclusion of it, I had another specimen of French manners +and French benevolence. A party of young ladies were announced as +visitors, and followed immediately the servant who conducted them. +Speaking all at once, they informed Mademoiselle T——, that they had +learned the arrival of her English friend (so they did me the honour to +call me), and knowing her father was at Paris, had hurried off to assist +her in giving Monsieur a due welcome. They mentioned several other +names, which were coming with the same friendly purpose; a piece of +information, which caused the young Monsieur T—— to make me a hasty +bow, and leave me with the ladies. He returned in a short time, and the +sound of fiddles tuning below on the lawn, rendered any explanation +unnecessary. We immediately descended; the promised ladies, and their +partners, soon made their appearance; and the merry dance on the green +began. As the stranger of the company, I had of course the honour of +leading Mademoiselle T——. In the course of the dance other visitors +appeared, who formed themselves into cotillions and reels; and the lawn +being at length well filled, the evening delightful, and the moon risen +in all her full glory, the whole formed a scene truly picturesque.</p> + +<p>After an evening, or rather a night, thus protracted to a late hour, I +returned to Calais; and was accompanied to the immediate adjacency by +one of the parties, consisting of two ladies and a gentleman. I was +assailed by many kind importunities to repeat my visit; but as I +intended to leave Calais on the morrow, I made my best possible +excuses.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_IV" id="CHAP_IV"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. IV.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>French Cottages.—Ludicrous exhibition.—French Travellers—Chaise<br /> +de Poste.—Posting in France.—Departure from Calais.—Beautiful<br /> +Vicinity of Boulogne.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Two</span> days were amply sufficient to see all that Calais has to exhibit. +After the first novelty is over, no place can please, except either by +its intrinsic beauty, or the happy effect of habit. Calais, has no such +intrinsic charms, and I was not disposed to try the result of the +latter. I accordingly resolved to proceed on my road; but as the heat +was excessive, deferred it till the evening.</p> + +<p>The exercise of the preceding night had produced an unpleasant ferment +in my blood, attended by an external feeling of feverish heat, and +checked perspiration. Every traveller should be, in a degree, his own +physician. I had recourse to a dip in the sea, and found immediate +relief. Nothing, indeed, is so instantaneous a remedy, either for +violent fatigue, or any of the other effects following unusual exercise, +as this simple specific. After a ride of sixty or seventy miles through +the most dusty roads, and under the hottest sun of a southern +Midsummer, I have been restored to my morning freshness by the cold +bath.</p> + +<p>By the buildings which I observed to be going forward, I was led to a +conclusion that Calais is a flourishing town; but I confess I saw no +means to which I could attribute this prosperity. There was no +appearance of commerce, and very little of industry. One circumstance +was truly unaccountable to me. Though there were two or three ships +laying unrigged, but otherwise sound, and in the best navigable +condition, there was a building-yard, in which two new vessels were on +the stock. These vessels, indeed, were of no considerable tonnage; but I +confess myself at a loss to guess their object.</p> + +<p>About a mile from Calais, is a beautiful avenue of the finest walnut and +chesnut trees I have ever seen in France. They stand upon common land, +and, of course, are public property. In the proper season of the year, +the people of Calais repair hither for their evening dance; and such is +the force of custom, the fruit remains untouched, and reserved for these +occasions. Every one then takes what he pleases, but carries nothing +home beyond what may suffice for his consumption on the way.</p> + +<p>In my walk thither I passed several cottages, and entered some. The +inhabitants seemed happy, and to possess some substantial comforts. The +greater part of these cottages had a walnut or chestnut tree before +them, around which was a rustic seat, and which, as overshadowed by the +broad branches and luxuriant foliage, composed a very pleasing image. +The manner in which the sod was partially worn under most of them, +explained their nightly purpose; or if there could yet be any doubt, the +flute and fiddle, pendant in almost every house, spoke a still more +intelligible language.</p> + +<p>I entered no house so poor, and met with no inhabitant so inhospitable, +as not to receive the offer either of milk, or some sort of wine; and +every one seemed to take a refusal as if they had solicited, and had not +obtained, an act of kindness. If the French are not the most hospitable +people in the world, they have at least the art of appearing so. I speak +here only of the peasantry, and from first impressions.</p> + +<p>The rent of one of these cottages, of two floors and two rooms on each, +is thirty-five livres. They have generally a small garden, and about one +hundred yards of common land between the road and the house, on which +grows the indispensable walnut or chestnut tree. The windows are glazed, +but the glass is usually taken out in summer. The walls are generally +sea-stone, but are clothed with grape vines, or other shrubs, which, +curling around the casements, render them shady and picturesque. The +bread is made of wheat meal, but in some cottages consisted of thin +cakes without leven, and made of buck-wheat. Their common beverage is a +weak wine, sweet and pleasant to the taste. In some houses it very +nearly resembled the good metheglin, very common in the northern +counties of England. Eggs, bacon, poultry, and vegetables, seemed in +great plenty, and, as I understood, composed the dinners of the +peasantry twice a week at least. I was surprised at this evident +abundance in a class in which I should not have expected it. Something +of it, I fear, must be imputed to the extraordinary profits of the +smuggling which is carried on along the coast.</p> + +<p>I was pleased to see, that even the horrible Revolution had not banished +all religion from Calais. I understood that the church was well +attended, and that high mass was as much honoured as hitherto. Every one +spoke of the Revolution with execration, and of the Emperor with +satisfaction. Bonaparte has certainly gained the hearts of the French +people by administering to their national vanity.</p> + +<p>Returning home from my walk, I was witness to a singular exhibition in +the streets. A crowd had collected around a narrow elevated stage, +which, at a distant view, led me to expect the appearance, of my friend +Punch. I was not altogether deceived: it was a kind of Bartholomew +drama, in which the parts were performed by puppets. It differed only +from what I had seen in England by the wit of the speakers, and a kind +of design, connexion, and uniformity in the fable. The name of it, as +announced by the manager, was, The Convention of Kings against France +and Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>The puppets, who each spoke in their turn, were, the King of England, +the King of Naples, the Emperor of Austria, the Pope, and the Grand +Signor. The dialogue was indescribably ridiculous. The piece opened with +a council, in which the King of England entreated all his brother +sovereigns to declare war against France and the French Emperor, and +proceeded to assign some ludicrous reasons as applicable to each. "My +contribution to the grand alliance," concludes his Majesty, "shall be in +money; both because I have more Louis to spare, and because the best +advantage of a rich nation is, that it can purchase others to light its +battles!" The Grand Signor approves the proposal, and throws down his +cimeter. "I will give my cimeter," says he; "but being a prophet as well +as a sovereign, and having such a family of wives, I deem it unseemly to +use it myself. Let England take it, and give it to any one who will use +it manfully." The Pope, in his turn, gives his blessing. "If the war +should succeed, you will have to thank my benediction for the victory; +if it should fail, it will be from the efficacy of the blessing that a +man of you will be saved alive." The Emperor then asks what is the +amount of England's contribution; and his British Majesty throws him a +purse. His Imperial Majesty, after feeling the weight, takes up the +cimeter of the Grand Signor, and retires. The drama then proceeds to the +representation of the different battles of Bonaparte, in all of which it +gave him the victory, &c.</p> + +<p>After a light dinner, in which with some difficulty I procured fish, and +with still more had it dressed in the English mode, I mounted my horse, +and proceeded on my journey in the road to Boulogne. I had now my first +trial of my Norman horse; he fully answered my expectations, and almost +my wishes. He had a leisurely lounging walk, which seemed well suited to +an observant traveller. It is well known of Erasmus, that he wrote the +best of his works, and made a whole course of the Classics, on +horseback; and I have no doubt but that I could have both read and +written on the back of my Norman. To make up, however, for this +tardiness, he was a good-humoured, patient, and sure-footed beast; but +would stretch out his neck now and then to get a passing bite of the +wheat which grew by the road side. I wished to get on to Boulogne to +sleep, and therefore tried all his paces; but found his trotting +scarcely tolerable by human feeling.</p> + +<p>The road from Calais, for the first twelve miles, is open and hilly. On +each side of the main way is a smaller road, which is the summer, as the +other is the winter one. The day being very fine, and not too warm, I +enjoyed myself much. I passed many fields in which the country people +were making hay: they seemed very merry. The fellow who loaded the cart +had a cocked hat, and by his erectness I should have thought to have +been a soldier, but that every one who passed me had nearly the same +air, and the same hat. Some of the hay-makers called to me, but in such +barbarous <i>patois</i>, that I could make nothing of them. One company of +them, saluting me from a distance, deputed a girl to make known their +wishes. Seeing her to be young, and expecting her to be handsome, I +checked my horse; but a nearer view correcting my error, and exhibiting +her only a coarse masculine wench, I pushed forwards, without waiting +her embassy. The peasant women of France work so hard, as to lose every +appearance of youth in the face, whilst they retain it in the person; +and it is therefore no uncommon thing to see the person of a Venus, and +the face of an old monkey. I passed by a set of these labourers sitting +under a tree, and taking that repast which, in the North of England, is +called "fours," from being usually taken by harvest labourers at that +time of the day. The party consisted of about a dozen women and girls, +and but one man. I was invited to drink some of their wine, and being by +the road side, could not refuse. My horse was led under the tree: I was +compelled to dismount, and to share their repast, such as it was. Some +money which I offered was refused. I made my choice amongst one of my +entertainers, and could do no less than salute her. This produced great +noise and merriment, and gave free reins to French levity and coquetry; +in a word, I was obliged to salute them all. My favourite and first +choice gave me her hand on my departure: she might have sat for Prior's +Nut-Brown Maid.</p> + +<p>The main purpose of my journey being rather to see the manners of the +people, than the brick and mortar of the towns, I had formed a +resolution to seek the necessary refreshment as seldom as possible at +inns, and as often as possible in the houses of the humbler farmers, and +the better kind of peasantry. About fifteen miles from Calais my horse +and myself were looking out for something of this kind, and one shortly +appeared about three hundred yards on the left side of the road. It was +a cottage in the midst of a garden, and the whole surrounded by an +hedge, which looked delightfully green and refreshing. The garden was +all in flower and bloom. The walls of the cottage were robed in the same +livery of Nature. I had seen such cottages in Kent and in Devonshire, +but in no other part of the world. The inhabitants were simple people, +small farmers, having about ten or fifteen acres of land. Some grass was +immediately cut for my horse, and the coffee which I produced from my +pocket was speedily set before me, with cakes, wine, some meat, and +cheese, the French peasantry having no idea of what we call tea. +Throwing the windows up, so as to enjoy the scenery and freshness of the +garden; sitting upon one chair, and resting a leg upon the other; +alternately pouring out my coffee, and reading a pocket-edition of +Thomson's Seasons, I enjoyed one of those moments which give a zest to +life; I felt happy, and in peace and in love with all around me.</p> + +<p>Proceeding upon my journey, two miles on the Calais side of Boulogne I +fell in with an overturned chaise, which the postillion was trying to +raise. The vehicle was a <i>chaise de poste</i>, the ordinary travelling +carriage of the country, and a thing in a civilized country wretched +beyond conception. It was drawn by three horses, one in the shafts, and +one on each side. The postillion had ridden on the one on the driving +side; he was a little punch fellow, and in a pair of boots like +fire-buckets. The travellers consisted of an old French lady and +gentleman; Madame in a high crimped cap, and stiff long whalebone stays. +Monsieur informed me very courteously of the cause of the accident, +whilst Madame alternately curtsied to me and menaced and scolded the +postillion. The French postillions, indeed, are the most intolerable set +of beings. They never hesitate to get off their horses, suffer them to +go forwards, and follow them very leisurely behind. I saw several +instances in which they had suffered the traces to twist round the +horses' legs, so that on descending an hill, their escape with life must +be a miracle.</p> + +<p>I shall briefly observe, now I am upon this subject, that posting is +nearly as dear in France as in England. A post in France is six miles, +and one shilling and threepence is charged for each horse, and +sevenpence for the driver. The price, therefore, for two horses would be +three shillings and a penny; but whatever number of persons there may +be, a horse is charged for each. The postillions, moreover, expect at +least double of what the book of regulations allows them, as matter of +right.</p> + +<p>I reached Boulogne about sunset, and was much pleased with its vicinity. +On each side of the road, and at different distances, from two hundred +yards to a mile, were groves of trees, in which were situated some +ancient chateaux. Many of them were indeed in ruin from the effects of +the Revolution. Upon entering the town, I inquired the way to the Hotel +d'Angleterre, which is kept by an Englishman of the name of Parker, +Bonaparte having specially exempted him from the edicts respecting +aliens. I had a good supper, but an indifferent bed, and the close +situation rendered the heat of the night still more oppressive. Mr. +Parker himself was absent, and had left the management with a French +young woman, who would not suffer me to write uninterrupted, and seemed +to take much offence that I did not invite her to take her seat at the +supper table. I believe I was the only male traveller in the inn; and +flattery, and even substantial gallantry, is so necessary and so natural +to French women, that they look to it as their due, and conceive +themselves injured when it is withholden.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_V" id="CHAP_V"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. V.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Boulogne—Dress of the Inhabitants—The Pier—Theatre—Caution<br /> +in the Exchange of Money—Beautiful Landscape, and<br /> +Conversation With a French Veteran—Character of Mr. Parker's<br /> +Hotel—Departure, and romantic Road—Fête Champetre<br /> +in a Village on a hill at Montreuil—Ruined Church and Convent.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p>I had heard so bad a report of Boulogne, as to be agreeably surprised +when I found it so little deserving it. I spent the greater part of a +day in it with much pleasure, and but that I wished to get to Paris, +should have continued longer.</p> + +<p>Boulogne is very agreeably situated, and the views from the high grounds +on each side are delightful. The landscape from the ramparts is not to +be exceeded, but is not seen to advantage except when there is high +water in the river. There is an evident mixture of strangers and natives +amongst the inhabitants. There are many resident English, who have been +nationalized by express edict, or the construction of the law. I heard +it casually mentioned, that these were not the most respectable class of +inhabitants, though many of them are rich, and all of them are active. +The English and French women, whom I met with in the streets, were each +dressed in their peculiar fashion; the English women as they dress in +the country towns of England; the French without hats, with close caps, +and cloaks down to the feet. This fashion I found to be peculiar to +Boulogne and its promenade. The town is, upon the whole, clean, lively, +brisk, and flourishing; the houses are in good repair, and many others +were building.</p> + +<p>I walked down to the pier, and my conclusion was, that the English +Ministry were mad when they attempted any thing against Boulogne. The +harbour appeared to me impregnable. I must confess, however, that the +French appeared to me equally mad, in expecting any thing from their +flotilla. Three English frigates would sink the whole force at Boulogne +in the open sea. The French seem to know this; yet, to amuse the +populace, and to play upon the fears of the English Ministry, the farce +is kept up, and daily reports are made by the Commandant of the state of +the flotilla. There is a delightful walk on the beach, which is a flat +strand of firm sand, as far as the tide reaches. In the summer evenings +when the tide serves, this is the favourite promenade this is likewise +the parade, as the soldiers are occasionally here exercised.</p> + +<p>There is a tolerable theatre, but the dramatic corps are not +stationary. They were not in the town whilst I was there, so that I can +speak of their merits only by report. One of the actresses was highly +spoken of, and had indeed reached the reward of her eminence; having +been called to the Parisian stage. Bonaparte is notoriously, perhaps +politically, attached to the drama, and is no sooner informed of any +good performer on a provincial stage, than he issues his command for his +appearance and engagement at Paris.</p> + +<p>The principal church at Boulogne is a good and respectable structure, +and I learned with much satisfaction and some surprise, that on the +Sabbath at least it was crowded. The people of Boulogne execrate the +Revolution, and avert from all mention and memory of it, and not without +reason, as their environs have been in some degree spoiled by its +excesses. Several miles on the road from Boulogne, those sad monuments +of the popular phrensy, ruined chateaux, and churches converted into +stables or granaries, force the memory back upon those melancholy times, +when the property and religion of a nation became the but of bandits and +atheists. May the world itself perish, before such an era shall return +or become general!</p> + +<p>I had received from an American house in London some bills on a +mercantile house at Boulogne; a very convenient method, and which I +would therefore recommend to other travellers, as they hereby save very +considerably, such bills being usually given at some advantage in +favour of those who purchase them by coin. Bills on Boulogne, Bourdeaux, +and Havre, are always to be had of the American brokers, either in +London or in New York. One advantage in this exchange is, that bills may +be had of any date, in which case you may suit the occasions, and put +the discount into your own pocket. My bill on Boulogne was for 3000 +francs, about 130<i>l.</i> English. I received it in Louis d'ors and écus. In +the progress of my journey, several of the Louis were refused, as +deficient in weight, and I was advised in future never to take a Louis +without seeing that it was weight. The French coin is indeed in a very +bad state, which here, as elsewhere, is attributed to the Jews.</p> + +<p>On the Paris side of Boulogne is a landscape and walk of most exquisite +beauty. The river, after some smaller meanders, takes a wide reach +through a beautiful vale, and shortly after flows into the sea through +two hills, which open as it were to receive it. I walked along the banks +to have a better view, and got into converse with a soldier, who had +been in the battle of Marengo. He gave me a very lively account of the +conduct of that extraordinary man, the French Emperor, in this grand +event of his life. His expression was, that he looked over the battle as +if looking upon a chess-board: that he made it a rule never to engage +personally, till he saw the whole plan of the battle in execution; that +he would then ride alternately to each division, and encourage them by +fighting awhile with them: that he visited all the sick and wounded +soldiers the day after the battle, inquired into the nature of their +wound, where and how it was received; and if there were any +circumstances of peculiar merit or peculiar distress, noted it down, and +invariably acted upon this memorandum: that he punished adultery in a +soldier's wife, if they were both in the camp, by the death of the +woman; if the offending was not in the field, and therefore not within +the reach of a court-martial, the soldier had a divorce on simple proof +of the offence before any mayor or magistrate. I demanded of this +veteran, pointing to the flotilla, when the Emperor intended to invade +England? He perceived the smile which accompanied this question, and +instantaneously, with a fierce look of suspicion and resolution, +demanded of me my passport. Though the abruptness of his conduct +startled me, I could not but regard him with some admiration. A long, +thin, spare figure of 55, was so sensible of the honour of his country, +as to take fire even at a jest at it as at a personal insult. It is to +this spirit that France owes half her victories.</p> + +<p>As soon as the heat of the day had declined, having satisfied my +curiosity as to Boulogne, I called for my bill and my horse, intending +to get on to Montreuil, where I had fixed upon sleeping. My bill was +extravagant to a degree; a circumstance I imputed to the want of some +due attentions to Madame. These kind of people have always the revenge +in their own hands. As I did not see Mr. Parker, I know not whether to +recommend his inn or not. He has some excellent Burgundy, but the +charges are high, the attendance not good, and the situation in summer +close and stifling. Madame, however, is a very pretty woman, and seems a +very good-humoured one, if her expectations are answered. She is a true +French woman, however, and expects gallantry even from a weary +traveller.</p> + +<p>I found the road improve much as I advanced; the country became more +enclosed, and bore a strong resemblance to the most cultivated parts of +England. The cherry trees standing in the midst of the corn had a very +pretty effect; the fields had the appearance of gardens, and some of the +gardens had the wildness of the field. The season was evidently more +advanced than in England; there were more fruits and flowers, and the +bloom was more bossy and luxuriant. Several smaller roads led from the +main road, and the spires of the village churches, as seen in the side +landscape, rising above the tops of the trees, invited the fancy to +combine some rural images, and weave itself at least an imaginary +Arcadia. The persons I met or overtook upon the road were not altogether +in unison with what I must call the romance of the scene. Every carter +drove his vehicle in a cocked-hat, and the women had all wooden shoes. +Boys and girls of twelve years old were in rags, which very ill covered +them. Nor was there any of the briskness visible on a high road in +England. A single cart, and a waggon, were all the vehicles that I saw +between Boulogne and Abbeville. In England, in the same space, I should +have seen a dozen, or score.</p> + +<p>Not being pressed for time, the beauty of a scene at some little +distance from the road-side tempted me to enter into a bye-lane, and +take a nearer view of it. A village church, embosomed in a chesnut wood, +just rose above the trees on the top of a hill; the setting sun was on +its casements, and the foliage of the wood was burnished by the golden +reflection. The distant hum of the village green was just audible; but +not so the French horn, which echoed in full melody through the groves. +Having rode about half a mile through a narrow sequestered lane, which +strongly reminded me of the half-green and half-trodden bye-roads in +Warwickshire, I came to the bottom of the hill, on the brow and summit +of which the village and church were situated. I now saw whence the +sound of the horn proceeded. On the left of the road was an ancient +chateau situated in a park, or very extensive meadow, and ornamented as +well by some venerable trees, as by a circular fence of flowering +shrubs, guarded on the outside by a paling on a raised mound. The park +or meadow having been newly mown, had an air at once ornamented and +natural. A party of ladies were collected under a patch of trees +situated in the middle of the lawn. I stopt at the gate to look at +them, thinking myself unperceived: but in the same moment the gate was +opened to me by a gentleman and two ladies, who were walking the round. +An explanation was now necessary, and was accordingly given. The +gentleman informed me upon his part, that the chateau belonged to Mons. +St. Quentin, a Member of the French Senate, and a Judge of the District; +that he had a party of friends with him upon the occasion of his lady's +birth-day, and that they were about to begin dancing; that Mons. St. +Quentin would highly congratulate himself on my accidental arrival. One +of the ladies, having previously apologized and left us, had seemingly +explained to Mons. St. Quentin the main circumstance belonging to me, +for he now appeared, and repeated the invitation in his own person. The +ladies added their kind importunities. I dismounted, gave my horse to a +servant in waiting, and joined this happy and elegant party, for such it +really was.</p> + +<p>I had now, for the first time, an opportunity of forming an opinion of +French beauty, the assemblage of ladies being very numerous, and all of +them most elegantly dressed. Travelling, and the imitative arts, have +given a most surprising uniformity to all the fashions of dress and +ornament; and, whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a very +slight difference between the scenes of a French and English polite +assembly. If any thing, however, be distinguishable, it is more in +degree than in substance. The French fashions, as I saw them here, +differed in no other point from what I had seen in London, but in +degree. The ladies were certainly more exposed about the necks, and +their hair was dressed with more fancy; but the form was in almost every +thing the same. The most elegant novelty was a hat, which doubled up +like a fan, so that the ladies carried it in their hands. There were +more coloured than white muslins; a variety which had a pretty effect +amongst the trees and flowers. The same observation applies to the +gentlemen. Their dresses were made as in England; but the pattern of the +cloth, or some appendage to it, was different. One gentleman, habited in +a grass-coloured silk coat, had very much the appearance of Beau +Mordecai in the farce: the ladies, however, seemed to admire him, and in +some conversation with him I found him, in despite of his coat, a very +well-informed man. There were likewise three or four fancy dresses; a +Dian, a wood-nymph, and a sweet girl playing upon a lute, habited +according to a picture of Calypso by David. On the whole, there was +certainly more fancy, more taste, and more elegance, than in an English +party of the same description; though there were not so many handsome +women as would have been the proportion of such an assembly in England.</p> + +<p>A table was spread handsomely and substantially under a very large and +lofty marquee. The outside was very prettily painted for the +occasion—Venus commemorating her birth from the ocean. The French +manage these things infinitely better than any other nation in the +world. It was necessary, however, for the justice of the compliment, +that the Venus should be a likeness of Madame St. Quentin, who was +neither very young nor very handsome. The painter, however, got out of +the scrape very well.</p> + +<p>A small party accompanied me into the village, which was lively, and had +some very neat houses. The peasantry, both men and women, had hats of +straw; a manufactory which Mons. St. Quentin had introduced. A boy was +reading at a cottage-door. I had the curiosity to see the book. It was a +volume of Marmontel. His mother came out, invited us into the house, and +in the course of some conversation, produced some drawings by this +youth; they were very simple, and very masterly. The ladies purchased +them at a good price. He had attained this excellence without a master, +and Mons. St. Quentin, as we were informed, had been so pleased with +him, as to take him into his house. His temper and manners, however, +were not in unison with his taste, and his benefactor had been compelled +to restore him to his mother, but still intended to send him to study at +Paris. The boy's countenance was a direct lie to Lavater; his air was +heavy, and absolutely without intelligence. Mons. St. Quentin had +dismissed him his house on account of a very malignant sally of passion: +a horse having thrown him by accident, the young demon took a knife from +his pocket, and deliberately stabbed him three several times. Such was a +peasant boy, now seemingly enveloped in the interesting simplicity of +Marmontel. How inconsistent is what is called character!</p> + +<p>I had a sweet ride for the remaining way to Montreuil by moon-light, +accompanied by two gentlemen on horseback, who lived in that town. They +related to me many melancholy incidents during the revolutionary period. +Montreuil was formerly distributed into five parishes, and had five +churches; but the people doubtless thinking that five was too many for +the religion of the town, destroyed the other four, and sold the best +part of the materials. Accordingly, when I entered the town, my eye was +caught by a noble ruin, which upon inquiry I found to be the church of +Notre Dame. This ruin is beautiful beyond description. The pillars which +remain are noble, and the capitals and carving rich to a degree. It is +astonishing to me that any reasonable beings, the inhabitants of a town, +could thus destroy its chief ornament; but in the madness of the +revolutionary fanatics, the sun itself would have been plucked from +Heaven, if they could have reached it. I was sincerely happy to learn +that religion had returned, and that there was a general inclination to +subscribe for the repair, or rather rebuilding, of Notre Dame.</p> + +<p>My friends took leave of me after recommending to me an inn kept by two +sisters, the name of which I have forgotten. They were so handsome as to +resemble English women, and what is very uncommon in this class of +people in France, were totally without rouge. Whilst my supper was +preparing, I had a moon-light walk round the town. The situation of it +is at once commanding and beautiful. The ruins of a chateau, seen under +the light of the moon, improved the scenery, and was another memento of +the execrable Revolution. There are a number of pretty houses, and some +of them substantial. One of them belonged to one of the gentlemen who +accompanied me from Mons. St. Quentin's, and was his present residence, +being all that remained to him of a noble property in the vicinity. This +property had been sold by the nation, and the recovery of it had become +impossible, though the gentleman was in tolerable favour with the +government. Bonaparte had answered one of this gentleman's memorials by +subscribing it with a sentence in his own writing: "We cannot +re-purchase the nation." This gentleman spoke highly, but perhaps +unjustly, of the vigour of Bonaparte's government, of his inflexible +love of justice, and his personal attention to the administration. I +compelled him, however, to acknowledge, that in his own immediate +concerns, the justice of the French Chief was not proof against his +passions. I mentioned the Duke of Enghien; the gentleman pushed on his +horse, and begged me to say no more of the matter.</p> + +<p>Upon my return I had an excellent supper, and what was still more +welcome, a bed which reminded me of those at an English coffee-house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_VI" id="CHAP_VI"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. VI.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Departure from Montreuil—French Conscripts—Extreme Youth—Excellent<br /> +Roads—Country Labourers—Court for the Claims<br /> +of Emigrants—Abbeville—Companion on the Road—Amiens.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> I wished to reach Paris as soon as possible, I had ordered the +chambermaid to call me at an early hour in the morning; but was awakened +previous to the appointed time by some still earlier travellers—a very +numerous detachment of conscripts, who were on their march for the +central <i>depôt</i> of the department. The greater part of them were boys, +and were merry and noisy in a manner characteristic of the French youth. +Seeing me at the window, one of them struck up a very lively +<i>reveillée</i>, and was immediately joined by others who composed their +marching band. They were attended, and their baggage carried, by a +peculiar kind of cart—a platform erected on wheels, and on which they +ascended when fatigued. The vehicles were prepared, the horses +harnessed, and the young conscripts impatiently waiting for the word to +march.</p> + +<p>When I came down into the inn-yard, no one was stirring in the house +except the ostler, who, upon my mentioning the component items of my +entertainment, very fairly, as I thought, reckoned them up, and received +the amount, taking care to remind me of the chambermaid. Having with +some difficulty likewise procured from him a glass of milk, I mounted my +horse, and followed the conscripts, who, with drum and fife, were +merrily but regularly marching before me. The regularity of the march +continued only till they got beyond the town, and down the hill, when +the music ceased, the ranks broke, and every one walked or ran as he +pleased. As they were somewhat too noisy for a meditating traveller, I +put my horse to his mettle, and soon left them at a convenient distance.</p> + +<p>I must cursorily observe, that the main circumstance which struck me in +this detachment, was the extreme youth of the major part. I saw not a +man amongst them, and some of them had an air the most perfectly +childish. Bonaparte is said to prefer these young recruits. No army in +Europe would have admitted them, with the exception of the French.</p> + +<p>The road was truly excellent, though hilly, and indeed so continued till +within a few miles of Abbeville. The present Emperor acts so far upon +the system of the ancient monarchy, and considers the goodness of the +highways as the most important and most immediate object of the +administration; accordingly, the roads in France are still better than +under the Bourbons, as Bonaparte sees every thing with his own eyes. +Nothing, indeed, is wanting to quick travelling in France, but English +drivers and English carriages. How would a mail-coach roll upon such a +road! The French postillions, and even the French horses, such as I met +on the road, have a kind of activity without progress—the postillions +are very active in cracking their whips over their heads, and the horses +shuffle about without mending their pace.</p> + +<p>I passed several country labourers, men and women, going to their daily +toil. I was informed by one of them, that he worked in the hay-field, +and earned six-and-thirty sous (1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>) a day; that the wages for +mowers were fifty sous (2<i>s.</i> 1<i>d.</i>), and two bottles of wine or cyder; +that his wife had fourteen sous and her food; and boys and children old +enough to rake, from six to twelve sous. He paid 25 livres annually for +the rent of his cottage. When he had to support himself, he breakfasted +on bread, and a glass or more of strong wine or brandy; dined on bread +and cheese, and supped on bread and an apple. He wore leather shoes, +except in wet weather, when he wore <i>sabots</i>, which cost about twelve +sous per pair.</p> + +<p>I passed more <i>chateaux</i> in ruins, and others shut up and forsaken. Some +of them were very prettily situated, in patches of trees and amidst +corn-fields. Several, as I understood, belonged to emigrants, whom +Bonaparte had recalled by name, but who had not as yet returned. I +learned with some satisfaction, that some shew of justice was still +necessary. Where the property of the emigrants is unsold, and still in +the hands of the nation, the emigrated proprietor is not totally without +a chance of restitution. If he can come forwards, and prove, in a court +established for the purpose, that he has merely been absent; that his +absence was not without sufficient reasons; that he has not taken up +arms against France; and finally, had returned as soon as he possessed +the means—under these circumstances, the lands are restored. Even his +children may succeed where himself shall fail. Upon proof of infancy at +the time of emigration, and that they have at no time borne arms against +the empire, the lands are not unfrequently decreed to them, even when +the father's claim has been rejected.</p> + +<p>I reached Bernay to breakfast, and, for the first time in France, met +with a surly host and a sour hostess. The bread being stale, salt, and +bitter, I desired it to be changed. The host obeyed, so far as to carry +it out of the room and bring it in again. It was in vain, however, that +I insisted upon the identity, till I desired him to bring what he had +removed, and to compare it with what he had brought. He then flatly told +me, that I must either have that or none; that it was as good bread as +any in France, and that he intended to eat it for his own breakfast. +His wife came in, hearing my raised voice, and maintained her husband's +assertions very stoutly. For the sake of peace, I found it necessary to +submit. He is a true hero who can support a contest with a man and his +wife. The girl who waited on me seemed made of kinder materials. She +laughed with much archness when I shewed her the bread, and its vigorous +resistance to the edge of my knife. She was born in Musilius, and told +me, with true French coquetry, that her sisters were as handsome as +herself. She mentioned some English name (that of a valet, I suppose), +and asked me if I knew him in London. If I should hereafter meet him, I +was to remind him of Bernay. The charges, contrary to my expectations, +were as moderate as the breakfast was indifferent; and the host did me +the honour to wish me good morning. The hostess, however, was inflexibly +sour, and saw me depart without a word, or even a salutation.</p> + +<p>I had a most unpleasant ride to Abbeville, the heat of the day being +extreme, and the road totally without any shelter. I imagined, however, +that the heat was less oppressive than heat of the same intensity in +England; but I know not whether this difference was any thing but +imaginary. In foreign countries, we are so much upon the hunt for +novelty, and so well predisposed to find it, that in things not strongly +nor immediately the objects of sense, our impressions are not altogether +to be trusted.</p> + +<p>Abbeville, which I reached in good time for the <i>table d'hôte</i>, which is +held on every market-day, is a populous but a most unpleasant town. The +inhabitants are stated to exceed 22,000; but I do not conceive that they +can amount to one half of that number. The town has a most ruinous +appearance, from the circumstance of many of the houses being built with +wood; and by the forms of the windows and the doors, some of them must +be very ancient. There are two or three manufactories of cloth, but none +of them were in a flourishing condition. I went to visit that of +Vanrobais, established by Louis XIV. and which still continues, though +in ruins. The buildings are upon a very large scale; but too much was +attempted for them to execute any thing in a workmanlike manner. There +are different buildings for every different branch of the manufacture. I +cannot but think, however, that they would have succeeded better if they +had consulted the principle of the sub-division of labour. A man who is +both a weaver and a spinner, will certainly not be both as good a weaver +and as good a spinner, as another who is only a spinner or only a +weaver: he will not have the same dexterity, and therefore will not do +the same work. No business is done so well as that which is the sole +object of attention. I saw likewise a manufactory of carpets, which +seemed more flourishing. In the cloth manufactory, the earnings of the +working manufacturers are about 36 sous per diem (1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>): in the +carpet manufactories, somewhat more. The cloths, as far as I am a +judge, seemed to me even to exceed those of England; but the carpets +are much inferior. From some unaccountable reason, however, the cloths +were much dearer than English broad cloth of the same quality. Whence +does this happen, in a country where provisions are so much cheaper? +Perhaps from that neglect of the sub-division of labour which I have +above noticed.</p> + +<p>Abbeville, like all the other principal towns through which I passed, +bore melancholy marks of the Revolution. The handsome church which stood +in the market-place is in ruins—scarcely a stone remains on the top of +another. Many of the best houses were shut up, and others of the same +description, evidently inhabited by people for whom they were not built. +In many of them, one room only was inhabited; and in others, the second +and third floors turned into granaries. Indeed, along the whole road +from Abbeville to Paris, are innumerable <i>chateaux</i>, which are now only +the cells of beggars, or of the lowest kind of peasantry.</p> + +<p>An officer who was going to Amiens, joined company with me on the road +to Pequigny, and, like every Frenchman of this class, became +communicative almost in the same instant in which we had exchanged +salutes. I found, however, that he knew nothing, except in his own +profession; and I very strongly suspect, that he even here gave me some +details of battles in which he had never been, or at least he made two +or three geographical mistakes, for which I cannot otherwise account. He +made no scruple of moving the Rhine a few degrees easterly; and +constructed a bridge over the Adige without the help of the mason. I +have not unfrequently, indeed, been surprized at the unaccountable +ignorance betrayed by this class of men. It is to be hoped, that in +another age this will pass away. My companion, however, had a +good-humour which compensated for his ignorance; he alternately talked, +sung, and dismounted from his horse to speak to every peasant girl who +met us on the road; he seemed at home with every one, and made the time +pass agreeably enough. He sung, at my request, the Marseillois, and sung +it with such emphasis, energy, and attitude, as to make me sincerely +repent the having called forth such a deafening exhibition of his +powers. Though one or two travellers passed us whilst he was thus +exhibiting, my gentleman was not in the slightest degree discomposed, +but continued his song, his attitudes, and his grimaces, as if he were +in the midst of a wood.</p> + +<p>After a very long journey, in which my little Norman had performed to +admiration, I reached Amiens about eight o'clock, on the sweetest summer +evening imaginable. The aspect of Amiens, as it is approached by the +road, resembles Canterbury—the cathedral rising above the town—the +town, as it were, gathering around it as its parent and protector. My +companion would not leave me till he had seen me to the inn, the <i>Hotel +d'Angleterre</i>, when he took a farewell of me as if we had been intimate +for years, and I have no doubt, thought no more of me after he had +turned the corner of the street. These attentions, however, are not the +less pleasing, and answer their purpose as well as if they were more +permanent. Having ordered my supper, and seen my horse duly provided +for, I walked through the town, which is clean, lively, and in many +respects resembling towns of the third rate in England. I visited the +cathedral, which pleased me much; but has been so often described, that +I deem it unnecessary to say more of it. It was built by the English in +the time of Henry VI. and the regency of the Duke of Bedford, and has +much of the national taste of that people, and those times. Though +strictly Gothic, it is light, and very tastefully ornamented: it +infinitely exceeds any cathedral in England, with the exception of +Westminster Abbey. I went to see likewise the <i>Chateau d'Eau</i>, the +machine for supplying Amiens with water. There is nothing more than +common in it, and the purpose would be answered better by pipes and a +steam-engine. It excited one observation which I have since frequently +made—that the French, with all their parade of science and ostentation +of institutions, are still a century behind England in real practical +knowledge. My Tour in France has at least taught me one lesson—never to +be deceived by high-sounding names and pompous designations. I have not +visited their schools for nothing. The French talk; the English act. A +steady plodding Englishman will build an house, while a Frenchman is +laying down rules for it. There is more of this idle pedantry in France +than in any country on the face of the globe: every thing is done with +science, and nothing with knowledge.</p> + +<p>Walking through the market-place, my attention was taken by an unusual +bustle—the erecting of scaffolds, booths, and other similar +preparations. I learned, upon inquiry, that the half-yearly fair was to +be held on the following day; a piece of information which confirmed my +previous intention of passing that day at Amiens.</p> + +<p>Upon returning to the inn, I had a supper as comfortable as any I had +ever sat down to, even in England. The landlord, at my particular +request, took his seat with me at table. He complained bitterly of the +oppression of the taxes, and more particularly of their uncertainty, +which was so indeterminate, according to his assertions, that the +collectors took what they pleased, and employed their offices as means +of favour, or to gratify their personal piques. One of the collectors of +Amiens, it seems, was likewise an inn-keeper, who availed himself of the +power of his office to harass his rival. There is no appeal, as long as +the collector is faithful to the government, and pays in what he +receives. The manner in which defaulters are treated, is peculiar to +the French government. If the sum assessed be not paid within the +appointed time, a soldier is billeted at the house of the defaulter, and +another is daily added till the arrear be cleared. The greater part of +the taxes have been imposed during the strong days of the Revolution; +and as they are sufficiently productive, and the present government have +not the odium of their first institution, they are suffered to continue +upon their old foundation—that is to say, upon an infinite number of +successive decrees, many of which contradict each other. No one, +therefore, knows exactly what he has to pay, and any one may be made to +pay according to the caprice of the collector.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_VII" id="CHAP_VII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. VII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>General Character of the Town—Public Walk—Gardens—Half-yearly<br /> +Fair—Gaming Houses—Table d'Hôtes—English at<br /> +Amiens—Expence of Living.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> noise of the people collecting for the fair, and the consequent +bustle of the inn, awoke me at an early hour in the morning; and after a +breakfast which reminded me of England, I sallied forth to see the town +and the lions. A vast multitude of people had assembled from the +surrounding country, and were collected around the several booths. The +day was fine, the bells were ringing, and the music playing; every one +was dressed in their holiday clothes, and every one seemed to have a +happy and careless face, suitable to the festivity of the occasion.</p> + +<p>Amiens is most delightfully situated, the country around being highly +cultivated. It is, in every respect, one of the cleanest towns in +France; and the frequent visits and long residence of Englishmen, have +produced a very sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the +inhabitants. Though some of the houses are very ancient, and the streets +are narrow, it has not the ruinous nor close appearance of the other +towns on the Paris road. It has been lately newly paved; and there is +something, of the nature of a parish-rate for keeping it clean, and in +summer for watering the streets.</p> + +<p>Though Amiens has suffered very considerably by the war, it has still, +in appearance at least, an extensive trade. The manufactures are of the +same kind as those at Abbeville. Besides their cloths, however, they +work up a considerable quantity of camblets, callimancoes, and baizes, +chiefly red and spotted, for domestic consumption. They were in great +distress for wool, and could procure none but by land-carriage from +Spain, Portugal, and Flanders. Upon examining two or three of their +articles, I thought them very dear, but very good. I visited two or +three of their manufactories, and upon inquiring for others, was +informed that they had been shut up. The effect of the war had been, to +raise prices to double their former rate: every one expressed an anxious +wish for peace, and imputed the continuance of the war to the English +Ministry.</p> + +<p>The general character of the people of Amiens is, that they are lively, +good-humoured, and less infected by the revolutionary contagion than any +town in France: as many of them as I had an opportunity of conversing +with, spoke with due detestation of jacobinism, and with an equal wise +submission to the present order of things. Besides the native +inhabitants, there are many foreign residents, and some English. As +these are in general in good circumstances, they have usually the best +houses in the town, and live in the substantial style of their +respective countries. The English denizens very well understand that +they are constantly under the eye of the French government, and its +spies: they live, therefore, as much as possible in public; and in their +balls, and dinners, and entertainments, have a due mixture of French +visitants. Several of them avoid this restraint by passing for +Americans; but the detection of this deception is most severely +punished. The English have contrived, however, to procure both the good +will and the good word of the people of Amiens, and even the French +government seems to regard them with peculiar favour.</p> + +<p>Every considerable town in France has its public walk, and Amiens has +one or more of singular beauty; but being situated in an unenclosed +country, and amongst corn-fields, its private walks are still more +frequented than its ancient promenade. I was informed that the English +had brought these private walks into general fashion, and I considered +it as an additional proof of their good sense and natural taste.</p> + +<p>The multitude of people assembled from every part of the province, gave +me an opportunity of seeing the national costume of the peasantry. The +habits of the men did not appear to me so various, and so novel, as +those of the women. The greater part of the former had three-cocked +hats, some of straw, some of pasteboard, and some of beaver; jackets, +red, yellow, and blue; and breeches of the same fancy colours. The women +were dressed in a variety both of shape and colour, which defies all +description. When seen from a distance, the assembly had a very +picturesque appearance: the sun shining on the various colours, gave +them the appearance of so many flowers. The general features of the fair +did not differ much from the fairs in England and America. There were +two streets completely filled with booths: the market-place was occupied +with shows, and temporary theatres. I observed, however, two or three +peculiar national amusements; one of them called the <i>Mats de Cocagne</i>, +the other the <i>Mats de Beaupré</i>. The <i>Mats de Cocagne</i> are long poles, +some of them thirty feet in height, well greased, and erected +perpendicularly. At the top of them is suspended by a string, a watch, a +shirt, or other similar articles, which become the prize of the +fortunate adventurer who can ascend and reach them. A few sous are paid +to the proprietor of the <i>mat</i>, for the chance of gaining the prize; it +is the fault, therefore, of the proprietor, if the <i>mat</i> be not so well +greased as to render the ascent almost impossible. I saw many fruitless +attempts made: one fellow had nearly gained the top, and was within +reach of the prize; he stretched his hand out to take it, and having by +this act diminished his hold, came down with the most frightful +rapidity. The crowd laughed; and another adventurer, nothing dismayed, +succeeded him in the attempt, and in the failure. The prize, however, +was at length obtained; but the adventurer, I should think, had not much +cause to congratulate himself on his good luck. His descent was of a +rapidity which caused the blood to gush out of his mouth and his nose, +and for some time, at least, frightened the multitude from repeating the +same sport.</p> + +<p>The <i>Mats de Beaupré</i> are upon the same principle; they are soaped +poles, laid horizontally, but very high from the ground. At the further +extremity of them are the same prizes, and which are gained upon the +same condition—the men to walk over, the women to scramble over them in +any manner which they might deem best. To break the violence of the +fall, the ground immediately under the poles was thickly laid with +straw. Several women, and innumerable girls, made an attempt to gain the +prize at these <i>Mats de Beaupré</i>, and in the course of their efforts had +some tumbles, which much delighted the mob. Indeed, this kind of sport +seemed peculiarly intended for the females: the men seemed to prefer the +<i>Cocagnes</i>.</p> + +<p>The chief enjoyment of the multitude, however, seemed to be dancing. +Several scaffolds, with benches rising one above another, were erected +in every part of the town: these were the orchestras, which, as far as I +saw, were supported by the voluntary contributions of the companies +which danced to their music. A subscription was always made after every +dance, and each dancer subscribed a sous. The ladies, I believe, were +excused by the payment of their partners. The dancing was excellent, and +the music by no means contemptible.</p> + +<p>The shows were much of the same kind as those in Bartholomew fair, in +London, and which travel from town to town during the summer in America. +The mountebanks and merry-andrews appeared more dexterous and more +humorous. One of the former seeing me, entreated the crowd to make way +for me; and when I turned my back, "Nay, my good friend," said he, "do +not mistake me. I have no intention of asking you for the money which +you owe to me for your last cure; you are very welcome to it. I delight +in doing good. I am paid sufficiently by your recovery. If you choose, +however, to remember, my young man"—The merry-andrew was here at my +side, and I deemed it most prudent to drop a few sous into his cap, and +effect my escape. The crowd understood the jest, and laughed heartily. +One of them, however, of more decent appearance, made me a very pleasing +apology, repeating at the same time a French proverb—that a pope and a +mountebank were above all law.</p> + +<p>Amongst the commodities exhibited for sale, I was agreeably surprised to +find two or more booths well supplied with English and French books; +and my surprise was still greater, to find that the former had many +purchasers. I took up several of them, and found them to be English +Gazetteers, Tours in England, Wales, Scotland; Travels in America, +Dictionaries, and Grammars. From some cause or other, the English seem +in particular favour in and about Amiens, and Lord Cornwallis is still +remembered with respect and affection.</p> + +<p>There, were other booths which excited less pleasing reflections; these +were the temporary gaming tables, the admission to which was from six to +twelve sous. I had the curiosity to enter one of them: it was already +full. One party was at eager play, and others were waiting to succeed +them. I could make nothing of the game, only that it was one of chance, +and that the winnings and losings were determined in every three casts. +I saw a decent young man take off and stake his neckcloth: fortune +favoured him, and he had the uncommon fortitude to retire, and play no +more. There was another booth of rather a singular kind—a temporary +pawnbroker's, and who appeared to have a good brisk trade.</p> + +<p>My attention, however, was more peculiarly attracted by a marquee, open +on all sides, and with an elevated floor: a chair, covered with green +velvet, was here placed, and occupied by a man of much apparent gravity. +I found, upon inquiry, that this was the president, judge, or +magistrate of the fair; that he was elected by votes of the +booth-holders, and determined all disputes on the spot; that his +authority was supported by the police, and his sentence enforced by the +municipality. He was a portly man, wore a three-cocked hat, and an old +scarlet cloak, which had served the same purpose time out of mind.</p> + +<p>I returned to my hotel to dinner; and being informed that there was a +<i>table d'hôte</i>, and that it would be very numerously attended, I +preferred it to dining in my own apartment, and at the appointed hour +took my seat. The company was indeed numerous—men, women, girls, and +children; officers of the army, exhibitors of wild beasts, actors and +actresses of the booth-theatres. A separate table was set for the +officers of the army. I had here a specimen of the manners of the French +revolutionary officers. A party of them, to the number of fifteen or +twenty, had already placed themselves at table, when the commandant, or +at least a superior officer, entered the room. They all immediately got +up to make room for him, and handed him a chair in a manner the most +servile and fawning. "I hope I disturb no one," said he, at the same +time throwing himself into the chair, but not offering to move his hat. +He continued during the whole of the dinner the same disgusting +superiority, and the subordinate officers several times called out +silence to the adjoining table, that they might better hear the vapid +remarks of their commander. The waiters, and even the whole <i>table +d'hôte</i> seemed in great awe of these military gentlemen; and one fellow +excused himself for leaving a plate before me by hastily alleging that +the commander was looking around him for something. I was still more +disgusted by one of the officers rising, and proposing this important +gentleman's health to both tables; and my surprise was greater by +recognizing, in the tone of this proposal, the barbarous twang of an +Irishman. Some of the French regiments are half filled with these Irish +renegades. I cannot speak of them with any patience, as I cannot +conceive any voluntary degradation more contemptible, than that of +passing from any thing British or American into any thing French or +Italian. I have a respect for the Irish in the German service; they are +still members of a people like themselves. I say not this in contempt of +the French themselves, but of the English or Irish become French.</p> + +<p>In the evening I went to one of the theatres, accompanied by an English +physician, with whom I dined at the <i>table d'hôte</i>. This gentleman came +into France after the peace of Amiens, and was of course included in the +number detained by the French Emperor. Having some friends in the +Institute, they had drawn up a memorial in his favour, in which they +represented him, and very justly, as a man of science, who had come into +France to compare the English and French system of medicine, and whose +researches had already excited much interest and inquiry amongst the +French physicians. This memorial being delivered into the hands of the +Emperor himself, was subscribed by him in the following words: "Let him +remain in France during the war, on his parole that he will not leave +the French territories, and will have no correspondence with England."</p> + +<p>The performance at the theatre was too contemptible for mention, and in +the pantomime, or rather spectacle, became latterly so indelicate, that +I found it necessary to withdraw. I should hope that the performances +are not always of the same character: perhaps something must be allowed +for the occasion. The French, however, have no idea of humour as +separated from indecencies. In this respect they might take a very +useful lesson from the English. The English excel in pantomime as much +as the French in comedy.</p> + +<p>Dr. M—— returned to supper with me, and gave me some useful +information. Every trace of the Revolution is rapidly vanishing at +Amiens. Religion has resumed her influence: the cathedral is very well +attended, but auricular confession is not usual. The clergy of Amiens, +however, are very poor, having lost all their immense possessions, and +having nothing but the national stipend. The cathedral had been repaired +by public subscription. The poor are sent to the armies. There were no +imposts but those paid to the government.</p> + +<p>Amiens is still a very cheap town for permanent residence, though the +war has very seriously affected it. A good house may be rented for +thirty pounds per annum, the taxes upon the mere house being about a +Louis. Mutton seldom exceeds threepence English money per pound, and +beef is usually somewhat cheaper. Poultry of all kinds is in great +plenty, and cheap: fowls, ducks, &c. about two shillings per couple. A +horse at livery, half a Louis per week; two horses, all expences +included, a Louis and two livres. Board and lodging in a genteel house, +five-and-twenty Louis annually. Dr. M—— agreed with me, that for three +hundred a year, a family might keep their carriage and live in comfort, +in Amiens and its neighbourhood. I must not forget another observation; +the towns in France are cheaper than the villages. The consumption of +meat in the latter is not sufficient to induce the butchers to kill +often; the market, therefore, is very ill supplied, and consequently the +prices are dear. A few miles from a principal town, you cannot have a +leg of mutton without paying for the whole sheep.</p> + +<p>A stranger may live at an inn at Amiens for about five shillings, +English money, a day. The wine is good, and very cheap; and a daily +ordinary, or <i>table d'hôte</i>, is kept at the <i>Hotel d'Angleterre</i>. +Breakfast is charged one livre, dinner three, and supper one: half a +livre for coffee, and two livres for lodging; but if you remain a week, +ten livres for the whole time. The hotels, of which there are two, are +as good as those of Paris, and lodgings are far more reasonable. A +<i>restaurateur</i> has very lately set up in a very grand style, but the +population of the town will scarcely support him. The company at the +<i>table d'hôte</i> usually consists of officers, of whom there is always a +multitude in the neighbourhood of Amiens. Some of them, as I was +informed, are very pleasant agreeable men; whilst others are ruffians, +and have the manners of jacobins.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_VIII" id="CHAP_VIII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. VIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>French and English Roads compared—Gaiety of French<br /> +Labourers—Breteuil—Apple-trees in the midst of Corn-fields—Beautiful<br /> +Scenery—Cheap Price of Land in France—Clermont—Bad Management<br /> +of the French Farmers—Chantilly—Arrival at Paris.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p>I left Amiens early on the following morning, intending to reach +Clermont in good time.</p> + +<p>The roads now became very indifferent, but the scenery was much +improved. I could not but compare the prospect of a French road with one +of the great roads of England. It is impossible to travel a mile on an +English road without meeting or overtaking every species of vehicle. The +imagination of a traveller, if as susceptible as a traveller's +imagination should be, has thus a constant food for its exercise; it +accompanies these several groups to their home or destination, and calls +before its view the busy market, the quiet village, the blazing hearth, +the returning husband, and the welcoming wife. No man is fit for a +traveller who cannot while away his time in such creations of his +fancy. I pity the traveller from my heart, who in a barren or uniform +road, has no other occupation but to count the mile-stones, and find +every mile as long as the three preceding. Let such men become drivers +to stage-coaches, but let them not degrade the name of travellers by +assuming it to themselves.</p> + +<p>On a French road, there is more necessity than objects for this exercise +of the imagination. A French road is like a garden in the old French +style. It is seldom either more or less than a straight line ruled from +one end of the kingdom to the other. There are no angles, no curvatures, +no hedges; one league is the exact counterpart of another; instead of +hedges, are railings, and which are generally in a condition to give the +country not only a naked, but even a slovenly, ruinous appearance. +Imagine a road made over an heath, and each side of it fenced off by a +railing of old hurdles, and you will have no imperfect idea of a French +great road. Within a mile, indeed, of the neighbourhood of a principal +town, the prospect usually varies and improves. The road is then planted +on each side, and becomes a beautiful avenue through lofty and shady +trees. This description, however, will only apply to the great roads. +Some of the cross and country roads, as I shall hereafter have occasion +to mention, not only equal, but greatly exceed, even the English roads, +in natural beauty and scenery.</p> + +<p>In the course of the road between Amiens and Clermont, I had again too +frequent opportunity to remark the slovenly management of the French +farmers, as compared with those of England, and even with those of +America. In America, the farmers are not without a very sufficient +excuse. The scarcity of hands, the impossibility of procuring labourers +at any price, compel an American farmer to get in his harvest as he can, +to collect the crop of one field hastily, and then fly to another. In +France there is no such excuse, and therefore there should be no such +slovenly waste. Yet in some of the hay-fields which I passed, at least +one-fifth <i>of</i> the crop was lying scattered on the roads and in the +fields. The excuse was, that the cattle would eat it, and that they +might as well have it one way as another. It would be folly to say any +thing as to such an argument; yet in these very fields the labour was so +plentiful and minute, that the greater part of the crop was carried from +the fields on the shoulders of the labourers, men, women, and boys. It +is difficult to reconcile such inconsistencies.</p> + +<p>In such of the fields as I saw carts, the most severe labour seemed to +be allotted to the share of the women. They were the pitchers, and +performed this labour with a very heavy, and as it appeared to me, a +very awkward fork. Whilst the women were performing this task, two or +three fellows, raw-boned, and nearly six feet high, were either very +leisurely raking, or perhaps laying at their full length under the +new-made stacks. In other fields I saw more pleasing groups. At the +sound of a horn like the English harvest horn, the pitchers, the +loaders, and every labourer on the spot, left their work, and collected +around some tree or hay-cock, to receive their noon refreshment. The +indispensable fiddle was never wanting. Even the horses, loosened from +the carts, and suffered to feed at liberty, seemed to partake in the +general merriment, and looked with erect ears at the fiddler and his +dancing group. When, the hour allotted to this relaxation expired, the +labourers were again called to the several duties by the summons of the +same horn, which was now sounded from the top of the loaded cart, as it +had before been sounded under the tree or hay-cock. I had forgotten to +mention, that the tree or hay-cock, the appointed place of refreshment, +was distinguished by pennants of different coloured ribbons attached to +a stick as a flag-staff, and which waving in the wind, under a beautiful +midsummer sky, had an effect peculiarly pleasing. As I saw the same +spectacle in several fields, I believe it to be national.</p> + +<p>Breteuil, which I reached in time for a late breakfast, is a very paltry +town; the houses are all built in the ancient style, and bear an +unfavourable resemblance to English farm-houses; their gable-ends are +turned to the streets, and the chimneys are nearly as large as the +roofs. There was no appearance of business, not even of a brisk retail, +or of a lively thoroughfare. A crowd collected around us as I entered +the inn, as if a decent stranger, travelling on horseback, were a +miracle in that part of the country.</p> + +<p>Whatever, however, was wanting in the town, was more than made up by the +surrounding country, which becomes very beautiful in the immediate +environs of Breteuil. For the five or six miles beyond the town, towards +Clermont, the scenery is enchanting. The vines, which here commence, +were in bloom, the road fringed with orchards, and even the corn-fields +hedged round with apple-trees. In the middle of every field was an elm +or a chesnut, which by the luxuriance of its foliage seemed planted in +other ages. On each side of the road, moreover, at the distance of a +mile or a league, were the towers of village churches rising from amidst +similar groves, whilst a chateau perhaps crowned the hill, and completed +the landscape. Bye-paths, and narrow roads, leading to one or other of +these villages, intersected the corn-fields in every direction; and as +the corn was full-grown and yellow, and the day beautifully serene, +nothing could be more grateful than this prospect. The heart of man +seems peculiarly formed to relish the beauties of Nature, and to feel +the bounties of Providence. What artificial beauty can equal that of a +corn-field? What emotion is so lively, and so fully pervades every +feeling, as that excited by the cornucopia of Nature, and the flowery +plenty of the approaching harvest?</p> + +<p>The same scenery continues with little variation to Clermont, the +country improving, and the roads becoming worse. In this interval, +however, I passed several chateaux in ruins, and several farms and +houses, on which were affixed notices that they were to be let or sold. +On inquiring the rent and purchase of one of them, I found it to be so +cheap, that could I have reconciled myself to French manners, and +promised myself any suitable assistance from French labourers, I should +have seriously thought of making a purchase. An estate of eleven hundred +acres, seven hundred of which were in culture, the remainder wood and +heath, was offered for sale for 8000 Louis. The mansion-house was indeed +in ruin beyond the possibility of repair, but the land, under proper +cultivation, would have paid twenty-five per cent. on the +purchase-money. The main point of such purchases, however, is contained +in these words: Under proper cultivation. Nothing is so absurd as the +expectation of a foreign purchaser, and particularly of a gentleman, +that he will be able to transfer the improved system of cultivation of +his own country into a kingdom at least a century behind the former. As +far us his own manual labour goes, as far as he will take the plough, +the harrow, and the broadcast himself, so far may he procure the +execution of his own ideas. But it is in vain to endeavour to infuse +this knowledge or this practice into French labourers; you might as well +put a pen in the hand of a Hottentot, and expect him to write his name. +The ill success of half the foreign purchasers must be imputed to this +oversight. An American or an Englishman passes over a French or German +farm, and sees land of the most productive powers reduced to sterility +by slovenly management. A suggestion immediately arises in his mind—how +much might this land be made to produce under a more intelligent +cultivation? Full of this idea he perhaps inquires the price, and +finding it about one-tenth of what such land would cost in England, +immediately makes his purchase, settles, and begins his operations. Here +his eyes are soon opened. He must send to England for all his +implements; and even then his French labourers neither can or will learn +the use of them. An English ploughman becomes necessary; the English +ploughman accordingly comes, but shortly becomes miserable amongst +French habits and French fellow-labourers.</p> + +<p>In this manner have failed innumerable attempts of this kind within my +own knowledge. It is impossible to transplant the whole of the system of +one country into another. The English or the American farmer may +emigrate and settle in France, and bring over his English plough and +English habits, but he will still find a French soil, a French climate, +French markets, and French labourers. The course of his crops will be +disturbed by the necessity of some subservience to the peculiar wants of +the country and the demands of the market. He cannot, for example, +persevere in his turnips, where he can find no cattle to eat them, no +purchasers for his cattle, and where, from the openness of the climate +in winter, the crop must necessarily rot before he can consume it. For +the same reason, his clover cultivation becomes as useless. To say all +in a word, I know not how an English or an American farmer could make a +favourable purchase in France, though the French Government should come +forward with its protection. The habits of the country have become so +accommodated to its agriculture, that they each mutually support the +other, and a more improved system can only be introduced in the +proportion in which these national habits can be fundamentally changed. +But such changes must necessarily be gradual and slow, and must not be +reckoned upon by an individual.</p> + +<p>I found myself so indisposed at Clermont, that I retired very early to +my bed. My complaint was a giddiness in the head, brought on by riding +in the sun. Every country has its peculiar medicine as well as its +religion, and in every country there are certain family receipts, +certain homely prescriptions, which, from their experienced efficacy, +merit more attention than a member of the faculty would be inclined to +give them. My host at Clermont accordingly became my physician, and by +his advice I bathed my feet in warm water, and getting into bed between +the blankets, after drinking about a quart of cold spring-water, I can +only say that the remedy had its full effect. After a violent +perspiration in the night I fell into a sound sleep, and awoke in the +morning in such complete health and spirits, as to ride to Chantilly to +breakfast.</p> + +<p>Throughout the morning's journey, the scenery was very nearly similar to +what I had previously passed, except that it was richer and more varied +with habitations. The peasantry, moreover, were occupied in the same +manner in getting in their hay-harvest, which, from reasons that I +cannot comprehend, seemed more backward as I approached to the +metropolis. This may partly, indeed, be owing to what will appear a very +extraordinary cause—the excellence of the climate. The French farmer +can trust the skies; he sees a cloudless sky in the night, and has no +fear that its serenity will be shortly disturbed. He is a total stranger +to that vicissitude of sunshine, rain, and tempest, which in a moment +confounds all the labours of the English husbandmen. The same sun that +shines to-day will shine to-morrow. In this happy confidence he stacks +his hay in small cocks in the field where it grows, and only carries it +away at his leisure. His manner of carrying is as slovenly as all his +other management. Annette carries an apron-full, Jeannette an +handkerchief-full, and Lubin a barrow-full. Some of it is packed in +sheets and blankets. Some of this hay was very bad in quality, and as +crops, still worse in quantity. Being too much exposed to the sun, it +was little better than so much coarse straw. Being merely thrown +together, without being trodden, when carried into the hay-loft, it +loses whatever fragrance it may have hitherto retained. I do not think +an English horse would eat it.</p> + +<p>Chantilly totally disappointed my expectations. The dæmon of anarchy has +here raised a superb trophy on a monument of ruins. The principal +building has been demolished for the sake of the materials; the stables, +and that part of the ancient establishment denominated Le petit Chateau, +are all that remain. I was informed by the people of the inn, that the +whole had been purchased in the revolutionary period by a petty +provincial builder, who had no sooner completed his installments, than +he began the demolition of the building, and the cutting down the trees +in the grounds. Buonaparte, fortunately for Chantilly, became Chief +Consul before the whole was destroyed; Chantilly was then re-purchased, +and is now the property of the Government.</p> + +<p>The road now began to have some appearance of an approach to the capital +of the kingdom. I could not however but still observe, that there were +but few carriages compared to what I had seen within a similar distance +of London, and even of New York. The several vehicles were mostly +constructed in the same manner as vehicles of the same distinction in +England. The charette, or cart in common use, was the only exception on +the favourable side. This vehicle seemed to me so well adapted to its +purpose, as to merit a particular description.</p> + +<p>The charette, then, consists principally of two parts—the carriage, and +the body. The carriage part is very simple, being composed of two long +shafts of wood, about twenty feet in length, connected together by cross +bars, so as to form the bed, and on which boards are laid, as the +occasion may require. In the same manner the sides, a front, and back, +may be added at pleasure. The axle and wheels are in the usual place and +form. Upon this carriage is fixed the moveable body, consisting of a +similar frame-work of two shafts connected by cross bars. This body +moves upon an axletree, and extending some feet beyond the carriage +behind, it is let down with ease to receive its load, which the body +moving, as before described, on a pivot, or axle, is easily purchased up +from before.</p> + +<p>Nearly half way between Chantilly and Paris, I passed a handsome chateau +to the right, which is now occupied as a school. This establishment was +commenced by an Englishman, in the short interval of the peace of +Amiens, and he was upon the point of making a rapid fortune, when in +common with the other Englishmen at that time in France, he was ordered +to Verdun. His school now passed to his French usher, who continuing to +conduct it upon the same plan, that is, with the order and intelligence +common in every English school, has increased its reputation, and reaps +his merited reward by general encouragement. The rate of the boarders at +this academy may serve to illustrate the comparative cheapness of every +thing in France. The boarders are provided with classic instruction of +every kind, as likewise the most eminent masters in all the fine arts, +and personal accomplishments, to which is to be added clothes, at forty +guineas per annum. An English or American school on the same plan, and +conducted in the same style, could not be less than double, if not +triple the above-mentioned sum.</p> + +<p>I reached Paris at an early hour in the afternoon, and having letters +for Mr. Younge, the confidential secretary to Mr. Armstrong, immediately +waited upon him, that his information might assist me as to finding +suitable apartments. Lodgings in Paris are infinitely more expensive +than in London, and with not one-half the comfort. I did not find Mr. +Younge at his house; but upon hearing my name, his Lady received me as +an expected friend, and relieved me from the necessity of further +search, by informing me that Mr. Younge had expected me, and provided +apartments for me in his own house. I shall have future occasion to +mention, that the beautiful Lady of this Gentleman was a Frenchwoman, +and that he had been about six months married to her when I arrived in +Paris. She was the niece of the celebrated Lally Tolendal, and had all +the elegance, beauty, and dignity which seems characteristic of that +family. I never saw a woman, whose perfect beauty excited in me at first +sight such a mixed emotion of wonder, awe, and pleasure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_IX" id="CHAP_IX"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. IX.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>A Week in Paris—Objects and Occurrences—National Library—A<br /> +French Route—Fashionable French Supper—Conceits—Presentation<br /> +at Court—Audience.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> my purpose in visiting France was not to see Paris, I resolved to +make my stay in this gay capital as short as possible. I entered it on +the Tuesday afternoon, and determined to leave it and pursue my journey +into the provinces on the following Monday. I had therefore little time +to see the singularities of this celebrated metropolis; but I made the +best of this time, and had the advantage of Mr. Younge's knowledge and +guidance.</p> + +<p>There is no place in the world, perhaps, more distinguished for literary +eminence, in every part of art and science, than Paris. The literary +institutions of Paris, therefore, were the objects of my first visit. +Every capital has its theatres, public gardens, and palaces; but Paris +alone has its public libraries on a scale of equal utility and +magnificence. In Paris alone, science seems to be considered as an +object of importance to mankind, and therefore as a suitable object for +the protection of Government. In Paris alone, to say all in a word, the +poorest student, the most ragged philosopher, has all the treasures of +princes at his command; the National Library opens at his call, and the +most expensive books are delivered for his use.</p> + +<p>On the morning following my arrival, Mr. Younge accompanied me to the +National Library. On entering it, we ascended a most superb staircase +painted by Pellegrine, by which we were led to the library on the first +floor. It consists of a suite of spacious and magnificent apartments, +extending round three sides of a quadrangle. The books are ranged around +the sides, according to the order of the respective subjects, and are +said to amount to nearly half a million. Each division has an attending +librarian, of whom every one may require the book he wishes, and which +is immediately delivered to him. Being themselves gentlemen, there is no +apprehension that they will accept any pecuniary remuneration; but there +is likewise a strict order that no money shall be given to any of the +inferior attendants. There are tables and chairs in numbers, and nothing +seemed neglected, which could conduce even to the comfort of the +readers.</p> + +<p>The most complete department of the library is that of the manuscripts. +This collection amounts to nearly fifty thousand volumes, and amongst +them innumerable letters, and even treatises, by the early kings of +France. A manuscript is shewn as written by Louis the Fourteenth: it is +entitled, "Memoirs of his own Time, written by the King himself." I much +doubt, however, the authenticity of this production. Louis the +Fourteenth had other more immediate concerns than writing the history of +France. France is full of these literary forgeries. Every king of +France, if the titles of books may be received as a proof of their +authenticity, has not only written his life, but written it like a +philosopher and historian, candidly confessing his errors and abusing +his ministers.</p> + +<p>The second floor of the building contains the genealogies of the French +families. They are deposited in boxes, which are labelled with the +several family names. They are considered as public records, and are +only producible in the courts of justice, in order to determine the +titles to real property. No one is allowed to copy them except by the +most special permission, which is never granted but to histriographers +of established name and reputation. The cabinet of antiques is stated to +be very rich, and, to judge by appearances, is not inferior to its +reputation. The collection was made by Caylus. It chiefly consists of +vases, busts, and articles of domestic use amongst the Romans. The +greater part of them have been already copied as models, in the +ornamenting of furniture, by the Parisian artists. This fashion indeed +is carried almost to a mania. Every thing must be Greek and Roman +without any reference to Nature or propriety. For example, what could +be so absurd as the natural realization of some of these capricious +ornaments? What lady would chose to sleep in a bed, up the pillars of +which serpents were crawling? Yet is such realization the only criterion +of taste and propriety.</p> + +<p>The cabinet of engravings detained us nearly two hours. The portfeuilles +containing the prints are distributed into twelve classes. Some of these +divisions invited us to a minute inspection. Such was the class +containing the French fashions from the age of Clovis to Louis the +Sixteenth. In another class was the costume of every nation in the +world; in a third, portraits of eminent persons of all ages and nations; +and in a fourth, a collection of prints relating to public festivals, +cavalcades, tournaments, coronations, royal funerals, &c. France is the +only kingdom in the world which possesses a treasure like this, and +which knows how to estimate it at its proper value.</p> + +<p>From the National Library we drove to the Athenée, a library and lecture +institution, supported by voluntary subscription. It is much of the same +nature as an institution of a similar kind in London, termed the British +Institute; but the French Athenæum has infinitely the advantage. The +subscription is cheaper, being about four Louis annually, and the +lectures are more elegant, if not more scientific. There are usually +three lectures daily; the first on sciences, and the other two on +belles lettres. The lecture on science is considered as very able, but +those on the belles lettres were merely suited, as I understood, to +French frivolity. The rooms were so full as to render our stay +unpleasant, and we thereby lost an anatomy lecture, which was about to +commence. I should not forget to mention, that all the Parisian journals +and magazines, and many of the German periodical works, were lying on +the tables, and the library seemed altogether as complete as it was +comfortable. The subscribers are numerous, and the institution itself in +fashion. How long it will so last, no one will venture to predict.</p> + +<p>The library of the Pantheon and that of the Institute finished our +morning's occupation. They are both on the same scale and nearly on the +same general plan as the National Library. The library of the Institute, +however, is only open to foreigners and the members of the Institute. +The Institute holds its sitting every month, and, according to all +report, is then frivolous enough. I had not an opportunity of being +present at one of these sittings, but from what I heard, I did not much +regret my disappointment.</p> + +<p>We returned home to dress for dinner. Mr. Younge informed, me, that he +expected a very large party in the evening, chiefly French, and as his +lady herself was a French woman, and had arranged her domestic +establishment accordingly, I felt some curiosity.</p> + +<p>About eight, or nearer nine, Mr. Younge and myself, with two or three +other of the dinner company, were summoned up to the drawing-room. The +summons itself had something peculiar. The doors of the parlour, which +were folding, were thrown open, and two female attendants, dressed like +vestals, and holding torches of white wax, summoned us by a low curtsey, +and preceded us up the great staircase to the doors of the anti-chamber, +where they made another salutation, and took their station on each side. +The anti-chamber was filled with servants, who were seated on benches +fixed to the wall, but who did not rise on our entry. Some of them were +even playing at cards, others at dominos, and all of them seemed +perfectly at their ease. The anti-chamber opened by an arched door-way +into an handsome room, lighted by a chandelier of the most brilliant cut +glass; the pannels of the room were very tastily painted, and the +glasses on each side very large, and in magnificent frames. The further +extremity of this room opened by folding doors into the principal +drawing-room, where the company were collected. It was brilliantly +lighted, as well by patent lamps, as by a chandelier in the middle. The +furniture had a resemblance to what I had seen in fashionable houses in +England. The carpet was of red baize with a Turkish border, and figured +in the middle like an harlequin's jacket. The principal novelty was a +blue ribbon which divided the room lengthways, the one side of it being +for the dancers, the other for the card-players. The ribbon was +supported at proper distances by white staves, similar to those of the +court ushers.</p> + +<p>The ball had little to distinguish it from the balls of England and +America, except that the ladies danced with infinitely more skill, and +therefore with more grace. The fashionable French dancing is exactly +that of our operas. They are all figurantes, and care not what they +exhibit, so as they exhibit their skill. I could not but figure to +myself the confusion of an English girl, were she even present at a +French assembly. Yet so powerful is habit, that not only did the ladies +seem insensible, but even the gentlemen, such as did not dance, regarded +them with indifference.</p> + +<p>Cotillons and waltzes were the only dances of the evening. The waltzes +were danced in couples, twenty or thirty at a time. The measure was +quick, and all the parties seemed animated. I cannot say that I saw any +thing indecorous in the embraces of the ladies and their partners, +except in the mere act itself; but the waltz will never become a current +fashion in England or America.</p> + +<p>There is no precedency in a French assembly except amongst the Military. +This is managed with much delicacy. Every group is thrown as much as +possible into a circle. The tables are all circular, and cotillons are +chiefly preferred from having this quality.</p> + +<p>I did not join the card-players; there were about half a dozen tables, +and the several parties appeared to play very high. When the game, or a +certain number of games were over, the parties rose from their seats, +and bowing to any whom they saw near them, invited them to succeed them +in their seats. These invitations were sometimes accepted, but more +frequently declined. The division of the drawing-room set apart for the +card-players served rather as a promenade for the company who did not +dance; they here ranged themselves in a line along the ribbon, and +criticised the several dancers. Some of these spectators seemed most +egregious fops. One of them, with the exception of his linen, was +dressed completely in purple silk or satin, and another in a +rose-coloured silk coat, with white satin waistcoat and small clothes, +and white silk stockings. The greater part of the ladies were dressed in +fancy habits from the antique. Some were sphinxes, some vestals, some +Dians, half a dozen Minervas, and a score of Junos and Cleopatras. One +girl was pointed out to me as being perfectly <i>á l'Anglaise</i>. Her hair, +perfectly undressed, was combed off her forehead, and hung down her back +in its full length behind. She reminded me only of a school-boy playing +without his hat.</p> + +<p>We were summoned to the supper table about three in the morning. This +repast was a perfect English dinner. Soup, fish, poultry and ragouts, +succeeded each other in almost endless variety. A fruit-basket was +served round by the servants together with the bread-basket, and a small +case of liqueurs was placed at every third plate. Some of these were +contained in glass figures of Cupids, in which case, in order to get at +the liqueur, it was necessary to break off a small globule affixed to +the breast of the figure. The French confectioners are more ingenious +than delicate in these contrivances; but the French ladies seem better +pleased with such conceit in proportion to their intelligible +references. Some of these naked Cupids, which were perfect in all their +parts, were handed from the gentlemen to the ladies, and from the ladies +to each other, and as freely examined and criticised, as if they had +been paintings of birds. The gentlemen, upon their parts, were equally +as facetious upon the naked Venuses; and a Swan affixed to a Leda, was +the lucky source of innumerable pleasant questions and answers. Every +thing, in a word, is tolerated which can in any way be passed into an +equivoque. Their conversation in this respect resembles their dress—no +matter how thin that covering may be, so that there be one.</p> + +<p>So much for a French assembly or fashionable rout, which certainly +excells an English one in elegance and fancy, as much as it falls short +of it in substantial mirth. The French, it must be confessed, infinitely +excell every other nation in all things connected with spectacle, and +more or less this spectacle pervades all their parties. They dance, they +converse, they sing, for exhibition, and as if they were on the stage. +Their conversation, therefore, has frequently more wit than interest, +and their dancing more vanity than mirth. They seem in both respects to +want that happy carelessness which pleases by being pleased. A +Frenchwoman is a figurante even in her chit-chat.</p> + +<p>It may be expected that I did not omit to visit the theatres. Mr. Younge +accompanied me successively to nearly all of them—two or three in an +evening. Upon this subject, however, I shall say nothing, as every book +of travels has so fully described some or other of them, that nothing in +fact is further required.</p> + +<p>I had resolved not to leave Paris without seeing the Emperor, and being +informed that he was to hold an audience on the following day, I applied +to Mr. Younge to procure my formal introduction. With this purpose we +waited upon General Armstrong, who sent my name to the Grand Chamberlain +with the necessary formalities. This formality is a certificate under +the hand of the Ambassador; that the person soliciting the introduction +has been introduced at his own Court, or that, according to the best +knowledge of the Ambassador, he is not a Merchant—a <i>Negociant actuel</i>. +It may be briefly observed, however, that the French Negotiant answers +better to the English Mechanic, than to the honorable appellation, +Merchant.—General Armstrong promised me a very interesting spectacle in +the Imperial audience. "It's the most splendid Court in Europe," said +he: "the Court of London, and even of Vienna, will not bear a comparison +with it." Every one agreed in the justice of this remark, and my +curiosity was strongly excited.</p> + +<p>On the appointed day, about three o'clock, Mr. Younge accompanied me to +the Palace, where we were immediately conducted to a splendid saloon, +which is termed the Ambassadors' hall. Refreshments were here handed +round to the company, which was very numerous, and amongst them many +German Princes in their grand court dress. The conversation became very +general; those who had seen Bonaparte describing him to those who were +about to be introduced. Every one agreed that he was the most +extraordinary man that Europe had produced in many centuries, and that +even his appearance was in no slight degree indicative of his character. +"He possesses an eye," said one gentleman, "in which Lavater might have +understood an hero." Mr. Younge confirmed this observation, and prepared +me to regard him with more than common attention.</p> + +<p>The doors of the saloon were at length thrown open, and some of the +officers of the Grand Chamberlain, with white wands and embroidered +robes and scarfs, bowing low to the company, invited us, by waving their +staves, to follow them up the grand staircase. Every one now arranged +themselves, in pairs, behind their respective Ambassadors, and followed +the ushers in procession, according to the precedence of their +respective countries, the Imperial, Spanish, and Neapolitan Ambassadors +forming the van. The staircase was lined on both sides with grenadiers +of the Legion of Honour, most of whom, privates as well as officers, +were arrayed in the order. The officers, as we passed, exchanged salutes +with the Ambassadors; and as the Imperial Ambassador, who led the +procession, reached the door of the anti-chamber, two trumpeters on each +side played a congratulatory flourish. The ushers who had led us so far, +now took their stations on each side the door, and others, in more +splendid habits, succeeded them in the office of conducting us.</p> + +<p>We now entered the anti-chamber, in which was stationed the regular +guard of the palace. We were here saluted both by privates and officers, +the Imperial Guard being considered as part of the household. From the +anti-chamber we passed onwards through nearly a dozen most splendid +apartments, and at length reached the presence-chamber.</p> + +<p>My eyes were instantly in search of the Emperor, who was at the farther +extremity, surrounded by a numerous circle of officers and counsellors. +The circle opened on our arrival, and withdrew behind the Emperor. The +whole of our company now ranged themselves, the Ambassadors in front, +and their several countrymen behind their respective Ministers.</p> + +<p>Bonaparte now advanced to the Imperial Ambassador, with whom, when +present, he always begins the audience. I had now an opportunity to +regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well +composed; his features regular, but in their <i>tout ensemble</i> stern and +commanding; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was +dressed very splendidly in purple velvet, the coat and waistcoat +embroidered with gold bees, and with the grand star of the Legion of +Honour worked into the coat.</p> + +<p>He passed no one without notice, and to all the Ambassadors he spoke +once or twice. When he reached General Armstrong, he asked him, whether +America could not live, without foreign commerce as well as France? and +then added, without waiting for his answer, "There is one nation in the +world which must be taught by experience, that her Merchants are not +necessary to the existence of all other nations, and that she cannot +hold us all in commercial slavery: England is only sensible in her +compters."</p> + +<p>The audience took up little less than two hours, after which the Emperor +withdrew into an adjoining apartment; and the company departed in the +same order, and with the same appendages, as upon their entrance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_X" id="CHAP_X"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. X.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Departure from Paris for the Loire—Breakfast at Palaiseau—A<br /> +Peasant's Wife—Rambouillet—Magnificent Chateau—French<br /> +Curé—Chartres—Difference of Old French and English<br /> +Towns—Subterraneous Church—Curious Preservation of<br /> +the Dead—Angers—Arrival at Nantes.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> my first arrival at Paris, I had intended to remain there only till +the following week; but the kind importunities of Mr. Younge and his +family, induced me to consent to prolong my stay for some days, and an +arrangement was at length made, which caused me most cheerfully to +protract it still further. This arrangement was, that if I would remain +in Paris till after the National Fêtes, Mr. Younge, his lady, and her +niece, Mademoiselle St. Sillery, would form a travelling party, and +accompany me in my tour along the banks of the Loire, and thence along +the Southern Coast. As I had no other purpose but to see France, its +scenery and its manners, nothing could possibly have fallen out more +correspondent with my wishes. I shall here cursorily mention, that +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, with the single exception of her aunt, was the +handsomest woman I had yet seen in France.</p> + +<p>If I pass over the National Fêtes, it is because they differed nothing +from those which preceded them, and which have been minutely detailed by +every Traveller who has written his Tour. These national spectacles have +nothing in them which rewards the trouble of pressing through the mob to +see them. It consisted of nothing but a succession of buffooneries and +fire-works. The fire-works were magnificent—all the other sports +contemptible. In a word, I was so anxious to leave Paris, and to get +into the woods and fields, that the bustle around me scarcely attracted +my attention.</p> + +<p>At length, the morning of the 28th of July arrived, and after all due +preparations, I had the long wished-for pleasure of seeing Mr. Younge's +coach at the door, with its travelling appendages. Mr. Younge preferring +to accompany me on horseback, the coach was left to the ladies. In this +manner we left Paris at six o'clock on a lovely summer's morning, and in +less than half an hour were three miles on the road to Chartres, which +we hoped to reach to sleep.</p> + +<p>I had again occasion to observe, how much the environs of Paris differed +from those of London. Scarcely had we reached our first stage (about +seven miles), before every appendage of a metropolitan city had +disappeared. With the single exception of the road, which still +continued worthy of a great nation, the scenery and objects were as +retired as in the most remote corner of England. This absence of +commercial traffic has, however, one advantage—it adds much to the +beauty and romance of the country. In England, the manners, habits, and +dress of the capital, pervade to the remotest angle of the kingdom: +there is little variety in passing from London to Penzance. On the other +hand, in France, every Province has still its characteristic dress and +manners; and you get but a few miles from Paris, before you find +yourself amongst a new order of beings.</p> + +<p>We breakfasted at Palaiseau, a beautiful village, about twelve miles +from Paris. The inn being dirty, and having no appearance of being in a +situation to accommodate us to our wishes, Mr. Younge ordered the coach +to drive to a small cottage at the further end of the village. Our party +here dismounted; a small trunk, containing a breakfast equipage, was +taken from the coach, and the table was covered in an instant. The woman +of the house had been a servant of Mrs. Younge's, and married from the +family; her husband was a petty farmer, and was out in his fields. +Nothing could persuade Susette to sit in the presence of our ladies; but +she was talkative in the extreme, and seemed to be much attached to Mrs. +Younge, playing as it were with her hair as she waited behind her chair. +To Mr. Younge's questions, whether she was happy, and how she liked her +new state, she replied very carelessly, that her husband was as good as +husbands usually are; that, indeed, he had an affair with another +woman; but that he was gay, and not jealous, and therefore that she +overlooked it. Whilst she was saying this, the latch of the door was +raised, and a sturdy young peasant made his appearance; but seeing an +unexpected company, drew back in some confusion. Mr. Younge cast a +significant look at the ladies and Susette, whose looks explained that +they were not without foundation. Such are the morals, or rather the +manners, of the lower order of French wives. Gallantry is, in fact, as +much in fashion, and as generally prevalent through all orders, as in +the most corrupt æra of the monarchy—perhaps, indeed, more so; as +religion, though manifestly reviving, has not yet recovered its former +vigour.</p> + +<p>Having remounted our horses, and the ladies re-ascended into their +coach, we continued our journey through a country continually changing. +My observations on the road, undeceived me in a point of some +importance. I had hitherto believed France to have been an open country, +almost totally without enclosures, except the pales and ditches +necessary to distinguish properties. This opinion had been confirmed by +the appearances of the road from Calais to Paris. It was now, however, +totally done away, as the country on each side of me was as thickly +enclosed, as any of the most cultivated counties in England. Hereafter, +let no traveller assert that France is a country of open fields; +three-fourths of the kingdom is enclosed, even to the most minute +divisions. The enclosures, indeed, have not the neatness of those of +England; the hedges are rough and open, and there are few gates, and no +stiles. The French farmers, however, have already began to adopt much of +the English system in the management of their farms. According to the +information of Mr. Younge, many of the emigrés having returned to +France, have given some valuable instructions to the people in these +important points; France is accordingly much better cultivated than +hitherto.</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge had the politeness to answer my questions respecting the +country through which we were passing, in the utmost possible detail; +and as he himself had traversed France in all directions, and was not +without some purpose of future settlement, his information was accurate +and valuable. He gave me to understand that, with the single exception +of the good enclosures, nothing could be so miserable as the system of +agriculture along the whole road from Paris to Mans. The general quality +of the soil is light and sandy, and exactly suited to the English system +of alternate crops of corn and roots; yet on such a soil, the common +course is no other than, fallow, wheat, barley, for nine years +successively; after which the land is pared and burnt, and then suffered +to be a fallow in weeds for another year, when the same course is +recommenced. "Under such management," continued Mr. Younge, "you will +not be surprised that the average produce of the province of Bretagne +does not exceed twelve bushels of wheat, and eighteen of barley. Turnips +they have no idea of; and as the proportion of cattle is very small, the +land is necessarily still farther impoverished from want of manure. The +rents are about 18 livres, or 15<i>s.</i> English; the price in purchase from +15<i>l.</i> to 18<i>l.</i> English. The size of the farms is generally about 80 +acres English; they are usually held from year to year, but there are +some leases. Having got rid of tithes, and the taxes being very +moderate," said Mr. Younge, "the price of land in France, both as to +rent or purchase, is certainly very moderate; and if we could but import +English or American workmen, or bring the French labourers to English or +American habits, no good farmer would hesitate a moment as to settlement +in France. But the French labourers are obstinate in proportion to their +ignorance, and without exception are the most ignorant workmen in the +world. Nothing is to be done with them; and though the Emperor has +issued a decree, by which foreigners settling with a view to agriculture +or manufactures, and giving security that they will not leave the +kingdom, may become denizens, I must still hesitate as to recommending a +foreigner to seek a French naturalization."</p> + +<p>In this conversation, after a long but not wearisome journey, we reached +Rambouillet. The trunk was again brought from the coach, and a table +furnished with knives, spoons, and clean linen—a kind of essentials +seldom to be seen in a French inn, and more particularly in such inns as +we had reason to expect at some of our stages, in the course of our long +tour. A servant had likewise been sent before, so that a tolerable +dinner was already in a state of preparation. Being informed, however, +that we had an hour still good, Mr. Younge and Mademoiselle St. Sillery +insisted upon taking me to see the celebrated chateau in which Francis +the First, breathed his last.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more miserable, nothing more calculated to inspire +melancholy, than the situation and approach to this immense and most +disproportioned building. It is situated in a park, in the midst of +woods and waters, and most unaccountably, the very lowest ground in a +park of two thousand acres is chosen for its site. The approach to it +from the village is by a long avenue, planted on both sides by double +and treble rows of lofty trees, the tops of which are so broad and thick +as almost to meet each other. This avenue opens into a lawn, in the +centre of which is the chateau. It is an heavy and vast structure, +entirely of brick, and with the turrets, arches, and corners, +characteristic of the Gothic order. The property of it belongs at +present to the Nation, that is to say, it was not sold amongst the +other, confiscated estates; something of an Imperial establishment, +therefore, is resident in the chateau, consisting of a company of +soldiers, with two officers, and an housekeeper. One of the officers had +the politeness to become our guide, and to lead us from room to room, +explaining as he went whatever seemed to excite our attention.</p> + +<p>Louis the Fourteenth held his court in this castle for some years; and +from respect to his memory, the apartment in which he slept and held his +levee, is still retained in the same condition in which it was left by +that Monarch. This chamber is a room nearly thirty yards in length by +eighteen in width, and lofty in proportion: the windows like those of a +church. On the further extremity is a raised floor, where stands the +royal bed of purple velvet and gold, lined with white satin painted in a +very superior style. The colours, both of the painting and the velvet, +still remain; and two pieces of coarse linen are shewed as the royal +sheets. The counterpane is of red velvet, embroidered as it were with +white lace, and with a deep gold fringe round the edges: this is +likewise lined with white satin, and marked at the corners with a crown +and fleur de lys. On each side of the bed are the portraits of Louis the +Fourteenth and Fifteenth, of Philip the Fourth of Spain, and of his +Queen. The portrait of Louis the Fourteenth more peculiarly attracted my +attention, having been mentioned by several historians to be the best +existing likeness of that celebrated Monarch. If Louis resembled his +picture, he was much handsomer than he is described to have been by the +memoir-writers of his age: his countenance has an air of much +haughtiness and self-confidence, but without any mixture of ill-humour. +The chief peculiarity in his habit was a deep lace ruff, and a doublet +of light blue, very nearly resembling the jacket of the English light +cavalry. This portrait was taken when the King was in his twenty-eighth +year, and therefore is probably a far more correct resemblance than +those which were taken at a more advanced period—so true is the +assertion, of the poet, that old men are all alike.</p> + +<p>Immediately over that line of the apartment where the raised floor +terminates, is a gilded rod extending along the ceiling. When the King +held his court at Rambouillet, a curtain only separated his chamber and +the levee-room. In the latter room are several portraits of the Peers of +France during the reign of Louis the Fifteenth, with those of some +Spanish Grandees.</p> + +<p>We visited several other rooms, all of them magnificently furnished, and +all the furniture apparently of the same æra. The grand saloon appeared +to me to be the largest room I had ever seen; the floor is of white +marble, as are likewise two ranges of Corinthian pillars on each side of +the apartment. Its height, however, is not proportioned to its length, a +defect which, added to its narrowness, gives it the air of a gallery +rather than of a banquetting-room.</p> + +<p>We had not time enough to walk over the gardens; but, from a cursory +view of them, did not much regret our loss. They appeared spacious +enough; but so divided and intersected into plots, borders, narrow and +broad walks, terraces, and flowerbeds in the shape of stars, as to +resemble any thing but what would be called a garden in England and +America. This style of gardening was introduced into France by Le Notre, +and some centuries must yet pass away before the French gardeners will +acquire a more correct taste. What would not English taste have effected +with the capabilities of Rambouillet? A park of two thousand acres in +front, and a forest of nearly thirty thousand behind—all this, in the +hands of Frenchmen, is thrown away; the park is but a meadow, and the +forest a neglected wood.</p> + +<p>Upon our return to dinner, we found the <i>Curé</i> of the village in rapid +conversation with Madame. The appearance of our equipage, consisting of +four horses in the coach, and three riding horses, had attracted him to +the inn; and Madame, having seen him, had invited him to join us at +dinner. He was a pleasant little man, and related to us many traditional +anecdotes of Louis the Fourteenth. This King was notoriously one of the +most gallant of the race of Capet. "Whilst resident at Rambouillet," +said the Curé, "being one day hunting, and separated from his suite, he +fell in with two young girls, the daughters of the better kind of French +farmers. The girls were nutting in the forest, and perfectly strangers +to the King's person. Louis entered into conversation with them, and—"</p> + +<p>The good Curé's narrative was here interrupted by dinner, much to the +disappointment of Mademoiselle St. Sillery, who entreated him to resume +his narrative upon the disappearance of the first dish. "I should think, +Angela," said Mrs. Younge, "that Monsieur Curé would continue it to more +advantage in the coach. The gentleman has informed me," continued she, +addressing herself to Mr. Younge, "that he has some business at +Chartres; and thinking it would add much to our general pleasure, I have +invited him to take the spare seat in our carriage." Mr. Younge could do +no less than second this invitation, and our party was thus reinforced +by the addition of a little gossiping French Curé.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Guygny, the name of this gentleman, was not however so much a +Curé, as to be deficient in gallantry to the ladies, and Mademoiselle +St. Sillery, as I thought, seemed to consider him as a valuable +acquisition to our travelling suite; she re-ascended the coach with +increased spirit, and the good Curé followed with true French agility. +Thus is it with French manners. Upon inquiry from Mr. Younge I learnt, +that not one of the party had ever seen or heard of Monsieur Guygny +before they had now met at Rambouillet.</p> + +<p>I felt some curiosity as to the interrupted narrative, even in despite +of the evident frivolity of the narrator. The arrangement of the party +in the coach compelled me to hear it at second hand, and I found it less +frivolous than I had anticipated: it was an amour between the King and a +peasant's daughter, in which the King conducted himself in a manner as +little excusable in a monarch, as in a more humble individual. The amour +was at length discovered by the pregnancy of the unfortunate girl, who +believed herself married to the King in the character of an officer of +his suite, and who, upon discovering the deception, died of shame and +grief. Her tomb is said to be still extant, and to be distinguished by a +fleur de lys impressed on it by command of the King. The story is said +to be well founded: be this as it may, our ladies seemed to have +received it as gospel.</p> + +<p>We readied Chartres by sunset. Nothing could be more delightful than the +approach to the town, which is situated upon the knoll of an hill, the +houses intermixed with trees, and the wetting sun gilding the spires of +the churches and convent. The town is divided into two parts by a small +river; the further part was situated upon the ascent, the other part +upon the banks of the river. On each side of the town are hills, covered +with woods, from the midst of which were visible the gilded spires of +convents and churches, whilst the intervening plains were covered with +corn-fields. The peasantry, as we passed them, seemed clean, well-fed, +and happy; we saw several groups of them enjoying themselves in the +evening dance. Our carriage was overtaken by them more than once; they +presented flowers and fruits to our ladies, and refused any return. Some +of the younger women, though sun-burnt, were handsome; and many of them, +from their fanciful dresses, resembled the cottagers as exhibited on the +stage. The men, on the other hand, were a most ugly race of beings, +diminutive in size, and with the features of an old baboon. Mr. Younge, +indeed, in some degree accounted for this, by the information that the +best men had been taken for the armies.</p> + +<p>Having taken our tea, and seen the necessary preparation for our beds, +our ladies changed their dresses, and, attended by the Curé, sallied +forth to the evening promenade still customary in all the French towns. +Mr. Younge and myself availed ourselves of this opportunity to visit the +curiosities of the town.</p> + +<p>I have frequently had occasion to remark, that the old French towns have +a very prominent distinction. The inland towns of England, be their +antiquity what it may, retain but little of their ancient form; from the +necessary effects of a brisk trade, the several houses have so often +changed owners, and the owners have usually been so substantial in +their circumstances, that there is scarcely a house, perhaps, but what +in twenty years has been rebuilt from its fundamental stone. It is not +the same with the houses in the old towns of France. A French +tradesman's house is like his stocking—he never thinks that he wants a +new one, as long as he can in any way darn his old one; he never thinks +of building a new wall, as long as he can patch his old one; he repairs +his house piece-meal as it falls down: the repairs, therefore, are +always made so as to match the breach. In this manner the original form +of the house is preserved for some centuries, and, as philosophers say +of the human body, retains its identity, though every atom of it may +have been changed.</p> + +<p>It is thus with Chartres, one of the most ancient towns in France, which +in every house bears evident proofs of its antiquity, the streets being +in straight lines, and the houses dark, large, but full of small rooms. +The town, as I have before said, is divided into two parts, by the river +Eure, and thence, according to the French historians, was called +<i>Autricum</i> by the Romans. It is surrounded by a wall, and has nine +gates, the greater part of them of stone, and of a very ancient +architecture; they are all surmounted by a figure of the Holy Virgin, +the former patroness of the city. The cathedral church, if the +traditional accounts may be believed, was formerly a temple of the +Druids, dedicated to the <i>Virgo Paritura</i>; and though this antiquity +may be fairly disputed, the structure is evidently of the most remote +ages. According to the actual records, it was burnt by lightning in the +year of our Lord 1020, and was then rebuilt upon its ancient +foundations, and according to its former form, by Fulbert, at that time +the Bishop. It is thus, in every respect, the most ancient monument in +France, and is well deserving of being visited by travellers. We were +lost in astonishment as we descended from the upper church into a +subterraneous one, extending under the whole space of the one above it, +and having corresponding walls, choir, and even stalls. The bishops, +chapter, and principal persons of the city, are here buried.</p> + +<p>From the cathedral church, we were conducted to the other curiosities of +the city, one of which is well worthy of mention. This is a cave or +vault in the parish church of St. André. Upon descending it, our guide +removed successively the covers of six coffins, and desired us to +examine the bodies. They consisted of four men and two women; the faces, +arms, and breasts were naked, and had all the freshness as if dead only +the preceding day. One of the men had the mark of a wound under his left +breast; it seemed as if made by a pointed sword or pike, and was florid, +red, and fresh. "These persons," said our guide, "as you may see by the +inscriptions, have been buried from fifty to an hundred years; the +wounded man was the Mayor of the town about sixty years since, and was +wounded in an affray, of which wound he died." Upon receiving this +information, I had the curiosity to examine the vault more accurately: +it was walled all around, paved with stones closely cemented, and was +evidently more than commonly dry.</p> + +<p>We remained at Chartres the whole of the following day; and on the +morning of the next, still accompanied by the Curé, continued our +journey to Le Mans, where we likewise remained a day, and thence +proceeded for Angers. As our projected Tour along the Loire was to +commence at Nantes, we were eager to gain that city, and indeed scarcely +made use of our eyes, however invited, till we reached it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge and myself had an hour's walk over Angers; but as we saw it +more in detail as we descended the Loire, in the progress of our future +Tour, I shall say nothing of it in this place.</p> + +<p>Throughout the greater part of this road, as well as of that from Angers +to Nantes, nothing could be more delightful than the scenery on both +sides, and nothing better than the roads. From La Fleche to Angers, and +thence to Ancennis, the country is a complete garden. The hills were +covered with vines; every wood had its chateau, and every village its +church. The peasantry were clean and happy, the children cheerful and +healthy-looking, and the greater part of the younger women spirited and +handsome. There was a great plenty of fruit; and as we passed through +the villages, it was invariably brought to us, and almost as invariably +any pecuniary return refused with a retreating curtsey. One sweet girl, +a young peasant, with eyes and complexion which would be esteemed +handsome even in Philadelphia, having made Mr. Younge and myself an +offering of this kind, replied very prettily to our offer of money, that +the women of La Fleche never sold either grapes or water; as much as to +say, that the one was as plentiful as the other. Some of these young +girls were dressed not only neatly, but tastily. Straw hats are the +manufacture of the province; few of them, therefore, but had a straw +bonnet, and few of these bonnets were without ribbons or flowers.</p> + +<p>We were most unexpectedly detained at Chantoce by an accident to our +coach, which was three days before it was repaired. We the less, +however, regretted our disappointment, as it rained incessantly, with +thunder and lightning, throughout the whole of this time. The weather +having cleared, our coach being repaired, and our spirits being +renovated by the increased elasticity of the air, the preceding heat +having been almost intolerable, we resumed our progress, and at length +reached Nantes on or about the evening of the 1st of August.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XI" id="CHAP_XI"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XI.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Nantes—Beautiful Situation—Analogy of Architecture with the<br /> +Character of its Age—Singular Vow of Francis the Second—Departure<br /> +from Nantes—Country between Nantes and Angers—Angers.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> plan of our Tour was, to descend the Loire from Nantes, and thence +traversing its banks through nearly two-thirds of its course, cross it +by La Charité, and continue our journey in the first place for +Languedoc, and thence across that delightful province into Provence, and +along the shores of the Mediterranean. Chance in some degree varied our +original design; but it will be seen in the sequel, that we executed +more of it than we had any reason to anticipate. A traveller in France +cannot reckon upon either his road, or his arrival, with as much +certainty as in England. Some of the cross roads are absolutely +impassable; and the French gentry of late have become so fond of jaunts +of pleasure, that if a travelling family should visit them in passing, +they will have great difficulty to get away without some addition to +their party, and some consequent variation from their projected road.</p> + +<p>We remained at Nantes three days, during which time I had leisure enough +to visit the town and the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>Nantes is one of the most ancient cities in France; it is the +<i>Condivunum</i> of the Romans, and the <i>Civitas Namnetum</i> of Cæsar. It is +mentioned by several Latin writers as a town of moat considerable +population under the Roman prefects; and there is every appearance, in +several parts of the city, that it has declined much from its original +importance. It is still, however, in every respect, a noble city, and, +unlike most commercial cities, is as beautifully as it is advantageously +situated. It is built on the ascent and summit of an hill, at the foot +of which is the Loire, almost as broad, and ten times more beautiful, +than the Thames. In the middle of the stream, opposite the town, are +several islets, on which are houses and gardens, and which, as seen by +the setting sun, about which time there are dancing parties, and +marquees ornamented with ribbons, have a most pleasing effect. The town, +however, has one defect, which the French want the art or the industry +to remove: the Loire is so very shallow near the town, that vessels of +any magnitude are obliged to unload at some miles above it. This is a +commercial inconvenience, which is not compensated by one of the finest +quays in Europe, extending nearly a mile in length, and covered with +buildings almost approaching to palaces. If Spain, as the proverb says, +have bridges where there is no water, I have seen repeated instances in +France where there are quays without trade. This is not, however, the +case with Nantes: it has still a brisk interior commerce, and the number +of new houses are sufficient proofs that its inhabitants increase in +opulence.</p> + +<p>Nantes was the residence and the burying place of the ancient Dukes of +Bretagne; in the town and neighbourhood, therefore, are many of the +relics of these early sovereigns. On an hill to the eastward is the +castle in which these princes used to hold their court: it is still +entire, though built nearly nine hundred years ago; and the repairs +having been made in the character of the original structure, it remains +a most perfect specimen of the architecture of the age in which it was +built. One room, the hall or banquetting-room, as in all Gothic castles, +is of an immense size, and lofty in proportion. The ornaments likewise +partake of the character of the age; they are chiefly carved angels, +croziers, and other sacred appendages. A remark here struck me very +forcibly, that many curious conclusions as to the characters, manners, +and even of the detail of domestic economy of men in the early ages, +might be deduced from the remains of their architecture. I have read +very curious and detailed histories founded only on the figures on +medals; the early history of Greece, and that of the lower empire of +Rome, have scarcely a better foundation. Now, why may not the same use +be made of architecture? Is not the religion of our ancestors legible in +the very ornaments of their house? Are not their excessive ignorance +and credulity equally visible in the griffins, sphinxes, dragons, +mermaids, and chimeras, which are so frequently carved in Gothic roofs, +and which are so absurdly mistaken for angels and devils? The analogy +might be extended much farther.</p> + +<p>The monument of Francis the Second, Duke of Bretagne, and father to Anne +of Bretagne, the Queen of France, is one of the most magnificent of the +kind in France, and from this circumstance, I suppose, has been suffered +to survive the Revolution undefaced. This monument was the work of +Michael Colomb, and is one of those works of art which, like the Apollo +Belvidere, is sufficient of itself to immortalize its artist. The +figures are a curious mixture of the wives and children of the deceased +Duke, with angels, cherubs, &c.; but this was the taste of the age, and +must not be imputed to Michael Colomb. The heart of Anne is likewise +buried in a silver urn in the same vault. The inscription on the tomb +relates a vow made by Francis to the Holy Virgin, that if he should +obtain a child by his second marriage, he would dedicate a golden image +to the Virgin. The prince obtained the child, and the image was made and +dedicated.</p> + +<p>It would be an injustice, in this account of Nantes, not to mention the +inn called the Hotel of Henry the Fourth. It is one of the largest and +most magnificently furnished in Europe. It makes up 60 beds, and can +take in 100 horses, and an equal proportion of servants. The rooms are +let very cheap, considering their quality: two neat rooms may be had for +four shillings a day; and a traveller may live very comfortably in the +house, and be provided with every thing, for about two guineas per week. +Horses are charged at the rate of two shillings only for a day and +night. And one thing which ought not to be forgotten, the beds are made, +and ladies are attended, by female servants, all of whom are neat, and +many of them very pretty girls. The contrary practice, which is almost +universal in France, is one of the most unpleasant circumstances to a +man educated in old English habits; for my own part, I never could +divest myself of my first disgust, at the sight of a huge, bearded, +raw-boned fellow, having access to the chamber at all hours, and making +the beds, and removing any of the usual appendages of a chamber, in the +presence of the ladies.</p> + +<p>Having seen enough of Nantes, and exchanged our coach for a kind of open +barouche, particularly adapted for the French cross roads, being very +narrow, and composed entirely of cane, with removable wheels, so as to +take to pieces in an instant, we resumed the line of our Tour, and took +the road along the Loire for Ancennis.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful morning, and there being a fair at Mauves, a village +on the road, nothing could be more gay than our journey at its +commencement. I have forgotten to mention, that Mr. Younge and myself, +at the proposal of the ladies, had sent our horses forwards, and +therefore had taken our seats in the landau. The conversation of the +ladies was so pleasing and so intelligent, that hereafter I adopted this +proposal as often as it was offered, and as seldom as possible had +recourse to my horse.</p> + +<p>Mauves, which was our first stage, is most romantically situated on a +hill, which forms one of the banks of the Loire. The country about it, +in the richness of its woods, and the verdure of its meadows, most +strongly reminded me of England; but I know of no scenery in England, +which together with this richness and variety of woodland and meadow, +has such a beautiful river as the Loire to complete it in all the +qualities of landscape. On each side of this river, from Nantes, are +hills, which are wooded to the summit, and there are very few of these +wood-tufted hills, which have not their castle or ruined tower. In some +of these ancient buildings, there was scarcely any thing remaining but +the two towers which guarded the grand portal; but others, being more +durably constructed, were still habitable, though still retaining their +ancient forms. I have frequently had occasion to observe, that the +French gentry, in making their repairs, invariably follow the style of +the building; whether through natural taste, or because they repair by +piece-meal, and therefore do only what is wanted, I know not. But there +is one necessary consequence from this practice, which is, that the +remains of antiquity are more perfect in France than in any other +kingdom in Europe. From Mauves to Oudon, where we dined, the country is +still very thickly wooded and inclosed; the properties evidently very +small, and therefore innumerable cottages and small gardens. These +cottages usually consist of only one floor, divided into two rooms, and +a shed behind. They were generally situated in orchards, and fronted the +Loire. They had invariably one or two large trees, which are decorated +with ribbons at sunset, as the signal for the dance, which is invariably +observed in this part of France. Some of the peasant girls, which came +out to us with fruit, were very handsome, though brown. The children, +which were in great numbers, looked healthy, but were very scantily +clad. None of them had more than a shift and a petticoat, and some of +them girls of ten or twelve years of age, only a shift, tied round the +waist by a coloured girdle. As seen at some distance, they reminded me +very forcibly of the figures in landscape pictures.</p> + +<p>We remained at Oudon till near sunset, when we resumed our road to +Ancennis, where we intended to sleep. As this was only a distance of +seven miles, we took it very leisurely, sometimes riding, and sometimes +walking. The evening was as beautiful as is usual in the southern parts +of Europe at this season of the year. The road was most romantically +recluse, and so serpentine as never to be visible beyond an hundred +yards. The nightingales were singing in the adjoining woods. The road, +moreover, was bordered on each side by lofty hedges, intermingled with +fruit-trees, and even vines in full bearing. At every half mile, a cross +road, branching from the main one, led into the recesses of the country, +or to some castle or villa on the high grounds which overlook the river. +At some of these bye-ways were very curious inscriptions, painted on +narrow boards affixed to a tree. Such were, "The way to 'My Heart's +Content' is half a league up this road, and then turn to the right, and +keep on till you reach it." And another: "The way to 'Love's Hermitage' +is up this lane, till you come to the cherry-tree by the side of a +chalk-pit, where there is another direction." Mademoiselle Sillery +informed me, that these kind of inscriptions were characteristic of the +banks of the Loire. "The inhabitants along the whole of the course of +this river," said she, "have the reputation, from time immemorial, of +being all native poets; and the reputation, like some prophecies, has +perhaps been the means of realizing itself. You do not perhaps know, +that the Loire is called in the provinces the River of Love; and +doubtless its beautiful banks, its green meadows, and its woody +recesses, have what the musicians would call a symphony of tone with +that passion." I have translated this sentence verbally from my +note-book, as it may give some idea of Mademoiselle Sillery. If ever +figure was formed to inspire the passion of which she spoke, it was +this lady. Many days and years must pass over before I forget our walk +on the green road from Oudon to Ancennis—one of the sweetest, softest +scenes in France.</p> + +<p>We entered the forest of Ancennis as the sun was setting. This forest is +celebrated in every ancient French ballad, as being the haunt of +fairies, and the scene of the ancient archery of the provinces of +Bretagne and Anjou. The road through it was over a green turf, in which +the marks of a wheel were scarcely visible The forest on each side was +very thick. At short intervals, narrow footpaths struck into the wood. +Our carriage had been sent before to Ancennis, and we were walking +merrily on, when the well-known sound of the French horn arrested our +steps and attention. Mademoiselle Sillery immediately guessed it to +proceed from a company of archers; and in a few moments her conjecture +was verified by the appearance of two ladies and a gentleman, who issued +from one of the narrow paths. The ladies, who were merely running from +the gentleman, were very tastily habited in the favourite French dress +after the Dian of David; whilst the blue silk jacket and hunting cap of +the gentleman gave him the appearance of a groom about to ride a race. +Our appearance necessarily took their attention; and after an exchange +of salutes, but in which no names were mentioned on either side, they +invited us to accompany them to their party, who were refreshing +themselves in an adjoining dell. "We have had a party at archery," said +one of them, "and Madame St. Amande has won the silver bugle and bow. +The party is now at supper, after which we go to the chateau to dance. +Perhaps you will not suffer us to repent having met you by refusing to +accompany us." Mademoiselle Sillery was very eager to accept this +invitation, and looked rather blank when Mrs. Younge declined it, as she +wished to proceed on her road as quickly as possible. "You will at least +accompany us, merely to see the party."—"By all means," said +Mademoiselle Sillery. "I must really regret that I cannot," said Mrs. +Younge. "If it must be so," resumed the lady who was inviting us, "let +us exchange tokens, and we may meet again." This proposal, so perfectly +new to me, was accepted: the fair archers gave our ladies their pearl +crescents, which had the appearance of being of considerable value. +Madame Younge returned something which I did not see: Mademoiselle +Sillery gave a silver Cupid, which had served her for an essence-bottle. +The gentleman then shaking hands with us, and the ladies embracing each +other, we parted mutually satisfied. "Who are these ladies?" demanded I. +"You know them as well as we do," replied Mademoiselle Sillery. "And is +it thus," said I, "that you receive all strangers +indiscriminately?"—"Yes," replied she; "all strangers of a certain +condition. Where they are evidently of our own rank, we know of no +reserve. Indeed, why should we? It is to general advantage to be +pleased, and to please each other."—"But you embraced them, as if you +really felt an affection for them."—"And I did feel that affection for +them," said she, "as long as I was with them. I would have done them +every service in my power, and would even have made sacrifices to serve +them."—"And yet if you were to see them again, you would perhaps not +know them."—"Very possibly," replied she. "But I can see no reason why +every affection should be necessarily permanent. We never pretend to +permanence. We are certainly transient, but not insincere."</p> + +<p>In this conversation we reached Ancennis, a village on a green, +surrounded by forests. Some of the cottages, as we saw them by +moon-light, seemed most delightfully situated, and the village had +altogether that air of quietness and of rural retreat, which +characterizes the scenery of the Loire. Our horses having preceded us by +an hour or more, every thing was prepared for us when we reached our +inn. A turkey had been put down to roast, and I entered the kitchen in +time to prevent its being spoilt by French cookery. Mademoiselle Sillery +had the table provided in an instant with silver forks and table-linen. +Had a Parisian seen a table thus set out at Ancennis, without knowing +that we had brought all these requisites with us, he would not have +credited his senses. The inns in France along the banks of the Loire, +are less deficient in substantial comforts than in these ornamental +appendages. Poultry is every where cheap, and in great plenty; but a +French inn-keeper has no idea of a table-cloth, and still less of a +clean one. He will give you food and a feather-bed, but you must provide +yourselves with sheets and table-cloths. Our accommodations, with +respect to lodging for the night, were not altogether so uncomfortable: +the house had indeed two floors, but there were no stairs; so that we +had to ascend by a ladder, and that not the best of its kind. There +being, moreover, but two rooms, the one occupied by the landlord, his +wife, and two grown girls, there was some difficulty as to the disposal +of Mademoiselle Sillery and myself. It was at length arranged, that all +the females in the house should sleep in one room, and all the males in +another. When I came to take possession of my bed, I found that Mrs. +Younge had contrived to exempt her husband from this arrangement: he was +now sleeping by the side of the handsomest woman in France, whilst I was +lying at one end of a dirty room, the other being occupied by the +snoring landlord. Fatigue, however, according to the proverb, is better +than a bed of down; I accordingly soon fell asleep, and Mademoiselle +Sillery was not absent from my dreams. I should not forget to mention, +as another specimen of French manners, that I learned from this lady on +the following day, that she had slept with her sister and her husband. +Such are French manners.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, induced by the example of the landlord, and by +the beauty of the rising sun, I rose early, and accompanied by my host, +walked into the fields round the village. The environs of Ancennis +appeared to me extremely beautiful; whether from the mere effect of +novelty, or that they really were so, I know not. Some of the neater +cottages were situated in gardens very carefully cultivated, and so much +in the style of England, that, but for some characteristic frivolities, +I could scarcely believe myself in France. In every garden, or orchard, +I invariably observed one tree distinguished above the rest; it had +usually a seat around its trunk, and where its top was large enough, a +railed seat, or what is called in America a look-out, amongst its +branches. I had the curiosity to ascend to some of these, for the garden +gates were invariably only latched, and small pieces of wood were nailed +to the trunk, so as to assist the ascent of the women. The branches, +which formed the look-out, were carved with the names of the village +beauties, and in one of the seats I found a French novel, and a very +pretty paper work-box. I saw enough to conclude, that Ancennis was not +without the characteristic French elegance; and I must once for all say, +that the manners of Marmontel are founded in nature, and that the +daughters of the yeomanry and humbler farmers in France have an +elegance, a vivacity, and a pleasantry, which is no where to be found +out of France.</p> + +<p>On my return I found Mademoiselle Sillery at the breakfast table; and in +answer to her inquiries as to the object of my walk, informed her of my +observations. She replied, that they were very well founded, and added a +reason for it which seemed to me very satisfactory. "The French girls," +said she, "all at least who learn to read, are formed to this elegance +and softness by the very elements of their education; their class-book +is Marmontel, and La Belle Assemblée, the last, one of the prettiest +novels in France. They are thus taught love with their letters, and they +improve in gallantry as they improve in reading; and I will venture to +say," continued this elegant girl, "that by this method of instruction +we make a great earned where there is a love-story at the end of it."</p> + +<p>We shortly afterwards resumed our progress, and passed through a country +of the same kind as on the preceding day, alternate hill and valley. The +Arno, as described by the Tuscan poets, for I have never seen it, must +bear a strong resemblance to the Loire from Ancennis to Angers; nothing +can be more beautiful than the natural distribution of lawn, wood, hill +and valley, whilst the river, which borders this scenery, is ever giving +it a new form by its serpentine shape. The favourite images in the +landscapes of the ancient painters here meet the eye almost every +league: cattle resting under the shade, and attentively eyeing the +river, whilst the country around is of a nature and character, which the +fancy of a poet would select for the haunt of Dian and her huntresses. +The peasantry, as many of them as we met, seemed to have that life and +spirits the sure result of comfort; if they were not invariably well +clothed, they seemed at least sufficiently so for the climate of the +province. The younger women had dark complexions and shining black eyes; +their shapes were generally good, and their air and vivacity, even in +the lowest ranks, such as peculiarly characterize the French people. If +addressed, they were rather obliging than respectful, and had all of +them a compliment on their tongues' end. It was not indeed easy to get +rid of them with a mere word or question. I must add, however, that I am +here describing their manner towards Mr. Younge and myself. Towards the +ladies it was somewhat different. When Madame or Mademoiselle spoke to +them, they seemed modest and respectful in the extreme; to the latter, +indeed, they were more familiar, and many of them, on giving the adieu +after a ten minutes' conversation, very prettily embraced her, gently +putting their arms round her neck, and kissing the left shoulder; a form +of salutation very common in the French provinces. In a word, the more I +saw of the French character, the more did I wish that the more weighty +and valuable qualities of the English and American character, their +honesty and their sincerity, were accompanied by the gentleness, the +grace, the affectionate benevolence, which characterise the French +manners.</p> + +<p>Ingrande, where we dined, is the last town of the province of Bretagne, +on the Loire, and thenceforwards we had entered Anjou. It is a town of +above three hundred houses, built round the base of a sandy hillock, the +church being on the hill. The houses are intermingled with trees, and +the country very prettily planted. It is not to be expected that the +habitations in such a town could be any thing better than cottages; but +they were tolerably clean, and not very ruinous.</p> + +<p>We had now passed through the province of Bretagne as it lies along the +Loire, and it is but justice to say, that in point of natural scenery, +in the wildness and tranquillity which constitute what I should term the +romance of landscape, it exceeds every thing in Europe. Along the banks +of the Loire, France has meadows, the verdure of which will not sink in +comparison with those of England. Along the banks of the Loire, +moreover, France has woodlands, and lawns, and an, intermixture of wood +and water, and of every possible variety of surface, which no country in +the world but France can produce. The Loire is perhaps the only river in +Europe which is bordered by hills and hillocks, and which, in so long a +course, so seldom passes through a mere dead level. Accordingly, from +the earliest times of the French monarchy, the rising grounds of the +Loire have been selected for the sites of castles, monasteries, abbeys, +and chateaux, and as the possessors have superadded Art to Nature, this +natural beauty of the grounds has been improving from age to age. The +Monks have been immemorially celebrated for their skill as well in the +choice of situations as in their improvement of natural advantages; +their leisure, and their taste, improved by learning, have naturally +been employed on the scenes of their residence, on their vineyards and +their gardens. Innumerable are the still remaining vestiges of their +taste and of their industry, and I have a most sincere satisfaction in +thus doing them justice; in thus bearing my testimony, that, so far from +being the drones of the land, there is no part of a province which they +possessed, but what they have improved. The scenery along the Loire has +a character which I should think could not be found in any other +kingdom, and on any other river. Towns, windmills, steeples, ancient +castles and abbeys still entire, and others with nothing remaining but +their lofty walls; hills covered with vines, and alternate woods and +corn-fields—altogether form a landscape, or rather a chain of +landscapes, which remind one of a poem, and successively refresh, +delight, animate, and exalt the imagination. Is there any one oppressed +with grief for the loss of friends, or what is still more poignantly +felt, for their ingratitude and unkindness? Let him traverse the banks +of the Loire; let him appeal from man to Nature, from a world of passion +and vice, to scenes of groves, meads, and flowers. His must be no common +sorrow who would not forget it on the banks of the Loire.</p> + +<p>After a short rest at Chantoce, a village of the same rank and +character with Mauves, we arrived at Angers, where we proposed to remain +till the following Monday, having arrived there on the Thursday evening. +We had scarcely reached the inn, before a gentleman of the name of Mons. +de Corseult, to whom we had sent forwards our letters from Nantes, +addressed himself to us, and insisted that we should continue our +journey to his house, about half a mile on the other side of the town. +The ladies at length acceded to this proposal, on the condition that our +horses, servants, &c. should be sent back to the inn, and that ourselves +only should be the visitors of Mons. de Corseult.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XII" id="CHAP_XII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Angers—Situation—Antiquity and Face of the Town—Grand<br /> +Cathedral—Markets—Prices of Provisions—Public Walks—Manners<br /> +and Diversions of the Inhabitants—Departure from<br /> +Angers—Country between Angers and Saumur—Saumur.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> had intended to have reposed ourselves at Angers, but Mons. de +Corseult, having been very lately married, had his house daily full of +visitors, and as we were strangers, parties were daily made for us. +Whatever time I could steal from this unintermitting round, I employed +in walks to the town, and in the neighbourhood. Mr. Younge generally +accompanied me, but I was sometimes fortunate enough to be honoured with +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, an happiness of which I should have been more +sensible, had it not usually tempted the intrusion of some coxcomb, who +converted a tour of information into a mere lounge of levity and +senseless gallantry. How miserable would have been an English girl, of +the beauty and wit of this young lady, with such gallants! Or is it with +ladies as with the poet in Don Quixotte—are love and flattery sweet, +though they may come from a fool and a madman? I should hope not, or at +least with Mademoiselle St. Sillery.</p> + +<p>In despite, however, of these intrusions, we had two or three pleasant +walks through Angers, in which the curiosity of Mademoiselle was of much +use to me. He must be less than a man, who could be wearied even by the +most minute interrogations of an handsome woman. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, as if resolved to be ignorant of nothing, put the most endless +questions to those who accompanied us about the town; and with true +French gallantry, the answers even exceeded the questions. I had little +to do but to look and to listen.</p> + +<p>Angers is situated in a plain, which, in the distance being fringed with +wood, and being very fertile in corn and meadow, wants nothing of the +richness and beauty which seem to characterize this part of the +province. It is parted into two by a river called the Mayenne, which is +a small branch of the Loire, and again falls into the main river about +five miles from the town. The French, like the Dutch, seemed to be +peculiarly attached to this kind of site, having a river run through +their towns, one half being built on one side, and one on the other. The +water of the Mayenne is so harsh, that it cannot be drunk or used for +cookery, and were it not for the proximity of the Loire, and some +aqueducts, Angers, though built on a river, must necessarily become +desolate for want of water. The same improvidence is visible in many +towns in France, and still more in Holland.</p> + +<p>The walls round this city were built by King John of England, and though +six centuries, have elapsed, are still nearly entire. Part of them were +indeed demolished by Louis the Eighth, but they were restored in their +original form by his successor, and remain a proof of the durable style +of building of that Age (1230). The castle of Angers was built at the +same time. It is situated on a rock which overhangs the river, and +though now in decay, has still a very striking appearance. The walls are +lofty and broad, the towers numerous, and the fosses deep. They are cut +out of the solid rock, and must have required long and ingenious labour.</p> + +<p>The cathedral of Anjou, the inner part of which exactly resembles +Westminster Hall, is chiefly celebrated for containing the monument of +Margaret of Anjou, the queen of Henry the Sixth of England. This woman +was in every respect a perfect heroine, and worthy of her illustrious +father, René, King of Sicily. She was taken prisoner in the battle of +Tewkesbury, and immediately committed, to the Tower, from which she was +ransomed by Louis the Eleventh, of France. This King, however, who was +never known to forget himself, and act otherwise than selfishly, had a +very different motive than humanity for this apparent generosity: having +gained possession of the person of Margaret, he immediately rendered her +his own prisoner, and caused her father to be informed that if he wished +to ransom her, he must give up all his hereditary rights to the duchies +of Anjou and Lorrain. So tenderly did René love his daughter, that he +made the sacrifice without hesitation. The history of this princess, as +collected from the French memoirs, has an air rather of romance than of +real history. Though the English historians all concur in her praise, +they seem to know very little of her. A remark here suggested itself: +that the best of the English historians seem totally to have overlooked +all the French records, and to have confined themselves to the writers +of their own country.</p> + +<p>The general appearance of Angers does not correspond with the +magnificence of its walls, its castle, and its cathedral. Its size is +respectable; there are six parish churches, besides monasteries and +chapters, and the inhabitants are estimated at 50,000. The streets, +however, are very narrow, and the houses mean, low, and huddled: there +is the less excuse for this, as ground is plentiful and cheap; there is +scarcely a good house inhabited within the walls. The towns in France +differ in this respect very considerably from those in England: in a +principal town in England you will invariably find a considerable number +of good houses, where retired merchants and tradesmen live in the ease +and elegance of private gentlemen. There is nothing of this kind in the +French towns. Every house is a shop, a warehouse, a magazine, or a +lodging house. I do not believe that there is one merchant of +independent fortune now resident within the walk of Angers. This, +indeed, may perhaps arise from the difference in the general character +of the two kingdoms: in England, and even in America, there are few +tradesmen long resident in a town, without having obtained a sufficiency +to retire; whilst the French towns being comparatively poor, and their +trade comparatively insignificant, the French tradesman can seldom do +more than obtain a scanty subsistence by his business. In all the best +French towns, the tradesmen have more the air of chandlers than of great +dealers. There are absolutely no interior towns in France like Norwich, +Manchester, and Birmingham. In some of their principal manufacturing +places, there may indeed be one or two principal men and respectable +houses; but neither these men nor their houses are of such number and +quality, as to give any dignity or beauty to their towns beyond mere +places of trade. The French accordingly, judging from what they see at +home, have a very contemptible idea of the term merchant; and if a +foreign traveller of this class should wish to be admitted into good +company, let him pass by any other name than that of a marchand or +negociant. To say all in a word, this class of foreigners are +specifically excluded from admission at court.</p> + +<p>I visited the market, which in Angers, and I believe throughout France, +is held on Sunday. This is one of the circumstances from which a +foreigner would be very apt to form a wrong estimate of the French +character, which now, whatever it might be, is decidedly religious. But +the Roman Catholics have ever considered Sunday as at once a day of +festivity and a holiday; they have no scruple, therefore, to sing and +dance, and to hold their markets on this day; all they abstain from is +the heavier kind of work—labour in the fields and warehouses. A French +town, therefore, is never so gay as on a Sunday. I inquired the prices +of provisions. Beef and mutton are about 2<i>d.</i> per pound; a fowl 5<i>d.</i>; +and turkies, when in season, from 18<i>d.</i> to 2<i>s</i>.; bread is about +1½<i>d.</i> a pound; and vegetables, greens, &c. cheap to a degree. A good +house in Angers about six Louis per year, and a mansion fit for a prince +(for there are some of them, but without inhabitants) from forty to +fifty Louis, including from thirty to forty acres of land without the +walls. I have no doubt but that any one might live at Angers on 250 +Louis per annum, as well as in England for four times the amount. And +were I to live in France, I know no place I should prefer to the +environs of this town. The climate, in this part of France, is +delightful beyond description. The high vault of heaven is clad in +ethereal blue, and the sun sets with a glory which is inconceivable to +those who have only lived in more northerly regions; for week after week +this weather never varies, the rains come on at once, and then cease +till the following season. The tempests which raise the fogs from the +ocean have no influence here, and they are strangers likewise to that +hot moisture which produces the pestilential fevers in England and +America. There are sometimes indeed heavy thunder storms, when the +clouds burst, and pour down torrents of rain: but the storm ceases in a +few minutes, and the heavens, under the influence of a powerful sun, +resume their beauty and serenity.</p> + +<p>The soil in the neighbourhood of Angers (I speak still with reference to +its aptitude for the residence of a foreigner, for I confess this dream +hung very strongly on my imagination) is fertile to a degree, and as far +as I could understand, is very cheap. Every house, as I have before +said, without the walls, has its garden, and all kind of fruits and +vegetables were in the greatest plenty. The fences around the gardens of +the villages were very fantastically interwoven with the wreaths of the +vine, which would sometimes creep up the trunk of a tree, and sometimes +hang over the casements. Nothing can be more delightful than the vine +when flourishing in all this unbridled wildness of its natural +luxuriance, and as if justly sensible of its beauty, the French +cottagers convert it to the double purpose of ornament or utility. +Whilst travelling along, my spirits frequently felt the cheering +influence of the united images of natural beauty and of human happiness. +Often have I seen the weary labourer sitting under a sunny wall, his +head shaded by the luxuriant branches of the vine, the purple fruit of +which furnished him with his simple meal. Bread and fruit is the +constant summer dinner of the peasantry of the Loire. Upon this subject, +the general plenty of the country, I should not have forgotten to +mention, that in the proper season partridges and hares are in great +plenty, and being fed on the heath lands of Bretagne and Anjou, are said +to have the best flavour. An Englishman will scarcely believe, that +whilst he is paying 12<i>s.</i> a couple for fowls, half a guinea for a +turkey, seven shillings for a goose, &c. &c.: whilst such I say are the +market prices in London, the dearest price in the market of Angers is +10<i>d.</i> a couple for fowls, a shilling a couple for ducks, 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> +for a goose. As to the quality of these provisions, the veal and the +mutton being fed in the meadows on the Loire, are entirely as good as in +England; but the beef, not being in general use except for soups and +stews, is of a very inferior kind. Wood is the only article which is +dear; but an Englishman in this country would doubtless rise above the +prejudices around him, and burn coal, of which there is a great plenty +in every part of France.</p> + +<p>I must not take leave of Angers without mentioning, that it was a +favourite station of the Romans, who, like the monks, always consulted +natural beauty in the site of the towns and permanent encampments. Many +remnants of this people are still visible: some of the arches of an +aqueduct are yet entire, and without a guide speak their own origin.</p> + +<p>Accompanied by Mr. Younge and Monsieur de Corseult, I visited the +Caserne and the National School. The Caserne was formerly a Riding +School of general reputation, and is one of the most superb buildings +of the kind in the world. Peter the Great of Russia was here instructed +in the equestrian art, and many other illustrious men are on its list of +scholars. The National School has nothing worthy of peculiar remark. +Angers before the Revolution was celebrated as a seat of literature: its +university, founded in 1246, was only inferior to that of Paris; and its +Academy of Belles Lettres, founded in 1685, was the first after that of +the Nation. The chapel of the university is now a gallery for paintings. +The professors of these literary institutions have very competent +salaries: the sciences taught are Mathematics, Medicine, Natural and +Experimental Philosophy, and the Fine Arts. The best quality, however, +of these institutions is that the instructions, such as they are, are +gratuitous; the doors are open to all who choose to enter them; those +only who can afford it are expected to pay.</p> + +<p>Angers, being so near La Vendée, suffered much by the Chouans, and still +retains many melancholy traces of the siege which it had to maintain. +The people, with feelings which are better conceived than expressed, +spoke with great reluctance on their past sufferings: there seems indeed +one great maxim at present current in France, and this is to forget the +past as if it had never happened. A foreigner is sure to offend, who +interrogates them upon any thing connected with the horrible +Revolution.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more delightful than the environs of Angers, whether for +those who walk or ride. The country is thickly enclosed, and on each +side of the river varied with hill and dale, with woodland and meadow. +The villages and small towns along the whole bank of the Loire are +numerous, and invariably picturesque and beautiful. In the vicinity of +Angers the vineyards are very frequent, and cover the hills, and even +the valleys, with their luxuriance; nothing can be more beautiful than +the natural festoons which are formed by their long branches as they +project over the road, and when the grapes are ripe, the landscape wants +nothing of perfect beauty. The peasantry, the Vignerons as they are +called, live in the midst of their vineyards: their habitations are +usually excavated out of the rocks and small hillocks on which they grow +their vines, and as these hillocks are usually composed of strata of +chalk, the cottages are dry and comfortable. Some of them, as seen from +the road, being covered even over their doors by the vine branches, had +the appearance of so many nests, and as many of them as had two stories, +were picturesque in the extreme. Upon the whole, the condition of the +peasantry in this part of France is very comfortable: they are +temperate, unceasingly gay, and sufficiently clad; their wants are few, +and therefore their labour, added to the fertility of the soil, is +sufficient to satisfy them. They repine not for luxuries of which they +can have no notion.</p> + +<p>We took leave of Monsieur de Corseult on the Wednesday instead of the +Monday, but he insisted upon accompanying us on horseback half way to +Saumur, where we proposed sleeping. The ladies could not but accept this +obliging offer, and the information which Mons. de Corseult was enabled +to give us, rendered his society equally agreeable to Mr. Younge and +myself. We learned from this gentleman, that though Anjou is reputed to +have a great proportion of heath and barren land, it does not yield to +any province in France either for beauty or fertility. As much of it as +lays along the Loire, I have already had occasion to describe, and what +we were now passing through was not a whit behind it. Every village was +most romantically situated; some in orchards, some in fenced gardens, +some in corn-fields, and others in vales and in recesses on each side of +the road. The corn being ripe, added much to the beauty of the +landscape. In some fields the reapers were at work, and the harvest was +going on with true French gaiety. Sometimes we would see them dancing in +the field; sometimes sitting round some central tree sporting and +gamboling with the women and girls. I never saw a scene in England which +could enter into comparison with a French harvest. I was sorry, however, +to see that the women had more than their due share of the labour; they +reaped, bound, and loaded. Some of the elder women were accordingly very +coarse, but the girls were spirited, and pleasing. They nodded to us +whenever we caught their eyes, and if we stopt our horses, would come to +us, at whatever distance, as if to satisfy our inquiries.</p> + +<p>We happened to pass an estate which was for sale, and the house being at +hand, inquired the price and particulars. There were six hundred acres +of land, a good house, and the purchase-money was five thousand pounds +English. Four hundred acres were arable, the other wood and heath. In +England, the price of such an estate would have been at least twenty +thousand pounds. The land, though stony, was good, and under the hands +of a tolerable farmer, might have cleared the purchase-money in five +years. There was a trout stream and fish-ponds, and the whole country +was even infested with game. The chateau itself would certainly have +required some repairs; it was large and rambling, and seemed to have +more wood than brick. The land, however, was richly worth the money four +times over.</p> + +<p>We reached Saumur very late in the evening; it is a small, but very +pretty town, on the southern bank of the Loire. There are here two +bridges over the river; the one from the northern shore to an island in +the middle of the river; the other from the island to the southern +shore. Saumur was formerly a fortified city, and though the +fortifications are now neglected and in perfect ruin, it still maintains +its rank as a military town, and the names of travellers are formally +required, and formally registered. The inn at which we put up was very +comfortable; but the beds were so scented with lavender as to prevent me +from sleeping. Here likewise, I had the happiness of being again waited +upon by females. A young woman, the daughter of the landlord, not only +lighted me to my room, but took her seat at the window, and retained it +till she saw that I was in bed. The French women have none of that +bashful modesty which characterises the women of England and America. +Before getting into bed I was about to close a door, which I perceived +half open at the extremity of the room opposite to that occupied by my +bed; but Felice prevented me, by informing me that her sister and +herself were to sleep there, and as a further proof, shewing me the bed. +"Then I must leave my own chamber-door open," said I. "Certainly," said +she, "if you are not afraid of my sister and me: I have only to see if +Madame and Mademoiselle are in want of any thing, and then I shall come +to bed." "Where does Mademoiselle sleep?" said I. "In the same chamber +with Monsieur and Madame; it is a double-bedded room, on the first +floor, fronting the road; you might have observed the casements of it +shaded with the barberry tree. But you seem curious as to Mademoiselle. +Perhaps there is a <i>petite affaire</i> of the heart between you. Well, +Heaven bless Monsieur, and may you dream that you are walking with your +love in the corn-fields!" Saying this, the sprightly girl left me with +the characteristic trip of French gaiety. I had the curiosity to remain +awake till her sister and herself passed through my chamber to their +own. The girls laughed as they went through the room, and had not even +the modesty (for so I must call it) to close their own door. It remained +a third part open during the whole night; and as they talked in bed, +they prevented my sleep. One of these young women might be twenty; the +other, though tall, could not be more than fourteen.</p> + +<p>I rose early in the morning with the purpose of a walk in the fields +around the town, and finding Felice was going to fetch some milk from a +village about half a mile distant, I accompanied her. It is needless to +say that she played off all the coquetries which are natural to French +girls in whatever station. By dint of frequent questions, however, I +collected from her some useful information. I had adopted it as a rule, +to obtain information on three points in every French town or village +where I might happen to stop—the price of provisions, the price of +land, and the price of house-rent. The price of provisions at Saumur, as +I learned from this girl, was very cheap: beef, not very good, that is, +not very fat, about 1½<i>d.</i> (English) per pound; mutton and veal about +2<i>d.</i>;—two fowls 8<i>d.</i>; two ducks 10<i>d.</i>; geese and turkies from 1<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i> to 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>.;—fuel, as much as would serve three fires for the +year, about 5<i>l.</i>;—a house of two stories and garrets, two rooms in +front and two in back in each story, such being the manner in which they +are built, a passage running through the middle, and the rooms being on +each side—such a house, resembling an English parsonage, about five +Louis a year; or with a garden, paddock, and orchard, about eight +Louis;—butter 8<i>d.</i> per pound; cheese 4<i>d.</i>; and milk a halfpenny a +quart. According to the best estimate I could make, a family, +consisting of a man, his wife, three or four children, two +maid-servants, a man-servant, and three horses, might be easily kept at +Saumur, and in its neighbourhood, for about 100<i>l.</i> a year. I am fully +persuaded that I am rather over than under the mark. The country +immediately about Saumur is as lively and beautiful as the town itself. +It chiefly consists of corn-fields studded with groves, or rather tufts +of trees, and divided by green fences, in which were pear and +apple-trees in full bearing. The fields near the town had paths around +them and across them, where the towns-folk, as I understood from my +informer, were accustomed to walk in the evening and which, the corn +being ripe and high, were pleasantly recluse. Felice and myself crossed +three or four of them, and if I may judge from the little scrupulosity +with which she ran amongst the corn, the proprietors of the lands must +gain little from their fields being the customary promenade of their +townsmen. One thing, however, I have observed peculiar to the +landholders in France—that wherever the free use of their property can +contribute in any thing to the enjoyment of others; wherever their +fields, or even their parks and gardens, lie convenient for a promenade, +those fields, parks, and gardens, are thrown open, and whatever they +contain, flowers, fruits, and seats, are all at the public disposal. A +Frenchman never thinks of stopping up a bye-path, because it passes +within half a mile of his window; a Frenchman never thinks of raising +the height of his own wall, in order to interrupt the prospect of his +neighbour. One quality, in a few words, pervades all the actions, all +the words, and all the thoughts of a Frenchman—a general benevolence, +an anxious kindness, which is daily making sacrifices to oblige and even +assist others.</p> + +<p>Upon my return to the inn, I found Mademoiselle at the breakfast table, +which was set in a back room fronting a very pleasant garden. She +rallied me pleasantly enough, but as I thought with an air of pique, +upon my morning walk and my fair companion, and Felice happening to +enter the room, asked her how she should like a foreign husband. "Very +well, Mademoiselle," replied the girl with great innocence, "after I had +taught him to talk in French: and I believe you are of the same opinion, +Mademoiselle," added she with more pertness. Mademoiselle, with true +French dexterity, here dropt a cup on the floor, and thus saved the +necessity of reply, and furnished an excuse for the confusion into which +the girl's impertinence had evidently thrown her. Shall I confess that +my vanity was gratified, but I will defy any one to travel through +France, without becoming something of a coxcomb.</p> + +<p>Having resumed our journey, we proceeded merrily, under a cheering sun +refreshed by a morning breeze, on the road for Tours, through les Trois +Volets, and Langes. The road was still along the banks of the Loire, +and continued on the southern side till we reached Chousay, a very sweet +village, about twelve miles from Saumur. We had here a repast of bread, +grapes, and a sweet wine peculiar to the country, but the name of which +I have not noted; and though together with our servants we drank nearly +four quart bottles, and ate a good quantity of grapes and bread, our +reckoning did not exceed seven francs. Nothing indeed surprised me so +much as the uncommon cheapness in this country. The country to Chousay +had a very near resemblance to what we had passed through the preceding +day, except that it was more hilly, and the hills being clothed in +vines, more beautiful. On some of these hills, moreover, amidst groves +or tufts of trees, and lawns extending down the declivity, were some +very pretty chateaus, which being white and clean, looked gay and +animated. The landscape, indeed, seemed to improve upon us as we +advanced; every mile was as charming as the preceding, but every mile +began to have a new character. Sometimes the river ran through a plain +in which the peasants were gathering in their harvest, to the very brink +of the water. Sometimes, the banks on each side were covered with +forests, from the centre of which were visible steeples, villas, +windmills, and abbeys. At Chousay, I saw the cleanly way in which the +Vignerons of the Loire bruise their grapes. In Spain and Portugal, they +are put into a mash tub, and the juice is trodden from them by the bare +feet of men, women, and girls hired for the purpose: here the practise +is to use a wooden pestle. The grapes being collected and picked, are +put into a large vat, where they are bruised in the manner I have +mentioned, and are thence carried to the press. The vintage had not +indeed as yet begun, but I saw the process performed on a small quantity +of grapes, which had been ripened in a garden. Every vineyard +proprietor, besides his stock-fruit, has some peculiar species of grape +from which he makes the wine for his own use and that of his immediate +friends: these grapes are very carefully picked and culled, and none but +the soundest and best are thrown into the tub. The wine thus made is +infinitely superior to the stock-wine for sale: when old, it is not +inferior to Hock, and I believe is frequently sold as such by the +foreign purchasers.</p> + +<p>Our next post was Planchoury, a small village, which we reached about +six o'clock in the evening, and where we agreed to remain for the night, +that our horses might have a rest, which they seemed to require. Our inn +here was a farm-house. We had for our supper a couple of roasted fowls, +and a dish which I had never seen before, some new wheat boiled with +pepper and salt. It was so savoury, and I have reason to believe so +wholesome, that I have frequently taken it since. I can say from +experience, that it is a powerful sudorific, and very efficacious in a +cold. I must not forget to mention that I slept on some straw, in a kind +of hay-oft, and to the best of my memory never slept more delightfully. +When I opened my razor case on the following morning, I found a paper, +upon unrolling of which I found a ringlet of hair, with the word Felice +on the envelope. Once for all, the French women can think of nothing but +gallantry, and live for nothing but love. Sweet girl, I will keep thy +ringlet, and when weary of the world, will remember thee, and +acknowledge that life may still have a charm.</p> + +<p>We remained at Planchoury till the noon of the following day, when we +resumed our journey, with the intention of dining at Tours. From +Planchoury throughout the whole way to Tours, the scenery exceeded all +the powers of description. The Loire rolled its lovely stream through +groves, meads, and flowers. On both sides was a border of meadow clad in +the richest green, varied sometimes by hills which hung over the river, +the sides of these hills robed in all the rich livery of the ripening +grape, and the towers and battlements of castles just surmounting the +woods in which they were embosomed. How delightful must it be to wander +in a summer's evening along these lovely banks, far from the din of the +distant world, and where the deep tranquillity is only interrupted by +the song of the nightingale, the whistle of the swain returning from +labour, or the carol of the milkmaid as she is filling her pail. Surely +man was formed most peculiarly to relish the charms of Nature. Would +Heaven grant me my fondest wish, it would be to wander with * * * * on +the banks of the Loire. How sweetly, and even justly, did Felice +express the true image of love, when she wished me the golden +dream,—that I was wandering with my love in the corn-fields of Saumur.</p> + +<p>We passed through Langeais, a small town, celebrated for its melons, +with which it supplies Paris, and all France. This town was known to the +Romans, by whom it was called Alingavia. We stopped to examine its +castle, which is celebrated in the history of France, as the scene of +the marriage of Charles the Eighth and Anne of Bretagne. The castle, as +may be expected, is now in ruins; but enough remains of it, to prove its +former magnificence. It frowns with much sublimity over the subject +land. I never remember to have passed through a more lovely country, +more varied scenery, abounding in vines, corn, meadow, wood, and water, +than the whole of the road between Saumur and Tours. Well might Queen +Mary of Scotland exclaim, when leaving the vines and flowers of France +for her Scotch kingdom, "Dear, delightful land, must I indeed leave +thee! Gay, lovely France, shall I never see thee more!"</p> + +<p>We reached Tours somewhat later than we expected. According to our +previous arrangement, we were to stay there only the whole of the +following day, but we again broke our resolution, and extended our time +from one day to three. I envy not that man's heart who can travel France +by his watch.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XIII" id="CHAP_XIII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Tours—Situation and general Appearance of it—Origin of the<br /> +Name of Huguenots—Cathedral Church of St. Martin—The<br /> +Quay—Markets—Public Walk—Classes of Inhabitants—Environs—Expences<br /> +of Living—Departure from Tours—Country<br /> +between Tours and Amboise.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> remained at Tours three days, and though nearly the whole of this +time was occupied in an unceasing walk over the town and environs, I was +still unwearied, and my subject still unexhausted.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more charming than the situation of this town. Imagine a +plain between two rivers, the Loire and the Cher, and this plain +subdivided into compartments of every variety of cultivated land, +corn-fields studded with fruit-trees, and a range of hills in the +distance covered with vineyards to their top, whilst every eminence has +its villa, or abbey, or ruined tower. The cities in France, at least +those on the Loire, have all somewhat of a rural character; this may be +imputed to their comparative want of that trade and manufactures, which +in England, and even in America, convert every thing in the vicinity of +a town into store-yards. In France, trade has more room than she can +well fill, and therefore has no occasion to trespass beyond her limits. +There are few towns but have larger quays than their actual commerce +requires, and still fewer but what have more manufactories than they +have capitals to keep them in work.</p> + +<p>The general appearance of Tours, when first entered by a traveller, is +brisk, gay, and clean; a great part of it having been burnt down during +the reign of the unfortunate Louis, nearly the whole of the main street +was laid out and rebuilt at the expence of that Monarch. What before was +close and narrow, was then widened and rendered pervious to a direct +current of air. The houses are built of a white stone, so as to give +this part of the town a perfect resemblance to Bath. Some of them, +moreover, are spacious and elegant, and all of them neat, and with every +external appearance of comfort. The tradesmen have every appearance of +being in more substantial circumstances than is usual with the French +provincial dealers; their houses, therefore, are neat and in good +repair, the windows are not patched with paper, the wood-work is fresh +painted, and the pavement kept clean.</p> + +<p>The name of the Huguenots, a party which so fatally divided France +during three reigns, originated in one of the gates of this city, which +is called the Hugon gate, from Hugo, an ancient count of Tours. In the +popular superstition and nursery tales of the country, this Hugo is +converted into a being somewhat between a fairy and a fiend, and even +the illustrious De Thou has not disdained to make mention of this +circumstance: "<i>Cæsaro duni</i>," says this celebrated historian, "<i>Hugo +Rex celebratur, qui noctu Pomæria civitatis obequitare, et obvios +homines pulsare et rapere dicitur</i>." Be this as it may, the party of the +Huguenots, according to Davila, having originated in this city, they +were thence called Huguenots, as a term of derision and reproach.</p> + +<p>We visited the cathedral, which, with more decency than in England, is +open at all hours of the day, and is not exhibited for money. There +might be some excuse for this, where any of the subjects of exhibition +are portable, and such as might be carried away. But who would feel any +disposition to pilfer the wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, or the hat of +General Monk, in Westminster Abbey? Why, therefore, is not this +disgraceful practice thrown aside? Why is a nation converted into a +puppet-show? The English Minister would doubtless be ashamed to bring +the returns of these exhibitions amongst the ways and means of the year; +yet it is effectually the same to suffer these taxes to be taken as the +prices for seeing the public buildings of the nation. There is nothing +of this kind in America, or in any other kingdom in the world. The +cathedral of Tours has nothing to distinguish it except its antiquity, +two beautiful towers, and a library of most valuable manuscripts. +Amongst these there is a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the +alphabet of the country, upwards of eleven hundred years ago. There is +likewise a copy of the four Evangelists, written in Saxon letters, in +the beginning of the fifth century, about fifty years after Constantine +declared Christianity to be the religion of the Roman Empire. Next to +the cathedral, St. Martin's church is usually shewn to strangers. It is +the largest church in France, but very dark, damp, and built in a very +bad taste. The tomb of St. Martin, whom tradition reports to be buried +here, is behind the great Altar; it is of black marble, and though very +simple, is very striking. The ancient kings of France used to come to +this tomb previous to any of their important expeditions, and after +having made the usual prayers of intercession used to take away the +mantle of the Saint as the banner under which they were to fight: this +mantle still remains.</p> + +<p>The quay is broad, brisk, and clean. Even the French merchants seem +never to lose sight of the union of pleasure and profit: their quays are +terraces, and serve them as well for promenades as for business. One +reason, however, for the superiority of the French over the English +quays, may be, that the French Government consider these quays as public +and national works, and therefore puts them, I believe, under the same +system of management as the roads. What Government does, and does with +attention, will be done well, because Government consults for the +general good; whilst individual proprietors are only actuated by their +own immediate interest. If the wharfs and quays on the Thames had been +laid out by the English Government, would they have so totally defaced +and degraded the banks of that noble river?</p> + +<p>There is an excellent market for provisions; I had not the opportunity +of seeing it on the market day, but was informed in answer to my +inquiries, that every article was plentiful, and very cheap. Wood, which +is so dear in every other part of France, is here very cheap, the +country being overspread with forests, and the river furnishing a ready +transportation. Houses are good and cheap: the rent of a house +consisting of a ground floor, two stories above, and attics, the windows +in front of each floor being from six to eight, with coach-house, +stables, garden and orchards, is about 20<i>l.</i> English money, the taxes +from 1<i>l.</i> 10<i>s.</i> to 2<i>l.</i>, and parish rates about 10<i>s.</i> annually. I +should not forget to mention, that the gardens are large, sometimes two +or three acres, encompassed with high walls, and well planted with +fruit-trees, and particularly wall-fruit. In the back part of these +gardens are usually gates opening into the fields, which I have before +mentioned have walks around and across them, and are the common +promenade of all who choose to use them. In the season of harvest or +vintage, nothing can be more charming than these walks; the French +gaiety and simplicity, not to say puerility, is then seen in all its +perfection; it is then a common sport amongst the ladies and the +gallants of the town to chase each other amongst the standing corn, and +as they endeavour to keep to the furrows, which are too narrow for their +feet, the chace is generally terminated by the fall of the runners, the +one over the other. The interest of the farmers cannot but suffer by +these frolics; but as they participate in the enjoyment, for every one +may salute a lady whom he finds in the corn, there is no complaint, and +indeed care is taken to do as little mischief as possible. In the summer +evenings these fields are almost the sole promenade; and the Mall, or +public walk of the town is entirely deserted. On Sundays, however, the +Mall has its turn, and all the beauty of the province, and the fashion +of the town, may be seen walking up and down this beautiful avenue, +being nearly a mile and half in length, and planted on both sides with +ranges of elms apparently almost as ancient as the town. The magistrates +are so careful of this ornament of their town, that they suffer no one +to walk there after rain, and penalties are imposed on every species of +nuisance or abuse.</p> + +<p>The society of Tours is infinitely beyond that of any other provincial +town in France. I have already mentioned, that there are some excellent +houses within the city, and they are in great numbers in the immediate +vicinity. Tours, in this respect, resembles Canterbury or Salisbury, in +England. It is the favourite retreat of such advocates as have made +fortunes in their profession. The noblesse of the province have their +balls and assemblies almost weekly during the summer months; and even +in the winter, Tours is by many preferred to Paris. It would be an +unpardonable omission, whilst I am upon this subject, not to notice the +uncommon beauty of the younger women; a beauty, the effect of which is +much raised by their vivacity, and unwearied gaiety. Love and gallantry +seem the main business of the town, and whilst we were there, we were +amused with two or three stories of infidelities on all sides. There is +a very pretty custom at their balls: if a lady accepts a partner, she +presents him, if in summer, with a flower; if in winter, with a ribbon +of what she has adopted as her colour. Every unmarried lady has a colour +which she has adopted as her own, and which she always wears on some +part of her dress.</p> + +<p>Tours was formerly celebrated for its silk manufactory, and enough of it +still remains to invite and to gratify the curiosity of a traveller. The +attention of the French Government is now unintermittingly occupied in +efforts to raise the manufactures of the kingdom, but whilst the war +makes such large demands, trade must necessarily be cramped. The +manufactories, however, still continue to work, and produce some +beautiful flowered damasks, and brilliant stuffs. The weavers for the +most part work at their own houses, and have so much by the piece, the +silk being furnished them by their employers. The prices vary with the +pattern and quality of the work; two livres per day is the average of +what can be earned by the weavers. The women weave as well as the men, +and their earnings may be estimated at about one half. Upon the whole, +however, these manufactures are in a very drooping condition, and are +scarcely visible to a foreign visitant, unless the immediate object of +his inquiry. There is likewise a ribbon manufactory, but the ribbons are +very inferior to those of England. About 1000 persons may be employed in +these two manufactories.</p> + +<p>We visited the castle of Plessis les Tours, which is not more than a +mile from the city. This chateau was built by that execrable tyrant, +Louis the Eleventh, was his constant residence during his life-time, and +the scene of his horrible death. This monarch is one of those whom all +concur in mentioning with execration; Richard of England has found +apologists in this ingenious age, but no one has come forward to defend +the memory of the French Tiberius. The castle is built of brick, and is +very pleasantly situated, being surrounded by woods. In the chapel is a +portrait of Louis the Eleventh; he is painted as in the act of saluting +the Virgin Mary, and our Saviour as an infant. His features are harsh, +and something of the tyrant is legible even through the adulation of the +painter. The castle, though built about 1450, is still perfect in all +its parts, and has some large apartments.</p> + +<p>I believe I have already mentioned, that when I had occasion to stop in +any town, which I thought had a <i>primâ facie</i> appearance of being a +place of pleasant residence or settlement for a foreigner, the main +object of my inquiries went to ascertain all those points which were +necessary to determine this question. Of all the cities which I had yet +seen, Tours appeared to me the best adapted for such a residence. The +country is delightful and healthy, the society good, and every necessary +article of life plentiful and cheap. Beef, veal, and mutton, are to be +had in great plenty, and the two latter excellent. Poultry is equally +plentiful and cheap. Fuel, to those who have horses, amounts almost to +nothing; house-rent likewise very reasonable. Land in purchase about +15<i>l.</i> per acre, one with another—wood, heath, and arable. In the +immediate neighbourhood of the town the meadow land is dear. I believe I +have now mentioned every thing. Young persons would find Tours a +delightful residence, as there is a never-ceasing course of balls and +parties. A carriage may be kept cheaply; in a word, I would venture +positively to say, that for 250<i>l.</i> English money annually, a family +might live at Tours in plenty and elegance; but let them not have +English or American servants.</p> + +<p>Having seen enough of Tours, we resumed our journey after our breakfast +on the third day, proposing to go no farther on that day than Amboise, +a distance short of twenty miles. Every traveller must have observed, +that the exhilaration of the animal spirits is never greater than after +an interval of fatigue succeeded by sufficient repose. A spirited horse, +for example, will perform his second stage, after a sufficient bait, +with more animation than his first: it is the same with travellers, or +at least I must assert it of myself. My satisfaction is always greater +in the progress, than in the commencement of a journey. There is a +dilatoriness, a <i>vis inertiæ</i>, which hangs on me on my first departure, +and which does not pass away, till worked off by the fermentation of the +blood and spirits.</p> + +<p>The whole party, and myself amongst the number, left Tours in this +enviable state of spirits; the sun shone brightly, but a refreshing +breeze, and intervals of the road well shaded, softened an heat, which +might otherwise have been oppressive. Mr. Younge and myself rode on each +side of the carriage, and travelling slowly, as our proposed day's +journey was short, enjoyed at once the scenes of nature, and the +conversation of these lovely women.</p> + +<p>"The next village we shall come to," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +"will be a singularity. Unless we were with you, you might perhaps pass +through it without seeing it. You might pass through the midst of three +or four hundred inhabitants without seeing either house, man, woman, or +child."</p> + +<p>"You are speaking of Mont Louis," said Mr. Younge.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mademoiselle, "but I will not anticipate Monsieur's +gratification by more fully informing him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge, in the course of this conversation, gave me some important +information with respect to the climate of this part of France. I have +entered it in my note book as nearly as possible in his own words, and +therefore shall give it as such.</p> + +<p>"If an American, an English, or a Swedish gentleman, wished to settle in +France," said he, "I would recommend above all provinces either +Tourraine or the Limosin. What the country is as to natural beauty, and +as to fertility of soil, you may see through every league; it is that +mixture of the wild and of the cultivated, of the field, of the wood, of +the vineyard, and of the garden, which is not to be equalled in Europe, +and which has rendered this part of France the favourite of painters and +poets from time immemorial. Here the Troubadours have built their fairy +castles, have settled their magicians, and bound their ladies in +enchanted gardens; and even the popular superstition of the country +seems to have taken its tone and colour from the images around. +Tourraine, and all the country on the banks of the Loire, has a kind of +popular mythology of its own; it is the land of fairies and elfins, and +there is scarcely a glen, a grove, or a shady recess, but what has its +tale belonging to it. What one of the French poets has said of the +Seine, may be said with more truth of the Loire—all its women are +queens, and all its young men poets. If Mademoiselle St. Sillery were +speaking," continued he, smiling at this young lady, "she would say, +that love reigned triumphant amidst the charms of Nature.</p> + +<p>"The climate exactly corresponds to this singular beauty of the country. +In many years there is no such thing as snow, and frosts are not +frequent, and never severe. The rainy weather comes usually at once, and +is confined to the spring. There are no fogs and vapours as is usual in +the northern kingdom: the spring is a continuance of such weather as is +seen in England about the middle of May. The harvest begins about the +latter end of June, but is sometimes so late as the middle of July; it +continues a month. The vent de bize is very rare in these provinces. The +great heats are from the middle of July to the middle of August During +this time, the climate of Touraine certainly exceeds any thing that is +common in England. The heaths are covered with thyme, lavender, +rosemary, and the juniper-tree: nothing can be more delightful than the +scent of them, when the wind blows over them. The hedges are every where +interspersed with flowers; there are blossoms of some kind or other +throughout the year. I must not, however, disguise from you, that there +are some drawbacks from this excellence: the countries south of the +Loire are subject to violent storms of rain and hail, and the latter +particularly is occasionally so violent, as to beat down and destroy all +the corn and vintage on which it may fall. These hail-storms, however, +at least in this excessive degree, are not very frequent; they sometimes +do not occur once in five years. Some years ago, they were more frequent +than they are at present: they used to come on at that time with a +violence which swept every thing before them, even destroying the +cattle, and it is said that even men have been killed by these +hail-stones. Such storms, however, are now considered as natural +phenomena.</p> + +<p>"The plenty of these provinces, I speak of Touraine and Anjou, is such +as might be expected from their climate, and the fertility of the soil. +I am persuaded, that a family or an individual might live at one-fourth +of the expence which it would cost them either in England or in America. +Bread is cheaper by two-thirds, and meat of all kinds is about +one-fourth of the London market. Land, both in rent and purchase, is +likewise infinitely cheaper than in England, and if managed with any +skill, would replace its purchase-money in seven years. The French +farmers, for want of capital, leave half their land totally +uncultivated, and the other half is most scandalously neglected. An +English farmer would instantaneously double or quadruple the produce of +the province. The government, moreover, admits foreigners of any country +as denizens, under the condition that they shall apply themselves to +agriculture or manufactures. I am not, however, certain that +agriculture is included in this permission, but I am inclined to believe +that it is comprehended in it. Of one thing I am sure, that the +government would not refuse its protection, and if required, its special +licence, to any foreign agriculturist, who should be desirous of +purchasing and settling."</p> + +<p>In this and similar conversation we reached Mont Louis, and it exactly +answered the description which the ladles had given of it. We were in +the midst of the village and its inhabitants before we saw it. Imagine a +number of sandy hills on each side of the road, and the sides of them +scooped out into houses or rather caves, and you have a sufficient idea +of this French village, containing some hundreds of inhabitants. The +hills being hollowed out on the further extremity from the road, a +traveller might certainly pass through it, without perceiving any thing +of it. This style is even carried where there is not the same natural +advantage of a hill to hollow out. The village extends into the plain, +which is likewise dug out into subterraneous houses, and which are only +visible by the smoke issuing from the chimnies. I could not understand +the convenience or necessity for these kind of habitations. The ground, +indeed, being chalky, is at once dry and easily dug, but on the other +hand, the country so abounds in wood and clay, that a very little +industry, and a very little expence, might have provided these living +human beings with something better than a grave. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, however, made a remark which I must not pass over. "You must +not," said this lady, "necessarily infer the misery of our peasantry, +because you see them in such unfit habitations. When you compare the +French poor, with the poor in your own country, you must take all +circumstances with you. When you see the French peasantry so ill lodged, +and so scantily clad, you must bring into your view at the same time the +difference of the climate. Here, the same sun which now shines upon us, +shines on us the whole year round; our rains are short, and all confined +to their season; we know nothing of the northern damps: a piece of +muslin or fine linen hung in one of those caves for six months, would be +dry and unsullied when removed. Those caves, moreover, bad as they are, +belong to their inhabitants; the property is their own. Can your +peasantry say the same? Believe me, Monsieur, there are many very happy, +aye and very lovely faces, under those turf dwellings."</p> + +<p>We reached Amboise in good time, and as we intended leaving it on the +following morning, Mr. Younge and myself walked over the town, in the +interval between dinner and tea. The ladies reserved themselves for the +promenade, which in the provincial towns usually begins at seven, and +continues till nine.</p> + +<p>Amboise, like all the towns on the Loire, is very pleasantly situated, +but has nothing in its structure to recommend it to particular notice. +It consists of two streets and a chateau. Before the Revolution it was +very singularly divided into two parishes and two churches: all +gentlemen, all military officers, all landed proprietors who possessed +honorary fiefs, and all strangers who were temporary residents, were +considered as belonging to one parish, and the people and the bourgeois +were attached to the other. The Revolution has annihilated these absurd +distinctions, and every one now belongs to the parish in which he +resides, or has property.</p> + +<p>We visited the chateau, or castle, which is indeed well worthy of the +particular attention of travellers. It is built upon a lofty and craggy +rock, and overhangs the Loire, which flows at the bottom; the side on +the Loire is perpendicular, and of great height, so as to render it +almost inaccessible. This vast structure was not all the work of one +time, or of one author. The present castle was built upon the ruins of +one which was destroyed by the Normans in the year 882, but having gone +into decay, was repaired and enlarged by Francis the First and Charles +the Eighth. The latter prince was born in this castle, and during his +whole reign it was the constant summer residence of the court. The most +remarkable part of this structure is what is called the oratory of Louis +the Wicked; it is at a great depth beneath the foundation of the castle, +and the descent to it is by spiral or well-stairs. It is literally +nothing more than a dungeon, on a platform, in which is a prostrate +statue representing the dead body of our Lord, as taken from the Cross, +covered with streaks of blood, and the skin in welts, as if fresh from +the scourge. According to the tradition of the neighbourhood, this was +the daily scene of the private devotions of Louis the Eleventh; and the +character of the place and of the images around, have certainly some +symphony with the known disposition of that monarch. No one, even in the +horrible Revolution, has disturbed these relics; it is still exhibited +as the tyrant's dungeon, and no one enters or leaves it without feeling +a renewed idea of the character of that execrable monster.</p> + +<p>The conspiracy of Amboise having originated in this city, the walls and +dungeons of the castle still retain some relics of the ferocious +cruelties exercised by the triumphant party of the Guises. Spikes, +nails, and short iron gibbets and chains, are still shewn on the walls, +on which were suspended the bodies of the prisoners who fell into their +hands. How difficult is it to reconcile such ferocity to the known +greatness of the Duke of Guise; but religious fury has no limits, and a +true enthusiast comforts himself that he tortures the body to save the +soul. Thank Heaven, that the days of such infuriate zeal are over: but +Heaven forbid that we should pass to the other extreme. Great as may be +the evils of bigotry, the mischief of religious indifference, or in +other words, of no religion at all, would be infinitely greater. The +one may affect the world as a storm, the other is a perpetual +pestilence, beneath the influence of which every thing that is generous +and noble, morals, and even private honor, must fall to the ground.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XIV" id="CHAP_XIV"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XIV.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois—Ecures—Beautiful<br /> +Village—French Harvesters—Chousi—Village Inn—Blois—<br /> +Situation—Church—Market—Price of Provisions.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the following morning we resumed our journey for Blois, a distance of +thirty miles, which we proposed to reach the same day.</p> + +<p>The country for some leagues very nearly resembled that through which we +had passed on the preceding day, except that it was more thickly spread +with houses, and better cultivated. Windmills are very frequent along +the whole line of the Loire, the wheat of the country being ground in +the vicinity of the river, so as to be more convenient for +transportation. These mills are beautifully situated on the hills and +rising grounds, and add much to the cheerfulness of the scenery. The +road, moreover, was as various as it was beautiful. Sometimes it passed +through open fields, in which the peasantry were at work to get in their +harvest. Upon sight of our horses, the labourers, male and female, +ceased from their work, and ran up to the carriage: some of the younger +women would then present us with some wheat, barley, or whatever was +the subject of their labour, accompanying it with rustic salutations, +and more frequently declining than accepting any pecuniary return. This +conduct of the French peasantry is a perfect contrast to what a +traveller must frequently meet in America, and still more frequently in +England. Amongst the inferior classes in England and America, to be a +stranger is to be a subject for insult. So much I must say in justice +for the French of the very lowest condition, that I never received any +thing like an insult, and that they no sooner understood me to be a +stranger, than they were officious in their attentions and information.</p> + +<p>I enquired of Mr. Younge what were the wages of the labourers in this +part of France. "Their wages," said he, "are very different according to +the season. In harvest-time, they have as much as 36 sols, about 1<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i> English money. The average daily wages of the year may amount to +24 sols, or a shilling English; they are allowed moreover, three pints +of the wine of the country. Their condition is upon the whole very +comfortable: the greater part of them have a cow, and a small slip of +land. There is a great deal of common land along the whole course of the +Loire, and the farmers have a practice of exchanging with the poor. The +poor, for example, in many districts, have a right of commonage, during +a certain number of days, over all the common fields; the farmers having +possession of these lands, and finding it inconvenient to be subject to +this participation, frequently buy it off, and in exchange assign an +acre or more to every collage in the parish. These cottages are let to +the labourers for life at a mere nominal rent, and are continued to +their families, as long as they remain honest and industrious. There is +indeed no such thing as parochial taxes for the relief of the poor, as +in England, but distress seldom happens without being immediately +relieved."</p> + +<p>"In what manner," said I, "do the French poor live?"</p> + +<p>"Very cheaply, and yet all things considered, very sufficiently. You, +who have lived almost the whole of your life in northern climates, can +scarcely form any idea, what a very different kind of sustenance is +required in a southern one. In Ireland, however, how many robust bodies +are solely nourished on milk and potatoes: now chesnuts and grapes, and +turnips and onions in France, are what potatoes are in Ireland. The +breakfast of our labourers usually consists of bread and fruit, his +dinner of bread and an onion, his supper of bread, milk, and chesnuts. +Sometimes a pound of meat may be boiled with the onion, and a bouillé is +thus made, which with management will go through the week. The climate +is such as to require no expence in fuel, and very little in clothes."</p> + +<p>In this conversation we reached Ecures, a village situated on a plain, +which in its verdure, and in the fanciful disposition of some trees and +groves, reminded me very strongly of an English park. This similitude +was increased by a house on the further extremity of the village: it was +situated in a lawn, and entirely girt around by walnut trees except +where it fronted the road, upon which it opened by a neat palisadoed +gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion, +that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was +freshly mown, and the flowers, the fresh-painted seats, the windows +extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of +the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from +getting on the lawn—all these were so perfectly in the English taste, +that I offered Mr. Younge any wager that the possessor had travelled. +"He is most probably a returned emigrant," said Mr. Younge; "it is +inconceivable how much this description of men have done for France. The +government, indeed, begins to understand their value, and the list of +the proscribed is daily diminishing."</p> + +<p>From Ecures to Chousi the country varies very considerably. The road is +very good, but occasionally sandy. To make up for this heaviness, it is +picturesque to a degree. The fields on each side are so small as to give +them a peculiar air of snugness, and to suggest the idea to a traveller, +how delightful would be a fancy-cottage in such a situation. For my own +part, I was continually building in my imagination. These fields were +well enclosed with thick high hedges, and ornamented with hedge-rows of +chesnut and walnut trees. There were scarcely any of them but what had a +foot-path on the side of the road; in others there were bye-paths which +led from the road into the country, sometimes to a village, the chimnies +only of which were visible; at other times to a chateau, the gilded +pinnacle of which shone afar from some distant hill. I observed several +fields of flax and hemp, and we passed several cottages, in the gardens +of which the flax flourished in great perfection, Mr. Younge informed +me, that every peasant grew a sufficient quantity for his own use, and +the females of his family worked them up into a strong, but decent +looking linen. "This is another circumstance," said he, "which you must +not forget in your comparison between the poor of France and other +kingdoms. The French peasantry, and particularly the women, have more +ingenuity than the English or American poor; they universally make every +thing that is connected with their own clothes. Their beds, blankets, +coats, and linen of all kind, are of the manufacture of their own +families. The produce of the man's labour goes clear to the purchase of +food: the labour of his wife and daughters, and even a small portion of +their labour, is sufficient to clothe him and to provide him with his +bed."</p> + +<p>We passed several groups of villagers reposing themselves under the +shade: I should not indeed say reposing, for they were romping, +running, and conversing with all the characteristic merriment of the +country. They saluted us respectfully as we passed them. In one of these +groups was a flageolet-player; he was piping merrily, his comrades +accompanying the tune with motions of their hands and neck. "Confess," +said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that we are a happy people: these poor +creatures have been at their labour since sunrise, and yet this is the +way they repose themselves." "Are they never wearied?" said I. "Never so +much so, but what they can sing and dance: their good-humour seems to +hold them in the stead of the more robust nerves of the north. Even +labour itself is not felt where the mind takes its share of the weight."</p> + +<p>"You are a philosopher," said Mr. Younge to her, smiling.</p> + +<p>"I am a Frenchwoman," replied she, "and would not change my cheerful +flow of spirits for all the philosophy and wisdom in the universe. +Nothing can make me unhappy whilst the sun shines."</p> + +<p>I know not whether I have before mentioned, that a great quantity of +maize is cultivated in this part of the kingdom. The roofs of the +cottages were covered with it drying in the sun; the ears are of a +bright golden yellow, and in the cottage gardens it had a beautiful +effect. I observed moreover a very striking difference between the +system of cultivating the flax in England and in France. In England the +richest land only is chosen, in France every soil indiscriminately. The +result of this difference is, that the flax in France is infinitely +finer than in England, a circumstance which may account for the +superiority of their lawns and cambrics.</p> + +<p>We reached Chousi to an early dinner. The woman of the house apologised +that she had no suitable room for so large a company, "but her husband +and sons were gathering apples in the orchard, and if we would dine +there, we should find it cheerful enough." We readily adopted this +proposal, and had a very pleasant dinner under an apple tree. +Mademoiselle and myself had agreed to divide between us the office of +purveyor to the party. It was my part to see that the meat or poultry +was not over-boiled, over-hashed, or over-roasted, and it was her's to +arrange the table with the linen and plate which we brought with us. It +is inconceivable how much comfort, and even elegance, resulted from this +arrangement.</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge and myself being engaged in an argument of some warmth, in +which Mrs. Younge had taken part, Mademoiselle St. Sillery had given us +the slip, and the carriage being ready, I had to seek her. After much +trouble I found her engaged in a childish sport with some boys and +girls, the children of the landlord: the game answered to what is known +in America by the name of hide and seek, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +when I found her, was concealed in a <i>saw-pit</i>. I have mentioned, I +believe, that this young lady was about twenty years of age; an elegant, +fashionable girl, and as far removed from a romp and a hoyden as it is +possible to conceive; yet was this young lady of fashion now engaged in +the most puerile play, and even seemed disappointed when she was called +from it. Such is the French levity, that sooner than not be in motion, +the gravest and most dignified of them would join in an hunt after a +butterfly. I have frequently been walking, with all possible gravity, +with Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when she has suddenly challenged me to +run a race, and before I could recover my astonishment, or give her an +answer, has taken to her heels.</p> + +<p>We reached Blois rather late; we had intended to have staid there only +the night, but as it was too late to see the town, and the following +morning was showery, we remained there the whole day, and very +pleasantly passed the afternoon in walking over the town, and informing +ourselves of its curiosities. The situation of Blois is as agreeable as +that of all the other principal towns on the Loire. The main part of it +is built upon an hill which descends by a gentle declivity to the Loire; +the remaining part of it is a suburb on the opposite side of the river, +to which it is joined by a bridge resembling that at Kew, in England. +From the hill on which the town stands is a beautiful view of a rich +and lovely country, and there is certainly not a town in France or in +Europe, with the exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such +a delightful landscape. It appeared, perhaps, more agreeable to us as we +saw it after it had been freshened by the morning rain. The structure of +the town does not correspond with the beauty of its site. The streets +are narrow, and the houses low. There are some of the houses, however, +which are very respectable, and evidently the habitation of a superior +class of inhabitants. They reminded me much of what are common in the +county towns of England.</p> + +<p>But the boast and ornament of Blois is its chateau, or castle. We +employed some hours in going over it, and I shall therefore describe it +with some fullness.</p> + +<p>The situation of it is extremely commanding, and therefore very +beautiful. It is built upon a rock which overhangs the Loire, all the +castles upon this river being built with the evident purpose of +controuling and commanding the navigation. What first struck us very +forcibly was the variety and evident dissimilarity of the several parts. +This circumstance was explained to us by our guide, who informed us that +the castle was the work of several princes. The eastern and southern +fronts were built by Louis the Twelfth about the year 1520, the northern +front was the work of Francis the First, and the western side of +Gaston, duke of Orleans. Every part accordingly has a different +character. What is built by Louis the Twelfth is heavy, dark, and +gothic, with small rooms, and pointed arches. The work of Francis the +First is a curious specimen of the Gothic architecture in its progress, +perhaps in its very act of transit, into the Greek and Roman orders; and +what has been done by Gaston, bears the character of the magnificent +mind and bold genius of that great prince. This comparison of three +different styles, on the same spot, gave me much satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The rooms, as I have said, such as were built by Louis the Twelfth, are +small, and those by Francis spacious, lofty, and boldly vaulted. Nothing +astonished me more than the minor ornaments on the points of the arches; +they were so grossly, so vulgarly indecent, that I was fearful the +ladies might observe me as I looked at them: but such was the taste of +the age. Others of the ornaments were less objectionable: they consisted +of the devices of the several princes who had resided there.</p> + +<p>We were shewn the chamber in which the celebrated Duke of Guise was +assassinated, and the guide pointed out the spot on which he fell. A +small chamber, or rather anti-chamber, leads to a larger apartment: the +Duke had passed through the door of this anti-chamber, and was opening +the further door which leads into the larger apartment, when he was +assassinated by order of Henry the Third. His body was immediately +dragged into the larger apartment, and the king came to view it. "How +great a man was that!" said he, pointing to his prostrate body. +Historians are still divided on the quality of this act, whether it is +to be considered as a just execution, or as a cowardly assassination. +Considering the necessary falsehood, and breach of faith, under which it +must have been perpetrated, the moralist can have no hesitation to +execrate it as a murder.</p> + +<p>We passed from this part of the castle to the tower at the western +extremity, called La Tour de chateau Regnaud, and so called, because a +seigniory of that name, though distant twenty-one miles, is visible from +its summit. The Cardinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which +his brother was assassinated, was imprisoned in this castle, and after +passing a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. The +dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to conceive: +the descent to them entirely indisposed us from going down. Imagine a +dark gloomy room, itself a horrible dungeon, and in the centre of the +floor a round hole of the size and shape of those on the paved footpaths +in the streets in London for shooting coals into the cellars. Such is +the descent to these dungeons: and in such a place did the great and +proud Cardinal of Guise terminate a life of turmoil and ambition.</p> + +<p>We next visited the Salle des Etats, or the States-hall, so called +because the States General were there assembled by Henry the Third: it +is a large and lofty room, but the part of it which chiefly attracts the +attention of travellers is the fire-place, where the bodies of the +Guises were reduced to ashes on the day following their murder. It is +not however easy to conceive, why vengeance should be carried so far.</p> + +<p>The western front of the castle, which was built by Gaston, Duke of +Orleans, is in every respect worthy of that great prince, and of the +architect employed by him, the illustrious Mansard. This architect +laboured three years upon this front, and having already spent three +hundred and thirty thousand livres, informed the prince, that it would +require one hundred thousand more to render it habitable. The prince, +however eager both to encourage the artist and to have the work +finished, could not muster up the money, which in that age was an +immense sum: the front, therefore, was left in the state in which it now +remains. It is as much to the credit of the Duke as to that of the +architect, that this noble front constituted his pride, and that he felt +the value of this work of Mansard.</p> + +<p>The gardens of the castle are worthy of the structure to which they are +attached: Henry the Fourth divided them by a gallery into the upper and +lower gardens, but nothing now remains of this gallery but the ruins. +The garden itself is now sold or let to private persons.</p> + +<p>Blois has several other buildings which are worthy of the attention of a +leisurely traveller: amongst these is the college, which formerly +belonged to the Jesuits, and which is at present a national school. The +church attached to the college combines every order of architecture: +there are two splendid monuments, moreover, the one to Gaston Duke of +Orleans, the other to a daughter of this prince. The courts, likewise, +in which the police is administered, are not unworthy of a cursory +attention; they are very ancient, having been built by the former Counts +of Blois.</p> + +<p>We were shewn likewise the aqueducts: the waters rise from a deep +subterraneous spring, and are conveyed in a channel cut in a rock. This +channel is said to be of Roman construction, and from its characteristic +boldness, and even greatness, it most probably is so. Whence is it, that +this people communicated their characteristic energy even to trifles. +The channel of the aqueduct empties itself into a reservoir adjoining +the city walls, whence they are distributed in pipes through all +quarters of the city.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XV" id="CHAP_XV"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XV.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Houses in Chalk Hills—Magnificent Castle at Chambord—Return<br /> +from Chambord by Moon-light—St. Laurence on the<br /> +Waters.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the following morning we resumed our journey. The country continued +very similar to that through which we had previously past, except that +it was more populous, and there were a greater number of chateaus. On +some parts of the road, the chalk hills on the side of the river +presented a very curious spectacle: smoke issued out of an hundred vents +on the sides and summits, and gave them the appearance of so many +volcanoes. The fact was, that the descent fronting the river was scooped +into houses or rather caves for the peasantry, and the roof was cut +upwards for the chimney. I was informed by Mr. Younge, that the other +circumstances of these houses and their inhabitants did not correspond +with the implied poverty in their construction. "The fronts of these +cottages," said he, "are very picturesque; they have casements, and the +walls are deeply shaded and embossed with vines. These caverns are in +some places in rows one above another. They are not all of them the +property of those who live in them: some of them are constructed at the +expence of the farmers, and are let out at a yearly hire of four or +five livres. The fronts are masonry: the small gardens which you see +above, belong to these cottagers; many of them have moreover a cow, +which they feed in the lanes and woods. Altogether, their condition is +more comfortable than you would imagine."</p> + +<p>As the distance between Blois and Orleans was too much for one day, we +had divided it into two, and arranged it so as to comprehend Chambord in +the first. This route indeed was considerably out of our direct way, but +Mr. and Mrs. Younge resolved that I should see Chambord, and would hear +of no excuses.</p> + +<p>In pursuance of this plan we turned out of the main road, and entered a +narrow one, which by its recluseness and solitude seemed to lead us into +the recesses of the country. Nothing can be more beautiful than these +bye-roads both in France and England. On the highways, and in the +vicinity or route of central and populous towns, the spirit of +improvement, and the caprice of wealth, too frequently destroy the +scenes of nature: the artist in fashion is set at work, and the field +and the meadow is supplanted by the park, the lawn, and the measured +avenue. In the bye-lanes, on the contrary, the country is generally left +in its natural rudeness, and therefore in its natural beauty: no one +thinks of improving the house, orchard, and fields of his tenant; no one +cares whether his gates are painted, or his hedges are trim and even. +The bye-road, therefore, has always been my favourite haunt; and if +ever I should make a pedestrian tour through Europe, I should go in a +track very different from any who have gone before.</p> + +<p>The scenery in this cross-road to Chambord, as to its general character, +was exactly what I had anticipated; recluse and romantic to the most +extreme degree. The fields were small, and thickly enclosed; nothing +could be more beautiful than the shocks of corn as seen through the +thick foliage of the hedges. "How pleasant," said Mademoiselle to me, +"would be a walk by sunset under those hedge-rows." I agreed in the +observation, and repeat it as conveying an idea of the character of the +scenery. The gates and stiles to these several fields seemed as if they +had been made by Robinson Crusoe: there is nothing in America more rough +and aukward. We passed several cottages very delightfully situated, and +without a single exception covered with grapes. The gradual approach to +them had something which spoke both to the imagination and the feelings. +Imagine the carriage driving very slowly onwards, when you suddenly hear +a sweet female voice carrolling away in all the wildness of nature, and +this without knowing whence it comes. On a sudden, coming nearer the +bottom of the hill, you see on one side of the road a cottage chimney, +peeping as it were from a tuft of trees in a dell, and immediately +afterwards, coming in front, behold a girl picking grapes for the press, +and chearfully singing over her toil. There are few of these cottages +but what have a garden fronting the road, and some of these gardens, in +the season of fruit and flowers, are inimitably beautiful. Where is it +that I have read, that a Frenchman has no idea of gardening? Nothing can +be more false: the French peasants infinitely excell the English of the +same order in the knowledge and practice of this embellishment.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more obscure, more melancholy, than the situation of +Chambord; it is literally buried in woods, and the building, immense as +it is, is not visible till you are within some hundred yards of it. The +woods are not merely on one side, but entirely surround it, leaving only +a park in front, through the midst of which slowly flows a narrow river. +The day was overclouded, and I think I never beheld a more melancholy +scene.</p> + +<p>The style of building is strictly Gothic, and the architecture, +considering the order, is very good. It was built by Francis the First, +who, on his return from Spain, commanded the ancient chateau of the +Counts of Blois to be destroyed, and built this in its place. He is said +to have employed eighteen hundred workmen for twelve years, and even +then it was left unfinished. It is moated and walled round, and has +every appendage of the Gothic castle, innumerable towers and turrets, +drawbridges and portals. If seated upon an hill, it would be impossible +to conceive a finer object.</p> + +<p>The apartments correspond with its external magnitude; they are large +and spacious, but the effect of them is destroyed by what is very common +in old Gothic buildings; cross-beams from one side of the room to the +other. There is a silly story, that Catherine of Medicis had them so +placed by the advice of an astrologer, who having cast her nativity +discovered that she was in danger of perishing by the fall of an house. +The great Marshal Saxe lived and died in this chateau: the room in which +he breathed his last, is still shewn with great veneration. There is a +tradition that he was killed in a duel by the Prince of Conti, and that +his death was concealed. The Marshal lived here in great state; he had a +regiment of 1500 horse, the barracks of which are in the immediate +vicinity of the castle. The apartments which he occupied are in very +good taste; the ceilings are arched, and the proportions are excellent. +In one of the rooms is an admirable picture of Louis the Fourteenth on +horseback. The spiral staircase is a contrivance which it is impossible +to explain; it is so managed, as to contain two distinct staircases in +one, so that people may go up and down at the same time, without seeing +each other. The apartments are said to exceed twelve hundred.</p> + +<p>This castle was the favourite residence of Francis the First, and it was +here that he so magnificently received and entertained the Emperor +Charles the Fifth. Francis the First was in every respect a true French +Knight; gallant, magnificent, and religious in the extreme. There was +formerly a pane of glass in one of the windows of this chateau, on which +Francis the First had written the two following lines;</p> + +<p class="n"> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Toute Femme varie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Mal Habil qui s'y fie.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>This glass is now lost, and I transcribe the verses from a detailed +description of this chateau published at Paris. The castle has been +deserted since the death of Louis the Fourteenth. This monarch used +occasionally to hunt in its forests, but never made it a permanent +residence.</p> + +<p>We proposed to sleep at St. Laurence on the Waters, a beautiful village +on the high road to Orleans, and distant about twelve miles from +Chambord. It was evening before we left the castle, and the moon, though +not at the full, had risen, before we had performed the half our road. +Nothing could be more picturesque than the scenery, as now half +illuminated and half shaded. The cottage gardens looked like so many +fairy scenes. The peasant girls looking out of their windows, as they +were going to bed, added much to our mirth; and more particularly, as +our carriage was on a level with their windows. Whether the moon suited +their complexions better than the sun, or that they were different +individuals from those we had passed in the morning, I know not, but so +much I can say, that they appeared to me more delicate and beautiful. +One girl had the face of an angel: it is still imprinted on my mind, and +were I a painter, I could exhibit a most perfect resemblance of her, by +transferring the copy from my imagination to the canvass. There are some +faces which it is impossible to forget.</p> + +<p>We passed a group of gipsies: they were seated under a broad branching +oak by the road-side; there were twenty or more of them collected in a +circle, in the midst of which was a fire, and a pot boiling. "These +people," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "are realising the wish of our +good King Henry the Fourth: he wished that every peasant in France might +have a fire in his chimney, and a fowl in his pot:—- and fowls must be +very scarce, when these good folks are in want of them."</p> + +<p>"Whence is it," said I, "that such notorious thieves are tolerated."</p> + +<p>"From the humanity," said Mr. Younge, "which prevails from an indistinct +reference to their origin. They are generally considered as the refugees +from some persecution in their native land: they have fled from towns +and cities to the shelter of woods and fields. On the continent they are +almost universally called Bohemians, and regarded as the descendants of +those unfortunate exiles, who were driven out of that kingdom in the +religious wars. By others, they have been considered as descendants +from the Jews expelled from Syria and Judæa under the Roman emperors. In +short, every tradition concurs in representing them as having their +origin in some persecution."</p> + +<p>"But whatever this original stock must have been," said I, "it must +doubtless have long since perished, even in its posterity. Their +unsettled life is very unsuitable to keeping up their generation."</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge suggested, that the species had been supported by subsequent +additions; that it was a standing receptacle for all vagabonds and +beggars: "but there is something in the true gipsey," said he, "which I +cannot but consider as characteristic of a certain definite origin. They +are all tall, raw-boned, and with raven locks; and though like the Jews +of different countries they may have national traits, these traits are +never sufficient to merge a certain essential character; they seem +chiefly only minor differences added to others more strong and +indelible."</p> + +<p>We reached St. Laurence rather late, but were fortunate enough to +procure a good supper, two fowls being killed for the purpose. The +night, from some cause or other, was so chill, that we found it +necessary to have a fire, and being in excellent spirits, we sate up +late and talked merrily.</p> + +<p>On the following morning we continued our progress. The scenery had so +great a resemblance to the road of the preceding day, that I saw nothing +worthy of detailed remark. The country was rich in views and in +fertility. The agriculture, as far as I could judge of it, is very +slovenly: the wheat is mowed, and gathered in by hand and in small +carts. The labourers, however, appeared in tolerable good condition, and +what cottages we passed by the road side, had every appearance of much +comfort, and some substance. I must not forget to mention that I saw no +cottage without a slip of land, and in many parts of the road, on the +waste by its side, were single fruit trees railed round, which as I +understood from Mr. Younge were the property of labourers, whose +cottages were perhaps removed a league from their trees. These trees, +which were in full bearing, are so much respected by the usage of the +country, that they are never invaded. I was pleased with this trait of +general honesty and confidence: it is common in America, but not in +England.</p> + +<p>We passed several chateaus in meadows and lawns by the road side: some +of them were altogether in the ancient style, and so truly +characteristic of the French country house, as to merit a more detailed +description.</p> + +<p>In the ordinary construction of a French chateau, there is a greater +consumption of wood than brick, and no sparing of ground. It is usually +a rambling building, with a body, wings, and again wings upon those +wings; and flanked on each side with a pigeon-house, stables, and barns, +the pigeon-house being on the right, and the barns and stables on the +left. The decorations are infinitely beneath contempt; painted +weathercocks and copper turrets, and even the paint apparently as +ancient as the chateau. The windows are numerous, but even in the best +chateaus there is strange neglect as to the broken glass; sometimes they +are left as broken, but more frequently patched with paper, coloured +silk, or even stuffed with linen. The upper tier of windows, even in the +front of the house, is usually ornamented with the clothes of the family +hanging out to dry, a piece of slovenliness and ill-taste for which +there can assuredly be no excuse in the country where there is surely +room enough for this part of household business. Upon the whole, the +appearance of a French chateau, in the old style, resembles one of those +deserted houses which are sometimes seen in England, where the plaister +has been peeled or is peeling off, and where every boy that passes +throws his stone at the windows.</p> + +<p>The pleasure grounds attached to the chateau, very exactly correspond +with its style: the chateau is usually built in the worst possible site +of the whole estate. It generally stands in some meadow or lawn, and +precisely in that part of it which is the natural drain of the whole, +and where, if there were no house, there would necessarily be an +horse-pond. A grand avenue, planted on each side with noble trees, leads +up to the house, but is usually so overgrown with moss and weeds, as to +convey a most uncomfortable feeling of cold, dampness, and desolation. +The grass of the lawn is equally foul, and every thing of dirt and +rubbish is collected under the windows in front. The gardens behind are +in the same execrable state: gravel-walks over-run with moss and weeds; +flower beds ornamented with statues of leaden Floras, painted Mercurys, +and Dians with milk-pails. Every yard almost salutes you with some +similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped into peacocks, and not +unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen dancing a minuet. Pillars of +cypress, and pyramids of yew, terminate almost every walk, and if there +is an hollow in the garden, it is formed into a muddy pond, in which +half a dozen nymphs in stone, are about to plunge. The ill-taste of +these statues is not the worst; they are grossly indecent: nothing is +reserved, nothing is concealed; and yet the master of the house will not +hesitate to exhibit these to his female visitors, and what is worse, his +female visitors will look at them with a pleasant smile. Once for all, +there is no such thing as decency, as it is understood in other +kingdoms, to be found in France. Nature is the fashion of the day, and +according to the French philosophy, the passions are the best index to +what is natural. With a very few exceptions, the French women act up to +this doctrine, and are as natural as any one could wish them.</p> + +<p>We passed through many pretty villages, and amongst them Clery, where +Louis the Eleventh was buried. We visited the tomb of that memorable +tyrant: it is of white marble, and the taste of it is good. The King is +represented as kneeling, and in the attitude of addressing his prayers +to the Virgin. The church of Clery was built by this King, and it was +his express wish that he should be interred in it. The monument was +raised by Louis the Thirteenth. It contains likewise the heart of +Charles the Eighth, and the body of Charlotte of Savoy, the wife of +Louis the Eleventh. This monument has been much defaced, the hatred of +the tyrant extending to his remains.</p> + +<p>Clery was formerly a place of pilgrimage for the devout of all Europe. +There is an absurd story of a great bell in the church, which was said +to toll of itself, whenever any one, being in danger of any mischief by +sea or land, made a vow to the Holy Virgin, that if he escaped, he would +make a pilgrimage to Clery. The tolling of the bell was the acceptance +of the vow on the part of the Virgin. What a pity, that credulity should +injure the cause of true religion!</p> + +<p>We passed over the bridge of Mesmion, where Francis Duke of Guise was +assassinated. There is an ancient abbey of the Order of St. Benedict in +this village: The vineyards in this district were beautiful, and +apparently fertile to a degree. They are said * * * *.</p> + +<p>We reached Orleans to dinner, and whilst it was preparing had a walk +round the town. The ladies reserved themselves for the promenade, as we +intended to remain till the following morning.</p> + +<p>Orleans has a very near resemblance to Tours, though the latter town is +certainly better built, and preferable in situation; Orleans, however, +is situated very beautifully. The country is uneven and diversified, and +the fields have the air of pleasure grounds, except in the luxuriant +wildness of the hedges, and the frequent intermixture of orchard and +fruit trees. As seen from the road, the aspect of Orleans is extremely +picturesque: it reminded me strongly of some towns I had seen in the +interior of England.</p> + +<p>The interior of the town does not altogether correspond with the beauty +of the country in which it stands: some of the streets are narrow, the +houses old, and most execrably built. The principal street is in no way +inferior to that of Tours: it is terminated by a noble bridge, which has +lately been repaired from the ruinous state in which it was left by the +Chouans. The Grand Place is spacious, and has an air of magnificence. +The cathedral is worth peculiar attention: the first stone of it was +laid in the year 1287, but it was not finished till the year 1567. The +party of the Huguenots, having seized Orleans, destroyed a considerable +part of the cathedral; but Henry the Fourth, having visited the town, +caused it to be rebuilt. The chapels surrounding the altar are +wainscotted with oak, and the pannels are deeply cut into +representations of the histories of the New Testament. The +representation of our blessed Saviour on the cross, and the figures of +St. John and others of the Apostles, are very masterly. They are the +work of Baptiste Tubi, an Italian sculptor who sought refuge in France.</p> + +<p>The two towers built at the western extremity by Louis the Fifteenth, +are generally known and celebrated; by some they have been considered as +too highly ornamented, but their effect is great. Perhaps the ornaments +may indeed lose their own effect by being attached to a building which, +by exciting stronger emotions, necessarily merges the less. The prospect +from the summit of these towers exceeds all powers of description. The +country seems one boundless garden covered with vineyards, the richness +of which at this season of the year must be seen to be understood. No +description can convey it with force to the imagination.</p> + +<p>The Maid of Orleans, and the history of the times connected with her, +are too well known to render any detail of interest;—suffice it +therefore to say, that there are still several relics of her, and that +her memory is still held in veneration. In the Hotel de Ville is a +portrait of her at full length: her face is extremely beautiful, a long +oval, and has an air of melancholy grandeur which appeals forcibly to +the heart. She wears on her head a cap, or rather a bonnet, in which is +a white plume; her hair is auburn, and flows loosely down her back. Her +neck is ornamented with a necklace, surmounted by a small collar. Her +dress is what is termed a Vandyke robe; it fits closely, and is +scolloped round the neck, arms, and at the bottom. She holds a sword in +her hand. This picture is confirmed by its resemblance to her figure in +a monument in the main street. Charles the Seventh and the Maid of +Orleans are here represented kneeling before the body of our Saviour, as +it lies in the lap of the Virgin Mary. The King is bare-headed, his +helmet lying by him. The Maid of Orleans is opposite to him, her eyes +attentively fixed on Heaven. This monument was executed by the command +of Charles the Seventh, in the year 1458, and is therefore most probably +a correct representation both of the figure of the King himself and of +the Maid of Orleans.</p> + +<p>We attended the ladies in the evening to the promenade, or to the +parade, as it has now become the fashion to call it, since France, and +every thing in France, has taken a military turn. I was much pleased +with the beauty of the ladies, and still more with a modesty and simple +elegance in their dress, which I had not expected. But I have observed +more than once, that the fashions of the capital have improved as they +have travelled downwards into the provinces. They lose their excess, or +what we should call in wine, their rawness and their freshness. The +bosom which was naked in Paris has here at least some covering, and +there is even some appearance of petticoats. The colours, as being +adapted to the season, purple and straw, I thought elegant. There were +two or three of the younger ladies in the dresses of bacchanals; they +were certainly tasty, but they did not please me.</p> + +<p>We left Orleans at an early hour on the following day. The scenery +continued to improve as we advanced farther on the banks of the Loire. +For several miles it was so highly cultivated, and so naturally +beautiful, as to resemble a continued garden: the houses and chateaus +became neater, and every thing had an air of sprightliness and gaiety, +which might have animated even Despair itself. We observed that the +fields were even infested with game; they rose in the stubbles as we +passed along, and any one might have shot them from the road. Though +there are no game-laws in France, there is a decency and moderation in +the lower orders which answers the same purpose. No one presumes to +shoot game except on land of which he is the proprietor or tenant.</p> + +<p>I know not whether I have before remarked, that almost every chateau has +a certain number of fish-ponds, and a certain quantity of woodland, and +that these are considered as such necessary appendages, that an house +is scarcely regarded as habitable without them. The table of a French +gentleman is almost solely supplied from his land. Having a plenty of +poultry, fish, and rabbits, he gives very little trouble to his butcher. +Hence in many of the villages meat is not to be had, and even in large +towns the supply bears a very small proportion to what would seem to be +the natural demand of the population.</p> + +<p>Of all the provinces of France, those which compose the department of +the Loire are the richest, and best cultivated; and if any foreigner +would wish to fix his residence in France, let it be on the banks of +this river.—Fish, as I have said before, is cheap and plentiful, and +fowls about one-fourth of the price in England. The climate, not so +southerly as to be intolerably hot, nor so northerly as to be +continually humid, is perhaps the most healthy and pleasant in the +world—the sun shines day after day in a sky of etherial blue; the +spring is relieved by frequent intervals of sun, and the summer by +breezes. The evening, in loveliness and serenity, exceeds all powers of +description. The windows may be left safely open during the night; and +night after night have I laid in my bed, and watched the course of the +moon ascending in the fretted vault. Society, moreover, in this part of +the kingdom, is always within the reach of those who can afford to keep +it, and the expences of the best company are very trifling. I have +mentioned, I believe, that an establishment of two men servants, a +gardener, three maids, a family of from four to six in number, and a +carriage with two horses, might with great ease be kept in the French +provinces on an annual income from 250<i>l.</i> to 300<i>l.</i> per annum.</p> + +<p>One distinction of French and English visiting I must not omit. In +England, if any one come from any distance to visit the family of a +friend, he of course takes his dinner, and perhaps his supper, but is +then expected to return home. Unless he is a brother or uncle, and not +even always then, he must not expect to have a bed. To remain day after +day for a week or a fortnight, would be considered as an outrage. On the +other hand, in France, a family no sooner comes to its chateau for the +summer (for since the Revolution this has become the fashion), than +preparation is immediately made for parties of visitors. Every day +brings some one, who is never suffered to go, as long as he can be +detained. Every chateau thus becomes a pleasant assemblage, and in +riding, walking, and fishing, nothing can pass more agreeably than a +French summer in the country. As we passed along, we met several of +these parties in their morning rides; they invariably addressed us, and +very frequently invited us to their houses, though perfectly strangers +to us. The mode of living in these country residences differs very +little from what is common in the same rank of life in England. The +breakfast consists of tea, coffee, fruits, and cold meat. The dinner is +usually at two o'clock, and is served up as in England. The French +however have not as yet imitated the English habit of sitting at table. +Coffee in a saloon or pavilion, fronting the garden and lawn, +immediately follows the dinner: this consumes about two hours. The +company then divide into parties, and walk. They return about eight +o'clock to tea. After tea they dance till supper. Supper is all gaiety +and gallantry, and the latter perhaps of a kind, which in England would +not be deemed very innocent. The champagne then goes round, and the +ladies drink as much as the gentlemen, that is to say, enough to +exhilarate, not to overwhelm the animal spirits. A French woman with +three or four glasses of wine in her head, would certainly make an +English one stare; but France is the land of love, and it is an +universal maxim that life is insipid without it.</p> + +<p>We slept in a village, of which I have not noted the name: the ladies, +as usual, were huddled in one room, and Mr. Younge, as usual, was not +excluded from their party. For my own part I can sleep any where, and I +slept this night in the kitchen. The landlord, from civility, insisted +on having the honour of sleeping in the opposite corner. I very +willingly acceded to his request, and having made up a cheerful fire, we +composed ourselves in two chairs. The landlady seemed very indignant +that her husband should desert her bed: she was sure that Monsieur was +not afraid of remaining by himself. Her husband, she added, had a +rheumatism, and the night air might injure him. I was resolved, however, +for once to do mischief, or perhaps to do good, so said nothing, and the +husband was accordingly obliged to abide by his offer, and remain in the +kitchen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XVI" id="CHAP_XVI"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XVI.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns—Tremendous<br /> +Hail Storm—Country Masquerade—La Charité—Beauty<br /> +and Luxuriance of its Environs—Nevers—Fille-de-Chambre—Lovely<br /> +Country between Nevers and Moulins—Treading<br /> +Corn—Moulins—Price of Provisions.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> were two more days on our journey to La Charité: the scenery +continued the same, except that the surface became more level. On both +sides of the Loire, however, there was that appearance of plenty and of +happiness, of the bounty of Nature and of the cheerful labour of man, +which inspirits the heart of the beholder. The painters have very justly +adopted it as a maxim, that no landscape is perfect, in which there are +not the appendages of life and motion. The truth is, that man, as a +being formed for society, is never so much interested as by man, and it +is hence a maxim of feeling, as well as of moral duty, that nothing is +foreign to him as an individual which is connected with him in nature.</p> + +<p>In this part of our journey we saw more of French inns of all degrees +than we had hitherto experienced. I believe I have already mentioned, +that a very wrong idea prevails as to their comparative merit. In +substantial provision and accommodation, the French inns are not a whit +inferior to English of the same degree; but they are inferior to them in +all the minor appendages. In point of eating and drinking the French +inns infinitely exceed the English: their provisions are of a better +kind, and are much cheaper: we scarcely slept any where, where we could +not procure fowls of all kinds, eggs and wine. It is too true, indeed, +that their mode of cooking is not very well suited to an English palate; +but a very little trouble will remedy this inconvenience. The French +cooks are infinitely obliging in this respect—they will take your +instructions, and thank you for the honor done them. The dinner, +moreover, when served up, will consist of an infinite variety, and that +without materially swelling the bill. Add to this the dessert, of which +an English inn-keeper, except in the most expensive hotels, has not a +single idea. In France, on the other hand, in the poorest inns, in the +most ordinary hedge ale-house, you will have a dessert of every fruit in +season, and always tastily and even elegantly served. The wine, +likewise, is infinitely better than what is met with on the roads in +England. In the article of beds, with a very few exceptions, the French +inns exceed the English: if a traveller carry his sheets with him, he is +always secure of an excellent hair mattrass, or if he prefer it, a clean +feather-bed. On the other side, the French inns are certainly inferior +to the English in their apartments. The bed-room is too often the +dining-room. The walls are merely whitewashed, or covered with some +execrable pictures. There are no such things as curtains, or at least +they are never considered as necessary. There is neither soap, water, +nor towel, to cleanse yourself when you rise in the morning. A Frenchman +has no idea of washing himself before he breakfasts. The furniture, +also, is always in the worst possible condition. We were often puzzled +to contrive a tolerable table: the one in most common use is composed of +planks laid across two stools or benches. The chairs are usually of oak, +with perpendicular backs. There are no bells; and the attendants are +more frequently male than female, though this practice is gradually +going out of vogue. There is a great change moreover, of late years, in +the civility of the landlords—they will now acknowledge their +obligations to you, and not, as formerly, treat you as intruders.</p> + +<p>To sum up the comparison between a French and English provincial inn, +the expences for the same kind of treatment, allowing only for the +necessary national differences, are about one-fourth of what they would +be in England. In the course of our tour, we were repeatedly detained +for days together at some of the inns on the road, and our whole suite, +amounting to seven in number, never cost us more than at the rate of an +English guinea a day. In England I am confident it would have been four +times the sum.</p> + +<p>The last post but one before we reached La Charité, we were overtaken by +a tremendous shower of hail, a calamity, for such it is, which too +frequently afflicts this part of France. The hail-tones were at least as +large as nuts: some trees were at hand, under which we drove for +shelter. Had we been in an open exposed road, I have no doubt but that +the horses must have been hurt. I was informed, that these storms are +sometimes so violent as to kill the lambs, and even to wound in a very +dangerous manner the larger cattle. They usually happen about the end of +the spring and the summer.</p> + +<p>We passed some very pretty peasant girls, dressed in bodices laced +crossways with ribbon. They informed us that they were the daughters of +a small farmer, and were going to a neighbouring chateau to dance at the +birth-day of one of the ladies of the family. Mr. Younge complimented +them on their beauty; they smiled with more grace than seemed to belong +to their station. Our ladies at this instant came up; the young peasants +made a curtsey, which instantly betrayed their secret to Mrs. Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery. "Where is the masque?" said the latter. "In +the Chateau de Thiery," replied one of them, "about a fourth part of a +league through this gateway; perhaps, if you are going only to the next +post, you will join us. Papa and Mamma will be honored by your company." +The invitation was declined with many thanks to the charming girls. It +is needless to add, that they were young ladies habited as peasants, +and that there was a masque at the chateau. This kind of entertainment +is very common in this part of France.</p> + +<p>We reached La Charité in such good time, that we resolved to push on for +Nevers. I had a walk round the town whilst our coffee was preparing. The +interior of the town does not merit a word; the streets are narrow, the +houses low and dark, and this too in a country where the Loire rolls its +beautiful stream through meadows and plains, and where ground is +plentiful and cheap. I can readily account for the narrow streets in +capital cities, where locality has an artificial value, and where the +competition is necessarily great. But whence are the streets thus +huddled together, and the air thus carefully excluded, where there is no +such want of ground or value of building lots? It must here originate +purely in that execrable taste which characterized the early ages.</p> + +<p>The environs of the town, the fields, the meadows, the gently rising +hills, and the recluse vallies, compensate for the vile interior: Nature +here reigns in all her loveliness, and a poet, a painter, even any one +of ordinary feeling, could not see her without delight and admiration. +There are innumerable nightingales in the woods at a small distance from +the town. If the French noblesse had the taste of the English, the +vicinity of La Charité would be covered with villas.</p> + +<p>We took our coffee on a kind of raised mound, at the extremity of a +garden, which overhung the Loire. A lofty and spreading tree +overshadowed us, and stretched its branches over the river. In the fork, +formed where the trunk first divides into the greater branches, was a +railed seat and table. The view from hence over the meadow on the +opposite bank, was gay and picturesque. The peasant girls were milking +their cows and singing with their usual merriment. Parties of the +townsmen were playing at golf; others were romping, running, walking, +with all the thoughtless erility of the French character. I never +enjoyed an hour more sensibly. The evening was delightful, and all +around seemed gay and happy.</p> + +<p>Our journey to Nevers was partly by moon-light. The road exceeds all +powers of description. It was frequently bordered by hedges of flowering +shrubs, and such cottages as we passed seemed sufficient for the +climate. Why might not Marmontel have lived in such a cottage? thought +I, as I rode by more than one of them. This spot of France certainly +excells every part of the world. Even the clay and chalk-pits are +verdant: the sides are covered with shrubs which are raised with +difficulty even in the hot-houses of England.</p> + +<p>Our inn at Nevers, the Grand Napoleon, had nothing to correspond with +its sounding title; our bed-chambers, however, were pleasantly situated, +and for once since we had left Orleans, we had each of us his own +apartment. The fille-de-chambre too was handsome and cleanly-looking, +but somewhat more loquacious than a weary traveller required. She +endeavoured to bring me into a conversation on the subject of +Mademoiselle St. Sillery's beauty. The familiar impertinence of these +girls must be seen to be understood. One maxim is universal in +France—that difference of rank has no place between a man and a woman. +A fille-de-chambre is on a perfect footing of equality with a marshal of +France, and will address, and converse with him as such. They enter your +room without knocking, stay as long as they like, and will remain whilst +you are undressing. If you exhibit any modest unwillingness, they laugh +at you, and perhaps two or three of them will come in to rally Monsieur. +I must do them the justice, however, to add, that though their raillery +will be sometimes broad enough, it is never verbally indelicate. There +is less of this in the lower ranks in France than in England. The +decencies are observed in word, however violated in fact.</p> + +<p>Nevers is a pleasant town, and very agreeably situated on the +declivities of an hill, at the bottom of which flows the Loire. On the +summit of the hill is what remains of the palace of the ancient Counts; +it has of course suffered much from time, but enough still remains to +bear testimony to its original magnificence. We visited some of the +apartments. The tapestry, though nearly three centuries old, still +retains in a great degree the original brilliancy of its colours: the +figures are monstrous, but the general effect is magnificent. There is a +portrait of Madame de Montespan, the second acknowledged mistress of +Louis the Fourteenth. According to the fashion of the age, her hair +floats down her shoulders. She is habited in a loose robe, and has one +leg half naked. Her face has the French character; it is long, but +beautiful: its principal expression seemed to me voluptuousness, with +something of the haughty beauty. It is well known that her temper was +violent in the extreme, and perhaps the knowledge of this circumstance +might have impressed me with an idea which I have imputed to the +expression of the picture.</p> + +<p>The cathedral of Nevers is one of the most ancient in France. About one +hundred years since, in digging a vault, a body was discovered enveloped +in a long robe; some very old coins were found in the coffin, and the +habit in which the body was wrapped was of itself of the most ancient +fashion. According to the French antiquaries, this was the body of one +of the ancient dukes of Nevers. There are many other antiquities in the +town, but I do not find that I have noted them, except that they exist +in sufficient numbers to establish the ancient origin of this capital of +the Nivernois.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more picturesque than the country between Nevers and +Moulins. Natural beauty, and the life and activity of cultivation, +unite to render it the most complete succession of landscape in France. +The road is gravel, and excellent to a degree. It is bordered by +magnificent trees, but which have been so planted, as to procure shade +without excluding air; the road, therefore, is at once shady and dry. +The chesnut trees, which are numerous in this part of the Bourbonnois, +in beauty at least, infinitely exceed the British oaks: they have a +bossy foliage, which reminds one of the Corinthian volutes. The French +peasantry are not insensible of this beauty—wherever there was a tree +of this kind of more than common luxuriance in its foliage, a seat was +made around the trunk, and the turf mowed and ornamented, so as to shew +that it was the scene of the village sports. Though England has many +delightful villages, and rustic greens, France beats it hollow in rural +scenery; and I believe I have before mentioned, that the French +peasantry equally exceed the English peasantry in the taste and rustic +elegance with which they ornament their little domains. On the great +scale, perhaps, taste is better understood in England than in France, +but as far as Nature leads, the sensibility of the French peasant gives +him the advantage. Some of the gardens in the provinces of France are +delightful.</p> + +<p>We passed several fields in which the farming labourers were treading +out their corn; indeed the country all around was one universal scene of +gaiety and activity in the exercise of this labour. The manner in which +it is done is, I believe, peculiar to France. Three or four layers of +corn, wheat, barley, or pease, are laid upon some dry part of the field, +generally under the central tree; the horses and mules are then driven +upon it and round it in all directions, a woman being in the centre like +a pivot, and holding the reins: the horses are driven by little girls. +The corn thrashed out is cleared away by the men, others winnow it, +others heap it, others supply fresh layers. Every one seems happy and +noisy, the women and girls singing, the men occasionally resting from +their labour to pay their gallant attentions. The scene is so animated +as to inspirit the beholder. It is evident, however, that this cheap +method of getting up their harvest, is only practicable in countries +where the climate is settled: even in this province they are sometimes +surprised with a shower, but as the sun immediately bursts out with +renewed fervour, every thing is soon put to rights. In Languedoc, as I +understood, they have no barns whatever, and therefore this practice is +universal. The wheat was not very heavy, it resembled barley rather than +wheat; the average crop about sixteen English bushels. Nothing is so +vexatious as the French measures; I do not understand them yet, though I +have inquired of every one.</p> + +<p>Moulins somewhat disappointed my expectation. It is indeed, beautifully +situated, in the midst of a rising and variegated country, with meadows, +corn-fields, hills, and woods, to which may be added the river Allier, +a stream so recluse and pretty, and so bordered with beautiful grounds, +as to give the idea of a park. These grounds, moreover, are laid out as +if for the pleasure of the inhabitants: the meadows and corn-fields are +intersected by paths in every direction; and fruit-trees are in great +number, and to all appearance are common property. There is something +very interesting in these characteristics of simple benevolence; they +recall the idea of the primæval ages. I have an indistinct memory of a +beautiful passage in Ovid, which describes the Golden Age. I am writing, +however, without the aid or presence of books, and therefore must refer +the classical reader to the original.</p> + +<p>The interior of the town does not merit description: the streets are +narrow, the houses dark, and built in the worst possible style. The +architect has carried the idea of a city into the country: there is the +same economy of ground and light, and the same efforts for huddling and +comprehending as much brick and mortar as possible in the least possible +space. Its origin was in the fourteenth century. The Dukes of Bourbon +selected it as a place of residence during the season of the chace, and +having built a castle in the neighbourhood, their suite and descendants +shortly founded a town. This, indeed, was the usual origin of most of +the provincial towns in Europe; they followed the castle or the chateau +of the Baron. As seen in the fields and meadows in the vicinity of the +town, Moulins has a very agreeable appearance. The river, and the +beautiful scenery around it, compensate for its disagreeable interior; +and some trees being intermixed with the buildings of the town give an +air of gaiety and the picturesque to the town itself.</p> + +<p>The market-place is only worthy of mention as introducing the price of +provisions. Moulins is as cheap as Tours: beef, and mutton, and veal, +are plentiful; vegetables scarcely cost any thing, and fuel is very +moderate. Fruit is so cheap as scarcely to be sold, and very good; eggs +two dozen for an English sixpence; poultry abundant, and about sixpence +a fowl. A good house, such a one as is usually inhabited by the lawyer, +the apothecary, or a gentleman of five or six hundred per annum, in the +country towns in England, is at Moulins from twelve to fourteen pounds +per year, including garden and paddock.</p> + +<p>Our inn at Moulins, however, was horrible: our beds would have +frightened any one but an experienced traveller.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XVII" id="CHAP_XVII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XVII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Country between Moulins and Rouane—Bresle—Account of the<br /> +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois—Climate—Face<br /> +of the Country—Soil—Natural Produce—Agricultural<br /> +Produce—Kitchen Garden—French Yeomen—Landlords—Price<br /> +of Land—Leases—General Character of the French Provincial<br /> +Farmers.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the following day we left Moulins for Lyons. The distance between the +two places exceeds an hundred miles; we distributed, therefore, our +journey into three days, making Rouane on the Loire, and Bresle, our +intermediate sleeping places.</p> + +<p>Between Moulins and Rouane, that is to say, during the whole of our +first day's journey, the country is a succession of hills and valleys, +of open and inclosed, of fields and of woodland, which render it to the +eyes of a northern traveller the most lovely country in the world. In +proportion, however, as the country becomes mere fertile, the roads +become worse. We had got now into roads comparatively very bad, but +still not so bad as in England and America. The beauty of the scenery, +however, compensated for this defect of the roads. We met many waggons, +the hind wheels of which were higher than those in front. This is one of +the few things in which the French farmers exhibit more knowledge than +the English. These wheels of the waggons were shod with wood instead of +iron. We passed several vineyards, in which the vines were trained by +maples, and festooned from tree to tree. They looked fanciful and +picturesque. The vines of this country, however, are said to yield +better in quantity than in quality. They produce much, but the wine is +bad, and not fit for exportation.</p> + +<p>In every hedge we passed were medlars, plumbs, cherries, and maples with +vines trained to them. This abundance of fruit gives an air of great +plenty, and likewise much improves the beauty of the country. The French +fruit of almost every kind exceeds the English. An exception must be +made with respect to apples, which are better in England than in any +country in the world. But the grapes, the plumbs, the pears, the +peaches, the nectarines, and the cherries of France, have not their +equal all the world over. They are of course cheap in proportion to +their abundance. The health of the peasantry may perhaps in good part be +imputed to this vegetable abundance. It is a constant maxim with +physicians, that those countries are most healthy, where from an +ordinary laxative diet, the body is always kept open. Half the diseases +in the world originate in obstructions.</p> + +<p>Rouane is a considerable town on the Loire; it is very ancient in its +origin, and its appearance corresponds with its antiquity. It is chiefly +used as an entrepôt for all the merchandize, corn, wine, &c. which is +sent down the Loire. It is accordingly a place of infinite bustle, and +in despite of the river, is very dirty. He must be more fastidious than +belongs to a traveller, who cannot excuse this necessary appendage of +trade, and particularly in a town on the Loire, where a walk of ten +minutes will carry him from the narrow streets into one of the sweetest +countries under Heaven. Even the necessary filth of commerce cannot +destroy, or scarcely deface the beauty of the country.</p> + +<p>Our inn at Rouane was execrable beyond measure. Without any regard to +decency, we were introduced into a sleeping room with three beds, and +informed that Monsieur and Madame Younge were to sleep in one, +Mademoiselle St. Sillery in another, and myself in the third. It was not +without difficulty that I could procure another arrangement. The beds, +moreover, were without pillows.</p> + +<p>From Rouane to Bresle the country assumes a mountainous form, and the +road is bordered with chesnut trees. We had got now into the district of +mulberries, and we passed innumerable trees of them. Like other +fruit-trees, they grow wild, in the middle of fields, hedge-rows, and by +the road side. A stranger travelling in France is led to conclude, that +there is no such thing as property in fruit. Every one may certainly +gather as much as he chuses for his own immediate use. The peasants of +this part of the province are land proprietors; some of them possess +twelve or fourteen acres, others an hill, others a garden or a single +field. They appeared poor but comfortable. They raise a great quantity +of poultry and pigs, and reminded me very forcibly of the Negroes in the +West India Islands—a hard-working, happy, and cheerful race. I should +not, perhaps, omit to mention, that the houses of the peasants were very +different from any that I had yet seen. For the most part, they are +square, white, and with flat roofs. They are almost totally without +glass in the windows; but the climate is generally so dry and +delightful, that glass perhaps would rather be an annoyance. We are apt +to attach ideas of comfort or misery according to circumstances +peculiarly belonging to ourselves. Tell an English peasant that a +Frenchman has neither glass to his windows, nor sheets to his bed, and +he will conclude him to be miserable in the extreme. On the other hand, +tell a French peasant, that an English rustic never tastes a glass of +wine once in seven years, and he will equally pity the Englishman.</p> + +<p>Bresle is one of those villages which impress a traveller with a strong +idea of the beauty of the country, and of the state of the comfort of +its inhabitants. It is broad, clean, and most charmingly situated. On +every side of it rises a wall of mountains, covered to their very +summits with vines, and interspersed with the cottages of the Vignerons. +The river Tardine flows through the valley. This is what is termed a +mountain river, being in summer a brook, and in winter a torrent. In the +year 1715 it rose so high as to sweep away half the town: the +inhabitants were surprised in their beds, and many of them were drowned. +The river, when we passed, had no appearance of being capable of this +tremendous force: it resembled a little brook, in which a shallow stream +of very transparent water rolled over a bed of gravel. "How happy might +an hermit be," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "in a cottage on the side +of one of those hills! There is a wood for him to walk in, and a brook +to encourage him, by its soft murmurs, to sleep." I agreed in the +observation which exactly characterizes the scenery.</p> + +<p>Our inn at this town was in the midst of a garden, covered with fruits +and flowers. Our beds reminded me of England, except that again there +were no pillows, and absolutely nothing in the chamber but a bed. Every +thing, however, was delightfully clean; and as I lay in my bed, I was +serenaded by a nightingale.</p> + +<p>The road between Moulins and Lyons is certainly the most picturesque +part of France; every league presented me with something to admire, and +to note. My observations were accordingly so numerous, that I have +deemed it necessary to arrange them in some form, and to present them in +a kind of connected picture. Mr. Younge had the kindness to answer all +my questions as far as his own knowledge went; and where he was at a +loss himself, seized the first opportunity of inquiry from others. In +France, this is more practicable than it would be in any other country. +The French of all classes, as I have repeatedly had occasion to observe, +are unwearied in their acts of kindness; they offer their minor services +with sincerity, and you cannot oblige them more than by accepting them, +nor disappoint them more than by declining them. They have nothing of +the surliness of the Englishman. It would be considered as the most +savage brutality to hesitate in, and more particularly to refuse with +rudeness, any possible satisfaction to a stranger. To be a stranger is +to be a visitor, and to be a visitor is to have a claim to the most +extreme hospitality and attention. I can never enough praise the French +people for their indiscriminate, their natural, their totally +uninterested and spontaneous benevolence.</p> + +<p>I wish to convey a clear idea of this garden of France: I shall +therefore give my observations in full under the heads of, its climate, +its produce, its agriculture, and the manners of its provincial +inhabitants.</p> + +<p>The climate of the departments of the Nievre and the Allier, which +include the provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois, is the most +delightful under Heaven, being at once most healthy, and such as to +animate and inspirit the senses and the imagination: it is an endless +succession of the most lovely skins, without any interruption, except by +those rains which are necessary to nourish and fertilize. The winters +are mild, without fogs, and with sufficient sunshine to render fires +almost unnecessary. The springs answer to the ordinary weather of May in +other kingdoms. The summer and autumn—with the exception of hail and +thunder, which are certainly violent, but not frequent—are not +characterized by those heavy humid heats, which are so pestilential in +some parts of South America: they are light, elastic, and cheering. The +windows of the bed-chambers, as I have before mentioned, are almost all +without glass; or, if they have them, it is for show rather than for +use: the universal custom is, to sleep with them open. It is nothing +uncommon to have the swallows flying into your chamber, and awakening +you by early dawn with their twittering. When these windows open into +gardens, nothing can be more pleasant: the purity of the air, the +splendor of the stars, the singing of nightingales, and the perfume of +flowers, all concur to charm the senses; and I never remember to have +enjoyed sweeter slumbers, and pleasanter hours, than whilst in this part +of France.</p> + +<p>In March and April, the ground is covered with flowers; and many which +are solely confined to the gardens and hot-houses in England, may be +seen in the fields and hedge-rows. The colours are perhaps not +altogether so brilliant as in more humid climates, but be they what they +may, they, give the country an appearance of a fairy land. Pease are in +common use on every table in March, and every kind of culinary vegetable +is equally forward. The meadows are covered with violets, and the +gardens with roses: the banks by the side of the road seem one continued +bed of cowslips. In plain words, Spring here indeed seems to hold her +throne, and to reign in all that vernal sweetness and loveliness which +is imputed to her by the poets.</p> + +<p>The health of the inhabitants corresponds with the excellence of the +climate. Gouts, rheumatisms, and even colds, are very rare, and fevers +not frequent. The most common complaint is a dysentery, towards the +latter end of the autumn.</p> + +<p>The face of the country throughout the two departments of the Nievre and +the Allier, is what has been above described—an uninterrupted +succession of rich landscape, in which every thing is united which +constitutes the picturesque. The country sometimes rises into hills, and +even mountains; none of which are so barren but to have vineyards, or +gardens, to their very summits. In many of them, where the surface is +common property, the peasantry, in order to make the most of its +superficial area, have dug it into terraces, on which each of them has +his vineyard, or garden for herbs, corn, and fruits. The industry of the +French peasantry is not exceeded in any part of the world: wherever they +possess a spot of land, they improve it to its utmost possible capacity. +Under this careful cultivation, there is in reality no such thing in +France as a sterile mountain. If there be no natural soil, they will +carry some thither.</p> + +<p>There are numerous woods and forests in these departments. The wood +being interspersed amongst the hills and valleys, contribute much to the +beauty of the scenery: the same circumstance contributes more, perhaps, +to the comfort of the inhabitants. Fuel, so dear in almost every other +part of France, is here cheap to an extraordinary degree. Coal is +likewise found at some depth from the surface; but, of course, no use is +made of it. The French woods are more luxuriant, and generally composed +of more beautiful trees than those in England and in America. The +chesnut-tree, so common in France, is perhaps unrivalled in its richness +of foliage. The underwood, moreover, is less ragged and troublesome. +Nothing can be more delightful than an evening walk in a French wood.</p> + +<p>The soil of the department of the Allier is rather light: on the hills +it is calcareous; in the vales it is a white calcareous loam, the +surface of which is a most fertilizing manure of marl and clay. The +hills, therefore, are peculiarly adapted for vines, which they produce +in great quantities; and when on favourable sites, that is to say, with +respect to the sun, the quality of the wine corresponds with the +quantity. In this province, perhaps, there is a less proportion of waste +land than in any other department in France. The people are industrious, +and the soil is fruitful. There are certainly some wastes, which, under +proper cultivation, might be rendered fertile. I passed over many of +these, when an idea naturally arose in my mind, what a different +appearance they would assume under English or American management. But +the bad management of the French farmers is no derogation from the just +praise of its rich soil.</p> + +<p>The natural and agricultural produce is such, as to render these +provinces worthy of their characteristic designation—they are truly the +garden of France. The most beautiful shrubs are common in the woods and +hedges: not a month in the year but one or other of them are in full +flower and foliage. The botanist might be weary before he had concluded +his task. To a northern traveller, nothing appears more astonishing than +the garden-like air of the fields in France: he will see in the woods +and forests, what he has been hitherto accustomed to see only in +hot-houses. The natural history of these provinces would be an +inexhaustible subject: the cursory traveller can only describe +generally.</p> + +<p>Wheat, barley, oats, grasses, roots, and vines, are the staple +agricultural produce. The wheat is certainly not so heavy as that in +England, but the barley is not inferior to any barley in the world. The +French farmers calculate upon reaping about sevenfold; if they sow one +bushel, they reap, between six and seven. Potatoes have likewise, of +late years, become an article of field-culture and general consumption +in every department of France, and particularly in those of the Loire, +the Allier, and the Nievre. Every city is supplied with them almost in +as much abundance as the cities of England and America. Where wheat is +scarce, the peasantry substitute them as bread. To say all in a word, +they have of late years got into general consumption; though before the +Revolution they were scarcely known.</p> + +<p>The kitchen-garden in the French provinces is by no means so +contemptible as it has been described by some travellers. In this +respect they have done the French great injustice. I will venture to +assert, on the other hand, that nothing is cultivated in the +kitchen-gardens of England and America, but what, either by the aid of a +better climate, or of more careful and assiduous culture, is brought to +more perfection, and produced in greater plenty, in the kitchen-gardens +of France. I have already mentioned potatoes, which are cultivated both +in the garden and in the field: artichokes and asparagus are in great +plenty, and comparatively most surprisingly cheap—as many may be bought +for a penny in France as for a shilling in England. The environs of +Lyons are celebrated for their excellent artichokes; they are carefully +conveyed in great quantities to the tables of the rich all over the +kingdom. Pease, beans, turnips, carrots, and onions, are equally +plentifully cultivated, equally good, and equally cheap.</p> + +<p>I have frequently had occasion to speak of the slovenly agriculture of +the French farmers, and I am sorry to have to add, that the fertility of +the provinces of Nivernois and the Bourbonnois, is rather to be imputed +to the felicity of their soil and climate than to their cultivation. +There is certainly a vast proportion of waste land in these provinces, +which only remains waste, because the French landlords and farmers want +the knowledge to bring it into cultivation. Many hundreds of acres are +let at about twelve sols (sixpence) per acre, and would be sold at about +a Louis d'or, which in three years, under English management, would be +richly worth thirty pounds. What a country would this be to purchase in, +if with himself an Englishman or an American could transport his own +labourers and ideas. But nothing is to be done without assistance.</p> + +<p>Many of the French landlords retain a great portion of their estates in +their own hands, and cultivate it with more knowledge and with more +liberality than their farmers. A gentleman, farming his own lands, is +always useful to the country, if not to himself. He may improve his +lands beyond their worth—he may ruin himself, therefore, but the +country is proportionately benefitted by having so many good acres where +it had before so many bad. Some of the restored Emigrants have most +peculiarly benefitted France, by bringing into it English improvements. +I have more than once had occasion to remark, that this change is +visible in many parts of the kingdom, and will produce in time still +more important effects.</p> + +<p>The price of land is by two-thirds cheaper than in England, I am +speaking now of the Nivernois and Bourboranois. It is generally about +eighteen or twenty years purchase of the rent. If the rent be about +300<i>l</i>. English for about five hundred acres of land—half arable, a +fourth forest, and a fourth waste—the purchase will be about 5500 +guineas. The very same estate in any part of England would be about +15,000. But in England the forest and waste would be brought into +cultivation. The forest is here little better than a waste, and the +waste is turned to as little purpose as if it were the wild sea beach.</p> + +<p>The farms in the Nivernois are very small; the farmers are by natural +consequence poor. They have neither the spirit nor the means of +improvement. They are in fact but a richer kind of peasantry. Those +writers have surely never lived in the country, who urge the national +utility of small farms. The immediate consequences of small farms are +an overflow of population, and such a division and sub-division of +sustenance, as to reduce the poor to the lowest possible point of +sustenance. Population, within certain limits, may doubtless constitute +the strength of a nation; but who will contend, that a nation of +beggars, a nation overflowing with a starved miserable superfluity, is +in a condition of enviable strength?</p> + +<p>There are few or no leases in these provinces, and this is doubtless one +of the reasons why agriculture has remained where it now is for these +four or five last centuries. The common course of the crops is wheat, +barley, fallow; or beans, barley, and wheat, and fallow. In some of the +provinces, it is wheat, fallow, and wheat, fallow, in endless +succession.</p> + +<p>I do not understand enough of the vine culture to give any opinion as to +the French vineyards, but by all that I have observed, I must fully +assent to the generally received opinion, that the vine is better +understood in France than in Portugal, and that wines are, in fact, the +natural staple in France. It is the peculiar excellence of the vine, +that it does not require fertile land. It will most flourish where +nothing but itself will take root. How happy therefore is it for France, +that she can thus turn her barrens into this most productive culture, +and make her mountains, as it were, smile.</p> + +<p>If an Englishman or an American were inclined to give a trial to a +settlement in France, I would certainly advise them to fix on one of +these central departments. They will find a soil and climate such as I +have described, and which I think has not its equal in the world. They +will find land cheap; and as it may be improved, and even the cheap +price is rated according to its present rent, they will find this +cheapness to be actually ten times as cheap as it appears. They will +find, moreover, cheerful neighbours, a people polished in their manners +from the lowest to the highest, and naturally gay and benevolent.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XVIII" id="CHAP_XVIII"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XVIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Lyons—Town-Hall-Hotel de Dieu—Manufactories—Price of<br /> +Provisions—State of Society—Hospitality to Strangers—Manners—Mode of Living—Departure—Vienne—French Lovers.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> reached Lyons in the evening of the third day after we left Moulins. +We remained there two days, and employed nearly the whole of the time in +walks over the city and environs. I adopted this practice as the +invariable rule on the whole course of my tour—to have certain points +where we might repose, and thence take a view both of the place itself, +and a retrospect of what we had passed.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more delightful to the eye than the situation of Lyons. +Situated on the confluence of two of the most lovely rivers in the +world, the Rhone and the Saone, and distributed, as it were, on hills +and dales, with lawn, corn-fields, woods and vineyards interposed, and +gardens, trees, &c. intermixed with the houses, it has a liveliness, an +animation, an air of cleanness, and rurality, which seldom belong to a +populous city. The distant Alps, moreover, rising in the back ground, +add magnificence to beauty. Beyond all possibility of doubt, Lyons is +unrivalled in the loveliness of its situation. The approach to it is +like the avenue to fairy-land.</p> + +<p>The horrible ravage of the Revolution has much defaced this town. La +Place de Belle Cour was once the finest square which any provincial town +in Europe could boast. It was composed of the most magnificent houses, +the habitations of such of the nobility as were accustomed to make Lyons +their winter or summer residence. That demon, in the human shape, Collot +d'Herbois, being sent to Lyons as one of the Jacobin Commissioners, by +one and the same decree condemned the houses to be razed to the ground, +and their possessors to be guillotined. A century will pass before Lyons +will recover itself from this Jacobin purgation. In this square was +formerly an equestrian statue of Louis the Fourteenth, adorned on the +sides of the pedestal with bronze figures of the Rhone and the Saone. +This statue is destroyed, but the bronze figures remain.</p> + +<p>The town-hall of Lyons is in every respect worthy of the city. It is in +the form of a parallelogram, with wings on each side of the front, each +wing being nearly one hundred and fifty yards in length. The middle of +the wings are crowned with cupolas, and the gates have all Ionic +pillars. The walls and ceilings are covered with paintings. There are +several inscriptions in honour of the Emperor Napoleon; but as these +have been already noted in other books of travels, I deem it unnecessary +to say more of them. But the best praise of Lyons is in its institutions +for charity, in its hospitals, and in its schools. In no city in the +world have they so great a proportion to the actual population and +magnitude of the town. They are equal to the support of one eighth part +of the inhabitants. The Hotel Dieu is in fact a palace built for the +sick poor. The rooms are lofty, with cupolas, and all of them very +carefully ventilated. The beds are clean to an extreme degree, as was +likewise every utensil in the kitchen, and the kitchen itself. The +nursing, feeding, &c. of the sick is performed by a religious society of +about one hundred men, and the same number of women, who devote +themselves to that purpose. The men are habited in black; the women in +the dress of nuns. This charity is open to all nations; to be an +admissible object, nothing further is necessary than to stand in need of +its assistance. This is true charity.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is beautifully situated by the river: it is dedicated to +St. John, and is built in the ancient Gothic style. The clock is a great +favourite with the inhabitants. It is ornamented by a cock, which is +contrived so as to crow every hour. Before the Revolution, the church of +Lyons was the richest in France, or Europe. All the canons were counts, +and were not admissible, till they had proved sixteen quarters of +nobility. They wore a gold cross of eight rays. Since the Revolution, +the cathedral has fallen into decay; but it is to be hoped that, for the +honour of the town, it will be repaired.</p> + +<p>Lyons has two theatres, Le Grand, and Le Petit Spectacle. Neither of +them deserve any more than a bare mention. The performers had so little +reputation, that we had no wish to visit either of them.</p> + +<p>The manufactories of Lyons, being confined in their supply to the home +market, are not in the same flourishing state as formerly. They still +continue, however, to work up a vast quantity of silk, and on the return +of peace, would doubtless recover somewhat of their former prosperity. +Some years since, the silk stockings alone worked up at Lyons, were +estimated at 1500 pair daily. The workmen are unhappily not paid in +proportion to their industry. They commence their day's labour at an +unusual hour in the morning, and continue it in the night, yet are +unable to earn enough to live in plenty.</p> + +<p>Lyons appeared to me, from the cursory information which I could obtain, +to be as cheap as any town in France. Provisions of all kinds were in +great plenty, and were the best of their kind. There are three kinds of +bread—the white bread, meal bread, and black or rye bread. The latter +is in most use amongst the weavers. It is very cheap, but the measures +differ so much in this part of France, that I could not reduce them to +English pounds, except by a rough estimate. The best wheaten bread is +about one-third or rather more of the price that it is in England; beef +and mutton in great plenty, and proportionately cheap; a very large +turkey for about two shillings and sixpence, English money. Pit coal is +in common use in almost every house in Lyons: it is dug in the immediate +neighbourhood, and is very cheap. The best land in the province may be +had for about fifteen pounds (English) per acre in purchase. In the +neighbourhood of Lyons, the land lets high, and therefore sells +proportionately. Vegetables are of course in the greatest possible +plenty, and fruit so cheap and so abundant, as to be sold only by the +poorest people. Whoever is particularly fond of a dessert, let him seek +it in France: for a livre he may set out a table, which in London would +take him at least a Louis.</p> + +<p>Lyons has given birth to many celebrated men. Amongst them was De Lanzy, +the celebrated mathematician, and friend of Maupertuis. He lived to such +an extreme age as to survive his memory and faculties; but when so +insensible as to know no one about him, Maupertuis suddenly asked him +what was the square of 12, and he readily replied, 144, and died, as it +is said, almost in the same moment. This illustrious genius was as +simple as he was learned. His character, as given amongst the history +of the French literati, is very amiable—of great learning, of extreme +industry, simple and amiable to a degree, and invariably benevolent and +good-tempered. He was yet more distinguished by his charities than by +his learning. The learned Thon likewise was a native of this town.</p> + +<p>The society at Lyons very much resembles that of Paris; it is divided +into two classes—those in trade, <i>i. e.</i> merchants, and those out of +trade; the military, gentry, &c. The military, though many of them are +certainly of rather an humble origin, are characterized by elegant +manners, by great politeness, and by a gallantry towards the ladies +which would have done honour to the old court. It gave me great +satisfaction to hear this character of them. I should put no value on +any society in which the ladies did not hold their due place and perform +their due parts, and this is never the case, except where they are +properly respected. Gallantry has the same effect upon the manners which +Ovid attributes to learning—"<i>Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros</i>."</p> + +<p>A stranger at Lyons, who makes the city his temporary residence, is +received with the greatest hospitality into all the parties of the town; +he requires nothing but an introduction to one of them; and even if he +should be without that, an unequivocal appearance of respectability +would answer the same end. The fashionable world at Lyons, however, are +not accustomed to give dinners; they have no notion of that substantial +hospitality which characterizes England. Their suppers however are very +elegant: they have always fish, and sometimes soup, roasted poultry, and +in the proper season, game—pease, cauliflowers, and asparagus, almost +the whole year round. The sparkling Champagne then goes round, and +French wit, French vivacity, and French gallantry, are seen in +perfection. There is certainly nothing in England equal to the French +supper. It is usually served in a saloon, but the company make no +hesitation, in the intervals of conversation and of eating, to visit +every room in the house. Every room is accordingly lighted and prepared +for this purpose; the beds thrust into cupboards and corners, and the +whole house rendered a splendid promenade, most brilliantly lighted with +glass chandeliers and lustres. This blaze of light is further increased +by reflection from the large glasses and mirrors which are found in +every room. In England, the glasses are pitiful to a degree. In France, +even in the inns, they reach in one undivided plate from the top of the +room to the bottom. The French furniture moreover is infinitely more +magnificent than in England. Curtains, chair-covers, &c. are all of +silk, and the chairs fashioned according to the designs of artists. The +French music too, such as attends on their parties, exceeds that of +England; in a few words, a party in France is a spectacle; it is +arranged with art; and where there is much art, there will always be +some taste.</p> + +<p>In the neighbourhood of Lyons are numerous chateaus, most delightfully +situated, with lawns, pleasure-grounds, gardens, and green-houses, in +the English taste. In the summer season, public breakfasts are almost +daily given by one or other of the possessors. Marquees are then erected +on the lawn, and all the military bands in the town attend. The day is +consumed in dancing, which is often protracted so late in the night, as +almost to trespass on the day following. These kind of parties are +perhaps too favourable for intrigue, to suit English or American +manners, but they are certainly delightful in a degree, and recall to +one's fancy the images of poetry.</p> + +<p>The French ladies, as I believe I have before mentioned, are fond of +habiting themselves as harvesters: they frequently visit the farmers +thus <i>incog.</i> and hire themselves for the day. Though the farmer knows +them, it is the established custom that he should favour the sport by +pretending ignorance, and treating them in every respect as if they were +what they seemed. This is another means of indulging that general +disposition to gallantry which characterizes a Frenchwoman. They must +have lovers of all degrees and qualities; for vanity is at the bottom of +this assumed humility.</p> + +<p>Lodging at Lyons, in which I include board, is extremely cheap: for +about thirty pounds per annum you may board in the first houses, and I +was informed that every one is welcome but Italians. The French have an +extreme contempt for Italians. A house at Lyons may likewise be hired +very cheap. The pleasantest houses, however, are situated out of the +town; and I have no doubt, but that such an house as would cost in +England one hundred per annum, might be hired in the environs of Lyons, +in the loveliest country in the world, by the sides of the Rhone and the +Saone, and with a view of the Alps, for about twenty-five Louis annual +rent. Every house has a garden, and many of them mulberry orchards, a +wood, and pleasure-grounds.</p> + +<p>We left Lyons on the morning of the third day after our arrival, much +pleased with our stay, and with the general appearance of the city and +the inhabitants. Avignon was the next main point of our destination. As +the distance between Lyons and Avignon is about 120 miles, we +distributed our journey into three divisions, and as many days.</p> + +<p>Lyons is connected by a stone bridge with the beautiful village La +Guillotiere; it consists of twenty arches, and is upwards of 1200 feet +in length. I believe I have before observed, that the provincial +bridges, as well as the roads in France, are infinitely superior to any +thing of the kind in England, and that the cause of this superiority is, +that they are under the controul and supervision of the government. +Every thing connected with the facility of general access is considered +as of public concern, and therefore as an object of government. In +England, the roads are made and mended by the vicinity. In France, this +business belongs to the state and to the administration of the province.</p> + +<p>For many miles from Lyons, the road continued very various, occasionally +hill and dale, bordered by hedges, in which were flowers and flowering +shrubs, that perfumed the air very delightfully. It is not uncommon to +find even orange trees in the open fields: the very air of the country +seemed different from any through which I had before passed. There were +many of the fields planted with mulberry trees; I observed that this +tree seemed to flourish best where nothing else would grow—on stony and +gravelly soils. This indeed seems to be the common excellence of the +mulberry and the vine, that they may be both cultivated on lands which +would otherwise be barren.</p> + +<p>We passed several flower-mills on the river Gere; a beautiful stream, +occasionally very thickly wooded, and passing in a channel, which, as +seen from the road, has any appearance but that of a level. The smaller +rivers in France, like the bye lanes, are infinitely more beautiful than +the larger; the water, passing over a bed of gravel, is limpid and +transparent to a degree, and the grounds through which they roll, being +left in their natural rudeness, have a character of wildness, romance, +and picturesque, which is not to be found in the greater navigable +streams. An evening stroll along their banks, would favour the +imagination of a poet. I feel some surprize, that a greater proportion +of the writers of France are not their descriptive poets.</p> + +<p>The Gere is animated by numerous flower-mills; there are likewise many +paper-mills. They chiefly pleased me by their lovely situation. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery repeatedly sung a line of a French song, "O +that I were a miller's maid." It is but justice to this lady to say, +that she possessed a sensibility to the charms of Nature, which is +seldom found in tempers so apparently thoughtless.</p> + +<p>As we passed several cottages by the road-side, we saw the peasant girls +spinning; some of them were working in silk, others in cotton. They all +seemed happy, gay, and noisy; and where there were one or two of them +together, seemed to interrupt their labour by playing with each other. +It is impossible that a people of this kind can feel their labour. Some +of them, moreover, were really handsome.</p> + +<p>We reached Vienne to a late dinner, and resolved to remain there for the +night. Our inn had nothing to recommend it but its situation. Our dinner +however was plentiful, and what is not very common, was very well +dressed. The vegetables would not have disgraced an hotel in London. +Potatoes are becoming as common in France as in England, and the greens +of all sorts are to the full as good. "Confess," said Mr. Younge, "that +you would not have dined better in London, and the price will be about +one-fourth." "And confess," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that in +London you would not have had such an accompaniment to your dinner, such +a lovely sky, and a garden so luxuriant in flowers." The windows were +open, and looked backwards into the garden, which was certainly +beautiful and luxuriant to a degree. On the other side of the hedge, +which was at the further extremity, some one was playing on the +flageolet: the tune was simple and sweet, and perfectly in unison with +the scene. "Who is it," demanded I, "that plays so well?" "Some one who +has been at the wars," said Madame Younge. "The French boys in the army, +if they signalize themselves by any act of bravery, have sometimes one +year's leave of absence given them as a reward. This is some fifer who +has obtained this leave."</p> + +<p>We had coffee, as is still the custom in the provinces, immediately +after dinner; it was brought in by a sweet girl, who blushed and smiled +most charmingly as she fell over the corner of a chair. Her father +afterwards related her simple history in brief. She was the belle in +Vienne, and was courted by two or three of her own condition, but was +inflexibly attached to a young conscript. "You will doubtless hear him +before you depart," continued the landlord, "for he is almost always +behind that garden hedge, playing on his flageolet."—The lover it seems +was the young fifer. Mademoiselle St. Sillery now became very restless. +"You wish to see this gentleman," said Mrs. Younge to her, smiling. +Mademoiselle made no other answer than by beckoning to me, and in the +same moment putting on her bonnet. I could do no less than accompany +her. We went into the garden, and thence over a rough stile into the +fields. Much to our disappointment, Corydon was not to be seen. "I am +sure he must be a gentleman, by his taste and delicacy," said +Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>We had not time to see much of the town, nor did it appear much to +deserve it. It is certainly very prettily situated on the Gere and the +Rhone, and is surrounded by hills, which give it pleasantness and +effect. It seemed to us to be comparatively a busy and thriving town—I +say comparatively, for as compared with the towns of England or America, +its trade was contemptible. There are two or three hardware +manufactories, where the steel is said to be well tempered. The town is +of great antiquity, and carries its age in its face. The streets are +irregular; the houses dark; one room in almost every house is very +large, and all the others most inconveniently small. This is the +invariable characteristic of the house architecture of towns of a +certain age.</p> + +<p>I understood from inquiry, that, with the exception of wood for fuel, +every thing was very reasonable in Vienne. Provisions were in great +plenty, and very cheap. The town, as I have said, is dull, but the +environs, the fields, and the gardens, delightful.</p> + +<p>On the following day we continued our journey, and having sent our +horses forward, took our seats in the carriage with the ladies. The +young conscript seemed to fill the head of Mademoiselle St. Sillery. +"These kind of adventures," said she, "are not so romantic in France as +they would be in England, and more particularly since the conscription +makes no distinction of ranks. It is reckoned an honour, or at least no +disgrace, to be a private in the conscripts. It is incredible, how great +a number of gentlemen fill the ranks of the French army. A foreigner +cannot conceive it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Younge confirmed this remark, and imputed much of the success of the +French arms to the spirit of honour and emulation which resulted from +this constitution. "Every conscript," said he, "indeed every French +soldier, knows that all the dignities of the army are open to him, and +he may one day be himself a General, if he can render himself prominent. +The chevaliers, moreover, are not only animated by a gallant spirit +themselves, but they infuse it into the army, and give it a character +and self-esteem, the effect of which is truly wonderful."</p> + +<p>We passed through some pleasant villages, and amongst these Condrieux, +which is celebrated in France for its excellent wine: it is thick and +sweet, and resembles Tent. The price is high, and as usual in the wine +countries, none that is good is to be had on the spot. The country about +this village was rugged, uneven, but wild and picturesque; it resembled +no part that I had before seen. The fields were still planted with +mulberry trees, and the hedges (for the country is thickly enclosed), +were perfumed with scented shrubs. We saw some women driving oxen carts. +One of them was a tall, and as far as good features went, a good-looking +girl, but her fate sun-burnt, and her legs naked. She handled the whip +moreover with great strength, and apparently with little temper. She +returned our smile as we passed her, but bowed her body to the ladies. +"Is it possible," said I, "that there can be any gentleness in that +creature?" "If by gentleness you mean a taste for gallantry, and an +expectation of it as her right," replied Mr. Younge, "she has it as much +as any Parisian belle. In France, indeed, gallantry is like water; it is +considered as a thing of common right; it is as unnatural to withhold it +as it is natural to receive it. If you were to meet that lady in a +village walk, she would think herself very ill treated, if you had not a +compliment on your tongue, and at least the appearance of a sentiment in +your heart."</p> + +<p>Several waggons of the country passed us; their construction was +awkward to a degree. The French are very far behind the English in the +ingenuity of the lower order of their artisans. A French watchmaker +usually exceeds an English one; but a French blacksmith, a French +carpenter, are as infinitely inferior. The things in common use are +execrable: not a window that shuts close, not a door that fits; every +thing clumsy, rough hewn, and as if made by Robinson Crusoe and his man +Friday.</p> + +<p>We reached St. Valier to sleep. It is a small town, but prettily +situated, and the environs fertile, highly cultivated, and naturally +beautiful. The landlord of the inn was a true Boniface; he had nothing +of the Frenchman but his civility to the ladies. In assisting Mrs. +Younge from the carriage, he contrived it so awkwardly that he fell on +his back, and pulled the lady upon him; the matter, however, was a mere +trifle to a Frenchwoman, and had no other effect but to raise her +colour. If there are any ladies in a carriage, it is the invariable +privilege of the French hosts that they hand them from their seats. +Boniface, however, compensated his personal awkwardness by setting +before us an excellent supper; indeed, the farther we travelled, the +cheaper and the better became our fare. The hostess was likewise a true +character: she made some observations so free, and even indelicate, in +the hearing of the ladies, as in some degree confounded me. But modesty +is certainly no part of the virtues of a Frenchwoman.</p> + +<p>My bed-chamber was scented with orange trees which occupied one end of +the room. The hostess herself came up to wish me good night, and to +express her compassion for Mademoiselle St. Sillery and me, because +truly, not being married together, we were obliged to sleep separate, +though so near each other. It came very strongly into my mind, that she +had been making a similar observation to Mademoiselle. The French women +certainly talk with a freedom which would startle an English or American +female. With the greatest possible <i>sang froid</i> they will seat +themselves on the side of the bed, and remain in conversation with you +till they have fairly seen you in. They seem indeed to consider this +office as a matter of course. They enter your chamber at all times with +equal freedom; and if there happen to be two or more filles-de-chambre, +they will very coolly seat themselves and converse together. There is +indeed but one invariable rule in France, and that is, that a +fille-de-chambre is company for an emperor.</p> + +<p>Being very tired, I had slept sounder than usual, when I was called by +the landlady, accompanied by Mademoiselle St. Sillery. The latter indeed +remained at the door of the apartment, but the good-humoured boisterous +landlady awoke me with some violence by a toss of the clothes. "Rise, +Monsieur," said she, "and attend your mistress through the town; she +wants a walk. Shame upon a chevalier to sleep, whilst so much beauty is +awake!" I have translated literally, that I may give an idea of that +tone of compliment, and even of language, which characterizes the French +men and women, in speaking to or of each other. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, in the course of our journey, was as warmly complimented for +her beauty by the women as by the gentlemen. One woman in particular, +and an elderly one, embraced her with a kind of rapture, saying at the +same time, that she was as lovely as an angel. This extravagance of the +women towards each other is peculiar to France, or at least I have never +seen it elsewhere.</p> + +<p>As the morning was delightful, we resolved, much to the discontent of +the landlady, to reach Thein to breakfast. The horses were accordingly +ordered, and after much reluctance, and some grumbling, we procured +them, and departed.</p> + +<p>The road was continually on the ascent, and in every mile opened the +most lovely prospects. The trees in this part of France are uncommonly +beautiful; and where there are any meadows, as along the banks of the +rivers, they are adorned with the sweetest flowers, which here grow +wild, and attain a more than garden-sweetness and brilliancy. The birds, +moreover, were singing merrily, and all Nature seemed animate and gay. I +felt truly happy, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery was in such life and +spirits, that it was not without difficulty that we detained her in her +seat.</p> + +<p>Thein, where we breakfasted, was the Teyna of the Romans: it is +delightfully situated at the bottom of an hill, called the Hermitage, +and celebrated over all Europe and the world for its rich wines. The +soil on which these vineyards grow is a very light loam, supported by a +pan of granite, in which it resembles what is denominated in England the +Norfolk soil. Another hill on the opposite side of the river produces +the wine called the <i>côte rotie</i>. The average yearly produce is nearly +one thousand hogsheads, and the price of the wine on the spot, in +retail, is about 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> English money the bottle. From the window +of the apartment in which we breakfasted, we had a view of the town of +Tournon, and the ruins of an old castle, which very pleasantly invited +our imagination into former times.</p> + +<p>Proceeding on our journey, ourselves, our horses, and our carriage, were +all transported over the river in a boat, which instead of being ferried +over by men, was dragged over by a pulley and rope on the opposite side. +I should imagine that this method is not very safe, but it certainly +saves labour and trouble; and it is impossible to build a bridge over a +river like the Rhone and the Isere. This river is very rapid, but not +very clear. Its banks are rocky, hilly, and occasionally open into the +most beautiful scenery which it is possible for poet or painter to +conceive. The Isere was well known to the ancients.</p> + +<p>We dined at Valence, which is delightfully situated in a plain six or +eight miles in breadth. It was well known to the Romans by the name of +Valentia, and is supposed to have been so called from its healthy scite, +or, according to other writers, from the military strength of its +situation. The rocks in its vicinity gave it an air of great wildness, +and there are many popular stories as to its former inhabitants. The +town however has nothing but its scite to recommend it. The streets are +narrow, without air, and therefore very dirty. There is a church of the +most remote antiquity: I had not leisure to examine it, but its external +appearance corresponded with its reputed age. It was evidently built by +the Romans, but has been so much altered, that it is difficult to say +whether its original destination was a theatre or a temple. In the Roman +ages, theatres were national works, and therefore corresponded with the +characteristic greatness of the empire, and every thing which belonged +to it. What play-house in Europe would survive two thousand years! This +single reflection appears to me to put the comparative greatness of the +Romans in a most striking point of view. They built, indeed, for +posterity, and their architecture had the character of their writing—it +passed unhurt down the stream of time.</p> + +<p>The inn-keeper at Valence amused us much by his empty pomposity. He was +a complete character, but civility made no part of his qualities. His +dinner however was excellent and possible humour on the following day. +Mrs. Younge replied very smartly to some questions of her husband. This +lady had a true affection, and I will take upon me to say, that the +fidelity of Mr. Younge was such as to merit it.</p> + +<p>Our road to Montelimart, our first or second stage (I really forget +which) was lined on each side with chesnut and mulberry trees. We passed +many vineyards, and innumerable orchards. For mile succeeding to mile it +was more like a garden than an open country. The fields, wherever there +was the least moisture, were covered with flowers; the hedges of the +vineyards breathed forth a most delightful odour; there was every thing +to cheer the heart and to refresh the senses. Some of the cottages which +we passed were delightfully situated: they invariably, however, whether +good or bad, were without glass to their windows; and the climate is so +dry and so mild, that they sleep with them thus exposed.</p> + +<p>Montelimart is situated in a plain, which is covered with corn and +vineyards; and being here and there studded with tufts of chesnut trees, +has a rural and pleasing appearance. It is built on the bank of a small +river which runs from the Rhone, is a walled town, and has usually a +tolerably strong garrison. It has the same character, however, as all +the other towns on the Rhone—the streets are narrow, and the houses +low. In plain words, the town is execrable, but its scite delightful.</p> + +<p>From Montelimart to where we slept, the name of which I have not noted, +the country improved in beauty; but we passed many peasant women, who +certainly were not so beautiful as the country. Their costume reminded +me very forcibly of Dutch toys—very broad-brimmed straw hats, and +petticoats not reaching to the knees. Add to this, naked legs, &c. Our +ladies smiled at my astonishment, and I smiled too, when I reflected to +what feelings and to what ideas people might be reduced by habit. In the +West Indies, a white lady feels no reluctance, no modest confusion, at +the sight of the nakedness of her male slave; and Madame Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, certainly the most modest women in France, +only smiled at my surprise, when these short petticoated women passed +me. So it is with custom. Time was, that many things startled me, which +I can now see or hear without wonder. But nothing, I hope, will ever +eradicate that modesty which is inseparable from a reflecting mind, and +which acts as a barrier against inordinate passions.</p> + +<p>The peasantry in this part of the country seemed very poor, though +contented and happy. Many of them were employed on a labour for which +their pay must have been very small—picking stones from the fields, and +dung from the roads. The dung is dried and burned, and is said to be an +healthy fuel to those who use it.</p> + +<p>On the following day we dined at Orange, but did not remain long enough +to examine the town, which was well worthy of minute attention. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery was seized with the symptoms of an +indisposition, which happily passed away, but whilst it lasted, left us +no inclination for any other employment but to assist and console her, +and to press forwards to Avignon, to procure medical assistance. +Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing but a mere dizziness resulting +from exposure to the sun.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances we reached Avignon on the evening of the +fourth day after leaving Lyons; and whether the fear of the physician +had any effect, so much is certain, that Mademoiselle seemed to have +completed her recovery almost in the same instant in which the +battlements of the city saluted her eyes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XIX" id="CHAP_XIX"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XIX.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Avignon—Situation—Climate—Streets and Houses—Public<br /> +Buildings—Palace—Cathedral—Petrarch and Laura—Society<br /> +at Avignon—Ladies—Public Walks—Prices of<br /> +Provisions—Markets.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> we left Angers, we had ordered our letters to be addressed for us +at Avignon. I was daily in expectation of receiving one of a very +important nature, and General Armstrong, who was in the habit of a state +correspondence with Marseilles, and was allowed for that purpose an +extra post, had promised to dispatch it for me to Avignon, as soon as it +should reach him. This circumstance delayed us for some days at Avignon; +but I believe none of us regretted a delay, which gave us time to see +and to survey this celebrated city and its neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>The situation of this city is in a plain, equally fertile and beautiful, +about fifteen miles in breadth and ten in length. On the south and east +it is circled by a chain of mountains. The plain is divided into +cultivated fields, in which are grown wheat, barley, saffron, silk, and +madder. The cultivation is so clean and exact, as to give the grounds +the appearance of a garden. As the French farms are usually on a small +scale, they are invariably kept cleaner than those in England and +America. Not a weed is suffered to remain on the ground. The French want +nothing but a more enlarged knowledge and a greater capital, to rival +the English husbandmen. They have the same industry, and take perhaps +more pride in the appearance of their fields. This detailed attention +greatly improves the face of the country; for miles succeeding miles it +has the air of a series of parks and gardens. The English mansion is +alone wanting to complete the beauty of the scenery. From the high +ground in the city nothing can be finer than the prospect over the plain +and surrounding country. The Rhone is there seen rolling its animated +through meadows covered with olive trees, and at the foot of hills +invested with vineyards. The ruined arches of the old bridge carry the +imagination back into the ancient history of the town. On the opposite +side of the Rhone are the sunny plains of Laguedoc, which, when +refreshed by the wind, breathe odours and perfumes from a thousand wild +herbs and flowers. Mont Ventoux, in the province of Dauphiny, closes the +prospect to the North: its high summit covered with snow, whilst its +sides are robed in all the charms of vegetable nature. On the east are +the abrupt rocks and precipices of Vaucluse, distant about five leagues, +and which complete, as it were, the garden wall around Avignon and its +territory.</p> + +<p>The climate of Avignon, though so strangely inveighed against by +Petrarch, is at once healthy and salubrious. There are certainly very +rapid transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold, but from this very +circumstance neither the intensity of the heat nor of the cold, is of +sufficient duration to be injurious to health or pleasure. The air, +except in actual rain, is always dry, and the sky is an etherial Italian +blue, scarcely ever obscured by a cloud. When the rains come on they are +very violent, but fall at once. The sun then bursts out, and the face of +Nature appears more gay, animated and splendid than before. I do not +remember, that amongst all the pictures of the great masters, I have +ever seen a landscape in which a southern country was represented after +one of these showers. Homer has described it with equal force and +beauty, in one of his similies: but as the book is not before me, I must +refer to the memory of the classic reader.</p> + +<p>There is one heavy detraction, however, from the excellence of the +Avignonese climate. This is the wind denominated the Vent de Bize. The +peculiar situation of Avignon, at the mouth of a long avenue of +mountains, gives rise to this wind: it collects in the narrow channel of +the mountains, and bursts, as from the mouth of a barrel, on the town +and plain. Its violence certainly exceeds what is common in European +climates, but it is considered as healthy, and it very rarely does any +considerable damage. Augustus Cæsar was so persuaded of its salutary +character, that he deified it, as it were, by raising an altar to it +under the name of the Circian wind. The winters of Avignon, however, +are sometimes rendered by it most distressingly cold. The Rhone is +frequently covered with ice sufficiently strong to support loaded carts, +and the olive trees sometimes perish to their roots.</p> + +<p>Avignon is surrounded by walls built by successive Popes; they still +remain in perfect beauty and preservation, and much augment, +particularly in a distant view, the beauty of the town. They are +composed of free-stone, are flanked at regular distances with square +towers, and surmounted with battlements. The public walks are round the +foot of this wall. The alleys fronting the river, and which are bordered +by noble elms, are the summer promenade—here all the fashion of the +city assemble in the evening, and walk, and sport, and romp on the +banks. In the winter, the public walk is on the opposite side. The +fields likewise have their share, and the environs being naturally +beautiful, the spectacle on a summer's evening is gay and delightful in +the extreme.</p> + +<p>The interior of the city is ill built: the streets are narrow and +irregular, and the pavement is most troublesomely rough. There is not a +lamp, except at the houses of the better kind of people; the funds of +the town are still good, but they are all expended on the roads, public +walks, and dinners. The necessity of a constant attention to paving and +lighting, never enters into the heads of a French town-administration; +they seem to think that the whole business is done when the town is +once paved. From the nature of the climate, however, the streets are +necessarily clean. A hot drying sun, and frequent driving winds, remove +or consume all the ordinary rubbish; or if anything be left, the winter +torrent of the Rhone, rising above its bed, sweeps it all before it. +Avignon, therefore, is naturally a clean city. The police, moreover, is +very commendably attentive, to the price of provisions, and to the +cleanliness of the markets.</p> + +<p>I had the curiosity to enter some of the houses, and found them to +correspond with what I have before described as constituting the +character of house-architecture in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. They had one large room, and all the others small; a great +waste of timber and work in their construction; the walls being built as +thick as if intended for fortifications, and the beams being large +timber trees. Our ancestors thought they could never build too +substantially.</p> + +<p>The palace, the former residence of the Papal Legates, is well worthy of +being visited: it was founded by Benedict the Twelfth but is better +known as the subject of the elegant invective of Petrarch. The arsenal +still remains, containing 4000 stand of arms and as these instruments of +war are ranged according to their respective æras, the spectacle is +interesting, and to antiquaries may be instructive. The papal chair, +from respect to its antiquity, still remains, but the pannels of the +state rooms, which were composed of polished cedar, have disappeared. +The most curious parts of the palace, however, are the subterraneous +passages, the entrance to which is usually through some part of the +pillars; perfectly imperceptible till pointed out by the guide. +According to the tradition of the town, these passages have been the +scene of many a deed of darkness. A statue of Hercules was found on the +scite of the palace, and buried by Pope Urban, that the figure of a +Heathen Deity might not disgrace a papal town.</p> + +<p>The cathedral still retains many of its ancient decorations, and amongst +these, the monument of Pope John, who died in the year 1384. In the year +1759, the body was taken up to be removed, when it was found entire, and +with some of the vestments retaining their original colour. The first +wrapper round the body was a robe of purple silk, which was then +enveloped in black velvet embroidered in gold and pearls; the hands had +white satin gloves, and were crossed over the breast. The above +description is exhibited in writing to all travellers. The monument of +Benedict the Twelfth is likewise here. This Pope was as remarkable for +his integrity of life and simplicity of manners, as for his humility. +There are many illustrious men who lie buried beneath the cathedral, but +as I could give little account of them but their names, I shall pass +them over.</p> + +<p>We next visited the convent of St. Claire, where Petrarch first beheld +his mistress. From respect to the poet, or to his mistress, this convent +has survived the fury of the times, and is still entire. The description +of the first meeting of Laura and Petrarch is perhaps the best, because +the most simple and unlaboured part of his works.—"It was on one of the +lovely mornings of the spring of the year, the morning of April 6th, +1327, that being at matins in the convent of St. Claire, I first beheld +my Laura. Her robe was green embroidered with violets. Her features, her +air, her deportment, announced something which did not belong to mortal. +Her figure was graceful beyond the imagination of a poet—her eyes +beamed with tenderness, and her eye-brows were black as ebony. Her +golden ringlets, interwoven by the fingers of Love, played upon +shoulders whiter than snow. Her neck, in its harmony and proportion, was +a model for painters; and her complexion breathed that life and soul +which no painters can give When she opened her mouth, you saw the beauty +of pearls, and the sweetness of the morning rose. The mildness of her +look, the modesty of her gait, the soft harmony of her voice, must be +seen and felt to be conceived. Gaiety and gentleness breathed around +her, and these so pure and happily attempered, as to render love a +virtue, and admiration a kind of divine tribute."</p> + +<p>Our curiosity naturally passed from the convent of St. Claire to the +church of the Cordeliers, where Laura is reputed to have reposed in +peace. Her tomb is in a small chapel, dark, damp, and even noisome: it +is indicated only by a flat unadorned stone. The inscription, which is +in Gothic letters, is rendered illegible by time. The congenial nature +of Francis the First of France caused the tomb to be opened, and a +leaden box was found, containing some bones, and a copy of verses, the +subject of which was the attachment of the two lovers. Petrarch, with +all his conceits, which are sometimes as cold as the snows on Mount +Ventoux, well merits his reputation. His verses are polished, and his +thoughts almost always elegant and poetical. He must not be judged, on +the point of a correct taste, with those who followed him. He was the +first, as it were, in the field; he is to be considered as an original +poet in a dark age; or, according to his own beautiful comparison, as a +nightingale singing through the thick foliage of the beech tree. +Petrarch was truly an original; I know no one to whom he can be +compared. He has no resemblance to any English, French, or Italian. He +has more ease, more elegance, and a more poetic vein than Prior; he +resembles Cowley in his conceits, and Waller in his grace and sweetness. +He possesses, moreover, one quality in common with the Classic poets of +Italy—that he never has, and perhaps never will be, sufficiently +translated. No translation can give the elegant neatness of his +language. He is simple, tender, and sweet as his own Laura: time has +stampt his reputation, and posterity will receive him to her last +limit.</p> + +<p>We next visited the convent of the Celestins, which was founded by +Charles the Sixth of France, and in its architecture and dimensions is +worthy of a royal founder. The piety of the early ages has done more to +ornament the kingdoms of Europe than either public or private +magnificence. If we would become properly sensible how much we owe to +the early ages, let us divest a kingdom of what has been built by our +ancestors; let us pull down the churches, the convents, and the temples, +and what shall we leave?—The present town-administration of Avignon +extends a very commendable attention to its several public buildings, +the consequence of which is, that the town flourishes, and is much +visited both by travellers and distant residents.</p> + +<p>Avignon, however, is chiefly celebrated for its hospitals, the liberal +foundation and endowment of which have originated, perhaps in the +misfortunes of the city, and in the sympathy which is usually felt for +evils which we ourselves have experienced. Avignon has suffered as much +as Florence itself by the plague. In the year 1334 the city was almost +depopulated by this dreadful pestilence. It was in the nature of a dry +leprosy; the skin peeled off in white scales, and the body wasted till +the disease reached the vitals. In fourteen years afterwards the city +was again attacked, and the beautiful Laura became its victim. It is +stated to have swept off upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants. +The reigning pope contrived to escape the contagion by shutting himself +up in his palace, carefully excluding the air, and heating the rooms. +Another period of fourteen years elapsed, and the plague again made its +appearance, and nearly twenty thousand people, including a dozen +cardinals and an hundred bishops, fell its victims. Of late years, there +has fortunately been no appearance of this horrible disease. It was at +the time imputed to an extraordinary drought, attended by an uncommon +heat and stillness of the air, which, being without motion, and confined +as it were in a narrow channel, became putrid and pestilential. The vent +de bize is perhaps a greater blessing to this country than it has been +imagined.</p> + +<p>Avignon, with the above exceptions, would be a delightful place of +residence to a foreigner, and particularly if his circumstances +permitted him to live in an extended society. It constitutes, as it +were, a little kingdom in itself, and the inhabitants have clearly and +distinctly a character, and peculiar manners belonging to themselves.</p> + +<p>We visited the public walks of the town every evening during our stay, +and as the weather was delightful, and there was a division of soldiers +with their bands of music on the spot, they were always thronged, and +always gay and animated to a degree.</p> + +<p>The Avignonese ladies appeared to me very beautiful, and whether it was +fancy or reality, I thought I could trace in many of them the features +which Petrarch has assigned to Laura. I no doubt whatever, but that the +recorded loves of these accomplished persons have a very strong +influence on the character of the town. If I should have an Avignonese +for a mistress, I should most certainly expect to find in her some of +the characteristic traits of Laura. It must not, indeed, be concealed, +that these ladies have not the reputation of being virtuous in the +extreme: to say the truth, they are considered as dissolute, and as +having little restraint even in their married conduct. I cannot say this +of them from any thing which I observed myself—to me they appeared gay, +tender and interesting.</p> + +<p>In speaking of ladies, it would be unpardonable to omit something of +their dress. The ladies of Avignon follow the Paris fashions, but have +too much natural elegance to adopt them in extremes. On the evening +parade, they were habited in silk robes, which in their form resembled +collegiate gowns, and being of the gayest colours, gave the public walk +a resemblance to a flower-garden. Lace caps were the only covering of +their heads. The necks were not so exposed as at Paris, but were open as +is usual in. England and America in full dress. The gown was likewise +silk, embroidered in silver, gold, or worked flowers. The shoes of +velvet, with silver or gold clasps. The terms were naked almost up to +the shoulders, indeed almost indecently so. Being strangers, we were of +course objects of curiosity; when our eyes, however, met those of the +gazers, they invariably saluted us with a friendly smile. Mademoiselle +St. Sillery was much distressed that she had no dress so tasty as those +of the ladies. We could not at last persuade her to accompany us. This +young lady, with all her charms, and she possessed as many as ever fell +to the lot of woman, had certainly her share of vanity—an assertion, +however, which I should not have the presumption to make, if she had not +herself most frequently acknowledged it.</p> + +<p>Every thing connected with household economy is extremely cheap at +Avignon; a circumstance which must be imputed as much to the moderation +of the inhabitants as to the plenty of the country. An Avignonese family +seems to have no idea of a dinner in common with an Englishman or an +American. A couple of over-roasted fowls will be meat enough for a party +of a dozen. The most common dish is, I believe, a fowl stewed down into +soup, with rice, highly seasoned. It is certainly very savoury, only +that according to French cookery, too much is made of the fowl.</p> + +<p>The Avignonese, whilst under the papal jurisdiction, bore a general +reputation for the utmost profligacy both of principles and conduct. +This character has now passed away, and, with the exception of what is +termed gallantry, the Avignonese seem a gay, moral, and harmless people. +The poetry of Petrarch is perhaps too much read, and it is impossible +to read him without inspiring a warmth of feeling and imagination, which +is not very friendly to a correct virtue. Plato would certainly have +banished him from his republic, and the Avignonese would do well to keep +him out of their schools and houses. They will catch his ardour, who +want his moral sense and religious principles.</p> + +<p>We took our leave of Avignon, much delighted with the town and its +inhabitants, and, as I have before said, I saw many figures which +recalled most forcibly to my imagination the Laura of Petrarch. It may +be perhaps said, that every one has an image of his own fancy, which he +assigns to Laura, and that from the general description of the poet, it +is impossible to collect any thing of the personal lineaments of his +mistress. This is very true; but it is equally so, that the ladies of +Avignon appear to have certain characteristic features, and that many of +them possess that soft, sweet, and supreme beauty, which inspired +Petrarch to sing in strains, which still sound melodious in the ears of +his posterity.</p> + +<p>Avignon is the capital of the department of Vaucluse, the department +being so named rather from the celebrity of the poet, than from its +local relations.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAP_XX" id="CHAP_XX"></a><a href="#toc">CHAP. XX.</a></h2> + +<p class="cont"> +<i>Departure from Avignon—Olive and Mulberry Fields—Orgon—St.<br /> +Canat—French Divorces—Inn at St.<br /> +Canat—Air—Situation—Cathedral—Society—Provisions—Price<br /> +of Land—Marseilles—Conclusion.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> letters which I had expected reached me at Avignon, and the result +of their perusal was the information, that my presence was necessary in +America. I have not, however, contracted so much of the impertinence of +a Frenchman by my tour in France, as to trouble the reader of my Notes +with my domestic affairs. Suffice it therefore to say, that some family +occurrences, of which I obtained some previous information, required my +immediate departure from France, and that in consequence I resolved to +embark at Marseilles.</p> + +<p>With this resolution, therefore, I left Avignon for Marseilles, a +distance of about seventy miles. We divided it therefore into two days; +arranging so as to reach St. Canat on the first night, and Marseilles on +the second.</p> + +<p>The road to Orgon, where we dined, presented us with a great variety of +scenery, though the surface was rather level. All the country was +covered with olive and mulberry trees, and innumerable fruit-trees grew +up wild in the fields, as likewise flowering shrubs in the hedges. The +climate of this part of France is so delightful, that every thing here +grows spontaneously which is raised only by the most laborious exertions +in northern countries. The cottages which we passed on the road were +picturesque to a degree: they were usually thatched, and vines or +barberry trees, or honey-suckles, entirely enveloped the walls or +casements. The peasantry, moreover, though without stockings, appeared +happy; the women were singing, and the men, in the intervals of their +work, playing with true French frivolity. We saw many women working in +the fields: the French women are invariably industrious and active. It +may be supposed that this labour and exposure to a southern sun is not +very favourable to beauty. Accordingly, we saw few good-looking damsels, +but many with good shapes and good eyes. How is it, that the French, so +generally gallant, can suffer their women to take the fork and hoe, and +work so laboriously in the fields?</p> + +<p>Orgon had nothing which merits even mention; I believe, however, it was +well known to the ancients, and is mentioned in some of the Latin +itineraries. A convent, very picturesquely situated, is now converted +into a manufacturing establishment. The town is surrounded by +chalk-hills and quarries, from which is dug a free-stone, of the most +delicate white. The town, on the whole, had an air of rusticity and +recluseness which might have delighted a romantic imagination.</p> + +<p>Between Orgon and St. Canat we travelled in a road occasionally bordered +by almond trees. The country on each side was rather barren, but being +an intermixture of rock and plain and being moreover new to us, it did +not appear tedious or uninteresting. We passed several houses of the +better sort, some in ruins, others evidently inhabited by a class of +people for whom they were not intended. This is one of the effects of +the Revolution. Where the proprietor emigrated, or was assassinated, the +nearest tenant moved into the mansion-house, and if he distinguished +himself by a violent and patriotic jacobinism, his possession, for a +mere trifle to the national fund, was converted into a right. In this +manner innumerable low ruffians have obtained the estates and houses of +their lords; but, faithful to their old habits and early origin, they +abuse only what they possess; live in the stables, and convert the +castle into a barn, a granary, a brew-house, a manufactory, or sometimes +dilapidate it brick by brick, as their convenience may require.</p> + +<p>The inn at St. Canat will be long remembered by me, for the unusual +circumstance of a most hearty welcome from a good-humoured host, a +widower, and his two daughters. The eldest was the most beautiful +brunette I have ever seen. She was as coquettish as if educated in +Paris, and as easy, as familiar, as inclined to gallantry, as this +description of ladies, in France at least, universally are. She had been +married during the æra of jacobinism, and had divorced her husband, +<i>because they could not agree</i>. "He was so triste, and withal very +jealous, which was the more absurd, because he was old."—This young +woman was tall, elegant, and with the most fascinating features; her age +might be about four and twenty; her teeth were the whitest in the world, +and her smile was a paradise of sweets. She had the fault, however, of +all the French filles—a most invincible loquacity, and would not move +from the chamber till repeatedly admonished to call me early in the +morning.</p> + +<p>I was awoke in the morning by a sweet-toned lark, which rising in the +ethereal vault of Heaven, made his watch-tower, as the poet calls it, +ring with his matin song. I know nothing more pleasing to a traveller +than to pass a night at one of these provincial inns, provided he gets a +good bed and clean blankets. The moon shines through his casement with a +soft and clear splendor unparalleled in humid climates; and in the +morning he is awoke by the singing of birds, whilst his senses are +hailed by the perfume of flowers and by the freshness of a pure æther.</p> + +<p>Having resumed our journey, we reached Aix at an early hour on the +following day, and passed an hour very pleasantly in walking over the +town and neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>Aix, the capital of Provence, is very pleasantly situated in a valley, +surrounded by hills, which give it an air of recluseness, and romantic +retirement, without being so close as to prevent the due circulation of +air. It is surrounded by a wall, but which, from long neglect, +originating perhaps in its inutility, has become dilapidated, and +interests only as an ancient ruin. In the former ages, when France was +subdivided into dutchies and minor kingdoms, and when her neighbours +were more powerful, such walls were a necessary defence to the town: a +change in manners and government has now rendered them useless, and in +few centuries they will wholly disappear all over Europe. The interior +of the town very well corresponds with the importance of its first +aspect. It is well paved, the houses are all fronted with white stone, +and the air being clear, it always looks clean and sprightly. Many of +them, moreover, have balconies, and some of them are upon a scale, both +outside and inside, which is not excelled by Bath in England. Aix is +almost the only town next to Tours, in which an English gentleman could +fix a comfortable residence. The society is good, and to a stranger of +genteel appearance, perfectly accessible either with or without +introduction.</p> + +<p>The cathedral of Aix is an immense edifice; the architecture is the +oldest Gothic, and has all the strength, the substance, and I was going +to add, all the tastelessness which characterizes that Order. The front +is ornamented with figures of saints, prophets, and angels, grouped +together in a manner the most absurd, and executed as if by the hands of +a working bricklayer. The grand portal, however is very striking. On the +side of the great altar is the magnificent tomb of the Counts of +Provence; the figures here, however, are as ridiculous as the style +itself is grand. The Gothic architects had better ideas of proportion +than of delicacy or beauty; they seldom err on the former point, whilst +their execution in the latter is contemptible in the extreme. Our +Saviour, and the Virgin Mary, have always enough to do on every tomb in +France; they are invariably introduced together, sometimes in a manner +and with circumstances, which really shock any one of common piety. +Several pictures, and some ancient jewellery, which have survived the +Revolution, are still shewn to all strangers: amongst them is a golden +rose, which Pope Innocent the Fourth gave to one of the Counts of +Provence six hundred years since.</p> + +<p>There are two or three other churches and convents, but which have +suffered so much by the execrable Revolution, as to have little left +that is worthy of remark. The piety of the inhabitants of Aix, however, +saved the greater part of the pictures and jewellery; and with still +more piety, have returned them to the churches.</p> + +<p>The promenade, or public walk, equals, if not excells, any thing of the +kind in Europe—it consists of three alleys, shaded by four rows of most +noble elms, in the middle of a wide street, the houses on each side +being on the most magnificent scale, and inhabited by the first people +of the city and province. There were several parties walking there even +at the early hour in the morning when we saw it, and I understood upon +enquiry, that in the evening it is exceedingly thronged both with +walkers and carriages.</p> + +<p>I did not omit to make my usual enquiries, as to the prices of land, +provisions, and the state of society, for a foreigner who should select +it as a place of residence. The following was the result: Land within a +few miles of Aix, is very reasonable; in a large purchase it will not +exceed five or six pounds (English money) per acre. In rating French and +English purchases, there is one considerable point of difference: +English estates are usually mentioned as being worth so many years +purchase, in which the purchase is rated according to the rent, and the +rent is considered as being the annual value of the land. In France, +where there is scarcely such a thing as an annual pecuniary rent equal +to the annual value of the land, the price must be estimated by the +acre. In large purchases, therefore, as I have said before, land is very +cheap: in small purchases it is very dear. The difference indeed is +surprising, but must be imputed to the strong repugnance of the small +proprietors to part with their paternal lands.</p> + +<p>In the town there are some very handsome houses: a palace almost, with a +garden of some acres, an orchard, and land enough for four horses and +three cows, may be hired for about thirty pounds per annum.</p> + +<p>Provisions of all kinds are in the greatest possible plenty: fish is to +be had in great abundance, and the best quality; meat is likewise very +reasonable, and tolerably good; bread is about a penny English by the +pound; and vegetables, as in other provincial towns, so cheap as +scarcely to be worth selling.</p> + +<p>The baths of Aix are very celebrated, and the town is much visited by +valetudinarians: they are chiefly recommended in scorbutic humours, +colds, rheumatisms, palsies, and consumptions. The waters are warm, and +have in fact no taste but that of warm water.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole, Aix is most delightfully situated, and the environs are +beyond conception rural and beautiful. They are a succession of +vineyards relieved by groves, meadows and fields. I did not leave them +without regret. The carriage drove slowly, but even under these +circumstances we repeatedly stopt it.</p> + +<p>We reached Marseilles without further occurrence; and as a ship was +ready there, after two or three days spent in the company of my friends, +who very kindly refused to leave me, I took my departure, and left a +kingdom which I have since never ceased to think.</p> + +<p class="c">THE END.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels through the South of France +and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808, by Lt-Col. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 + +Author: Lt-Col. Pinkney + +Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21256] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH OF FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + + + + + + + +TRAVELS THROUGH THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, + +AND + +IN THE INTERIOR OF THE PROVINCES + +OF + +PROVENCE AND LANGUEDOC, IN THE YEARS 1807 AND 1808, + +BY A ROUTE NEVER BEFORE PERFORMED, BEING ALONG THE BANKS OF + +THE LOIRE, THE ISERE, AND THE GARONNE, + +THROUGH THE GREATER PART OF THEIR COURSE. + +MADE BY PERMISSION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. + +BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PINKNEY, OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE RANGERS. + +_LONDON_: + +PRINTED FOR T. PURDAY AND SON, NO. 1, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND TO BE HAD OF +ALL BOOKSELLERS: BY B. McMILLAN, BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1809. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. I. + +_Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular +Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during +the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais_ + +CHAP. II. + +_Morning View of Port--Arrival and landing--A Day at Calais--French +Market, and Prices of Provisions_ + +CHAP. III. + +_Purchase of a Norman Horse--Visit in the Country--Family of +a French Gentleman--Elegance of French domestic Economy--Dance +on the Green--Return to Calais_ + +CHAP. IV. + +_French Cottages--Ludicrous Exhibition--French Travellers--Chaise +de Poste--Posting in France--Departure from Calais--Beautiful +Vicinity of Boulogne_ + +CHAP. V. + +_Boulogne--Dress of the Inhabitants--The Pier--Theatre--Caution +in the Exchange of Money--Beautiful Landscape, and +Conversation with a French Veteran_--_Character of Mr. +Parker's Hotel_--_Departure, and romantic Road_--_Fete Champetre +in a Village on a Hill at Montreuil_--_Ruined Church and +Convent_, + +CHAP. VI. + +_Departure from Montreuil_--_French Conscripts_--_Extreme Youth_--_Excellent +Roads_--_Country Labourers_--_Court for the Claims +of Emigrants_--_Abbeville_--_Companion on the Road_--_Amiens_, + + +CHAP. VII. + +_General Character of the Town_--_Public Walk_--_Gardens_--_Half-yearly +Fair_--_Gaining Houses_--_Table d'Hotes_--_English at +Amiens_--_Expence of Living_, + +CHAP. VIII. + +_French and English Roads compared_--_Gaiety of French +Labourers_--_Breteuil_--_Apple-trees +in the midst of Corn-fields_--_Beautiful +Scenery_--_Cheap Price of Land in France_--_Clermont_--_Bad +Management of the French Farmers_--_Chantilly_-_Arrival +at Paris_, + +CHAP. IX. + +_A Week in Paris_--_Objects and Occurrences_--_National Library_--_A +French Rout_--_Fashionable French Supper_--_Conceits_--_Presentation +at Court_--_Audience_, + +CHAP. X. + +_Departure from Paris for the Loire_--_Breakfast at Palaiseau_--_A +Peasant's Wife_--_Rambouillet_--_Magnificent Chateau_--_French +Cure_--_Chartres_--_Difference of Old French and English +Towns--Subterraneous Church_--_Curious Preservation of +the Dead_--_Angers_--_Arrival at Nantes_, + +CHAP. XI. + +_Nantes_--_Beautiful Situation_--_Analogy of Architecture with the +Character of its Age_--_Singular Vow of Francis the Second_--_Departure +from Nantes_--_Country between Nantes and Angers_--_Angers_, + +CHAP. XII. + +_Angers_--_Situation_--_Antiquity and Face of the Town_--_Grand_ +_Cathedral_--_Markets_--_Prices of Provisions_--_Public Walks_--_Manners +and Diversions of the Inhabitants--Departure from_ +_Angers_--_Country between Angers and Saumur_--_Saumur_, + +CHAP. XIII. + +_Tours_--_Situation and general Appearance of it_--_Origin of the +Name of Huguenots_--_Cathedral Church of St. Martin_--_The +Quay_--_Markets_--_Public Walk_--_Classes of +Inhabitants_--_Environs_--_Expences +of Living_--_Departure from Tours_--_Country +between Tours and Amboise_, + +CHAP. XIV. + +_Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois--Ecures_--_Beautiful +Village_--_French Harvesters--Chousi_--_Village +Inn_--_Blois_--_Situation_--_Church_--_Market_--_Price +of Provisions_, + +CHAP. XV. + +_Houses in Chalk Hills_--_Magnificent Castle at Chambord_--_Return +from Chambord by Moon-light_--_St. Laurence on the +Waters_, + +CHAP. XVI. + +_Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns--Tremendous +Hail Storm_--_Country Masquerade_--_La Charite_--_Beauty +and Luxuriance of its Environs_--_Nevers_--_Fille-de-Chambre_--_Lovely +Country between Nevers and Moulins_-_Treading +Corn_--_Moulins_--_Price of Provisions_ + +CHAP. XVII. + +_Country between Moulins and Rouane_--_Bresle_--_Account of the +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois_--_Climate_--_Face +of the Country_--_Soil_--_Natural Produce_--_Agricultural Produce_--_Kitchen +Garden--French Yeomen--Landlords_--_Price +of Land_--_Leases_--_General Character of the French Provincial +Farmers_ + +CHAP. XVIII. + +_Lyons_--_Town-Hall_--_Hotel de Dieu_--_Manufactories_--_Price of +Provisions_--_State of Society_--_Hospitality to Strangers_--_Manners_--_Mode +of Living_--_Departure_--_Vienne_--_French Lovers_ + + +CHAP. XIX. + +_Avignon_--_Situation_--_Climate_--_Streets and Houses_--_Public +Buildings_--_Palace_--_Cathedral_--_Petrarch and Laura_--_Society +at Avignon--Ladies_--_Public Walks-_--_Prices of Provisions_--_Markets_ + + +CHAP. XX. + +_Departure from Avignon_--_Olive and Mulberry Fields_--_Orgon_--_St. +Canat_--_French Divorces_--_Inn at St. +Canat_--_Aix_--_Situation_--_Cathedral_--_Society_--_Provisions_--_Price +of Land--Marseilles_--_Conclusion_ + + + + +A + +TOUR, + +&c. &c. + + + + +CHAP. I. + +_Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular +Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during +the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais._ + + +FROM my earliest life I had most anxiously wished to visit France--a +country which, in arts and science, and in eminent men, both of former +ages and of the present times, stands in the foremost rank of civilized +nations. What a man wishes anxiously, he seldom fails, at one period or +other, to accomplish. An opportunity at length occurred--the situation +of my private affairs, as well as of my public duties, admitted of my +absence. + +I embarked at Baltimore for Liverpool in the month of April, 1807. The +vessel, which was a mere trader, and which had likewise some connexions +at Calais, was to sail for Liverpool in the first instance, and thence, +after the accomplishment of some private affairs, was to pass to Calais, +and thence home. I do not profess to understand the business of +merchants; but I must express my admiration at the ingenuity with which +they defy and elude the laws of all countries. I suppose, however, that +this is considered as perfectly consistent with mercantile honour. Every +trader has a morality of his own; and without any intention of +depreciating the mercantile class, so far I must be allowed to say, that +the merchants are not very strict in their morality. Trade may improve +the wealth of a nation, but it most certainly does not improve their +morals. + +The Captain with whom I sailed was a true character. Captain Eliab +Jones, as he related his history to me, was the son of a very +respectable clergyman in the West of England. His mother died when he +was a boy about twelve years of age, leaving his father with a very +large family. The father married again. Young Eliab either actually was, +or fancifully believed himself to be, ill-treated by his step-mother. +Under this real or imaginary suffering he eloped from his father's +house; and making the best of his way for a sea-port, bound himself +apprentice to the master of a coasting vessel. In this manner he +continued to work, to use his own expressions, like a galley-slave for +five years, when he obtained the situation of mate of an Indiaman. He +progressively rose, till he happened unfortunately to quarrel with his +Captain, which induced him to quit the service of the Company. In the +course of his voyages to India, and in the Indian seas, he made what he +thought an important discovery relative to the southern whale fishery: +he communicated it to a mercantile house upon his return, and was +employed by them in the speculation. He now, however, became unfortunate +for the first time: his ship was wrecked off the island of Olaheite, and +the crew and himself compelled to remain for two or three years on that +barbarous but beautiful island. + +Such is the outline of Captain Eliab's adventures, with the detail of +which he amused me during our voyage. His character, however, deserves +some mention. If there is an honest man under the canopy of Heaven, it +was Captain Eliab; but his honesty was so plain and downright, so simple +and unqualified, that I know not how to describe it than by the plain +terms, that he was a strictly just and upright man. He had a sense of +honour--a natural feeling of what was right--which seemed extraordinary, +when compared with the irregular course of his life. Had he passed +through every stage of education, had he been formed from his childhood +to manhood under the anxious supervision of the most exemplary parents, +he could not have been more strict. I most sincerely hope, that it will +be hereafter my fortune to meet with this estimable man, and to +enumerate him amongst my friends. I must conclude this brief character +of him by one additional trait. A more pious Christian, but without +presbyterianism, did not exist than Captain Eliab. He attributed all his +good fortune to the blessing of Providence; and if any man was an +example that virtue, even in this life, has its reward, it was Captain +Eliab. In dangers common to many, he had repeatedly almost alone +escaped. + +I had no other companion but the worthy Captain: I was his only +passenger, and we passed much of our time in the reading of his voyages, +of which he had kept an ample journal. His education having been rude +and imperfect, the style of his writing was more forcible than pure or +correct. I thought his account so interesting, and in many points so +important, that I endeavoured to persuade him to give it to the public; +and to induce him to it, offered to assist him, during our voyage, in +putting it into form. The worthy man accepted my offer, but I found that +I had undertaken a work to which I was unequal. I laboured, however, +incessantly, and before our arrival had completed so much of it, as to +induce the Captain to put it into the hands of a bookseller, by whom, as +I have since understood, it was transferred into the hands of a literary +gentleman to complete. In some misfortune the manuscript has been lost; +and the Captain being in America, there is probably an end of it for +ever. All I can now say is, that the public have sustained an important +loss. + +In this employment our voyage, upon my part at least, passed +unperceived, and I was at Liverpool, before I was well sensible that I +had left America. Nothing is more tedious than a sea voyage, age, to +those whose minds, are intent only upon their passage. In travelling by +land, the mind is recreated by variety, and relieved by the novelty of +the successive objects which pass before it; but in a voyage by sea, it +is inconceivable how wearisome are the sameness and uniformity, which, +day after day, meet the eye. When I could not otherwise occupy my mind, +I endeavoured to force myself into a doze, that I might have a chance of +a dream. One of the best rules of philosophy is, that happiness is an +art--a science--a habit and quality of mind, which self-management may +in a great degree command and procure. Experience has taught me that +this is true. I had made many sea voyages before this, and therefore had +repeated proofs of the observation of Lord Bacon, that, of all human +progresses, nothing is so barren of all possibility of remark as a +voyage by sea; nothing, therefore, is so irksome, to a mind of any +vigour or activity. If a man, by long habit, has obtained the knack of +retiring into himself--of putting all his faculties to perfect rest, and +becoming like the mast of the vessel--a sea voyage may suit him; but to +those who cannot sleep in an hammock eighteen hours out of the +twenty-four, I would recommend any thing but travel by sea. Cato, as his +Aphorisms inform us, never repented but of two things; and the one was, +that he went a journey by sea when he might have gone it by land. + +The sight of land, after a long voyage, is delightful in the extreme; +and I experienced the truth of another remark, that it might be smelt as +we approached, even when beyond our sight. I do not know to what to +compare its peculiar odour, but the sensations very much resemble those +which are excited by the freshness of the country, after leaving a +thick-built and smoky city. The sea air is infinitely more sharp than +the land air; and as you approach the land, and compare the two, you +discover the greater humidity of the one. The sea air, however, has one +most extraordinary quality--it removes a cough or cold almost +instantaneously. The temperance, moreover, which it compels in those who +cannot eat sea provisions, is very conducive to health. + +We reached Liverpool without any accident; and as the Captain's business +was of a nature which would necessarily detain him for some days, I +availed myself of the opportunity, and visited the British metropolis. +No city has been more improved within a short period than London. When I +saw it before, which was in my earlier days, there were innumerable +narrow streets, and miserable alleys, where there are now squares, or +long and broad streets, reaching from one end of the town to the other: +I observed this particularly, in the long street which extends from +Charing Cross to the Parliament Houses. In England, both government and +people concur in this improvement. + +From London, finding I had sufficient time, I visited Canterbury, and +thence Dover. If I were to fix in England, it should be in Canterbury. +The country is rich and delightful; and the society, consisting chiefly +of those attached to the cathedral church, and to such of their families +as have fixed there, elegant, and well informed, I have heard, and I +believe it, that Salisbury and Canterbury are the two most elegant +towns, in this respect, in England, and that many wealthy foreigners +have in consequence made them their residence. + +Dover is an horrible place--a nest of fishermen and smugglers: a noble +beach is hampered by rope-works, and all the filth attendant upon them. +I never saw an excellent and beautiful natural situation so miserably +spoilt. + +The Captain being ready, and my necessary papers procured, I joined, and +having set sail, we were alternately tossed and becalmed for nearly +three weeks, and almost daily in sight of land. Some of the spring winds +in the English seas are very violent. A favourable breeze at length +sprung up, and we flew before the wind. "If this continues," said our +Captain, "we shall reach Calais before daylight." This was at sunset; +and we had been so driven to sea by a contrary wind on the preceding +day, that neither the coast of England nor France were visible. From +Dover to Calais the voyage is frequently made in four hours. + +Several observations very forcibly struck me in the course of my +passage, one of which I must be allowed to mention. I had repeatedly +heard, and now knew from experience, the immense superiority of the +English commerce over that of France and every nation in the world; but +till I had made this voyage, I never had a sufficient conception of the +degree of this superiority. I have no hesitation to say, that for one +French vessel there were two hundred English. The English fleet has +literally swept the seas of all the ships of their enemies; and a French +ship is so rare, as to be noted in a journal across the Atlantic, as a +kind of phenomenon. A curious question here suggests itself--Will the +English Government be so enabled to avail themselves of this maritime +superiority, as to counterweigh against the continental predominance of +the French Emperor?--Can the Continent be reconquered at sea?--Will the +French Emperor exchange the kingdoms of Europe for West India Colonies; +or is he too well instructed in the actual worth of these Colonies, to +purchase them at any price?--These questions are important, and an +answer to them might illustrate the fate of Europe, and the probable +termination of the war. + +I must not omit one advice to travellers by sea. The biscuit in a long +voyage becomes uneatable, and flower will not keep. I was advised by a +friend, as a remedy against this inconvenience, to take a large store of +what are called gingerbread nuts, made without yeast, and hotly spiced. +I kept them close in a tin cannister, and carefully excluded the air. I +found them most fully to answer the purpose: they were very little +injured when I reached Liverpool, and, I believe, would have sustained +no damage whatever, if I had as carefully excluded the air as at first. + + + + +CHAP. II. + +_Morning View of Port--Arrival and landing--A Day at Calais.--French +Market, and Prices of Provisions._ + + +THE Master's prediction proved true, and indeed in a shorter time than +he had expected. An unusual bustle on the deck awakened me about +midnight; and as my anxious curiosity would not suffer me to remain in +my hammock, I was shortly upon deck, and was told in answer to my +inquiries, that a fine breeze had sprung up to the south-west, and that +we should reach the port of our destination by day-break. This +intelligence, added to the fineness of the night, which was still clear, +would have induced me to remain above, but by a violent blow from one of +the ropes, I was soon given to understand that it was prudent for me to +retire. The crew and ship seemed each to partake of the bustle and +agitation of each other; the masts bent, the timbers cracked, and ropes +flew about in all directions. + +It may be imagined, that though returning to my hammock, I did not +return to my repose. I lay in all the restlessness of expectation till +day-break, when the Captain summoned me upon deck by the grateful +intelligence that we were entering the port of Calais. Hurrying upon +deck, I beheld a spectacle which immediately dispelled all the uneasy +sensations attendant upon a sleepless night. It was one of the finest +mornings of the latter end of June; the sun had not risen, but the +heavens were already painted with his ascending glories. I repeated in a +kind of poetical rapture the inimitable metaphoric epithet of the Poet +of Nature; an epithet preserved so faithfully, and therefore with so +much genius, by his English translator, Pope. The rosy-fingered morn, +indeed, appeared in all her plenitude of natural beauty; and the Sun, +that he might not long lose the sight of his lovely spouse, followed her +steps very shortly, and exhibited himself just surmounting the hills to +the east of Calais. + +The sea was unruffled, and we were sailing towards the pier with full +sail, and a gentle morning breeze. The land and town, at first faint, +became gradually more distinct and enlarged, till we at length saw the +people on shore hurrying down to the pier, so as to be present at our +anchoring and debarkation. The French in general are much earlier risers +than either the Americans or the English; and by the time we were off +the pier, about seven in the morning, half of the town of Calais were +out to receive and welcome us. The French, moreover, as on every +occasion of my intercourse with them I found them afterwards, appeared +to me to be equally prominently different from all nations in another +quality--a prompt and social nature, a natural benevolence, or habitual +civility, which leads them instinctively, and not unfrequently +impertinently, into acts of kindness and consideration. Let a stranger +land at an English or an American port, and he is truly a stranger; his +inquiries will scarcely obtain a civil answer; and any appearance of +strangeness and embarrassment will only bring the boys at his heels. On +the other hand, let him land in any French port, and almost every one +who shall meet him will salute him with the complacency of hospitality; +his inquiries, indeed, will not be answered, because the person of whom +he shall make them, will accompany him to the inn, or other object of +his question. + +I have frequently heard, and still more frequently read, that the +English nation were characteristically the most good-natured people in +the world, and that the Americans, as descendants from the same stock, +had not lost this virtue of the parent tree. I give no credit to the +justice of this observation. Experience has convinced me, that neither +the English nor the Americans deserve it as a national distinction. The +French are, beyond all manner of doubt, the most good-humoured people on +the surface of the earth; if we understand at least by the term, +_good-humour_ those minor courtesies, those considerate kindnesses, +those cursory attentions, which, though they cost little to the giver, +are not the less valuable to the receiver; which soften the asperities +of life, and by their frequent occurrence, and the constant necessity in +which we stand of them, have an aggregate, if not an individual +importance. The English, perhaps, as nationally possessing the more +solid virtues, may be the best friends, and the most generous +benefactors; but as friendship, in this more exalted acceptation of it, +is rare, and beneficence almost miraculous, it is a serious question +with me, which is the most useful being in society--the light +good-humoured Frenchman, or the slow meditating Englishman? + +There was the usual bustle, as to who should be the bearers of our +luggage; a thousand ragged figures, more resembling scarecrows than +human beings, seized them from the hands of each other, and we might +have bid our property a last farewell perhaps, had it not been for the +ill-humour of our Captain. He laid about him with more vigour than +mercy, and in a manner which surprised me, either that he should +venture, or that even the miserable objects before us should bear. Had +he exerted his hands and his oar in a similar manner either in England +or in America, he would have been compelled to vindicate his assumed +superiority by his superior manhood. Here every one fled before him, and +yielded him as much submission and obedience, as if he had been the +prefect himself. + +The French seem to have no idea of the art of pugilism, and with the +sole exception of the military, no point of honour which renders them +impatient under any merited personal castigation. They take a blow with +great _sang froid_. Whether from good humour, or cowardice; whether that +they thought they deserved it, or that they feared to resent it, the +single arm of our Captain chastised a whole rabble of them, and they +made a lane for as many of us as chose to land, accompanied by such +porters as we had ourselves selected. Three or four of them, however, +were still importuning us to permit them to show us to an inn; but as we +had already made our selection in this point likewise, our Captain +returned them no answer, but by a rough mimickry of their address and +gesticulation. + +After our luggage had undergone the customary examination by the +officers of the customs, in the execution of which office a liberal fee +procured us much civility, we were informed that it was necessary to +present ourselves before the Commissary, for that so many Englishmen had +obtained admission as Americans, that the French government had found it +necessary to have recourse to an unusual strictness, and that the +Commissary had it in orders not to suffer any one to proceed till after +the most rigid inquiry into his passport and business. + +Accordingly, having seen our luggage into a wheel-barrow, which the +Captain insisted should accompany us, we waited upon the Commissary, but +were not fortunate enough to find him at his office. A little dirty boy +informed us, that Mons. Mangouit had gone out to visit a neighbour, but +that if we would wait till twelve o'clock (it was now about nine), we +should infallibly see him, and have our business duly dispatched. The +office in which we were to wait for this Mons. Mangouit for three hours, +was about five feet in length by three in width, very dirty, without a +chair, and in every respect resembling a cobler's stall in one of the +most obscure streets of London. Mons. Commissary's inkstand was a +coffee-cup without an handle, and his book of entries a quire of dirty +writing-paper. This did not give us much idea either of the personal +consequence of Mons. Mangouit, or of the grandeur of the Republic. + +The boy was sent out to summon his master, as a preferable way to our +waiting till twelve o'clock. Monsieur at length made his appearance; a +little, mean-looking man, with a very dirty shirt, a well-powdered head, +a smirking, bowing coxcomb. He informed us with many apologies, +unnecessary at least in a public officer, that he was under the +necessity of doing his duty; that his duty was to examine us according +to some queries transmitted to him; but that we appeared gentlemen, true +Americans, and not English spies. + +After a long harangue, in which the little gentleman appeared very much +pleased with himself, he concluded by demanding our passport, upon sight +of which he declared himself satisfied, and promised to make us out +others for passing into the interior. We were desired to call for these +in the evening, or he would himself do us the honour to wait upon us +with them at our hotel. Considering the latter as a kind of +self-invitation to dine with us, we mentioned our dinner hour, and other +_et ceteras_. Mons. Mangouit smiled his acquiescence, and we left him, +in the hopes that he would at least change his linen. + +Upon leaving the Commissary, our wheel-barrow was again put in motion, +and accompanied us to Dessein's. This hotel still maintains its +reputation and its name. After seeing almost all France, we had no +hesitation in pronouncing it to be the only inn which could enter into +any reasonable comparison with any of the respectable taverns either of +England or America. In no country but in America and England, have they +any idea of that first of comforts to the wearied traveller, a clean and +housewife-like bed. I speak from woeful experience, when I advise every +traveller to consider a pair of sheets and a counterpane as necessary a +part of his luggage as a change of shirts. He will travel but few miles +from Calais, before he will understand the necessity of this admonition. + +We ordered an early dinner, and sallied forth to see the town. It has +nothing, however, to distinguish it from other provincial towns, or +rather sea-ports, of the second order. It has been compared to Dover, +but I think rather resembles Folkstone. The streets are irregular, the +houses old and lofty, and the pavement the most execrable that can be +imagined. There was certainly more bustle and activity than is usual in +an English or in an American town of the same rank; and this appeared to +us the more surprising, as we could see no object for all this hurry and +loquacity. To judge by appearance, the people of Calais had no other +more important business than to make their remarks upon us as we passed +their doors or shops. There was no shipping in the harbour, and even the +stock in the shops had every appearance of having remained long, and +having to remain longer in its fixed repose. + +Being the market-day, we had the curiosity to inquire the price of +several articles of provision, and to compare them with those of their +neighbours on the opposite side of the channel. The market was well +stocked; there was an incredible quantity of poultry, lamb, butter, +eggs, and herbs. A couple of fowls were three livres, at a time that +they were seven or eight shillings in London; a young goose, two livres +twelve sous (2_s._ 2_d._). Lamb was sold as in England, by the quarter +or side, and was about sixpence English money per pound; beef about +fourpence halfpenny, and mutton (not very good) fourpence. Upon the +whole, the money price of every thing appeared about one-half cheaper +than in England; but whether this difference is not in some degree +compensated in England by the superiority of quality, is what I cannot +exactly decide. The beef was certainly not so good as that to which I +had been accustomed in London; but, on the other hand, in the progress +of my journey, the mutton and lamb, when I could get it dressed to my +wishes, appeared sweeter. The short feed gives it the taste of Welsh +mutton, but the consumption of it is scarcely sufficient to encourage +the feeders. The manner, moreover, in which these meats are employed and +served in French cooking, is such as not to encourage the feeder to any +superior care. Lean meat answers the purposes of _bouille_ as well as +the fat meat, and it is of little concern what that joint is which is +only to be boiled down to its very fibres. The old proverb, that God +sent meats, and the d--- l cooks, is verified in every kitchen in France. + +We returned to Quillac's to dinner, which, according to our orders, was +composed in the English style, except a French dish or two for Mons. +Mangouit. This gentleman now appeared altogether as full-dressed as he +had before been in full dishabille. We exchanged much conversation on +Calais and England, and a word or two respecting the French Emperor. He +appeared much better informed than we had previously concluded from his +coxcomical exterior. He seemed indeed quite another man. + +He accompanied us after dinner to the comedy: the theatre is within the +circuit of the inn. The performers were not intolerable, and the piece, +which was what they call a proverb (a fable constructed so as to give a +ludicrous verification or contradiction to an old saying), was amusing. +I thought I had some obscure recollection of a face amongst the female +performers, and learned afterwards, that it was one of the maids of the +inn; a lively brisk girl, and a volunteer, from her love of the drama. +In this period of war between England and France, Calais has not the +honour of a dramatic corps to herself, but occasionally participates in +one belonging to the district. + +The play being over very early, we finished the evening in our own +style, a proceeding we had cause to repent the following day, as the +_Cote rolie_ did not agree with us so well as old Port. I suffered so +much from the consequent relaxation, that I never repeated the occasion. +It produced still another effect; it removed my previous admiration of +French sobriety. There is little merit, I should think, in abstaining +from such a constant use of medicine. + + + + +CHAP. III. + +_Purchase of a Norman Horse--Visit in the Country--Family of +a French Gentleman--Elegance of French domestic Economy--Dance +on the Green--Return to Calais._ + + +NOTWITHSTANDING the merited reprobation to be met with in every +traveller, of French beds and French chamberlains, we had no cause to +complain of our accommodation in this respect at Dessein's. This house, +though it has changed masters, is conducted as well as formerly, and +there was nothing in it, which could have made the most determined lover +of ease repent his having crossed the Channel. + +After our breakfast on the morning following our arrival, I began to +consider with myself on the most suitable way of executing my +purpose--of seeing France and Frenchmen, the scenery and manners, to the +best advantage. I called in my landlord to my consultation; and having +explained my peculiar views, was advised by him to purchase a Norman +horse, one of which he happened to have in his stables; a circumstance +which perhaps suggested the advice. Be this as it may, I adopted his +recommendation, and I had no cause to repent it. The bargain was struck +upon the spot; and for twenty-seven Louis I became master of a horse, +upon whom, taking into the computation crossroads and occasional +deviations, I performed a journey not less than two thousand miles; and +in the whole of this course, without a stumble sufficient to shake me +from my seat. The Norman horses are low and thick, and like all of this +make, very steady, sure, and strong. They will make a stage of thirty +miles without a bait, and will eat the coarsest food. From some +indications of former habits about my own horse, I was several times led +to conclude, that he had been more accustomed to feed about the lanes, +and live on his wits, as it were, than in any settled habitation, either +meadow or stable. I never had a brute companion to which I took a +greater fancy. + +Having a letter to a gentleman resident about two miles from Calais, I +had occasion to inquire the way of a very pretty peasant girl whom I +overtook on the road, just above the town. The way was by a path over +the fields: the young peasant was going to some house a mile or two +beyond the object of my destination, and, as I have reason to believe, +not exactly in the same line. Finding me a stranger, however, she +accompanied me, without hesitation, up a narrow cross-road, that she +might put me into the foot-path; and when we had come to it, finding +some difficulty in giving intelligibly a complex direction, she +concluded by saying she would go that way herself. I was too pleased +with my companion to decline her civility. I learned in the course of +my walk that she was the daughter of a small farmer: the farm was small +indeed, being about half an arpent, or acre. She had been to Calais to +take some butter, and had the same journey three mornings in the week. +Her father had one cow of his own, and rented two others, for each of +which he paid a Louis annually. The two latter fed by the road-sides. +Her father earned twenty sols a day as a labourer, and had a small +pension from the Government, as a veteran and wounded soldier. Upon this +little they seemed, according to her answers, to live very comfortably, +not to say substantially. Poultry, chesnuts, milk, and dried fruit, +formed their daily support. "We never buy meat," said she, "because we +can raise more poultry than we can sell." + +The country around Calais has so exact a resemblance to that of the +opposite coast, as to appear almost a counterpart, and as if the sea had +worked itself a channel, and thus divided a broad and lofty hill. It is +not, however, quite so barren and cheerless as in the immediate +precincts of Dover. Vegetation, what there was of it, seemed stronger, +and trees grow nearer to the cliffs. There were likewise many flowers +which I had never seen about Dover and the Kentish coast. But on the +whole, the country was so similar that I in vain looked around me for +something to note. + +The gentleman to whom I had brought a letter of introduction was at +Paris; but I saw his son, to whom I was therefore compelled to introduce +myself. The young man lamented much that his father was from home, and +that he could not receive me in a manner which was suitable to a +gentleman of my appearance; the friend of Mr. Pinckney, who was the +beloved friend of his father. All these things are matter of course to +all Frenchmen, who are never at a loss for civility and terms of +endearment. A young English gentleman of the same age with this youth +(about nineteen), would either have affronted you by his sulky reserve, +or compelled you as a matter of charity to leave him, to release him +from blushing and stammering. On the other hand, young Tantuis and +myself were intimates in the moment after our first introduction. + +Upon entering the house, and a parlour opening upon a lawn in the back +part, I was introduced to Mademoiselle his sister, a beautiful girl, a +year, or perhaps more, younger than her brother. She rose from an +English piano as I entered, whilst her brother introduced me with a +preamble, which he rolled off his tongue in a moment. A refreshment of +fruit, capillaire, and a sweet wine, of which I knew not the name, was +shortly placed before me, and the young people conversed with me about +England and Calais, and whatever I told them of my own concerns, with +as much ease and apparent interest, as if we had been born and lived in +the same village. + +Mademoiselle informed me, that the people in Calais had no character at +all; that they were fishermen and smugglers, which last business they +carried on in war as well as in peace, and had no reputation either for +honesty or industry; that she had no visiting society at Calais, and +never went to the town but on household business; that the price of +every thing had doubled within four years, but that the late plenty, and +the successes of the Emperor, were bringing every thing to their former +standard; that her father payed very moderate taxes; her brother stated +about five Louis annually; but they differed in this point. The house +was of that size and order, which in England would have paid at least +thirty pounds, and added to this was a domain of between sixty and +seventy arpents. + +The dinner, whether in compliment to me, or that things have now all +taken this turn in France, was in substance so completely English, and +served up in a manner so English, as almost to call forth an exclamation +of surprise. When we enter a new country, we so fully expect to find +every thing new, as to be surprised at almost any necessary coincidence. +This characteristic difference is very rapidly wearing off in every +kingdom in Europe. A couple of fowls, a rice-pudding, and a small chine, +composed our dinner. It was served in a pretty kind of china, and with +silver forks. The cloth was removed as in England, and the table covered +with dried fruits, confectionary, and coffee; a tall silver epergne +supporting small bottles of capillaire, and sweetmeats in cut glass. The +fruits were in plates very tastily painted in landscape by Mademoiselle; +and at the top and bottom of the table was a silver image of Vertumnus +and Pomona, of the same height with the epergne in the centre. The +covering of the table was a fine deep green cloth, spotted with the +simple flower called the double daisy. + +I am the more particular in this description, as the dinner was thus +served, and the table thus appointed, without any apparent preparation, +as if it was all in their due and daily course. Indeed, I have had +occasion frequently to observe, that the French ladies infinitely excel +those of every other nation in these minor elegancies; in a cheap and +tasteful simplicity, and in giving a value to indifferent things by a +manner peculiar to themselves. Mademoiselle left us after the first cup +of coffee, saying, that she had heard that it was a custom in England, +that gentlemen should have their own conversation after dinner. I +endeavoured to turn off a compliment in the French style upon this +observation, but felt extremely awkward, upon foundering in the middle +of it, for want of more familiar acquaintance with the language. +Monsieur, her brother, perceived my embarrassment, and becoming my +interpreter, helped me out of it with much good-humour, and with some +dexterity. I resolved, however, another time, never to tilt with a +French lady in compliment. + +Being alone with the young man, I made some inquiries upon subjects upon +which I wanted information, and found him at once communicative and +intelligent. The agriculture of the country about Calais appears to be +wretched. The soil is in general very good, except where the substratum +of chalk, or marle, rises too near the surface, which is the case +immediately on the cliffs. The course of the crops is bad +indeed--fallow, rye, oats. In some land it is fallow, wheat, and barley. +In no farm, however, is the fallow laid aside; it is considered as +indispensable for wheat, and on poor lands for rye. The produce, reduced +to English Winchester measure, is about nineteen bushels of wheat, and +twenty-three or twenty-four of barley. Besides the fallow, they manure +for wheat. The manure in the immediate vicinity of Calais is the dung of +the stable-keepers and the filth of that town. The rent of the land +around Calais, within the daily market of the town, is as high as sixty +livres; but beyond the circuit of the town, is about twenty livres +(sixteen shillings). Since the settlement of the Government, the price +of land has risen; twenty Louis an acre is now the average price in the +purchase of a large farm. There are no tithes, but a small rate for the +officiating minister. Labourers earn thirty sous per day (about +fifteen-pence English), and women, in picking stones, &c. half that +sum. Rents, since the Revolution, are all in money; but there are some +instances of personal service, and which are held to be legal even under +the present state of things, provided they relate to husbandry, and not +to any servitude or attendance upon the person of the landlord. Upon the +whole, I found that the Revolution had much improved the condition of +the farmers, having relieved them from feudal tenures and lay-tithes. Oh +the other hand, some of the proprietors, even in the neighbourhood of +Calais, had lost nearly the whole of the rents, under the interpretation +of the law respecting what were to be considered as feudal impositions. +The Commissioners acting under these laws had determined all old rents +to come under this description, and had thus rendered the tenants under +lease proprietors of the lands. + +The young lady who had left as returned towards evening, and by her +heightened colour, and a small parcel in her hand, appeared to have +walked some distance. Her brother, doubtless from a sympathetic nature, +guessed in an instant the object of her walk. "You have been to Calais," +said he. "Yes," replied she, with the lovely smile of kindness; "I +thought that Monsieur would like some tea after the manner of his +countrymen, and having only coffee in the house, I walked to Calais to +procure some." I again felt the want of French loquacity and readiness. +My heart was more eloquent than my tongue. I rose, and involuntarily +took and pressed the hand of the sweet girl. Who will now say that the +French are not characteristically a good-humoured people, and that a +lovely French girl is not an angel? I thought so at the time, and though +my heart has now cooled, I think so still. I feel even no common +inclination to, describe this young French beauty, but that I will not +do her the injustice to copy off an image which remains more faithfully +and warmly imprinted on my memory. + +The house, as I have mentioned, opened behind on a lawn, with which the +drawing-room was even, so that its doors and windows opened immediately +upon it. This lawn could not be less than four or five English acres in +extent, and was girded entirely around by a circle of lofty trees from +within, and an ancient sea-stone wall, very thick and high, from +without. The trunks of the trees and the wall were hid by a thick copse +or shrubbery of laurels, myrtles, cedars, and other similar shrubs, so +as to render the enclosed lawn the most beautiful and sequestered spot I +had ever seen. On the further extremity from the house was an avenue +from the lawn to the garden, which was likewise spacious, and surrounded +by a continuation of the same wall. In the further corner of the latter +was a summer-house, erected on the top of the wall, so as to look over +it on the fields and the distant sea. + +Tea was here served up to us in a manner neither French nor English, but +partaking of both. Plates of cold chicken, slices of chine, cakes, +sweetmeats, and the whitest bread, composed a kind of mixed repast, +between the English tea and the French supper. The good-humour and +vivacity of my young friends, and the prospect from the windows, which +was as extensive as beautiful, rendered it a refreshment peculiarly +cheering to the spirits of a traveller. + +Before the conclusion of it, I had another specimen of French manners +and French benevolence. A party of young ladies were announced as +visitors, and followed immediately the servant who conducted them. +Speaking all at once, they informed Mademoiselle T----, that they had +learned the arrival of her English friend (so they did me the honour to +call me), and knowing her father was at Paris, had hurried off to assist +her in giving Monsieur a due welcome. They mentioned several other +names, which were coming with the same friendly purpose; a piece of +information, which caused the young Monsieur T---- to make me a hasty +bow, and leave me with the ladies. He returned in a short time, and the +sound of fiddles tuning below on the lawn, rendered any explanation +unnecessary. We immediately descended; the promised ladies, and their +partners, soon made their appearance; and the merry dance on the green +began. As the stranger of the company, I had of course the honour of +leading Mademoiselle T----. In the course of the dance other visitors +appeared, who formed themselves into cotillions and reels; and the lawn +being at length well filled, the evening delightful, and the moon risen +in all her full glory, the whole formed a scene truly picturesque. + +After an evening, or rather a night, thus protracted to a late hour, I +returned to Calais; and was accompanied to the immediate adjacency by +one of the parties, consisting of two ladies and a gentleman. I was +assailed by many kind importunities to repeat my visit; but as I +intended to leave Calais on the morrow, I made my best possible +excuses. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + +_French Cottages.--Ludicrous exhibition.--French Travellers--Chaise +de Poste.--Posting in France.--Departure from Calais.--Beautiful +Vicinity of Boulogne._ + + +TWO days were amply sufficient to see all that Calais has to exhibit. +After the first novelty is over, no place can please, except either by +its intrinsic beauty, or the happy effect of habit. Calais, has no such +intrinsic charms, and I was not disposed to try the result of the +latter. I accordingly resolved to proceed on my road; but as the heat +was excessive, deferred it till the evening. + +The exercise of the preceding night had produced an unpleasant ferment +in my blood, attended by an external feeling of feverish heat, and +checked perspiration. Every traveller should be, in a degree, his own +physician. I had recourse to a dip in the sea, and found immediate +relief. Nothing, indeed, is so instantaneous a remedy, either for +violent fatigue, or any of the other effects following unusual exercise, +as this simple specific. After a ride of sixty or seventy miles through +the most dusty roads, and under the hottest sun of a southern +Midsummer, I have been restored to my morning freshness by the cold +bath. + +By the buildings which I observed to be going forward, I was led to a +conclusion that Calais is a flourishing town; but I confess I saw no +means to which I could attribute this prosperity. There was no +appearance of commerce, and very little of industry. One circumstance +was truly unaccountable to me. Though there were two or three ships +laying unrigged, but otherwise sound, and in the best navigable +condition, there was a building-yard, in which two new vessels were on +the stock. These vessels, indeed, were of no considerable tonnage; but I +confess myself at a loss to guess their object. + +About a mile from Calais, is a beautiful avenue of the finest walnut and +chesnut trees I have ever seen in France. They stand upon common land, +and, of course, are public property. In the proper season of the year, +the people of Calais repair hither for their evening dance; and such is +the force of custom, the fruit remains untouched, and reserved for these +occasions. Every one then takes what he pleases, but carries nothing +home beyond what may suffice for his consumption on the way. + +In my walk thither I passed several cottages, and entered some. The +inhabitants seemed happy, and to possess some substantial comforts. The +greater part of these cottages had a walnut or chestnut tree before +them, around which was a rustic seat, and which, as overshadowed by the +broad branches and luxuriant foliage, composed a very pleasing image. +The manner in which the sod was partially worn under most of them, +explained their nightly purpose; or if there could yet be any doubt, the +flute and fiddle, pendant in almost every house, spoke a still more +intelligible language. + +I entered no house so poor, and met with no inhabitant so inhospitable, +as not to receive the offer either of milk, or some sort of wine; and +every one seemed to take a refusal as if they had solicited, and had not +obtained, an act of kindness. If the French are not the most hospitable +people in the world, they have at least the art of appearing so. I speak +here only of the peasantry, and from first impressions. + +The rent of one of these cottages, of two floors and two rooms on each, +is thirty-five livres. They have generally a small garden, and about one +hundred yards of common land between the road and the house, on which +grows the indispensable walnut or chestnut tree. The windows are glazed, +but the glass is usually taken out in summer. The walls are generally +sea-stone, but are clothed with grape vines, or other shrubs, which, +curling around the casements, render them shady and picturesque. The +bread is made of wheat meal, but in some cottages consisted of thin +cakes without leven, and made of buck-wheat. Their common beverage is a +weak wine, sweet and pleasant to the taste. In some houses it very +nearly resembled the good metheglin, very common in the northern +counties of England. Eggs, bacon, poultry, and vegetables, seemed in +great plenty, and, as I understood, composed the dinners of the +peasantry twice a week at least. I was surprised at this evident +abundance in a class in which I should not have expected it. Something +of it, I fear, must be imputed to the extraordinary profits of the +smuggling which is carried on along the coast. + +I was pleased to see, that even the horrible Revolution had not banished +all religion from Calais. I understood that the church was well +attended, and that high mass was as much honoured as hitherto. Every one +spoke of the Revolution with execration, and of the Emperor with +satisfaction. Bonaparte has certainly gained the hearts of the French +people by administering to their national vanity. + +Returning home from my walk, I was witness to a singular exhibition in +the streets. A crowd had collected around a narrow elevated stage, +which, at a distant view, led me to expect the appearance, of my friend +Punch. I was not altogether deceived: it was a kind of Bartholomew +drama, in which the parts were performed by puppets. It differed only +from what I had seen in England by the wit of the speakers, and a kind +of design, connexion, and uniformity in the fable. The name of it, as +announced by the manager, was, The Convention of Kings against France +and Bonaparte. + +The puppets, who each spoke in their turn, were, the King of England, +the King of Naples, the Emperor of Austria, the Pope, and the Grand +Signor. The dialogue was indescribably ridiculous. The piece opened with +a council, in which the King of England entreated all his brother +sovereigns to declare war against France and the French Emperor, and +proceeded to assign some ludicrous reasons as applicable to each. "My +contribution to the grand alliance," concludes his Majesty, "shall be in +money; both because I have more Louis to spare, and because the best +advantage of a rich nation is, that it can purchase others to light its +battles!" The Grand Signor approves the proposal, and throws down his +cimeter. "I will give my cimeter," says he; "but being a prophet as well +as a sovereign, and having such a family of wives, I deem it unseemly to +use it myself. Let England take it, and give it to any one who will use +it manfully." The Pope, in his turn, gives his blessing. "If the war +should succeed, you will have to thank my benediction for the victory; +if it should fail, it will be from the efficacy of the blessing that a +man of you will be saved alive." The Emperor then asks what is the +amount of England's contribution; and his British Majesty throws him a +purse. His Imperial Majesty, after feeling the weight, takes up the +cimeter of the Grand Signor, and retires. The drama then proceeds to the +representation of the different battles of Bonaparte, in all of which it +gave him the victory, &c. + +After a light dinner, in which with some difficulty I procured fish, and +with still more had it dressed in the English mode, I mounted my horse, +and proceeded on my journey in the road to Boulogne. I had now my first +trial of my Norman horse; he fully answered my expectations, and almost +my wishes. He had a leisurely lounging walk, which seemed well suited to +an observant traveller. It is well known of Erasmus, that he wrote the +best of his works, and made a whole course of the Classics, on +horseback; and I have no doubt but that I could have both read and +written on the back of my Norman. To make up, however, for this +tardiness, he was a good-humoured, patient, and sure-footed beast; but +would stretch out his neck now and then to get a passing bite of the +wheat which grew by the road side. I wished to get on to Boulogne to +sleep, and therefore tried all his paces; but found his trotting +scarcely tolerable by human feeling. + +The road from Calais, for the first twelve miles, is open and hilly. On +each side of the main way is a smaller road, which is the summer, as the +other is the winter one. The day being very fine, and not too warm, I +enjoyed myself much. I passed many fields in which the country people +were making hay: they seemed very merry. The fellow who loaded the cart +had a cocked hat, and by his erectness I should have thought to have +been a soldier, but that every one who passed me had nearly the same +air, and the same hat. Some of the hay-makers called to me, but in such +barbarous _patois_, that I could make nothing of them. One company of +them, saluting me from a distance, deputed a girl to make known their +wishes. Seeing her to be young, and expecting her to be handsome, I +checked my horse; but a nearer view correcting my error, and exhibiting +her only a coarse masculine wench, I pushed forwards, without waiting +her embassy. The peasant women of France work so hard, as to lose every +appearance of youth in the face, whilst they retain it in the person; +and it is therefore no uncommon thing to see the person of a Venus, and +the face of an old monkey. I passed by a set of these labourers sitting +under a tree, and taking that repast which, in the North of England, is +called "fours," from being usually taken by harvest labourers at that +time of the day. The party consisted of about a dozen women and girls, +and but one man. I was invited to drink some of their wine, and being by +the road side, could not refuse. My horse was led under the tree: I was +compelled to dismount, and to share their repast, such as it was. Some +money which I offered was refused. I made my choice amongst one of my +entertainers, and could do no less than salute her. This produced great +noise and merriment, and gave free reins to French levity and coquetry; +in a word, I was obliged to salute them all. My favourite and first +choice gave me her hand on my departure: she might have sat for Prior's +Nut-Brown Maid. + +The main purpose of my journey being rather to see the manners of the +people, than the brick and mortar of the towns, I had formed a +resolution to seek the necessary refreshment as seldom as possible at +inns, and as often as possible in the houses of the humbler farmers, and +the better kind of peasantry. About fifteen miles from Calais my horse +and myself were looking out for something of this kind, and one shortly +appeared about three hundred yards on the left side of the road. It was +a cottage in the midst of a garden, and the whole surrounded by an +hedge, which looked delightfully green and refreshing. The garden was +all in flower and bloom. The walls of the cottage were robed in the same +livery of Nature. I had seen such cottages in Kent and in Devonshire, +but in no other part of the world. The inhabitants were simple people, +small farmers, having about ten or fifteen acres of land. Some grass was +immediately cut for my horse, and the coffee which I produced from my +pocket was speedily set before me, with cakes, wine, some meat, and +cheese, the French peasantry having no idea of what we call tea. +Throwing the windows up, so as to enjoy the scenery and freshness of the +garden; sitting upon one chair, and resting a leg upon the other; +alternately pouring out my coffee, and reading a pocket-edition of +Thomson's Seasons, I enjoyed one of those moments which give a zest to +life; I felt happy, and in peace and in love with all around me. + +Proceeding upon my journey, two miles on the Calais side of Boulogne I +fell in with an overturned chaise, which the postillion was trying to +raise. The vehicle was a _chaise de poste_, the ordinary travelling +carriage of the country, and a thing in a civilized country wretched +beyond conception. It was drawn by three horses, one in the shafts, and +one on each side. The postillion had ridden on the one on the driving +side; he was a little punch fellow, and in a pair of boots like +fire-buckets. The travellers consisted of an old French lady and +gentleman; Madame in a high crimped cap, and stiff long whalebone stays. +Monsieur informed me very courteously of the cause of the accident, +whilst Madame alternately curtsied to me and menaced and scolded the +postillion. The French postillions, indeed, are the most intolerable set +of beings. They never hesitate to get off their horses, suffer them to +go forwards, and follow them very leisurely behind. I saw several +instances in which they had suffered the traces to twist round the +horses' legs, so that on descending an hill, their escape with life must +be a miracle. + +I shall briefly observe, now I am upon this subject, that posting is +nearly as dear in France as in England. A post in France is six miles, +and one shilling and threepence is charged for each horse, and +sevenpence for the driver. The price, therefore, for two horses would be +three shillings and a penny; but whatever number of persons there may +be, a horse is charged for each. The postillions, moreover, expect at +least double of what the book of regulations allows them, as matter of +right. + +I reached Boulogne about sunset, and was much pleased with its vicinity. +On each side of the road, and at different distances, from two hundred +yards to a mile, were groves of trees, in which were situated some +ancient chateaux. Many of them were indeed in ruin from the effects of +the Revolution. Upon entering the town, I inquired the way to the Hotel +d'Angleterre, which is kept by an Englishman of the name of Parker, +Bonaparte having specially exempted him from the edicts respecting +aliens. I had a good supper, but an indifferent bed, and the close +situation rendered the heat of the night still more oppressive. Mr. +Parker himself was absent, and had left the management with a French +young woman, who would not suffer me to write uninterrupted, and seemed +to take much offence that I did not invite her to take her seat at the +supper table. I believe I was the only male traveller in the inn; and +flattery, and even substantial gallantry, is so necessary and so natural +to French women, that they look to it as their due, and conceive +themselves injured when it is withholden. + + + + +CHAP. V. + +_Boulogne--Dress of the Inhabitants--The Pier--Theatre--Caution +in the Exchange of Money--Beautiful Landscape, and +Conversation With a French Veteran--Character of Mr. Parker's +Hotel--Departure, and romantic Road--Fete Champetre +in a Village on a hill at Montreuil--Ruined Church and Convent._ + + +I had heard so bad a report of Boulogne, as to be agreeably surprised +when I found it so little deserving it. I spent the greater part of a +day in it with much pleasure, and but that I wished to get to Paris, +should have continued longer. + +Boulogne is very agreeably situated, and the views from the high grounds +on each side are delightful. The landscape from the ramparts is not to +be exceeded, but is not seen to advantage except when there is high +water in the river. There is an evident mixture of strangers and natives +amongst the inhabitants. There are many resident English, who have been +nationalized by express edict, or the construction of the law. I heard +it casually mentioned, that these were not the most respectable class of +inhabitants, though many of them are rich, and all of them are active. +The English and French women, whom I met with in the streets, were each +dressed in their peculiar fashion; the English women as they dress in +the country towns of England; the French without hats, with close caps, +and cloaks down to the feet. This fashion I found to be peculiar to +Boulogne and its promenade. The town is, upon the whole, clean, lively, +brisk, and flourishing; the houses are in good repair, and many others +were building. + +I walked down to the pier, and my conclusion was, that the English +Ministry were mad when they attempted any thing against Boulogne. The +harbour appeared to me impregnable. I must confess, however, that the +French appeared to me equally mad, in expecting any thing from their +flotilla. Three English frigates would sink the whole force at Boulogne +in the open sea. The French seem to know this; yet, to amuse the +populace, and to play upon the fears of the English Ministry, the farce +is kept up, and daily reports are made by the Commandant of the state of +the flotilla. There is a delightful walk on the beach, which is a flat +strand of firm sand, as far as the tide reaches. In the summer evenings +when the tide serves, this is the favourite promenade this is likewise +the parade, as the soldiers are occasionally here exercised. + +There is a tolerable theatre, but the dramatic corps are not +stationary. They were not in the town whilst I was there, so that I can +speak of their merits only by report. One of the actresses was highly +spoken of, and had indeed reached the reward of her eminence; having +been called to the Parisian stage. Bonaparte is notoriously, perhaps +politically, attached to the drama, and is no sooner informed of any +good performer on a provincial stage, than he issues his command for his +appearance and engagement at Paris. + +The principal church at Boulogne is a good and respectable structure, +and I learned with much satisfaction and some surprise, that on the +Sabbath at least it was crowded. The people of Boulogne execrate the +Revolution, and avert from all mention and memory of it, and not without +reason, as their environs have been in some degree spoiled by its +excesses. Several miles on the road from Boulogne, those sad monuments +of the popular phrensy, ruined chateaux, and churches converted into +stables or granaries, force the memory back upon those melancholy times, +when the property and religion of a nation became the but of bandits and +atheists. May the world itself perish, before such an era shall return +or become general! + +I had received from an American house in London some bills on a +mercantile house at Boulogne; a very convenient method, and which I +would therefore recommend to other travellers, as they hereby save very +considerably, such bills being usually given at some advantage in +favour of those who purchase them by coin. Bills on Boulogne, Bourdeaux, +and Havre, are always to be had of the American brokers, either in +London or in New York. One advantage in this exchange is, that bills may +be had of any date, in which case you may suit the occasions, and put +the discount into your own pocket. My bill on Boulogne was for 3000 +francs, about 130_l._ English. I received it in Louis d'ors and ecus. In +the progress of my journey, several of the Louis were refused, as +deficient in weight, and I was advised in future never to take a Louis +without seeing that it was weight. The French coin is indeed in a very +bad state, which here, as elsewhere, is attributed to the Jews. + +On the Paris side of Boulogne is a landscape and walk of most exquisite +beauty. The river, after some smaller meanders, takes a wide reach +through a beautiful vale, and shortly after flows into the sea through +two hills, which open as it were to receive it. I walked along the banks +to have a better view, and got into converse with a soldier, who had +been in the battle of Marengo. He gave me a very lively account of the +conduct of that extraordinary man, the French Emperor, in this grand +event of his life. His expression was, that he looked over the battle as +if looking upon a chess-board: that he made it a rule never to engage +personally, till he saw the whole plan of the battle in execution; that +he would then ride alternately to each division, and encourage them by +fighting awhile with them: that he visited all the sick and wounded +soldiers the day after the battle, inquired into the nature of their +wound, where and how it was received; and if there were any +circumstances of peculiar merit or peculiar distress, noted it down, and +invariably acted upon this memorandum: that he punished adultery in a +soldier's wife, if they were both in the camp, by the death of the +woman; if the offending was not in the field, and therefore not within +the reach of a court-martial, the soldier had a divorce on simple proof +of the offence before any mayor or magistrate. I demanded of this +veteran, pointing to the flotilla, when the Emperor intended to invade +England? He perceived the smile which accompanied this question, and +instantaneously, with a fierce look of suspicion and resolution, +demanded of me my passport. Though the abruptness of his conduct +startled me, I could not but regard him with some admiration. A long, +thin, spare figure of 55, was so sensible of the honour of his country, +as to take fire even at a jest at it as at a personal insult. It is to +this spirit that France owes half her victories. + +As soon as the heat of the day had declined, having satisfied my +curiosity as to Boulogne, I called for my bill and my horse, intending +to get on to Montreuil, where I had fixed upon sleeping. My bill was +extravagant to a degree; a circumstance I imputed to the want of some +due attentions to Madame. These kind of people have always the revenge +in their own hands. As I did not see Mr. Parker, I know not whether to +recommend his inn or not. He has some excellent Burgundy, but the +charges are high, the attendance not good, and the situation in summer +close and stifling. Madame, however, is a very pretty woman, and seems a +very good-humoured one, if her expectations are answered. She is a true +French woman, however, and expects gallantry even from a weary +traveller. + +I found the road improve much as I advanced; the country became more +enclosed, and bore a strong resemblance to the most cultivated parts of +England. The cherry trees standing in the midst of the corn had a very +pretty effect; the fields had the appearance of gardens, and some of the +gardens had the wildness of the field. The season was evidently more +advanced than in England; there were more fruits and flowers, and the +bloom was more bossy and luxuriant. Several smaller roads led from the +main road, and the spires of the village churches, as seen in the side +landscape, rising above the tops of the trees, invited the fancy to +combine some rural images, and weave itself at least an imaginary +Arcadia. The persons I met or overtook upon the road were not altogether +in unison with what I must call the romance of the scene. Every carter +drove his vehicle in a cocked-hat, and the women had all wooden shoes. +Boys and girls of twelve years old were in rags, which very ill covered +them. Nor was there any of the briskness visible on a high road in +England. A single cart, and a waggon, were all the vehicles that I saw +between Boulogne and Abbeville. In England, in the same space, I should +have seen a dozen, or score. + +Not being pressed for time, the beauty of a scene at some little +distance from the road-side tempted me to enter into a bye-lane, and +take a nearer view of it. A village church, embosomed in a chesnut wood, +just rose above the trees on the top of a hill; the setting sun was on +its casements, and the foliage of the wood was burnished by the golden +reflection. The distant hum of the village green was just audible; but +not so the French horn, which echoed in full melody through the groves. +Having rode about half a mile through a narrow sequestered lane, which +strongly reminded me of the half-green and half-trodden bye-roads in +Warwickshire, I came to the bottom of the hill, on the brow and summit +of which the village and church were situated. I now saw whence the +sound of the horn proceeded. On the left of the road was an ancient +chateau situated in a park, or very extensive meadow, and ornamented as +well by some venerable trees, as by a circular fence of flowering +shrubs, guarded on the outside by a paling on a raised mound. The park +or meadow having been newly mown, had an air at once ornamented and +natural. A party of ladies were collected under a patch of trees +situated in the middle of the lawn. I stopt at the gate to look at +them, thinking myself unperceived: but in the same moment the gate was +opened to me by a gentleman and two ladies, who were walking the round. +An explanation was now necessary, and was accordingly given. The +gentleman informed me upon his part, that the chateau belonged to Mons. +St. Quentin, a Member of the French Senate, and a Judge of the District; +that he had a party of friends with him upon the occasion of his lady's +birth-day, and that they were about to begin dancing; that Mons. St. +Quentin would highly congratulate himself on my accidental arrival. One +of the ladies, having previously apologized and left us, had seemingly +explained to Mons. St. Quentin the main circumstance belonging to me, +for he now appeared, and repeated the invitation in his own person. The +ladies added their kind importunities. I dismounted, gave my horse to a +servant in waiting, and joined this happy and elegant party, for such it +really was. + +I had now, for the first time, an opportunity of forming an opinion of +French beauty, the assemblage of ladies being very numerous, and all of +them most elegantly dressed. Travelling, and the imitative arts, have +given a most surprising uniformity to all the fashions of dress and +ornament; and, whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a very +slight difference between the scenes of a French and English polite +assembly. If any thing, however, be distinguishable, it is more in +degree than in substance. The French fashions, as I saw them here, +differed in no other point from what I had seen in London, but in +degree. The ladies were certainly more exposed about the necks, and +their hair was dressed with more fancy; but the form was in almost every +thing the same. The most elegant novelty was a hat, which doubled up +like a fan, so that the ladies carried it in their hands. There were +more coloured than white muslins; a variety which had a pretty effect +amongst the trees and flowers. The same observation applies to the +gentlemen. Their dresses were made as in England; but the pattern of the +cloth, or some appendage to it, was different. One gentleman, habited in +a grass-coloured silk coat, had very much the appearance of Beau +Mordecai in the farce: the ladies, however, seemed to admire him, and in +some conversation with him I found him, in despite of his coat, a very +well-informed man. There were likewise three or four fancy dresses; a +Dian, a wood-nymph, and a sweet girl playing upon a lute, habited +according to a picture of Calypso by David. On the whole, there was +certainly more fancy, more taste, and more elegance, than in an English +party of the same description; though there were not so many handsome +women as would have been the proportion of such an assembly in England. + +A table was spread handsomely and substantially under a very large and +lofty marquee. The outside was very prettily painted for the +occasion--Venus commemorating her birth from the ocean. The French +manage these things infinitely better than any other nation in the +world. It was necessary, however, for the justice of the compliment, +that the Venus should be a likeness of Madame St. Quentin, who was +neither very young nor very handsome. The painter, however, got out of +the scrape very well. + +A small party accompanied me into the village, which was lively, and had +some very neat houses. The peasantry, both men and women, had hats of +straw; a manufactory which Mons. St. Quentin had introduced. A boy was +reading at a cottage-door. I had the curiosity to see the book. It was a +volume of Marmontel. His mother came out, invited us into the house, and +in the course of some conversation, produced some drawings by this +youth; they were very simple, and very masterly. The ladies purchased +them at a good price. He had attained this excellence without a master, +and Mons. St. Quentin, as we were informed, had been so pleased with +him, as to take him into his house. His temper and manners, however, +were not in unison with his taste, and his benefactor had been compelled +to restore him to his mother, but still intended to send him to study at +Paris. The boy's countenance was a direct lie to Lavater; his air was +heavy, and absolutely without intelligence. Mons. St. Quentin had +dismissed him his house on account of a very malignant sally of passion: +a horse having thrown him by accident, the young demon took a knife from +his pocket, and deliberately stabbed him three several times. Such was a +peasant boy, now seemingly enveloped in the interesting simplicity of +Marmontel. How inconsistent is what is called character! + +I had a sweet ride for the remaining way to Montreuil by moon-light, +accompanied by two gentlemen on horseback, who lived in that town. They +related to me many melancholy incidents during the revolutionary period. +Montreuil was formerly distributed into five parishes, and had five +churches; but the people doubtless thinking that five was too many for +the religion of the town, destroyed the other four, and sold the best +part of the materials. Accordingly, when I entered the town, my eye was +caught by a noble ruin, which upon inquiry I found to be the church of +Notre Dame. This ruin is beautiful beyond description. The pillars which +remain are noble, and the capitals and carving rich to a degree. It is +astonishing to me that any reasonable beings, the inhabitants of a town, +could thus destroy its chief ornament; but in the madness of the +revolutionary fanatics, the sun itself would have been plucked from +Heaven, if they could have reached it. I was sincerely happy to learn +that religion had returned, and that there was a general inclination to +subscribe for the repair, or rather rebuilding, of Notre Dame. + +My friends took leave of me after recommending to me an inn kept by two +sisters, the name of which I have forgotten. They were so handsome as to +resemble English women, and what is very uncommon in this class of +people in France, were totally without rouge. Whilst my supper was +preparing, I had a moon-light walk round the town. The situation of it +is at once commanding and beautiful. The ruins of a chateau, seen under +the light of the moon, improved the scenery, and was another memento of +the execrable Revolution. There are a number of pretty houses, and some +of them substantial. One of them belonged to one of the gentlemen who +accompanied me from Mons. St. Quentin's, and was his present residence, +being all that remained to him of a noble property in the vicinity. This +property had been sold by the nation, and the recovery of it had become +impossible, though the gentleman was in tolerable favour with the +government. Bonaparte had answered one of this gentleman's memorials by +subscribing it with a sentence in his own writing: "We cannot +re-purchase the nation." This gentleman spoke highly, but perhaps +unjustly, of the vigour of Bonaparte's government, of his inflexible +love of justice, and his personal attention to the administration. I +compelled him, however, to acknowledge, that in his own immediate +concerns, the justice of the French Chief was not proof against his +passions. I mentioned the Duke of Enghien; the gentleman pushed on his +horse, and begged me to say no more of the matter. + +Upon my return I had an excellent supper, and what was still more +welcome, a bed which reminded me of those at an English coffee-house. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + +_Departure from Montreuil--French Conscripts--Extreme Youth--Excellent +Roads--Country Labourers--Court for the Claims +of Emigrants--Abbeville--Companion on the Road--Amiens._ + + +AS I wished to reach Paris as soon as possible, I had ordered the +chambermaid to call me at an early hour in the morning; but was awakened +previous to the appointed time by some still earlier travellers--a very +numerous detachment of conscripts, who were on their march for the +central _depot_ of the department. The greater part of them were boys, +and were merry and noisy in a manner characteristic of the French youth. +Seeing me at the window, one of them struck up a very lively +_reveillee_, and was immediately joined by others who composed their +marching band. They were attended, and their baggage carried, by a +peculiar kind of cart--a platform erected on wheels, and on which they +ascended when fatigued. The vehicles were prepared, the horses +harnessed, and the young conscripts impatiently waiting for the word to +march. + +When I came down into the inn-yard, no one was stirring in the house +except the ostler, who, upon my mentioning the component items of my +entertainment, very fairly, as I thought, reckoned them up, and received +the amount, taking care to remind me of the chambermaid. Having with +some difficulty likewise procured from him a glass of milk, I mounted my +horse, and followed the conscripts, who, with drum and fife, were +merrily but regularly marching before me. The regularity of the march +continued only till they got beyond the town, and down the hill, when +the music ceased, the ranks broke, and every one walked or ran as he +pleased. As they were somewhat too noisy for a meditating traveller, I +put my horse to his mettle, and soon left them at a convenient distance. + +I must cursorily observe, that the main circumstance which struck me in +this detachment, was the extreme youth of the major part. I saw not a +man amongst them, and some of them had an air the most perfectly +childish. Bonaparte is said to prefer these young recruits. No army in +Europe would have admitted them, with the exception of the French. + +The road was truly excellent, though hilly, and indeed so continued till +within a few miles of Abbeville. The present Emperor acts so far upon +the system of the ancient monarchy, and considers the goodness of the +highways as the most important and most immediate object of the +administration; accordingly, the roads in France are still better than +under the Bourbons, as Bonaparte sees every thing with his own eyes. +Nothing, indeed, is wanting to quick travelling in France, but English +drivers and English carriages. How would a mail-coach roll upon such a +road! The French postillions, and even the French horses, such as I met +on the road, have a kind of activity without progress--the postillions +are very active in cracking their whips over their heads, and the horses +shuffle about without mending their pace. + +I passed several country labourers, men and women, going to their daily +toil. I was informed by one of them, that he worked in the hay-field, +and earned six-and-thirty sous (1_s._ 6_d._) a day; that the wages for +mowers were fifty sous (2_s._ 1_d._), and two bottles of wine or cyder; +that his wife had fourteen sous and her food; and boys and children old +enough to rake, from six to twelve sous. He paid 25 livres annually for +the rent of his cottage. When he had to support himself, he breakfasted +on bread, and a glass or more of strong wine or brandy; dined on bread +and cheese, and supped on bread and an apple. He wore leather shoes, +except in wet weather, when he wore _sabots_, which cost about twelve +sous per pair. + +I passed more _chateaux_ in ruins, and others shut up and forsaken. Some +of them were very prettily situated, in patches of trees and amidst +corn-fields. Several, as I understood, belonged to emigrants, whom +Bonaparte had recalled by name, but who had not as yet returned. I +learned with some satisfaction, that some shew of justice was still +necessary. Where the property of the emigrants is unsold, and still in +the hands of the nation, the emigrated proprietor is not totally without +a chance of restitution. If he can come forwards, and prove, in a court +established for the purpose, that he has merely been absent; that his +absence was not without sufficient reasons; that he has not taken up +arms against France; and finally, had returned as soon as he possessed +the means--under these circumstances, the lands are restored. Even his +children may succeed where himself shall fail. Upon proof of infancy at +the time of emigration, and that they have at no time borne arms against +the empire, the lands are not unfrequently decreed to them, even when +the father's claim has been rejected. + +I reached Bernay to breakfast, and, for the first time in France, met +with a surly host and a sour hostess. The bread being stale, salt, and +bitter, I desired it to be changed. The host obeyed, so far as to carry +it out of the room and bring it in again. It was in vain, however, that +I insisted upon the identity, till I desired him to bring what he had +removed, and to compare it with what he had brought. He then flatly told +me, that I must either have that or none; that it was as good bread as +any in France, and that he intended to eat it for his own breakfast. +His wife came in, hearing my raised voice, and maintained her husband's +assertions very stoutly. For the sake of peace, I found it necessary to +submit. He is a true hero who can support a contest with a man and his +wife. The girl who waited on me seemed made of kinder materials. She +laughed with much archness when I shewed her the bread, and its vigorous +resistance to the edge of my knife. She was born in Musilius, and told +me, with true French coquetry, that her sisters were as handsome as +herself. She mentioned some English name (that of a valet, I suppose), +and asked me if I knew him in London. If I should hereafter meet him, I +was to remind him of Bernay. The charges, contrary to my expectations, +were as moderate as the breakfast was indifferent; and the host did me +the honour to wish me good morning. The hostess, however, was inflexibly +sour, and saw me depart without a word, or even a salutation. + +I had a most unpleasant ride to Abbeville, the heat of the day being +extreme, and the road totally without any shelter. I imagined, however, +that the heat was less oppressive than heat of the same intensity in +England; but I know not whether this difference was any thing but +imaginary. In foreign countries, we are so much upon the hunt for +novelty, and so well predisposed to find it, that in things not strongly +nor immediately the objects of sense, our impressions are not altogether +to be trusted. + +Abbeville, which I reached in good time for the _table d'hote_, which is +held on every market-day, is a populous but a most unpleasant town. The +inhabitants are stated to exceed 22,000; but I do not conceive that they +can amount to one half of that number. The town has a most ruinous +appearance, from the circumstance of many of the houses being built with +wood; and by the forms of the windows and the doors, some of them must +be very ancient. There are two or three manufactories of cloth, but none +of them were in a flourishing condition. I went to visit that of +Vanrobais, established by Louis XIV. and which still continues, though +in ruins. The buildings are upon a very large scale; but too much was +attempted for them to execute any thing in a workmanlike manner. There +are different buildings for every different branch of the manufacture. I +cannot but think, however, that they would have succeeded better if they +had consulted the principle of the sub-division of labour. A man who is +both a weaver and a spinner, will certainly not be both as good a weaver +and as good a spinner, as another who is only a spinner or only a +weaver: he will not have the same dexterity, and therefore will not do +the same work. No business is done so well as that which is the sole +object of attention. I saw likewise a manufactory of carpets, which +seemed more flourishing. In the cloth manufactory, the earnings of the +working manufacturers are about 36 sous per diem (1_s._ 6_d._): in the +carpet manufactories, somewhat more. The cloths, as far as I am a +judge, seemed to me even to exceed those of England; but the carpets +are much inferior. From some unaccountable reason, however, the cloths +were much dearer than English broad cloth of the same quality. Whence +does this happen, in a country where provisions are so much cheaper? +Perhaps from that neglect of the sub-division of labour which I have +above noticed. + +Abbeville, like all the other principal towns through which I passed, +bore melancholy marks of the Revolution. The handsome church which stood +in the market-place is in ruins--scarcely a stone remains on the top of +another. Many of the best houses were shut up, and others of the same +description, evidently inhabited by people for whom they were not built. +In many of them, one room only was inhabited; and in others, the second +and third floors turned into granaries. Indeed, along the whole road +from Abbeville to Paris, are innumerable _chateaux_, which are now only +the cells of beggars, or of the lowest kind of peasantry. + +An officer who was going to Amiens, joined company with me on the road +to Pequigny, and, like every Frenchman of this class, became +communicative almost in the same instant in which we had exchanged +salutes. I found, however, that he knew nothing, except in his own +profession; and I very strongly suspect, that he even here gave me some +details of battles in which he had never been, or at least he made two +or three geographical mistakes, for which I cannot otherwise account. He +made no scruple of moving the Rhine a few degrees easterly; and +constructed a bridge over the Adige without the help of the mason. I +have not unfrequently, indeed, been surprized at the unaccountable +ignorance betrayed by this class of men. It is to be hoped, that in +another age this will pass away. My companion, however, had a +good-humour which compensated for his ignorance; he alternately talked, +sung, and dismounted from his horse to speak to every peasant girl who +met us on the road; he seemed at home with every one, and made the time +pass agreeably enough. He sung, at my request, the Marseillois, and sung +it with such emphasis, energy, and attitude, as to make me sincerely +repent the having called forth such a deafening exhibition of his +powers. Though one or two travellers passed us whilst he was thus +exhibiting, my gentleman was not in the slightest degree discomposed, +but continued his song, his attitudes, and his grimaces, as if he were +in the midst of a wood. + +After a very long journey, in which my little Norman had performed to +admiration, I reached Amiens about eight o'clock, on the sweetest summer +evening imaginable. The aspect of Amiens, as it is approached by the +road, resembles Canterbury--the cathedral rising above the town--the +town, as it were, gathering around it as its parent and protector. My +companion would not leave me till he had seen me to the inn, the _Hotel +d'Angleterre_, when he took a farewell of me as if we had been intimate +for years, and I have no doubt, thought no more of me after he had +turned the corner of the street. These attentions, however, are not the +less pleasing, and answer their purpose as well as if they were more +permanent. Having ordered my supper, and seen my horse duly provided +for, I walked through the town, which is clean, lively, and in many +respects resembling towns of the third rate in England. I visited the +cathedral, which pleased me much; but has been so often described, that +I deem it unnecessary to say more of it. It was built by the English in +the time of Henry VI. and the regency of the Duke of Bedford, and has +much of the national taste of that people, and those times. Though +strictly Gothic, it is light, and very tastefully ornamented: it +infinitely exceeds any cathedral in England, with the exception of +Westminster Abbey. I went to see likewise the _Chateau d'Eau_, the +machine for supplying Amiens with water. There is nothing more than +common in it, and the purpose would be answered better by pipes and a +steam-engine. It excited one observation which I have since frequently +made--that the French, with all their parade of science and ostentation +of institutions, are still a century behind England in real practical +knowledge. My Tour in France has at least taught me one lesson--never to +be deceived by high-sounding names and pompous designations. I have not +visited their schools for nothing. The French talk; the English act. A +steady plodding Englishman will build an house, while a Frenchman is +laying down rules for it. There is more of this idle pedantry in France +than in any country on the face of the globe: every thing is done with +science, and nothing with knowledge. + +Walking through the market-place, my attention was taken by an unusual +bustle--the erecting of scaffolds, booths, and other similar +preparations. I learned, upon inquiry, that the half-yearly fair was to +be held on the following day; a piece of information which confirmed my +previous intention of passing that day at Amiens. + +Upon returning to the inn, I had a supper as comfortable as any I had +ever sat down to, even in England. The landlord, at my particular +request, took his seat with me at table. He complained bitterly of the +oppression of the taxes, and more particularly of their uncertainty, +which was so indeterminate, according to his assertions, that the +collectors took what they pleased, and employed their offices as means +of favour, or to gratify their personal piques. One of the collectors of +Amiens, it seems, was likewise an inn-keeper, who availed himself of the +power of his office to harass his rival. There is no appeal, as long as +the collector is faithful to the government, and pays in what he +receives. The manner in which defaulters are treated, is peculiar to +the French government. If the sum assessed be not paid within the +appointed time, a soldier is billeted at the house of the defaulter, and +another is daily added till the arrear be cleared. The greater part of +the taxes have been imposed during the strong days of the Revolution; +and as they are sufficiently productive, and the present government have +not the odium of their first institution, they are suffered to continue +upon their old foundation--that is to say, upon an infinite number of +successive decrees, many of which contradict each other. No one, +therefore, knows exactly what he has to pay, and any one may be made to +pay according to the caprice of the collector. + + + + +CHAP. VII. + +_General Character of the Town--Public Walk--Gardens--Half-yearly +Fair--Gaming Houses--Table d'Hotes--English at +Amiens--Expence of Living._ + + +THE noise of the people collecting for the fair, and the consequent +bustle of the inn, awoke me at an early hour in the morning; and after a +breakfast which reminded me of England, I sallied forth to see the town +and the lions. A vast multitude of people had assembled from the +surrounding country, and were collected around the several booths. The +day was fine, the bells were ringing, and the music playing; every one +was dressed in their holiday clothes, and every one seemed to have a +happy and careless face, suitable to the festivity of the occasion. + +Amiens is most delightfully situated, the country around being highly +cultivated. It is, in every respect, one of the cleanest towns in +France; and the frequent visits and long residence of Englishmen, have +produced a very sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the +inhabitants. Though some of the houses are very ancient, and the streets +are narrow, it has not the ruinous nor close appearance of the other +towns on the Paris road. It has been lately newly paved; and there is +something, of the nature of a parish-rate for keeping it clean, and in +summer for watering the streets. + +Though Amiens has suffered very considerably by the war, it has still, +in appearance at least, an extensive trade. The manufactures are of the +same kind as those at Abbeville. Besides their cloths, however, they +work up a considerable quantity of camblets, callimancoes, and baizes, +chiefly red and spotted, for domestic consumption. They were in great +distress for wool, and could procure none but by land-carriage from +Spain, Portugal, and Flanders. Upon examining two or three of their +articles, I thought them very dear, but very good. I visited two or +three of their manufactories, and upon inquiring for others, was +informed that they had been shut up. The effect of the war had been, to +raise prices to double their former rate: every one expressed an anxious +wish for peace, and imputed the continuance of the war to the English +Ministry. + +The general character of the people of Amiens is, that they are lively, +good-humoured, and less infected by the revolutionary contagion than any +town in France: as many of them as I had an opportunity of conversing +with, spoke with due detestation of jacobinism, and with an equal wise +submission to the present order of things. Besides the native +inhabitants, there are many foreign residents, and some English. As +these are in general in good circumstances, they have usually the best +houses in the town, and live in the substantial style of their +respective countries. The English denizens very well understand that +they are constantly under the eye of the French government, and its +spies: they live, therefore, as much as possible in public; and in their +balls, and dinners, and entertainments, have a due mixture of French +visitants. Several of them avoid this restraint by passing for +Americans; but the detection of this deception is most severely +punished. The English have contrived, however, to procure both the good +will and the good word of the people of Amiens, and even the French +government seems to regard them with peculiar favour. + +Every considerable town in France has its public walk, and Amiens has +one or more of singular beauty; but being situated in an unenclosed +country, and amongst corn-fields, its private walks are still more +frequented than its ancient promenade. I was informed that the English +had brought these private walks into general fashion, and I considered +it as an additional proof of their good sense and natural taste. + +The multitude of people assembled from every part of the province, gave +me an opportunity of seeing the national costume of the peasantry. The +habits of the men did not appear to me so various, and so novel, as +those of the women. The greater part of the former had three-cocked +hats, some of straw, some of pasteboard, and some of beaver; jackets, +red, yellow, and blue; and breeches of the same fancy colours. The women +were dressed in a variety both of shape and colour, which defies all +description. When seen from a distance, the assembly had a very +picturesque appearance: the sun shining on the various colours, gave +them the appearance of so many flowers. The general features of the fair +did not differ much from the fairs in England and America. There were +two streets completely filled with booths: the market-place was occupied +with shows, and temporary theatres. I observed, however, two or three +peculiar national amusements; one of them called the _Mats de Cocagne_, +the other the _Mats de Beaupre_. The _Mats de Cocagne_ are long poles, +some of them thirty feet in height, well greased, and erected +perpendicularly. At the top of them is suspended by a string, a watch, a +shirt, or other similar articles, which become the prize of the +fortunate adventurer who can ascend and reach them. A few sous are paid +to the proprietor of the _mat_, for the chance of gaining the prize; it +is the fault, therefore, of the proprietor, if the _mat_ be not so well +greased as to render the ascent almost impossible. I saw many fruitless +attempts made: one fellow had nearly gained the top, and was within +reach of the prize; he stretched his hand out to take it, and having by +this act diminished his hold, came down with the most frightful +rapidity. The crowd laughed; and another adventurer, nothing dismayed, +succeeded him in the attempt, and in the failure. The prize, however, +was at length obtained; but the adventurer, I should think, had not much +cause to congratulate himself on his good luck. His descent was of a +rapidity which caused the blood to gush out of his mouth and his nose, +and for some time, at least, frightened the multitude from repeating the +same sport. + +The _Mats de Beaupre_ are upon the same principle; they are soaped +poles, laid horizontally, but very high from the ground. At the further +extremity of them are the same prizes, and which are gained upon the +same condition--the men to walk over, the women to scramble over them in +any manner which they might deem best. To break the violence of the +fall, the ground immediately under the poles was thickly laid with +straw. Several women, and innumerable girls, made an attempt to gain the +prize at these _Mats de Beaupre_, and in the course of their efforts had +some tumbles, which much delighted the mob. Indeed, this kind of sport +seemed peculiarly intended for the females: the men seemed to prefer the +_Cocagnes_. + +The chief enjoyment of the multitude, however, seemed to be dancing. +Several scaffolds, with benches rising one above another, were erected +in every part of the town: these were the orchestras, which, as far as I +saw, were supported by the voluntary contributions of the companies +which danced to their music. A subscription was always made after every +dance, and each dancer subscribed a sous. The ladies, I believe, were +excused by the payment of their partners. The dancing was excellent, and +the music by no means contemptible. + +The shows were much of the same kind as those in Bartholomew fair, in +London, and which travel from town to town during the summer in America. +The mountebanks and merry-andrews appeared more dexterous and more +humorous. One of the former seeing me, entreated the crowd to make way +for me; and when I turned my back, "Nay, my good friend," said he, "do +not mistake me. I have no intention of asking you for the money which +you owe to me for your last cure; you are very welcome to it. I delight +in doing good. I am paid sufficiently by your recovery. If you choose, +however, to remember, my young man"--The merry-andrew was here at my +side, and I deemed it most prudent to drop a few sous into his cap, and +effect my escape. The crowd understood the jest, and laughed heartily. +One of them, however, of more decent appearance, made me a very pleasing +apology, repeating at the same time a French proverb--that a pope and a +mountebank were above all law. + +Amongst the commodities exhibited for sale, I was agreeably surprised to +find two or more booths well supplied with English and French books; +and my surprise was still greater, to find that the former had many +purchasers. I took up several of them, and found them to be English +Gazetteers, Tours in England, Wales, Scotland; Travels in America, +Dictionaries, and Grammars. From some cause or other, the English seem +in particular favour in and about Amiens, and Lord Cornwallis is still +remembered with respect and affection. + +There, were other booths which excited less pleasing reflections; these +were the temporary gaming tables, the admission to which was from six to +twelve sous. I had the curiosity to enter one of them: it was already +full. One party was at eager play, and others were waiting to succeed +them. I could make nothing of the game, only that it was one of chance, +and that the winnings and losings were determined in every three casts. +I saw a decent young man take off and stake his neckcloth: fortune +favoured him, and he had the uncommon fortitude to retire, and play no +more. There was another booth of rather a singular kind--a temporary +pawnbroker's, and who appeared to have a good brisk trade. + +My attention, however, was more peculiarly attracted by a marquee, open +on all sides, and with an elevated floor: a chair, covered with green +velvet, was here placed, and occupied by a man of much apparent gravity. +I found, upon inquiry, that this was the president, judge, or +magistrate of the fair; that he was elected by votes of the +booth-holders, and determined all disputes on the spot; that his +authority was supported by the police, and his sentence enforced by the +municipality. He was a portly man, wore a three-cocked hat, and an old +scarlet cloak, which had served the same purpose time out of mind. + +I returned to my hotel to dinner; and being informed that there was a +_table d'hote_, and that it would be very numerously attended, I +preferred it to dining in my own apartment, and at the appointed hour +took my seat. The company was indeed numerous--men, women, girls, and +children; officers of the army, exhibitors of wild beasts, actors and +actresses of the booth-theatres. A separate table was set for the +officers of the army. I had here a specimen of the manners of the French +revolutionary officers. A party of them, to the number of fifteen or +twenty, had already placed themselves at table, when the commandant, or +at least a superior officer, entered the room. They all immediately got +up to make room for him, and handed him a chair in a manner the most +servile and fawning. "I hope I disturb no one," said he, at the same +time throwing himself into the chair, but not offering to move his hat. +He continued during the whole of the dinner the same disgusting +superiority, and the subordinate officers several times called out +silence to the adjoining table, that they might better hear the vapid +remarks of their commander. The waiters, and even the whole _table +d'hote_ seemed in great awe of these military gentlemen; and one fellow +excused himself for leaving a plate before me by hastily alleging that +the commander was looking around him for something. I was still more +disgusted by one of the officers rising, and proposing this important +gentleman's health to both tables; and my surprise was greater by +recognizing, in the tone of this proposal, the barbarous twang of an +Irishman. Some of the French regiments are half filled with these Irish +renegades. I cannot speak of them with any patience, as I cannot +conceive any voluntary degradation more contemptible, than that of +passing from any thing British or American into any thing French or +Italian. I have a respect for the Irish in the German service; they are +still members of a people like themselves. I say not this in contempt of +the French themselves, but of the English or Irish become French. + +In the evening I went to one of the theatres, accompanied by an English +physician, with whom I dined at the _table d'hote_. This gentleman came +into France after the peace of Amiens, and was of course included in the +number detained by the French Emperor. Having some friends in the +Institute, they had drawn up a memorial in his favour, in which they +represented him, and very justly, as a man of science, who had come into +France to compare the English and French system of medicine, and whose +researches had already excited much interest and inquiry amongst the +French physicians. This memorial being delivered into the hands of the +Emperor himself, was subscribed by him in the following words: "Let him +remain in France during the war, on his parole that he will not leave +the French territories, and will have no correspondence with England." + +The performance at the theatre was too contemptible for mention, and in +the pantomime, or rather spectacle, became latterly so indelicate, that +I found it necessary to withdraw. I should hope that the performances +are not always of the same character: perhaps something must be allowed +for the occasion. The French, however, have no idea of humour as +separated from indecencies. In this respect they might take a very +useful lesson from the English. The English excel in pantomime as much +as the French in comedy. + +Dr. M---- returned to supper with me, and gave me some useful +information. Every trace of the Revolution is rapidly vanishing at +Amiens. Religion has resumed her influence: the cathedral is very well +attended, but auricular confession is not usual. The clergy of Amiens, +however, are very poor, having lost all their immense possessions, and +having nothing but the national stipend. The cathedral had been repaired +by public subscription. The poor are sent to the armies. There were no +imposts but those paid to the government. + +Amiens is still a very cheap town for permanent residence, though the +war has very seriously affected it. A good house may be rented for +thirty pounds per annum, the taxes upon the mere house being about a +Louis. Mutton seldom exceeds threepence English money per pound, and +beef is usually somewhat cheaper. Poultry of all kinds is in great +plenty, and cheap: fowls, ducks, &c. about two shillings per couple. A +horse at livery, half a Louis per week; two horses, all expences +included, a Louis and two livres. Board and lodging in a genteel house, +five-and-twenty Louis annually. Dr. M---- agreed with me, that for three +hundred a year, a family might keep their carriage and live in comfort, +in Amiens and its neighbourhood. I must not forget another observation; +the towns in France are cheaper than the villages. The consumption of +meat in the latter is not sufficient to induce the butchers to kill +often; the market, therefore, is very ill supplied, and consequently the +prices are dear. A few miles from a principal town, you cannot have a +leg of mutton without paying for the whole sheep. + +A stranger may live at an inn at Amiens for about five shillings, +English money, a day. The wine is good, and very cheap; and a daily +ordinary, or _table d'hote_, is kept at the _Hotel d'Angleterre_. +Breakfast is charged one livre, dinner three, and supper one: half a +livre for coffee, and two livres for lodging; but if you remain a week, +ten livres for the whole time. The hotels, of which there are two, are +as good as those of Paris, and lodgings are far more reasonable. A +_restaurateur_ has very lately set up in a very grand style, but the +population of the town will scarcely support him. The company at the +_table d'hote_ usually consists of officers, of whom there is always a +multitude in the neighbourhood of Amiens. Some of them, as I was +informed, are very pleasant agreeable men; whilst others are ruffians, +and have the manners of jacobins. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +_French and English Roads compared--Gaiety of French +Labourers--Breteuil--Apple-trees in the midst of Corn-fields--Beautiful +Scenery--Cheap Price of Land in France--Clermont--Bad Management +of the French Farmers--Chantilly--Arrival at Paris._ + + +I left Amiens early on the following morning, intending to reach +Clermont in good time. + +The roads now became very indifferent, but the scenery was much +improved. I could not but compare the prospect of a French road with one +of the great roads of England. It is impossible to travel a mile on an +English road without meeting or overtaking every species of vehicle. The +imagination of a traveller, if as susceptible as a traveller's +imagination should be, has thus a constant food for its exercise; it +accompanies these several groups to their home or destination, and calls +before its view the busy market, the quiet village, the blazing hearth, +the returning husband, and the welcoming wife. No man is fit for a +traveller who cannot while away his time in such creations of his +fancy. I pity the traveller from my heart, who in a barren or uniform +road, has no other occupation but to count the mile-stones, and find +every mile as long as the three preceding. Let such men become drivers +to stage-coaches, but let them not degrade the name of travellers by +assuming it to themselves. + +On a French road, there is more necessity than objects for this exercise +of the imagination. A French road is like a garden in the old French +style. It is seldom either more or less than a straight line ruled from +one end of the kingdom to the other. There are no angles, no curvatures, +no hedges; one league is the exact counterpart of another; instead of +hedges, are railings, and which are generally in a condition to give the +country not only a naked, but even a slovenly, ruinous appearance. +Imagine a road made over an heath, and each side of it fenced off by a +railing of old hurdles, and you will have no imperfect idea of a French +great road. Within a mile, indeed, of the neighbourhood of a principal +town, the prospect usually varies and improves. The road is then planted +on each side, and becomes a beautiful avenue through lofty and shady +trees. This description, however, will only apply to the great roads. +Some of the cross and country roads, as I shall hereafter have occasion +to mention, not only equal, but greatly exceed, even the English roads, +in natural beauty and scenery. + +In the course of the road between Amiens and Clermont, I had again too +frequent opportunity to remark the slovenly management of the French +farmers, as compared with those of England, and even with those of +America. In America, the farmers are not without a very sufficient +excuse. The scarcity of hands, the impossibility of procuring labourers +at any price, compel an American farmer to get in his harvest as he can, +to collect the crop of one field hastily, and then fly to another. In +France there is no such excuse, and therefore there should be no such +slovenly waste. Yet in some of the hay-fields which I passed, at least +one-fifth _of_ the crop was lying scattered on the roads and in the +fields. The excuse was, that the cattle would eat it, and that they +might as well have it one way as another. It would be folly to say any +thing as to such an argument; yet in these very fields the labour was so +plentiful and minute, that the greater part of the crop was carried from +the fields on the shoulders of the labourers, men, women, and boys. It +is difficult to reconcile such inconsistencies. + +In such of the fields as I saw carts, the most severe labour seemed to +be allotted to the share of the women. They were the pitchers, and +performed this labour with a very heavy, and as it appeared to me, a +very awkward fork. Whilst the women were performing this task, two or +three fellows, raw-boned, and nearly six feet high, were either very +leisurely raking, or perhaps laying at their full length under the +new-made stacks. In other fields I saw more pleasing groups. At the +sound of a horn like the English harvest horn, the pitchers, the +loaders, and every labourer on the spot, left their work, and collected +around some tree or hay-cock, to receive their noon refreshment. The +indispensable fiddle was never wanting. Even the horses, loosened from +the carts, and suffered to feed at liberty, seemed to partake in the +general merriment, and looked with erect ears at the fiddler and his +dancing group. When, the hour allotted to this relaxation expired, the +labourers were again called to the several duties by the summons of the +same horn, which was now sounded from the top of the loaded cart, as it +had before been sounded under the tree or hay-cock. I had forgotten to +mention, that the tree or hay-cock, the appointed place of refreshment, +was distinguished by pennants of different coloured ribbons attached to +a stick as a flag-staff, and which waving in the wind, under a beautiful +midsummer sky, had an effect peculiarly pleasing. As I saw the same +spectacle in several fields, I believe it to be national. + +Breteuil, which I reached in time for a late breakfast, is a very paltry +town; the houses are all built in the ancient style, and bear an +unfavourable resemblance to English farm-houses; their gable-ends are +turned to the streets, and the chimneys are nearly as large as the +roofs. There was no appearance of business, not even of a brisk retail, +or of a lively thoroughfare. A crowd collected around us as I entered +the inn, as if a decent stranger, travelling on horseback, were a +miracle in that part of the country. + +Whatever, however, was wanting in the town, was more than made up by the +surrounding country, which becomes very beautiful in the immediate +environs of Breteuil. For the five or six miles beyond the town, towards +Clermont, the scenery is enchanting. The vines, which here commence, +were in bloom, the road fringed with orchards, and even the corn-fields +hedged round with apple-trees. In the middle of every field was an elm +or a chesnut, which by the luxuriance of its foliage seemed planted in +other ages. On each side of the road, moreover, at the distance of a +mile or a league, were the towers of village churches rising from amidst +similar groves, whilst a chateau perhaps crowned the hill, and completed +the landscape. Bye-paths, and narrow roads, leading to one or other of +these villages, intersected the corn-fields in every direction; and as +the corn was full-grown and yellow, and the day beautifully serene, +nothing could be more grateful than this prospect. The heart of man +seems peculiarly formed to relish the beauties of Nature, and to feel +the bounties of Providence. What artificial beauty can equal that of a +corn-field? What emotion is so lively, and so fully pervades every +feeling, as that excited by the cornucopia of Nature, and the flowery +plenty of the approaching harvest? + +The same scenery continues with little variation to Clermont, the +country improving, and the roads becoming worse. In this interval, +however, I passed several chateaux in ruins, and several farms and +houses, on which were affixed notices that they were to be let or sold. +On inquiring the rent and purchase of one of them, I found it to be so +cheap, that could I have reconciled myself to French manners, and +promised myself any suitable assistance from French labourers, I should +have seriously thought of making a purchase. An estate of eleven hundred +acres, seven hundred of which were in culture, the remainder wood and +heath, was offered for sale for 8000 Louis. The mansion-house was indeed +in ruin beyond the possibility of repair, but the land, under proper +cultivation, would have paid twenty-five per cent. on the +purchase-money. The main point of such purchases, however, is contained +in these words: Under proper cultivation. Nothing is so absurd as the +expectation of a foreign purchaser, and particularly of a gentleman, +that he will be able to transfer the improved system of cultivation of +his own country into a kingdom at least a century behind the former. As +far us his own manual labour goes, as far as he will take the plough, +the harrow, and the broadcast himself, so far may he procure the +execution of his own ideas. But it is in vain to endeavour to infuse +this knowledge or this practice into French labourers; you might as well +put a pen in the hand of a Hottentot, and expect him to write his name. +The ill success of half the foreign purchasers must be imputed to this +oversight. An American or an Englishman passes over a French or German +farm, and sees land of the most productive powers reduced to sterility +by slovenly management. A suggestion immediately arises in his mind--how +much might this land be made to produce under a more intelligent +cultivation? Full of this idea he perhaps inquires the price, and +finding it about one-tenth of what such land would cost in England, +immediately makes his purchase, settles, and begins his operations. Here +his eyes are soon opened. He must send to England for all his +implements; and even then his French labourers neither can or will learn +the use of them. An English ploughman becomes necessary; the English +ploughman accordingly comes, but shortly becomes miserable amongst +French habits and French fellow-labourers. + +In this manner have failed innumerable attempts of this kind within my +own knowledge. It is impossible to transplant the whole of the system of +one country into another. The English or the American farmer may +emigrate and settle in France, and bring over his English plough and +English habits, but he will still find a French soil, a French climate, +French markets, and French labourers. The course of his crops will be +disturbed by the necessity of some subservience to the peculiar wants of +the country and the demands of the market. He cannot, for example, +persevere in his turnips, where he can find no cattle to eat them, no +purchasers for his cattle, and where, from the openness of the climate +in winter, the crop must necessarily rot before he can consume it. For +the same reason, his clover cultivation becomes as useless. To say all +in a word, I know not how an English or an American farmer could make a +favourable purchase in France, though the French Government should come +forward with its protection. The habits of the country have become so +accommodated to its agriculture, that they each mutually support the +other, and a more improved system can only be introduced in the +proportion in which these national habits can be fundamentally changed. +But such changes must necessarily be gradual and slow, and must not be +reckoned upon by an individual. + +I found myself so indisposed at Clermont, that I retired very early to +my bed. My complaint was a giddiness in the head, brought on by riding +in the sun. Every country has its peculiar medicine as well as its +religion, and in every country there are certain family receipts, +certain homely prescriptions, which, from their experienced efficacy, +merit more attention than a member of the faculty would be inclined to +give them. My host at Clermont accordingly became my physician, and by +his advice I bathed my feet in warm water, and getting into bed between +the blankets, after drinking about a quart of cold spring-water, I can +only say that the remedy had its full effect. After a violent +perspiration in the night I fell into a sound sleep, and awoke in the +morning in such complete health and spirits, as to ride to Chantilly to +breakfast. + +Throughout the morning's journey, the scenery was very nearly similar to +what I had previously passed, except that it was richer and more varied +with habitations. The peasantry, moreover, were occupied in the same +manner in getting in their hay-harvest, which, from reasons that I +cannot comprehend, seemed more backward as I approached to the +metropolis. This may partly, indeed, be owing to what will appear a very +extraordinary cause--the excellence of the climate. The French farmer +can trust the skies; he sees a cloudless sky in the night, and has no +fear that its serenity will be shortly disturbed. He is a total stranger +to that vicissitude of sunshine, rain, and tempest, which in a moment +confounds all the labours of the English husbandmen. The same sun that +shines to-day will shine to-morrow. In this happy confidence he stacks +his hay in small cocks in the field where it grows, and only carries it +away at his leisure. His manner of carrying is as slovenly as all his +other management. Annette carries an apron-full, Jeannette an +handkerchief-full, and Lubin a barrow-full. Some of it is packed in +sheets and blankets. Some of this hay was very bad in quality, and as +crops, still worse in quantity. Being too much exposed to the sun, it +was little better than so much coarse straw. Being merely thrown +together, without being trodden, when carried into the hay-loft, it +loses whatever fragrance it may have hitherto retained. I do not think +an English horse would eat it. + +Chantilly totally disappointed my expectations. The daemon of anarchy has +here raised a superb trophy on a monument of ruins. The principal +building has been demolished for the sake of the materials; the stables, +and that part of the ancient establishment denominated Le petit Chateau, +are all that remain. I was informed by the people of the inn, that the +whole had been purchased in the revolutionary period by a petty +provincial builder, who had no sooner completed his installments, than +he began the demolition of the building, and the cutting down the trees +in the grounds. Buonaparte, fortunately for Chantilly, became Chief +Consul before the whole was destroyed; Chantilly was then re-purchased, +and is now the property of the Government. + +The road now began to have some appearance of an approach to the capital +of the kingdom. I could not however but still observe, that there were +but few carriages compared to what I had seen within a similar distance +of London, and even of New York. The several vehicles were mostly +constructed in the same manner as vehicles of the same distinction in +England. The charette, or cart in common use, was the only exception on +the favourable side. This vehicle seemed to me so well adapted to its +purpose, as to merit a particular description. + +The charette, then, consists principally of two parts--the carriage, and +the body. The carriage part is very simple, being composed of two long +shafts of wood, about twenty feet in length, connected together by cross +bars, so as to form the bed, and on which boards are laid, as the +occasion may require. In the same manner the sides, a front, and back, +may be added at pleasure. The axle and wheels are in the usual place and +form. Upon this carriage is fixed the moveable body, consisting of a +similar frame-work of two shafts connected by cross bars. This body +moves upon an axletree, and extending some feet beyond the carriage +behind, it is let down with ease to receive its load, which the body +moving, as before described, on a pivot, or axle, is easily purchased up +from before. + +Nearly half way between Chantilly and Paris, I passed a handsome chateau +to the right, which is now occupied as a school. This establishment was +commenced by an Englishman, in the short interval of the peace of +Amiens, and he was upon the point of making a rapid fortune, when in +common with the other Englishmen at that time in France, he was ordered +to Verdun. His school now passed to his French usher, who continuing to +conduct it upon the same plan, that is, with the order and intelligence +common in every English school, has increased its reputation, and reaps +his merited reward by general encouragement. The rate of the boarders at +this academy may serve to illustrate the comparative cheapness of every +thing in France. The boarders are provided with classic instruction of +every kind, as likewise the most eminent masters in all the fine arts, +and personal accomplishments, to which is to be added clothes, at forty +guineas per annum. An English or American school on the same plan, and +conducted in the same style, could not be less than double, if not +triple the above-mentioned sum. + +I reached Paris at an early hour in the afternoon, and having letters +for Mr. Younge, the confidential secretary to Mr. Armstrong, immediately +waited upon him, that his information might assist me as to finding +suitable apartments. Lodgings in Paris are infinitely more expensive +than in London, and with not one-half the comfort. I did not find Mr. +Younge at his house; but upon hearing my name, his Lady received me as +an expected friend, and relieved me from the necessity of further +search, by informing me that Mr. Younge had expected me, and provided +apartments for me in his own house. I shall have future occasion to +mention, that the beautiful Lady of this Gentleman was a Frenchwoman, +and that he had been about six months married to her when I arrived in +Paris. She was the niece of the celebrated Lally Tolendal, and had all +the elegance, beauty, and dignity which seems characteristic of that +family. I never saw a woman, whose perfect beauty excited in me at first +sight such a mixed emotion of wonder, awe, and pleasure. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + +_A Week in Paris--Objects and Occurrences--National Library--A +French Route--Fashionable French Supper--Conceits--Presentation +at Court--Audience._ + + +AS my purpose in visiting France was not to see Paris, I resolved to +make my stay in this gay capital as short as possible. I entered it on +the Tuesday afternoon, and determined to leave it and pursue my journey +into the provinces on the following Monday. I had therefore little time +to see the singularities of this celebrated metropolis; but I made the +best of this time, and had the advantage of Mr. Younge's knowledge and +guidance. + +There is no place in the world, perhaps, more distinguished for literary +eminence, in every part of art and science, than Paris. The literary +institutions of Paris, therefore, were the objects of my first visit. +Every capital has its theatres, public gardens, and palaces; but Paris +alone has its public libraries on a scale of equal utility and +magnificence. In Paris alone, science seems to be considered as an +object of importance to mankind, and therefore as a suitable object for +the protection of Government. In Paris alone, to say all in a word, the +poorest student, the most ragged philosopher, has all the treasures of +princes at his command; the National Library opens at his call, and the +most expensive books are delivered for his use. + +On the morning following my arrival, Mr. Younge accompanied me to the +National Library. On entering it, we ascended a most superb staircase +painted by Pellegrine, by which we were led to the library on the first +floor. It consists of a suite of spacious and magnificent apartments, +extending round three sides of a quadrangle. The books are ranged around +the sides, according to the order of the respective subjects, and are +said to amount to nearly half a million. Each division has an attending +librarian, of whom every one may require the book he wishes, and which +is immediately delivered to him. Being themselves gentlemen, there is no +apprehension that they will accept any pecuniary remuneration; but there +is likewise a strict order that no money shall be given to any of the +inferior attendants. There are tables and chairs in numbers, and nothing +seemed neglected, which could conduce even to the comfort of the +readers. + +The most complete department of the library is that of the manuscripts. +This collection amounts to nearly fifty thousand volumes, and amongst +them innumerable letters, and even treatises, by the early kings of +France. A manuscript is shewn as written by Louis the Fourteenth: it is +entitled, "Memoirs of his own Time, written by the King himself." I much +doubt, however, the authenticity of this production. Louis the +Fourteenth had other more immediate concerns than writing the history of +France. France is full of these literary forgeries. Every king of +France, if the titles of books may be received as a proof of their +authenticity, has not only written his life, but written it like a +philosopher and historian, candidly confessing his errors and abusing +his ministers. + +The second floor of the building contains the genealogies of the French +families. They are deposited in boxes, which are labelled with the +several family names. They are considered as public records, and are +only producible in the courts of justice, in order to determine the +titles to real property. No one is allowed to copy them except by the +most special permission, which is never granted but to histriographers +of established name and reputation. The cabinet of antiques is stated to +be very rich, and, to judge by appearances, is not inferior to its +reputation. The collection was made by Caylus. It chiefly consists of +vases, busts, and articles of domestic use amongst the Romans. The +greater part of them have been already copied as models, in the +ornamenting of furniture, by the Parisian artists. This fashion indeed +is carried almost to a mania. Every thing must be Greek and Roman +without any reference to Nature or propriety. For example, what could +be so absurd as the natural realization of some of these capricious +ornaments? What lady would chose to sleep in a bed, up the pillars of +which serpents were crawling? Yet is such realization the only criterion +of taste and propriety. + +The cabinet of engravings detained us nearly two hours. The portfeuilles +containing the prints are distributed into twelve classes. Some of these +divisions invited us to a minute inspection. Such was the class +containing the French fashions from the age of Clovis to Louis the +Sixteenth. In another class was the costume of every nation in the +world; in a third, portraits of eminent persons of all ages and nations; +and in a fourth, a collection of prints relating to public festivals, +cavalcades, tournaments, coronations, royal funerals, &c. France is the +only kingdom in the world which possesses a treasure like this, and +which knows how to estimate it at its proper value. + +From the National Library we drove to the Athenee, a library and lecture +institution, supported by voluntary subscription. It is much of the same +nature as an institution of a similar kind in London, termed the British +Institute; but the French Athenaeum has infinitely the advantage. The +subscription is cheaper, being about four Louis annually, and the +lectures are more elegant, if not more scientific. There are usually +three lectures daily; the first on sciences, and the other two on +belles lettres. The lecture on science is considered as very able, but +those on the belles lettres were merely suited, as I understood, to +French frivolity. The rooms were so full as to render our stay +unpleasant, and we thereby lost an anatomy lecture, which was about to +commence. I should not forget to mention, that all the Parisian journals +and magazines, and many of the German periodical works, were lying on +the tables, and the library seemed altogether as complete as it was +comfortable. The subscribers are numerous, and the institution itself in +fashion. How long it will so last, no one will venture to predict. + +The library of the Pantheon and that of the Institute finished our +morning's occupation. They are both on the same scale and nearly on the +same general plan as the National Library. The library of the Institute, +however, is only open to foreigners and the members of the Institute. +The Institute holds its sitting every month, and, according to all +report, is then frivolous enough. I had not an opportunity of being +present at one of these sittings, but from what I heard, I did not much +regret my disappointment. + +We returned home to dress for dinner. Mr. Younge informed, me, that he +expected a very large party in the evening, chiefly French, and as his +lady herself was a French woman, and had arranged her domestic +establishment accordingly, I felt some curiosity. + +About eight, or nearer nine, Mr. Younge and myself, with two or three +other of the dinner company, were summoned up to the drawing-room. The +summons itself had something peculiar. The doors of the parlour, which +were folding, were thrown open, and two female attendants, dressed like +vestals, and holding torches of white wax, summoned us by a low curtsey, +and preceded us up the great staircase to the doors of the anti-chamber, +where they made another salutation, and took their station on each side. +The anti-chamber was filled with servants, who were seated on benches +fixed to the wall, but who did not rise on our entry. Some of them were +even playing at cards, others at dominos, and all of them seemed +perfectly at their ease. The anti-chamber opened by an arched door-way +into an handsome room, lighted by a chandelier of the most brilliant cut +glass; the pannels of the room were very tastily painted, and the +glasses on each side very large, and in magnificent frames. The further +extremity of this room opened by folding doors into the principal +drawing-room, where the company were collected. It was brilliantly +lighted, as well by patent lamps, as by a chandelier in the middle. The +furniture had a resemblance to what I had seen in fashionable houses in +England. The carpet was of red baize with a Turkish border, and figured +in the middle like an harlequin's jacket. The principal novelty was a +blue ribbon which divided the room lengthways, the one side of it being +for the dancers, the other for the card-players. The ribbon was +supported at proper distances by white staves, similar to those of the +court ushers. + +The ball had little to distinguish it from the balls of England and +America, except that the ladies danced with infinitely more skill, and +therefore with more grace. The fashionable French dancing is exactly +that of our operas. They are all figurantes, and care not what they +exhibit, so as they exhibit their skill. I could not but figure to +myself the confusion of an English girl, were she even present at a +French assembly. Yet so powerful is habit, that not only did the ladies +seem insensible, but even the gentlemen, such as did not dance, regarded +them with indifference. + +Cotillons and waltzes were the only dances of the evening. The waltzes +were danced in couples, twenty or thirty at a time. The measure was +quick, and all the parties seemed animated. I cannot say that I saw any +thing indecorous in the embraces of the ladies and their partners, +except in the mere act itself; but the waltz will never become a current +fashion in England or America. + +There is no precedency in a French assembly except amongst the Military. +This is managed with much delicacy. Every group is thrown as much as +possible into a circle. The tables are all circular, and cotillons are +chiefly preferred from having this quality. + +I did not join the card-players; there were about half a dozen tables, +and the several parties appeared to play very high. When the game, or a +certain number of games were over, the parties rose from their seats, +and bowing to any whom they saw near them, invited them to succeed them +in their seats. These invitations were sometimes accepted, but more +frequently declined. The division of the drawing-room set apart for the +card-players served rather as a promenade for the company who did not +dance; they here ranged themselves in a line along the ribbon, and +criticised the several dancers. Some of these spectators seemed most +egregious fops. One of them, with the exception of his linen, was +dressed completely in purple silk or satin, and another in a +rose-coloured silk coat, with white satin waistcoat and small clothes, +and white silk stockings. The greater part of the ladies were dressed in +fancy habits from the antique. Some were sphinxes, some vestals, some +Dians, half a dozen Minervas, and a score of Junos and Cleopatras. One +girl was pointed out to me as being perfectly _a l'Anglaise_. Her hair, +perfectly undressed, was combed off her forehead, and hung down her back +in its full length behind. She reminded me only of a school-boy playing +without his hat. + +We were summoned to the supper table about three in the morning. This +repast was a perfect English dinner. Soup, fish, poultry and ragouts, +succeeded each other in almost endless variety. A fruit-basket was +served round by the servants together with the bread-basket, and a small +case of liqueurs was placed at every third plate. Some of these were +contained in glass figures of Cupids, in which case, in order to get at +the liqueur, it was necessary to break off a small globule affixed to +the breast of the figure. The French confectioners are more ingenious +than delicate in these contrivances; but the French ladies seem better +pleased with such conceit in proportion to their intelligible +references. Some of these naked Cupids, which were perfect in all their +parts, were handed from the gentlemen to the ladies, and from the ladies +to each other, and as freely examined and criticised, as if they had +been paintings of birds. The gentlemen, upon their parts, were equally +as facetious upon the naked Venuses; and a Swan affixed to a Leda, was +the lucky source of innumerable pleasant questions and answers. Every +thing, in a word, is tolerated which can in any way be passed into an +equivoque. Their conversation in this respect resembles their dress--no +matter how thin that covering may be, so that there be one. + +So much for a French assembly or fashionable rout, which certainly +excells an English one in elegance and fancy, as much as it falls short +of it in substantial mirth. The French, it must be confessed, infinitely +excell every other nation in all things connected with spectacle, and +more or less this spectacle pervades all their parties. They dance, they +converse, they sing, for exhibition, and as if they were on the stage. +Their conversation, therefore, has frequently more wit than interest, +and their dancing more vanity than mirth. They seem in both respects to +want that happy carelessness which pleases by being pleased. A +Frenchwoman is a figurante even in her chit-chat. + +It may be expected that I did not omit to visit the theatres. Mr. Younge +accompanied me successively to nearly all of them--two or three in an +evening. Upon this subject, however, I shall say nothing, as every book +of travels has so fully described some or other of them, that nothing in +fact is further required. + +I had resolved not to leave Paris without seeing the Emperor, and being +informed that he was to hold an audience on the following day, I applied +to Mr. Younge to procure my formal introduction. With this purpose we +waited upon General Armstrong, who sent my name to the Grand Chamberlain +with the necessary formalities. This formality is a certificate under +the hand of the Ambassador; that the person soliciting the introduction +has been introduced at his own Court, or that, according to the best +knowledge of the Ambassador, he is not a Merchant--a _Negociant actuel_. +It may be briefly observed, however, that the French Negotiant answers +better to the English Mechanic, than to the honorable appellation, +Merchant.--General Armstrong promised me a very interesting spectacle in +the Imperial audience. "It's the most splendid Court in Europe," said +he: "the Court of London, and even of Vienna, will not bear a comparison +with it." Every one agreed in the justice of this remark, and my +curiosity was strongly excited. + +On the appointed day, about three o'clock, Mr. Younge accompanied me to +the Palace, where we were immediately conducted to a splendid saloon, +which is termed the Ambassadors' hall. Refreshments were here handed +round to the company, which was very numerous, and amongst them many +German Princes in their grand court dress. The conversation became very +general; those who had seen Bonaparte describing him to those who were +about to be introduced. Every one agreed that he was the most +extraordinary man that Europe had produced in many centuries, and that +even his appearance was in no slight degree indicative of his character. +"He possesses an eye," said one gentleman, "in which Lavater might have +understood an hero." Mr. Younge confirmed this observation, and prepared +me to regard him with more than common attention. + +The doors of the saloon were at length thrown open, and some of the +officers of the Grand Chamberlain, with white wands and embroidered +robes and scarfs, bowing low to the company, invited us, by waving their +staves, to follow them up the grand staircase. Every one now arranged +themselves, in pairs, behind their respective Ambassadors, and followed +the ushers in procession, according to the precedence of their +respective countries, the Imperial, Spanish, and Neapolitan Ambassadors +forming the van. The staircase was lined on both sides with grenadiers +of the Legion of Honour, most of whom, privates as well as officers, +were arrayed in the order. The officers, as we passed, exchanged salutes +with the Ambassadors; and as the Imperial Ambassador, who led the +procession, reached the door of the anti-chamber, two trumpeters on each +side played a congratulatory flourish. The ushers who had led us so far, +now took their stations on each side the door, and others, in more +splendid habits, succeeded them in the office of conducting us. + +We now entered the anti-chamber, in which was stationed the regular +guard of the palace. We were here saluted both by privates and officers, +the Imperial Guard being considered as part of the household. From the +anti-chamber we passed onwards through nearly a dozen most splendid +apartments, and at length reached the presence-chamber. + +My eyes were instantly in search of the Emperor, who was at the farther +extremity, surrounded by a numerous circle of officers and counsellors. +The circle opened on our arrival, and withdrew behind the Emperor. The +whole of our company now ranged themselves, the Ambassadors in front, +and their several countrymen behind their respective Ministers. + +Bonaparte now advanced to the Imperial Ambassador, with whom, when +present, he always begins the audience. I had now an opportunity to +regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well +composed; his features regular, but in their _tout ensemble_ stern and +commanding; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was +dressed very splendidly in purple velvet, the coat and waistcoat +embroidered with gold bees, and with the grand star of the Legion of +Honour worked into the coat. + +He passed no one without notice, and to all the Ambassadors he spoke +once or twice. When he reached General Armstrong, he asked him, whether +America could not live, without foreign commerce as well as France? and +then added, without waiting for his answer, "There is one nation in the +world which must be taught by experience, that her Merchants are not +necessary to the existence of all other nations, and that she cannot +hold us all in commercial slavery: England is only sensible in her +compters." + +The audience took up little less than two hours, after which the Emperor +withdrew into an adjoining apartment; and the company departed in the +same order, and with the same appendages, as upon their entrance. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Departure from Paris for the Loire--Breakfast at Palaiseau--A +Peasant's Wife--Rambouillet--Magnificent Chateau--French +Cure--Chartres--Difference of Old French and English +Towns--Subterraneous Church--Curious Preservation of +the Dead--Angers--Arrival at Nantes._ + + +ON my first arrival at Paris, I had intended to remain there only till +the following week; but the kind importunities of Mr. Younge and his +family, induced me to consent to prolong my stay for some days, and an +arrangement was at length made, which caused me most cheerfully to +protract it still further. This arrangement was, that if I would remain +in Paris till after the National Fetes, Mr. Younge, his lady, and her +niece, Mademoiselle St. Sillery, would form a travelling party, and +accompany me in my tour along the banks of the Loire, and thence along +the Southern Coast. As I had no other purpose but to see France, its +scenery and its manners, nothing could possibly have fallen out more +correspondent with my wishes. I shall here cursorily mention, that +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, with the single exception of her aunt, was the +handsomest woman I had yet seen in France. + +If I pass over the National Fetes, it is because they differed nothing +from those which preceded them, and which have been minutely detailed by +every Traveller who has written his Tour. These national spectacles have +nothing in them which rewards the trouble of pressing through the mob to +see them. It consisted of nothing but a succession of buffooneries and +fire-works. The fire-works were magnificent--all the other sports +contemptible. In a word, I was so anxious to leave Paris, and to get +into the woods and fields, that the bustle around me scarcely attracted +my attention. + +At length, the morning of the 28th of July arrived, and after all due +preparations, I had the long wished-for pleasure of seeing Mr. Younge's +coach at the door, with its travelling appendages. Mr. Younge preferring +to accompany me on horseback, the coach was left to the ladies. In this +manner we left Paris at six o'clock on a lovely summer's morning, and in +less than half an hour were three miles on the road to Chartres, which +we hoped to reach to sleep. + +I had again occasion to observe, how much the environs of Paris differed +from those of London. Scarcely had we reached our first stage (about +seven miles), before every appendage of a metropolitan city had +disappeared. With the single exception of the road, which still +continued worthy of a great nation, the scenery and objects were as +retired as in the most remote corner of England. This absence of +commercial traffic has, however, one advantage--it adds much to the +beauty and romance of the country. In England, the manners, habits, and +dress of the capital, pervade to the remotest angle of the kingdom: +there is little variety in passing from London to Penzance. On the other +hand, in France, every Province has still its characteristic dress and +manners; and you get but a few miles from Paris, before you find +yourself amongst a new order of beings. + +We breakfasted at Palaiseau, a beautiful village, about twelve miles +from Paris. The inn being dirty, and having no appearance of being in a +situation to accommodate us to our wishes, Mr. Younge ordered the coach +to drive to a small cottage at the further end of the village. Our party +here dismounted; a small trunk, containing a breakfast equipage, was +taken from the coach, and the table was covered in an instant. The woman +of the house had been a servant of Mrs. Younge's, and married from the +family; her husband was a petty farmer, and was out in his fields. +Nothing could persuade Susette to sit in the presence of our ladies; but +she was talkative in the extreme, and seemed to be much attached to Mrs. +Younge, playing as it were with her hair as she waited behind her chair. +To Mr. Younge's questions, whether she was happy, and how she liked her +new state, she replied very carelessly, that her husband was as good as +husbands usually are; that, indeed, he had an affair with another +woman; but that he was gay, and not jealous, and therefore that she +overlooked it. Whilst she was saying this, the latch of the door was +raised, and a sturdy young peasant made his appearance; but seeing an +unexpected company, drew back in some confusion. Mr. Younge cast a +significant look at the ladies and Susette, whose looks explained that +they were not without foundation. Such are the morals, or rather the +manners, of the lower order of French wives. Gallantry is, in fact, as +much in fashion, and as generally prevalent through all orders, as in +the most corrupt aera of the monarchy--perhaps, indeed, more so; as +religion, though manifestly reviving, has not yet recovered its former +vigour. + +Having remounted our horses, and the ladies re-ascended into their +coach, we continued our journey through a country continually changing. +My observations on the road, undeceived me in a point of some +importance. I had hitherto believed France to have been an open country, +almost totally without enclosures, except the pales and ditches +necessary to distinguish properties. This opinion had been confirmed by +the appearances of the road from Calais to Paris. It was now, however, +totally done away, as the country on each side of me was as thickly +enclosed, as any of the most cultivated counties in England. Hereafter, +let no traveller assert that France is a country of open fields; +three-fourths of the kingdom is enclosed, even to the most minute +divisions. The enclosures, indeed, have not the neatness of those of +England; the hedges are rough and open, and there are few gates, and no +stiles. The French farmers, however, have already began to adopt much of +the English system in the management of their farms. According to the +information of Mr. Younge, many of the emigres having returned to +France, have given some valuable instructions to the people in these +important points; France is accordingly much better cultivated than +hitherto. + +Mr. Younge had the politeness to answer my questions respecting the +country through which we were passing, in the utmost possible detail; +and as he himself had traversed France in all directions, and was not +without some purpose of future settlement, his information was accurate +and valuable. He gave me to understand that, with the single exception +of the good enclosures, nothing could be so miserable as the system of +agriculture along the whole road from Paris to Mans. The general quality +of the soil is light and sandy, and exactly suited to the English system +of alternate crops of corn and roots; yet on such a soil, the common +course is no other than, fallow, wheat, barley, for nine years +successively; after which the land is pared and burnt, and then suffered +to be a fallow in weeds for another year, when the same course is +recommenced. "Under such management," continued Mr. Younge, "you will +not be surprised that the average produce of the province of Bretagne +does not exceed twelve bushels of wheat, and eighteen of barley. Turnips +they have no idea of; and as the proportion of cattle is very small, the +land is necessarily still farther impoverished from want of manure. The +rents are about 18 livres, or 15_s._ English; the price in purchase from +15_l._ to 18_l._ English. The size of the farms is generally about 80 +acres English; they are usually held from year to year, but there are +some leases. Having got rid of tithes, and the taxes being very +moderate," said Mr. Younge, "the price of land in France, both as to +rent or purchase, is certainly very moderate; and if we could but import +English or American workmen, or bring the French labourers to English or +American habits, no good farmer would hesitate a moment as to settlement +in France. But the French labourers are obstinate in proportion to their +ignorance, and without exception are the most ignorant workmen in the +world. Nothing is to be done with them; and though the Emperor has +issued a decree, by which foreigners settling with a view to agriculture +or manufactures, and giving security that they will not leave the +kingdom, may become denizens, I must still hesitate as to recommending a +foreigner to seek a French naturalization." + +In this conversation, after a long but not wearisome journey, we reached +Rambouillet. The trunk was again brought from the coach, and a table +furnished with knives, spoons, and clean linen--a kind of essentials +seldom to be seen in a French inn, and more particularly in such inns as +we had reason to expect at some of our stages, in the course of our long +tour. A servant had likewise been sent before, so that a tolerable +dinner was already in a state of preparation. Being informed, however, +that we had an hour still good, Mr. Younge and Mademoiselle St. Sillery +insisted upon taking me to see the celebrated chateau in which Francis +the First, breathed his last. + +Nothing can be more miserable, nothing more calculated to inspire +melancholy, than the situation and approach to this immense and most +disproportioned building. It is situated in a park, in the midst of +woods and waters, and most unaccountably, the very lowest ground in a +park of two thousand acres is chosen for its site. The approach to it +from the village is by a long avenue, planted on both sides by double +and treble rows of lofty trees, the tops of which are so broad and thick +as almost to meet each other. This avenue opens into a lawn, in the +centre of which is the chateau. It is an heavy and vast structure, +entirely of brick, and with the turrets, arches, and corners, +characteristic of the Gothic order. The property of it belongs at +present to the Nation, that is to say, it was not sold amongst the +other, confiscated estates; something of an Imperial establishment, +therefore, is resident in the chateau, consisting of a company of +soldiers, with two officers, and an housekeeper. One of the officers had +the politeness to become our guide, and to lead us from room to room, +explaining as he went whatever seemed to excite our attention. + +Louis the Fourteenth held his court in this castle for some years; and +from respect to his memory, the apartment in which he slept and held his +levee, is still retained in the same condition in which it was left by +that Monarch. This chamber is a room nearly thirty yards in length by +eighteen in width, and lofty in proportion: the windows like those of a +church. On the further extremity is a raised floor, where stands the +royal bed of purple velvet and gold, lined with white satin painted in a +very superior style. The colours, both of the painting and the velvet, +still remain; and two pieces of coarse linen are shewed as the royal +sheets. The counterpane is of red velvet, embroidered as it were with +white lace, and with a deep gold fringe round the edges: this is +likewise lined with white satin, and marked at the corners with a crown +and fleur de lys. On each side of the bed are the portraits of Louis the +Fourteenth and Fifteenth, of Philip the Fourth of Spain, and of his +Queen. The portrait of Louis the Fourteenth more peculiarly attracted my +attention, having been mentioned by several historians to be the best +existing likeness of that celebrated Monarch. If Louis resembled his +picture, he was much handsomer than he is described to have been by the +memoir-writers of his age: his countenance has an air of much +haughtiness and self-confidence, but without any mixture of ill-humour. +The chief peculiarity in his habit was a deep lace ruff, and a doublet +of light blue, very nearly resembling the jacket of the English light +cavalry. This portrait was taken when the King was in his twenty-eighth +year, and therefore is probably a far more correct resemblance than +those which were taken at a more advanced period--so true is the +assertion, of the poet, that old men are all alike. + +Immediately over that line of the apartment where the raised floor +terminates, is a gilded rod extending along the ceiling. When the King +held his court at Rambouillet, a curtain only separated his chamber and +the levee-room. In the latter room are several portraits of the Peers of +France during the reign of Louis the Fifteenth, with those of some +Spanish Grandees. + +We visited several other rooms, all of them magnificently furnished, and +all the furniture apparently of the same aera. The grand saloon appeared +to me to be the largest room I had ever seen; the floor is of white +marble, as are likewise two ranges of Corinthian pillars on each side of +the apartment. Its height, however, is not proportioned to its length, a +defect which, added to its narrowness, gives it the air of a gallery +rather than of a banquetting-room. + +We had not time enough to walk over the gardens; but, from a cursory +view of them, did not much regret our loss. They appeared spacious +enough; but so divided and intersected into plots, borders, narrow and +broad walks, terraces, and flowerbeds in the shape of stars, as to +resemble any thing but what would be called a garden in England and +America. This style of gardening was introduced into France by Le Notre, +and some centuries must yet pass away before the French gardeners will +acquire a more correct taste. What would not English taste have effected +with the capabilities of Rambouillet? A park of two thousand acres in +front, and a forest of nearly thirty thousand behind--all this, in the +hands of Frenchmen, is thrown away; the park is but a meadow, and the +forest a neglected wood. + +Upon our return to dinner, we found the _Cure_ of the village in rapid +conversation with Madame. The appearance of our equipage, consisting of +four horses in the coach, and three riding horses, had attracted him to +the inn; and Madame, having seen him, had invited him to join us at +dinner. He was a pleasant little man, and related to us many traditional +anecdotes of Louis the Fourteenth. This King was notoriously one of the +most gallant of the race of Capet. "Whilst resident at Rambouillet," +said the Cure, "being one day hunting, and separated from his suite, he +fell in with two young girls, the daughters of the better kind of French +farmers. The girls were nutting in the forest, and perfectly strangers +to the King's person. Louis entered into conversation with them, and--" + +The good Cure's narrative was here interrupted by dinner, much to the +disappointment of Mademoiselle St. Sillery, who entreated him to resume +his narrative upon the disappearance of the first dish. "I should think, +Angela," said Mrs. Younge, "that Monsieur Cure would continue it to more +advantage in the coach. The gentleman has informed me," continued she, +addressing herself to Mr. Younge, "that he has some business at +Chartres; and thinking it would add much to our general pleasure, I have +invited him to take the spare seat in our carriage." Mr. Younge could do +no less than second this invitation, and our party was thus reinforced +by the addition of a little gossiping French Cure. + +Monsieur Guygny, the name of this gentleman, was not however so much a +Cure, as to be deficient in gallantry to the ladies, and Mademoiselle +St. Sillery, as I thought, seemed to consider him as a valuable +acquisition to our travelling suite; she re-ascended the coach with +increased spirit, and the good Cure followed with true French agility. +Thus is it with French manners. Upon inquiry from Mr. Younge I learnt, +that not one of the party had ever seen or heard of Monsieur Guygny +before they had now met at Rambouillet. + +I felt some curiosity as to the interrupted narrative, even in despite +of the evident frivolity of the narrator. The arrangement of the party +in the coach compelled me to hear it at second hand, and I found it less +frivolous than I had anticipated: it was an amour between the King and a +peasant's daughter, in which the King conducted himself in a manner as +little excusable in a monarch, as in a more humble individual. The amour +was at length discovered by the pregnancy of the unfortunate girl, who +believed herself married to the King in the character of an officer of +his suite, and who, upon discovering the deception, died of shame and +grief. Her tomb is said to be still extant, and to be distinguished by a +fleur de lys impressed on it by command of the King. The story is said +to be well founded: be this as it may, our ladies seemed to have +received it as gospel. + +We readied Chartres by sunset. Nothing could be more delightful than the +approach to the town, which is situated upon the knoll of an hill, the +houses intermixed with trees, and the wetting sun gilding the spires of +the churches and convent. The town is divided into two parts by a small +river; the further part was situated upon the ascent, the other part +upon the banks of the river. On each side of the town are hills, covered +with woods, from the midst of which were visible the gilded spires of +convents and churches, whilst the intervening plains were covered with +corn-fields. The peasantry, as we passed them, seemed clean, well-fed, +and happy; we saw several groups of them enjoying themselves in the +evening dance. Our carriage was overtaken by them more than once; they +presented flowers and fruits to our ladies, and refused any return. Some +of the younger women, though sun-burnt, were handsome; and many of them, +from their fanciful dresses, resembled the cottagers as exhibited on the +stage. The men, on the other hand, were a most ugly race of beings, +diminutive in size, and with the features of an old baboon. Mr. Younge, +indeed, in some degree accounted for this, by the information that the +best men had been taken for the armies. + +Having taken our tea, and seen the necessary preparation for our beds, +our ladies changed their dresses, and, attended by the Cure, sallied +forth to the evening promenade still customary in all the French towns. +Mr. Younge and myself availed ourselves of this opportunity to visit the +curiosities of the town. + +I have frequently had occasion to remark, that the old French towns have +a very prominent distinction. The inland towns of England, be their +antiquity what it may, retain but little of their ancient form; from the +necessary effects of a brisk trade, the several houses have so often +changed owners, and the owners have usually been so substantial in +their circumstances, that there is scarcely a house, perhaps, but what +in twenty years has been rebuilt from its fundamental stone. It is not +the same with the houses in the old towns of France. A French +tradesman's house is like his stocking--he never thinks that he wants a +new one, as long as he can in any way darn his old one; he never thinks +of building a new wall, as long as he can patch his old one; he repairs +his house piece-meal as it falls down: the repairs, therefore, are +always made so as to match the breach. In this manner the original form +of the house is preserved for some centuries, and, as philosophers say +of the human body, retains its identity, though every atom of it may +have been changed. + +It is thus with Chartres, one of the most ancient towns in France, which +in every house bears evident proofs of its antiquity, the streets being +in straight lines, and the houses dark, large, but full of small rooms. +The town, as I have before said, is divided into two parts, by the river +Eure, and thence, according to the French historians, was called +_Autricum_ by the Romans. It is surrounded by a wall, and has nine +gates, the greater part of them of stone, and of a very ancient +architecture; they are all surmounted by a figure of the Holy Virgin, +the former patroness of the city. The cathedral church, if the +traditional accounts may be believed, was formerly a temple of the +Druids, dedicated to the _Virgo Paritura_; and though this antiquity +may be fairly disputed, the structure is evidently of the most remote +ages. According to the actual records, it was burnt by lightning in the +year of our Lord 1020, and was then rebuilt upon its ancient +foundations, and according to its former form, by Fulbert, at that time +the Bishop. It is thus, in every respect, the most ancient monument in +France, and is well deserving of being visited by travellers. We were +lost in astonishment as we descended from the upper church into a +subterraneous one, extending under the whole space of the one above it, +and having corresponding walls, choir, and even stalls. The bishops, +chapter, and principal persons of the city, are here buried. + +From the cathedral church, we were conducted to the other curiosities of +the city, one of which is well worthy of mention. This is a cave or +vault in the parish church of St. Andre. Upon descending it, our guide +removed successively the covers of six coffins, and desired us to +examine the bodies. They consisted of four men and two women; the faces, +arms, and breasts were naked, and had all the freshness as if dead only +the preceding day. One of the men had the mark of a wound under his left +breast; it seemed as if made by a pointed sword or pike, and was florid, +red, and fresh. "These persons," said our guide, "as you may see by the +inscriptions, have been buried from fifty to an hundred years; the +wounded man was the Mayor of the town about sixty years since, and was +wounded in an affray, of which wound he died." Upon receiving this +information, I had the curiosity to examine the vault more accurately: +it was walled all around, paved with stones closely cemented, and was +evidently more than commonly dry. + +We remained at Chartres the whole of the following day; and on the +morning of the next, still accompanied by the Cure, continued our +journey to Le Mans, where we likewise remained a day, and thence +proceeded for Angers. As our projected Tour along the Loire was to +commence at Nantes, we were eager to gain that city, and indeed scarcely +made use of our eyes, however invited, till we reached it. + +Mr. Younge and myself had an hour's walk over Angers; but as we saw it +more in detail as we descended the Loire, in the progress of our future +Tour, I shall say nothing of it in this place. + +Throughout the greater part of this road, as well as of that from Angers +to Nantes, nothing could be more delightful than the scenery on both +sides, and nothing better than the roads. From La Fleche to Angers, and +thence to Ancennis, the country is a complete garden. The hills were +covered with vines; every wood had its chateau, and every village its +church. The peasantry were clean and happy, the children cheerful and +healthy-looking, and the greater part of the younger women spirited and +handsome. There was a great plenty of fruit; and as we passed through +the villages, it was invariably brought to us, and almost as invariably +any pecuniary return refused with a retreating curtsey. One sweet girl, +a young peasant, with eyes and complexion which would be esteemed +handsome even in Philadelphia, having made Mr. Younge and myself an +offering of this kind, replied very prettily to our offer of money, that +the women of La Fleche never sold either grapes or water; as much as to +say, that the one was as plentiful as the other. Some of these young +girls were dressed not only neatly, but tastily. Straw hats are the +manufacture of the province; few of them, therefore, but had a straw +bonnet, and few of these bonnets were without ribbons or flowers. + +We were most unexpectedly detained at Chantoce by an accident to our +coach, which was three days before it was repaired. We the less, +however, regretted our disappointment, as it rained incessantly, with +thunder and lightning, throughout the whole of this time. The weather +having cleared, our coach being repaired, and our spirits being +renovated by the increased elasticity of the air, the preceding heat +having been almost intolerable, we resumed our progress, and at length +reached Nantes on or about the evening of the 1st of August. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + +_Nantes--Beautiful Situation--Analogy of Architecture with the +Character of its Age--Singular Vow of Francis the Second--Departure +from Nantes--Country between Nantes and Angers--Angers._ + + +THE plan of our Tour was, to descend the Loire from Nantes, and thence +traversing its banks through nearly two-thirds of its course, cross it +by La Charite, and continue our journey in the first place for +Languedoc, and thence across that delightful province into Provence, and +along the shores of the Mediterranean. Chance in some degree varied our +original design; but it will be seen in the sequel, that we executed +more of it than we had any reason to anticipate. A traveller in France +cannot reckon upon either his road, or his arrival, with as much +certainty as in England. Some of the cross roads are absolutely +impassable; and the French gentry of late have become so fond of jaunts +of pleasure, that if a travelling family should visit them in passing, +they will have great difficulty to get away without some addition to +their party, and some consequent variation from their projected road. + +We remained at Nantes three days, during which time I had leisure enough +to visit the town and the neighbourhood. + +Nantes is one of the most ancient cities in France; it is the +_Condivunum_ of the Romans, and the _Civitas Namnetum_ of Caesar. It is +mentioned by several Latin writers as a town of moat considerable +population under the Roman prefects; and there is every appearance, in +several parts of the city, that it has declined much from its original +importance. It is still, however, in every respect, a noble city, and, +unlike most commercial cities, is as beautifully as it is advantageously +situated. It is built on the ascent and summit of an hill, at the foot +of which is the Loire, almost as broad, and ten times more beautiful, +than the Thames. In the middle of the stream, opposite the town, are +several islets, on which are houses and gardens, and which, as seen by +the setting sun, about which time there are dancing parties, and +marquees ornamented with ribbons, have a most pleasing effect. The town, +however, has one defect, which the French want the art or the industry +to remove: the Loire is so very shallow near the town, that vessels of +any magnitude are obliged to unload at some miles above it. This is a +commercial inconvenience, which is not compensated by one of the finest +quays in Europe, extending nearly a mile in length, and covered with +buildings almost approaching to palaces. If Spain, as the proverb says, +have bridges where there is no water, I have seen repeated instances in +France where there are quays without trade. This is not, however, the +case with Nantes: it has still a brisk interior commerce, and the number +of new houses are sufficient proofs that its inhabitants increase in +opulence. + +Nantes was the residence and the burying place of the ancient Dukes of +Bretagne; in the town and neighbourhood, therefore, are many of the +relics of these early sovereigns. On an hill to the eastward is the +castle in which these princes used to hold their court: it is still +entire, though built nearly nine hundred years ago; and the repairs +having been made in the character of the original structure, it remains +a most perfect specimen of the architecture of the age in which it was +built. One room, the hall or banquetting-room, as in all Gothic castles, +is of an immense size, and lofty in proportion. The ornaments likewise +partake of the character of the age; they are chiefly carved angels, +croziers, and other sacred appendages. A remark here struck me very +forcibly, that many curious conclusions as to the characters, manners, +and even of the detail of domestic economy of men in the early ages, +might be deduced from the remains of their architecture. I have read +very curious and detailed histories founded only on the figures on +medals; the early history of Greece, and that of the lower empire of +Rome, have scarcely a better foundation. Now, why may not the same use +be made of architecture? Is not the religion of our ancestors legible in +the very ornaments of their house? Are not their excessive ignorance +and credulity equally visible in the griffins, sphinxes, dragons, +mermaids, and chimeras, which are so frequently carved in Gothic roofs, +and which are so absurdly mistaken for angels and devils? The analogy +might be extended much farther. + +The monument of Francis the Second, Duke of Bretagne, and father to Anne +of Bretagne, the Queen of France, is one of the most magnificent of the +kind in France, and from this circumstance, I suppose, has been suffered +to survive the Revolution undefaced. This monument was the work of +Michael Colomb, and is one of those works of art which, like the Apollo +Belvidere, is sufficient of itself to immortalize its artist. The +figures are a curious mixture of the wives and children of the deceased +Duke, with angels, cherubs, &c.; but this was the taste of the age, and +must not be imputed to Michael Colomb. The heart of Anne is likewise +buried in a silver urn in the same vault. The inscription on the tomb +relates a vow made by Francis to the Holy Virgin, that if he should +obtain a child by his second marriage, he would dedicate a golden image +to the Virgin. The prince obtained the child, and the image was made and +dedicated. + +It would be an injustice, in this account of Nantes, not to mention the +inn called the Hotel of Henry the Fourth. It is one of the largest and +most magnificently furnished in Europe. It makes up 60 beds, and can +take in 100 horses, and an equal proportion of servants. The rooms are +let very cheap, considering their quality: two neat rooms may be had for +four shillings a day; and a traveller may live very comfortably in the +house, and be provided with every thing, for about two guineas per week. +Horses are charged at the rate of two shillings only for a day and +night. And one thing which ought not to be forgotten, the beds are made, +and ladies are attended, by female servants, all of whom are neat, and +many of them very pretty girls. The contrary practice, which is almost +universal in France, is one of the most unpleasant circumstances to a +man educated in old English habits; for my own part, I never could +divest myself of my first disgust, at the sight of a huge, bearded, +raw-boned fellow, having access to the chamber at all hours, and making +the beds, and removing any of the usual appendages of a chamber, in the +presence of the ladies. + +Having seen enough of Nantes, and exchanged our coach for a kind of open +barouche, particularly adapted for the French cross roads, being very +narrow, and composed entirely of cane, with removable wheels, so as to +take to pieces in an instant, we resumed the line of our Tour, and took +the road along the Loire for Ancennis. + +It was a beautiful morning, and there being a fair at Mauves, a village +on the road, nothing could be more gay than our journey at its +commencement. I have forgotten to mention, that Mr. Younge and myself, +at the proposal of the ladies, had sent our horses forwards, and +therefore had taken our seats in the landau. The conversation of the +ladies was so pleasing and so intelligent, that hereafter I adopted this +proposal as often as it was offered, and as seldom as possible had +recourse to my horse. + +Mauves, which was our first stage, is most romantically situated on a +hill, which forms one of the banks of the Loire. The country about it, +in the richness of its woods, and the verdure of its meadows, most +strongly reminded me of England; but I know of no scenery in England, +which together with this richness and variety of woodland and meadow, +has such a beautiful river as the Loire to complete it in all the +qualities of landscape. On each side of this river, from Nantes, are +hills, which are wooded to the summit, and there are very few of these +wood-tufted hills, which have not their castle or ruined tower. In some +of these ancient buildings, there was scarcely any thing remaining but +the two towers which guarded the grand portal; but others, being more +durably constructed, were still habitable, though still retaining their +ancient forms. I have frequently had occasion to observe, that the +French gentry, in making their repairs, invariably follow the style of +the building; whether through natural taste, or because they repair by +piece-meal, and therefore do only what is wanted, I know not. But there +is one necessary consequence from this practice, which is, that the +remains of antiquity are more perfect in France than in any other +kingdom in Europe. From Mauves to Oudon, where we dined, the country is +still very thickly wooded and inclosed; the properties evidently very +small, and therefore innumerable cottages and small gardens. These +cottages usually consist of only one floor, divided into two rooms, and +a shed behind. They were generally situated in orchards, and fronted the +Loire. They had invariably one or two large trees, which are decorated +with ribbons at sunset, as the signal for the dance, which is invariably +observed in this part of France. Some of the peasant girls, which came +out to us with fruit, were very handsome, though brown. The children, +which were in great numbers, looked healthy, but were very scantily +clad. None of them had more than a shift and a petticoat, and some of +them girls of ten or twelve years of age, only a shift, tied round the +waist by a coloured girdle. As seen at some distance, they reminded me +very forcibly of the figures in landscape pictures. + +We remained at Oudon till near sunset, when we resumed our road to +Ancennis, where we intended to sleep. As this was only a distance of +seven miles, we took it very leisurely, sometimes riding, and sometimes +walking. The evening was as beautiful as is usual in the southern parts +of Europe at this season of the year. The road was most romantically +recluse, and so serpentine as never to be visible beyond an hundred +yards. The nightingales were singing in the adjoining woods. The road, +moreover, was bordered on each side by lofty hedges, intermingled with +fruit-trees, and even vines in full bearing. At every half mile, a cross +road, branching from the main one, led into the recesses of the country, +or to some castle or villa on the high grounds which overlook the river. +At some of these bye-ways were very curious inscriptions, painted on +narrow boards affixed to a tree. Such were, "The way to 'My Heart's +Content' is half a league up this road, and then turn to the right, and +keep on till you reach it." And another: "The way to 'Love's Hermitage' +is up this lane, till you come to the cherry-tree by the side of a +chalk-pit, where there is another direction." Mademoiselle Sillery +informed me, that these kind of inscriptions were characteristic of the +banks of the Loire. "The inhabitants along the whole of the course of +this river," said she, "have the reputation, from time immemorial, of +being all native poets; and the reputation, like some prophecies, has +perhaps been the means of realizing itself. You do not perhaps know, +that the Loire is called in the provinces the River of Love; and +doubtless its beautiful banks, its green meadows, and its woody +recesses, have what the musicians would call a symphony of tone with +that passion." I have translated this sentence verbally from my +note-book, as it may give some idea of Mademoiselle Sillery. If ever +figure was formed to inspire the passion of which she spoke, it was +this lady. Many days and years must pass over before I forget our walk +on the green road from Oudon to Ancennis--one of the sweetest, softest +scenes in France. + +We entered the forest of Ancennis as the sun was setting. This forest is +celebrated in every ancient French ballad, as being the haunt of +fairies, and the scene of the ancient archery of the provinces of +Bretagne and Anjou. The road through it was over a green turf, in which +the marks of a wheel were scarcely visible The forest on each side was +very thick. At short intervals, narrow footpaths struck into the wood. +Our carriage had been sent before to Ancennis, and we were walking +merrily on, when the well-known sound of the French horn arrested our +steps and attention. Mademoiselle Sillery immediately guessed it to +proceed from a company of archers; and in a few moments her conjecture +was verified by the appearance of two ladies and a gentleman, who issued +from one of the narrow paths. The ladies, who were merely running from +the gentleman, were very tastily habited in the favourite French dress +after the Dian of David; whilst the blue silk jacket and hunting cap of +the gentleman gave him the appearance of a groom about to ride a race. +Our appearance necessarily took their attention; and after an exchange +of salutes, but in which no names were mentioned on either side, they +invited us to accompany them to their party, who were refreshing +themselves in an adjoining dell. "We have had a party at archery," said +one of them, "and Madame St. Amande has won the silver bugle and bow. +The party is now at supper, after which we go to the chateau to dance. +Perhaps you will not suffer us to repent having met you by refusing to +accompany us." Mademoiselle Sillery was very eager to accept this +invitation, and looked rather blank when Mrs. Younge declined it, as she +wished to proceed on her road as quickly as possible. "You will at least +accompany us, merely to see the party."--"By all means," said +Mademoiselle Sillery. "I must really regret that I cannot," said Mrs. +Younge. "If it must be so," resumed the lady who was inviting us, "let +us exchange tokens, and we may meet again." This proposal, so perfectly +new to me, was accepted: the fair archers gave our ladies their pearl +crescents, which had the appearance of being of considerable value. +Madame Younge returned something which I did not see: Mademoiselle +Sillery gave a silver Cupid, which had served her for an essence-bottle. +The gentleman then shaking hands with us, and the ladies embracing each +other, we parted mutually satisfied. "Who are these ladies?" demanded I. +"You know them as well as we do," replied Mademoiselle Sillery. "And is +it thus," said I, "that you receive all strangers +indiscriminately?"--"Yes," replied she; "all strangers of a certain +condition. Where they are evidently of our own rank, we know of no +reserve. Indeed, why should we? It is to general advantage to be +pleased, and to please each other."--"But you embraced them, as if you +really felt an affection for them."--"And I did feel that affection for +them," said she, "as long as I was with them. I would have done them +every service in my power, and would even have made sacrifices to serve +them."--"And yet if you were to see them again, you would perhaps not +know them."--"Very possibly," replied she. "But I can see no reason why +every affection should be necessarily permanent. We never pretend to +permanence. We are certainly transient, but not insincere." + +In this conversation we reached Ancennis, a village on a green, +surrounded by forests. Some of the cottages, as we saw them by +moon-light, seemed most delightfully situated, and the village had +altogether that air of quietness and of rural retreat, which +characterizes the scenery of the Loire. Our horses having preceded us by +an hour or more, every thing was prepared for us when we reached our +inn. A turkey had been put down to roast, and I entered the kitchen in +time to prevent its being spoilt by French cookery. Mademoiselle Sillery +had the table provided in an instant with silver forks and table-linen. +Had a Parisian seen a table thus set out at Ancennis, without knowing +that we had brought all these requisites with us, he would not have +credited his senses. The inns in France along the banks of the Loire, +are less deficient in substantial comforts than in these ornamental +appendages. Poultry is every where cheap, and in great plenty; but a +French inn-keeper has no idea of a table-cloth, and still less of a +clean one. He will give you food and a feather-bed, but you must provide +yourselves with sheets and table-cloths. Our accommodations, with +respect to lodging for the night, were not altogether so uncomfortable: +the house had indeed two floors, but there were no stairs; so that we +had to ascend by a ladder, and that not the best of its kind. There +being, moreover, but two rooms, the one occupied by the landlord, his +wife, and two grown girls, there was some difficulty as to the disposal +of Mademoiselle Sillery and myself. It was at length arranged, that all +the females in the house should sleep in one room, and all the males in +another. When I came to take possession of my bed, I found that Mrs. +Younge had contrived to exempt her husband from this arrangement: he was +now sleeping by the side of the handsomest woman in France, whilst I was +lying at one end of a dirty room, the other being occupied by the +snoring landlord. Fatigue, however, according to the proverb, is better +than a bed of down; I accordingly soon fell asleep, and Mademoiselle +Sillery was not absent from my dreams. I should not forget to mention, +as another specimen of French manners, that I learned from this lady on +the following day, that she had slept with her sister and her husband. +Such are French manners. + +On the following morning, induced by the example of the landlord, and by +the beauty of the rising sun, I rose early, and accompanied by my host, +walked into the fields round the village. The environs of Ancennis +appeared to me extremely beautiful; whether from the mere effect of +novelty, or that they really were so, I know not. Some of the neater +cottages were situated in gardens very carefully cultivated, and so much +in the style of England, that, but for some characteristic frivolities, +I could scarcely believe myself in France. In every garden, or orchard, +I invariably observed one tree distinguished above the rest; it had +usually a seat around its trunk, and where its top was large enough, a +railed seat, or what is called in America a look-out, amongst its +branches. I had the curiosity to ascend to some of these, for the garden +gates were invariably only latched, and small pieces of wood were nailed +to the trunk, so as to assist the ascent of the women. The branches, +which formed the look-out, were carved with the names of the village +beauties, and in one of the seats I found a French novel, and a very +pretty paper work-box. I saw enough to conclude, that Ancennis was not +without the characteristic French elegance; and I must once for all say, +that the manners of Marmontel are founded in nature, and that the +daughters of the yeomanry and humbler farmers in France have an +elegance, a vivacity, and a pleasantry, which is no where to be found +out of France. + +On my return I found Mademoiselle Sillery at the breakfast table; and in +answer to her inquiries as to the object of my walk, informed her of my +observations. She replied, that they were very well founded, and added a +reason for it which seemed to me very satisfactory. "The French girls," +said she, "all at least who learn to read, are formed to this elegance +and softness by the very elements of their education; their class-book +is Marmontel, and La Belle Assemblee, the last, one of the prettiest +novels in France. They are thus taught love with their letters, and they +improve in gallantry as they improve in reading; and I will venture to +say," continued this elegant girl, "that by this method of instruction +we make a great earned where there is a love-story at the end of it." + +We shortly afterwards resumed our progress, and passed through a country +of the same kind as on the preceding day, alternate hill and valley. The +Arno, as described by the Tuscan poets, for I have never seen it, must +bear a strong resemblance to the Loire from Ancennis to Angers; nothing +can be more beautiful than the natural distribution of lawn, wood, hill +and valley, whilst the river, which borders this scenery, is ever giving +it a new form by its serpentine shape. The favourite images in the +landscapes of the ancient painters here meet the eye almost every +league: cattle resting under the shade, and attentively eyeing the +river, whilst the country around is of a nature and character, which the +fancy of a poet would select for the haunt of Dian and her huntresses. +The peasantry, as many of them as we met, seemed to have that life and +spirits the sure result of comfort; if they were not invariably well +clothed, they seemed at least sufficiently so for the climate of the +province. The younger women had dark complexions and shining black eyes; +their shapes were generally good, and their air and vivacity, even in +the lowest ranks, such as peculiarly characterize the French people. If +addressed, they were rather obliging than respectful, and had all of +them a compliment on their tongues' end. It was not indeed easy to get +rid of them with a mere word or question. I must add, however, that I am +here describing their manner towards Mr. Younge and myself. Towards the +ladies it was somewhat different. When Madame or Mademoiselle spoke to +them, they seemed modest and respectful in the extreme; to the latter, +indeed, they were more familiar, and many of them, on giving the adieu +after a ten minutes' conversation, very prettily embraced her, gently +putting their arms round her neck, and kissing the left shoulder; a form +of salutation very common in the French provinces. In a word, the more I +saw of the French character, the more did I wish that the more weighty +and valuable qualities of the English and American character, their +honesty and their sincerity, were accompanied by the gentleness, the +grace, the affectionate benevolence, which characterise the French +manners. + +Ingrande, where we dined, is the last town of the province of Bretagne, +on the Loire, and thenceforwards we had entered Anjou. It is a town of +above three hundred houses, built round the base of a sandy hillock, the +church being on the hill. The houses are intermingled with trees, and +the country very prettily planted. It is not to be expected that the +habitations in such a town could be any thing better than cottages; but +they were tolerably clean, and not very ruinous. + +We had now passed through the province of Bretagne as it lies along the +Loire, and it is but justice to say, that in point of natural scenery, +in the wildness and tranquillity which constitute what I should term the +romance of landscape, it exceeds every thing in Europe. Along the banks +of the Loire, France has meadows, the verdure of which will not sink in +comparison with those of England. Along the banks of the Loire, +moreover, France has woodlands, and lawns, and an, intermixture of wood +and water, and of every possible variety of surface, which no country in +the world but France can produce. The Loire is perhaps the only river in +Europe which is bordered by hills and hillocks, and which, in so long a +course, so seldom passes through a mere dead level. Accordingly, from +the earliest times of the French monarchy, the rising grounds of the +Loire have been selected for the sites of castles, monasteries, abbeys, +and chateaux, and as the possessors have superadded Art to Nature, this +natural beauty of the grounds has been improving from age to age. The +Monks have been immemorially celebrated for their skill as well in the +choice of situations as in their improvement of natural advantages; +their leisure, and their taste, improved by learning, have naturally +been employed on the scenes of their residence, on their vineyards and +their gardens. Innumerable are the still remaining vestiges of their +taste and of their industry, and I have a most sincere satisfaction in +thus doing them justice; in thus bearing my testimony, that, so far from +being the drones of the land, there is no part of a province which they +possessed, but what they have improved. The scenery along the Loire has +a character which I should think could not be found in any other +kingdom, and on any other river. Towns, windmills, steeples, ancient +castles and abbeys still entire, and others with nothing remaining but +their lofty walls; hills covered with vines, and alternate woods and +corn-fields--altogether form a landscape, or rather a chain of +landscapes, which remind one of a poem, and successively refresh, +delight, animate, and exalt the imagination. Is there any one oppressed +with grief for the loss of friends, or what is still more poignantly +felt, for their ingratitude and unkindness? Let him traverse the banks +of the Loire; let him appeal from man to Nature, from a world of passion +and vice, to scenes of groves, meads, and flowers. His must be no common +sorrow who would not forget it on the banks of the Loire. + + + +After a short rest at Chantoce, a village of the same rank and +character with Mauves, we arrived at Angers, where we proposed to remain +till the following Monday, having arrived there on the Thursday evening. +We had scarcely reached the inn, before a gentleman of the name of Mons. +de Corseult, to whom we had sent forwards our letters from Nantes, +addressed himself to us, and insisted that we should continue our +journey to his house, about half a mile on the other side of the town. +The ladies at length acceded to this proposal, on the condition that our +horses, servants, &c. should be sent back to the inn, and that ourselves +only should be the visitors of Mons. de Corseult. + + + + +CHAP. XII. + +_Angers--Situation--Antiquity and Face of the Town--Grand +Cathedral--Markets--Prices of Provisions--Public Walks--Manners +and Diversions of the Inhabitants--Departure from +Angers--Country between Angers and Saumur--Saumur._ + + +WE had intended to have reposed ourselves at Angers, but Mons. de +Corseult, having been very lately married, had his house daily full of +visitors, and as we were strangers, parties were daily made for us. +Whatever time I could steal from this unintermitting round, I employed +in walks to the town, and in the neighbourhood. Mr. Younge generally +accompanied me, but I was sometimes fortunate enough to be honoured with +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, an happiness of which I should have been more +sensible, had it not usually tempted the intrusion of some coxcomb, who +converted a tour of information into a mere lounge of levity and +senseless gallantry. How miserable would have been an English girl, of +the beauty and wit of this young lady, with such gallants! Or is it with +ladies as with the poet in Don Quixotte--are love and flattery sweet, +though they may come from a fool and a madman? I should hope not, or at +least with Mademoiselle St. Sillery. + +In despite, however, of these intrusions, we had two or three pleasant +walks through Angers, in which the curiosity of Mademoiselle was of much +use to me. He must be less than a man, who could be wearied even by the +most minute interrogations of an handsome woman. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, as if resolved to be ignorant of nothing, put the most endless +questions to those who accompanied us about the town; and with true +French gallantry, the answers even exceeded the questions. I had little +to do but to look and to listen. + + + +Angers is situated in a plain, which, in the distance being fringed with +wood, and being very fertile in corn and meadow, wants nothing of the +richness and beauty which seem to characterize this part of the +province. It is parted into two by a river called the Mayenne, which is +a small branch of the Loire, and again falls into the main river about +five miles from the town. The French, like the Dutch, seemed to be +peculiarly attached to this kind of site, having a river run through +their towns, one half being built on one side, and one on the other. The +water of the Mayenne is so harsh, that it cannot be drunk or used for +cookery, and were it not for the proximity of the Loire, and some +aqueducts, Angers, though built on a river, must necessarily become +desolate for want of water. The same improvidence is visible in many +towns in France, and still more in Holland. + +The walls round this city were built by King John of England, and though +six centuries, have elapsed, are still nearly entire. Part of them were +indeed demolished by Louis the Eighth, but they were restored in their +original form by his successor, and remain a proof of the durable style +of building of that Age (1230). The castle of Angers was built at the +same time. It is situated on a rock which overhangs the river, and +though now in decay, has still a very striking appearance. The walls are +lofty and broad, the towers numerous, and the fosses deep. They are cut +out of the solid rock, and must have required long and ingenious labour. + + + +The cathedral of Anjou, the inner part of which exactly resembles +Westminster Hall, is chiefly celebrated for containing the monument of +Margaret of Anjou, the queen of Henry the Sixth of England. This woman +was in every respect a perfect heroine, and worthy of her illustrious +father, Rene, King of Sicily. She was taken prisoner in the battle of +Tewkesbury, and immediately committed, to the Tower, from which she was +ransomed by Louis the Eleventh, of France. This King, however, who was +never known to forget himself, and act otherwise than selfishly, had a +very different motive than humanity for this apparent generosity: having +gained possession of the person of Margaret, he immediately rendered her +his own prisoner, and caused her father to be informed that if he wished +to ransom her, he must give up all his hereditary rights to the duchies +of Anjou and Lorrain. So tenderly did Rene love his daughter, that he +made the sacrifice without hesitation. The history of this princess, as +collected from the French memoirs, has an air rather of romance than of +real history. Though the English historians all concur in her praise, +they seem to know very little of her. A remark here suggested itself: +that the best of the English historians seem totally to have overlooked +all the French records, and to have confined themselves to the writers +of their own country. + + + +The general appearance of Angers does not correspond with the +magnificence of its walls, its castle, and its cathedral. Its size is +respectable; there are six parish churches, besides monasteries and +chapters, and the inhabitants are estimated at 50,000. The streets, +however, are very narrow, and the houses mean, low, and huddled: there +is the less excuse for this, as ground is plentiful and cheap; there is +scarcely a good house inhabited within the walls. The towns in France +differ in this respect very considerably from those in England: in a +principal town in England you will invariably find a considerable number +of good houses, where retired merchants and tradesmen live in the ease +and elegance of private gentlemen. There is nothing of this kind in the +French towns. Every house is a shop, a warehouse, a magazine, or a +lodging house. I do not believe that there is one merchant of +independent fortune now resident within the walk of Angers. This, +indeed, may perhaps arise from the difference in the general character +of the two kingdoms: in England, and even in America, there are few +tradesmen long resident in a town, without having obtained a sufficiency +to retire; whilst the French towns being comparatively poor, and their +trade comparatively insignificant, the French tradesman can seldom do +more than obtain a scanty subsistence by his business. In all the best +French towns, the tradesmen have more the air of chandlers than of great +dealers. There are absolutely no interior towns in France like Norwich, +Manchester, and Birmingham. In some of their principal manufacturing +places, there may indeed be one or two principal men and respectable +houses; but neither these men nor their houses are of such number and +quality, as to give any dignity or beauty to their towns beyond mere +places of trade. The French accordingly, judging from what they see at +home, have a very contemptible idea of the term merchant; and if a +foreign traveller of this class should wish to be admitted into good +company, let him pass by any other name than that of a marchand or +negociant. To say all in a word, this class of foreigners are +specifically excluded from admission at court. + + + +I visited the market, which in Angers, and I believe throughout France, +is held on Sunday. This is one of the circumstances from which a +foreigner would be very apt to form a wrong estimate of the French +character, which now, whatever it might be, is decidedly religious. But +the Roman Catholics have ever considered Sunday as at once a day of +festivity and a holiday; they have no scruple, therefore, to sing and +dance, and to hold their markets on this day; all they abstain from is +the heavier kind of work--labour in the fields and warehouses. A French +town, therefore, is never so gay as on a Sunday. I inquired the prices +of provisions. Beef and mutton are about 2_d._ per pound; a fowl 5_d._; +and turkies, when in season, from 18_d._ to 2_s_.; bread is about +1-1/2_d._ a pound; and vegetables, greens, &c. cheap to a degree. A good +house in Angers about six Louis per year, and a mansion fit for a prince +(for there are some of them, but without inhabitants) from forty to +fifty Louis, including from thirty to forty acres of land without the +walls. I have no doubt but that any one might live at Angers on 250 +Louis per annum, as well as in England for four times the amount. And +were I to live in France, I know no place I should prefer to the +environs of this town. The climate, in this part of France, is +delightful beyond description. The high vault of heaven is clad in +ethereal blue, and the sun sets with a glory which is inconceivable to +those who have only lived in more northerly regions; for week after week +this weather never varies, the rains come on at once, and then cease +till the following season. The tempests which raise the fogs from the +ocean have no influence here, and they are strangers likewise to that +hot moisture which produces the pestilential fevers in England and +America. There are sometimes indeed heavy thunder storms, when the +clouds burst, and pour down torrents of rain: but the storm ceases in a +few minutes, and the heavens, under the influence of a powerful sun, +resume their beauty and serenity. + +The soil in the neighbourhood of Angers (I speak still with reference to +its aptitude for the residence of a foreigner, for I confess this dream +hung very strongly on my imagination) is fertile to a degree, and as far +as I could understand, is very cheap. Every house, as I have before +said, without the walls, has its garden, and all kind of fruits and +vegetables were in the greatest plenty. The fences around the gardens of +the villages were very fantastically interwoven with the wreaths of the +vine, which would sometimes creep up the trunk of a tree, and sometimes +hang over the casements. Nothing can be more delightful than the vine +when flourishing in all this unbridled wildness of its natural +luxuriance, and as if justly sensible of its beauty, the French +cottagers convert it to the double purpose of ornament or utility. +Whilst travelling along, my spirits frequently felt the cheering +influence of the united images of natural beauty and of human happiness. +Often have I seen the weary labourer sitting under a sunny wall, his +head shaded by the luxuriant branches of the vine, the purple fruit of +which furnished him with his simple meal. Bread and fruit is the +constant summer dinner of the peasantry of the Loire. Upon this subject, +the general plenty of the country, I should not have forgotten to +mention, that in the proper season partridges and hares are in great +plenty, and being fed on the heath lands of Bretagne and Anjou, are said +to have the best flavour. An Englishman will scarcely believe, that +whilst he is paying 12_s._ a couple for fowls, half a guinea for a +turkey, seven shillings for a goose, &c. &c.: whilst such I say are the +market prices in London, the dearest price in the market of Angers is +10_d._ a couple for fowls, a shilling a couple for ducks, 1_s._ 6_d._ +for a goose. As to the quality of these provisions, the veal and the +mutton being fed in the meadows on the Loire, are entirely as good as in +England; but the beef, not being in general use except for soups and +stews, is of a very inferior kind. Wood is the only article which is +dear; but an Englishman in this country would doubtless rise above the +prejudices around him, and burn coal, of which there is a great plenty +in every part of France. + +I must not take leave of Angers without mentioning, that it was a +favourite station of the Romans, who, like the monks, always consulted +natural beauty in the site of the towns and permanent encampments. Many +remnants of this people are still visible: some of the arches of an +aqueduct are yet entire, and without a guide speak their own origin. + +Accompanied by Mr. Younge and Monsieur de Corseult, I visited the +Caserne and the National School. The Caserne was formerly a Riding +School of general reputation, and is one of the most superb buildings +of the kind in the world. Peter the Great of Russia was here instructed +in the equestrian art, and many other illustrious men are on its list of +scholars. The National School has nothing worthy of peculiar remark. +Angers before the Revolution was celebrated as a seat of literature: its +university, founded in 1246, was only inferior to that of Paris; and its +Academy of Belles Lettres, founded in 1685, was the first after that of +the Nation. The chapel of the university is now a gallery for paintings. +The professors of these literary institutions have very competent +salaries: the sciences taught are Mathematics, Medicine, Natural and +Experimental Philosophy, and the Fine Arts. The best quality, however, +of these institutions is that the instructions, such as they are, are +gratuitous; the doors are open to all who choose to enter them; those +only who can afford it are expected to pay. + +Angers, being so near La Vendee, suffered much by the Chouans, and still +retains many melancholy traces of the siege which it had to maintain. +The people, with feelings which are better conceived than expressed, +spoke with great reluctance on their past sufferings: there seems indeed +one great maxim at present current in France, and this is to forget the +past as if it had never happened. A foreigner is sure to offend, who +interrogates them upon any thing connected with the horrible +Revolution. + +Nothing can be more delightful than the environs of Angers, whether for +those who walk or ride. The country is thickly enclosed, and on each +side of the river varied with hill and dale, with woodland and meadow. +The villages and small towns along the whole bank of the Loire are +numerous, and invariably picturesque and beautiful. In the vicinity of +Angers the vineyards are very frequent, and cover the hills, and even +the valleys, with their luxuriance; nothing can be more beautiful than +the natural festoons which are formed by their long branches as they +project over the road, and when the grapes are ripe, the landscape wants +nothing of perfect beauty. The peasantry, the Vignerons as they are +called, live in the midst of their vineyards: their habitations are +usually excavated out of the rocks and small hillocks on which they grow +their vines, and as these hillocks are usually composed of strata of +chalk, the cottages are dry and comfortable. Some of them, as seen from +the road, being covered even over their doors by the vine branches, had +the appearance of so many nests, and as many of them as had two stories, +were picturesque in the extreme. Upon the whole, the condition of the +peasantry in this part of France is very comfortable: they are +temperate, unceasingly gay, and sufficiently clad; their wants are few, +and therefore their labour, added to the fertility of the soil, is +sufficient to satisfy them. They repine not for luxuries of which they +can have no notion. + +We took leave of Monsieur de Corseult on the Wednesday instead of the +Monday, but he insisted upon accompanying us on horseback half way to +Saumur, where we proposed sleeping. The ladies could not but accept this +obliging offer, and the information which Mons. de Corseult was enabled +to give us, rendered his society equally agreeable to Mr. Younge and +myself. We learned from this gentleman, that though Anjou is reputed to +have a great proportion of heath and barren land, it does not yield to +any province in France either for beauty or fertility. As much of it as +lays along the Loire, I have already had occasion to describe, and what +we were now passing through was not a whit behind it. Every village was +most romantically situated; some in orchards, some in fenced gardens, +some in corn-fields, and others in vales and in recesses on each side of +the road. The corn being ripe, added much to the beauty of the +landscape. In some fields the reapers were at work, and the harvest was +going on with true French gaiety. Sometimes we would see them dancing in +the field; sometimes sitting round some central tree sporting and +gamboling with the women and girls. I never saw a scene in England which +could enter into comparison with a French harvest. I was sorry, however, +to see that the women had more than their due share of the labour; they +reaped, bound, and loaded. Some of the elder women were accordingly very +coarse, but the girls were spirited, and pleasing. They nodded to us +whenever we caught their eyes, and if we stopt our horses, would come to +us, at whatever distance, as if to satisfy our inquiries. + +We happened to pass an estate which was for sale, and the house being at +hand, inquired the price and particulars. There were six hundred acres +of land, a good house, and the purchase-money was five thousand pounds +English. Four hundred acres were arable, the other wood and heath. In +England, the price of such an estate would have been at least twenty +thousand pounds. The land, though stony, was good, and under the hands +of a tolerable farmer, might have cleared the purchase-money in five +years. There was a trout stream and fish-ponds, and the whole country +was even infested with game. The chateau itself would certainly have +required some repairs; it was large and rambling, and seemed to have +more wood than brick. The land, however, was richly worth the money four +times over. + +We reached Saumur very late in the evening; it is a small, but very +pretty town, on the southern bank of the Loire. There are here two +bridges over the river; the one from the northern shore to an island in +the middle of the river; the other from the island to the southern +shore. Saumur was formerly a fortified city, and though the +fortifications are now neglected and in perfect ruin, it still maintains +its rank as a military town, and the names of travellers are formally +required, and formally registered. The inn at which we put up was very +comfortable; but the beds were so scented with lavender as to prevent me +from sleeping. Here likewise, I had the happiness of being again waited +upon by females. A young woman, the daughter of the landlord, not only +lighted me to my room, but took her seat at the window, and retained it +till she saw that I was in bed. The French women have none of that +bashful modesty which characterises the women of England and America. +Before getting into bed I was about to close a door, which I perceived +half open at the extremity of the room opposite to that occupied by my +bed; but Felice prevented me, by informing me that her sister and +herself were to sleep there, and as a further proof, shewing me the bed. +"Then I must leave my own chamber-door open," said I. "Certainly," said +she, "if you are not afraid of my sister and me: I have only to see if +Madame and Mademoiselle are in want of any thing, and then I shall come +to bed." "Where does Mademoiselle sleep?" said I. "In the same chamber +with Monsieur and Madame; it is a double-bedded room, on the first +floor, fronting the road; you might have observed the casements of it +shaded with the barberry tree. But you seem curious as to Mademoiselle. +Perhaps there is a _petite affaire_ of the heart between you. Well, +Heaven bless Monsieur, and may you dream that you are walking with your +love in the corn-fields!" Saying this, the sprightly girl left me with +the characteristic trip of French gaiety. I had the curiosity to remain +awake till her sister and herself passed through my chamber to their +own. The girls laughed as they went through the room, and had not even +the modesty (for so I must call it) to close their own door. It remained +a third part open during the whole night; and as they talked in bed, +they prevented my sleep. One of these young women might be twenty; the +other, though tall, could not be more than fourteen. + +I rose early in the morning with the purpose of a walk in the fields +around the town, and finding Felice was going to fetch some milk from a +village about half a mile distant, I accompanied her. It is needless to +say that she played off all the coquetries which are natural to French +girls in whatever station. By dint of frequent questions, however, I +collected from her some useful information. I had adopted it as a rule, +to obtain information on three points in every French town or village +where I might happen to stop--the price of provisions, the price of +land, and the price of house-rent. The price of provisions at Saumur, as +I learned from this girl, was very cheap: beef, not very good, that is, +not very fat, about 1-1/2_d._ (English) per pound; mutton and veal about +2_d._;--two fowls 8_d._; two ducks 10_d._; geese and turkies from 1_s._ +6_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._.;--fuel, as much as would serve three fires for the +year, about 5_l._;--a house of two stories and garrets, two rooms in +front and two in back in each story, such being the manner in which they +are built, a passage running through the middle, and the rooms being on +each side--such a house, resembling an English parsonage, about five +Louis a year; or with a garden, paddock, and orchard, about eight +Louis;--butter 8_d._ per pound; cheese 4_d._; and milk a halfpenny a +quart. According to the best estimate I could make, a family, +consisting of a man, his wife, three or four children, two +maid-servants, a man-servant, and three horses, might be easily kept at +Saumur, and in its neighbourhood, for about 100_l._ a year. I am fully +persuaded that I am rather over than under the mark. The country +immediately about Saumur is as lively and beautiful as the town itself. +It chiefly consists of corn-fields studded with groves, or rather tufts +of trees, and divided by green fences, in which were pear and +apple-trees in full bearing. The fields near the town had paths around +them and across them, where the towns-folk, as I understood from my +informer, were accustomed to walk in the evening and which, the corn +being ripe and high, were pleasantly recluse. Felice and myself crossed +three or four of them, and if I may judge from the little scrupulosity +with which she ran amongst the corn, the proprietors of the lands must +gain little from their fields being the customary promenade of their +townsmen. One thing, however, I have observed peculiar to the +landholders in France--that wherever the free use of their property can +contribute in any thing to the enjoyment of others; wherever their +fields, or even their parks and gardens, lie convenient for a promenade, +those fields, parks, and gardens, are thrown open, and whatever they +contain, flowers, fruits, and seats, are all at the public disposal. A +Frenchman never thinks of stopping up a bye-path, because it passes +within half a mile of his window; a Frenchman never thinks of raising +the height of his own wall, in order to interrupt the prospect of his +neighbour. One quality, in a few words, pervades all the actions, all +the words, and all the thoughts of a Frenchman--a general benevolence, +an anxious kindness, which is daily making sacrifices to oblige and even +assist others. + +Upon my return to the inn, I found Mademoiselle at the breakfast table, +which was set in a back room fronting a very pleasant garden. She +rallied me pleasantly enough, but as I thought with an air of pique, +upon my morning walk and my fair companion, and Felice happening to +enter the room, asked her how she should like a foreign husband. "Very +well, Mademoiselle," replied the girl with great innocence, "after I had +taught him to talk in French: and I believe you are of the same opinion, +Mademoiselle," added she with more pertness. Mademoiselle, with true +French dexterity, here dropt a cup on the floor, and thus saved the +necessity of reply, and furnished an excuse for the confusion into which +the girl's impertinence had evidently thrown her. Shall I confess that +my vanity was gratified, but I will defy any one to travel through +France, without becoming something of a coxcomb. + +Having resumed our journey, we proceeded merrily, under a cheering sun +refreshed by a morning breeze, on the road for Tours, through les Trois +Volets, and Langes. The road was still along the banks of the Loire, +and continued on the southern side till we reached Chousay, a very sweet +village, about twelve miles from Saumur. We had here a repast of bread, +grapes, and a sweet wine peculiar to the country, but the name of which +I have not noted; and though together with our servants we drank nearly +four quart bottles, and ate a good quantity of grapes and bread, our +reckoning did not exceed seven francs. Nothing indeed surprised me so +much as the uncommon cheapness in this country. The country to Chousay +had a very near resemblance to what we had passed through the preceding +day, except that it was more hilly, and the hills being clothed in +vines, more beautiful. On some of these hills, moreover, amidst groves +or tufts of trees, and lawns extending down the declivity, were some +very pretty chateaus, which being white and clean, looked gay and +animated. The landscape, indeed, seemed to improve upon us as we +advanced; every mile was as charming as the preceding, but every mile +began to have a new character. Sometimes the river ran through a plain +in which the peasants were gathering in their harvest, to the very brink +of the water. Sometimes, the banks on each side were covered with +forests, from the centre of which were visible steeples, villas, +windmills, and abbeys. At Chousay, I saw the cleanly way in which the +Vignerons of the Loire bruise their grapes. In Spain and Portugal, they +are put into a mash tub, and the juice is trodden from them by the bare +feet of men, women, and girls hired for the purpose: here the practise +is to use a wooden pestle. The grapes being collected and picked, are +put into a large vat, where they are bruised in the manner I have +mentioned, and are thence carried to the press. The vintage had not +indeed as yet begun, but I saw the process performed on a small quantity +of grapes, which had been ripened in a garden. Every vineyard +proprietor, besides his stock-fruit, has some peculiar species of grape +from which he makes the wine for his own use and that of his immediate +friends: these grapes are very carefully picked and culled, and none but +the soundest and best are thrown into the tub. The wine thus made is +infinitely superior to the stock-wine for sale: when old, it is not +inferior to Hock, and I believe is frequently sold as such by the +foreign purchasers. + +Our next post was Planchoury, a small village, which we reached about +six o'clock in the evening, and where we agreed to remain for the night, +that our horses might have a rest, which they seemed to require. Our inn +here was a farm-house. We had for our supper a couple of roasted fowls, +and a dish which I had never seen before, some new wheat boiled with +pepper and salt. It was so savoury, and I have reason to believe so +wholesome, that I have frequently taken it since. I can say from +experience, that it is a powerful sudorific, and very efficacious in a +cold. I must not forget to mention that I slept on some straw, in a kind +of hay-oft, and to the best of my memory never slept more delightfully. +When I opened my razor case on the following morning, I found a paper, +upon unrolling of which I found a ringlet of hair, with the word Felice +on the envelope. Once for all, the French women can think of nothing but +gallantry, and live for nothing but love. Sweet girl, I will keep thy +ringlet, and when weary of the world, will remember thee, and +acknowledge that life may still have a charm. + +We remained at Planchoury till the noon of the following day, when we +resumed our journey, with the intention of dining at Tours. From +Planchoury throughout the whole way to Tours, the scenery exceeded all +the powers of description. The Loire rolled its lovely stream through +groves, meads, and flowers. On both sides was a border of meadow clad in +the richest green, varied sometimes by hills which hung over the river, +the sides of these hills robed in all the rich livery of the ripening +grape, and the towers and battlements of castles just surmounting the +woods in which they were embosomed. How delightful must it be to wander +in a summer's evening along these lovely banks, far from the din of the +distant world, and where the deep tranquillity is only interrupted by +the song of the nightingale, the whistle of the swain returning from +labour, or the carol of the milkmaid as she is filling her pail. Surely +man was formed most peculiarly to relish the charms of Nature. Would +Heaven grant me my fondest wish, it would be to wander with * * * * on +the banks of the Loire. How sweetly, and even justly, did Felice +express the true image of love, when she wished me the golden +dream,--that I was wandering with my love in the corn-fields of Saumur. + +We passed through Langeais, a small town, celebrated for its melons, +with which it supplies Paris, and all France. This town was known to the +Romans, by whom it was called Alingavia. We stopped to examine its +castle, which is celebrated in the history of France, as the scene of +the marriage of Charles the Eighth and Anne of Bretagne. The castle, as +may be expected, is now in ruins; but enough remains of it, to prove its +former magnificence. It frowns with much sublimity over the subject +land. I never remember to have passed through a more lovely country, +more varied scenery, abounding in vines, corn, meadow, wood, and water, +than the whole of the road between Saumur and Tours. Well might Queen +Mary of Scotland exclaim, when leaving the vines and flowers of France +for her Scotch kingdom, "Dear, delightful land, must I indeed leave +thee! Gay, lovely France, shall I never see thee more!" + +We reached Tours somewhat later than we expected. According to our +previous arrangement, we were to stay there only the whole of the +following day, but we again broke our resolution, and extended our time +from one day to three. I envy not that man's heart who can travel France +by his watch. + + + + +CHAP. XIII. + +_Tours--Situation and general Appearance of it--Origin of the +Name of Huguenots--Cathedral Church of St. Martin--The +Quay--Markets--Public Walk--Classes of Inhabitants--Environs--Expences +of Living--Departure from Tours--Country +between Tours and Amboise._ + + +WE remained at Tours three days, and though nearly the whole of this +time was occupied in an unceasing walk over the town and environs, I was +still unwearied, and my subject still unexhausted. + +Nothing can be more charming than the situation of this town. Imagine a +plain between two rivers, the Loire and the Cher, and this plain +subdivided into compartments of every variety of cultivated land, +corn-fields studded with fruit-trees, and a range of hills in the +distance covered with vineyards to their top, whilst every eminence has +its villa, or abbey, or ruined tower. The cities in France, at least +those on the Loire, have all somewhat of a rural character; this may be +imputed to their comparative want of that trade and manufactures, which +in England, and even in America, convert every thing in the vicinity of +a town into store-yards. In France, trade has more room than she can +well fill, and therefore has no occasion to trespass beyond her limits. +There are few towns but have larger quays than their actual commerce +requires, and still fewer but what have more manufactories than they +have capitals to keep them in work. + +The general appearance of Tours, when first entered by a traveller, is +brisk, gay, and clean; a great part of it having been burnt down during +the reign of the unfortunate Louis, nearly the whole of the main street +was laid out and rebuilt at the expence of that Monarch. What before was +close and narrow, was then widened and rendered pervious to a direct +current of air. The houses are built of a white stone, so as to give +this part of the town a perfect resemblance to Bath. Some of them, +moreover, are spacious and elegant, and all of them neat, and with every +external appearance of comfort. The tradesmen have every appearance of +being in more substantial circumstances than is usual with the French +provincial dealers; their houses, therefore, are neat and in good +repair, the windows are not patched with paper, the wood-work is fresh +painted, and the pavement kept clean. + +The name of the Huguenots, a party which so fatally divided France +during three reigns, originated in one of the gates of this city, which +is called the Hugon gate, from Hugo, an ancient count of Tours. In the +popular superstition and nursery tales of the country, this Hugo is +converted into a being somewhat between a fairy and a fiend, and even +the illustrious De Thou has not disdained to make mention of this +circumstance: "_Caesaro duni_," says this celebrated historian, "_Hugo +Rex celebratur, qui noctu Pomaeria civitatis obequitare, et obvios +homines pulsare et rapere dicitur_." Be this as it may, the party of the +Huguenots, according to Davila, having originated in this city, they +were thence called Huguenots, as a term of derision and reproach. + +We visited the cathedral, which, with more decency than in England, is +open at all hours of the day, and is not exhibited for money. There +might be some excuse for this, where any of the subjects of exhibition +are portable, and such as might be carried away. But who would feel any +disposition to pilfer the wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, or the hat of +General Monk, in Westminster Abbey? Why, therefore, is not this +disgraceful practice thrown aside? Why is a nation converted into a +puppet-show? The English Minister would doubtless be ashamed to bring +the returns of these exhibitions amongst the ways and means of the year; +yet it is effectually the same to suffer these taxes to be taken as the +prices for seeing the public buildings of the nation. There is nothing +of this kind in America, or in any other kingdom in the world. The +cathedral of Tours has nothing to distinguish it except its antiquity, +two beautiful towers, and a library of most valuable manuscripts. +Amongst these there is a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the +alphabet of the country, upwards of eleven hundred years ago. There is +likewise a copy of the four Evangelists, written in Saxon letters, in +the beginning of the fifth century, about fifty years after Constantine +declared Christianity to be the religion of the Roman Empire. Next to +the cathedral, St. Martin's church is usually shewn to strangers. It is +the largest church in France, but very dark, damp, and built in a very +bad taste. The tomb of St. Martin, whom tradition reports to be buried +here, is behind the great Altar; it is of black marble, and though very +simple, is very striking. The ancient kings of France used to come to +this tomb previous to any of their important expeditions, and after +having made the usual prayers of intercession used to take away the +mantle of the Saint as the banner under which they were to fight: this +mantle still remains. + +The quay is broad, brisk, and clean. Even the French merchants seem +never to lose sight of the union of pleasure and profit: their quays are +terraces, and serve them as well for promenades as for business. One +reason, however, for the superiority of the French over the English +quays, may be, that the French Government consider these quays as public +and national works, and therefore puts them, I believe, under the same +system of management as the roads. What Government does, and does with +attention, will be done well, because Government consults for the +general good; whilst individual proprietors are only actuated by their +own immediate interest. If the wharfs and quays on the Thames had been +laid out by the English Government, would they have so totally defaced +and degraded the banks of that noble river? + +There is an excellent market for provisions; I had not the opportunity +of seeing it on the market day, but was informed in answer to my +inquiries, that every article was plentiful, and very cheap. Wood, which +is so dear in every other part of France, is here very cheap, the +country being overspread with forests, and the river furnishing a ready +transportation. Houses are good and cheap: the rent of a house +consisting of a ground floor, two stories above, and attics, the windows +in front of each floor being from six to eight, with coach-house, +stables, garden and orchards, is about 20_l._ English money, the taxes +from 1_l._ 10_s._ to 2_l._, and parish rates about 10_s._ annually. I +should not forget to mention, that the gardens are large, sometimes two +or three acres, encompassed with high walls, and well planted with +fruit-trees, and particularly wall-fruit. In the back part of these +gardens are usually gates opening into the fields, which I have before +mentioned have walks around and across them, and are the common +promenade of all who choose to use them. In the season of harvest or +vintage, nothing can be more charming than these walks; the French +gaiety and simplicity, not to say puerility, is then seen in all its +perfection; it is then a common sport amongst the ladies and the +gallants of the town to chase each other amongst the standing corn, and +as they endeavour to keep to the furrows, which are too narrow for their +feet, the chace is generally terminated by the fall of the runners, the +one over the other. The interest of the farmers cannot but suffer by +these frolics; but as they participate in the enjoyment, for every one +may salute a lady whom he finds in the corn, there is no complaint, and +indeed care is taken to do as little mischief as possible. In the summer +evenings these fields are almost the sole promenade; and the Mall, or +public walk of the town is entirely deserted. On Sundays, however, the +Mall has its turn, and all the beauty of the province, and the fashion +of the town, may be seen walking up and down this beautiful avenue, +being nearly a mile and half in length, and planted on both sides with +ranges of elms apparently almost as ancient as the town. The magistrates +are so careful of this ornament of their town, that they suffer no one +to walk there after rain, and penalties are imposed on every species of +nuisance or abuse. + +The society of Tours is infinitely beyond that of any other provincial +town in France. I have already mentioned, that there are some excellent +houses within the city, and they are in great numbers in the immediate +vicinity. Tours, in this respect, resembles Canterbury or Salisbury, in +England. It is the favourite retreat of such advocates as have made +fortunes in their profession. The noblesse of the province have their +balls and assemblies almost weekly during the summer months; and even +in the winter, Tours is by many preferred to Paris. It would be an +unpardonable omission, whilst I am upon this subject, not to notice the +uncommon beauty of the younger women; a beauty, the effect of which is +much raised by their vivacity, and unwearied gaiety. Love and gallantry +seem the main business of the town, and whilst we were there, we were +amused with two or three stories of infidelities on all sides. There is +a very pretty custom at their balls: if a lady accepts a partner, she +presents him, if in summer, with a flower; if in winter, with a ribbon +of what she has adopted as her colour. Every unmarried lady has a colour +which she has adopted as her own, and which she always wears on some +part of her dress. + +Tours was formerly celebrated for its silk manufactory, and enough of it +still remains to invite and to gratify the curiosity of a traveller. The +attention of the French Government is now unintermittingly occupied in +efforts to raise the manufactures of the kingdom, but whilst the war +makes such large demands, trade must necessarily be cramped. The +manufactories, however, still continue to work, and produce some +beautiful flowered damasks, and brilliant stuffs. The weavers for the +most part work at their own houses, and have so much by the piece, the +silk being furnished them by their employers. The prices vary with the +pattern and quality of the work; two livres per day is the average of +what can be earned by the weavers. The women weave as well as the men, +and their earnings may be estimated at about one half. Upon the whole, +however, these manufactures are in a very drooping condition, and are +scarcely visible to a foreign visitant, unless the immediate object of +his inquiry. There is likewise a ribbon manufactory, but the ribbons are +very inferior to those of England. About 1000 persons may be employed in +these two manufactories. + +We visited the castle of Plessis les Tours, which is not more than a +mile from the city. This chateau was built by that execrable tyrant, +Louis the Eleventh, was his constant residence during his life-time, and +the scene of his horrible death. This monarch is one of those whom all +concur in mentioning with execration; Richard of England has found +apologists in this ingenious age, but no one has come forward to defend +the memory of the French Tiberius. The castle is built of brick, and is +very pleasantly situated, being surrounded by woods. In the chapel is a +portrait of Louis the Eleventh; he is painted as in the act of saluting +the Virgin Mary, and our Saviour as an infant. His features are harsh, +and something of the tyrant is legible even through the adulation of the +painter. The castle, though built about 1450, is still perfect in all +its parts, and has some large apartments. + +I believe I have already mentioned, that when I had occasion to stop in +any town, which I thought had a _prima facie_ appearance of being a +place of pleasant residence or settlement for a foreigner, the main +object of my inquiries went to ascertain all those points which were +necessary to determine this question. Of all the cities which I had yet +seen, Tours appeared to me the best adapted for such a residence. The +country is delightful and healthy, the society good, and every necessary +article of life plentiful and cheap. Beef, veal, and mutton, are to be +had in great plenty, and the two latter excellent. Poultry is equally +plentiful and cheap. Fuel, to those who have horses, amounts almost to +nothing; house-rent likewise very reasonable. Land in purchase about +15_l._ per acre, one with another--wood, heath, and arable. In the +immediate neighbourhood of the town the meadow land is dear. I believe I +have now mentioned every thing. Young persons would find Tours a +delightful residence, as there is a never-ceasing course of balls and +parties. A carriage may be kept cheaply; in a word, I would venture +positively to say, that for 250_l._ English money annually, a family +might live at Tours in plenty and elegance; but let them not have +English or American servants. + +Having seen enough of Tours, we resumed our journey after our breakfast +on the third day, proposing to go no farther on that day than Amboise, +a distance short of twenty miles. Every traveller must have observed, +that the exhilaration of the animal spirits is never greater than after +an interval of fatigue succeeded by sufficient repose. A spirited horse, +for example, will perform his second stage, after a sufficient bait, +with more animation than his first: it is the same with travellers, or +at least I must assert it of myself. My satisfaction is always greater +in the progress, than in the commencement of a journey. There is a +dilatoriness, a _vis inertiae_, which hangs on me on my first departure, +and which does not pass away, till worked off by the fermentation of the +blood and spirits. + +The whole party, and myself amongst the number, left Tours in this +enviable state of spirits; the sun shone brightly, but a refreshing +breeze, and intervals of the road well shaded, softened an heat, which +might otherwise have been oppressive. Mr. Younge and myself rode on each +side of the carriage, and travelling slowly, as our proposed day's +journey was short, enjoyed at once the scenes of nature, and the +conversation of these lovely women. + +"The next village we shall come to," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +"will be a singularity. Unless we were with you, you might perhaps pass +through it without seeing it. You might pass through the midst of three +or four hundred inhabitants without seeing either house, man, woman, or +child." + +"You are speaking of Mont Louis," said Mr. Younge. + +"Yes," replied Mademoiselle, "but I will not anticipate Monsieur's +gratification by more fully informing him." + +Mr. Younge, in the course of this conversation, gave me some important +information with respect to the climate of this part of France. I have +entered it in my note book as nearly as possible in his own words, and +therefore shall give it as such. + +"If an American, an English, or a Swedish gentleman, wished to settle in +France," said he, "I would recommend above all provinces either +Tourraine or the Limosin. What the country is as to natural beauty, and +as to fertility of soil, you may see through every league; it is that +mixture of the wild and of the cultivated, of the field, of the wood, of +the vineyard, and of the garden, which is not to be equalled in Europe, +and which has rendered this part of France the favourite of painters and +poets from time immemorial. Here the Troubadours have built their fairy +castles, have settled their magicians, and bound their ladies in +enchanted gardens; and even the popular superstition of the country +seems to have taken its tone and colour from the images around. +Tourraine, and all the country on the banks of the Loire, has a kind of +popular mythology of its own; it is the land of fairies and elfins, and +there is scarcely a glen, a grove, or a shady recess, but what has its +tale belonging to it. What one of the French poets has said of the +Seine, may be said with more truth of the Loire--all its women are +queens, and all its young men poets. If Mademoiselle St. Sillery were +speaking," continued he, smiling at this young lady, "she would say, +that love reigned triumphant amidst the charms of Nature. + +"The climate exactly corresponds to this singular beauty of the country. +In many years there is no such thing as snow, and frosts are not +frequent, and never severe. The rainy weather comes usually at once, and +is confined to the spring. There are no fogs and vapours as is usual in +the northern kingdom: the spring is a continuance of such weather as is +seen in England about the middle of May. The harvest begins about the +latter end of June, but is sometimes so late as the middle of July; it +continues a month. The vent de bize is very rare in these provinces. The +great heats are from the middle of July to the middle of August During +this time, the climate of Touraine certainly exceeds any thing that is +common in England. The heaths are covered with thyme, lavender, +rosemary, and the juniper-tree: nothing can be more delightful than the +scent of them, when the wind blows over them. The hedges are every where +interspersed with flowers; there are blossoms of some kind or other +throughout the year. I must not, however, disguise from you, that there +are some drawbacks from this excellence: the countries south of the +Loire are subject to violent storms of rain and hail, and the latter +particularly is occasionally so violent, as to beat down and destroy all +the corn and vintage on which it may fall. These hail-storms, however, +at least in this excessive degree, are not very frequent; they sometimes +do not occur once in five years. Some years ago, they were more frequent +than they are at present: they used to come on at that time with a +violence which swept every thing before them, even destroying the +cattle, and it is said that even men have been killed by these +hail-stones. Such storms, however, are now considered as natural +phenomena. + +"The plenty of these provinces, I speak of Touraine and Anjou, is such +as might be expected from their climate, and the fertility of the soil. +I am persuaded, that a family or an individual might live at one-fourth +of the expence which it would cost them either in England or in America. +Bread is cheaper by two-thirds, and meat of all kinds is about +one-fourth of the London market. Land, both in rent and purchase, is +likewise infinitely cheaper than in England, and if managed with any +skill, would replace its purchase-money in seven years. The French +farmers, for want of capital, leave half their land totally +uncultivated, and the other half is most scandalously neglected. An +English farmer would instantaneously double or quadruple the produce of +the province. The government, moreover, admits foreigners of any country +as denizens, under the condition that they shall apply themselves to +agriculture or manufactures. I am not, however, certain that +agriculture is included in this permission, but I am inclined to believe +that it is comprehended in it. Of one thing I am sure, that the +government would not refuse its protection, and if required, its special +licence, to any foreign agriculturist, who should be desirous of +purchasing and settling." + +In this and similar conversation we reached Mont Louis, and it exactly +answered the description which the ladles had given of it. We were in +the midst of the village and its inhabitants before we saw it. Imagine a +number of sandy hills on each side of the road, and the sides of them +scooped out into houses or rather caves, and you have a sufficient idea +of this French village, containing some hundreds of inhabitants. The +hills being hollowed out on the further extremity from the road, a +traveller might certainly pass through it, without perceiving any thing +of it. This style is even carried where there is not the same natural +advantage of a hill to hollow out. The village extends into the plain, +which is likewise dug out into subterraneous houses, and which are only +visible by the smoke issuing from the chimnies. I could not understand +the convenience or necessity for these kind of habitations. The ground, +indeed, being chalky, is at once dry and easily dug, but on the other +hand, the country so abounds in wood and clay, that a very little +industry, and a very little expence, might have provided these living +human beings with something better than a grave. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, however, made a remark which I must not pass over. "You must +not," said this lady, "necessarily infer the misery of our peasantry, +because you see them in such unfit habitations. When you compare the +French poor, with the poor in your own country, you must take all +circumstances with you. When you see the French peasantry so ill lodged, +and so scantily clad, you must bring into your view at the same time the +difference of the climate. Here, the same sun which now shines upon us, +shines on us the whole year round; our rains are short, and all confined +to their season; we know nothing of the northern damps: a piece of +muslin or fine linen hung in one of those caves for six months, would be +dry and unsullied when removed. Those caves, moreover, bad as they are, +belong to their inhabitants; the property is their own. Can your +peasantry say the same? Believe me, Monsieur, there are many very happy, +aye and very lovely faces, under those turf dwellings." + +We reached Amboise in good time, and as we intended leaving it on the +following morning, Mr. Younge and myself walked over the town, in the +interval between dinner and tea. The ladies reserved themselves for the +promenade, which in the provincial towns usually begins at seven, and +continues till nine. + +Amboise, like all the towns on the Loire, is very pleasantly situated, +but has nothing in its structure to recommend it to particular notice. +It consists of two streets and a chateau. Before the Revolution it was +very singularly divided into two parishes and two churches: all +gentlemen, all military officers, all landed proprietors who possessed +honorary fiefs, and all strangers who were temporary residents, were +considered as belonging to one parish, and the people and the bourgeois +were attached to the other. The Revolution has annihilated these absurd +distinctions, and every one now belongs to the parish in which he +resides, or has property. + +We visited the chateau, or castle, which is indeed well worthy of the +particular attention of travellers. It is built upon a lofty and craggy +rock, and overhangs the Loire, which flows at the bottom; the side on +the Loire is perpendicular, and of great height, so as to render it +almost inaccessible. This vast structure was not all the work of one +time, or of one author. The present castle was built upon the ruins of +one which was destroyed by the Normans in the year 882, but having gone +into decay, was repaired and enlarged by Francis the First and Charles +the Eighth. The latter prince was born in this castle, and during his +whole reign it was the constant summer residence of the court. The most +remarkable part of this structure is what is called the oratory of Louis +the Wicked; it is at a great depth beneath the foundation of the castle, +and the descent to it is by spiral or well-stairs. It is literally +nothing more than a dungeon, on a platform, in which is a prostrate +statue representing the dead body of our Lord, as taken from the Cross, +covered with streaks of blood, and the skin in welts, as if fresh from +the scourge. According to the tradition of the neighbourhood, this was +the daily scene of the private devotions of Louis the Eleventh; and the +character of the place and of the images around, have certainly some +symphony with the known disposition of that monarch. No one, even in the +horrible Revolution, has disturbed these relics; it is still exhibited +as the tyrant's dungeon, and no one enters or leaves it without feeling +a renewed idea of the character of that execrable monster. + +The conspiracy of Amboise having originated in this city, the walls and +dungeons of the castle still retain some relics of the ferocious +cruelties exercised by the triumphant party of the Guises. Spikes, +nails, and short iron gibbets and chains, are still shewn on the walls, +on which were suspended the bodies of the prisoners who fell into their +hands. How difficult is it to reconcile such ferocity to the known +greatness of the Duke of Guise; but religious fury has no limits, and a +true enthusiast comforts himself that he tortures the body to save the +soul. Thank Heaven, that the days of such infuriate zeal are over: but +Heaven forbid that we should pass to the other extreme. Great as may be +the evils of bigotry, the mischief of religious indifference, or in +other words, of no religion at all, would be infinitely greater. The +one may affect the world as a storm, the other is a perpetual +pestilence, beneath the influence of which every thing that is generous +and noble, morals, and even private honor, must fall to the ground. + + + + +CHAP. XIV. + +_Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois--Ecures--Beautiful +Village--French Harvesters--Chousi--Village Inn--Blois-- +Situation--Church--Market--Price of Provisions._ + + +ON the following morning we resumed our journey for Blois, a distance of +thirty miles, which we proposed to reach the same day. + +The country for some leagues very nearly resembled that through which we +had passed on the preceding day, except that it was more thickly spread +with houses, and better cultivated. Windmills are very frequent along +the whole line of the Loire, the wheat of the country being ground in +the vicinity of the river, so as to be more convenient for +transportation. These mills are beautifully situated on the hills and +rising grounds, and add much to the cheerfulness of the scenery. The +road, moreover, was as various as it was beautiful. Sometimes it passed +through open fields, in which the peasantry were at work to get in their +harvest. Upon sight of our horses, the labourers, male and female, +ceased from their work, and ran up to the carriage: some of the younger +women would then present us with some wheat, barley, or whatever was +the subject of their labour, accompanying it with rustic salutations, +and more frequently declining than accepting any pecuniary return. This +conduct of the French peasantry is a perfect contrast to what a +traveller must frequently meet in America, and still more frequently in +England. Amongst the inferior classes in England and America, to be a +stranger is to be a subject for insult. So much I must say in justice +for the French of the very lowest condition, that I never received any +thing like an insult, and that they no sooner understood me to be a +stranger, than they were officious in their attentions and information. + +I enquired of Mr. Younge what were the wages of the labourers in this +part of France. "Their wages," said he, "are very different according to +the season. In harvest-time, they have as much as 36 sols, about 1_s._ +6_d._ English money. The average daily wages of the year may amount to +24 sols, or a shilling English; they are allowed moreover, three pints +of the wine of the country. Their condition is upon the whole very +comfortable: the greater part of them have a cow, and a small slip of +land. There is a great deal of common land along the whole course of the +Loire, and the farmers have a practice of exchanging with the poor. The +poor, for example, in many districts, have a right of commonage, during +a certain number of days, over all the common fields; the farmers having +possession of these lands, and finding it inconvenient to be subject to +this participation, frequently buy it off, and in exchange assign an +acre or more to every collage in the parish. These cottages are let to +the labourers for life at a mere nominal rent, and are continued to +their families, as long as they remain honest and industrious. There is +indeed no such thing as parochial taxes for the relief of the poor, as +in England, but distress seldom happens without being immediately +relieved." + +"In what manner," said I, "do the French poor live?" + +"Very cheaply, and yet all things considered, very sufficiently. You, +who have lived almost the whole of your life in northern climates, can +scarcely form any idea, what a very different kind of sustenance is +required in a southern one. In Ireland, however, how many robust bodies +are solely nourished on milk and potatoes: now chesnuts and grapes, and +turnips and onions in France, are what potatoes are in Ireland. The +breakfast of our labourers usually consists of bread and fruit, his +dinner of bread and an onion, his supper of bread, milk, and chesnuts. +Sometimes a pound of meat may be boiled with the onion, and a bouille is +thus made, which with management will go through the week. The climate +is such as to require no expence in fuel, and very little in clothes." + +In this conversation we reached Ecures, a village situated on a plain, +which in its verdure, and in the fanciful disposition of some trees and +groves, reminded me very strongly of an English park. This similitude +was increased by a house on the further extremity of the village: it was +situated in a lawn, and entirely girt around by walnut trees except +where it fronted the road, upon which it opened by a neat palisadoed +gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion, +that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was +freshly mown, and the flowers, the fresh-painted seats, the windows +extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of +the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from +getting on the lawn--all these were so perfectly in the English taste, +that I offered Mr. Younge any wager that the possessor had travelled. +"He is most probably a returned emigrant," said Mr. Younge; "it is +inconceivable how much this description of men have done for France. The +government, indeed, begins to understand their value, and the list of +the proscribed is daily diminishing." + +From Ecures to Chousi the country varies very considerably. The road is +very good, but occasionally sandy. To make up for this heaviness, it is +picturesque to a degree. The fields on each side are so small as to give +them a peculiar air of snugness, and to suggest the idea to a traveller, +how delightful would be a fancy-cottage in such a situation. For my own +part, I was continually building in my imagination. These fields were +well enclosed with thick high hedges, and ornamented with hedge-rows of +chesnut and walnut trees. There were scarcely any of them but what had a +foot-path on the side of the road; in others there were bye-paths which +led from the road into the country, sometimes to a village, the chimnies +only of which were visible; at other times to a chateau, the gilded +pinnacle of which shone afar from some distant hill. I observed several +fields of flax and hemp, and we passed several cottages, in the gardens +of which the flax flourished in great perfection, Mr. Younge informed +me, that every peasant grew a sufficient quantity for his own use, and +the females of his family worked them up into a strong, but decent +looking linen. "This is another circumstance," said he, "which you must +not forget in your comparison between the poor of France and other +kingdoms. The French peasantry, and particularly the women, have more +ingenuity than the English or American poor; they universally make every +thing that is connected with their own clothes. Their beds, blankets, +coats, and linen of all kind, are of the manufacture of their own +families. The produce of the man's labour goes clear to the purchase of +food: the labour of his wife and daughters, and even a small portion of +their labour, is sufficient to clothe him and to provide him with his +bed." + +We passed several groups of villagers reposing themselves under the +shade: I should not indeed say reposing, for they were romping, +running, and conversing with all the characteristic merriment of the +country. They saluted us respectfully as we passed them. In one of these +groups was a flageolet-player; he was piping merrily, his comrades +accompanying the tune with motions of their hands and neck. "Confess," +said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that we are a happy people: these poor +creatures have been at their labour since sunrise, and yet this is the +way they repose themselves." "Are they never wearied?" said I. "Never so +much so, but what they can sing and dance: their good-humour seems to +hold them in the stead of the more robust nerves of the north. Even +labour itself is not felt where the mind takes its share of the weight." + +"You are a philosopher," said Mr. Younge to her, smiling. + +"I am a Frenchwoman," replied she, "and would not change my cheerful +flow of spirits for all the philosophy and wisdom in the universe. +Nothing can make me unhappy whilst the sun shines." + +I know not whether I have before mentioned, that a great quantity of +maize is cultivated in this part of the kingdom. The roofs of the +cottages were covered with it drying in the sun; the ears are of a +bright golden yellow, and in the cottage gardens it had a beautiful +effect. I observed moreover a very striking difference between the +system of cultivating the flax in England and in France. In England the +richest land only is chosen, in France every soil indiscriminately. The +result of this difference is, that the flax in France is infinitely +finer than in England, a circumstance which may account for the +superiority of their lawns and cambrics. + +We reached Chousi to an early dinner. The woman of the house apologised +that she had no suitable room for so large a company, "but her husband +and sons were gathering apples in the orchard, and if we would dine +there, we should find it cheerful enough." We readily adopted this +proposal, and had a very pleasant dinner under an apple tree. +Mademoiselle and myself had agreed to divide between us the office of +purveyor to the party. It was my part to see that the meat or poultry +was not over-boiled, over-hashed, or over-roasted, and it was her's to +arrange the table with the linen and plate which we brought with us. It +is inconceivable how much comfort, and even elegance, resulted from this +arrangement. + +Mr. Younge and myself being engaged in an argument of some warmth, in +which Mrs. Younge had taken part, Mademoiselle St. Sillery had given us +the slip, and the carriage being ready, I had to seek her. After much +trouble I found her engaged in a childish sport with some boys and +girls, the children of the landlord: the game answered to what is known +in America by the name of hide and seek, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery, +when I found her, was concealed in a _saw-pit_. I have mentioned, I +believe, that this young lady was about twenty years of age; an elegant, +fashionable girl, and as far removed from a romp and a hoyden as it is +possible to conceive; yet was this young lady of fashion now engaged in +the most puerile play, and even seemed disappointed when she was called +from it. Such is the French levity, that sooner than not be in motion, +the gravest and most dignified of them would join in an hunt after a +butterfly. I have frequently been walking, with all possible gravity, +with Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when she has suddenly challenged me to +run a race, and before I could recover my astonishment, or give her an +answer, has taken to her heels. + +We reached Blois rather late; we had intended to have staid there only +the night, but as it was too late to see the town, and the following +morning was showery, we remained there the whole day, and very +pleasantly passed the afternoon in walking over the town, and informing +ourselves of its curiosities. The situation of Blois is as agreeable as +that of all the other principal towns on the Loire. The main part of it +is built upon an hill which descends by a gentle declivity to the Loire; +the remaining part of it is a suburb on the opposite side of the river, +to which it is joined by a bridge resembling that at Kew, in England. +From the hill on which the town stands is a beautiful view of a rich +and lovely country, and there is certainly not a town in France or in +Europe, with the exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such +a delightful landscape. It appeared, perhaps, more agreeable to us as we +saw it after it had been freshened by the morning rain. The structure of +the town does not correspond with the beauty of its site. The streets +are narrow, and the houses low. There are some of the houses, however, +which are very respectable, and evidently the habitation of a superior +class of inhabitants. They reminded me much of what are common in the +county towns of England. + +But the boast and ornament of Blois is its chateau, or castle. We +employed some hours in going over it, and I shall therefore describe it +with some fullness. + +The situation of it is extremely commanding, and therefore very +beautiful. It is built upon a rock which overhangs the Loire, all the +castles upon this river being built with the evident purpose of +controuling and commanding the navigation. What first struck us very +forcibly was the variety and evident dissimilarity of the several parts. +This circumstance was explained to us by our guide, who informed us that +the castle was the work of several princes. The eastern and southern +fronts were built by Louis the Twelfth about the year 1520, the northern +front was the work of Francis the First, and the western side of +Gaston, duke of Orleans. Every part accordingly has a different +character. What is built by Louis the Twelfth is heavy, dark, and +gothic, with small rooms, and pointed arches. The work of Francis the +First is a curious specimen of the Gothic architecture in its progress, +perhaps in its very act of transit, into the Greek and Roman orders; and +what has been done by Gaston, bears the character of the magnificent +mind and bold genius of that great prince. This comparison of three +different styles, on the same spot, gave me much satisfaction. + +The rooms, as I have said, such as were built by Louis the Twelfth, are +small, and those by Francis spacious, lofty, and boldly vaulted. Nothing +astonished me more than the minor ornaments on the points of the arches; +they were so grossly, so vulgarly indecent, that I was fearful the +ladies might observe me as I looked at them: but such was the taste of +the age. Others of the ornaments were less objectionable: they consisted +of the devices of the several princes who had resided there. + +We were shewn the chamber in which the celebrated Duke of Guise was +assassinated, and the guide pointed out the spot on which he fell. A +small chamber, or rather anti-chamber, leads to a larger apartment: the +Duke had passed through the door of this anti-chamber, and was opening +the further door which leads into the larger apartment, when he was +assassinated by order of Henry the Third. His body was immediately +dragged into the larger apartment, and the king came to view it. "How +great a man was that!" said he, pointing to his prostrate body. +Historians are still divided on the quality of this act, whether it is +to be considered as a just execution, or as a cowardly assassination. +Considering the necessary falsehood, and breach of faith, under which it +must have been perpetrated, the moralist can have no hesitation to +execrate it as a murder. + +We passed from this part of the castle to the tower at the western +extremity, called La Tour de chateau Regnaud, and so called, because a +seigniory of that name, though distant twenty-one miles, is visible from +its summit. The Cardinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which +his brother was assassinated, was imprisoned in this castle, and after +passing a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. The +dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to conceive: +the descent to them entirely indisposed us from going down. Imagine a +dark gloomy room, itself a horrible dungeon, and in the centre of the +floor a round hole of the size and shape of those on the paved footpaths +in the streets in London for shooting coals into the cellars. Such is +the descent to these dungeons: and in such a place did the great and +proud Cardinal of Guise terminate a life of turmoil and ambition. + +We next visited the Salle des Etats, or the States-hall, so called +because the States General were there assembled by Henry the Third: it +is a large and lofty room, but the part of it which chiefly attracts the +attention of travellers is the fire-place, where the bodies of the +Guises were reduced to ashes on the day following their murder. It is +not however easy to conceive, why vengeance should be carried so far. + +The western front of the castle, which was built by Gaston, Duke of +Orleans, is in every respect worthy of that great prince, and of the +architect employed by him, the illustrious Mansard. This architect +laboured three years upon this front, and having already spent three +hundred and thirty thousand livres, informed the prince, that it would +require one hundred thousand more to render it habitable. The prince, +however eager both to encourage the artist and to have the work +finished, could not muster up the money, which in that age was an +immense sum: the front, therefore, was left in the state in which it now +remains. It is as much to the credit of the Duke as to that of the +architect, that this noble front constituted his pride, and that he felt +the value of this work of Mansard. + +The gardens of the castle are worthy of the structure to which they are +attached: Henry the Fourth divided them by a gallery into the upper and +lower gardens, but nothing now remains of this gallery but the ruins. +The garden itself is now sold or let to private persons. + +Blois has several other buildings which are worthy of the attention of a +leisurely traveller: amongst these is the college, which formerly +belonged to the Jesuits, and which is at present a national school. The +church attached to the college combines every order of architecture: +there are two splendid monuments, moreover, the one to Gaston Duke of +Orleans, the other to a daughter of this prince. The courts, likewise, +in which the police is administered, are not unworthy of a cursory +attention; they are very ancient, having been built by the former Counts +of Blois. + +We were shewn likewise the aqueducts: the waters rise from a deep +subterraneous spring, and are conveyed in a channel cut in a rock. This +channel is said to be of Roman construction, and from its characteristic +boldness, and even greatness, it most probably is so. Whence is it, that +this people communicated their characteristic energy even to trifles. +The channel of the aqueduct empties itself into a reservoir adjoining +the city walls, whence they are distributed in pipes through all +quarters of the city. + + + + +CHAP. XV. + +_Houses in Chalk Hills--Magnificent Castle at Chambord--Return +from Chambord by Moon-light--St. Laurence on the +Waters._ + + +ON the following morning we resumed our journey. The country continued +very similar to that through which we had previously past, except that +it was more populous, and there were a greater number of chateaus. On +some parts of the road, the chalk hills on the side of the river +presented a very curious spectacle: smoke issued out of an hundred vents +on the sides and summits, and gave them the appearance of so many +volcanoes. The fact was, that the descent fronting the river was scooped +into houses or rather caves for the peasantry, and the roof was cut +upwards for the chimney. I was informed by Mr. Younge, that the other +circumstances of these houses and their inhabitants did not correspond +with the implied poverty in their construction. "The fronts of these +cottages," said he, "are very picturesque; they have casements, and the +walls are deeply shaded and embossed with vines. These caverns are in +some places in rows one above another. They are not all of them the +property of those who live in them: some of them are constructed at the +expence of the farmers, and are let out at a yearly hire of four or +five livres. The fronts are masonry: the small gardens which you see +above, belong to these cottagers; many of them have moreover a cow, +which they feed in the lanes and woods. Altogether, their condition is +more comfortable than you would imagine." + +As the distance between Blois and Orleans was too much for one day, we +had divided it into two, and arranged it so as to comprehend Chambord in +the first. This route indeed was considerably out of our direct way, but +Mr. and Mrs. Younge resolved that I should see Chambord, and would hear +of no excuses. + +In pursuance of this plan we turned out of the main road, and entered a +narrow one, which by its recluseness and solitude seemed to lead us into +the recesses of the country. Nothing can be more beautiful than these +bye-roads both in France and England. On the highways, and in the +vicinity or route of central and populous towns, the spirit of +improvement, and the caprice of wealth, too frequently destroy the +scenes of nature: the artist in fashion is set at work, and the field +and the meadow is supplanted by the park, the lawn, and the measured +avenue. In the bye-lanes, on the contrary, the country is generally left +in its natural rudeness, and therefore in its natural beauty: no one +thinks of improving the house, orchard, and fields of his tenant; no one +cares whether his gates are painted, or his hedges are trim and even. +The bye-road, therefore, has always been my favourite haunt; and if +ever I should make a pedestrian tour through Europe, I should go in a +track very different from any who have gone before. + +The scenery in this cross-road to Chambord, as to its general character, +was exactly what I had anticipated; recluse and romantic to the most +extreme degree. The fields were small, and thickly enclosed; nothing +could be more beautiful than the shocks of corn as seen through the +thick foliage of the hedges. "How pleasant," said Mademoiselle to me, +"would be a walk by sunset under those hedge-rows." I agreed in the +observation, and repeat it as conveying an idea of the character of the +scenery. The gates and stiles to these several fields seemed as if they +had been made by Robinson Crusoe: there is nothing in America more rough +and aukward. We passed several cottages very delightfully situated, and +without a single exception covered with grapes. The gradual approach to +them had something which spoke both to the imagination and the feelings. +Imagine the carriage driving very slowly onwards, when you suddenly hear +a sweet female voice carrolling away in all the wildness of nature, and +this without knowing whence it comes. On a sudden, coming nearer the +bottom of the hill, you see on one side of the road a cottage chimney, +peeping as it were from a tuft of trees in a dell, and immediately +afterwards, coming in front, behold a girl picking grapes for the press, +and chearfully singing over her toil. There are few of these cottages +but what have a garden fronting the road, and some of these gardens, in +the season of fruit and flowers, are inimitably beautiful. Where is it +that I have read, that a Frenchman has no idea of gardening? Nothing can +be more false: the French peasants infinitely excell the English of the +same order in the knowledge and practice of this embellishment. + +Nothing can be more obscure, more melancholy, than the situation of +Chambord; it is literally buried in woods, and the building, immense as +it is, is not visible till you are within some hundred yards of it. The +woods are not merely on one side, but entirely surround it, leaving only +a park in front, through the midst of which slowly flows a narrow river. +The day was overclouded, and I think I never beheld a more melancholy +scene. + +The style of building is strictly Gothic, and the architecture, +considering the order, is very good. It was built by Francis the First, +who, on his return from Spain, commanded the ancient chateau of the +Counts of Blois to be destroyed, and built this in its place. He is said +to have employed eighteen hundred workmen for twelve years, and even +then it was left unfinished. It is moated and walled round, and has +every appendage of the Gothic castle, innumerable towers and turrets, +drawbridges and portals. If seated upon an hill, it would be impossible +to conceive a finer object. + +The apartments correspond with its external magnitude; they are large +and spacious, but the effect of them is destroyed by what is very common +in old Gothic buildings; cross-beams from one side of the room to the +other. There is a silly story, that Catherine of Medicis had them so +placed by the advice of an astrologer, who having cast her nativity +discovered that she was in danger of perishing by the fall of an house. +The great Marshal Saxe lived and died in this chateau: the room in which +he breathed his last, is still shewn with great veneration. There is a +tradition that he was killed in a duel by the Prince of Conti, and that +his death was concealed. The Marshal lived here in great state; he had a +regiment of 1500 horse, the barracks of which are in the immediate +vicinity of the castle. The apartments which he occupied are in very +good taste; the ceilings are arched, and the proportions are excellent. +In one of the rooms is an admirable picture of Louis the Fourteenth on +horseback. The spiral staircase is a contrivance which it is impossible +to explain; it is so managed, as to contain two distinct staircases in +one, so that people may go up and down at the same time, without seeing +each other. The apartments are said to exceed twelve hundred. + +This castle was the favourite residence of Francis the First, and it was +here that he so magnificently received and entertained the Emperor +Charles the Fifth. Francis the First was in every respect a true French +Knight; gallant, magnificent, and religious in the extreme. There was +formerly a pane of glass in one of the windows of this chateau, on which +Francis the First had written the two following lines; + + Toute Femme varie, + Mal Habil qui s'y fie. + +This glass is now lost, and I transcribe the verses from a detailed +description of this chateau published at Paris. The castle has been +deserted since the death of Louis the Fourteenth. This monarch used +occasionally to hunt in its forests, but never made it a permanent +residence. + +We proposed to sleep at St. Laurence on the Waters, a beautiful village +on the high road to Orleans, and distant about twelve miles from +Chambord. It was evening before we left the castle, and the moon, though +not at the full, had risen, before we had performed the half our road. +Nothing could be more picturesque than the scenery, as now half +illuminated and half shaded. The cottage gardens looked like so many +fairy scenes. The peasant girls looking out of their windows, as they +were going to bed, added much to our mirth; and more particularly, as +our carriage was on a level with their windows. Whether the moon suited +their complexions better than the sun, or that they were different +individuals from those we had passed in the morning, I know not, but so +much I can say, that they appeared to me more delicate and beautiful. +One girl had the face of an angel: it is still imprinted on my mind, and +were I a painter, I could exhibit a most perfect resemblance of her, by +transferring the copy from my imagination to the canvass. There are some +faces which it is impossible to forget. + +We passed a group of gipsies: they were seated under a broad branching +oak by the road-side; there were twenty or more of them collected in a +circle, in the midst of which was a fire, and a pot boiling. "These +people," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "are realising the wish of our +good King Henry the Fourth: he wished that every peasant in France might +have a fire in his chimney, and a fowl in his pot:--- and fowls must be +very scarce, when these good folks are in want of them." + +"Whence is it," said I, "that such notorious thieves are tolerated." + +"From the humanity," said Mr. Younge, "which prevails from an indistinct +reference to their origin. They are generally considered as the refugees +from some persecution in their native land: they have fled from towns +and cities to the shelter of woods and fields. On the continent they are +almost universally called Bohemians, and regarded as the descendants of +those unfortunate exiles, who were driven out of that kingdom in the +religious wars. By others, they have been considered as descendants +from the Jews expelled from Syria and Judaea under the Roman emperors. In +short, every tradition concurs in representing them as having their +origin in some persecution." + +"But whatever this original stock must have been," said I, "it must +doubtless have long since perished, even in its posterity. Their +unsettled life is very unsuitable to keeping up their generation." + +Mr. Younge suggested, that the species had been supported by subsequent +additions; that it was a standing receptacle for all vagabonds and +beggars: "but there is something in the true gipsey," said he, "which I +cannot but consider as characteristic of a certain definite origin. They +are all tall, raw-boned, and with raven locks; and though like the Jews +of different countries they may have national traits, these traits are +never sufficient to merge a certain essential character; they seem +chiefly only minor differences added to others more strong and +indelible." + +We reached St. Laurence rather late, but were fortunate enough to +procure a good supper, two fowls being killed for the purpose. The +night, from some cause or other, was so chill, that we found it +necessary to have a fire, and being in excellent spirits, we sate up +late and talked merrily. + +On the following morning we continued our progress. The scenery had so +great a resemblance to the road of the preceding day, that I saw nothing +worthy of detailed remark. The country was rich in views and in +fertility. The agriculture, as far as I could judge of it, is very +slovenly: the wheat is mowed, and gathered in by hand and in small +carts. The labourers, however, appeared in tolerable good condition, and +what cottages we passed by the road side, had every appearance of much +comfort, and some substance. I must not forget to mention that I saw no +cottage without a slip of land, and in many parts of the road, on the +waste by its side, were single fruit trees railed round, which as I +understood from Mr. Younge were the property of labourers, whose +cottages were perhaps removed a league from their trees. These trees, +which were in full bearing, are so much respected by the usage of the +country, that they are never invaded. I was pleased with this trait of +general honesty and confidence: it is common in America, but not in +England. + +We passed several chateaus in meadows and lawns by the road side: some +of them were altogether in the ancient style, and so truly +characteristic of the French country house, as to merit a more detailed +description. + +In the ordinary construction of a French chateau, there is a greater +consumption of wood than brick, and no sparing of ground. It is usually +a rambling building, with a body, wings, and again wings upon those +wings; and flanked on each side with a pigeon-house, stables, and barns, +the pigeon-house being on the right, and the barns and stables on the +left. The decorations are infinitely beneath contempt; painted +weathercocks and copper turrets, and even the paint apparently as +ancient as the chateau. The windows are numerous, but even in the best +chateaus there is strange neglect as to the broken glass; sometimes they +are left as broken, but more frequently patched with paper, coloured +silk, or even stuffed with linen. The upper tier of windows, even in the +front of the house, is usually ornamented with the clothes of the family +hanging out to dry, a piece of slovenliness and ill-taste for which +there can assuredly be no excuse in the country where there is surely +room enough for this part of household business. Upon the whole, the +appearance of a French chateau, in the old style, resembles one of those +deserted houses which are sometimes seen in England, where the plaister +has been peeled or is peeling off, and where every boy that passes +throws his stone at the windows. + +The pleasure grounds attached to the chateau, very exactly correspond +with its style: the chateau is usually built in the worst possible site +of the whole estate. It generally stands in some meadow or lawn, and +precisely in that part of it which is the natural drain of the whole, +and where, if there were no house, there would necessarily be an +horse-pond. A grand avenue, planted on each side with noble trees, leads +up to the house, but is usually so overgrown with moss and weeds, as to +convey a most uncomfortable feeling of cold, dampness, and desolation. +The grass of the lawn is equally foul, and every thing of dirt and +rubbish is collected under the windows in front. The gardens behind are +in the same execrable state: gravel-walks over-run with moss and weeds; +flower beds ornamented with statues of leaden Floras, painted Mercurys, +and Dians with milk-pails. Every yard almost salutes you with some +similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped into peacocks, and not +unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen dancing a minuet. Pillars of +cypress, and pyramids of yew, terminate almost every walk, and if there +is an hollow in the garden, it is formed into a muddy pond, in which +half a dozen nymphs in stone, are about to plunge. The ill-taste of +these statues is not the worst; they are grossly indecent: nothing is +reserved, nothing is concealed; and yet the master of the house will not +hesitate to exhibit these to his female visitors, and what is worse, his +female visitors will look at them with a pleasant smile. Once for all, +there is no such thing as decency, as it is understood in other +kingdoms, to be found in France. Nature is the fashion of the day, and +according to the French philosophy, the passions are the best index to +what is natural. With a very few exceptions, the French women act up to +this doctrine, and are as natural as any one could wish them. + +We passed through many pretty villages, and amongst them Clery, where +Louis the Eleventh was buried. We visited the tomb of that memorable +tyrant: it is of white marble, and the taste of it is good. The King is +represented as kneeling, and in the attitude of addressing his prayers +to the Virgin. The church of Clery was built by this King, and it was +his express wish that he should be interred in it. The monument was +raised by Louis the Thirteenth. It contains likewise the heart of +Charles the Eighth, and the body of Charlotte of Savoy, the wife of +Louis the Eleventh. This monument has been much defaced, the hatred of +the tyrant extending to his remains. + +Clery was formerly a place of pilgrimage for the devout of all Europe. +There is an absurd story of a great bell in the church, which was said +to toll of itself, whenever any one, being in danger of any mischief by +sea or land, made a vow to the Holy Virgin, that if he escaped, he would +make a pilgrimage to Clery. The tolling of the bell was the acceptance +of the vow on the part of the Virgin. What a pity, that credulity should +injure the cause of true religion! + +We passed over the bridge of Mesmion, where Francis Duke of Guise was +assassinated. There is an ancient abbey of the Order of St. Benedict in +this village: The vineyards in this district were beautiful, and +apparently fertile to a degree. They are said * * * *. + +We reached Orleans to dinner, and whilst it was preparing had a walk +round the town. The ladies reserved themselves for the promenade, as we +intended to remain till the following morning. + +Orleans has a very near resemblance to Tours, though the latter town is +certainly better built, and preferable in situation; Orleans, however, +is situated very beautifully. The country is uneven and diversified, and +the fields have the air of pleasure grounds, except in the luxuriant +wildness of the hedges, and the frequent intermixture of orchard and +fruit trees. As seen from the road, the aspect of Orleans is extremely +picturesque: it reminded me strongly of some towns I had seen in the +interior of England. + +The interior of the town does not altogether correspond with the beauty +of the country in which it stands: some of the streets are narrow, the +houses old, and most execrably built. The principal street is in no way +inferior to that of Tours: it is terminated by a noble bridge, which has +lately been repaired from the ruinous state in which it was left by the +Chouans. The Grand Place is spacious, and has an air of magnificence. +The cathedral is worth peculiar attention: the first stone of it was +laid in the year 1287, but it was not finished till the year 1567. The +party of the Huguenots, having seized Orleans, destroyed a considerable +part of the cathedral; but Henry the Fourth, having visited the town, +caused it to be rebuilt. The chapels surrounding the altar are +wainscotted with oak, and the pannels are deeply cut into +representations of the histories of the New Testament. The +representation of our blessed Saviour on the cross, and the figures of +St. John and others of the Apostles, are very masterly. They are the +work of Baptiste Tubi, an Italian sculptor who sought refuge in France. + +The two towers built at the western extremity by Louis the Fifteenth, +are generally known and celebrated; by some they have been considered as +too highly ornamented, but their effect is great. Perhaps the ornaments +may indeed lose their own effect by being attached to a building which, +by exciting stronger emotions, necessarily merges the less. The prospect +from the summit of these towers exceeds all powers of description. The +country seems one boundless garden covered with vineyards, the richness +of which at this season of the year must be seen to be understood. No +description can convey it with force to the imagination. + +The Maid of Orleans, and the history of the times connected with her, +are too well known to render any detail of interest;--suffice it +therefore to say, that there are still several relics of her, and that +her memory is still held in veneration. In the Hotel de Ville is a +portrait of her at full length: her face is extremely beautiful, a long +oval, and has an air of melancholy grandeur which appeals forcibly to +the heart. She wears on her head a cap, or rather a bonnet, in which is +a white plume; her hair is auburn, and flows loosely down her back. Her +neck is ornamented with a necklace, surmounted by a small collar. Her +dress is what is termed a Vandyke robe; it fits closely, and is +scolloped round the neck, arms, and at the bottom. She holds a sword in +her hand. This picture is confirmed by its resemblance to her figure in +a monument in the main street. Charles the Seventh and the Maid of +Orleans are here represented kneeling before the body of our Saviour, as +it lies in the lap of the Virgin Mary. The King is bare-headed, his +helmet lying by him. The Maid of Orleans is opposite to him, her eyes +attentively fixed on Heaven. This monument was executed by the command +of Charles the Seventh, in the year 1458, and is therefore most probably +a correct representation both of the figure of the King himself and of +the Maid of Orleans. + +We attended the ladies in the evening to the promenade, or to the +parade, as it has now become the fashion to call it, since France, and +every thing in France, has taken a military turn. I was much pleased +with the beauty of the ladies, and still more with a modesty and simple +elegance in their dress, which I had not expected. But I have observed +more than once, that the fashions of the capital have improved as they +have travelled downwards into the provinces. They lose their excess, or +what we should call in wine, their rawness and their freshness. The +bosom which was naked in Paris has here at least some covering, and +there is even some appearance of petticoats. The colours, as being +adapted to the season, purple and straw, I thought elegant. There were +two or three of the younger ladies in the dresses of bacchanals; they +were certainly tasty, but they did not please me. + +We left Orleans at an early hour on the following day. The scenery +continued to improve as we advanced farther on the banks of the Loire. +For several miles it was so highly cultivated, and so naturally +beautiful, as to resemble a continued garden: the houses and chateaus +became neater, and every thing had an air of sprightliness and gaiety, +which might have animated even Despair itself. We observed that the +fields were even infested with game; they rose in the stubbles as we +passed along, and any one might have shot them from the road. Though +there are no game-laws in France, there is a decency and moderation in +the lower orders which answers the same purpose. No one presumes to +shoot game except on land of which he is the proprietor or tenant. + +I know not whether I have before remarked, that almost every chateau has +a certain number of fish-ponds, and a certain quantity of woodland, and +that these are considered as such necessary appendages, that an house +is scarcely regarded as habitable without them. The table of a French +gentleman is almost solely supplied from his land. Having a plenty of +poultry, fish, and rabbits, he gives very little trouble to his butcher. +Hence in many of the villages meat is not to be had, and even in large +towns the supply bears a very small proportion to what would seem to be +the natural demand of the population. + +Of all the provinces of France, those which compose the department of +the Loire are the richest, and best cultivated; and if any foreigner +would wish to fix his residence in France, let it be on the banks of +this river.--Fish, as I have said before, is cheap and plentiful, and +fowls about one-fourth of the price in England. The climate, not so +southerly as to be intolerably hot, nor so northerly as to be +continually humid, is perhaps the most healthy and pleasant in the +world--the sun shines day after day in a sky of etherial blue; the +spring is relieved by frequent intervals of sun, and the summer by +breezes. The evening, in loveliness and serenity, exceeds all powers of +description. The windows may be left safely open during the night; and +night after night have I laid in my bed, and watched the course of the +moon ascending in the fretted vault. Society, moreover, in this part of +the kingdom, is always within the reach of those who can afford to keep +it, and the expences of the best company are very trifling. I have +mentioned, I believe, that an establishment of two men servants, a +gardener, three maids, a family of from four to six in number, and a +carriage with two horses, might with great ease be kept in the French +provinces on an annual income from 250_l._ to 300_l._ per annum. + +One distinction of French and English visiting I must not omit. In +England, if any one come from any distance to visit the family of a +friend, he of course takes his dinner, and perhaps his supper, but is +then expected to return home. Unless he is a brother or uncle, and not +even always then, he must not expect to have a bed. To remain day after +day for a week or a fortnight, would be considered as an outrage. On the +other hand, in France, a family no sooner comes to its chateau for the +summer (for since the Revolution this has become the fashion), than +preparation is immediately made for parties of visitors. Every day +brings some one, who is never suffered to go, as long as he can be +detained. Every chateau thus becomes a pleasant assemblage, and in +riding, walking, and fishing, nothing can pass more agreeably than a +French summer in the country. As we passed along, we met several of +these parties in their morning rides; they invariably addressed us, and +very frequently invited us to their houses, though perfectly strangers +to us. The mode of living in these country residences differs very +little from what is common in the same rank of life in England. The +breakfast consists of tea, coffee, fruits, and cold meat. The dinner is +usually at two o'clock, and is served up as in England. The French +however have not as yet imitated the English habit of sitting at table. +Coffee in a saloon or pavilion, fronting the garden and lawn, +immediately follows the dinner: this consumes about two hours. The +company then divide into parties, and walk. They return about eight +o'clock to tea. After tea they dance till supper. Supper is all gaiety +and gallantry, and the latter perhaps of a kind, which in England would +not be deemed very innocent. The champagne then goes round, and the +ladies drink as much as the gentlemen, that is to say, enough to +exhilarate, not to overwhelm the animal spirits. A French woman with +three or four glasses of wine in her head, would certainly make an +English one stare; but France is the land of love, and it is an +universal maxim that life is insipid without it. + +We slept in a village, of which I have not noted the name: the ladies, +as usual, were huddled in one room, and Mr. Younge, as usual, was not +excluded from their party. For my own part I can sleep any where, and I +slept this night in the kitchen. The landlord, from civility, insisted +on having the honour of sleeping in the opposite corner. I very +willingly acceded to his request, and having made up a cheerful fire, we +composed ourselves in two chairs. The landlady seemed very indignant +that her husband should desert her bed: she was sure that Monsieur was +not afraid of remaining by himself. Her husband, she added, had a +rheumatism, and the night air might injure him. I was resolved, however, +for once to do mischief, or perhaps to do good, so said nothing, and the +husband was accordingly obliged to abide by his offer, and remain in the +kitchen. + + + + +CHAP. XVI. + +_Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns--Tremendous +Hail Storm--Country Masquerade--La Charite--Beauty +and Luxuriance of its Environs--Nevers--Fille-de-Chambre--Lovely +Country between Nevers and Moulins--Treading +Corn--Moulins--Price of Provisions._ + + +WE were two more days on our journey to La Charite: the scenery +continued the same, except that the surface became more level. On both +sides of the Loire, however, there was that appearance of plenty and of +happiness, of the bounty of Nature and of the cheerful labour of man, +which inspirits the heart of the beholder. The painters have very justly +adopted it as a maxim, that no landscape is perfect, in which there are +not the appendages of life and motion. The truth is, that man, as a +being formed for society, is never so much interested as by man, and it +is hence a maxim of feeling, as well as of moral duty, that nothing is +foreign to him as an individual which is connected with him in nature. + +In this part of our journey we saw more of French inns of all degrees +than we had hitherto experienced. I believe I have already mentioned, +that a very wrong idea prevails as to their comparative merit. In +substantial provision and accommodation, the French inns are not a whit +inferior to English of the same degree; but they are inferior to them in +all the minor appendages. In point of eating and drinking the French +inns infinitely exceed the English: their provisions are of a better +kind, and are much cheaper: we scarcely slept any where, where we could +not procure fowls of all kinds, eggs and wine. It is too true, indeed, +that their mode of cooking is not very well suited to an English palate; +but a very little trouble will remedy this inconvenience. The French +cooks are infinitely obliging in this respect--they will take your +instructions, and thank you for the honor done them. The dinner, +moreover, when served up, will consist of an infinite variety, and that +without materially swelling the bill. Add to this the dessert, of which +an English inn-keeper, except in the most expensive hotels, has not a +single idea. In France, on the other hand, in the poorest inns, in the +most ordinary hedge ale-house, you will have a dessert of every fruit in +season, and always tastily and even elegantly served. The wine, +likewise, is infinitely better than what is met with on the roads in +England. In the article of beds, with a very few exceptions, the French +inns exceed the English: if a traveller carry his sheets with him, he is +always secure of an excellent hair mattrass, or if he prefer it, a clean +feather-bed. On the other side, the French inns are certainly inferior +to the English in their apartments. The bed-room is too often the +dining-room. The walls are merely whitewashed, or covered with some +execrable pictures. There are no such things as curtains, or at least +they are never considered as necessary. There is neither soap, water, +nor towel, to cleanse yourself when you rise in the morning. A Frenchman +has no idea of washing himself before he breakfasts. The furniture, +also, is always in the worst possible condition. We were often puzzled +to contrive a tolerable table: the one in most common use is composed of +planks laid across two stools or benches. The chairs are usually of oak, +with perpendicular backs. There are no bells; and the attendants are +more frequently male than female, though this practice is gradually +going out of vogue. There is a great change moreover, of late years, in +the civility of the landlords--they will now acknowledge their +obligations to you, and not, as formerly, treat you as intruders. + +To sum up the comparison between a French and English provincial inn, +the expences for the same kind of treatment, allowing only for the +necessary national differences, are about one-fourth of what they would +be in England. In the course of our tour, we were repeatedly detained +for days together at some of the inns on the road, and our whole suite, +amounting to seven in number, never cost us more than at the rate of an +English guinea a day. In England I am confident it would have been four +times the sum. + +The last post but one before we reached La Charite, we were overtaken by +a tremendous shower of hail, a calamity, for such it is, which too +frequently afflicts this part of France. The hail-tones were at least as +large as nuts: some trees were at hand, under which we drove for +shelter. Had we been in an open exposed road, I have no doubt but that +the horses must have been hurt. I was informed, that these storms are +sometimes so violent as to kill the lambs, and even to wound in a very +dangerous manner the larger cattle. They usually happen about the end of +the spring and the summer. + +We passed some very pretty peasant girls, dressed in bodices laced +crossways with ribbon. They informed us that they were the daughters of +a small farmer, and were going to a neighbouring chateau to dance at the +birth-day of one of the ladies of the family. Mr. Younge complimented +them on their beauty; they smiled with more grace than seemed to belong +to their station. Our ladies at this instant came up; the young peasants +made a curtsey, which instantly betrayed their secret to Mrs. Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery. "Where is the masque?" said the latter. "In +the Chateau de Thiery," replied one of them, "about a fourth part of a +league through this gateway; perhaps, if you are going only to the next +post, you will join us. Papa and Mamma will be honored by your company." +The invitation was declined with many thanks to the charming girls. It +is needless to add, that they were young ladies habited as peasants, +and that there was a masque at the chateau. This kind of entertainment +is very common in this part of France. + +We reached La Charite in such good time, that we resolved to push on for +Nevers. I had a walk round the town whilst our coffee was preparing. The +interior of the town does not merit a word; the streets are narrow, the +houses low and dark, and this too in a country where the Loire rolls its +beautiful stream through meadows and plains, and where ground is +plentiful and cheap. I can readily account for the narrow streets in +capital cities, where locality has an artificial value, and where the +competition is necessarily great. But whence are the streets thus +huddled together, and the air thus carefully excluded, where there is no +such want of ground or value of building lots? It must here originate +purely in that execrable taste which characterized the early ages. + +The environs of the town, the fields, the meadows, the gently rising +hills, and the recluse vallies, compensate for the vile interior: Nature +here reigns in all her loveliness, and a poet, a painter, even any one +of ordinary feeling, could not see her without delight and admiration. +There are innumerable nightingales in the woods at a small distance from +the town. If the French noblesse had the taste of the English, the +vicinity of La Charite would be covered with villas. + +We took our coffee on a kind of raised mound, at the extremity of a +garden, which overhung the Loire. A lofty and spreading tree +overshadowed us, and stretched its branches over the river. In the fork, +formed where the trunk first divides into the greater branches, was a +railed seat and table. The view from hence over the meadow on the +opposite bank, was gay and picturesque. The peasant girls were milking +their cows and singing with their usual merriment. Parties of the +townsmen were playing at golf; others were romping, running, walking, +with all the thoughtless erility of the French character. I never +enjoyed an hour more sensibly. The evening was delightful, and all +around seemed gay and happy. + +Our journey to Nevers was partly by moon-light. The road exceeds all +powers of description. It was frequently bordered by hedges of flowering +shrubs, and such cottages as we passed seemed sufficient for the +climate. Why might not Marmontel have lived in such a cottage? thought +I, as I rode by more than one of them. This spot of France certainly +excells every part of the world. Even the clay and chalk-pits are +verdant: the sides are covered with shrubs which are raised with +difficulty even in the hot-houses of England. + +Our inn at Nevers, the Grand Napoleon, had nothing to correspond with +its sounding title; our bed-chambers, however, were pleasantly situated, +and for once since we had left Orleans, we had each of us his own +apartment. The fille-de-chambre too was handsome and cleanly-looking, +but somewhat more loquacious than a weary traveller required. She +endeavoured to bring me into a conversation on the subject of +Mademoiselle St. Sillery's beauty. The familiar impertinence of these +girls must be seen to be understood. One maxim is universal in +France--that difference of rank has no place between a man and a woman. +A fille-de-chambre is on a perfect footing of equality with a marshal of +France, and will address, and converse with him as such. They enter your +room without knocking, stay as long as they like, and will remain whilst +you are undressing. If you exhibit any modest unwillingness, they laugh +at you, and perhaps two or three of them will come in to rally Monsieur. +I must do them the justice, however, to add, that though their raillery +will be sometimes broad enough, it is never verbally indelicate. There +is less of this in the lower ranks in France than in England. The +decencies are observed in word, however violated in fact. + +Nevers is a pleasant town, and very agreeably situated on the +declivities of an hill, at the bottom of which flows the Loire. On the +summit of the hill is what remains of the palace of the ancient Counts; +it has of course suffered much from time, but enough still remains to +bear testimony to its original magnificence. We visited some of the +apartments. The tapestry, though nearly three centuries old, still +retains in a great degree the original brilliancy of its colours: the +figures are monstrous, but the general effect is magnificent. There is a +portrait of Madame de Montespan, the second acknowledged mistress of +Louis the Fourteenth. According to the fashion of the age, her hair +floats down her shoulders. She is habited in a loose robe, and has one +leg half naked. Her face has the French character; it is long, but +beautiful: its principal expression seemed to me voluptuousness, with +something of the haughty beauty. It is well known that her temper was +violent in the extreme, and perhaps the knowledge of this circumstance +might have impressed me with an idea which I have imputed to the +expression of the picture. + +The cathedral of Nevers is one of the most ancient in France. About one +hundred years since, in digging a vault, a body was discovered enveloped +in a long robe; some very old coins were found in the coffin, and the +habit in which the body was wrapped was of itself of the most ancient +fashion. According to the French antiquaries, this was the body of one +of the ancient dukes of Nevers. There are many other antiquities in the +town, but I do not find that I have noted them, except that they exist +in sufficient numbers to establish the ancient origin of this capital of +the Nivernois. + +Nothing can be more picturesque than the country between Nevers and +Moulins. Natural beauty, and the life and activity of cultivation, +unite to render it the most complete succession of landscape in France. +The road is gravel, and excellent to a degree. It is bordered by +magnificent trees, but which have been so planted, as to procure shade +without excluding air; the road, therefore, is at once shady and dry. +The chesnut trees, which are numerous in this part of the Bourbonnois, +in beauty at least, infinitely exceed the British oaks: they have a +bossy foliage, which reminds one of the Corinthian volutes. The French +peasantry are not insensible of this beauty--wherever there was a tree +of this kind of more than common luxuriance in its foliage, a seat was +made around the trunk, and the turf mowed and ornamented, so as to shew +that it was the scene of the village sports. Though England has many +delightful villages, and rustic greens, France beats it hollow in rural +scenery; and I believe I have before mentioned, that the French +peasantry equally exceed the English peasantry in the taste and rustic +elegance with which they ornament their little domains. On the great +scale, perhaps, taste is better understood in England than in France, +but as far as Nature leads, the sensibility of the French peasant gives +him the advantage. Some of the gardens in the provinces of France are +delightful. + +We passed several fields in which the farming labourers were treading +out their corn; indeed the country all around was one universal scene of +gaiety and activity in the exercise of this labour. The manner in which +it is done is, I believe, peculiar to France. Three or four layers of +corn, wheat, barley, or pease, are laid upon some dry part of the field, +generally under the central tree; the horses and mules are then driven +upon it and round it in all directions, a woman being in the centre like +a pivot, and holding the reins: the horses are driven by little girls. +The corn thrashed out is cleared away by the men, others winnow it, +others heap it, others supply fresh layers. Every one seems happy and +noisy, the women and girls singing, the men occasionally resting from +their labour to pay their gallant attentions. The scene is so animated +as to inspirit the beholder. It is evident, however, that this cheap +method of getting up their harvest, is only practicable in countries +where the climate is settled: even in this province they are sometimes +surprised with a shower, but as the sun immediately bursts out with +renewed fervour, every thing is soon put to rights. In Languedoc, as I +understood, they have no barns whatever, and therefore this practice is +universal. The wheat was not very heavy, it resembled barley rather than +wheat; the average crop about sixteen English bushels. Nothing is so +vexatious as the French measures; I do not understand them yet, though I +have inquired of every one. + +Moulins somewhat disappointed my expectation. It is indeed, beautifully +situated, in the midst of a rising and variegated country, with meadows, +corn-fields, hills, and woods, to which may be added the river Allier, +a stream so recluse and pretty, and so bordered with beautiful grounds, +as to give the idea of a park. These grounds, moreover, are laid out as +if for the pleasure of the inhabitants: the meadows and corn-fields are +intersected by paths in every direction; and fruit-trees are in great +number, and to all appearance are common property. There is something +very interesting in these characteristics of simple benevolence; they +recall the idea of the primaeval ages. I have an indistinct memory of a +beautiful passage in Ovid, which describes the Golden Age. I am writing, +however, without the aid or presence of books, and therefore must refer +the classical reader to the original. + +The interior of the town does not merit description: the streets are +narrow, the houses dark, and built in the worst possible style. The +architect has carried the idea of a city into the country: there is the +same economy of ground and light, and the same efforts for huddling and +comprehending as much brick and mortar as possible in the least possible +space. Its origin was in the fourteenth century. The Dukes of Bourbon +selected it as a place of residence during the season of the chace, and +having built a castle in the neighbourhood, their suite and descendants +shortly founded a town. This, indeed, was the usual origin of most of +the provincial towns in Europe; they followed the castle or the chateau +of the Baron. As seen in the fields and meadows in the vicinity of the +town, Moulins has a very agreeable appearance. The river, and the +beautiful scenery around it, compensate for its disagreeable interior; +and some trees being intermixed with the buildings of the town give an +air of gaiety and the picturesque to the town itself. + +The market-place is only worthy of mention as introducing the price of +provisions. Moulins is as cheap as Tours: beef, and mutton, and veal, +are plentiful; vegetables scarcely cost any thing, and fuel is very +moderate. Fruit is so cheap as scarcely to be sold, and very good; eggs +two dozen for an English sixpence; poultry abundant, and about sixpence +a fowl. A good house, such a one as is usually inhabited by the lawyer, +the apothecary, or a gentleman of five or six hundred per annum, in the +country towns in England, is at Moulins from twelve to fourteen pounds +per year, including garden and paddock. + +Our inn at Moulins, however, was horrible: our beds would have +frightened any one but an experienced traveller. + + + + +CHAP. XVII. + +_Country between Moulins and Rouane--Bresle--Account of the +Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois--Climate--Face +of the Country--Soil--Natural Produce--Agricultural +Produce--Kitchen Garden--French Yeomen--Landlords--Price +of Land--Leases--General Character of the French Provincial +Farmers._ + + +ON the following day we left Moulins for Lyons. The distance between the +two places exceeds an hundred miles; we distributed, therefore, our +journey into three days, making Rouane on the Loire, and Bresle, our +intermediate sleeping places. + +Between Moulins and Rouane, that is to say, during the whole of our +first day's journey, the country is a succession of hills and valleys, +of open and inclosed, of fields and of woodland, which render it to the +eyes of a northern traveller the most lovely country in the world. In +proportion, however, as the country becomes mere fertile, the roads +become worse. We had got now into roads comparatively very bad, but +still not so bad as in England and America. The beauty of the scenery, +however, compensated for this defect of the roads. We met many waggons, +the hind wheels of which were higher than those in front. This is one of +the few things in which the French farmers exhibit more knowledge than +the English. These wheels of the waggons were shod with wood instead of +iron. We passed several vineyards, in which the vines were trained by +maples, and festooned from tree to tree. They looked fanciful and +picturesque. The vines of this country, however, are said to yield +better in quantity than in quality. They produce much, but the wine is +bad, and not fit for exportation. + +In every hedge we passed were medlars, plumbs, cherries, and maples with +vines trained to them. This abundance of fruit gives an air of great +plenty, and likewise much improves the beauty of the country. The French +fruit of almost every kind exceeds the English. An exception must be +made with respect to apples, which are better in England than in any +country in the world. But the grapes, the plumbs, the pears, the +peaches, the nectarines, and the cherries of France, have not their +equal all the world over. They are of course cheap in proportion to +their abundance. The health of the peasantry may perhaps in good part be +imputed to this vegetable abundance. It is a constant maxim with +physicians, that those countries are most healthy, where from an +ordinary laxative diet, the body is always kept open. Half the diseases +in the world originate in obstructions. + +Rouane is a considerable town on the Loire; it is very ancient in its +origin, and its appearance corresponds with its antiquity. It is chiefly +used as an entrepot for all the merchandize, corn, wine, &c. which is +sent down the Loire. It is accordingly a place of infinite bustle, and +in despite of the river, is very dirty. He must be more fastidious than +belongs to a traveller, who cannot excuse this necessary appendage of +trade, and particularly in a town on the Loire, where a walk of ten +minutes will carry him from the narrow streets into one of the sweetest +countries under Heaven. Even the necessary filth of commerce cannot +destroy, or scarcely deface the beauty of the country. + +Our inn at Rouane was execrable beyond measure. Without any regard to +decency, we were introduced into a sleeping room with three beds, and +informed that Monsieur and Madame Younge were to sleep in one, +Mademoiselle St. Sillery in another, and myself in the third. It was not +without difficulty that I could procure another arrangement. The beds, +moreover, were without pillows. + +From Rouane to Bresle the country assumes a mountainous form, and the +road is bordered with chesnut trees. We had got now into the district of +mulberries, and we passed innumerable trees of them. Like other +fruit-trees, they grow wild, in the middle of fields, hedge-rows, and by +the road side. A stranger travelling in France is led to conclude, that +there is no such thing as property in fruit. Every one may certainly +gather as much as he chuses for his own immediate use. The peasants of +this part of the province are land proprietors; some of them possess +twelve or fourteen acres, others an hill, others a garden or a single +field. They appeared poor but comfortable. They raise a great quantity +of poultry and pigs, and reminded me very forcibly of the Negroes in the +West India Islands--a hard-working, happy, and cheerful race. I should +not, perhaps, omit to mention, that the houses of the peasants were very +different from any that I had yet seen. For the most part, they are +square, white, and with flat roofs. They are almost totally without +glass in the windows; but the climate is generally so dry and +delightful, that glass perhaps would rather be an annoyance. We are apt +to attach ideas of comfort or misery according to circumstances +peculiarly belonging to ourselves. Tell an English peasant that a +Frenchman has neither glass to his windows, nor sheets to his bed, and +he will conclude him to be miserable in the extreme. On the other hand, +tell a French peasant, that an English rustic never tastes a glass of +wine once in seven years, and he will equally pity the Englishman. + +Bresle is one of those villages which impress a traveller with a strong +idea of the beauty of the country, and of the state of the comfort of +its inhabitants. It is broad, clean, and most charmingly situated. On +every side of it rises a wall of mountains, covered to their very +summits with vines, and interspersed with the cottages of the Vignerons. +The river Tardine flows through the valley. This is what is termed a +mountain river, being in summer a brook, and in winter a torrent. In the +year 1715 it rose so high as to sweep away half the town: the +inhabitants were surprised in their beds, and many of them were drowned. +The river, when we passed, had no appearance of being capable of this +tremendous force: it resembled a little brook, in which a shallow stream +of very transparent water rolled over a bed of gravel. "How happy might +an hermit be," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "in a cottage on the side +of one of those hills! There is a wood for him to walk in, and a brook +to encourage him, by its soft murmurs, to sleep." I agreed in the +observation which exactly characterizes the scenery. + +Our inn at this town was in the midst of a garden, covered with fruits +and flowers. Our beds reminded me of England, except that again there +were no pillows, and absolutely nothing in the chamber but a bed. Every +thing, however, was delightfully clean; and as I lay in my bed, I was +serenaded by a nightingale. + +The road between Moulins and Lyons is certainly the most picturesque +part of France; every league presented me with something to admire, and +to note. My observations were accordingly so numerous, that I have +deemed it necessary to arrange them in some form, and to present them in +a kind of connected picture. Mr. Younge had the kindness to answer all +my questions as far as his own knowledge went; and where he was at a +loss himself, seized the first opportunity of inquiry from others. In +France, this is more practicable than it would be in any other country. +The French of all classes, as I have repeatedly had occasion to observe, +are unwearied in their acts of kindness; they offer their minor services +with sincerity, and you cannot oblige them more than by accepting them, +nor disappoint them more than by declining them. They have nothing of +the surliness of the Englishman. It would be considered as the most +savage brutality to hesitate in, and more particularly to refuse with +rudeness, any possible satisfaction to a stranger. To be a stranger is +to be a visitor, and to be a visitor is to have a claim to the most +extreme hospitality and attention. I can never enough praise the French +people for their indiscriminate, their natural, their totally +uninterested and spontaneous benevolence. + +I wish to convey a clear idea of this garden of France: I shall +therefore give my observations in full under the heads of, its climate, +its produce, its agriculture, and the manners of its provincial +inhabitants. + +The climate of the departments of the Nievre and the Allier, which +include the provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois, is the most +delightful under Heaven, being at once most healthy, and such as to +animate and inspirit the senses and the imagination: it is an endless +succession of the most lovely skins, without any interruption, except by +those rains which are necessary to nourish and fertilize. The winters +are mild, without fogs, and with sufficient sunshine to render fires +almost unnecessary. The springs answer to the ordinary weather of May in +other kingdoms. The summer and autumn--with the exception of hail and +thunder, which are certainly violent, but not frequent--are not +characterized by those heavy humid heats, which are so pestilential in +some parts of South America: they are light, elastic, and cheering. The +windows of the bed-chambers, as I have before mentioned, are almost all +without glass; or, if they have them, it is for show rather than for +use: the universal custom is, to sleep with them open. It is nothing +uncommon to have the swallows flying into your chamber, and awakening +you by early dawn with their twittering. When these windows open into +gardens, nothing can be more pleasant: the purity of the air, the +splendor of the stars, the singing of nightingales, and the perfume of +flowers, all concur to charm the senses; and I never remember to have +enjoyed sweeter slumbers, and pleasanter hours, than whilst in this part +of France. + +In March and April, the ground is covered with flowers; and many which +are solely confined to the gardens and hot-houses in England, may be +seen in the fields and hedge-rows. The colours are perhaps not +altogether so brilliant as in more humid climates, but be they what they +may, they, give the country an appearance of a fairy land. Pease are in +common use on every table in March, and every kind of culinary vegetable +is equally forward. The meadows are covered with violets, and the +gardens with roses: the banks by the side of the road seem one continued +bed of cowslips. In plain words, Spring here indeed seems to hold her +throne, and to reign in all that vernal sweetness and loveliness which +is imputed to her by the poets. + +The health of the inhabitants corresponds with the excellence of the +climate. Gouts, rheumatisms, and even colds, are very rare, and fevers +not frequent. The most common complaint is a dysentery, towards the +latter end of the autumn. + +The face of the country throughout the two departments of the Nievre and +the Allier, is what has been above described--an uninterrupted +succession of rich landscape, in which every thing is united which +constitutes the picturesque. The country sometimes rises into hills, and +even mountains; none of which are so barren but to have vineyards, or +gardens, to their very summits. In many of them, where the surface is +common property, the peasantry, in order to make the most of its +superficial area, have dug it into terraces, on which each of them has +his vineyard, or garden for herbs, corn, and fruits. The industry of the +French peasantry is not exceeded in any part of the world: wherever they +possess a spot of land, they improve it to its utmost possible capacity. +Under this careful cultivation, there is in reality no such thing in +France as a sterile mountain. If there be no natural soil, they will +carry some thither. + +There are numerous woods and forests in these departments. The wood +being interspersed amongst the hills and valleys, contribute much to the +beauty of the scenery: the same circumstance contributes more, perhaps, +to the comfort of the inhabitants. Fuel, so dear in almost every other +part of France, is here cheap to an extraordinary degree. Coal is +likewise found at some depth from the surface; but, of course, no use is +made of it. The French woods are more luxuriant, and generally composed +of more beautiful trees than those in England and in America. The +chesnut-tree, so common in France, is perhaps unrivalled in its richness +of foliage. The underwood, moreover, is less ragged and troublesome. +Nothing can be more delightful than an evening walk in a French wood. + +The soil of the department of the Allier is rather light: on the hills +it is calcareous; in the vales it is a white calcareous loam, the +surface of which is a most fertilizing manure of marl and clay. The +hills, therefore, are peculiarly adapted for vines, which they produce +in great quantities; and when on favourable sites, that is to say, with +respect to the sun, the quality of the wine corresponds with the +quantity. In this province, perhaps, there is a less proportion of waste +land than in any other department in France. The people are industrious, +and the soil is fruitful. There are certainly some wastes, which, under +proper cultivation, might be rendered fertile. I passed over many of +these, when an idea naturally arose in my mind, what a different +appearance they would assume under English or American management. But +the bad management of the French farmers is no derogation from the just +praise of its rich soil. + +The natural and agricultural produce is such, as to render these +provinces worthy of their characteristic designation--they are truly the +garden of France. The most beautiful shrubs are common in the woods and +hedges: not a month in the year but one or other of them are in full +flower and foliage. The botanist might be weary before he had concluded +his task. To a northern traveller, nothing appears more astonishing than +the garden-like air of the fields in France: he will see in the woods +and forests, what he has been hitherto accustomed to see only in +hot-houses. The natural history of these provinces would be an +inexhaustible subject: the cursory traveller can only describe +generally. + +Wheat, barley, oats, grasses, roots, and vines, are the staple +agricultural produce. The wheat is certainly not so heavy as that in +England, but the barley is not inferior to any barley in the world. The +French farmers calculate upon reaping about sevenfold; if they sow one +bushel, they reap, between six and seven. Potatoes have likewise, of +late years, become an article of field-culture and general consumption +in every department of France, and particularly in those of the Loire, +the Allier, and the Nievre. Every city is supplied with them almost in +as much abundance as the cities of England and America. Where wheat is +scarce, the peasantry substitute them as bread. To say all in a word, +they have of late years got into general consumption; though before the +Revolution they were scarcely known. + +The kitchen-garden in the French provinces is by no means so +contemptible as it has been described by some travellers. In this +respect they have done the French great injustice. I will venture to +assert, on the other hand, that nothing is cultivated in the +kitchen-gardens of England and America, but what, either by the aid of a +better climate, or of more careful and assiduous culture, is brought to +more perfection, and produced in greater plenty, in the kitchen-gardens +of France. I have already mentioned potatoes, which are cultivated both +in the garden and in the field: artichokes and asparagus are in great +plenty, and comparatively most surprisingly cheap--as many may be bought +for a penny in France as for a shilling in England. The environs of +Lyons are celebrated for their excellent artichokes; they are carefully +conveyed in great quantities to the tables of the rich all over the +kingdom. Pease, beans, turnips, carrots, and onions, are equally +plentifully cultivated, equally good, and equally cheap. + +I have frequently had occasion to speak of the slovenly agriculture of +the French farmers, and I am sorry to have to add, that the fertility of +the provinces of Nivernois and the Bourbonnois, is rather to be imputed +to the felicity of their soil and climate than to their cultivation. +There is certainly a vast proportion of waste land in these provinces, +which only remains waste, because the French landlords and farmers want +the knowledge to bring it into cultivation. Many hundreds of acres are +let at about twelve sols (sixpence) per acre, and would be sold at about +a Louis d'or, which in three years, under English management, would be +richly worth thirty pounds. What a country would this be to purchase in, +if with himself an Englishman or an American could transport his own +labourers and ideas. But nothing is to be done without assistance. + +Many of the French landlords retain a great portion of their estates in +their own hands, and cultivate it with more knowledge and with more +liberality than their farmers. A gentleman, farming his own lands, is +always useful to the country, if not to himself. He may improve his +lands beyond their worth--he may ruin himself, therefore, but the +country is proportionately benefitted by having so many good acres where +it had before so many bad. Some of the restored Emigrants have most +peculiarly benefitted France, by bringing into it English improvements. +I have more than once had occasion to remark, that this change is +visible in many parts of the kingdom, and will produce in time still +more important effects. + +The price of land is by two-thirds cheaper than in England, I am +speaking now of the Nivernois and Bourboranois. It is generally about +eighteen or twenty years purchase of the rent. If the rent be about +300_l_. English for about five hundred acres of land--half arable, a +fourth forest, and a fourth waste--the purchase will be about 5500 +guineas. The very same estate in any part of England would be about +15,000. But in England the forest and waste would be brought into +cultivation. The forest is here little better than a waste, and the +waste is turned to as little purpose as if it were the wild sea beach. + +The farms in the Nivernois are very small; the farmers are by natural +consequence poor. They have neither the spirit nor the means of +improvement. They are in fact but a richer kind of peasantry. Those +writers have surely never lived in the country, who urge the national +utility of small farms. The immediate consequences of small farms are +an overflow of population, and such a division and sub-division of +sustenance, as to reduce the poor to the lowest possible point of +sustenance. Population, within certain limits, may doubtless constitute +the strength of a nation; but who will contend, that a nation of +beggars, a nation overflowing with a starved miserable superfluity, is +in a condition of enviable strength? + +There are few or no leases in these provinces, and this is doubtless one +of the reasons why agriculture has remained where it now is for these +four or five last centuries. The common course of the crops is wheat, +barley, fallow; or beans, barley, and wheat, and fallow. In some of the +provinces, it is wheat, fallow, and wheat, fallow, in endless +succession. + +I do not understand enough of the vine culture to give any opinion as to +the French vineyards, but by all that I have observed, I must fully +assent to the generally received opinion, that the vine is better +understood in France than in Portugal, and that wines are, in fact, the +natural staple in France. It is the peculiar excellence of the vine, +that it does not require fertile land. It will most flourish where +nothing but itself will take root. How happy therefore is it for France, +that she can thus turn her barrens into this most productive culture, +and make her mountains, as it were, smile. + +If an Englishman or an American were inclined to give a trial to a +settlement in France, I would certainly advise them to fix on one of +these central departments. They will find a soil and climate such as I +have described, and which I think has not its equal in the world. They +will find land cheap; and as it may be improved, and even the cheap +price is rated according to its present rent, they will find this +cheapness to be actually ten times as cheap as it appears. They will +find, moreover, cheerful neighbours, a people polished in their manners +from the lowest to the highest, and naturally gay and benevolent. + + + + +CHAP. XVIII. + +_Lyons--Town-Hall-Hotel de Dieu--Manufactories--Price of +Provisions--State of Society--Hospitality to Strangers--Manners--Mode of +Living--Departure--Vienne--French Lovers._ + + +WE reached Lyons in the evening of the third day after we left Moulins. +We remained there two days, and employed nearly the whole of the time in +walks over the city and environs. I adopted this practice as the +invariable rule on the whole course of my tour--to have certain points +where we might repose, and thence take a view both of the place itself, +and a retrospect of what we had passed. + +Nothing can be more delightful to the eye than the situation of Lyons. +Situated on the confluence of two of the most lovely rivers in the +world, the Rhone and the Saone, and distributed, as it were, on hills +and dales, with lawn, corn-fields, woods and vineyards interposed, and +gardens, trees, &c. intermixed with the houses, it has a liveliness, an +animation, an air of cleanness, and rurality, which seldom belong to a +populous city. The distant Alps, moreover, rising in the back ground, +add magnificence to beauty. Beyond all possibility of doubt, Lyons is +unrivalled in the loveliness of its situation. The approach to it is +like the avenue to fairy-land. + +The horrible ravage of the Revolution has much defaced this town. La +Place de Belle Cour was once the finest square which any provincial town +in Europe could boast. It was composed of the most magnificent houses, +the habitations of such of the nobility as were accustomed to make Lyons +their winter or summer residence. That demon, in the human shape, Collot +d'Herbois, being sent to Lyons as one of the Jacobin Commissioners, by +one and the same decree condemned the houses to be razed to the ground, +and their possessors to be guillotined. A century will pass before Lyons +will recover itself from this Jacobin purgation. In this square was +formerly an equestrian statue of Louis the Fourteenth, adorned on the +sides of the pedestal with bronze figures of the Rhone and the Saone. +This statue is destroyed, but the bronze figures remain. + +The town-hall of Lyons is in every respect worthy of the city. It is in +the form of a parallelogram, with wings on each side of the front, each +wing being nearly one hundred and fifty yards in length. The middle of +the wings are crowned with cupolas, and the gates have all Ionic +pillars. The walls and ceilings are covered with paintings. There are +several inscriptions in honour of the Emperor Napoleon; but as these +have been already noted in other books of travels, I deem it unnecessary +to say more of them. But the best praise of Lyons is in its institutions +for charity, in its hospitals, and in its schools. In no city in the +world have they so great a proportion to the actual population and +magnitude of the town. They are equal to the support of one eighth part +of the inhabitants. The Hotel Dieu is in fact a palace built for the +sick poor. The rooms are lofty, with cupolas, and all of them very +carefully ventilated. The beds are clean to an extreme degree, as was +likewise every utensil in the kitchen, and the kitchen itself. The +nursing, feeding, &c. of the sick is performed by a religious society of +about one hundred men, and the same number of women, who devote +themselves to that purpose. The men are habited in black; the women in +the dress of nuns. This charity is open to all nations; to be an +admissible object, nothing further is necessary than to stand in need of +its assistance. This is true charity. + +The cathedral is beautifully situated by the river: it is dedicated to +St. John, and is built in the ancient Gothic style. The clock is a great +favourite with the inhabitants. It is ornamented by a cock, which is +contrived so as to crow every hour. Before the Revolution, the church of +Lyons was the richest in France, or Europe. All the canons were counts, +and were not admissible, till they had proved sixteen quarters of +nobility. They wore a gold cross of eight rays. Since the Revolution, +the cathedral has fallen into decay; but it is to be hoped that, for the +honour of the town, it will be repaired. + +Lyons has two theatres, Le Grand, and Le Petit Spectacle. Neither of +them deserve any more than a bare mention. The performers had so little +reputation, that we had no wish to visit either of them. + +The manufactories of Lyons, being confined in their supply to the home +market, are not in the same flourishing state as formerly. They still +continue, however, to work up a vast quantity of silk, and on the return +of peace, would doubtless recover somewhat of their former prosperity. +Some years since, the silk stockings alone worked up at Lyons, were +estimated at 1500 pair daily. The workmen are unhappily not paid in +proportion to their industry. They commence their day's labour at an +unusual hour in the morning, and continue it in the night, yet are +unable to earn enough to live in plenty. + +Lyons appeared to me, from the cursory information which I could obtain, +to be as cheap as any town in France. Provisions of all kinds were in +great plenty, and were the best of their kind. There are three kinds of +bread--the white bread, meal bread, and black or rye bread. The latter +is in most use amongst the weavers. It is very cheap, but the measures +differ so much in this part of France, that I could not reduce them to +English pounds, except by a rough estimate. The best wheaten bread is +about one-third or rather more of the price that it is in England; beef +and mutton in great plenty, and proportionately cheap; a very large +turkey for about two shillings and sixpence, English money. Pit coal is +in common use in almost every house in Lyons: it is dug in the immediate +neighbourhood, and is very cheap. The best land in the province may be +had for about fifteen pounds (English) per acre in purchase. In the +neighbourhood of Lyons, the land lets high, and therefore sells +proportionately. Vegetables are of course in the greatest possible +plenty, and fruit so cheap and so abundant, as to be sold only by the +poorest people. Whoever is particularly fond of a dessert, let him seek +it in France: for a livre he may set out a table, which in London would +take him at least a Louis. + +Lyons has given birth to many celebrated men. Amongst them was De Lanzy, +the celebrated mathematician, and friend of Maupertuis. He lived to such +an extreme age as to survive his memory and faculties; but when so +insensible as to know no one about him, Maupertuis suddenly asked him +what was the square of 12, and he readily replied, 144, and died, as it +is said, almost in the same moment. This illustrious genius was as +simple as he was learned. His character, as given amongst the history +of the French literati, is very amiable--of great learning, of extreme +industry, simple and amiable to a degree, and invariably benevolent and +good-tempered. He was yet more distinguished by his charities than by +his learning. The learned Thon likewise was a native of this town. + +The society at Lyons very much resembles that of Paris; it is divided +into two classes--those in trade, _i. e._ merchants, and those out of +trade; the military, gentry, &c. The military, though many of them are +certainly of rather an humble origin, are characterized by elegant +manners, by great politeness, and by a gallantry towards the ladies +which would have done honour to the old court. It gave me great +satisfaction to hear this character of them. I should put no value on +any society in which the ladies did not hold their due place and perform +their due parts, and this is never the case, except where they are +properly respected. Gallantry has the same effect upon the manners which +Ovid attributes to learning--"_Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros_." + +A stranger at Lyons, who makes the city his temporary residence, is +received with the greatest hospitality into all the parties of the town; +he requires nothing but an introduction to one of them; and even if he +should be without that, an unequivocal appearance of respectability +would answer the same end. The fashionable world at Lyons, however, are +not accustomed to give dinners; they have no notion of that substantial +hospitality which characterizes England. Their suppers however are very +elegant: they have always fish, and sometimes soup, roasted poultry, and +in the proper season, game--pease, cauliflowers, and asparagus, almost +the whole year round. The sparkling Champagne then goes round, and +French wit, French vivacity, and French gallantry, are seen in +perfection. There is certainly nothing in England equal to the French +supper. It is usually served in a saloon, but the company make no +hesitation, in the intervals of conversation and of eating, to visit +every room in the house. Every room is accordingly lighted and prepared +for this purpose; the beds thrust into cupboards and corners, and the +whole house rendered a splendid promenade, most brilliantly lighted with +glass chandeliers and lustres. This blaze of light is further increased +by reflection from the large glasses and mirrors which are found in +every room. In England, the glasses are pitiful to a degree. In France, +even in the inns, they reach in one undivided plate from the top of the +room to the bottom. The French furniture moreover is infinitely more +magnificent than in England. Curtains, chair-covers, &c. are all of +silk, and the chairs fashioned according to the designs of artists. The +French music too, such as attends on their parties, exceeds that of +England; in a few words, a party in France is a spectacle; it is +arranged with art; and where there is much art, there will always be +some taste. + +In the neighbourhood of Lyons are numerous chateaus, most delightfully +situated, with lawns, pleasure-grounds, gardens, and green-houses, in +the English taste. In the summer season, public breakfasts are almost +daily given by one or other of the possessors. Marquees are then erected +on the lawn, and all the military bands in the town attend. The day is +consumed in dancing, which is often protracted so late in the night, as +almost to trespass on the day following. These kind of parties are +perhaps too favourable for intrigue, to suit English or American +manners, but they are certainly delightful in a degree, and recall to +one's fancy the images of poetry. + +The French ladies, as I believe I have before mentioned, are fond of +habiting themselves as harvesters: they frequently visit the farmers +thus _incog._ and hire themselves for the day. Though the farmer knows +them, it is the established custom that he should favour the sport by +pretending ignorance, and treating them in every respect as if they were +what they seemed. This is another means of indulging that general +disposition to gallantry which characterizes a Frenchwoman. They must +have lovers of all degrees and qualities; for vanity is at the bottom of +this assumed humility. + +Lodging at Lyons, in which I include board, is extremely cheap: for +about thirty pounds per annum you may board in the first houses, and I +was informed that every one is welcome but Italians. The French have an +extreme contempt for Italians. A house at Lyons may likewise be hired +very cheap. The pleasantest houses, however, are situated out of the +town; and I have no doubt, but that such an house as would cost in +England one hundred per annum, might be hired in the environs of Lyons, +in the loveliest country in the world, by the sides of the Rhone and the +Saone, and with a view of the Alps, for about twenty-five Louis annual +rent. Every house has a garden, and many of them mulberry orchards, a +wood, and pleasure-grounds. + +We left Lyons on the morning of the third day after our arrival, much +pleased with our stay, and with the general appearance of the city and +the inhabitants. Avignon was the next main point of our destination. As +the distance between Lyons and Avignon is about 120 miles, we +distributed our journey into three divisions, and as many days. + +Lyons is connected by a stone bridge with the beautiful village La +Guillotiere; it consists of twenty arches, and is upwards of 1200 feet +in length. I believe I have before observed, that the provincial +bridges, as well as the roads in France, are infinitely superior to any +thing of the kind in England, and that the cause of this superiority is, +that they are under the controul and supervision of the government. +Every thing connected with the facility of general access is considered +as of public concern, and therefore as an object of government. In +England, the roads are made and mended by the vicinity. In France, this +business belongs to the state and to the administration of the province. + +For many miles from Lyons, the road continued very various, occasionally +hill and dale, bordered by hedges, in which were flowers and flowering +shrubs, that perfumed the air very delightfully. It is not uncommon to +find even orange trees in the open fields: the very air of the country +seemed different from any through which I had before passed. There were +many of the fields planted with mulberry trees; I observed that this +tree seemed to flourish best where nothing else would grow--on stony and +gravelly soils. This indeed seems to be the common excellence of the +mulberry and the vine, that they may be both cultivated on lands which +would otherwise be barren. + +We passed several flower-mills on the river Gere; a beautiful stream, +occasionally very thickly wooded, and passing in a channel, which, as +seen from the road, has any appearance but that of a level. The smaller +rivers in France, like the bye lanes, are infinitely more beautiful than +the larger; the water, passing over a bed of gravel, is limpid and +transparent to a degree, and the grounds through which they roll, being +left in their natural rudeness, have a character of wildness, romance, +and picturesque, which is not to be found in the greater navigable +streams. An evening stroll along their banks, would favour the +imagination of a poet. I feel some surprize, that a greater proportion +of the writers of France are not their descriptive poets. + +The Gere is animated by numerous flower-mills; there are likewise many +paper-mills. They chiefly pleased me by their lovely situation. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery repeatedly sung a line of a French song, "O +that I were a miller's maid." It is but justice to this lady to say, +that she possessed a sensibility to the charms of Nature, which is +seldom found in tempers so apparently thoughtless. + +As we passed several cottages by the road-side, we saw the peasant girls +spinning; some of them were working in silk, others in cotton. They all +seemed happy, gay, and noisy; and where there were one or two of them +together, seemed to interrupt their labour by playing with each other. +It is impossible that a people of this kind can feel their labour. Some +of them, moreover, were really handsome. + +We reached Vienne to a late dinner, and resolved to remain there for the +night. Our inn had nothing to recommend it but its situation. Our dinner +however was plentiful, and what is not very common, was very well +dressed. The vegetables would not have disgraced an hotel in London. +Potatoes are becoming as common in France as in England, and the greens +of all sorts are to the full as good. "Confess," said Mr. Younge, "that +you would not have dined better in London, and the price will be about +one-fourth." "And confess," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "that in +London you would not have had such an accompaniment to your dinner, such +a lovely sky, and a garden so luxuriant in flowers." The windows were +open, and looked backwards into the garden, which was certainly +beautiful and luxuriant to a degree. On the other side of the hedge, +which was at the further extremity, some one was playing on the +flageolet: the tune was simple and sweet, and perfectly in unison with +the scene. "Who is it," demanded I, "that plays so well?" "Some one who +has been at the wars," said Madame Younge. "The French boys in the army, +if they signalize themselves by any act of bravery, have sometimes one +year's leave of absence given them as a reward. This is some fifer who +has obtained this leave." + +We had coffee, as is still the custom in the provinces, immediately +after dinner; it was brought in by a sweet girl, who blushed and smiled +most charmingly as she fell over the corner of a chair. Her father +afterwards related her simple history in brief. She was the belle in +Vienne, and was courted by two or three of her own condition, but was +inflexibly attached to a young conscript. "You will doubtless hear him +before you depart," continued the landlord, "for he is almost always +behind that garden hedge, playing on his flageolet."--The lover it seems +was the young fifer. Mademoiselle St. Sillery now became very restless. +"You wish to see this gentleman," said Mrs. Younge to her, smiling. +Mademoiselle made no other answer than by beckoning to me, and in the +same moment putting on her bonnet. I could do no less than accompany +her. We went into the garden, and thence over a rough stile into the +fields. Much to our disappointment, Corydon was not to be seen. "I am +sure he must be a gentleman, by his taste and delicacy," said +Mademoiselle. + +We had not time to see much of the town, nor did it appear much to +deserve it. It is certainly very prettily situated on the Gere and the +Rhone, and is surrounded by hills, which give it pleasantness and +effect. It seemed to us to be comparatively a busy and thriving town--I +say comparatively, for as compared with the towns of England or America, +its trade was contemptible. There are two or three hardware +manufactories, where the steel is said to be well tempered. The town is +of great antiquity, and carries its age in its face. The streets are +irregular; the houses dark; one room in almost every house is very +large, and all the others most inconveniently small. This is the +invariable characteristic of the house architecture of towns of a +certain age. + +I understood from inquiry, that, with the exception of wood for fuel, +every thing was very reasonable in Vienne. Provisions were in great +plenty, and very cheap. The town, as I have said, is dull, but the +environs, the fields, and the gardens, delightful. + +On the following day we continued our journey, and having sent our +horses forward, took our seats in the carriage with the ladies. The +young conscript seemed to fill the head of Mademoiselle St. Sillery. +"These kind of adventures," said she, "are not so romantic in France as +they would be in England, and more particularly since the conscription +makes no distinction of ranks. It is reckoned an honour, or at least no +disgrace, to be a private in the conscripts. It is incredible, how great +a number of gentlemen fill the ranks of the French army. A foreigner +cannot conceive it." + +Mr. Younge confirmed this remark, and imputed much of the success of the +French arms to the spirit of honour and emulation which resulted from +this constitution. "Every conscript," said he, "indeed every French +soldier, knows that all the dignities of the army are open to him, and +he may one day be himself a General, if he can render himself prominent. +The chevaliers, moreover, are not only animated by a gallant spirit +themselves, but they infuse it into the army, and give it a character +and self-esteem, the effect of which is truly wonderful." + +We passed through some pleasant villages, and amongst these Condrieux, +which is celebrated in France for its excellent wine: it is thick and +sweet, and resembles Tent. The price is high, and as usual in the wine +countries, none that is good is to be had on the spot. The country about +this village was rugged, uneven, but wild and picturesque; it resembled +no part that I had before seen. The fields were still planted with +mulberry trees, and the hedges (for the country is thickly enclosed), +were perfumed with scented shrubs. We saw some women driving oxen carts. +One of them was a tall, and as far as good features went, a good-looking +girl, but her fate sun-burnt, and her legs naked. She handled the whip +moreover with great strength, and apparently with little temper. She +returned our smile as we passed her, but bowed her body to the ladies. +"Is it possible," said I, "that there can be any gentleness in that +creature?" "If by gentleness you mean a taste for gallantry, and an +expectation of it as her right," replied Mr. Younge, "she has it as much +as any Parisian belle. In France, indeed, gallantry is like water; it is +considered as a thing of common right; it is as unnatural to withhold it +as it is natural to receive it. If you were to meet that lady in a +village walk, she would think herself very ill treated, if you had not a +compliment on your tongue, and at least the appearance of a sentiment in +your heart." + +Several waggons of the country passed us; their construction was +awkward to a degree. The French are very far behind the English in the +ingenuity of the lower order of their artisans. A French watchmaker +usually exceeds an English one; but a French blacksmith, a French +carpenter, are as infinitely inferior. The things in common use are +execrable: not a window that shuts close, not a door that fits; every +thing clumsy, rough hewn, and as if made by Robinson Crusoe and his man +Friday. + +We reached St. Valier to sleep. It is a small town, but prettily +situated, and the environs fertile, highly cultivated, and naturally +beautiful. The landlord of the inn was a true Boniface; he had nothing +of the Frenchman but his civility to the ladies. In assisting Mrs. +Younge from the carriage, he contrived it so awkwardly that he fell on +his back, and pulled the lady upon him; the matter, however, was a mere +trifle to a Frenchwoman, and had no other effect but to raise her +colour. If there are any ladies in a carriage, it is the invariable +privilege of the French hosts that they hand them from their seats. +Boniface, however, compensated his personal awkwardness by setting +before us an excellent supper; indeed, the farther we travelled, the +cheaper and the better became our fare. The hostess was likewise a true +character: she made some observations so free, and even indelicate, in +the hearing of the ladies, as in some degree confounded me. But modesty +is certainly no part of the virtues of a Frenchwoman. + +My bed-chamber was scented with orange trees which occupied one end of +the room. The hostess herself came up to wish me good night, and to +express her compassion for Mademoiselle St. Sillery and me, because +truly, not being married together, we were obliged to sleep separate, +though so near each other. It came very strongly into my mind, that she +had been making a similar observation to Mademoiselle. The French women +certainly talk with a freedom which would startle an English or American +female. With the greatest possible _sang froid_ they will seat +themselves on the side of the bed, and remain in conversation with you +till they have fairly seen you in. They seem indeed to consider this +office as a matter of course. They enter your chamber at all times with +equal freedom; and if there happen to be two or more filles-de-chambre, +they will very coolly seat themselves and converse together. There is +indeed but one invariable rule in France, and that is, that a +fille-de-chambre is company for an emperor. + +Being very tired, I had slept sounder than usual, when I was called by +the landlady, accompanied by Mademoiselle St. Sillery. The latter indeed +remained at the door of the apartment, but the good-humoured boisterous +landlady awoke me with some violence by a toss of the clothes. "Rise, +Monsieur," said she, "and attend your mistress through the town; she +wants a walk. Shame upon a chevalier to sleep, whilst so much beauty is +awake!" I have translated literally, that I may give an idea of that +tone of compliment, and even of language, which characterizes the French +men and women, in speaking to or of each other. Mademoiselle St. +Sillery, in the course of our journey, was as warmly complimented for +her beauty by the women as by the gentlemen. One woman in particular, +and an elderly one, embraced her with a kind of rapture, saying at the +same time, that she was as lovely as an angel. This extravagance of the +women towards each other is peculiar to France, or at least I have never +seen it elsewhere. + +As the morning was delightful, we resolved, much to the discontent of +the landlady, to reach Thein to breakfast. The horses were accordingly +ordered, and after much reluctance, and some grumbling, we procured +them, and departed. + +The road was continually on the ascent, and in every mile opened the +most lovely prospects. The trees in this part of France are uncommonly +beautiful; and where there are any meadows, as along the banks of the +rivers, they are adorned with the sweetest flowers, which here grow +wild, and attain a more than garden-sweetness and brilliancy. The birds, +moreover, were singing merrily, and all Nature seemed animate and gay. I +felt truly happy, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery was in such life and +spirits, that it was not without difficulty that we detained her in her +seat. + +Thein, where we breakfasted, was the Teyna of the Romans: it is +delightfully situated at the bottom of an hill, called the Hermitage, +and celebrated over all Europe and the world for its rich wines. The +soil on which these vineyards grow is a very light loam, supported by a +pan of granite, in which it resembles what is denominated in England the +Norfolk soil. Another hill on the opposite side of the river produces +the wine called the _cote rotie_. The average yearly produce is nearly +one thousand hogsheads, and the price of the wine on the spot, in +retail, is about 3_s._ 6_d._ English money the bottle. From the window +of the apartment in which we breakfasted, we had a view of the town of +Tournon, and the ruins of an old castle, which very pleasantly invited +our imagination into former times. + +Proceeding on our journey, ourselves, our horses, and our carriage, were +all transported over the river in a boat, which instead of being ferried +over by men, was dragged over by a pulley and rope on the opposite side. +I should imagine that this method is not very safe, but it certainly +saves labour and trouble; and it is impossible to build a bridge over a +river like the Rhone and the Isere. This river is very rapid, but not +very clear. Its banks are rocky, hilly, and occasionally open into the +most beautiful scenery which it is possible for poet or painter to +conceive. The Isere was well known to the ancients. + +We dined at Valence, which is delightfully situated in a plain six or +eight miles in breadth. It was well known to the Romans by the name of +Valentia, and is supposed to have been so called from its healthy scite, +or, according to other writers, from the military strength of its +situation. The rocks in its vicinity gave it an air of great wildness, +and there are many popular stories as to its former inhabitants. The +town however has nothing but its scite to recommend it. The streets are +narrow, without air, and therefore very dirty. There is a church of the +most remote antiquity: I had not leisure to examine it, but its external +appearance corresponded with its reputed age. It was evidently built by +the Romans, but has been so much altered, that it is difficult to say +whether its original destination was a theatre or a temple. In the Roman +ages, theatres were national works, and therefore corresponded with the +characteristic greatness of the empire, and every thing which belonged +to it. What play-house in Europe would survive two thousand years! This +single reflection appears to me to put the comparative greatness of the +Romans in a most striking point of view. They built, indeed, for +posterity, and their architecture had the character of their writing--it +passed unhurt down the stream of time. + +The inn-keeper at Valence amused us much by his empty pomposity. He was +a complete character, but civility made no part of his qualities. His +dinner however was excellent and possible humour on the following day. +Mrs. Younge replied very smartly to some questions of her husband. This +lady had a true affection, and I will take upon me to say, that the +fidelity of Mr. Younge was such as to merit it. + +Our road to Montelimart, our first or second stage (I really forget +which) was lined on each side with chesnut and mulberry trees. We passed +many vineyards, and innumerable orchards. For mile succeeding to mile it +was more like a garden than an open country. The fields, wherever there +was the least moisture, were covered with flowers; the hedges of the +vineyards breathed forth a most delightful odour; there was every thing +to cheer the heart and to refresh the senses. Some of the cottages which +we passed were delightfully situated: they invariably, however, whether +good or bad, were without glass to their windows; and the climate is so +dry and so mild, that they sleep with them thus exposed. + +Montelimart is situated in a plain, which is covered with corn and +vineyards; and being here and there studded with tufts of chesnut trees, +has a rural and pleasing appearance. It is built on the bank of a small +river which runs from the Rhone, is a walled town, and has usually a +tolerably strong garrison. It has the same character, however, as all +the other towns on the Rhone--the streets are narrow, and the houses +low. In plain words, the town is execrable, but its scite delightful. + +From Montelimart to where we slept, the name of which I have not noted, +the country improved in beauty; but we passed many peasant women, who +certainly were not so beautiful as the country. Their costume reminded +me very forcibly of Dutch toys--very broad-brimmed straw hats, and +petticoats not reaching to the knees. Add to this, naked legs, &c. Our +ladies smiled at my astonishment, and I smiled too, when I reflected to +what feelings and to what ideas people might be reduced by habit. In the +West Indies, a white lady feels no reluctance, no modest confusion, at +the sight of the nakedness of her male slave; and Madame Younge and +Mademoiselle St. Sillery, certainly the most modest women in France, +only smiled at my surprise, when these short petticoated women passed +me. So it is with custom. Time was, that many things startled me, which +I can now see or hear without wonder. But nothing, I hope, will ever +eradicate that modesty which is inseparable from a reflecting mind, and +which acts as a barrier against inordinate passions. + +The peasantry in this part of the country seemed very poor, though +contented and happy. Many of them were employed on a labour for which +their pay must have been very small--picking stones from the fields, and +dung from the roads. The dung is dried and burned, and is said to be an +healthy fuel to those who use it. + +On the following day we dined at Orange, but did not remain long enough +to examine the town, which was well worthy of minute attention. +Mademoiselle St. Sillery was seized with the symptoms of an +indisposition, which happily passed away, but whilst it lasted, left us +no inclination for any other employment but to assist and console her, +and to press forwards to Avignon, to procure medical assistance. +Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing but a mere dizziness resulting +from exposure to the sun. + +Under these circumstances we reached Avignon on the evening of the +fourth day after leaving Lyons; and whether the fear of the physician +had any effect, so much is certain, that Mademoiselle seemed to have +completed her recovery almost in the same instant in which the +battlements of the city saluted her eyes. + + + + +CHAP. XIX. + +_Avignon--Situation--Climate--Streets and Houses--Public +Buildings--Palace--Cathedral--Petrarch and Laura--Society +at Avignon--Ladies--Public Walks--Prices of +Provisions--Markets._ + + +WHEN we left Angers, we had ordered our letters to be addressed for us +at Avignon. I was daily in expectation of receiving one of a very +important nature, and General Armstrong, who was in the habit of a state +correspondence with Marseilles, and was allowed for that purpose an +extra post, had promised to dispatch it for me to Avignon, as soon as it +should reach him. This circumstance delayed us for some days at Avignon; +but I believe none of us regretted a delay, which gave us time to see +and to survey this celebrated city and its neighbourhood. + +The situation of this city is in a plain, equally fertile and beautiful, +about fifteen miles in breadth and ten in length. On the south and east +it is circled by a chain of mountains. The plain is divided into +cultivated fields, in which are grown wheat, barley, saffron, silk, and +madder. The cultivation is so clean and exact, as to give the grounds +the appearance of a garden. As the French farms are usually on a small +scale, they are invariably kept cleaner than those in England and +America. Not a weed is suffered to remain on the ground. The French want +nothing but a more enlarged knowledge and a greater capital, to rival +the English husbandmen. They have the same industry, and take perhaps +more pride in the appearance of their fields. This detailed attention +greatly improves the face of the country; for miles succeeding miles it +has the air of a series of parks and gardens. The English mansion is +alone wanting to complete the beauty of the scenery. From the high +ground in the city nothing can be finer than the prospect over the plain +and surrounding country. The Rhone is there seen rolling its animated +through meadows covered with olive trees, and at the foot of hills +invested with vineyards. The ruined arches of the old bridge carry the +imagination back into the ancient history of the town. On the opposite +side of the Rhone are the sunny plains of Laguedoc, which, when +refreshed by the wind, breathe odours and perfumes from a thousand wild +herbs and flowers. Mont Ventoux, in the province of Dauphiny, closes the +prospect to the North: its high summit covered with snow, whilst its +sides are robed in all the charms of vegetable nature. On the east are +the abrupt rocks and precipices of Vaucluse, distant about five leagues, +and which complete, as it were, the garden wall around Avignon and its +territory. + +The climate of Avignon, though so strangely inveighed against by +Petrarch, is at once healthy and salubrious. There are certainly very +rapid transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold, but from this very +circumstance neither the intensity of the heat nor of the cold, is of +sufficient duration to be injurious to health or pleasure. The air, +except in actual rain, is always dry, and the sky is an etherial Italian +blue, scarcely ever obscured by a cloud. When the rains come on they are +very violent, but fall at once. The sun then bursts out, and the face of +Nature appears more gay, animated and splendid than before. I do not +remember, that amongst all the pictures of the great masters, I have +ever seen a landscape in which a southern country was represented after +one of these showers. Homer has described it with equal force and +beauty, in one of his similies: but as the book is not before me, I must +refer to the memory of the classic reader. + +There is one heavy detraction, however, from the excellence of the +Avignonese climate. This is the wind denominated the Vent de Bize. The +peculiar situation of Avignon, at the mouth of a long avenue of +mountains, gives rise to this wind: it collects in the narrow channel of +the mountains, and bursts, as from the mouth of a barrel, on the town +and plain. Its violence certainly exceeds what is common in European +climates, but it is considered as healthy, and it very rarely does any +considerable damage. Augustus Caesar was so persuaded of its salutary +character, that he deified it, as it were, by raising an altar to it +under the name of the Circian wind. The winters of Avignon, however, +are sometimes rendered by it most distressingly cold. The Rhone is +frequently covered with ice sufficiently strong to support loaded carts, +and the olive trees sometimes perish to their roots. + +Avignon is surrounded by walls built by successive Popes; they still +remain in perfect beauty and preservation, and much augment, +particularly in a distant view, the beauty of the town. They are +composed of free-stone, are flanked at regular distances with square +towers, and surmounted with battlements. The public walks are round the +foot of this wall. The alleys fronting the river, and which are bordered +by noble elms, are the summer promenade--here all the fashion of the +city assemble in the evening, and walk, and sport, and romp on the +banks. In the winter, the public walk is on the opposite side. The +fields likewise have their share, and the environs being naturally +beautiful, the spectacle on a summer's evening is gay and delightful in +the extreme. + +The interior of the city is ill built: the streets are narrow and +irregular, and the pavement is most troublesomely rough. There is not a +lamp, except at the houses of the better kind of people; the funds of +the town are still good, but they are all expended on the roads, public +walks, and dinners. The necessity of a constant attention to paving and +lighting, never enters into the heads of a French town-administration; +they seem to think that the whole business is done when the town is +once paved. From the nature of the climate, however, the streets are +necessarily clean. A hot drying sun, and frequent driving winds, remove +or consume all the ordinary rubbish; or if anything be left, the winter +torrent of the Rhone, rising above its bed, sweeps it all before it. +Avignon, therefore, is naturally a clean city. The police, moreover, is +very commendably attentive, to the price of provisions, and to the +cleanliness of the markets. + +I had the curiosity to enter some of the houses, and found them to +correspond with what I have before described as constituting the +character of house-architecture in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. They had one large room, and all the others small; a great +waste of timber and work in their construction; the walls being built as +thick as if intended for fortifications, and the beams being large +timber trees. Our ancestors thought they could never build too +substantially. + +The palace, the former residence of the Papal Legates, is well worthy of +being visited: it was founded by Benedict the Twelfth but is better +known as the subject of the elegant invective of Petrarch. The arsenal +still remains, containing 4000 stand of arms and as these instruments of +war are ranged according to their respective aeras, the spectacle is +interesting, and to antiquaries may be instructive. The papal chair, +from respect to its antiquity, still remains, but the pannels of the +state rooms, which were composed of polished cedar, have disappeared. +The most curious parts of the palace, however, are the subterraneous +passages, the entrance to which is usually through some part of the +pillars; perfectly imperceptible till pointed out by the guide. +According to the tradition of the town, these passages have been the +scene of many a deed of darkness. A statue of Hercules was found on the +scite of the palace, and buried by Pope Urban, that the figure of a +Heathen Deity might not disgrace a papal town. + +The cathedral still retains many of its ancient decorations, and amongst +these, the monument of Pope John, who died in the year 1384. In the year +1759, the body was taken up to be removed, when it was found entire, and +with some of the vestments retaining their original colour. The first +wrapper round the body was a robe of purple silk, which was then +enveloped in black velvet embroidered in gold and pearls; the hands had +white satin gloves, and were crossed over the breast. The above +description is exhibited in writing to all travellers. The monument of +Benedict the Twelfth is likewise here. This Pope was as remarkable for +his integrity of life and simplicity of manners, as for his humility. +There are many illustrious men who lie buried beneath the cathedral, but +as I could give little account of them but their names, I shall pass +them over. + +We next visited the convent of St. Claire, where Petrarch first beheld +his mistress. From respect to the poet, or to his mistress, this convent +has survived the fury of the times, and is still entire. The description +of the first meeting of Laura and Petrarch is perhaps the best, because +the most simple and unlaboured part of his works.--"It was on one of the +lovely mornings of the spring of the year, the morning of April 6th, +1327, that being at matins in the convent of St. Claire, I first beheld +my Laura. Her robe was green embroidered with violets. Her features, her +air, her deportment, announced something which did not belong to mortal. +Her figure was graceful beyond the imagination of a poet--her eyes +beamed with tenderness, and her eye-brows were black as ebony. Her +golden ringlets, interwoven by the fingers of Love, played upon +shoulders whiter than snow. Her neck, in its harmony and proportion, was +a model for painters; and her complexion breathed that life and soul +which no painters can give When she opened her mouth, you saw the beauty +of pearls, and the sweetness of the morning rose. The mildness of her +look, the modesty of her gait, the soft harmony of her voice, must be +seen and felt to be conceived. Gaiety and gentleness breathed around +her, and these so pure and happily attempered, as to render love a +virtue, and admiration a kind of divine tribute." + +Our curiosity naturally passed from the convent of St. Claire to the +church of the Cordeliers, where Laura is reputed to have reposed in +peace. Her tomb is in a small chapel, dark, damp, and even noisome: it +is indicated only by a flat unadorned stone. The inscription, which is +in Gothic letters, is rendered illegible by time. The congenial nature +of Francis the First of France caused the tomb to be opened, and a +leaden box was found, containing some bones, and a copy of verses, the +subject of which was the attachment of the two lovers. Petrarch, with +all his conceits, which are sometimes as cold as the snows on Mount +Ventoux, well merits his reputation. His verses are polished, and his +thoughts almost always elegant and poetical. He must not be judged, on +the point of a correct taste, with those who followed him. He was the +first, as it were, in the field; he is to be considered as an original +poet in a dark age; or, according to his own beautiful comparison, as a +nightingale singing through the thick foliage of the beech tree. +Petrarch was truly an original; I know no one to whom he can be +compared. He has no resemblance to any English, French, or Italian. He +has more ease, more elegance, and a more poetic vein than Prior; he +resembles Cowley in his conceits, and Waller in his grace and sweetness. +He possesses, moreover, one quality in common with the Classic poets of +Italy--that he never has, and perhaps never will be, sufficiently +translated. No translation can give the elegant neatness of his +language. He is simple, tender, and sweet as his own Laura: time has +stampt his reputation, and posterity will receive him to her last +limit. + +We next visited the convent of the Celestins, which was founded by +Charles the Sixth of France, and in its architecture and dimensions is +worthy of a royal founder. The piety of the early ages has done more to +ornament the kingdoms of Europe than either public or private +magnificence. If we would become properly sensible how much we owe to +the early ages, let us divest a kingdom of what has been built by our +ancestors; let us pull down the churches, the convents, and the temples, +and what shall we leave?--The present town-administration of Avignon +extends a very commendable attention to its several public buildings, +the consequence of which is, that the town flourishes, and is much +visited both by travellers and distant residents. + +Avignon, however, is chiefly celebrated for its hospitals, the liberal +foundation and endowment of which have originated, perhaps in the +misfortunes of the city, and in the sympathy which is usually felt for +evils which we ourselves have experienced. Avignon has suffered as much +as Florence itself by the plague. In the year 1334 the city was almost +depopulated by this dreadful pestilence. It was in the nature of a dry +leprosy; the skin peeled off in white scales, and the body wasted till +the disease reached the vitals. In fourteen years afterwards the city +was again attacked, and the beautiful Laura became its victim. It is +stated to have swept off upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants. +The reigning pope contrived to escape the contagion by shutting himself +up in his palace, carefully excluding the air, and heating the rooms. +Another period of fourteen years elapsed, and the plague again made its +appearance, and nearly twenty thousand people, including a dozen +cardinals and an hundred bishops, fell its victims. Of late years, there +has fortunately been no appearance of this horrible disease. It was at +the time imputed to an extraordinary drought, attended by an uncommon +heat and stillness of the air, which, being without motion, and confined +as it were in a narrow channel, became putrid and pestilential. The vent +de bize is perhaps a greater blessing to this country than it has been +imagined. + +Avignon, with the above exceptions, would be a delightful place of +residence to a foreigner, and particularly if his circumstances +permitted him to live in an extended society. It constitutes, as it +were, a little kingdom in itself, and the inhabitants have clearly and +distinctly a character, and peculiar manners belonging to themselves. + +We visited the public walks of the town every evening during our stay, +and as the weather was delightful, and there was a division of soldiers +with their bands of music on the spot, they were always thronged, and +always gay and animated to a degree. + +The Avignonese ladies appeared to me very beautiful, and whether it was +fancy or reality, I thought I could trace in many of them the features +which Petrarch has assigned to Laura. I no doubt whatever, but that the +recorded loves of these accomplished persons have a very strong +influence on the character of the town. If I should have an Avignonese +for a mistress, I should most certainly expect to find in her some of +the characteristic traits of Laura. It must not, indeed, be concealed, +that these ladies have not the reputation of being virtuous in the +extreme: to say the truth, they are considered as dissolute, and as +having little restraint even in their married conduct. I cannot say this +of them from any thing which I observed myself--to me they appeared gay, +tender and interesting. + +In speaking of ladies, it would be unpardonable to omit something of +their dress. The ladies of Avignon follow the Paris fashions, but have +too much natural elegance to adopt them in extremes. On the evening +parade, they were habited in silk robes, which in their form resembled +collegiate gowns, and being of the gayest colours, gave the public walk +a resemblance to a flower-garden. Lace caps were the only covering of +their heads. The necks were not so exposed as at Paris, but were open as +is usual in. England and America in full dress. The gown was likewise +silk, embroidered in silver, gold, or worked flowers. The shoes of +velvet, with silver or gold clasps. The terms were naked almost up to +the shoulders, indeed almost indecently so. Being strangers, we were of +course objects of curiosity; when our eyes, however, met those of the +gazers, they invariably saluted us with a friendly smile. Mademoiselle +St. Sillery was much distressed that she had no dress so tasty as those +of the ladies. We could not at last persuade her to accompany us. This +young lady, with all her charms, and she possessed as many as ever fell +to the lot of woman, had certainly her share of vanity--an assertion, +however, which I should not have the presumption to make, if she had not +herself most frequently acknowledged it. + +Every thing connected with household economy is extremely cheap at +Avignon; a circumstance which must be imputed as much to the moderation +of the inhabitants as to the plenty of the country. An Avignonese family +seems to have no idea of a dinner in common with an Englishman or an +American. A couple of over-roasted fowls will be meat enough for a party +of a dozen. The most common dish is, I believe, a fowl stewed down into +soup, with rice, highly seasoned. It is certainly very savoury, only +that according to French cookery, too much is made of the fowl. + +The Avignonese, whilst under the papal jurisdiction, bore a general +reputation for the utmost profligacy both of principles and conduct. +This character has now passed away, and, with the exception of what is +termed gallantry, the Avignonese seem a gay, moral, and harmless people. +The poetry of Petrarch is perhaps too much read, and it is impossible +to read him without inspiring a warmth of feeling and imagination, which +is not very friendly to a correct virtue. Plato would certainly have +banished him from his republic, and the Avignonese would do well to keep +him out of their schools and houses. They will catch his ardour, who +want his moral sense and religious principles. + +We took our leave of Avignon, much delighted with the town and its +inhabitants, and, as I have before said, I saw many figures which +recalled most forcibly to my imagination the Laura of Petrarch. It may +be perhaps said, that every one has an image of his own fancy, which he +assigns to Laura, and that from the general description of the poet, it +is impossible to collect any thing of the personal lineaments of his +mistress. This is very true; but it is equally so, that the ladies of +Avignon appear to have certain characteristic features, and that many of +them possess that soft, sweet, and supreme beauty, which inspired +Petrarch to sing in strains, which still sound melodious in the ears of +his posterity. + +Avignon is the capital of the department of Vaucluse, the department +being so named rather from the celebrity of the poet, than from its +local relations. + + + + +CHAP. XX. + +_Departure from Avignon--Olive and Mulberry Fields--Orgon--St. +Canat--French Divorces--Inn at St. +Canat--Air--Situation--Cathedral--Society--Provisions--Price +of Land--Marseilles--Conclusion._ + + +THE letters which I had expected reached me at Avignon, and the result +of their perusal was the information, that my presence was necessary in +America. I have not, however, contracted so much of the impertinence of +a Frenchman by my tour in France, as to trouble the reader of my Notes +with my domestic affairs. Suffice it therefore to say, that some family +occurrences, of which I obtained some previous information, required my +immediate departure from France, and that in consequence I resolved to +embark at Marseilles. + +With this resolution, therefore, I left Avignon for Marseilles, a +distance of about seventy miles. We divided it therefore into two days; +arranging so as to reach St. Canat on the first night, and Marseilles on +the second. + +The road to Orgon, where we dined, presented us with a great variety of +scenery, though the surface was rather level. All the country was +covered with olive and mulberry trees, and innumerable fruit-trees grew +up wild in the fields, as likewise flowering shrubs in the hedges. The +climate of this part of France is so delightful, that every thing here +grows spontaneously which is raised only by the most laborious exertions +in northern countries. The cottages which we passed on the road were +picturesque to a degree: they were usually thatched, and vines or +barberry trees, or honey-suckles, entirely enveloped the walls or +casements. The peasantry, moreover, though without stockings, appeared +happy; the women were singing, and the men, in the intervals of their +work, playing with true French frivolity. We saw many women working in +the fields: the French women are invariably industrious and active. It +may be supposed that this labour and exposure to a southern sun is not +very favourable to beauty. Accordingly, we saw few good-looking damsels, +but many with good shapes and good eyes. How is it, that the French, so +generally gallant, can suffer their women to take the fork and hoe, and +work so laboriously in the fields? + +Orgon had nothing which merits even mention; I believe, however, it was +well known to the ancients, and is mentioned in some of the Latin +itineraries. A convent, very picturesquely situated, is now converted +into a manufacturing establishment. The town is surrounded by +chalk-hills and quarries, from which is dug a free-stone, of the most +delicate white. The town, on the whole, had an air of rusticity and +recluseness which might have delighted a romantic imagination. + +Between Orgon and St. Canat we travelled in a road occasionally bordered +by almond trees. The country on each side was rather barren, but being +an intermixture of rock and plain and being moreover new to us, it did +not appear tedious or uninteresting. We passed several houses of the +better sort, some in ruins, others evidently inhabited by a class of +people for whom they were not intended. This is one of the effects of +the Revolution. Where the proprietor emigrated, or was assassinated, the +nearest tenant moved into the mansion-house, and if he distinguished +himself by a violent and patriotic jacobinism, his possession, for a +mere trifle to the national fund, was converted into a right. In this +manner innumerable low ruffians have obtained the estates and houses of +their lords; but, faithful to their old habits and early origin, they +abuse only what they possess; live in the stables, and convert the +castle into a barn, a granary, a brew-house, a manufactory, or sometimes +dilapidate it brick by brick, as their convenience may require. + +The inn at St. Canat will be long remembered by me, for the unusual +circumstance of a most hearty welcome from a good-humoured host, a +widower, and his two daughters. The eldest was the most beautiful +brunette I have ever seen. She was as coquettish as if educated in +Paris, and as easy, as familiar, as inclined to gallantry, as this +description of ladies, in France at least, universally are. She had been +married during the aera of jacobinism, and had divorced her husband, +_because they could not agree_. "He was so triste, and withal very +jealous, which was the more absurd, because he was old."--This young +woman was tall, elegant, and with the most fascinating features; her age +might be about four and twenty; her teeth were the whitest in the world, +and her smile was a paradise of sweets. She had the fault, however, of +all the French filles--a most invincible loquacity, and would not move +from the chamber till repeatedly admonished to call me early in the +morning. + +I was awoke in the morning by a sweet-toned lark, which rising in the +ethereal vault of Heaven, made his watch-tower, as the poet calls it, +ring with his matin song. I know nothing more pleasing to a traveller +than to pass a night at one of these provincial inns, provided he gets a +good bed and clean blankets. The moon shines through his casement with a +soft and clear splendor unparalleled in humid climates; and in the +morning he is awoke by the singing of birds, whilst his senses are +hailed by the perfume of flowers and by the freshness of a pure aether. + +Having resumed our journey, we reached Aix at an early hour on the +following day, and passed an hour very pleasantly in walking over the +town and neighbourhood. + +Aix, the capital of Provence, is very pleasantly situated in a valley, +surrounded by hills, which give it an air of recluseness, and romantic +retirement, without being so close as to prevent the due circulation of +air. It is surrounded by a wall, but which, from long neglect, +originating perhaps in its inutility, has become dilapidated, and +interests only as an ancient ruin. In the former ages, when France was +subdivided into dutchies and minor kingdoms, and when her neighbours +were more powerful, such walls were a necessary defence to the town: a +change in manners and government has now rendered them useless, and in +few centuries they will wholly disappear all over Europe. The interior +of the town very well corresponds with the importance of its first +aspect. It is well paved, the houses are all fronted with white stone, +and the air being clear, it always looks clean and sprightly. Many of +them, moreover, have balconies, and some of them are upon a scale, both +outside and inside, which is not excelled by Bath in England. Aix is +almost the only town next to Tours, in which an English gentleman could +fix a comfortable residence. The society is good, and to a stranger of +genteel appearance, perfectly accessible either with or without +introduction. + +The cathedral of Aix is an immense edifice; the architecture is the +oldest Gothic, and has all the strength, the substance, and I was going +to add, all the tastelessness which characterizes that Order. The front +is ornamented with figures of saints, prophets, and angels, grouped +together in a manner the most absurd, and executed as if by the hands of +a working bricklayer. The grand portal, however is very striking. On the +side of the great altar is the magnificent tomb of the Counts of +Provence; the figures here, however, are as ridiculous as the style +itself is grand. The Gothic architects had better ideas of proportion +than of delicacy or beauty; they seldom err on the former point, whilst +their execution in the latter is contemptible in the extreme. Our +Saviour, and the Virgin Mary, have always enough to do on every tomb in +France; they are invariably introduced together, sometimes in a manner +and with circumstances, which really shock any one of common piety. +Several pictures, and some ancient jewellery, which have survived the +Revolution, are still shewn to all strangers: amongst them is a golden +rose, which Pope Innocent the Fourth gave to one of the Counts of +Provence six hundred years since. + +There are two or three other churches and convents, but which have +suffered so much by the execrable Revolution, as to have little left +that is worthy of remark. The piety of the inhabitants of Aix, however, +saved the greater part of the pictures and jewellery; and with still +more piety, have returned them to the churches. + +The promenade, or public walk, equals, if not excells, any thing of the +kind in Europe--it consists of three alleys, shaded by four rows of most +noble elms, in the middle of a wide street, the houses on each side +being on the most magnificent scale, and inhabited by the first people +of the city and province. There were several parties walking there even +at the early hour in the morning when we saw it, and I understood upon +enquiry, that in the evening it is exceedingly thronged both with +walkers and carriages. + +I did not omit to make my usual enquiries, as to the prices of land, +provisions, and the state of society, for a foreigner who should select +it as a place of residence. The following was the result: Land within a +few miles of Aix, is very reasonable; in a large purchase it will not +exceed five or six pounds (English money) per acre. In rating French and +English purchases, there is one considerable point of difference: +English estates are usually mentioned as being worth so many years +purchase, in which the purchase is rated according to the rent, and the +rent is considered as being the annual value of the land. In France, +where there is scarcely such a thing as an annual pecuniary rent equal +to the annual value of the land, the price must be estimated by the +acre. In large purchases, therefore, as I have said before, land is very +cheap: in small purchases it is very dear. The difference indeed is +surprising, but must be imputed to the strong repugnance of the small +proprietors to part with their paternal lands. + +In the town there are some very handsome houses: a palace almost, with a +garden of some acres, an orchard, and land enough for four horses and +three cows, may be hired for about thirty pounds per annum. + +Provisions of all kinds are in the greatest possible plenty: fish is to +be had in great abundance, and the best quality; meat is likewise very +reasonable, and tolerably good; bread is about a penny English by the +pound; and vegetables, as in other provincial towns, so cheap as +scarcely to be worth selling. + +The baths of Aix are very celebrated, and the town is much visited by +valetudinarians: they are chiefly recommended in scorbutic humours, +colds, rheumatisms, palsies, and consumptions. The waters are warm, and +have in fact no taste but that of warm water. + +Upon the whole, Aix is most delightfully situated, and the environs are +beyond conception rural and beautiful. They are a succession of +vineyards relieved by groves, meadows and fields. I did not leave them +without regret. The carriage drove slowly, but even under these +circumstances we repeatedly stopt it. + +We reached Marseilles without further occurrence; and as a ship was +ready there, after two or three days spent in the company of my friends, +who very kindly refused to leave me, I took my departure, and left a +kingdom which I have since never ceased to think. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels through the South of France +and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808, by Lt-Col. 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