1816.] Living at Chester. — 



live cheapest? I have turned the ques- 

 tion over in my own mind, and conchide 

 tliat ohl Chester is as cheap, and, I am 

 sure, as good, a place as any. To-day 

 (market-day) prime butchers' meat at 

 6d. per pound, and even under ; fish we 

 liave always a regular and abnnduiit 

 supply of; fgg;s, poultry, milk, and 

 cheese, arc good, and very cheap; fruit 

 excessively so ; frcsli butter dear, about 

 Is. per lb. House-rent is very mode- 

 rate; pooF-tatcs much lower than most 

 other |ilaces. 



Chester is very healthy — the people 

 live to a great age. It commands a 

 large district of country, and has, in 

 itself, every thing in miniature. So- 

 ciety is, in general, very rational, and 

 Uot expensive. The best news-room is 

 two guineas per annum; of an excellent 

 library one guinea ; but to the latter is 

 attached entrance money (five guineas), 

 which I consider a very illiberal regu- 

 lation, and, I hope, will soon be done 

 away with. Fashionable society is very 

 select; religious society, both amongst 

 the church and the dissenters, is very 

 good. Chester is abont 20 miles from 

 Liverpool, 38 from Manchester, 20 

 from Whitchurch, Natitwich, iMiddie- 

 wieh, and Xorthwich; 12 from Wrex- 

 ham and Mold; 18 fiom Holywell: it 

 is a great thoroughfare. 



If your correspondent, or any other 

 decent folk, come to live amongst us, 

 we shall be glad to see them in a free 

 way, and they will be welcome to what 

 we have. 



Chester. A Cestrian. 



For the Mouthly Mac^azine. 



PARISIAN ANKCDOTES of 1816-lC. 

 LA MORT. 



IN the commencement of the French 

 revolution, death was aiways the al- 

 ternative of a demand, " La iibirte, L'e- 

 galiti, on la niort, Lavictoire on laniort," 

 as if death were the onl\ alternative of the 

 greatest blessings. " La Mart" passed 

 iiilocvei-j' mouth ; and on the da>s of po- 

 pular executions," Vive, la Mart !" ccUuvA 

 iromten thousand lungs. Ononeoceasiitn, 

 " La Hlort" made the whole of the Na- 

 tional Convention bmst into a lit of 

 laughter, though engaged on a most se- 

 rious subject. It was on the lyth of 

 January, 179.3, ivhen the question was 

 a^it;ited whether the defenders of Louis 

 •hoiild bo heard li.fijre the votes were 

 colheled, and, consequently. Uu: judg- 

 ment dcliilitivcly settled. A M. Seconds 



Parisian Anecdotes. 2?9 



made various efiorts to be heard on the 

 point, but in vain ; at last he cried out, 

 "■^ La parole on la MortV His ad\ice 

 was — first condemn t!ie king, and then 

 hear what his counsel have to say ! 



AUSTRIAN LIBERTY OF. THli PRESS. 



The learned geographer and di tin- 

 gnishcd patriotic writer iM. Malte Rruii 

 published, after the return of the Bour- 

 bons, a periodical political work called 

 the Spectator. It was regularly traiis- 

 lated into Italian, and re-publi-hed at 

 Milan, by Al. Stella ; but the Austrian 

 government continually sujjpressed all 

 the passages wherein the author ex- 

 pressed his hopes of the independance 

 and union of all Italy — a condition ab- 

 solutely necessary towards the esta- 

 blishment of a proper balance of power 

 in Europe. 



LE ROCHER DE CANCALE. 



The Ixocher de Canc^ale is one of tlie 

 most celebrated, and the dearest, cotfee- 

 houses in Paris: it is particularly noted 

 for its oysters. Of its charges, some 

 idea maj be formed from this fact: — 

 Three lovers of oysters, wishing to re- 

 gale themselves, ilcbated whether it 

 would be more economical to make 

 t!ieir repast at tiio Roeher de Cancale, 

 or to take a post-chaise and go to iha 

 coast : tiiey made a calculation, and 

 t'ouitd tliat the expences of travelling to 

 and from Paris to tiie sea-side, and the 

 tavern bills there, would not amount to 

 so nuich, l>y three guineas, as a similar 

 regale woi'ljd cost them at the Roclier 

 de Oaiicaie. — A few weeks ago, three 

 Englishmen, who had made a trip to 

 Paris to sjiend their hoarded cash, tired 

 of dining at Vcry's, in the Palais 

 RoyaJe, and their funds being low, re- 

 solved to dine very econoiiiically, and 

 give a cheap farewell dinner to those 

 they left bciiiud : accordingly they sought 

 out a decent-looking iioiisc in a poor 

 neigliijoiirhood, and, by chance, stum- 

 bled on one in a sliabby street, near 

 the (iraiid i\I:iikct of liie Innocents. 

 It was no other than l!ie Roeher de 

 Cancale. 'i'hitherall the guests, amount- 

 ing to a dozen, rcjiaiied. 'i'he dinner 

 and wine were delicious, antl eadi re- 

 .solved to dine daily liiere during his 

 stay in Paris. At length the fatal mo- 

 ment approached— the bill was called 

 lor— it arrived. They hatl calculated 

 it at half-a-guinea [ler head, but, alas, 

 they had reckoned without their host — 

 it amounted to sixteen hundred francs 

 — sixty-six pounds, liiiileen shillings, 

 and iour-iic>icc. They could not all 

 luuslei- 



