18'24.] Journal of a Tour 



liere for centuries,) wools, a manui'ac- 

 tory of common tiruggets, potteries, 

 tanneries, and mineral waters. — From 

 Proviiis we proceeded to Nogcnl-sur- 

 Seine ; but, as ill-luck would have it, 

 there we found that ilie iron of one of 

 the fore-wheels iiad given way ; so that 

 we were obliged to stop all night. 

 Nogent-snr-Seine has 3200 inhabitants; 

 contains a very good harbour, from 

 which wood is floated to Paris. There 

 is a manufactory of liosiery, one of tin 

 utensils, and one of vinegar. 



June 30. — After getting the spring 

 and wheel repaired, we were imposed 

 upon, as happens usually to travellers 

 who meet with accidenlc; landlords, 

 smitlis, and wheelwrights, regarding 

 them as a Cornwall wreck. Thus, when 

 lortuiie is in her angry mood, she is not 

 satisfied with rolling her victim in the 

 dirt, but she whistles to her highway- 

 men to come and rille their pockets. 



About a mile from Nogent-snr-Seine, 

 and three from the road to the right, is 

 the celebrated monastery of the Para- 

 clete, where the two lovers Abelard 

 a«d Eloise ended their days. Here 

 unhappy lovers may find food for con- 

 templation, and compare the | ains of 

 disapptiiiitment witii those of a mutual, 

 ardent, and constant, afl'ection, deprived 

 by a sacrilegious hand of its diief sup- 

 poit. The monastery has been con- 

 verted into a manufactory of steel, &.c. 

 of wliieh General Pajod is the pro- 

 prietor : he was one of Napoleon's best 

 cavalry generals. 



The country hitherto is waving with 

 fine crops of hay and corn ; but the land- 

 scape, — from want of the beautiful 

 thoin and holly hedge, studded with the 

 knotty oak, the smooth asli, and the 

 towering poplar, little meandering, mur- 

 muring rivulets, country-.scats, and good 

 farm-houses, — makes a monotonous and 

 tiresome impression. The farm-houses, 

 in general, form the villages ; which thus 

 compose the circle of their domestic 

 endearments, friendly intercourse, social 

 union, and mutual support. Though 

 the landscape is not calculated to please 

 the admirer and painter of nature in her 

 richest and gajest robe, yet to the poli- 

 tical economist it must yield a high 

 gralilication to sec every spot of ground 

 uniler cullivalion, even to the liealh; 

 none occupied by ornamental copses, 

 |>urk.s, and pleasure-grounds. '{'lie 

 boundaries of the estates are designated 

 by small oblong scjuare stones or Hags, 

 fixed ill the earth, and about u fool high. 

 'J'he cattle in grazing (which is only in 



MoNrm.Y Mag. No. 39U. 



through France. 415 



the day, for at night they are driven to 

 the liomestead,) arc tended by boys and 

 girls, to prevent mutual trespasses. 

 Wiieatis universally the staple and best 

 <;rop ; tlien hay-grass, potatoes, barley, 

 oats, and rye. The oats in general are 

 j)Oor, barley not much better, but the 

 potatoes arc luxuriant: this queen of 

 vegetables is throughout France of an 

 excellent qn.ility, and the various man- 

 ners they have of cooking it render it 

 amongst the poor a most nutritive food, 

 and a healthy substitute to all the tribe 

 of highly-seasoned dishes, — those power- 

 ful auxiliaries of the art of medicine, 

 and pioneers of death. — We passed a 

 woman at the wheel-plough, with four 

 horses, upon a stiff clayey soil, and the 

 driver a youth in his teens. 



The weather has been hitherto as 

 colli in the mornings and evenings as 

 the mouth of April, and the resemblance 

 is strengthened by occasional showers 

 of rain, with warm gleams in the noon- 

 tide of the day. We arrived about two 

 o'clock at Chaumont, a pretty town, 

 situated between the Marne and the 

 Seine, and about half a league from 

 their confluence. It has 6G00 inhabi- 

 tants : there is a manufactory of knit 

 woollen stockings, hats, druggets, gloves, 

 and a wax-bleacher. Two newspapers 

 are printed here. 



While the horses were changing, we 

 entered a draper's shop, the proprietor 

 of wliieh was an unmarried lady, about 

 thiriy, neat, healthy-looking, and pretty. 

 Having finished our affair, we found 

 that other business might be done j for 

 she intimated, that not only her goods 

 were to be disposed of, but herself also ; 

 and she certainly appeared, in addition 

 to her personal attractions, with the 

 powerful recommendations of a well- 

 stocked shop and oveiflowing bags of 

 crown-|)ieces. These are no mean in- 

 gredients to sweeten the cup of matri- 

 mony, — to furnish a bed of down to its 

 pains, and a pillow of peace to its storms. 

 And who would not, in some moments 

 of his rugged path through life, when, 

 after being flattered and disappointed 

 by the illusions of hope, wearied by a 

 succession of the same objects, disgusted 

 with a monotonous and selfish existence, 

 travelled, as it were, every day trom 



Poole's- hole to the Devil's A , 



and from the Devil's A to 



Poole's-liole ; who woidd not, I say, 

 wish to turn into a path carpeted with 

 the softest green grass, scented by the 

 rose, the sweet-briar, and jessatnine, — 

 sheltered from surmner's iicats and win- 

 3 U tcr's 



