_1825.] 
A Prrp at BouLoGne. 
FTER the bustle of these three 
days past, I take the first opportu- 
nity of giving you some little idea of 
what has turned the heads of all the 
inhabitants of the town for this last 
week ; but it is impossible for language 
to come near reality. 
After a voyage of five hours and a 
halt, we landed on the port, with only 
about twenty or thirty persons to gaze at 
us; a most extraordinary thing in Bou- 
logne, where among the crowd of two or 
3000 idlers of which this place can boast, 
there are generally from 500 to 1000 
persons, whose curiosity leads them to 
*€ visit the sick,”’—one of the seven ca- 
tholic virtues or acts of mercy !—and 
whose gay apparel, smiling faces, and 
flippant curiosity, happily illustrate the 
benignity of their purpose, and form a 
most picturesque contrast to the pale, 
meagre, dirty appearance of the travel- 
lers: the generality of whom offer in- 
ducements enough, one would think, 
for the exercise of another virtue of 
catholicism—to wit, “ to comfort the 
afflicted.” Upon landing, eager, .after 
so long a separation, to rush into 
the arms of our friends, what was our 
surprise to find ourselves within a 
circle of thirty feet diameter, formed 
by what appeared to us to be soldiers, 
but who might more properly be deemed 
wolves in military livery !—I mean the 
officers of the customs. The whole of 
this. phalanx was trenched within a bar- 
rier of strong ropes, and, together with 
a crowd of fishwomen, &c. &c., which 
by this time had assembled, made a 
noise which was for all the world like 
the assembling of so many savages. 
After undergoing the ablution of the 
custom-house, and shewing that we were 
worthy of entering into the dominions 
of the illustrious Charles the Xth., we 
were allowed to pass, without travelling 
bag or any thing else, into the town; 
when we were struck with the appear- 
ance of every thing arround us. It is 
an irregular, but very clean town; every 
thing bears the stamp of prosperity and 
gaiety; and at this time of shew and 
attraction, flowers and festoons hung 
across the streets, and white flags, taste- 
fully decorated, were flying from the 
windows of every house—or some sheet 
or curtain in the shape of one. The 
whole population were out, parading in 
their best apparel (and every one knows 
that the best apparel of the lower orders 
of France combines the picturesque, the 
useful, and even the splendid). The 
Monruty Maa, No, 415, 
A Peep at Boulogne. 
225 
processions were various ; soldiers were 
out with their military bands playing right 
vehemently. To be metaphorical, Thalia 
shone in every face, and Iris threw her 
mantle over every form. The fair being 
held at the same time, increased the bus- 
tle, which continued whilst the Duchess 
de Berri remained. What struck me 
particularly, in the native groups, was 
the bright black eyes of the women, and 
their clear complexions. The menseemed 
much the same as in the other parts of 
France, except that they are rather more 
anglicized in their deportment. The 
people throughout Boulogne are particu- 
larly clean; even the children, who are 
dressed just the same as the men and 
women. At avery early age the girls 
begin to, wear the same dboucles d’o- 
reiles; but the gold crosses seem to 
be reserved for their jours des fétes. 
We were just in time to see the Duch- 
ess enter in procession. The Grande 
Rue, up which she had to pass, was 
crowded to excess; and, to pay her due 
homage, fifty of the bourgeois, dressed in 
blue coats and white pantaloons, with 
white lilies in their breasts, received her 
a few miles from Boulogne, and escorted 
her into the town. Several English 
gentlemen accompanied them, and with 
the garde @honneur, and a number of 
carriages filled by all the nodlesse of the 
town, and their daughters, and all the 
matelots and their wives in full costume, 
made up the procession. Every thing 
(for a country town) was in good order: 
and, contrasted with the dirty travelling 
carriage, and the common post-horses, 
with rope harness, &c. which all travel- 
lers in France are accustomed to, and 
even royalty must put up with, made 
more display than could have been ex- 
pected. On her arrival at the Prefect’s, 
where she put up, and which had been very 
prettily decked out for the ptirpose, 
she was received by several ladies, who 
were townspeople, and one of whom 
recited some verses, and presented her 
with a bouquet of flowers. The fishwo- 
men, or rather jfishermanesses, sung a 
song composed for the occasion: and, 
as being ladies of the first consequence, 
presented her also with a bouquet of 
flowers.—(Query: Whatis the reason 
that the fishwomen of France have so 
many privileges, and receive so much 
attention, above any other class? being 
as they are, so distinct in their habits, 
living among themselves, and separated 
from all others as completely as the 
Jews in London?) In the evening the 
whole town was illuminated; and every 
2G body 
