English town. For all the savihg we Coukl ever find was in the prtc* 

 of provisions, which is cheaper in the ratio of francs to shillings— not a 

 fraction more ; and this trifling difference was more than swallowed up 

 by the extravagant price of fuel and dress. But some one exclaims, 

 " Wliy, we know wine is much cheaper in France than in England ; 

 because, in many parts of the country, you may buy it for five sous a 

 bottle, outside of the barriers." Granted you may, and perhaps, we will 

 admit, for less even than that. But what is it when purchased ? Un- 

 less for the honour of drinking wine, you might call it any thing else, 

 and be as near the mark as when you called it so. No merchant in 

 France will sell you wine at all fit to drink under two francs a bottle ; 

 and then you can buy better in England for the same monev, though it 

 may be under the humble designation of Cape. And the sharp, sour 

 " vin ordinaire" is by no means equal to the production of our own 

 colonies — of which we unwittingly drink so much under the more 

 elegant name of Sherry. 



The towns in Brittany, and the South, are cheaper much than these; 

 but not more so than our Channel Islands, and towns equally remote 

 from the metropolis. An English family would live in better style, and 

 Avith considerably more comfort to themselves, in Devonshire or Wales, 

 than in any part of France, for the same money. It is not a just 

 criterioji, that because a French family, in their own country, live in a 

 certain style upon an income we should consider very small, that an 

 English family should do the same. The expenses of going with a 

 family to the South of France, and purchasing such articles as are not 

 considered necessary there — i. e. carpets, &c. — will swallow up the 

 imaginary savings of the first ten years ; and the manifold annoyances 

 they will have to endure, render it a hundred to one that they are glad 

 to return to England long before half that period has elapsed. 



An Englishman begins his calculation — " We can purchase fowls for 

 so much a couple, turkeys at such a price, and various other articles at 

 certain rates, much below the prices we should pay in England." But 

 when you have purchased them, even at the prices named, what are they 

 but poor, miserable things, the bones ready to start through the flesh .'' 

 and our only admiration, that they had not died of starvation I For 

 what French " cultivator" ever thinks it necessary to feed his poultry .' 

 The word barn-door fowl has no equivalent with them ; they do liot 

 consider feeding at all necessary. Tlie poor creatures, like younger 

 brothers, are expected to provide for themselves as thev can — and that 

 is but " indifferent well." 



The meat, even at the prices paid for it, is dear, and fit only for a 

 French " batterie de cuisine." It must be stewed to something like 

 rags, before it attains any degree of tenderness ; and then requires the 

 addition of savoury sauces to give it a flavour not possessed by itself. 

 With us, an epicure considers the meat, when properly boiled or 

 roasted, as containing something relishing to the taste : but in France 

 it is too insipid to admit of the simple process of cooking; and no one 

 thinks of tlie meat without the addition of sauces, the flavour alone of 

 which is perceptible. And by the time the additions are made, and 

 regard being had to extra quantity consuuicd from the mode of dressing, 



