FRANCE. 185 



all the queflions I could afk him, as he was 

 particularly attentive to the whole courfe of 

 country bufinefs. The country between 

 Bourses and Nevers is not at all cultivated : 

 there is much furefl and heath land : nor 

 lias that which the peafants labour a good 

 countenance, which, however, is no doubt 

 much owing to the badnefs of their huf- 

 bandry ; all is open lands, and in the fmall 

 culture, and oxen only ufed. I remarked 

 fome vineyards, but could get no account of 

 their produce. Meadows here, which yielded 

 as much hay as is worth 253. an acre, are 

 reckoned very fine ones, and thofe who farm 

 them much envied by their neighbours. I 

 fuppofe an acre of good meadow in England 

 yields at the rate 4!. or 5!. The people in 

 this country, and, indeed, all the way from 

 Orleans, are, in general, very poor, and make 

 in every refped a miferable appearance : their 

 houfes are indifferent ; as bad as they ufually 

 are in England, where the cottages are poorer 

 than in moft countries -, a circumstance very 

 furprifing in fo wealthy a kingdom. The 

 cloaths of tlicfe people are extremely mean and 

 ragged; their looks denote hunger, and 

 the major part of the whole mafs of the 



inhabi* 



