Luzarch 1 3 



to this superb one. The forest around Chantilly, belonging to 

 the Prince of Conde, is immense, spreading far and wide; the 

 Paris road crosses it for ten miles, which is its least extent. 

 They say the capitainerie, or paramountship, is above 100 miles 

 in circumference. That is to say, all the inhabitants for that 

 extent are pestered with game, without permission to destroy 

 it, in order to give one man diversion. Ought not these capitain- 

 eries to be extirpated ? 



At Luzarch, I found that my mare, from illness, would travel 

 no further; French stables, which are covered dung-hills, and 

 the carelessness of garfons d'ecures, an execrable set of vermin, 

 had given her cold. I therefore left her to send for from Paris, 

 and went thither post ; by which experiment I found that posting 

 in France is much worse, and even, upon the whole, dearer, than 

 in England. Being in a post-chaise I travelled to Paris as 

 other travellers in post-chaises do, that is to say, knowing little 

 or nothing. The last ten miles I was eagerly on the watch for 

 that throng of carriages which near London impede the traveller. 

 I watched in vain; for the road, quite to the gates, is, on com- 

 parison, a perfect desert. So many great roads join here, that 

 I suppose this must be accidental. The entrance has nothing 

 magnificent ; ill built and dirty. To get to the Rue de Varenne, 

 Fauxbourg St. Germain, I had the whole city to cross, and 

 passed it by narrow, ugly, and crowded streets. 



At the hotel de la Rochefoucauld I found the Duke of Lian- 

 court and his sons, the Count de la Rochefoucauld and the 

 Count Alexander, with my excellent friend Monsieur de Lazowski, 

 all of whom I had the pleasure of knowing in Suffolk. They 

 introduced me to the Duchess d'Estissac, mother of the Duke 

 of Liancourt, and to the Duchess of Liancourt. The agreeable 

 reception and friendly attentions I met with from all this liberal 

 family were well calculated to give me the most favourable 

 impression. . . . — 42 miles. 



26th. So short a time had I passed before in France that the 

 scene is totally new to me. Till we have been accustomed to 

 travelling we have a propensity to stare at and admire every- 

 thing — and to be on the search for novelty, even in circum- 

 stances in which it is ridiculous to look for it. I have been 

 upon the full silly gape to find out things that I had not found 

 before, as if a street in Paris could be composed of anything 

 but houses, or houses formed of anything but brick or stone — 

 or that the people in them, not being English, would be walking 

 on their heads. I shall shake off this follv as fast as I can, and 



