14 Travels in France 



bend my attention to mark the character and disposition of 

 the nation. Such views naturally lead us to catch the little 

 circumstances which sometimes express them; not an easy 

 task, but subject to many errors. 



I have only one day to pass at Paris , and that is taken up with 

 buying necessaries. At Calais, my abundant care produced the 

 inconvenience it was meant to avoid ; I was afraid of losing my 

 trunk; by leaving it at Dessein's for the diligence; so I sent it 

 to Monsieur Mouron's. — The consequence is, that it is not to 

 be found at Paris, and its contents are to be bought again before 

 I can leave this city on our journey to the PjTenees. I believe 

 it may be received as a maxim, that a traveller should always 

 trust his baggage to the common voitures of the country, without 

 any extraordinary precautions. 



After a rapid excursion, with my friend Lazowski, to see many 

 things, but too hastily to form any correct idea, spend the 

 evening at his brother's, where I had the pleasure of meeting 

 Monsieur de Broussonet, secretary of the Royal Society of 

 Agriculture, and Monsieur Desmarets, both of the Academy of 

 Sciences. As Monsieur Lazowski is well informed in the manu- 

 factures of France, in the police of which he enjoys a post of 

 consideration, and as the other gentlemen have paid much 

 attention to agriculture, the conversation was in no shght degree 

 instructive, and I regretted that a very early departure from 

 Paris would not let me promise myself a further enjoyment 

 so congenial with my feelings as the company of men whose 

 conversation showed a marked attention to objects of national 

 importance. On the breaking up of the party, went with 

 Count Alexander de la Rochefoucauld post to Versailles, to 

 be present at the fete of the day following (Whitsunday); 

 slept at the Duke de Liancourt's hotel. 



2-jth. Breakfasted with him at his apartments in the palace, 

 which are annexed to his office of grand master of the wardrobe, 

 one of the principal in the court of France. — Here I found the 

 duke surrounded by a circle of noblemen, among whom was the 

 Duke de la Rochefoucauld, well known for his attention to 

 natural history; I was introduced to him, as he is going to 

 Bagnere de Luchon in the Pyrenees, where I am to have the 

 honour of being in his party. 



The ceremony of the day was the king's investing the Duke 

 of Berri, son of the Count d'Artois, with the cordon blue. The 

 queen's band was in the chapel where the ceremony was per- 

 formed, but the musical effect was thin and weak. During the 



