32 Travels in France 



as light ; when shut they are not easy to open ; anci when open 

 not easy to shut. Mops^ brooms^ and scrubbing-brushes are not 

 in the catalogue of the necessaries of a French inn. Bells there 

 are none; the fille must always be bawled for; and when she 

 appears, is neither neat, well dressed, nor handsome. The 

 kitchen is black with smoke; the master commonly the cook, 

 and the less you see of the cooking the more likely you are to 

 have a stomach to your dinner; but this is not peculiar to 

 France. Copper utensils always in great plenty, but not always 

 well tinned. The mistress rarely classes civility or attention 

 to her guests among the requisites of her trade. — 30 miles. 



2^ih. Having being now ten days fixed in our lodgings, 

 which the Count de la Rochefoucauld's friends had provided 

 for us, it is time to minute a few particulars of our life here. 

 Monsieur Lazowski and myself have two good rooms on a 

 ground floor, with beds in them, and a servant's room, for 4 livres 

 (3s. 6d.) a day. We are so unaccustomed in England to live in 

 our bed-chambers, that it is at first awkward in France to find 

 that people live nowhere else. At all the inns I have been in, it 

 has been always in bed-rooms ; and here I find that everybody, 

 let his rank be what it may, lives in his bed-chamber. This is 

 novel; our English custom is far more convenient, as well as 

 more pleasing. But this habit I class with the economy of the 

 French. The day after we came, I was introduced to the La 

 Rochefoucauld party, with whom we have lived; it consists 

 of the Duke and Duchess de la Rochefoucauld, daughter of the 

 Duke de Chabot; her brother the Prince de Laon and his 

 princess, the daughter of the Duke de Montmorenci; the Count 

 de Chabot, another brother of the Duchess de la Rochefoucauld; 

 the Marquis d'Aubourval, who, with my two fellow-travellers 

 and myself, made a party of nine at dinner and supper. A 

 traiteur ser\^es our table at 4 li\Tes a head for the two meals, 

 two courses and a good dessert for dinner ; for supper one, and a 

 dessert; the whole very well served, with everything in season: 

 the wine separate, at 6 sous (3d.) a bottle. With difficulty the 

 count's groom found a stable. Hay is little short of £5 English 

 per ton ; oats much the same price as in England, but not so good : 

 straw dear, and so scarce that often there is no litter at all. 



The states of Languedoc are building a large and handsome 

 bathing house, to contain various separate cells, with baths, and 

 a large common room, with two arcades to walk in, free from 

 sun and rain. The present baths are horrible holes ; the patients 

 lie up to their chins in hot sulphureous water, which, with the 



