Barbesieux 59 



The commercial treaty with England being a subject too 

 interesting not to have demanded attention, we made the 

 necessary inquiries. Here it is considered in a very different 

 light from Abbeville and Rouen : at Bourdeaux they think it a 

 wise measure that tends equally to the benefit of both countries. 

 This is not the place for being more particular on the trade of 

 this town. 



We went twice to see Larrive do liis two capital parts of the 

 Black Prince in Monsieur du Belloy's Piere le Cruel, and Philoc- 

 tete, which gave me a very high idea of the French theatre. 

 The inns at this city are excellent; the hotel d'Angletere and 

 the Prince of Asturias ; at the latter we found ever}' accommoda- 

 tion to be wished, but with an inconsistence that cannot be too 

 much condemned; we had very elegant apartments and were 

 served on plate, yet the necessary-house the same temple of 

 abomination that is to be met in a dirty village. 



28/A. Leave Bourdeaux; cross the river by a ferry which 

 employs twenty-nine men and fifteen boats, and lets at 18,000 

 livTes (£787) a year. The view of the Garonne is very fine, 

 appearing to the eye twice as broad as the Thames at London, 

 and the number of large ships lying in it makes it, I suppose, 

 the richest water view that France has to boast. From hence 

 to the Dordonne, a noble river, though much inferior to the 

 Garonne, which we cross by another ferry that lets at 6000 

 livres. Reach Ca\'ignac. — 20 miles. 



29/A. To Barbesieux, situated in a beautiful country, finely 

 diversified and wooded; the marquisate of which, with the 

 chateau, belongs to the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, whom we 

 met here; he inherits this estate from the famous Louvois, the 

 minister of Louis XIV. In this thirty-seven miles of country, 

 lying between the great rivers Garonne, Dordonne, and Charente, 

 and consequently in one of the best parts of France for markets, 

 the quantity of waste land is surprising : it is the predominant 

 feature the whole way. Much of these wastes belonged to the 

 Prince de Soubise, who would not sell any part of them. Thus 

 it is whenever you stumble on a Grand Seigneur, even one that 

 was worth millions, you are sure to find his property desert. 

 The Duke of Bouillon's and this prince's are two of the greatest 

 properties in France, and all the signs I have yet seen of their 

 greatness are wastes, laudes, deserts, fern, ling. — Go to their 

 residence, wherever it may be, and you would probably find 

 them in the midst of a forest, very well peopled with deer, wild 

 boars, and wolves. Oh ! if I was the legislator of France for a 



