86 Travels in France 



between a man that has a good fortune and another that has 

 not. With the pride, arrogance, and ill-temper of English 

 wealth this could not be borne ; but the prevailing good humour 

 of the French eases all such untoward circumstances. Lodgings 

 are not half so good as at London, yet considerably dearer. If 

 you do not hire a whole suite of rooms at a hotel, you must 

 probably mount three, four, or five pair of stairs, and in general 

 have nothing but a bed-chamber. After the horrid fatigue of 

 the streets, such an elevation is a delectable circumstance. You 

 must search wi.h trouble before you will be lodged in a private 

 family as gentlemen usually are at London, and pay a higher 

 price. Servants' wages are about the same as at that city. It 

 it to be regretted that Paris should have these disadvantages, 

 for in other respects I take it to be a most eligible residence for 

 such as prefer a great city. The society for a man of letters, 

 or who has any scientific pursuit, cannot be exceeded. The 

 intercourse between such men and the great, which, if it is not 

 upon an equal footing, ought never to exist at all, is respectable. 

 Persons of the highest rank pay an attention to science and 

 Literature, and emulate the character they confer. I should 

 pity the man who expected, without other advantages of a very 

 different nature, to be v/ell received in a brilliant circle at London 

 because he was a fellow of the Royal Society. But this would 

 not be the case with a member of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Paris ; he is sure of a good reception everyAvhere. Perhaps this 

 contrast depends in a great measure on the difference of the 

 governments of the two countries. Politics are too much 

 attended to in England to allow a due respect to be paid to 

 anything else ; and should the French establish a freer govern- 

 ment, academicians will not be held in such estimation when 

 rivalled in the public esteem by the orators who hold forth 

 liberty and property in a free parliament. 



28///. Quit Paris, and take the road to Flanders. Monsieur 

 de Broussonet was so obliging as to accompany me to Dugny, to 

 view the farm of Monsieur Crette de Palluel, a very intelligent 

 cultivator. Take the road to Senlis: at Dammertin, I met by 

 accident a French gentleman, a Monsieur du Pre du St. Cotin. 

 Hearing me conversing with a farmer on agriculture, he intro- 

 duced himself as an amateur, gave me an account of several 

 experiments he had made on his estate in Champagne, and 

 promised a more particular detail; in which he was as good as 

 his word. — 22 miles. 



29//?. Pass Nanteul, where the Prince of Conde has a chateau. 



