S04 Travels in France 



nth. I had respectable letters, and to respectable people at 

 Brest, in order to see the dockyard, but they were vain; Mon- 

 sieur le Chevalier de Tredairne particularly applied for me 

 earnestly to the commandant, but the order, contrary to its 

 being shown either to Frenchmen or foreigners, was too strict 

 to be relaxed without an express direction from the minister of 

 the marine, given very rarely, and to which, when it does come, 

 they give but an unwilling obedience. Monsieur Tredairne, 

 however, informed me that Lord Pembroke saw it not long 

 since by means of such an order: and he remarked himself, 

 knowing that I could not fail doing the same, that it was strange 

 to show the port to an English general and governor of Ports- 

 mouth yet deny it to a farmer. He however assured me that 

 the Duke of Chartres went away but the other day without 

 being permitted to see it. Gretry's music at the theatre, which, 

 though not large, is neat and even elegant, was not calculated to 

 put me in good humour; it was Paniirge. — Brest is a well built 

 town, with many regular and handsome streets, and the quay, 

 where many men-of-war are laid up and other shipping, has 

 much of that life and motion which animates a seaport. 



12th. Return to Landernau, where, at the Due de Chartre, 

 which is the best and cleanest inn in the bishopric, as I was 

 going to dinner, the landlord told me there was a Monsieur un 

 hotnme comme il faut, and the dinner would be better if we 

 united ; de tout rnon cceur. He proved a Bas Breton noble, with 

 his sword and a little miserable but nimble nag. This signeur 

 was ignorant that the Duke de Chartres, the other day at Brest, 

 was not the duke that was in Monsieur d'Orvillier's fleet. Take 

 the road to Nantes. — 25 miles. 



13/^. The country to Chateaulin more mountainous; one- 

 third waste. All this region far inferior to Leon and Traguer; 

 no exertions, nor any marks of intelligence, yet all near to the 

 great navigation and market of Brest water, and the soil good. 

 Quimper, though a bishopric, has nothing worth seeing but its 

 promenades, which are among the finest in France. — 25 miles. 



ii^th. Leaving Quimper there seem to be more cultivated 

 features; but this only for a moment; wastes — wastes — wastes. 

 Reach Quimperlay. — 27 miles. 



15/A. The same sombre country to I'Orient, but with a mix- 

 ture of cultivation and much wood. — I found I'Orient so full of 

 fools, gaping to see a man-of-war launched, that I could get no 

 bed for myself nor stable for my horse at the epee royale. At 

 the cheval blanc, a poor hole, I got my horse crammed among 



