158 Travels in France 



before the descent, at the distance of about four miles, is magni- 

 ficent. The cathedral makes a great figure, and the church of 

 St. Remy terminates the town proudly. Many times I have 

 had such a view of towns in France, but when you enter them 

 all is a clutter of narrow, crooked, dark, and dirty lanes. At 

 Rheims it is very different: the streets are almost all broad, 

 straight, and well built, equal in that respect to any I have seen; 

 and the inn, the hotel de Monlinet, is so large and well served as 

 not to check the emotions raised by agreeable objects by giving 

 an impulse to contrary vibrations in the bosom of the traveller, 

 which at inns in France is too often the case. At dinner thev 

 gave me also a bottle of excellent wine. I suppose fixed air is 

 good for the rheumatism; I had some writhes of it before I 

 entered Champagne, but the vin mousseux has absolutely 

 banished it. I had letters for Monsieur Cadot L'aine, a con- 

 siderable manufacturer, and the possessor of a large vineyard, 

 which he cultivates himself; he was therefore a double fund to 

 me. He received me very politely, answered my inquiries, and 

 showed me his fabric. The cathedral is large, but does not 

 strike me like that of Amiens, yet ornamented, and many painted 

 windows. They showed me the spot where the kings are crowned. 

 You enter and quit Rheims through superb and elegant iron 

 gates: in such public decorations, promenades, etc., French 

 towns are much beyond English ones. Stopped at Sillery, to 

 view the wine press of the Marquis de Sillery; he is the greatest 

 wine-farmer in all Champagne, having in his own hands 180 

 arpents. Till I got to Sillery, I knew not that it belonged to the 

 husband of Madame de Genlis; but I determined, on hearing 

 that it did, to pluck up impudence enough to introduce myself 

 to the marquis, should he be at home: I did not like to pass the 

 door of Madame de Genlis without seeing her: her writings are 

 too celebrated. La Petite Loge, where I slept, is bad enough of 

 all conscience, but such a reflection would have made it ten 

 times worse: the absence, however, of both Monsieur and 

 Madame quieted both my wishes and anxieties. He is in the 

 states. — 28 miles. 



gth. To Chalons, through a poor country and poor crops. 

 M. de Broussonet had given me a letter to Monsieur Sabbatier, 

 secretary to the academy of sciences, but he was absent. A 

 regiment passing to Paris, an officer at the inn addressed me in 

 English: — He had learned, he said, in America, da.m.me\—He 

 had taken lord Cornwallis, damme ! — Marechal Broglio was 

 appointed to command an army of 50,000 men near Paris— 



