3o8 



Travels in France 



with rivers, hills, and woods, but almost everywhere a poor soil. 

 Pass many chateaux, some of which are very good. Sleep at 

 Nemours where we met with an inn-keeper who exceeded in 

 knavery all we had met with either in France or Italy: for 

 supper we had a soupe maigre, a partridge and a chicken roasted, 

 a plate of celery, a small cauliflower, two bottles of poor vin du 

 Pays, and a dessert of two biscuits and four apples : here is the 

 biU: — Potage, i livre lo sous — Perdrix, 2 livres 10 sous — Poulet, 

 2 livres— Celeri, i livre 4 sous— Choufleur, 2 livres— Pain et 

 dessert, 2 livres— Feu and apartement, 6 livres — Total, 19 livres 

 8 sous. Against so impudent an extortion we remonstrated 

 severely, but in vain. We then insisted on his signing the bill, 

 which, after many evasions, he did, a Vetoile ; Foulliare. But 

 having been carried to the inn, not as the star, but the ecu de 

 France, we suspected some deceit: and going out to examine 

 the premises we found the sign to be really the ecu, and learned 

 on inquiry that his o-\vn name was Roiix, instead of Foulliare : 

 he was not prepared for this detection or for the execration we 

 poured on such an infamous conduct; but he ran away in an in- 

 stant and hid himself till we were gone. In justice to the world, 

 however, such a fellow ought to be marked out.— 60 miles. 



yd. Through the forest of Fontainbleau to Melun and Paris. 

 The sixty postes from Lyons to Paris, making three hundred 

 English miles, cost us, including 3 louis for the hire of the post- 

 chaise (an old French cabriolet of two wheels) and the charges 

 at the inns, etc., £15 EngHsh; that is to say, is. per English 

 miles or 6d. per head. At Paris I went to my old quarters the 

 hotel de la Rochefoucauld; for at Lyons I had received a letter 

 from the Duke de Liancourt who desired me to make his house 

 my home, just as in the time of his mother, my much lamented 

 friend the Duchess d'Estissac, who died while I was in Italy. I 

 found my friend Lazowski well, and we were a gorge deploy ee to 

 converse on the amazing scenes that have taken place in France 

 since I left Paris. — 46 miles. 



4//1. After breakfast walk in the gardens of the Tuileries, 

 where there is the most extraordinary sight that either French or 

 English eyes could e\'er behold at Paris. The king walking 

 with six grenadiers of the milice bourgeoise, with an officer or two 

 of his household and a page. The doors of the gardens are kept 

 shut in respect to him, in order to exclude everybody but deputies 

 or those who have admission-tickets. When he entered the 

 palace the doors of the gardens were thrown open for all without 

 distinction, though the queen was still walking with a lady of her 



