40 TRAVELS IN ITPPER 



description, going from his habitation in the ap- 

 propriate garb of his profession, has his side armed 

 with a long sword de Crispin, his head buried in 

 a large old perruque, and generally his nose loaded 

 with a pair of spectacles. 



Those who have read Brydone's Tour through 

 Sicily and Malta, know that he has diverted him- 

 self at the expense of a Frenchwoman who keeps 

 the only inn for the accommodation of strangers at 

 Palermo. He employs half a chapter of his book 

 in painting, or rather caricaturing, the prattle and 

 vanity of that woman, and takes occasion from it 

 to extend his satire to French women in general, 

 which assuredly is neither just nor consistent with 

 gallantry. But their graces and amability, to which 

 "a well- merited homage is generally paid, can suf- 

 fer no imputation from the sarcastic humour of an 

 Englishman. Brydone is not the only traveller of 

 his nation who has indulged himself in speaking 

 slightly of ours ; and, in the eyes of every impartial 

 person, that spirit of jealousy and pride must ap- 

 pear not a whit less ridiculous than the little traits 

 of presumption of Madame Montagne, that is the 

 landlady's name. I ordered a dinner at her house, 

 in order to have an opportunity of talking with 

 her about Brydone, who had visited Palermo a few 

 years before. My hostess knew that he had pub- 

 lished many pleasantries of which she was the butt, 



and 



