PALAIS ROYAL. 499 



than it is. This is certain, that in the whole vaft cir- 

 cuit of the new eredfions, there is not a fpot, where a 

 table can be fet out, that is not paid for at a rate five 

 times higher, than the fame in any other part of Paris ; 

 and that in Paris nothing is dearer than fpace, you 

 know full well already. 



If, however, the receipts of the duke be prodigious, 

 fo likewife were the firfr. expences of the undertaking. 

 In Paris, where wages, and materials, furveyors and 

 honefly, workmen and induftry, are fo dear, plans and 

 undertakings of this nature come to three times as 

 much as in other great cities, London itfelf perhaps not 

 excepted ; and with merchants of great capitals the cafe 

 is the fame. The Palais royal has now been flourifhing 

 for about fix years ; but it is very doubtful to me, 

 whether the undertakers have drawn the third of the 

 capital, with the interefts backwards and forwards, out 

 of it. He that will gain much here, muft lay out much, 

 and the natural relation between expenditure and profit 

 is of uncertain definition. It mult be confefTed, the 

 idea of the whole was grand, and the execution is every 

 way worthy of the age in which we live. 



Farewell. 



K K 2 



LETTER 



