98 
us this morning, to have feen how we 
ftared at the natives and the natives at 
us. seats ete 
_ Amiens, 291h.—I was interrupted at 
Calais by our courier, who enfered the 
room in high fpirits to inform us,,that a 
voiture, which he thought would fuit us 
exactly, had juft returned from a journey 
to Paris, and that the price of it was only 
fifty Louis ; we put on our hats and coats, 
ordered the carriage to be cleaned, and, 
after having fhaken the wheels and ex- 
amined the fprings, began to bargain, 
and foon purchafed it at the abated price 
of forty-five Louis. Our new vehicle was 
prefently appropriated, for you fee by my 
dates that within eight-and-forty. hours 
afterwards we are arrived at the eat of 
Conerefs. 
I promifed you to journalize my letters, 
and will be as good as.my word, but 
really you muft not expeét much from me : 
mine 1s not a tour of pleafure but a jour- 
ney of bufinefs, and expedition is woe- 
fully inimical to the indulgence of curio- 
fity, and grudges every moment that is 
employed in mere objervation; random 
remarks, therefore, hattily put together, 
will be your portion, with them you muft 
be fatisfied—fo ‘* eat your pudding, flave, 
and hold your tongue.” 
Well, but I muft return to Calais in 
order to give you fome idea of the im- 
- preffion which it firft made on me; a wind 
trom the weft.wafts me in a few hours 
from natale folum to a foreign thore ! 
The language I have learn’d thefe fort 
years, ; 
My native Englifh, now I muft forego: 
And now my tongue’s ufe is to me no more 
Than an unftring’d viol or a harp. 
When I awoke in the firft morning after 
landing, I could almoft fancy that iome 
fairy, ina frolic mood, had conveyed me 
into the far-diftant region of her abode; 
the delufion fcarcely diffipated during the 
day ; every thing and every body feemed 
fo perfeétly ftrange and novel—the cries 
of the ftreets, the clatter of fabots, and 
the Babel jargon of men, women, and 
children, on a market-day, all helped to 
favour it. 
The appearance of the Citoyennes is more 
ftriking than that of the other fex, who 
differ in their drefs but little from thofe on 
the other fide of the water, except that 
the ear-ring is a favourite, and almoft 
univerfal ornament among Frenchmen, 
from the higheft to the lowef, and that 
muftachoes feem to be confidered a fafh- 
ionable embroidery to the mouth. As to 
the females, they walk about the flrests, 
+ 2 ¥ = of 
4n Excurfion through France to Geneva. 
intended to be fmart, 
[March }, 
precifely as in England they do about 
their houfes, without any hat,. or other 
covering for the head than a cap, gene~ 
rally ornamented with a very deep frill, 
‘ which altogether looks a good deal like an 
Englifh-woman’s niglit-cap, when it is 
The women who 
are fomewhat firicken with years, wear; 
moft of them, a light-coloured linen cloak, 
with a large hood, which, when the wind 
bellies it out, refembles thofe old-fafhion- 
‘ed head-pieces called calafhes, which fif- 
teen or twenty years ago were not unfre~ 
quently worn by the more ancient dames. 
in England. 
As to the younger part of the fex; yous 
my Friend, who are yet an unmarried- 
man, would certainly have been charmed 
with the many lovely good-humoured 
countenances of thofe who were recom- 
mending the plumpnefs of their turkeys 
and the delicacy of their chickens; in- 
deed the young women’s faces are many 
of them ftrikingly pretty and animated ; 
femi-fhaded by the long nut-brown hair 
which curls in carelefs ringlets over two 
dark roguifh eyes—I fhould almoft be 
afraid to entruft you here. But it istime 
that we quit Calais. 
In our new voiture, then, after having 
broken one of the fide-glaffes with an un- 
lucky elbow as we get into it, we fet off 
with four horfes: fmack! fmack! fmack ! 
fays the poft-boy, flourifhing -over his 
head the mercilets and untired whip which 
he faftens to his wrift by a piece of cerd; 
on we go, and although the poor animals — 
look not as if they could have run away 
with us at the rate of three milesan hour,. ” 
we found that they,could travel very fairly 
at almoft double that fpeed; for, we left 
Calais at a-quarter before one, and arrived 
at Boulogne (adiftance, I believe, of about 
22 Englith miles) juft time enough for a 
fnug dinner at half after four. 
‘The road winds along the coaft, and 
therefore the country cannot be expected, 
particularly at this feafon of the year, to 
imprefs a foreigner with any favourable _ 
idea of its fertility. The.country is per- 
feétly untheltered, and exhibits a parfimo- 
nious tillage; hills and their concomitant 
vallies gently alternate, and prefent ex- 
tenfive but monotonous fcenery: there is 
every where anjeafy fall for water, but, in 
fpite of its obvious difpofition to efcape, 
the land is fuperfaturated with it. In 
fhort, whether the foil be rich or poor, it 
merits a much better cultivation. 
Giving full credit, in common, I be- 
lieve, with every loyal fubjeét, to our, 
Gazettes extraordinary in general, and 
Pats 
