‘ 
100 
for they think they cannot give us too 
great a variety of good dithes.. 
Like every other town we have yet feen 
here, Abbéville is well calculated, by 
very ftrong outworks, for defence: itis a 
dark- locking ftraggling town, with. many 
dilapidated churches; for of all that it 
contained,..the Slition {pared but two! 
Having half an hour to fpare, I rambled 
about in the rain, and entered ]’Egli/e de 
‘St. Villefranc, a \arge building, handfome 
on the outhde, but deftitute of thofe rich 
decorations which Catholic churches on. 
the Continent are reputed generally to 
poficis ; it is fpacious within, but has no 
painting, no piece of ftatuary, no 
———/ftoried urn or animated buit, : 
which, tomy uneducated eye at leaft, had 
the flighteft pretenfions to ‘excellence or 
even to the queftionable merit of medio- 
crity. In the church were a few mifer- 
able half-ftarved devotees, one of whom 
I obferved on his knees very pioufly em- 
loyed in counting—not his beads, but 
the number of fous he had in. his pocket! 
The officiating prieft entered as I was 
oing out—-he is a watch-maker! 
Abbéville is a manufaéturing town, 
which before the war contained about 
twenty thoufand inhabitants; it had forty 
convents, twenty-fix for the reception of 
females, and fixteen for reclufes of the 
other fex. This account, the refult of my 
inquiries on the fpot,is, I think, by no 
means a very credible one: mere religious 
houfes, at any rate, are all diffclved now. 
As a manufacturing town, Abbéville has 
fuffered feverely from the war: its inha- 
bitants are now reduced to fixteen thou- 
fand, anda very large proportion of thefe; 
I underftand, are poor. 
From Abbéville) we proceed, after 3 a 
ecraiortable breakfalt, towards Amiens 
the road i improves, and ‘the country im- 
proves, the horfes improve, and the dri- 
vers improve: woods, or, more. ftriétly ¢ 
Speaking, underwaods, prefent themfelves 
to us more frequently, and here and there 
..a chateau lifts, on fome lofty eminence, 
its heavy and unfociable head, frowning 
on the valley at its feet. 
We were a little difappointed at learn- 
ing, on our arrival here, that the Mar- 
quis Cornwallis was yet at Paris: he is 
every day expected, however, to return to 
the feat of Congrefs. Amiens is a very 
large’ town, containing, it is faid, about 
fixty thoufand inhabitants ; it wears the 
appearance of all the other French towns 
" which we have hitherto feen, that is to fay, 
of dullnefs ; ‘seis irregularity 3 3 thehoules 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva, 
[March 1, 
are all lofty, and the rooms lofty; 
former are particularly heavy in theit ex 
ternal appearance, from a circuimftance, 
I fufpeét, which till this infant efcaped 
me, namely, that the doors and windows 
are not, as in England, level with the 
outfide of the building (with the furface 
of the walls) but are invariably let: inte 
them, fo that a great part, if not the 
whole, of the thicknefs of the wall is vi- 
fible as one paffes along the ftreet. 
The cathedral at Amiens was built by 
the Englifh: it is a noble edifice altoge~ 
ther ; the entrance—three Gothic porches 
richly fculptured, is extremely ftriking— 
but I think we have many cathedrals with 
which it muft not be compared. The 
riotous indifcriminating torrent of reyo- 
lutionary fanaticifm has probably {wept 
away many of its paintings and other in 
~ternal decorations ; the church, however, 
at this prefent time, certainly poftelfes few 
attractions forme: the {culptured faints 
and faintefles are, T imagine, of very in- 
ferior workmanthip ; not fo la téte vraie 
de St. ean Baptifie, which is very reli- 
ee preferved under a glafs cover, and 
not giff.red to efcape the notice, probably, 
(of the moft incurious unobferyant tra- 
veller. 
I with much that we had leifure to ftay 
a complete day here ; but expedition is the 
order of the day, and the horfes are now 
harneffing which carry us the firft poft to- 
wards Beauvais, where we fleep to night. 
T have juft time enough, however, to 
give you a fpecimen of pertnefs which will 
make you fmile: as ufual, we had an ex- 
cellent dinner yelterday, and wanted -no- 
thing but a decanter‘of water, for which 
I had afked the waiter three or four times, 
and could only. get, an empty anfwer of 
“Ou, Monfieur, tout aT heure.” This 
did not fatisfy my thirft, as you may ima- 
gine, and, feeling half angry with the 
waiter, { ‘defied him not to let mefee his 
face again without the water: the. fellow 
inftantly thot down ftairs, and in lefs than 
two minutes time returned with a decan- 
ter, which he fet down on the table, and 
pointing to it with exquifite felf-compla- 
cency—** Voila, Monfieur, de Veau toute 
Jraiche de la jfontaime—d’ Amour! out, 
Monfieur, retiring a ftep backwards, whillt 
he inclined his head, and raifed his left: 
hand to his breaft—« a’ Amour! : 
Farewell, my Friend, I fhall probably 
have occalion, or I ought rather to fay, 
Opportunity to remain at Paris a week, 
from which place you thal: certainly hear 
from me. 
LUT. 
the © 
