1802. ] 
LETTER II. 
, Paris, Dec. 6. 
After many a hard knock on the pavé 
sve arrived in this celebrated city at four 
-o’clock, on the joth ult. Iam afraid, 
my Friend, you will expect a great deal 
more information from me refpecting it 
than I (hall be able toafford you. Parlez 
plus lentement, mon ami, is ever in my 
mouth : but thefe Frenchmen have fuch an 
overwhelming volubility, and their words 
follow each other with fuch a racing ra-~ 
pidity, that I cannot comprehend one half 
they fay, and of courfe lofe a great deal 
of the information which I am fo defirous 
to obtain. | \ 
But come, we muft not anticipate: you 
have accompanied me no further than 
Amiens, and that is a long way from 
Paris, Crack, crack, away we go then, 
the poft-boys each fmoaking a pipe, and 
whiffing their unceremonious volumes in 
our faces, for the wind is unfortunately 
againfttus, Really thefe French poft-boys 
are the moft ridiculous looking wretches 
in the world: imagine to your‘clf a fellow 
with a parti-coloured woollen-cap on, a 
Jarge flapping hat aver it, with a national 
cockade peeping above the ribband which 
furrounds it; his boots, well hooped with 
iron, about the fize of my portmanteau, 
and of rival inflexibility, each armed with 
a large rufty fpur, placed midway of its. 
altitude. ‘Thus equipped, he lifts labo- 
rioufly one leg into the ftirrup, and de- 
{cribes the are of a mighty circle with its 
well-poifed brother, which falls by its own 
weight, and is received by the oppofite ftir- 
rup: fairly feated, he amufes himfelf for the 
firit five minutes with liftening tothe mufic 
of his whip, which with great ftrength 
and adroitnefs he flourifhes ovew his head, 
occafionally reminding his cattle that, whe- 
ther they can or cannot go—go they muft, 
The poft-boys feem very fentible of their 
elevation in the world, and of the ftate 
with which they travel; nor are thefe cir- 
¢umfances loft upon the poor foot-paflen- 
gers, who are continually pulling off their 
hats or touching their red caps to the 
former, who generally receive this obei- 
- fance as a matter of right rather than of 
courtely, forthey very rarely condefcend to 
return the attention. But enough of the 
poft-boys. 
From Amiens to Beauyais the road 
.yuns through Breteuil, which hangs on the 
brow of a hill, and is feen to great advan- 
tage during the long defcent which leads 
almoft to the foot of the town: we had a 
very pleafant ride to this place, and I re- 
member very well being ftruck with feve- 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva. 
: | 
101 
veral fucceflive landfcapes, the foftnefs and 
ferenity of which impreffed upon them the 
characters of beauty: once or twice the 
fun chanced to break through fome paffing 
clouds, and the light and fhade fell on the 
{welling plains, and gave them the mo- 
mentary verdure of {pring. 
fter travelling over fome very good 
road, and fome very bad, we arrived: in 
the evening, ‘or more ftriétly fpeaking, in 
the night, at Beauvais, where we were 
well accommodaied by a neat, lively, 
nimble-footed, old landlady, at the Hotel 
de Londres; it was Sunday, and having: 
been repeatedly told in England from very 
high authority, (to which I ever pay pro- 
foundeft reverence), that Religion was e%- 
patriated from the territories of the French 
Republic, I was a good deal furprized ta 
fee her venerable form, attired with be- 
coming fimplicity, the object of adoration 
to the young andthe old. On this fub- 
ject I fhall endeavour to obtain more in- 
formation, and communicate it to you at. 
fome future opportunity. . 
From Beauvais, which we left in the 
morning before it was fairly light, we 
proceed to Paris, and find the country 
materially improved: we pafs through a 
few vineyards, which {fkirt the road on 
either fide, and are completely unprotected 
by any fence; indeed, what I fhould call 
a good fence is not to be feen between Ca- 
Jais and Paris. The farmer, however, it 
muft be acknowledged, has little reafon to 
fear the depredations of ftock, either on 
his vineyards or his corn-fields: in thefe 
two hundred miles which we have travel- 
led, perhaps we may have feen half a {core 
flocks of fheep, each containing nine or 
ten fcore; we may, perhaps, have feen 
half a dozen petty droves of half-ftarved 
awkward-looking pigs, and we may, pew 
haps, have feen thirty or forty cows, Not 
a fingle bullock, not a fingle calf: and 
you will be ftill more furprized tg hear, 
that four or five Englith farm-yards would 
exhibit more corn-ftacks than I have been 
able to difcover in the whole, of my jour- 
ney hither: from its prefent appearance, 
an Englifh. commander would certainly not 
think the country we have paffed through 
worth the ‘trouble of invading—Caz- 
tabit vacuus coram latrone viator—And 
yet it is not thus; for provifions are cheap, 
and therefore, it is to be prefumed, are 
plentiful. At Calais I enquired of a mar- 
ket-woman the price of a turkey, which 
weighed eight pounds (the French pound 
is eighteen ounces): fhe afked three livres, - 
and perhaps it is not very unreafonable to 
believe, that Milord Anglois, who is every 
| . where 
