102, 
where fuppofed ta travel for the fole pur- 
pofe of getting rid of his money, was 
‘complimented with an extra demand of 
one-third of the price. Now really famine 
cannot be faid to ftare a man in the face 
when a turkey is to be bought even at 
three-pence a pound, and other things at 
a proportionable rate. 
Approaching Paris, as approaching 
London, population ‘rapidly increafes : 
chateaux of a heavy and extenfive ftruc- 
ture thicken upon us, but vee fee none of 
thofe {nug country boxes, as théy are em- 
phatically called, for private gentlemen of 
moderate fortunes, who feek retirement 
and frefh air, which abound within twenty 
miles of London, and which are frequent 
all over England. This difference in the 
approach to the two moft poljfhed capitals 
of Europe is very ftriking, and gives a 
decided fuperiority to ‘our, own country : 
J think there is a iufficienf ground for fuf- 
picion, indeed, that that large and -re- 
fpeftable portion of the community, cul- 
tivating their own effates, and.refiding on 
them, tothe great advantage of the neigh- 
bourhood, who in England are called 
Country Gentlemen, has no exiftence in 
France. It is well known that in dhis 
country, before the revolution, the people, 
<< bred under a proud, infolent, and grind- 
ing defpoti{m,”” were a people ‘* feparate, 
and divided into claffes by the ftrongelt 
and harfhet lines of diftinétion:”” among 
them, *¢ all that was advantageous in pri- 
vate acquifition, all that was honourable 
in public ambition was” ot ‘* equally 
open to the effect, the induftry, and the 
abilities of all;’” among them, ‘* progrefs 
. and rife in fociety and public eftimation 
was’ wot ‘‘ one afcending flope without a 
break or landing-place 5°’ it was not 
among the people of this country, as it is in 
England, where ‘‘ no fulien line of demar- 
cation feparates and cuts off the feveral or- 
ders from each other, but where all is one 
blendid tint, from the deepeft fhade that 
veils the occupation of laborious induftry, 
to the brighteft hue that glitters in the ° 
luxurious pageantry of title, wealth, and 
power.” Society here was divided into 
two parts only, the rich and the poor; 
and accommodations were {ilited to the 
div:fon: they will order thefe things bet- 
ter now, it is to be hoped,* 
- 
a 
* As nearly as I can recolle& them, Ihave 
given you the words of Mr Sheridan, in one 
of his fpeeches on the Sufpenfion of the Ha- 
beas Corpus A&. The. many brilliant 
fpceches of this accomplithed orator are, I 
sear, irrecoyerably loft to the rublic: at leat 
%, 
fa Excurfion through France to Geneva, [March 1, 
1 ie have - already told youthat we have 
pafied through fome vineyards in our jour- 
ney hither: however delightful and hearts 
cheering may be the bufy fcene which they 
prefent during the vintage, I confefs that 
in this winter feafon, kindly as it is, they 
have excited in my breaft no exhilarating 
fenfations. Take a walk with **** and 
****% into your garden, and look at the 
rafpberry-beds ; conceive them to be exe 
tended over an uninterrupted furface of one 
or two hundred acres of Jand,,and you 
have before your imagination the exact 
picture of a vineyard in December: the 
vine-plants are of about the fame height 
with thofe of the rafpberry,. they have the 
fame fox-coloured hue, are ftaked up in 
the fame manner, but the rows are ufually 
fet at fomewhat wider diftances from each 
other. The plants are moulded up, I 
perceive, probably for the double purpofe _ 
of draining off water and of defending the 
roots from fevere froft ; and altogether 
there appears to be more care and labour 
beftowed on the cultivation of vines than 
on the cultivation of corn. 
Full trot, or rather I believe full canter, 
on the roygh pavement, we pafs through St. 
Dennis, the celebrated burial-place of the ° 
ancient Kings of France! Atlaf, almott 
every bone of eur {kin fhaken out of its 
focket, we arrive at Paris: I really believe. 
that the people thought we brought with us 
the news ot peace from England, by fee- 
ing our courier, {plafhed to the very neck, 
riding full fpeed into the city, and our- 
felves with four horfes and two poftilions 
driving after him at the fame mercilefs 
rate: 1f fo, the Parifian populace was cer- 
tainly not fo riotous in its rejoicing as was 
the populace of London, who took the 
horfes from the carriage ef M. Laurifton, 
and dragged him to his hotel—we were 
{uffered very quietly to drive to the Hotef 
de Tl’ Europe, rue de Lycée, where we are 
by this time pretty well fettled. 
If I had not been a good deal ufed to 
the noife, confufion, and turbulence of 
Lendon, I fhould probably have been - 
ftruck with the far inferior noife, confu- 
fion, and turbulence of Paris: the houfes 
are very lofty, five, fix, and feven ftories 
high ; the buildings, private, as well as 
public, aré of ftone,.and have of courfe 
an appearance of folidity and grandeur, of 
which London cannot boaft, where you 
know, although many public edifices, and 
fome private houles, are of ftone, the maf, 
I know not where any of them are to be. 
found: I fhall be happy if if isin your power 
todsett me tothem. — etd ine 3." 
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} 
