1803.] 
pence the pound of fixteen ounces; per- 
haps a private family who fent to market 
may purchafe beef there fora fhilling a 
ound, It might purchafe beef here 
equally good for ten fous the pound of 
eighteen ounces: mutton, I believe, is 
about eight fous, pork and veal at a pro- 
portionate price. The Parifians are com- 
plaining of the high price of bread: it is 
at this time either fifteen or fixteen fous, 
that is to fay, teven-pence- ae ny or 
eight-pence Englith money, the quartern 
loaf.* Wine may he confidered as the 
ftaple beverage among the French: it is 
cheap even at Paris: -B tells us 
that a ftock of the Vin de Bourgogne, of 
fair average quality, may be-Jaid in at 
about fix-pence halfpenny or feven- pence 
the bottle: I think its price to us has va-~ 
ried in different places from two to four 
livres! What an immenfe profit to the 
aubergiftes and the reffaurateurs! "This 
latter 1s-a modern appellation, to which 
the ancient one, fraiteur, has yielded; the 
hiftory of this change is a curious one:— 
It is faid that between thirty and forty 
years ago, a fellow who probably had not 
reccived his culinary educaticn in the re- 
ular manner, and was of courle regarded 
By the doétors in cookery, the traiteurs, 
as a quack in the profeffion, found it ne- 
ceflary, as quacks very often do, to puff 
alittle. This impudent empiric, in order 
to invite paflengers, by ftimulating their 
curiofity, if he could not their appe- 
tite, placed the following infcription over 
his door:—** Venite ad me, omnes qui 
Jlomacho laboratis, et ego refiaurabo vos.” 
Such is the reputed origin of the word re- 
fiaurateur. 
Fuel is dear, and. that feems to be al- 
ott the only neceflary of life which is fo: 
what proportion it bears to the price of 
fuel in England, I know not; there it va- 
riés in diferent counties, according to 
their contiguity to coal-mines, or the fa- 
cility with which coals can be conveyed to 
them. The price of fuelin different parts 
of this kingdom, or this republic rather, 
is of courle regulated ‘by fimilar circum- 
ftances': it is faid to be exceedingly high, 
however, every where, nor is it to be 
wondered at at we confider the immenfe, 
I was going to fay, the immeatura- 
ble, fu pov'ficits of land requifite fer the 
produétion cf wood in fufficient aban- 
dance to fuppoly the confumption of fuch 
Ow re 
* * Qn our icturn to Paris, after an abfence 
of fomething lefs than a month, the price of 
bread had rifen to ten-pence the quartera loa, 
gad yemalged fo when We Gee iY 
Ne 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva. 
city. 
201 
a population as that of Fyance. How 
mutt the forefts groan during a hard winter, 
if feveral thouland axes are at work to 
thin them in feafons even of ordinary fe- 
verity! Where are the coal-mines cf 
France? Of what quality is the article, in 
what abundance is it to be procured, and 
with what facility can it be conveyed to 
the diftant provinces? If the confumption 
is more rapid than the growth of fuel, 
how are the French to be tuppiied Lies 
their forefts are cat down ? 
You afk me whether the poor are very 
numerous, and whether their appearance 
indicates excels of penury and diltrefs? 
Poverty, my good Friend, is the prolific 
parent of an innumerable family: her fong 
and daughters are blown over the furface 
of the earth, like the down of a thiftle, 
and like it bear with them a feed which 
will take root on every foil, and in its turn 
will fruatify. Yes, yes, here are abun- 
dant poor, no doubt; whether they bear 
a larger proportion in this country to its 
population than they do in our own, [I 
know not; neither am I able or defirous 
to effimate the intenfity of their fufferings! 
‘6 Charité, Mon/fi ieur, $ "il vous plait, pour 
l'amour de Dieu!” is uttered in a thoufand 
querulous tones as one travels from Calais 
to Paris: it is impoffible to change horfes 
without having your carriage befet by 
half a {core fuppliant 6s miferables,” and 
‘jet no man fay (quoth Yorick) Let them’ 
go to the Devil !—’tis a cruel journey to 
fend them, and they have had pings 
enow without it.” 
In Paris, as in London, the maimed 
and the blind folicit. ‘your fous, and,to the 
great difgrace of the police of both places, 
are fuffered to exhibit their mutilated 
members and offenfive fores, to the an- 
noyance and diftrefs of every pafienger : 
here are a great many national holpitals 
for the unfortunate of every age and con- 
dition—for orphan infancy and the help- 
lefs childhood of old age; for the blind » 
and the lame, and for thofe who labour 
as well under mental as corporeal incapa- 
Les Hofpices Nationaux have almoit’ 
all of them undergone.a change of name: 
the following lift of thofe now fupported 
(which, however, does not include thofe 
for the maaintenance of decayed or wounded 
foldiers or feamen) I fhall tranfcribe trom 
Le Manuel du Voyageur a Paris: eo pice 
delaBcurbe ; duGros-Caillo on ; GrandHojpi Ce 
ad’ Humanité, ct devant Hotel-Dieu; 0 H6- 
pital Général; des Incurables ;-de la Ma- 
ternité, ou des Enfans-trouvés; du Nom 
de et ; du Nord, ou St. Louis; des 
Petites Maifons; de la Pitié; des Quinze- 
Vinels ; 
