A Week's Residence In Paris Does Not Give A Stranger Any Title To
Decide Upon The Merits Or Demerits Of That Far-Famed City.
The period
of the year (September) was not the most favourable for a visit, all
the best families having emigrated to their country habitations, and
the city consequently exhibited a deserted air, at variance with every
preconceived notion of the gaiety of the French capital.
The mixture
of meanness and magnificence in the buildings, the dirt and bad
smells, combine to give an unfavourable impression, which time only,
and a better acquaintance with the more agreeable features of the
place, can remove.
We had entertained a hope, upon our arrival in Paris, of getting the
malle poste for our journey to Chalons; but it was engaged for at
least a month in advance. We were not more fortunate, our party now
being reduced to three, in our endeavour to secure the coupe, and
were obliged to be contented with places (corners) in the interior.
We despatched all our heavy goods - that is, the portmanteaus - by
messagerie, to Marseilles, which was a great saving of trouble.
Though the expense of this conveyance is enormous, it has the great
advantage of speed, travelling nearly as quickly as the diligence,
while by the roulage, which is cheaper, very inconvenient delays may
be incurred.
We quitted Paris on the 13th of September, well pleased with the
treatment we had received. Though the charges for lodging, washing,
&c. were high, there was no attempt at imposition; our landlady
would not allow us to pay any thing for the eighth day of our abode,
although we thereby entered into another week. We had the pleasure
of leaving every body well satisfied with us, and willing to receive
another English party.
The diligence started at the appointed hour, namely, six o'clock in
the evening. Unaccustomed to travel all night, we were rather anxious
about breakfast, as we had merely stopped to change horses, without
resting for any refreshment since we quitted Paris. Upon our arrival
at Sens, at about seven o'clock in the morning, we were amused by the
appearance of a party of persons running, gesticulating, and talking
with all their might, who brought hot coffee, milk, bread, and fruit
to the carriage-door. At first we were disinclined to avail ourselves
of the breakfast thus offered, but learning that we should not get any
thing else before twelve o'clock in the day, we overcame our scruples,
and partook of the despised fare, which we found very good of its
kind.
The country we passed through was rich with vineyards, and, on account
of the undulating nature of the land, and the frequency of towns
and villages, exceedingly pleasing to the eye. We were continually
delighted with some splendid burst of scenery. There was no want
of foliage, the absence of the magnificent timber which we find in
England being the less remarkable, in consequence of the number of
trees which, if not of very luxuriant growth, greatly embellish the
landscape, while we saw the vine everywhere, the rich clusters of its
grapes reaching to the edge of the road. Though robbed of its
grace, and its lavish display of leaf and tendril, by the method
of cultivating, each plant being reduced to the size of a small
currant-bush, the foliage, clothing every hill with green, gave the
country an aspect most grateful to those who are accustomed to English
verdure.
We made our first halt at Auxerre, when a dejeuner a la fourchette
was served up to the travellers in the diligence. A bad English
dinner is a very bad thing, but a bad French one is infinitely worse.
Hitherto, we had fed upon nothing but the most dainty fare of the best
hotels and cafes, and I, at least, who wished to see as much as I
could of France, was not displeased at the necessity of satisfying the
cravings of appetite with bread and melon. There were numerous dishes,
all very untempting, swimming in grease, and brought in a slovenly
manner to the table; a roast fowl formed no exception, for it was
sodden, half-raw, and saturated with oil. It was only at the very
best hotels in France that we ever found fowls tolerably well roasted;
generally speaking, they are never more than half-cooked, and are
as unsightly as they are unsavoury. Our fellow-passengers did ample
justice to the meal, from which we gladly escaped, in order to devote
the brief remainder of our time to a hasty toilet.
From what we could see of it, Auxerre appeared to be a very pretty
place, it being at this time perfectly enwreathed with vines. In
fact, every step of our journey increased our regret that we should be
obliged to hurry through a country which it would have delighted us
to view at leisure, each town that we passed through offering some
inducement to linger on the road. Active preparations were making
for the vintage, the carts which we met or overtook being laden with
wine-casks, and much did we desire to witness a process associated in
our minds with the gayest scenes of rural festivity.
It would not be a fair criterion to judge of the accommodation
afforded at the hotels of the French provinces by those at which the
diligence changed horses; in some I observed that we were not shown
into the best apartments reserved for public entertainment, but in
none did we find any difficulty in procuring water to wash with,
nor did we ever see a dish substituted for a basin. From our own
observation, it seems evident that the inns in the provinces have been
much improved since the peace with England, and it appeared to us,
that no reasonable objection could be made to the accommodation
supplied. Auxerre certainly furnished the worst specimen we met with
on the road; at no other place had we any right to complain of our
entertainment, and at some the fare might be called sumptuous.
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