* * * * *
PARIS TO MARSEILLES.
* * * * *
Description of Paris--Departure by the Diligence--The Country--The
Vineyards--Hotels and fare--Arrival at Lyons--Description of
the City--Departure in the Steam-boat for Arles--Descent of the
Rhône--Beauty and Variety of the Scenery--Confusion on disembarking at
Beaucaire--A Passenger Drowned--Arrival at Arles--Description of the
Town--Embarkation in the Steamer for Marseilles--Entrance into the
Mediterranean--Picturesque approach to Marseilles--Arrival in the
Harbour--Description of Marseilles--Observations upon the Journey
through France by Ladies.
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 Châlons; 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 _coupé_, 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 _déjeûner à 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 _cafés_, 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.
On the third morning from our departure from Paris, when nearly
exhausted, the rising sun gave us a view of the environs of Lyons.
We had been afraid to stop at Châlons the day before, having been
informed that the Saône was not sufficiently full to ensure the
certainty of the steam-boat's arrival at the promised time at Lyons.
This was a great disappointment, but we were rewarded by the rich and
beautiful scenery which characterises the route by land. We could not
help fancying that we could distinguish the home of Claude Melnotte
amid those villages that dotted the splendid panorama; and the
pleasure, with which I, at least, contemplated the fine old city, was
not a little enhanced by its association with the Lady of Lyons and
her peasant lover.
Lyons more than realised all the notions which I had formed concerning
it, having an air of antique grandeur which I had vainly expected
to find at Rouen. It is well-built throughout, without that striking
contrast between the newer buildings and the more ancient edifices,
which is so remarkable in the capital of Normandy. The Hotel de Ville,
in the large square, is a particularly fine building, and the whole
city looks as if it had been for centuries the seat of wealth and
commerce.
Friends in England, and the few we met with or made in Paris, had
furnished us with the names of the hotels it would be most advisable
to put up at; but these lists were, as a matter of course, lost, and
we usually made for the nearest to the place where we stopped. The
Hotel de Paris, which looks upon the Hotel de Ville, was the one we
selected at Lyons; it was large and commodious, but had a dull and
melancholy air. As it is usual in French hotels, the building enclosed
a court-yard in the centre, with galleries running round the three
sides, and reaching to the upper stories. The furniture, handsome of
its kind, was somewhat faded, adding to the gloom which is so often
the characteristic of a provincial inn.
As soon as possible, we sallied forth, according to our usual wont, to
see as much as we could of the town and its environs; both invited a
longer stay, but we were anxious to be at Marseilles by the 19th, and
therefore agreed to rise at half-past three on the following morning,
in order to be ready for the steamer, which started an hour after. We
had begun, indeed, to fancy sleep a superfluous indulgence; my female
friend (Miss E.), as well as myself, suffering no other inconvenience
from three nights spent in a diligence than that occasioned by swelled
feet and ancles.
We found a very considerable number of persons in the steam-boat, many
of whom were English, and amongst them a gentleman and his wife, who,
with four children, were travelling to Nice, where they proposed to
spend the winter. The fine weather of the preceding day had deserted
us, and it rained in torrents during the first hours of the descent
of the Rhône. The wet and cold became so difficult to bear, that I
was glad to take up a position under the funnel of the steamer,
where, protected a little from the rain, I speedily got dry and warm,
enjoying the scenery in despite of the very unfavourable state of the
weather. We missed our communicative boatman of the Seine, but
met with a very intelligent German, who gave us an account of the
remarkable places _en route_, pointing out a spot once exceedingly
dangerous to boats ascending or descending, in consequence of a
projecting rock, which, by the orders of the Emperor Napoleon, had
been blown up.
All the steamers which leave Lyons profess to go as far as Arles; but,
in order to ensure conveyance to that place the same evening, it is
necessary to ascertain whether they carry freight to Beaucaire, for in
that case they always stay the night to unlade, taking the boat on
at an early hour the following morning. We found ourselves in this
predicament; and perhaps, under all the circumstances to be related,
it would be advisable to leave the Lyons boat at Avignon and proceed
by land to Marseilles. Many of the passengers pursued this plan.
The weather cleared up in the middle of the day, and we passed Avignon
in a rich crimson sunset, which threw its roseate flush upon the ruins
of the Papal palace, and the walls and bastions of this far-famed
city. Experience had shown us the impossibility of taking more than a
cursory view of any place in which we could only sojourn for a single
day, and therefore we satisfied ourselves with the glimpses which we
caught of Avignon from the river. A half-finished bridge, apparently
of ancient date, projects rudely into the middle of the stream; we
passed through another more modern, though somewhat difficult to
shoot; our voyage the whole day having been made under a succession of
bridges, many upon the suspension principle, and extremely light and
elegant. The beauty and variety of the scenery which presented itself,
as we shot along the banks of the Rhône, were quite sufficient to
engage our attention, and to make the hours fly swiftly along; there
were few, however, of our fellow-travellers who did not resort to
other methods of amusement.
After the weather had cleared, the decks dried, and the sun-beams,
warming, without scorching, glanced through fleecy clouds, the greater
number of the passengers remained in the cabin below, whence, the
windows being small and high, there was literally nothing to be seen.
They employed themselves in reading, writing, or working; the French
ladies in particular being most industrious in plying the needle. We
noticed one family especially, who scarcely shewed themselves
upon deck. It consisted of the mother, an elderly lady, of a very
prepossessing appearance, with her son and daughter; the former about
thirty years old, the latter considerably younger. The dress of
the ladies, which was perfectly neat, consisting of printed muslin
dresses, black silk shawls, and drawn bonnets, seemed so completely
English, that we could scarcely believe that they were not our own
countrywomen; they were the most diligent of the workers and
readers, and as we never went down into the cabin unless to take some
refreshment, or to fetch any thing we wanted, a few brief civilities
only passed between us, but these were so cordially offered, that we
regretted that want of inclination to enjoy the air and prospect upon
deck which detained the party below.
There was a _restaurateur_ on board the steamer, who supplied the
passengers, at any hour they pleased, with the articles inserted
in his _carte_; every thing was very good of its kind, but the boat
itself was neither handsomely nor conveniently fitted up, and I should
recommend in preference the new iron steamers which have been lately
introduced upon the Rhône.
It was about nine o'clock in the evening when we reached Beaucaire;
one other boat stopped at this place, but the rest, to our
mortification, went on to Arles. We were told that we must be at
the river-side at four the next morning, in order to proceed, and we
therefore could not reckon upon more than four or five hours' sleep.
The night was very dark, and a scene of great confusion took place in
the disembarkation. We had agreed to wait quietly until the remainder
of the passengers got on shore; and Miss E. and myself, glad to escape
from the bustle and confusion of the deck, went down below to collect
our baggage, &c. The quay was crowded with porters, all vociferating
and struggling to get hold of parcels to carry, while the
commissionaires from the hotels were more than ever eager in
their recommendations of their respective houses: their noise and
gesticulations were so great, and their requests urged with so much
boldness, that we might have been led to suppose we had fallen into
the hands of banditti, who would plunder us the moment they got us
into their clutches.
Miss E. had posted herself at an open window, watching this strange
scene, and while thus employed, was startled by hearing a piercing
scream, and a plunge into the water; at the same moment, the clamour
on shore became excessive. We instantly rushed upon deck, where we
found our other friend safe; and upon inquiring what had happened,
were told that a box had fallen into the river. Not quite satisfied
of the truth of this statement, we asked several other persons, and
received the same answer, the master of the steamer assuring us that
no more serious accident had occurred.
We soon afterwards went on shore, which was then perfectly quiet, and,
preceded by a commissionaire, who had persuaded the gentleman of our
party to put himself under his convoy, we walked into the town. At
a short distance from the water, we came upon an hotel of very
prepossessing appearance, which we concluded to be the one to which we
were bound. The windows of the lower and upper floors were all open,
the rooms lighted, showing clean, gay-looking paper upon the walls,
and furniture of a tempting appearance. Our conductor, however, passed
the door, and dived down a lane, upon which we halted, and declared
our resolution to go no further. After a little parley, and amongst
other representations of the superior accommodations of the unknown
hotel, an assurance that the stables were magnificent, we gained our
point, and entered the house which had pleased us so much. We were
met at the door by two well-dressed, good-looking women, who showed us
into some excellent apartments up-stairs, all apparently newly-fitted
up, and exceedingly well-furnished.
Ordering supper, we descended to the public room, and as we passed
to a table at the farther end, noticed a young man sitting rather
disconsolately at a window. We were laughing and talking with each
other, when, suddenly starting up, the stranger youth exclaimed, "You
are English? how glad I am to hear my own language spoken again!" He
told us that he was travelling through France to Malta, and had
come by the other steam-boat, in which there were no other English
passengers beside himself. He then inquired whether a lady had not
been drowned who came by our vessel; we answered no; but upon his
assurance that such was the fact, we began to entertain a suspicion
that the truth had been concealed from us. It was not, however, until
the next morning, that we could learn the particulars. The gentleman
who had accompanied us, and who had likewise been deceived by the
statements made to him, ascertained that the accident had befallen
the elderly French lady, with whose appearance we had been so much
pleased. She had got on board a boat moored close to ours, and
believing that she had only to step on shore, actually walked into
the river. She was only ten minutes under water, and the probabilities
are, that if the circumstance had been made known, and prompt
assistance afforded, she might have been resuscitated. Amid the number
of English passengers on board the steamer, the chances were very much
in favour of its carrying a surgeon, accustomed to the best methods
to be employed in such cases. No inquiry of the kind was made, and we
understood that the body had been conveyed to a church, there to await
the arrival of a medical man from the town.
We were, of course, inexpressibly shocked by this fatal catastrophe,
the more so because we all felt that we might have been of use had
we been told the truth. The grief and distraction of the son and
daughter, who had thus lost a parent, very possibly prevented them
from taking the best measures in a case of such emergence; whereas
strangers, anxious to be of service, and having all their presence of
mind at command, might have afforded very important assistance. How
little had we thought, during the day spent so pleasantly upon the
Rhône, that a fiat had passed which doomed one of the party to an
untimely and violent death! Our spirits, which had been of the gayest
nature, were damped by this incident, which recurred to our minds
again and again, and we were continually recollecting some trifling
circumstance which had prepossessed us in favour of the family, thus
suddenly overwhelmed by so distressing an event.
A couple of hours brought us to Arles, where we arrived before the
town was astir; the steamer to Marseilles did not leave the quay until
twelve o'clock, and we were tantalized by the idea of the excellent
night's rest we might have had if the steamer had fulfilled its
agreement to go on to Arles. The Marseilles boat, though a fine vessel
of its class, was better calculated for the conveyance of merchandize
than of passengers; there being only one cabin, and no possibility of
procuring any refreshment on board. This is the more inconvenient,
as there is danger in bad weather of the passage into the harbour of
Marseilles being retarded for several hours. We now lamented having
slighted an invitation to comfortable quarters in Avignon, which we
found on board the Lyons steamer, printed upon a large card.
We were much pleased with what we saw of Arles; it is a clean,
well-built town, the streets generally rather narrow, but the houses
good. In walking about, we found many of the outer doors open, and
neat-looking female servants employed in sweeping the halls and
entries. With what I hope may be deemed a pardonable curiosity, we
peeped and sometimes stepped into these interiors, and were gratified
by the neatness and even elegance which they exhibited. We found the
people remarkably civil, and apparently too much accustomed to English
travellers to trouble themselves about us. The hotel was not of the
best class, and we only saw some very inferior _cafés_, consisting
of one small room, with a curtain before the open door, and on the
outside a rude representation, on a board, of a coffee-pot, and a
cup and saucer. All the shops at Arles had curtains at the doors,
a peculiarity which we had not previously observed in the towns of
France. We went into a handsome church, where we found a few people,
principally beggars, at prayers, and leaving a small donation in the
poor-box, beguiled the time by walking and sitting in the _boulevard_
of the town.
We were glad to embark at twelve o'clock, and soon afterwards we were
again in motion. The Rhône is at this place a fine broad stream; but
its banks were less interesting than those which we had passed the
previous day. We came at length to a large tract of low land, washed
on the other side by the Mediterranean, which we were told was
tenanted by troops of wild horses, known by their being invariably
white. There were certainly many horses to be seen, and amongst them
numerous white ones; but they appeared to be exceedingly tame, and had
probably only been turned out for the benefit of grazing on the salt
marsh. Possibly there might be some difficulty in catching them in so
large a plain, perfectly unenclosed, and they might have bred in these
solitudes. There were also some very peaceable-looking donkeys to
be seen, and now and then a few cows. We did not perceive any human
habitations until we came to the extreme point, where one or two low,
dreary-looking tenements had been raised.
The view for the last hour had been magnificent, extending over a
splendid country to the lower Alps, and now Marseilles appeared in the
distance, spread upon the side of a hill down to the water, and
its environs stretching far and wide, villas and country mansions
appearing in every direction. Upon entering the Mediterranean, we were
struck by the line of demarcation which kept the green waters of the
Rhône and the deep dark blue of the sea perfectly distinct from each
other, there being no blending of tints. Here we were delighted by the
appearance of a shoal of large fish, which were seen springing out of
the water; several approached the steamer, gamboling about in the most
beautiful manner possible, darting along close to the surface, and
then making long leaps with their bodies in the air. One of our
fellow-passengers, a German, with whom we had made acquaintance,
hastened to fetch a gun; but, much to our joy, it missed fire in
several attempts to discharge it at the beautiful creatures which had
thus amused us with their sports. How strong must be the destructive
propensity, when it leads men to wanton acts of barbarity like this;
since, had a hundred fish been killed, there would have been no
possibility of getting one on board, and the slaughter must merely
have been perpetrated for slaughter's sake! Our remonstrances passed
unheeded, and we therefore did not conceal our rejoicing over the
disappointment.
The entrance into Marseilles is very picturesque, it being guarded on
either side by high rocks, bold, and projecting in various shapes. We
found the harbour crowded with vessels of various denominations, and
amongst them several steamers, one a French ship of war, and another
the English Government steamer, appointed to carry the mails to Malta.
The smell arising from the stagnant water in the harbour of Marseilles
was at first almost intolerable, and it was not without surprise that
we saw several gay gondola-looking boats, with white and coloured
awnings, filled with ladies and gentlemen, rowing about apparently for
pleasure.
The clock struck five as we got on shore, and, much to our annoyance,
we found that our first visit was to be paid to the customhouse. Upon
embarking at Arles, a _gens-d'armes_ had laid his finger upon our
baggage, and demanded our keys; but upon a remonstrance at the
absurdity of a re-examination, after it had passed through the whole
of France, he allowed it to be put on board inviolate. Here, however,
there was no escaping, and, tired as we were, and anxious to get to
our hotel, we were obliged to submit to the delay. Fortunately, we
were the first arrivals, and the search not being very strict, we were
not detained more than ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, which,
under the circumstances, seemed an age. The nearest hotel was of course
our place of refuge, and we were fortunate in speedily ending a very
good one, the Hotel des Embassadeurs, an immense establishment,
exceedingly well-conducted in every respect. Here we enjoyed the prospect
of a night's rest, having, during a hundred and ten hours, only had about
ten, at two different periods, in bed. Refreshed, however, by a change
of dress, we had no inclination to anticipate the period of repose, but
hurried our toilet, in order to join the dinner at the _table-d'hôte._
Marseilles struck us as being the handsomest and the cleanest town we
had yet seen in France. All the houses are spacious and lofty, built
of white stone, and in good condition, while every portion of the city
is well paved, either after the English fashion, or with brick, quite
even, and inserted in a very tasteful manner. Many of the streets
are extremely wide, and some are adorned with handsome fountains.
The shops are very elegant, and much more decorated than those of any
other place in France; some had paintings upon glass, richly gilded,
on either side of the doors, handsome curtains hung down within, and
the merchandise displayed was of the best description. These shops
were also well lighted, and together with the brilliant illuminations
of the neighbouring _cafés_, gave the streets a very gay appearance.
We wandered about until rather a late hour; the _cafés_, both inside
and outside, were crowded with gentlemen; but in the promenades we
saw fewer ladies than we had expected, and came to the conclusion--an
erroneous one in all probability--that French women stay very much at
home. Assuredly, the beauty of the night was most inviting; but, worn
out at last, we were obliged to retire to our hotel.
The next day, we made inquiries concerning the steamers, and
learned that the French boat was certainly to start on the following
afternoon, the 21st, while the departure of the English vessel
was uncertain, depending upon the arrival of the mails. Though
disappointed at finding that the French steamer did not touch at
Naples, as I had been led to believe, I felt inclined to take my
passage in her; but the advantage of being in time to meet the Bombay
steamer at Suez was so strongly urged upon me, in consequence of the
ticklish state of affairs in Egypt, that, finding plenty of room on
board the _Niagara_, we engaged a couple of berths in the ladies'
cabins. Mehemet Ali was represented to us as being so obstinately
determined to retain possession of the Turkish fleet, and the British
Government so urgent with France to support the Porte against him,
that, if this intelligence was to be depended upon, no time ought to
be lost. It was with reluctance that I gave up my original intention
of lingering on the road, and at Malta, but my unwillingness to run
any risk of being shut out of Egypt prevailed. After executing this
necessary business, we engaged a carriage, and paying a visit to the
British consul, drove about the town and its environs, being the more
pleased the more we saw of both. There appeared to be a deficiency of
trees in the landscape, but a peculiar air of its own compensated for
the want of foliage.
The private streets and houses of Marseilles are very regular and
well built, nor did we see any portion of the town of a very inferior
description. I should have liked much to have remained a few weeks in
it, and indeed regretted the rapidity of my journey through France,
not being able to imagine any thing more delightful than a leisure
survey of the country through which we passed. I had been so strongly
determined to make the overland trip to India, that I would have
undertaken it quite alone, had I not met with a party to accompany me;
some kind friends would not allow me, however, to make the experiment;
nor do I recommend ladies, unless they are very well acquainted
with the country, to travel through it without the protection of a
gentleman, a courier, or a good servant. Miss E. and myself performed
the whole distance without a care or a thought beyond the objects on
the road; but this we owed entirely to the attention of the gentleman
who put us safely on board the Malta steamer, and who managed every
thing for us upon the way, so that we were never in one single
instance subjected to the slightest annoyance.