some very neat houses. The peasantry, both men and women, had hats of
straw; a manufactory which Mons. St. Quentin had introduced. A boy was
reading at a cottage-door. I had the curiosity to see the book. It was a
volume of Marmontel. His mother came out, invited us into the house, and
in the course of some conversation, produced some drawings by this
youth; they were very simple, and very masterly. The ladies purchased
them at a good price. He had attained this excellence without a master,
and Mons. St. Quentin, as we were informed, had been so pleased with
him, as to take him into his house. His temper and manners, however,
were not in unison with his taste, and his benefactor had been compelled
to restore him to his mother, but still intended to send him to study at
Paris. The boy's countenance was a direct lie to Lavater; his air was
heavy, and absolutely without intelligence. Mons. St. Quentin had
dismissed him his house on account of a very malignant sally of passion:
a horse having thrown him by accident, the young demon took a knife from
his pocket, and deliberately stabbed him three several times. Such was a
peasant boy, now seemingly enveloped in the interesting simplicity of
Marmontel. How inconsistent is what is called character!
I had a sweet ride for the remaining way to Montreuil by moon-light,
accompanied by two gentlemen on horseback, who lived in that town. They
related to me many melancholy incidents during the revolutionary period.
Montreuil was formerly distributed into five parishes, and had five
churches; but the people doubtless thinking that five was too many for
the religion of the town, destroyed the other four, and sold the best
part of the materials. Accordingly, when I entered the town, my eye was
caught by a noble ruin, which upon inquiry I found to be the church of
Notre Dame. This ruin is beautiful beyond description. The pillars which
remain are noble, and the capitals and carving rich to a degree. It is
astonishing to me that any reasonable beings, the inhabitants of a town,
could thus destroy its chief ornament; but in the madness of the
revolutionary fanatics, the sun itself would have been plucked from
Heaven, if they could have reached it. I was sincerely happy to learn
that religion had returned, and that there was a general inclination to
subscribe for the repair, or rather rebuilding, of Notre Dame.
My friends took leave of me after recommending to me an inn kept by two
sisters, the name of which I have forgotten. They were so handsome as to
resemble English women, and what is very uncommon in this class of
people in France, were totally without rouge. Whilst my supper was
preparing, I had a moon-light walk round the town. The situation of it
is at once commanding and beautiful. The ruins of a chateau, seen under
the light of the moon, improved the scenery, and was another memento of
the execrable Revolution. There are a number of pretty houses, and some
of them substantial. One of them belonged to one of the gentlemen who
accompanied me from Mons. St. Quentin's, and was his present residence,
being all that remained to him of a noble property in the vicinity. This
property had been sold by the nation, and the recovery of it had become
impossible, though the gentleman was in tolerable favour with the
government. Bonaparte had answered one of this gentleman's memorials by
subscribing it with a sentence in his own writing: "We cannot
re-purchase the nation." This gentleman spoke highly, but perhaps
unjustly, of the vigour of Bonaparte's government, of his inflexible
love of justice, and his personal attention to the administration. I
compelled him, however, to acknowledge, that in his own immediate
concerns, the justice of the French Chief was not proof against his
passions. I mentioned the Duke of Enghien; the gentleman pushed on his
horse, and begged me to say no more of the matter.
Upon my return I had an excellent supper, and what was still more
welcome, a bed which reminded me of those at an English coffee-house.
CHAP. VI.
_Departure from Montreuil--French Conscripts--Extreme Youth--Excellent
Roads--Country Labourers--Court for the Claims
of Emigrants--Abbeville--Companion on the Road--Amiens._
AS I wished to reach Paris as soon as possible, I had ordered the
chambermaid to call me at an early hour in the morning; but was awakened
previous to the appointed time by some still earlier travellers--a very
numerous detachment of conscripts, who were on their march for the
central _depot_ of the department. The greater part of them were boys,
and were merry and noisy in a manner characteristic of the French youth.
Seeing me at the window, one of them struck up a very lively
_reveillee_, and was immediately joined by others who composed their
marching band. They were attended, and their baggage carried, by a
peculiar kind of cart--a platform erected on wheels, and on which they
ascended when fatigued. The vehicles were prepared, the horses
harnessed, and the young conscripts impatiently waiting for the word to
march.
When I came down into the inn-yard, no one was stirring in the house
except the ostler, who, upon my mentioning the component items of my
entertainment, very fairly, as I thought, reckoned them up, and received
the amount, taking care to remind me of the chambermaid. Having with
some difficulty likewise procured from him a glass of milk, I mounted my
horse, and followed the conscripts, who, with drum and fife, were
merrily but regularly marching before me. The regularity of the march
continued only till they got beyond the town, and down the hill, when
the music ceased, the ranks broke, and every one walked or ran as he
pleased. As they were somewhat too noisy for a meditating traveller, I
put my horse to his mettle, and soon left them at a convenient distance.
I must cursorily observe, that the main circumstance which struck me in
this detachment, was the extreme youth of the major part. I saw not a
man amongst them, and some of them had an air the most perfectly
childish. Bonaparte is said to prefer these young recruits. No army in
Europe would have admitted them, with the exception of the French.
The road was truly excellent, though hilly, and indeed so continued till
within a few miles of Abbeville. The present Emperor acts so far upon
the system of the ancient monarchy, and considers the goodness of the
highways as the most important and most immediate object of the
administration; accordingly, the roads in France are still better than
under the Bourbons, as Bonaparte sees every thing with his own eyes.
Nothing, indeed, is wanting to quick travelling in France, but English
drivers and English carriages. How would a mail-coach roll upon such a
road! The French postillions, and even the French horses, such as I met
on the road, have a kind of activity without progress--the postillions
are very active in cracking their whips over their heads, and the horses
shuffle about without mending their pace.
I passed several country labourers, men and women, going to their daily
toil. I was informed by one of them, that he worked in the hay-field,
and earned six-and-thirty sous (1_s._ 6_d._) a day; that the wages for
mowers were fifty sous (2_s._ 1_d._), and two bottles of wine or cyder;
that his wife had fourteen sous and her food; and boys and children old
enough to rake, from six to twelve sous. He paid 25 livres annually for
the rent of his cottage. When he had to support himself, he breakfasted
on bread, and a glass or more of strong wine or brandy; dined on bread
and cheese, and supped on bread and an apple. He wore leather shoes,
except in wet weather, when he wore _sabots_, which cost about twelve
sous per pair.
I passed more _chateaux_ in ruins, and others shut up and forsaken. Some
of them were very prettily situated, in patches of trees and amidst
corn-fields. Several, as I understood, belonged to emigrants, whom
Bonaparte had recalled by name, but who had not as yet returned. I
learned with some satisfaction, that some shew of justice was still
necessary. Where the property of the emigrants is unsold, and still in
the hands of the nation, the emigrated proprietor is not totally without
a chance of restitution. If he can come forwards, and prove, in a court
established for the purpose, that he has merely been absent; that his
absence was not without sufficient reasons; that he has not taken up
arms against France; and finally, had returned as soon as he possessed
the means--under these circumstances, the lands are restored. Even his
children may succeed where himself shall fail. Upon proof of infancy at
the time of emigration, and that they have at no time borne arms against
the empire, the lands are not unfrequently decreed to them, even when
the father's claim has been rejected.
I reached Bernay to breakfast, and, for the first time in France, met
with a surly host and a sour hostess. The bread being stale, salt, and
bitter, I desired it to be changed. The host obeyed, so far as to carry
it out of the room and bring it in again. It was in vain, however, that
I insisted upon the identity, till I desired him to bring what he had
removed, and to compare it with what he had brought. He then flatly told
me, that I must either have that or none; that it was as good bread as
any in France, and that he intended to eat it for his own breakfast.
His wife came in, hearing my raised voice, and maintained her husband's
assertions very stoutly. For the sake of peace, I found it necessary to
submit. He is a true hero who can support a contest with a man and his
wife. The girl who waited on me seemed made of kinder materials. She
laughed with much archness when I shewed her the bread, and its vigorous
resistance to the edge of my knife. She was born in Musilius, and told
me, with true French coquetry, that her sisters were as handsome as
herself. She mentioned some English name (that of a valet, I suppose),
and asked me if I knew him in London. If I should hereafter meet him, I
was to remind him of Bernay. The charges, contrary to my expectations,
were as moderate as the breakfast was indifferent; and the host did me
the honour to wish me good morning. The hostess, however, was inflexibly
sour, and saw me depart without a word, or even a salutation.
I had a most unpleasant ride to Abbeville, the heat of the day being
extreme, and the road totally without any shelter. I imagined, however,
that the heat was less oppressive than heat of the same intensity in
England; but I know not whether this difference was any thing but
imaginary. In foreign countries, we are so much upon the hunt for
novelty, and so well predisposed to find it, that in things not strongly
nor immediately the objects of sense, our impressions are not altogether
to be trusted.
Abbeville, which I reached in good time for the _table d'hote_, which is
held on every market-day, is a populous but a most unpleasant town. The
inhabitants are stated to exceed 22,000; but I do not conceive that they
can amount to one half of that number. The town has a most ruinous
appearance, from the circumstance of many of the houses being built with
wood; and by the forms of the windows and the doors, some of them must
be very ancient. There are two or three manufactories of cloth, but none
of them were in a flourishing condition. I went to visit that of
Vanrobais, established by Louis XIV. and which still continues, though
in ruins. The buildings are upon a very large scale; but too much was
attempted for them to execute any thing in a workmanlike manner. There
are different buildings for every different branch of the manufacture. I
cannot but think, however, that they would have succeeded better if they
had consulted the principle of the sub-division of labour. A man who is
both a weaver and a spinner, will certainly not be both as good a weaver
and as good a spinner, as another who is only a spinner or only a
weaver: he will not have the same dexterity, and therefore will not do
the same work. No business is done so well as that which is the sole
object of attention. I saw likewise a manufactory of carpets, which
seemed more flourishing. In the cloth manufactory, the earnings of the
working manufacturers are about 36 sous per diem (1_s._ 6_d._): in the
carpet manufactories, somewhat more. The cloths, as far as I am a
judge, seemed to me even to exceed those of England; but the carpets
are much inferior. From some unaccountable reason, however, the cloths
were much dearer than English broad cloth of the same quality. Whence
does this happen, in a country where provisions are so much cheaper?
Perhaps from that neglect of the sub-division of labour which I have
above noticed.
Abbeville, like all the other principal towns through which I passed,
bore melancholy marks of the Revolution. The handsome church which stood
in the market-place is in ruins--scarcely a stone remains on the top of
another. Many of the best houses were shut up, and others of the same
description, evidently inhabited by people for whom they were not built.
In many of them, one room only was inhabited; and in others, the second
and third floors turned into granaries. Indeed, along the whole road
from Abbeville to Paris, are innumerable _chateaux_, which are now only
the cells of beggars, or of the lowest kind of peasantry.
An officer who was going to Amiens, joined company with me on the road
to Pequigny, and, like every Frenchman of this class, became
communicative almost in the same instant in which we had exchanged
salutes. I found, however, that he knew nothing, except in his own
profession; and I very strongly suspect, that he even here gave me some
details of battles in which he had never been, or at least he made two
or three geographical mistakes, for which I cannot otherwise account. He
made no scruple of moving the Rhine a few degrees easterly; and
constructed a bridge over the Adige without the help of the mason. I
have not unfrequently, indeed, been surprized at the unaccountable
ignorance betrayed by this class of men. It is to be hoped, that in
another age this will pass away. My companion, however, had a
good-humour which compensated for his ignorance; he alternately talked,
sung, and dismounted from his horse to speak to every peasant girl who
met us on the road; he seemed at home with every one, and made the time
pass agreeably enough. He sung, at my request, the Marseillois, and sung
it with such emphasis, energy, and attitude, as to make me sincerely
repent the having called forth such a deafening exhibition of his
powers. Though one or two travellers passed us whilst he was thus
exhibiting, my gentleman was not in the slightest degree discomposed,
but continued his song, his attitudes, and his grimaces, as if he were
in the midst of a wood.
After a very long journey, in which my little Norman had performed to
admiration, I reached Amiens about eight o'clock, on the sweetest summer
evening imaginable. The aspect of Amiens, as it is approached by the
road, resembles Canterbury--the cathedral rising above the town--the
town, as it were, gathering around it as its parent and protector. My
companion would not leave me till he had seen me to the inn, the _Hotel
d'Angleterre_, when he took a farewell of me as if we had been intimate
for years, and I have no doubt, thought no more of me after he had
turned the corner of the street. These attentions, however, are not the
less pleasing, and answer their purpose as well as if they were more
permanent. Having ordered my supper, and seen my horse duly provided
for, I walked through the town, which is clean, lively, and in many
respects resembling towns of the third rate in England. I visited the
cathedral, which pleased me much; but has been so often described, that
I deem it unnecessary to say more of it. It was built by the English in
the time of Henry VI. and the regency of the Duke of Bedford, and has
much of the national taste of that people, and those times. Though
strictly Gothic, it is light, and very tastefully ornamented: it
infinitely exceeds any cathedral in England, with the exception of
Westminster Abbey. I went to see likewise the _Chateau d'Eau_, the
machine for supplying Amiens with water. There is nothing more than
common in it, and the purpose would be answered better by pipes and a
steam-engine. It excited one observation which I have since frequently
made--that the French, with all their parade of science and ostentation
of institutions, are still a century behind England in real practical
knowledge. My Tour in France has at least taught me one lesson--never to
be deceived by high-sounding names and pompous designations. I have not
visited their schools for nothing. The French talk; the English act. A
steady plodding Englishman will build an house, while a Frenchman is
laying down rules for it. There is more of this idle pedantry in France
than in any country on the face of the globe: every thing is done with
science, and nothing with knowledge.
Walking through the market-place, my attention was taken by an unusual
bustle--the erecting of scaffolds, booths, and other similar
preparations. I learned, upon inquiry, that the half-yearly fair was to
be held on the following day; a piece of information which confirmed my
previous intention of passing that day at Amiens.
Upon returning to the inn, I had a supper as comfortable as any I had
ever sat down to, even in England. The landlord, at my particular
request, took his seat with me at table. He complained bitterly of the
oppression of the taxes, and more particularly of their uncertainty,
which was so indeterminate, according to his assertions, that the
collectors took what they pleased, and employed their offices as means
of favour, or to gratify their personal piques. One of the collectors of
Amiens, it seems, was likewise an inn-keeper, who availed himself of the
power of his office to harass his rival. There is no appeal, as long as
the collector is faithful to the government, and pays in what he
receives. The manner in which defaulters are treated, is peculiar to
the French government. If the sum assessed be not paid within the
appointed time, a soldier is billeted at the house of the defaulter, and
another is daily added till the arrear be cleared. The greater part of
the taxes have been imposed during the strong days of the Revolution;
and as they are sufficiently productive, and the present government have
not the odium of their first institution, they are suffered to continue
upon their old foundation--that is to say, upon an infinite number of
successive decrees, many of which contradict each other. No one,
therefore, knows exactly what he has to pay, and any one may be made to
pay according to the caprice of the collector.
CHAP. VII.
_General Character of the Town--Public Walk--Gardens--Half-yearly
Fair--Gaming Houses--Table d'Hotes--English at
Amiens--Expence of Living._
THE noise of the people collecting for the fair, and the consequent
bustle of the inn, awoke me at an early hour in the morning; and after a
breakfast which reminded me of England, I sallied forth to see the town
and the lions. A vast multitude of people had assembled from the
surrounding country, and were collected around the several booths. The
day was fine, the bells were ringing, and the music playing; every one
was dressed in their holiday clothes, and every one seemed to have a
happy and careless face, suitable to the festivity of the occasion.
Amiens is most delightfully situated, the country around being highly
cultivated. It is, in every respect, one of the cleanest towns in
France; and the frequent visits and long residence of Englishmen, have
produced a very sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the
inhabitants. Though some of the houses are very ancient, and the streets
are narrow, it has not the ruinous nor close appearance of the other
towns on the Paris road. It has been lately newly paved; and there is
something, of the nature of a parish-rate for keeping it clean, and in
summer for watering the streets.
Though Amiens has suffered very considerably by the war, it has still,
in appearance at least, an extensive trade. The manufactures are of the
same kind as those at Abbeville. Besides their cloths, however, they
work up a considerable quantity of camblets, callimancoes, and baizes,
chiefly red and spotted, for domestic consumption. They were in great
distress for wool, and could procure none but by land-carriage from
Spain, Portugal, and Flanders. Upon examining two or three of their
articles, I thought them very dear, but very good. I visited two or
three of their manufactories, and upon inquiring for others, was
informed that they had been shut up. The effect of the war had been, to
raise prices to double their former rate: every one expressed an anxious
wish for peace, and imputed the continuance of the war to the English
Ministry.
The general character of the people of Amiens is, that they are lively,
good-humoured, and less infected by the revolutionary contagion than any
town in France: as many of them as I had an opportunity of conversing
with, spoke with due detestation of jacobinism, and with an equal wise
submission to the present order of things. Besides the native
inhabitants, there are many foreign residents, and some English. As
these are in general in good circumstances, they have usually the best
houses in the town, and live in the substantial style of their
respective countries. The English denizens very well understand that
they are constantly under the eye of the French government, and its
spies: they live, therefore, as much as possible in public; and in their
balls, and dinners, and entertainments, have a due mixture of French
visitants. Several of them avoid this restraint by passing for
Americans; but the detection of this deception is most severely
punished. The English have contrived, however, to procure both the good
will and the good word of the people of Amiens, and even the French
government seems to regard them with peculiar favour.
Every considerable town in France has its public walk, and Amiens has
one or more of singular beauty; but being situated in an unenclosed
country, and amongst corn-fields, its private walks are still more
frequented than its ancient promenade. I was informed that the English
had brought these private walks into general fashion, and I considered
it as an additional proof of their good sense and natural taste.
The multitude of people assembled from every part of the province, gave
me an opportunity of seeing the national costume of the peasantry. The
habits of the men did not appear to me so various, and so novel, as
those of the women. The greater part of the former had three-cocked
hats, some of straw, some of pasteboard, and some of beaver; jackets,
red, yellow, and blue; and breeches of the same fancy colours. The women
were dressed in a variety both of shape and colour, which defies all
description. When seen from a distance, the assembly had a very
picturesque appearance: the sun shining on the various colours, gave
them the appearance of so many flowers. The general features of the fair
did not differ much from the fairs in England and America. There were
two streets completely filled with booths: the market-place was occupied
with shows, and temporary theatres. I observed, however, two or three
peculiar national amusements; one of them called the _Mats de Cocagne_,
the other the _Mats de Beaupre_. The _Mats de Cocagne_ are long poles,
some of them thirty feet in height, well greased, and erected
perpendicularly. At the top of them is suspended by a string, a watch, a
shirt, or other similar articles, which become the prize of the
fortunate adventurer who can ascend and reach them. A few sous are paid
to the proprietor of the _mat_, for the chance of gaining the prize; it
is the fault, therefore, of the proprietor, if the _mat_ be not so well
greased as to render the ascent almost impossible. I saw many fruitless
attempts made: one fellow had nearly gained the top, and was within
reach of the prize; he stretched his hand out to take it, and having by
this act diminished his hold, came down with the most frightful
rapidity. The crowd laughed; and another adventurer, nothing dismayed,
succeeded him in the attempt, and in the failure. The prize, however,
was at length obtained; but the adventurer, I should think, had not much
cause to congratulate himself on his good luck. His descent was of a
rapidity which caused the blood to gush out of his mouth and his nose,
and for some time, at least, frightened the multitude from repeating the
same sport.