Sir,--I have recently seen letters and paragraphs in various
newspapers instigating travellers going abroad to choose the
Folkestone and Boulogne route instead of going _viâ_ Dover and Calais.
I forget what particular reasons are given for advocating this
substitution, nor do I care what they are or what they may be. Why?
Because, first, undeniably _viâ_ Dover to Calais is the shortest
route, and to those of BRITANNIAS'S sons and daughters--gallant
islanders all--who detest the sea as much as does the humble
individual who now addresses you, the saving of twenty minutes or half
an hour, or in some instances it may be even more, of the sea-passage
would be well worth any extra expense (if extra expense there be,
which, an' I remember rightly, is not the case), especially when
aboard such steam-vessels as are now provided; though, be the
steam-vessels what they may, there is still in one and all of them
that peculiar flavour and motion about which I would rather not speak,
or even think, lest I should be unable to finish this important
letter.
But there is yet another reason why the Dover and Calais route is the
best of all ways to the Continent, and that is on account of the
excellent _déjeuner_--still, as I believe, unequalled at any port or
at any station in Europe--served to the many poor hungry and thirsty
travellers quickly, hotly, and as comfortably as the confounded
bustling circumstances of travel will permit. Why the railway company
which takes us to Paris cannot give us three quarters of an hour for
our very necessary toilette (after the sea passage) and our food, and
then do the journey in double quick time, or in the same time as now
for the matter of that (for what does it matter to the accomplished
traveller who "_does_ know where he are" and where he _will_ be, and
has pre-ordered everything wisely and well?), and so get up to Paris
in time for a little late supper and an early bed?
For those who value their digestions, and who love good food and
drink, even when they have but a short time for refreshment, there is
but one route to Paris from London, and that is _viâ_ Calais, _i.e._
_viâ_ the buffet. Only, _cher messieurs les directeurs de la ligne du
Nord_, cannot you possibly manage to extend our luncheon-time at
Calais to just three quarters of an hour, instead of giving us only a
beggarly twenty-five minutes at best, and do the thing well while you
are about it? As to the Boulogne route, well, one goes to Boulogne to
stay, and so the buffet, _en passant_, is of small importance.
May this reach the eyes and touch the hearts of all in authority, for
it is a _cri du c[oe]ur_ from