You will laugh, perhaps, when I tell you, I could hardly refrain from
tears when I took leave of the _De Jardin_ family at _Rheims_,--but so
it was. Good-breeding, and attention, have so much the appearance of
friendship, that they may, and often do, deceive the most discerning
men;--no wonder, then, if I was unhappy in leaving a town, where I am
sure I met with the first, and had some reason to believe I should have
found the latter, had we staid to cultivate it. _Bourgogne_ is, however,
a much finer province than Champaigne; and this town is delightfully
situated; that it is a cheap province, you will not doubt, even to
English travellers, when I tell you, that I had a good supper for four
persons, three decent beds, good hay, and plenty of corn, for my horse,
at an inn upon this road, and was charged only four livres ten sols!
not quite four shillings. Nor was it owing to any mistake; for I lay the
following night at just such another inn, and was charged just the same
price for nearly the same entertainment. They were carriers' inns,
indeed, but I know not whether they were not, upon the whole, better,
and cleaner too, than some of the town _auberges_. I need not therefore
tell you, I was straggled a little out of _le Route Anglois_, when I
found such a _bon Marche_.
Dijon is pleasantly situated, well built, and the country round about it
is as beautiful as nature could well make it. The shady walks round the
whole town are very pleasing, and command a view of the adjacent
country. The excellence of the wine of this province, you are better
acquainted with than I am; though I must confess, I have drank better
burgundy in England than I have yet tasted here: but I am not surprized
at that; for at Madeira I could not get wine that was even tolerable.
I found here, two genteel English gentlemen, Mess. Plowden and Smyth,
from whom we received many marks of attention and politeness.--Here, I
imagined I should be able to bear seeing the execution of a man, whose
crimes merited, I thought, the severest punishment. He was broke upon
the wheel; so it is called; but the wheel is what the body is fixed upon
to be exposed on the high road after the execution. This man's body,
however, was burnt. The miserable wretch (a young strong man) was
brought in the evening, by a faint torch light, to a chapel near the
place of execution, where he might have continued in prayer till
midnight; but after one hour spent there, he walked to, and mounted the
scaffold, accompanied by his confessor, who with great earnestness
continually presented to him, and bade him kiss, the crucifix he
carried in his hand. When the prisoner came upon the scaffold, he very
willingly laid himself upon his back, and extended his arms and legs
over a cross, that was laid flat and fixed fast upon the scaffold for
that purpose, and to which he was securely tied by the executioner and
his mother, who assisted her son in this horrid business. Part of the
cross was cut away, in eight places, so as to leave a hollow vacancy
where the blows were to be given, which are, between the shoulder and
elbow, elbow and wrist, thigh and knee, and knee and ancle. When the man
was securely tied down, the end of a rope which was round his neck, with
a running noose, was brought through a hole in and under the scaffold;
this was to give the _Coup de Grace_, after breaking: a _Coup_ which
relieved him, and all the agitated spectators, from an infinite degree
of misery, except only, the executioner and his mother, for they both
seemed to enjoy the deadly office. When the blows were given, which
were made with a heavy piece of iron, in the form of a butcher's
cleaver without an edge, the bones of the arms and legs were broke in
eight places; at each blow, the sufferer called out, O God! without
saying another word, or even uttering a groan. During all this time, the
Confessor called upon him continually to kiss the cross, and to remember
Christ, his Redeemer. Indeed, there was infinite address, as well as
piety, in the conduct of the Confessor; for he would not permit this
miserable wretch to have one moment's reflection about his bodily
sufferings, while a matter of so much more importance was depending; but
even those eight blows seemed nothing to two dreadful after-claps, for
the executioner then untied the body, turned his back upwards, and gave
him two blows on the small of the back with the same iron weapon; and
yet even that did not put an end to the life and sufferings of the
malefactor! for the finishing stroke was, after all this, done by the
halter, and then the body was thrown into a great fire, and consumed to
ashes. There were two or three executions soon after, but of a more
moderate kind. Yet I hope I need not tell you, that I shall never attend
another; and would feign have made my escape from this, but it was
impossible.--Here, too, I saw upwards of fourscore criminals linked
together, by one long chain, and so they were to continue till they
arrived in the galleys at _Marseilles_. Now I am sure you will be, as I
was, astonished to think, an old woman, the mother of the executioner,
should willingly assist in a business of so horrid a nature; and I dare
say, you will be equally astonished that the magistrates of the city
permitted it. Decency, and regard to the sex, alone, one would think,
should have put a stop to a practice so repugnant to both; and yet
perhaps, not one person in the town considered it in that light. Indeed,
no other person would have assisted, and the executioner must have done
all the business himself, if his mother had not been one of that part
of the _fair sex_, which Addison pleasantly mentions, "_as rakers of
cinders_;" for the executioner could not have found a single person to
have given him any assistance. There was a guard of the _Marechaussee_,
to prevent the prisoners' escape; but none that would have lifted up a
little finger towards forwarding the execution; the office is hereditary
and infamous, and the officer is shut out of all society. His
perquisites, however, were considerable; near ten pounds, I think, for
this single execution; and he had a great deal more business coming on.
I would not have given myself the pain of relating, nor you the reading,
the particulars of this horrid affair, but to observe, that it is such
examples as these, that render travelling in France, in general, secure.
I say, in general; for there are, nevertheless, murders committed very
frequently upon the high roads in France; and were those murders to be
made known by news-papers, as ours are in England, perhaps it would
greatly intimidate travellers of their own, as well as other nations.
But as the murdered, and murderers, are generally foot-travellers,
though the dead body is found, the murderer is escaped; and as nobody
knows either party, nobody troubles themselves about it. All over
France, you meet with an infinite number of people travelling on foot,
much better dressed than you find, in general, the stagecoach gentry in
England. Most of these foot-travellers are young expensive tradesmen,
and artists, who have paid their debts by a light pair of heels; when
their money is exhausted, the stronger falls upon the weaker, knocks out
his brains, and furnishes himself with a little money; and these murders
are never scarce heard of above a league from the place where they are
committed; for which reason, you never meet a foot-traveller in France,
without arms, of one kind or other, and carried for one _purpose_, or
the _other_. Gentlemen, however, who travel only in the day-time, and
who are armed, have but little danger to apprehend; yet it is necessary
to be upon their guard when they pass through great woods, and to keep
in the _middle_ of the road, so as not to be too suddenly surprized;
because a _convenient_ opportunity may induce two or three _honest_
travellers to embrace a favourable occasion of replenishing their
purses; and as they always murder those whom they attack, if they can,
those who are attacked should never submit, but defend themselves to the
utmost of their power. Though the woods are dangerous, there are, in my
opinion, plains which are much more so; a high hill which commands an
extensive plain, from which there is a view of the road some miles, both
ways, is a place where a robber has nothing to fear but from those whom
he attacks; and he is morally certain of making his escape one way or
the other: but in a wood, he may be as suddenly surprized, as he is in a
situation to surprize others; for this reason, I have been more on my
guard when I have seen people approach me on an extensive plain, than
when I have passed through deep woods; nor would I ever let any of those
people come too near my chaise; I always shewed them the _utmost
distance_, and made them return the compliment, by bidding them, if they
offered to come out of their line, to keep off: this said in a
peremptory manner, and with a stern look, is never taken ill by honest
men, and has a forcible effect upon rascals, for they immediately
conclude you think yourself superior to them, and then they will think
so too: whatever comes unexpected, is apt to dismay; whole armies have
been seized with a panic from the most trifling artifice of the opposite
general, and such as, by a minute's reflection, would have produced a
contrary effect: the King's troops gave way at Falkirk; the reason was,
they were dismayed at seeing the rebels (_I beg pardon_) come down
_pell mell_ to attack them with their broad swords! it was a new way of
fighting, and, they weakly thought, an invincible one; but had General
Cope previously rode through the ranks, and apprised the troops with the
manner of their fighting, and assured them how feeble the effect of such
weapons would be upon men armed with musket and bayonet, which is
exactly the truth, not a man would have retired; yet, _trim-tram_, they
all ran, and the General, it is said, gave the earliest notice of his
own defeat! But I should have observed, above, that the laws of France
being different, in different provinces, have the contrary effect in the
southern parts, to what they were intended. The _Seigneur_ on whose land
a murdered body is found, is obliged to pay the expence of bringing the
criminal to justice. Some of these lordships are very small; and the
prosecuting a murderer to punishment, would cost the lord of the manor
more than his whole year's income; it becomes his interest, therefore,
to hide the dead body, rather than pursue the living villain; and, as
whoever has property, be it ever so small, has peasants about him who
will be glad to obtain his favour, he is sure that when any of these
peasants see a murdered body, they will give him the earliest notice,
and the same night the body is for ever hid, and no enquiry is made
after the offender. I saw hang on the road side, a family of nine, a
man, his wife, and seven children, who had lived many years by murder
and robberies; and I am persuaded that road murders are very common in
France; yet people of any condition may nevertheless, travel through
France with great safety, and always obtain a guard of the
_Marechaussee_, through woods or forests, or where they apprehend there
is any danger.
_P.S._ The following method of buying and selling the wine of this
province, may be useful to you.
To have good Burgundy, that is, wine _de la premiere tete_, as they term
it, you must buy it from 400 to 700 livres. There are wines still
dearer, up to 1000 or 1200 livres; but it is allowed, that beyond 700
livres, the quality is not in proportion to the price; and that it is in
great measure a matter of fancy.
The carriage of a queue of wine from Dijon to Dunkirk, or to any
frontier town near England, costs an hundred livres, something more than
four sols a bottle; but if sent in the bottle, the carriage will be just
double. The price of the bottles, hampers, package, &c. will again
increase the expence to six sols a bottle more; so that wine which at
first cost 600 livres, or 25 sols a bottle, will, when delivered at
Dunkirk, be worth 29 sols a bottle, if bought in cask; if in bottles, 39
sols.--Now add to this the freight, duties, &c. to London; and as many
pounds sterling as all these expences amount to upon a queue of wine,
just so many French sols must be charged to the price of every bottle.
The reduction of French sols to English sterling money is very plain,
and of course the price of the best burgundy delivered in London, easily
calculated.
If the wine be sent in casks, it is adviseable to choose rather a
stronger wine, because it will mellow, and form itself in the carriage.
It should be double casked, to prevent as much as possible, the frauds
of the carriers. This operation will cost six or eight livres per piece;
but the great and principal object is, whom to trust to buy the best;
and convey it safely. I doubt, it must not pass through the hands of
Mons. C----, if he deals in wine as he does in drapery, and bills of
exchange.