I Have Very Good Claret From A Friend, At
The Rate Of Fifteen-Pence Sterling A Bottle; And Excellent Small
Beer As Reasonable As In England.
I don't believe there is a drop
of generous Burgundy in the place; and the aubergistes impose
upon us shamefully, when they charge it at two livres a bottle.
There is a small white wine, called preniac, which is very
agreeable and very cheap. All the brandy which I have seen in
Boulogne is new, fiery, and still-burnt. This is the trash which
the smugglers import into England: they have it for about ten-pence
a gallon. Butcher's meat is sold for five sols, or two-pence
halfpenny a pound, and the pound here consists of eighteen
ounces. I have a young turkey for thirty sols; a hare for four-and-twenty;
a couple of chickens for twenty sols, and a couple of
good soles for the same price. Before we left England, we were
told that there was no fruit in Boulogne; but we have found
ourselves agreeably disappointed in this particular. The place is
well supplied with strawberries, cherries, gooseberries,
corinths, peaches, apricots, and excellent pears. I have eaten
more fruit this season, than I have done for several years. There
are many well-cultivated gardens in the skirts of the town;
particularly one belonging to our friend Mrs. B - , where we often
drink tea in a charming summer-house built on a rising ground,
which commands a delightful prospect of the sea.
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