From Our
Landing-Place We Were Obliged To Walk Very Near A Mile To The Inn
Where We Purposed To Lodge, Attended By Six Or Seven Men And
Women, Bare-Legged, Carrying Our Baggage.
This boat cost me a
guinea, besides paying exorbitantly the people who carried our
things; so that the inhabitants of Dover and of Boulogne seem to
be of the same kidney, and indeed they understand one another
perfectly well.
It was our honest captain who made the signal for
the shore-boat before I went upon deck; by which means he not
only gratified his friends, the watermen of Boulogne, but also
saved about fifteen shillings portage, which he must have paid
had he gone into the harbour; and thus he found himself at
liberty to return to Dover, which he reached in four hours. I
mention these circumstances as a warning to other passengers.
When a man hires a packet-boat from Dover to Calais or Boulogne,
let him remember that the stated price is five guineas; and let
him insist upon being carried into the harbour in the ship,
without paying the least regard to the representations of the
master, who is generally a little dirty knave. When he tells you
it is low water, or the wind is in your teeth, you may say you
will stay on board till it is high water, or till the wind comes
favourable. If he sees you are resolute, he will find means to
bring his ship into the harbour, or at least to convince you,
without a possibility of your being deceived, that it is not in
his power. After all, the fellow himself was a loser by his
finesse; if he had gone into the harbour, he would have had
another fare immediately back to Dover, for there was a Scotch
gentleman at the inn waiting for such an opportunity.
Knowing my own weak constitution, I took it for granted this
morning's adventure would cost me a fit of illness; and what
added to my chagrin, when we arrived at the inn, all the beds
were occupied; so that we were obliged to sit in a cold kitchen
above two hours, until some of the lodgers should get up. This
was such a bad specimen of French accommodation, that my wife
could not help regretting even the inns of Rochester,
Sittingbourn, and Canterbury: bad as they are, they certainly
have the advantage, when compared with the execrable auberges of
this country, where one finds nothing but dirt and imposition.
One would imagine the French were still at war with the English,
for they pillage them without mercy.
Among the strangers at this inn where we lodged, there was a
gentleman of the faculty, just returned from Italy. Understanding
that I intended to winter in the South of France, on account of a
pulmonic disorder, he strongly recommended the climate of Nice in
Provence, which, indeed, I had often heard extolled; and I am
almost resolved to go thither, not only for the sake of the air,
but also for its situation on the Mediterranean, where I can have
the benefit of bathing; and from whence there is a short cut by
sea to Italy, should I find it necessary to try the air of
Naples.
After having been ill accommodated three days at our inn, we have
at last found commodious lodgings, by means of Mrs. B-, a very
agreeable French lady, to whom we were recommended by her
husband, who is my countryman, and at present resident in London.
For three guineas a month we have the greatest part of a house
tolerably furnished; four bed-chambers on the first floor, a
large parlour below, a kitchen, and the use of a cellar.
These, I own, are frivolous incidents, scarce worth committing to
paper; but they may serve to introduce observations of more
consequence; and in the mean time I know nothing will be
indifferent to you, that concerns - Your humble servant.
LETTER II
BOULOGNE SUR MER, July 15, 1763.
DEAR SIR, - The custom-house officers at Boulogne, though as
alert, are rather more civil than those on your side of the
water. I brought no plate along with me, but a dozen and a half
of spoons, and a dozen teaspoons: the first being found in one of
our portmanteaus, when they were examined at the bureau, cost me
seventeen livres entree; the others being luckily in my servant's
pocket, escaped duty free. All wrought silver imported into
France, pays at the rate of so much per mark: therefore those who
have any quantity of plate, will do well to leave it behind them,
unless they can confide in the dexterity of the shipmasters; some
of whom will undertake to land it without the ceremony of
examination. The ordonnances of France are so unfavourable to
strangers, that they oblige them to pay at the rate of five per
cent. for all the bed and table linen which they bring into the
kingdom, even though it has been used. When my trunks arrived in
a ship from the river Thames, I underwent this ordeal: but what
gives me more vexation, my books have been stopped at the bureau;
and will be sent to Amiens at my expence, to be examined by the
chambre syndicale; lest they should contain something prejudicial
to the state, or to the religion of the country. This is a
species of oppression which one would not expect to meet with in
France, which piques itself on its politeness and hospitality:
but the truth is, I know no country in which strangers are worse
treated with respect to their essential concerns. If a foreigner
dies in France, the king seizes all his effects, even though his
heir should be upon the spot; and this tyranny is called the
droit d'aubaine founded at first upon the supposition, that all
the estate of foreigners residing in France was acquired in that
kingdom, and that, therefore, it would be unjust to convey it to
another country.
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