They Accosted My Servant, And Asked If His
Master Was A Lord?
He thought proper to answer in the
affirmative, upon which the duke declared that he must certainly
be of French extraction, inasmuch as he observed the lilies of
France in his arms on the coach.
This young nobleman spoke a
little English. He asked whence we had come; and understanding we
had been in Italy, desired to know whether the man liked France
or Italy best? Upon his giving France the preference, he clapped
him on the shoulder, and said he was a lad of good taste. The
dutchess asked if her son spoke English well, and seemed mightily
pleased when my man assured her he did. They were much more free
and condescending with my servant than with myself; for, though
we saluted them in passing, and were even supposed to be persons
of quality, they did not open their lips, while we stood close by
them at the inn-door, till their horses were changed. They were
going to Geneva; and their equipage consisted of three coaches
and six, with five domestics a-horseback. The dutchess was a
tall, thin, raw-boned woman, with her head close shaved. This
delay obliged us to lie two posts short of Macon, at a solitary
auberge called Maison Blanche, which had nothing white about it,
but the name. The Lionnois is one of the most agreeable and best-cultivated
countries I ever beheld, diversified with hill, dale,
wood, and water, laid out in extensive corn-fields and rich
meadows, well stocked with black cattle, and adorned with a
surprising number of towns, villages, villas, and convents,
generally situated on the brows of gently swelling hills, so that
they appear to the greatest advantage. What contributes in a
great measure to the beauty of this, and the Maconnois, is the
charming pastoral Soame, which from the city of Chalons winds its
silent course so smooth and gentle, that one can scarce discern
which way its current flows. It is this placid appearance that
tempts so many people to bathe in it at Lions, where a good
number of individuals are drowned every summer: whereas there is
no instance of any persons thus perishing in the Rhone, the
rapidity of it deterring every body from bathing in its stream.
Next night we passed at Beaune where we found nothing good but
the wine, for which we paid forty sols the bottle. At Chalons our
axle-tree took fire; an accident which detained us so long, that
it was ten before we arrived at Auxerre, where we lay. In all
probability we must have lodged in the coach, had not we been
content to take four horses, and pay for six, two posts
successively. The alternative was, either to proceed with four on
those terms, or stay till the other horses should come in and be
refreshed. In such an emergency, I would advise the traveller to
put up with the four, and he will find the postilions so much
upon their mettle, that those stages will be performed sooner
than the others in which you have the full complement.
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