I Was Also Very Sick Of Been Ficas, Grives,
Or Thrushes, And Other Little Birds, Which Are Served Up Twice A
Day At All Ordinaries On The Road.
They make their appearance in
vine-leaves, and are always half raw, in which condition the
French choose to eat them, rather than run the risque of losing
the juice by over-roasting.
The peasants on the South of France are poorly clad, and look as
if they were half-starved, diminutive, swarthy, and meagre; and
yet the common people who travel, live luxuriously on the road.
Every carrier and mule-driver has two meals a day, consisting
each of a couple of courses and a dessert, with tolerable small
wine. That which is called hermitage, and grows in this province
of Dauphine, is sold on the spot for three livres a bottle. The
common draught, which you have at meals in this country, is
remarkably strong, though in flavour much inferior to that of
Burgundy. The accommodation is tolerable, though they demand
(even in this cheap country) the exorbitant price of four livres
a head for every meal, of those who choose to eat in their own
apartments. I insisted, however, upon paying them with three,
which they received, though not without murmuring and seeming
discontented. In this journey, we found plenty of good mutton,
pork, poultry, and game, including the red partridge, which is
near twice as big as the partridge of England. Their hares are
likewise surprisingly large and juicy. We saw great flocks of
black turkeys feeding in the fields, but no black cattle; and
milk was so scarce, that sometimes we were obliged to drink our
tea without it.
One day perceiving a meadow on the side of the road, full of a
flower which I took to be the crocus, I desired my servant to
alight and pull some of them. He delivered the musquetoon to
Joseph, who began to tamper with it, and off it went with a
prodigious report, augmented by an eccho from the mountains that
skirted the road. The mules were so frightened, that they went
off at the gallop; and Joseph, for some minutes, could neither
manage the reins, nor open his mouth. At length he recollected
himself, and the cattle were stopt, by the assistance of the
servant, to whom he delivered the musquetoon, with a significant
shake of the head. Then alighting from the box, he examined the
heads of his three mules, and kissed each of them in his turn.
Finding they had received no damage,
he came up to the coach, with a pale visage and staring eyes, and
said it was God's mercy he had not killed his beasts. I answered,
that it was a greater mercy he had not killed his passengers; for
the muzzle of the piece might have been directed our way as well
as any other, and in that case Joseph might have been hanged for
murder. "I had as good be hanged (said he) for murder, as be
ruined by the loss of my cattle." This adventure made such an
impression upon him, that he recounted it to every person we met;
nor would he ever touch the blunderbuss from that day. I was
often diverted with the conversation of this fellow, who was very
arch and very communicative. Every afternoon, he used to stand
upon the foot-board, at the side of the coach, and discourse with
us an hour together. Passing by the gibbet of Valencia, which
stands very near the high-road, we saw one body hanging quite
naked, and another lying broken on the wheel. I recollected, that
Mandrin had suffered in this place, and calling to Joseph to
mount the foot-board, asked if he had ever seen that famous
adventurer. At mention of the name of Mandrin, the tear started
in Joseph's eye, he discharged a deep sigh, or rather groan, and
told me he was his dear friend. I was a little startled at this
declaration; however, I concealed my thoughts, and began to ask
questions about the character and exploits of a man who had made
such noise in the world.
He told me, Mandrin was a native of Valencia, of mean extraction:
that he had served as a soldier in the army, and afterwards acted
as maltotier, or tax-gatherer: that at length he turned
contrebandier, or smuggler, and by his superior qualities, raised
himself to the command of a formidable gang, consisting of five
hundred persons well armed with carbines and pistols. He had
fifty horses for his troopers, and three hundred mules for the
carriage of his merchandize. His head-quarters were in Savoy: but
he made incursions into Dauphine, and set the marechaussee at
defiance. He maintained several bloody skirmishes with these
troopers, as well as with other regular detachments, and in all
those actions signalized himself by his courage and conduct.
Coming up at one time with fifty of the marechaussee who were in
quest of him, he told them very calmly, he had occasion for their
horses and acoutrements, and desired them to dismount. At that
instant his gang appeared, and the troopers complied with his
request, without making the least opposition. Joseph said he was
as generous as he was brave, and never molested travellers, nor
did the least injury to the poor; but, on the contrary, relieved
them very often. He used to oblige the gentlemen in the country
to take his merchandize, his tobacco, brandy, and muslins, at his
own price; and, in the same manner, he laid the open towns under
contribution. When he had no merchandize, he borrowed money off
them upon the credit of what he should bring when he was better
provided. He was at last betrayed, by his wench, to the colonel
of a French regiment, who went with a detachment in the night to
the place where he lay in Savoy, and surprized him in a wood-house,
while his people were absent in different parts of the
country.
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