The French Army Too Was Beloved By The People, Instead Of Being Dreaded By
Them As The Armies Of Most Other European Nations Are.
In short, whenever I
met with and held conversation with soldiers of this army, I was always
tempted to address them in the words of Elvira to Pizarro when she seeks to
console him for his defeat:
Yet think another morning shall arise,
Nor fear the future, nor lament the past.[50]
The French Major was very much inclined to take up a quarrel with an
Austrian officer, on my account, but I dissuaded him. The cause was as
follows. A young Austrian boy, servant to one of the officers of Artillery,
had entered the coche d'eau at Chalon, some minutes before his master,
and began to avail himself of the right of conquest by taking possession of
the totality of one of the cabins and endeavouring to exclude the other
passengers; among other things he was going to thrust my portmanteau out of
its place. I called to him to let it alone, when the French Major stepped
forward and said that if he dared to touch any of the baggage belonging to
the passengers, he would punish him on the spot and his master also, for
that he longed to measure swords with those "Jean F - - d'Autrichiens."
Fearful of a serious quarrel between them and being unwilling that any
dispute should occur on my account, I requested the Major not to meddle
with the business, for that I was sure the Austrian officer would check the
impertinence of his servant when he came on board; and that if he did not,
I was perfectly able and willing to defend my own cause. The Austrian
officers came on board a few minutes after, when I addressed them in
German, and explained to them the behaviour of the boy; they scolded him
severely for his impertinence to us and threatened him with the Schlag,
should it occur again. The rest of the journey passed without any incident.
I found that my friend the Major had served in the French army in Egypt in
the division Lanusse in the battle of the 21st March, 1801, (30 Ventose)
and that consequently we were opposed to each other in that battle, as I
was then serving as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Regiment, commanded by that
excellent and amiable officer the Earl of D[alhousie] in General Doyle's
brigade.
The voyage on the Saone presents some pleasing and picturesque points of
view; the coteaux on the banks of the river are covered with vines. We
arrived at 8 o'clock in the evening to sup and sleep at Macon and put up at
the Hotel des Sauvages. We had a most sumptuous repast, fish, flesh,
fowls, game, fruit and wine in profusion, for all which, including our
beds, we had only to pay 2-1/2 francs the person.
There is a spacious Quai at Macon, which always adds to the beauty of a
city, and there are some fine buildings, public and private. I need not
enlarge on the excellence of the Macon wine. The country girls we observed
on the banks of the river as we floated along, and the grisettes of the
town who were promenading on the Quai when we arrived, wore a peculiarly
elegant costume and their headdress appeared to me to be something
Asiatic.
The voyage on the subsequent day was more agreeable than the preceding one.
The country between Macon and Lyons is much more beautiful and diversified
than that which we have hitherto seen and resembles much the picturesque
scenery of the West-Indian landscape. One part between Macon and Trevoux
resembles exactly the island of Montserrat.
Within two miles of Trevoux we were hailed by some grisettes belonging to
the inns at that place, in order to invite us to dine at their respective
inns. There was one girl exceedingly beautiful whose name was Sophie,
daughter of the proprietor of the Hotel des Sauvages at Trevoux. She, by
her grace and coquetry, obtained the most recruits and when we disembarked
from the boat, she led us in triumph to her hotel. From her beauty and
graceful manner, Sophie, in a country where so much hommage is paid to
beauty, must be a most valuable acquisition to the interests of the inn,
and tho' she smiles on all, she takes care not to make herself cheap, and
like Corisca in the Pastor Fido she holds put hopes which she does not at
all intend to gratify. After passing by the superb scenery on the banks of
the river (which increases in interest as you approach Lyons), the Isle
Barbe and la Tour de la belle Allemande, we arrived at Lyons at 5 p.m.
and debarked on the Quai de la Saone. A fiacre took me up and deposited
me safe at the Hotel du Nord situated on the Place St Claire and not
many yards distant of the Quai du Rhone.
LYONS, 26th Sept.
Lyons is situated on a tongue of land at the junction of the Saone and
Rhone, and there is a fine bridge on the spot where the streams unite,
called le pont du Confluent, which joins the extremity of the tongue of
land with the right bank of the Saone. There is besides a large bridge
across the Rhone, higher up, before it joins the Saone, leading in a right
line from the Hotel de Ville; and two other bridges across the Saone. The
Quai du Rhone is by far the finest and most agreeable part of the city.
It is spacious, well paved, aligned with trees, and boast the finest
edifices public and private in the whole city; it is the favourite
promenade of the beaux and belles of Lyons. The sight of the broad and
majestic Rhone itself is a grand object, and on a fine day the prospect is
augmented by the distant view of the fleecy head of Mont Blanc.
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