A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain Volume II Part 4

LETTER XLIV.

I find I omitted to give you before I left _Nismes_, some account of Monsieur _Seguier_'s cabinet, a gentleman whose name I have before mentioned, and whose conversation and company were so very agreeable to me. Among an infinite number of natural and artificial curiosities, are many ancient Roman inscriptions, one of which is that of _T. Julius Festus_, which _Spon_ mentions in his _Melanges D'Antiquite_. There are also a great number of Roman utensils of bronze, gla.s.s, and earthen-ware. The Romans were well acquainted with the dangerous consequences of using copper vessels[E] in their kitchens, as may be seen in this collection, where there are a great many for that purpose; but all strongly gilt, not only within, but without, to prevent a possibility of _verdigris_ arising. There is also a bronze head of a Colossal statue, found not many years since near the fountain of _Nismes_, which merits particular attention, as well as a great number of Roman and Greek medals and medallions, well preserved, and some which are very rare. The natural curiosities are chiefly composed of fossils and petrifications; among the latter, are an infinite number of petrified fish _embalmed_ in solid stones; and where one sees the finest membranes of the fins, and every part of the fish, delineated by the pencil of nature, in the most exquisite manner; the greater part of these petrifications were collected by the hands of the possessor, some from _Mount Bola_, others from _Mount Liban_, _Switzerland_, _&c._

[E] See Dr. FALCONER, of _Bath_, his Treatise on this subject.

Mr. _Seguier_'s _Herbary_ consists of more than ten thousand plants; but above all, Mr. _Seguier_ himself, is the first, and most valuable part of his cabinet, having spent a long life in rational amus.e.m.e.nts; and though turned of four-score, he has all the chearfulness of youth, without any of the garrulity of old age. When he honoured me with a visit, at my country lodgings, he came on foot, and as the waters were out, I asked him how he _got at me_, so dry footed? He had walked upon the wall, he said; a wall not above nine inches thick, and of a considerable length!

And here let me observe that a Frenchman eats his _soup_ and _bouille_ at twelve o'clock, drinks only _with_, not _after_ his dinner, and then mixes water with his _genuine_ wine; he lives in a fine climate, where there is not as with us, for six weeks together, easterly winds, which stop the pores, and obstruct perspiration. A Frenchman eats a great deal, it is true, but it is not all _hard meat_, and they never sit and drink after dinner or supper is over.--An Englishman, on the contrary, drinks much stronger, and a variety of fermented liquors, and often much worse, and sits _at it_ many hours after dinner, and always after supper. How then can he expect such health, such spirits, and to enjoy a long life, free from pain, as most Frenchmen do; When the negro servants in the West-Indies find their masters call _after_ dinner for a bowl of punch extraordinary they whisper them, (if company are present) and ask, "_whether they drink for drunk_, or _drink for dry_?" A Frenchman never drinks for _drunk_.--While the Englishman is earning disease and misery at his bottle, the Frenchman is embroidering a gown, or knitting a handkerchief for his mistress. I have seen a Lady's sacque finely _tamboured_ by a Captain of horse, and a Lady's white bosom shewn through mashes netted by the man who made the snare, in which he was himself entangled; though he made it he did not perhaps know the powers of it till she _set it_.

LETTER XLV.

I write to you just as things come into my head, having taken very few notes, and those, as you must perceive, often without much regard to _unison_ or _time_. It has this minute occurred to me, that I omitted to tell you on my journey onwards, that I visited a little town in _Picardie_, called _Ham_, where there is so strong a castle, that it may be called a _pet.i.t Bastile_, and which was then and still is, full of state prisoners and debtors. To this castle there is a monstrous tower, the walls of which are thirty six feet thick, and the height and circ.u.mference are proportionable thereto; it was built by the _Conetable de St. Paul_, in order to shut up his master, _Charles_ the VIth, King of France, and contemporary, I think, with our _Henry_ the Vth; but such are the extraordinary turns of all human affairs, that _Mons. le Conetable_ was shut up in it himself many years, and ended his days there.--The fate of this constable brings to my mind a circ.u.mstance that happened under my _administration_, at _Land-Guard Fort_, when the King was pleased to trust me with the command of it. I had not been twenty-four hours in possession of what I thought a small sovereignty, before I received a letter in the following terms:

"SIR, Having observed horses grazing on the covered way, that _hath_ done apparent damage, and may do more, I think it my duty to inform you, that his Majesty does not permit horses to feed thereon, &c. &c.

(Signed)

"ANTHONY GOODE, Overseer of the Works."

I never was more surprized, than to find my wings were to be thus clipt, by a civil officer of the board of ordnance; however wrong I or my horses had acted, I could not let Mr. GOODE _graze_ so closely upon my authority, without a reprimand; I therefore wrote him an answer in terms as follow: "that having seen a fat impudent-looking strutting fellow about the garrison, it was my order that when his duty led him to communicate any thing to me relative to the works thereof, that he came himself, instead of writing impertinent letters." Mr. _Goode_ sent a copy of his letter and mine to Sir _Charles Frederick_; and the post following, he received from the Office of Ordnance, several printed papers in the King's name, forbidding horses grazing on the WORKS, and _ordering Mr. Goode_ to nail those orders up in different parts of the garrison! but as I had not then learnt that either he, or his _red ribband master_, had any authority to give out, even the King's orders, in a garrison I commanded, but through my hands, I took the liberty, while Mr. _Goode_ and his a.s.sistant-son were nailing one up _opposite to my parlour window_, to send for a file of men and put them both into the Black-hold, an apartment Mr. _Goode_ had himself built, being a Master-Mason. By the time he had been ten minutes _grazing_ under this _covered way_, he sent me a message, that he was _asthmatic_, that the place was too close, and that if he died within a _year and a day_, I must be deemed accessary to his death. But as I thought Mr. _Goode_ should have considered, that some of the poor invalids too might now and then be as subject to the asthma as he, it was a proper punishment, and I kept him there till he knew the duty of a soldier, as well as that of a mason; and as I would _his betters_, had they come down and ventured to have given out orders in a garrison under my command; but instead of getting me punished as a _certain gentleman_ aimed at, that able General _Lord Ligonier_ approved my conduct, and removed the man to another garrison, and would have dismissed him the ordnance service, had I not become a pet.i.tioner in his favour; for he was too fat and old to work, too proud and arrogant to beg, and he and _his advisers_ too contemptible to be angry with.--But I must return to the castle of _Ham_, to tell you what a dreadful black-hold there is in that tower; it is a trap called by the French _des Obliettes_, of so horrible a contrivance, that when the prisoners are to suffer in it, the mechanical powers are so constructed, as to render it impossible to be again opened, nor would it signify, but to see the body _molue_, i.e. ground to pieces.

There were formerly two or three _Obliettes_ in this castle; one only now remains; but there are still several in the _Bastile_.--When a criminal suffers this frightful death, (for perhaps it is not very painful) he has no previous notice, but being led into the apartment, is overwhelmed in an instant. It is to be presumed, however, that none but criminals guilty of high crimes, suffer in this manner; for the state prisoners in the _Bastile_ are not only well lodged, but liberal tables are kept for them.

An Irish officer was lately enlarged from the _Bastile_, who had been twenty-seven years confined there; and though he found a great sum of money in the place he had concealed it in a little before his confinement, he told Colonel C----, of Fitz-James's regiment, that "having out-lived his acquaintance with the world, as well as with men, he would willingly return there again."

At _Ham_ the prisoners for debt are quite separated from the state prisoners; the latter are in the castle, the former in the tower.

The death of _Lewis_ the XVth gave liberty to an infinite number of unhappy people, and to many who would have been enlarged before, but had been forgotten. When one of these unhappy people (a woman of fas.h.i.+on) was told she might go out; then, (said she) I am sure _Lewis_ the XVth is dead; an event she knew nothing of, tho' it was a full year after the King's death.--Things are otherwise conducted now than in his reign; a wicked vain woman then commanded with unlimited power, both in war and domestic concerns. In this reign, there are able, and I believe virtuous ministers.

I suppose you think as I did, that Madame _Pompadour_ governed by her own powerful charms; but that was not the case; she governed as many other women do, by borrowed charms; she had a correspondence all over the kingdom, and offices of intelligence, where _youth_, _beauty_, and _innocence_, were registered, which were sent to her according to order; upon the arrival of the _goods_, they were dressed, and trained for _use_, under her inspection, till they were fit to be _shewn up_. She had no regard to birth, for a shoe-maker's daughter of great beauty, belonging to one of the Irish brigades, being introduced to the King, he asked her whether she knew him? No: she did not: But did you ever see me before, or any body like me? She had not, but thought him very like the face on the _gros Eccuis_ of France. Madame _Pompadour_ soon found out which of these girls proved most agreeable to the King, and such were retained, the others dismissed.--The expence of this traffick was immense. I am a.s.sured where difficulties of birth or fas.h.i.+on fell in the way, ten thousand pounds sterling have been given. Had _Lewis_ the XVth lived a few years longer, he would have ruined his kingdom. _Lewis_ the XVIth bids fair to aggrandize it.

LETTER XLVI.

POST-HOUSE, ST GEORGE, six leagues from LYONS.

I am particular in dating this letter, in hopes that every English traveller may avoid the place I write from, by either stopping short, or going beyond it, as it is the only house of reception for travellers in the village, and the worst I have met with in my whole journey. We had been scurvily treated here as we went; but having arrived at it after dark, and leaving it early, I did not recollect it again, till the mistress by her sour face and sorry fare betrayed it; for she well remembered _us_. As a specimen of French auberge cookery, I cannot help serving up a dish of spinnage to you as it was served to me at this house. We came in early in the afternoon, and while I was in the court-yard, I saw a flat basket stand upon the ground, the bottom of which was covered with boiled spinnage; and as my dog, and several others in the yard, had often put their noses into it, I concluded it was put down for _their_ food, not _mine_, till I saw a dirty girl patting it up into round b.a.l.l.s, and two children, the eldest of them not above three years old, slavering in and playing with it, one of whom, _to lose no time_, was performing _an office_ that none could _do for her_. I asked the maid what she was about, and what it was she was so preparing? for I began to think I had been mistaken, till she told me it was spinnage;--not for me, I hope, said I,--'_oui, pour vous et le monde_.' I then forbad her bringing any to my table, and putting the little girl _off her center_, by an angry push, made her almost as dirty as the spinnage; and I could perceive her mother, the hostess, and some French travellers who were near, looked upon me as a brute, for _disturbing la pauvre enfant_; nevertheless, with my _entree_ came up a dish of this _delicate spinnage_, with which I made the girl a very pretty _Chapeau Anglois_, for I turned it, dish and all, upon her head; this set the house in such an uproar, that, if there had not come in an old gentleman like _Bourgeois_ of _Paris_, at that instant, I verily believe I should have been turned out; but he engaged warmly in my defence, and insisted upon it that I had treated the girl just as he would have done, had she brought such a dirty dish to him after being cautioned not to do so; nor should I have got any supper, had I not prevailed on this good-natured man, who never eat any, to order a supper for himself, and transfer it to me. He was a native of _Lyons_, and had been, for the first time after thirty years absence, to visit his relations there. My entertainment at this house, _outward-bound_, was half a second-hand roasted turkey, or, what the sailors call a _twice-laid_ dish, i.e. one which is _done over_ a second time.

I know the French in general will not like to see this dirty charge, brought even against an _aubergiste_, and much less to hear it said, that this disregard to cleanliness is almost general in the public inns; but truth justifies it, and I hope the publication may amend it.

A modern French anonymous traveller, who I conclude by the company he kept in England, is a man of fas.h.i.+on, gives in general a just account of the English nation, their customs and manners; and acknowledges, in handsome terms, the manner he was received by some of the first families in England. He owns, however, he does not understand English, yet he has the temerity to say, that _Gulliver's_ travels are the _chef d'oeuvre_ of _Dean Swift_; but observes, that those travels are greatly improved by pa.s.sing through the hands of _Desfontaines_.--This gentleman must excuse me in saying, that _Desfontaines_ neither understood English, nor _Dean Swift_, better than he does. He also concludes his first volume, by observing, that what a French Amba.s.sador to England said of that nation, in the year 1523, const.i.tutes their character at this day!

'Alas! poor England! thou _be'st_ so closely situated, and in such daily conversation with the polite and polished nation of France, thou hast gained nothing of their ease, breeding, and compliments, in the s.p.a.ce of two hundred and fifty years!'--What this gentleman alludes to, is the Amba.s.sador's letter to the _Conetable Montmorency_, previous to the meeting of _Henry_ the Eighth and _Francis_ the First, near _Ardres_; for, (says the Amba.s.sador) _sur-tout je vous prie, que vous ostiez de la Cour, ceux qui unt la reputation d'etre joyeux & gaudisseur, car c'est bien en ce monde, la chose la plus haie de cette nation_. And in a few lines after, he foists in an extract from a Scotchman, one _Barclay_, who, in his _Examen of Nations_, says, _Jenenc connoit point de plus aimable creature, qui un Francois chez qui l'enjoument est tempore par le judgment, & par discretion_; to all which I subscribe: but such men are seldom to be met with in any kingdom.

This gentleman says, the most remarkable, or rather the only act of gaiety he met with in _London_, was an harangue made for an hour in the House of Lords, previous to the trial of Lord _Byron_; and that, as he afterwards understood, it was made by a drunken member of parliament. He says it made him and every body laugh exceedingly; but he laughed only (I presume) because every body else did, and relates the story, I fear, merely to make it a national laugh; for the harangue was certainly very ill placed, and the mirth it produced, very indecent, at a time a Peer of the realm was to be brought forth, accused of murder; and the untimely death of a valuable and virtuous young man, revived in every body's memory.

This is the unfavourable side of what the gentleman says of the first people in England. Of the peasants and lower order, he observes, that, though they are well fed, well cloathed, and well lodged, yet they are all of a melancholy turn.--The French have no idea of what we call _dry humour_; and this gentleman, perhaps, thought the English clown melancholy, while he was laughing in his sleeve at the foppery of his _laquais_.

These observations put me in mind of another modern traveller, a man of sense and letters too, who observes, that the ball.u.s.trades at _Westminster_ bridge are fixed very close together, to prevent the English getting through to drown themselves: and of a Gentleman at _Cambridge_, who, having cut a large pigeon-hole under his closet door, on being asked the use of it, said, he had it cut for an old cat which had kittens, to go in and out; but added, _that he must send for the carpenter, to cut little holes for the young ones_. His _acute visitor_ instantly set up a _horse_ laugh, and asked him whether the little cats could not come out at the same hole the big one did? The other laughing in his turn, said, he did not _think of that_.

Though I have spoken with freedom of this French traveller's remarks, yet I must own that, in general, he writes and thinks liberally, and speaks highly of the English nation, and very gratefully of many individuals to whom he was known; and, I dare say, a Frenchman will find many more mistakes of mine, which I shall be happy to see pointed out, or rectified: but were I to pick out the particular objects of laughter, pity, and contempt, which have fallen in my way, in twice crossing this great continent, I could make a second _Joe Miller_ of one, and a _Jane Sh.o.r.e_ of the other. If this traveller could have understood the _Beggars' Opera_, the _humour_ of _Sam. Foote_, or the pleasantry among English sailors, watermen, and the lower order of the people, he would have known, that, though the English nation have not so much vivacity as the French, they are behind-hand with no nation whatever, where true wit and genuine humour are to be displayed. What would he have said, could he have seen and entered into the spirit of the procession of the _miserable Scalds_, or Mr. _Garrick_ in _Scrub_; _Shuter_, _Woodward_, Mrs. _Clive_, or even our little _Edwin_ at _Bath_? Had he seen any of these things, he must have laughed with the mult.i.tude, as he did in the House of Lords, though he had not understood it, and must have seen how inimitably the talents of these men were formed, to excite so much mirth and delight, even to a heavy _unpolished_ English audience.

LETTER XLVII.

From _St. George_ to _Macon_ is five leagues. Nothing on earth can be more beautiful than the face of this country, far and near. The road lies over a vast and fertile plain, not far distant from the banks of the _Soane_ on one side, and adorned with mountains equally fertile, and beautiful, on the other. It is very singular, that all the cows of this part of the country are white, or of a light dun colour, and the dress of all the _Maconoise_ peasants as different from any other province in France, as that of the Turkish habit; I mean the women's dress, for I perceived no difference among the men, but that they are greater clowns, than any other French peasants. The women wear a broad bone lace ruff about their necks, and a narrow edging of the same sort round their caps, which are in the form of the charity girls' caps in England; but as they must not bind them on with any kind of ribband, they look rather _laid upon_ their heads, than _dressed upon them_; their gowns are of a very coa.r.s.e light brown woollen cloth, made extremely short-waisted, and full of high and thick plaits over the hips, the sleeves are rather large, and turned up with some gaudy coloured silk; upon the shoulders are sewed several pieces of worsted livery lace, which seem to go quite under their arms, in the same manner as is sometimes put to children to strengthen their leading-strings; upon the whole, however, the dress is becoming, and the very long petticoat and full plaits, have a graceful appearance.

At _Lyons_ I saw a _Macinoise_ girl of fas.h.i.+on, or fortune, in this dress; her lace was fine, her gown silk, and her shoulder-straps of silver; and, as her head had much more of the _bon gout_ than the _bon ton_, I thought her the most inviting object I had seen in that city, my delicate landlady at _Nismes_ always excepted. I think France cannot produce such another woman _for beauty_ as _Madame Seigny_.

I bought a large quant.i.ty of the _Macon_ lace, at about eight-pence English a yard, which, at a little distance, cannot easily be distinguished from fine old _pointe_.

Between _St. George_ and _Macon_, at a time we wanted our breakfast, we came to a spot where two high roads cross each other, and found there a little _cabbin_, not unlike the Iron House, as to whim, but this was built, sides, top, and bottom, with sawed boards; and as a little bit of a board hung out at the door informed us they sold wine, I went in, and asked the mistress permission to boil my tea-kettle, and to be permitted to eat our breakfast in her pretty _cabbin_? The woman was knitting; she laid down her work, rose up, and with the ease and address of a woman of the first fas.h.i.+on, said we did her honour, that her house, such as it was, and every thing in it, were at our service; she then sent a girl to a farmer's hard by, for milk, and to a village a quarter of a league distant, for hot bread; and while we breakfasted, her conversation and good breeding made up a princ.i.p.al part of the _repas_; she had my horse too brought to the back part of her _cabbin_, where he was well fed from a portable manger. I bought of her two bottles of white wine, not much inferior to, and much wholesomer than, Champaigne, and she charged me for the whole, milk, bread, fire, _conversation_, and wine, thirty six _sols_, about seventeen pence Englis.h.!.+ Though this gentlewoman, for so I must call her, and so I believe she is, lived in such a small hut, she seemed to be in good circ.u.mstances, and had _liqueurs_, tea, and a great variety of _bons choses_ to sell. This was the only public house, (if it maybe called by that name,) during my whole journey _out_ and _in_, where I found perfect civility; not that the publicans in general have not civility _in their possession_, but they will not, either from _pride_ or _design_, _produce it_, particularly to strangers. My _wooden-house landlady_ indeed, was a prodigy; and it must be confessed, that no woman of the lower order in England, nor even of the middling cla.s.s, have any share of that ease and urbanity which is so common among the lower order of the _people_ of this kingdom: but the woman I now speak of, had not, you will perceive, the least design even upon my purse; I made no previous agreement with her for my good fare, and she scorned to take any advantage of my confidence; and I shewed my sense of it, by giving her little maid eight times more than she ever received for such services before--an English s.h.i.+lling.

Let not this single, and singular woman, however, induce you to trust to the confidence of a French _aubergiste_ especially a _female_; you may as well trust to the conscience of an itinerant Jew. Frenchmen are so aware of this, that have heard a traveller, on a _maigre_ day, make his bargain for his _aumlet_ and the number of eggs to be put in it, with an exactness scarce to be imagined; and yet the upshot was only two pence English.

The easy manner in which a French officer, or gentleman, can traverse this mighty kingdom, either for pleasure or business, is extremely agreeable, and worthy of imitation among young British officers.--In England, if an Ensign of foot is going a journey, he must have two horses, and a groom, though he has nothing but a regimental suit of cloaths, and half a dozen s.h.i.+rts to carry; his horses too must _set both ends well_ because he is a _Captain_ upon the road! and he travels at about five times the expence of his pay.

The French officer buys a little _biddet_, puts his s.h.i.+rts and best regimental coat into a little _portmanteau_, buckles that behind his saddle, and with his sword by his side, and his _croix_ at his b.u.t.ton-hole, travels at the expence of about three s.h.i.+llings a day, and often less, through a kingdom where every order of people shew him attention, and give him precedence.

I blush, when I recollect that I have _rode_ the risque of being wet to the skin because I would not _disgrace my saddle_, nor load my back with a great coat; for I have _formerly_, as well as _latterly_, travelled without a servant.

I have a letter now before me, which I received a few days ago from a French Captain of foot, who says, _sur le champ j'ay fait seller ma pet.i.te Rossinante (car vous scavez que j'ay achete un pet.i.t cheval de 90 livres selle et bride) et me voila a Epernay chez Monsieur Lechet_, &c.

This gentleman's whole pay does not amount to more than sixty pounds a year, yet he has always five guineas in his pocket, and every convenience, and some luxuries about him; he a.s.sists now and then an extravagant brother, appears always well dressed; and last year I bought him a ticket in the British lottery: he did not consider that he employed an unfortunate man to buy it, and I _forgot_ to remind him of it.

After saying thus much of a virtuous young man (_though a Frenchman_) there will be no harm in telling you his name is _Lalieu_, a Captain in the regiment _du Maine_.--Before I took my last leave of him, talking together of the horrors of war, I asked him what he would do if he were to see me _vis-a-vis_ in an hostile manner? He embraced me, and said, "turn the but end of my fusee towards you, my friend." I thank G.o.d that neither his _but-end_, nor my _muzzle_ can ever meet in that manner, and I shall be happy to meet him in any other.

_P.S._ I omitted to say, that the _Maconoise_ female peasants wear black hats, in the form of the English straw or chip hats; and when they are tied on, under the chin, it gives them with the addition of their round-eared laced cap, a decent, modest appearance which puts out of countenance all the borrowed plumage, dead hair, black wool, lead, grease, and yellow powder, which is now in motion between _Edinburgh_ and _Paris_.

It is a pity that pretty women, at least, do not know, that the simplicity of a Quaker's head-dress, is superior to all that art can contrive: and those who remember the elegant _Miss Fide_, a woman of that persuasion, will subscribe to the truth of my a.s.sertion. And it is still a greater pity, that plain women do not know, that the more they adorn and _artify_ their heads, the more conspicuous they make their natural defects.

LETTER XLVIII.

At _Challons sur la Soane_, (for there is another town of the same name in _Champaigne_) I had the _honor_ of a visit from _Mons. le Baron Shortall_, a gentleman of an ancient family, _rather in distress at this time_, by being _kept out_ of six and thirty thousand a year, his legal property in Ireland; but as the Baron made his visit _ala-mode de capuchin Friar_, without knocking, and when only the female part of my family were in the apartment, he was dismissed _rather abruptly_ for a man of _his high rank_ and _great fortune in expectation_. This dismission, however, did not dismay him; he rallied again, with the reinforcement of _Madame la Baroness_, daughter, as he positively affirmed, of _Mons. le Prince de Monaco_; but as I had forbad his being _shewn up_, he desired me to _come down_, a summons curiosity induced me to obey. Never, surely, were two people _of fas.h.i.+on_ in a more pitiable plight! he was in a _russet brown black_ suit of cloaths; Madame _la Baroness_ in much the same colour, wrapt up in a tattered black silk capuchin; and I knew not which to admire most, their folly or their impudence; for surely never did an _adventurer_ set out with less _capabilities_ about him; his whole story was so flagrant a fib, that in spite of the _very respectable certificates of My Lord Mayor, John Wilkes, and Mr. Alderman Bull_, I was obliged to tell him plainly, that I did not believe him to be a gentleman, nor his wife to be a relation of the Prince of _Monaco_. All this he took in good part, and then a.s.sured me they were both very hungry, and without meat or money; I therefore ordered a dinner at twenty _sols_ a head; and, as I sat by while they eat it, I had reason to believe that he told me _one plain truth_, for in truth they eat as if they had never eaten before. After dinner the Baron did me the honour to consult with me _how_ he should get down to _Lyons_? I recommended to him to proceed by _water_; but, said he, my dear Sir, I have no money;--an evil I did not chuse to redress; and, after several unsuccessful attempts at my purse, and some at my person,--he whispered me that even six livres would be acceptable; but I held out, and got off, by proposing that the Baroness should write a letter to the Prince her father, to whom I had the honour to be known, and that I would carry him the letter, and enforce their prayer, by making it my own. This measure she instantly complied with, and addressed her father _adorable Prince_; but concluded it with a name which could not belong to her either as maid, wife, or widow. I remarked this to the _Baron_, who acknowledged at once _the mistake_, said she had signed a false name, and she should write it over again; but when I observed to him that, as the Prince knew the handwriting of his _own_ dear child, and as the name of women is _often varying by marriage_, or _miscarriage_, it was all one: to this he agreed; and I brought off the letter, and my purse too, for forty _sols_; yet there was so much falshood, folly, and simplicity in this _simple pair of adventurers_, that I sorely repented I did not give them their pa.s.sage in the _coche d'eau_ to _Lyons_; for he could not speak a word of French, nor _Madame la Baroness_ a word of English; and the only _insignia_ of distinction between them, was, a vast clumsy bra.s.s-hilted sword which the Baron, instead of wearing at his side, held up at his nose, like a Physician's gold-headed cane.--When I took my leave of this _Sir James Shortall_, (for he owned _at last_ he was _only a Baronet_) he promised to meet me _next time_ dressed in his blue and silver.