For a Chaise with two Wheels,

1 person within, 1 postillion, you have 2 horses;

For a Berlin, or Chariot with four Wheels,

But this regulation is not always rigidly followed; for the postmasters in general, seldom put on more than three horses even for four persons: they will make you pay 40 or 45 sous per horse, instead of 30; but under this charge you will

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necessarily be a gainer. The postmasters are very civil and obliging, and I have often found their conversation very instructive. They are so accommodating, that if you do not choose to change, they will always refer the payment to the next post, or even to three or four posts in advance; and the postillions entertain the same disposition. But in case you travel during the night, or should feel disposed to sleep, it will be the best mode to pay for several posts in advance, together with the barrieres and postillions. In this way I have travelled half a day without interruption. Upon the whole, the service of posting is extremely well managed; and for good order, regularity, and promptness, it excels, perhaps, any other part of Europe. But this must not be ascribed to the effects of the revolution, for it was projected and executed under the ancient regime; and since the last ten years, the best part of the establishment, namely, the excellent roads, have been utterly neglected, notwithstanding the enormous charges at the barrieres for the ostensible purpose of keeping them in good order.

It is usual with some persons, especially Englishmen, who do not know what to do with their money, to send an avant courier, or man on horseback, to announce their approach, that the horses may be got ready. I feel no hesitation in declaring this to be absolutely useless between Calais and the capital, though it may be very

proper

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proper in other parts of France, and particularly in some countries of Europe, where the postmasters would otherwise be obliged to detain the traveller an hour or two, and sometimes three hours, until the horses are brought from grass. But there is no cause of apprehension on the high road from Calais, because the postmasters are well provided; the only possible case in which an outrider may be necessary, is when there is a great concourse of strangers of distinction disembarked at Calais, and there may be reason to suppose that you may be compelled to sleep at a sorry inn on the road for want of a relay of horses, an inconvenience to which ladies and the infirm ought not to be subjected. In such case only can an outrider be necessary to secure you the first horses. The king's messengers, who are generally allowed to travel very fast, have no avant courier even on the most important and pressing occasions.

Before I conclude this subject, it may not be amis s to observe, that the traveller has nothing whatever to apprehend from highway robbers, or footpads. Although there are several large tracts of uninhabited land through which he must pass on his route, I have never heard of their having been infested by them. There are, besides, a number of Gens D'Armes, extremely well mounted and armed, who are continually riding along the roads to maintain the police and ensure safety of travellers.

LETTER

LETTER IV.

Journey to Amiens, with an Account of the sent State of the Country.

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AFTER all our arrangements had been concluded, we proceeded to Hautbuisson, which is one stage and an half, or nine English miles from Calais. At this place my passport was examined for the last time before our arrival at Paris. As we continued our route, we were forcibly struck with the backward state of vegetation in the whole of this portion of the Department of Calais; and when we compared this appearance and the poverty of the soil with the luxuriant richness of the County of Kent, at the same period of the year, we could not avoid noticing the momentary impression, which such a contrast must excite in the minds of the foreigner who should visit the two countries. Over the surface of those vast unenclosed tracts of land, we perceived scarcely any but women employed in the culture of the earth. The implements of tillage and husbandry, as well as the cattle, were the worst I ever beheld; nor, if we might be allowed to judge from appearances, was there a population in any degree adequate to the extent of the country.

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Wherever any vestiges of religion or aristocracy remained, we traced the ravages of the revolution. Monasteries and churches were heaps of ruins, or if a church had escaped the general wreck, the inscription over its portal, "This is the Temple of Reason and Truth," denoted the atheistical purpose to which it had been abused.

A great number of children, pressed upon us in every village through which we passed, begging charity and bread, and not unfrequently they were joined by a body of women, and old men. I inquired into the causes of this melancholy spectacle, and asked whether there was no room left for industry, or whether it was the effects of indolence. I received a most significant answer. My informer pointed to a monastery in ruins, and shook his head. I felt the force of the explanation, though I denied its justice.

The agreeable seaport of Boulogne, next presented itself before us. When we reached the gates, I asked whether Parker was still alive. They told me he kept the same hotel in which you and myself slept in the year 1792. The carriage had no sooner entered the Port Cocher, than I recognized him, grown grey, as I afterwards found, with suffering and persecution. He received me with uncommon pleasure, and as few Englishmen had hitherto passed, the sight of a countryman added to his delight. He informed me, that during the time of terror, Domme, a

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