A Tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium | Page 6

astonishing.
Agriculture appeared to me to be in a highly improved state: there are
artificial grasses and meliorating crops. The appearance of the villages
in general on this road is but little inferior to those in many parts of
England. But the peasants, although not for the most part badly off,
have no idea of that neatness, and of those domestic comforts which
form the great characteristic of the same class of people in England.
An English farmer would laugh at the great cocked hat which is usually

worn by the French husbandman, and would not be disposed to change
his white frock for the blue one used on the Continent. Some wood is
occasionally to be seen; but Picardy is not famous either for the
quantity or quality of its timber. The general fuel of the lower orders is
turf, which, however, is not in any great quantity; and in appearance it
is inferior to that used by the Irish peasants. The roads are in general
kept in good repair, and near Paris and some other great towns they are
paved in the centre. They are flanked in many places by avenues of
trees, which are for the most part cut with great formality; but even
where left to themselves, they do not add much to the ornament of the
country or to the comfort of the traveller, affording but a scanty shade.
The whole of this road is without turnpikes; they were, as I understood,
abolished about three years ago, and the roads are now managed by the
government. The French praise Buonaparte extremely for his attention
to the state of their roads, and it must be owned that in this particular
he merits the praise bestowed on him, which cannot be said with truth
of many other parts of his conduct which seem to have been also
approved of by the French. Buonaparte, it is true, made excellent roads,
but he made them only for his soldiers, either to awe those who had
submitted to his yoke, or to afford a facility of extending still further
his conquests.
The drivers in France do not tax themselves at every public-house as
with us, for porter or spirits, which they do not want; they seldom stop,
unless the stage is unusually long, and their horses require a little rest.
Before we were admitted within the gates of Boulogne our passports
were demanded, and underwent a strict examination, probably the
remains of the etiquette established by Buonaparte, this place being
chiefly remarkable as the port, from whence he proposed making his
threatened descent into England. We observed a vast unfinished fort,
which he had ordered to be constructed; it will probably never be
completed, but crumble to pieces like the vast and ill-acquired authority
of its founder. The town of Boulogne is large and well fortified, but the
bustle in the port was chiefly occasioned by the embarkation of the
English cavalry.
We dined at Samers, and there had the first specimen of a French
dinner (as at Calais we had lodged at an hotel, which is kept by an
Englishman, and where every thing was _à l'Angloise_). The general

hour for dining is twelve o'clock; many public carriages stop to dine
before that hour, however, from twelve to one o'clock, the traveller is
sure at every tolerable inn of finding a very abundant and cheap repast.
We found the bread excellent, as also a profusion of fruit; the wine of
Picardy is bad, but good wine may be had from the southern provinces,
at a reasonable price.
Their meats are so much stewed, that their real flavour can hardly be
distinguished, but were they dressed by a mode of cookery that did
them more justice, I do not apprehend the epicure would have to find
fault with their quality.
The next place which presented any thing worthy of remark, was
Abbeville, a large fortified city, which has manufactures of cloth and
damask. The church which has suffered much during the anarchy of the
revolution, is still a large and handsome edifice. We proceeded to
breakfast at Boix, where the coffee was excellent, and the milk was
served up boiled, as is generally the custom throughout France.
We also found good accommodation at Beauvais, a large and ancient
city, where the architecture of the houses reminded me much of
Shrewsbury. The streets are narrow and winding. The cathedral is well
worthy the attention of the antiquarian, although it has, like many
others in France, suffered greatly during the revolution. In the
neighbourhood of Beauvais are a vast number of vineyards, and the
effect produced by them is very striking to those who have never seen a
vine but in a stove. But the novelty soon ceases, and a vineyard is then
seen