Travels Through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808

Part 1

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TRAVELS THROUGH THE SOUTH OF FRANCE,

AND

IN THE INTERIOR OF THE PROVINCES

PROVENCE AND LANGUEDOC, IN THE YEARS 1807 AND 1808,

BY A ROUTE NEVER BEFORE PERFORMED, BEING ALONG THE BANKS OF

THE LOIRE, THE ISERE, AND THE GARONNE,

THROUGH THE GREATER PART OF THEIR COURSE.

MADE BY PERMISSION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.

BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PINKNEY, OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE RANGERS.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR T. PURDAY AND SON, NO. 1, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS: BY B. McMILLAN, BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1809.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais

CHAP. II.

Morning View of Port--Arrival and landing--A Day at Calais--French Market, and Prices of Provisions

CHAP. III.

Purchase of a Norman Horse--Visit in the Country--Family of a French Gentleman--Elegance of French domestic Economy--Dance on the Green--Return to Calais

CHAP. IV.

French Cottages--Ludicrous Exhibition--French Travellers--Chaise de Poste--Posting in France--Departure from Calais--Beautiful Vicinity of Boulogne

CHAP. V.

Boulogne--Dress of the Inhabitants--The Pier--Theatre--Caution in the Exchange of Money--Beautiful Landscape, and Conversation with a French Veteran--Character of Mr. Parker's Hotel--Departure, and romantic Road--Fete Champetre in a Village on a Hill at Montreuil--Ruined Church and Convent,

CHAP. VI.

Departure from Montreuil--French Conscripts--Extreme Youth--Excellent Roads--Country Labourers--Court for the Claims of Emigrants--Abbeville--Companion on the Road--Amiens,

CHAP. VII.

General Character of the Town--Public Walk--Gardens--Half-yearly Fair--Gaining Houses--Table d'Hotes--English at Amiens--Expence of Living,

CHAP. VIII.

Part 2

French and English Roads compared--Gaiety of French Labourers--Breteuil--Apple-trees in the midst of Corn-fields--Beautiful Scenery--Cheap Price of Land in France--Clermont--Bad Management of the French Farmers--Chantilly-Arrival at Paris,

CHAP. IX.

A Week in Paris--Objects and Occurrences--National Library--A French Rout--Fashionable French Supper--Conceits--Presentation at Court--Audience,

CHAP. X.

Departure from Paris for the Loire--Breakfast at Palaiseau--A Peasant's Wife--Rambouillet--Magnificent Chateau--French Cure--Chartres--Difference of Old French and English Towns--Subterraneous Church--Curious Preservation of the Dead--Angers--Arrival at Nantes,

CHAP. XI.

Nantes--Beautiful Situation--Analogy of Architecture with the Character of its Age--Singular Vow of Francis the Second--Departure from Nantes--Country between Nantes and Angers--Angers,

CHAP. XII.

Angers--Situation--Antiquity and Face of the Town--Grand Cathedral--Markets--Prices of Provisions--Public Walks--Manners and Diversions of the Inhabitants--Departure from Angers--Country between Angers and Saumur--Saumur,

CHAP. XIII.

Tours--Situation and general Appearance of it--Origin of the Name of Huguenots--Cathedral Church of St. Martin--The Quay--Markets--Public Walk--Classes of Inhabitants--Environs--Expences of Living--Departure from Tours--Country between Tours and Amboise,

CHAP. XIV.

Lovely Country between Amboise and Blois--Ecures--Beautiful Village--French Harvesters--Chousi--Village Inn--Blois--Situation--Church--Market--Price of Provisions,

CHAP. XV.

Houses in Chalk Hills--Magnificent Castle at Chambord--Return from Chambord by Moon-light--St. Laurence on the Waters,

CHAP. XVI.

Comparative Estimate of French and English Country Inns--Tremendous Hail Storm--Country Masquerade--La Charite--Beauty and Luxuriance of its Environs--Nevers--Fille-de-Chambre--Lovely Country between Nevers and Moulins-Treading Corn--Moulins--Price of Provisions

CHAP. XVII.

Country between Moulins and Rouane--Bresle--Account of the Provinces of the Nivernois and Bourbonnois--Climate--Face of the Country--Soil--Natural Produce--Agricultural Produce--Kitchen Garden--French Yeomen--Landlords--Price of Land--Leases--General Character of the French Provincial Farmers

CHAP. XVIII.

Lyons--Town-Hall--Hotel de Dieu--Manufactories--Price of Provisions--State of Society--Hospitality to Strangers--Manners--Mode of Living--Departure--Vienne--French Lovers

CHAP. XIX.

Avignon--Situation--Climate--Streets and Houses--Public Buildings--Palace--Cathedral--Petrarch and Laura--Society at Avignon--Ladies--Public Walks---Prices of Provisions--Markets

CHAP. XX.

Departure from Avignon--Olive and Mulberry Fields--Orgon--St. Canat--French Divorces--Inn at St. Canat--Aix--Situation--Cathedral--Society--Provisions--Price of Land--Marseilles--Conclusion

TOUR,

&c. &c.

CHAP. I.

Part 3

Anxiety to see France--Departure from Baltimore--Singular Adventures of the Captain--Character--Employment during the Voyage--Arrival at Liverpool--Stay--Departure for Calais.

FROM my earliest life I had most anxiously wished to visit France--a country which, in arts and science, and in eminent men, both of former ages and of the present times, stands in the foremost rank of civilized nations. What a man wishes anxiously, he seldom fails, at one period or other, to accomplish. An opportunity at length occurred--the situation of my private affairs, as well as of my public duties, admitted of my absence.

I embarked at Baltimore for Liverpool in the month of April, 1807. The vessel, which was a mere trader, and which had likewise some connexions at Calais, was to sail for Liverpool in the first instance, and thence, after the accomplishment of some private affairs, was to pass to Calais, and thence home. I do not profess to understand the business of merchants; but I must express my admiration at the ingenuity with which they defy and elude the laws of all countries. I suppose, however, that this is considered as perfectly consistent with mercantile honour. Every trader has a morality of his own; and without any intention of depreciating the mercantile class, so far I must be allowed to say, that the merchants are not very strict in their morality. Trade may improve the wealth of a nation, but it most certainly does not improve their morals.

The Captain with whom I sailed was a true character. Captain Eliab Jones, as he related his history to me, was the son of a very respectable clergyman in the West of England. His mother died when he was a boy about twelve years of age, leaving his father with a very large family. The father married again. Young Eliab either actually was, or fancifully believed himself to be, ill-treated by his step-mother. Under this real or imaginary suffering he eloped from his father's house; and making the best of his way for a sea-port, bound himself apprentice to the master of a coasting vessel. In this manner he continued to work, to use his own expressions, like a galley-slave for five years, when he obtained the situation of mate of an Indiaman. He progressively rose, till he happened unfortunately to quarrel with his Captain, which induced him to quit the service of the Company. In the course of his voyages to India, and in the Indian seas, he made what he thought an important discovery relative to the southern whale fishery: he communicated it to a mercantile house upon his return, and was employed by them in the speculation. He now, however, became unfortunate for the first time: his ship was wrecked off the island of Olaheite, and the crew and himself compelled to remain for two or three years on that barbarous but beautiful island.

Such is the outline of Captain Eliab's adventures, with the detail of which he amused me during our voyage. His character, however, deserves some mention. If there is an honest man under the canopy of Heaven, it was Captain Eliab; but his honesty was so plain and downright, so simple and unqualified, that I know not how to describe it than by the plain terms, that he was a strictly just and upright man. He had a sense of honour--a natural feeling of what was right--which seemed extraordinary, when compared with the irregular course of his life. Had he passed through every stage of education, had he been formed from his childhood to manhood under the anxious supervision of the most exemplary parents, he could not have been more strict. I most sincerely hope, that it will be hereafter my fortune to meet with this estimable man, and to enumerate him amongst my friends. I must conclude this brief character of him by one additional trait. A more pious Christian, but without presbyterianism, did not exist than Captain Eliab. He attributed all his good fortune to the blessing of Providence; and if any man was an example that virtue, even in this life, has its reward, it was Captain Eliab. In dangers common to many, he had repeatedly almost alone escaped.

I had no other companion but the worthy Captain: I was his only passenger, and we passed much of our time in the reading of his voyages, of which he had kept an ample journal. His education having been rude and imperfect, the style of his writing was more forcible than pure or correct. I thought his account so interesting, and in many points so important, that I endeavoured to persuade him to give it to the public; and to induce him to it, offered to assist him, during our voyage, in putting it into form. The worthy man accepted my offer, but I found that I had undertaken a work to which I was unequal. I laboured, however, incessantly, and before our arrival had completed so much of it, as to induce the Captain to put it into the hands of a bookseller, by whom, as I have since understood, it was transferred into the hands of a literary gentleman to complete. In some misfortune the manuscript has been lost; and the Captain being in America, there is probably an end of it for ever. All I can now say is, that the public have sustained an important loss.

In this employment our voyage, upon my part at least, passed unperceived, and I was at Liverpool, before I was well sensible that I had left America. Nothing is more tedious than a sea voyage, age, to those whose minds, are intent only upon their passage. In travelling by land, the mind is recreated by variety, and relieved by the novelty of the successive objects which pass before it; but in a voyage by sea, it is inconceivable how wearisome are the sameness and uniformity, which, day after day, meet the eye. When I could not otherwise occupy my mind, I endeavoured to force myself into a doze, that I might have a chance of a dream. One of the best rules of philosophy is, that happiness is an art--a science--a habit and quality of mind, which self-management may in a great degree command and procure. Experience has taught me that this is true. I had made many sea voyages before this, and therefore had repeated proofs of the observation of Lord Bacon, that, of all human progresses, nothing is so barren of all possibility of remark as a voyage by sea; nothing, therefore, is so irksome, to a mind of any vigour or activity. If a man, by long habit, has obtained the knack of retiring into himself--of putting all his faculties to perfect rest, and becoming like the mast of the vessel--a sea voyage may suit him; but to those who cannot sleep in an hammock eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, I would recommend any thing but travel by sea. Cato, as his Aphorisms inform us, never repented but of two things; and the one was, that he went a journey by sea when he might have gone it by land.

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