LETTER XXXIII.

ARRIVAL AT CALAIS-DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN-CUSTOM HOUSEDESSEIN'S HOTEL-REMINISCENCES OF STERNE-ROUTE TO PARISFRENCH DILIGENCE-BOULOGNE-ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY-MON

TREUIL-ABBEVILLE-BEAUVAIS-ST. DENIS-MONTMARTRE-ARRI

VAL AT PARIS.

November, 1825.

Ar about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th, we arrived at Calais, which is situated upon a patch of alluvial ground, reclaimed from the dominion of the sea, and susceptible of being restored to its former allegiance at any moment, by opening the flood-gates of the dikes. This is one of the defences of the place, and if my memory serves me, it has been used with success. The harbour is small and inconvenient, being entirely artificial; and the town, owing to its sunken position, does not appear to any advantage from the water, although it is not wanting in a due proportion of churches, steeples, monuments, and other architectural ornaments.

The wharf on which we landed is one of the greatest works at Calais, and would do credit to a port of more commercial importance. It is faced with hewn stone, and rises several feet above high-water mark, possessing all the usual conveniences for embarking and debarking. The Custom House fronts upon it, near which is the lighthouse, as also a monument to commemorate the landing of Louis XVIII. on his return to France after his exile. A strong barrier, with a handsome iron gate, separates the port from the town, and prevents the entrance of strangers, until they have undergone the requisite examinations.

At the time of our arrival, the wharf was covered with a great crowd of spectators, such as is seen, at New-York on the departure of the steamboats, all jabbering with the usual French loquacity, and producing a curious jargon. A laughable incident occurred in two minutes after setting foot upon the strand of another country. One of our party, who had not taken the precaution to fix on the hotel to which he would go, was beset at the same moment by a dozen waiters and runners from the various inns, all extolling their respective accommodations, and urging their claims to a preference in the most obstreperous manner. As he had not made up his mind what to say, he at first stood mute, and endeavoured to elude the clamours of the mob by a profound silence; but this was construed into indecision,

and the importunities of the circle around him were carried so far, as to take hold of his garments and pull him different ways. Such treatment produced a degree of irritation, and he dashed through the throng like a second Sampson.

Our baggage was all taken to the Custom House, where it underwent another examination, although on inspecting our trunks afterwards, we could not find that a single article had been moved from its place, or in any way molested, either here or on the other side of the Channel.. It has been our good fortune thus far to escape all those vexations arising from a rigid inspection of baggage and a demand of exorbitant fees, to which other travellers have been subjected. On landing in Ireland, and subsequently in England, our trunks were not examined at all; and in the present instance, the business was accomplished in a few minutes, without any trouble, and for a very moderate fee. The present peaceful state of Europe has undoubtedly produced a relaxation of the system regulating the intercourse between nations. Our passports were delivered in at the police office, and substitutes handed to us, which were taken to Paris, where the originals were restored.

After going through with these ceremonies, we were permitted to enter within the walls of Calais, and to take lodgings for the night at Dessein's Hotel, in the Rue Royale. Our reasons for selecting this in preference to a multitude of others, were grounded on the celebrity it has received from Sterne's Sentimental Journey. The chamber which the eccentric author of this work occupied yet remains unaltered, and was pointed out to us. It is on the second floor of the hotel, fronting upon a pretty flower-garden, which in the season of its bloom might inspire taste and sentiment, especially of the description in which Sterne most delighted. The door of the room bears his name. I suppose we saw the very "Remise" that contained the "Disobligeante," in which the preface to the Sentimental Journey was written, and where Yorick held high colloquies with the fair brunette, the monk, and Monseiur Dessein. The latter has been dead many years, though the establishment he left behind has been enlarged, and is kept up in good style. It is a spacious house, standing round two open courts, and presenting a showy exterior.

The apartments of this hotel, which is above the ordinary standard of French inns, are handsomely finished and furnished, with the exception of the floors and fire-places, both of which are uncomfortable in cold weather. Count Rumford's philosophy does not seem to have reached the firesides of France. There is a want of system and economy in the mode of constructing chimneys and warming houses

-a fact the more remarkable, since fuel, consisting almost entirely of wood, is scarce and extravagantly high. In winter, it costs a family more to supply the hearth than the table.

At Dessein's we met with good fare, and at comparatively moderate prices, although it is the most expensive house at Calais. Of French cookery and French dishes, I shall say little at present. The science of gastronomy has been carried to what gourmands consider the utmost perfection. Innumerable dishes are placed upon the table, many of them so disguised as to puzzle one to know whether they are composed of fish, flesh, or fowl. Every thing is eaten scparately, meat by itself, and potatoes and other vegetables by themselves. The bread is generally excellent, being of a fine quality, light, and palatable. It is done up in rolls, some of which are several feet in length, and six or eight inches in diameter. Each person cuts off a section of the cylinder for himself. Ordinary red wine is set upon the table both at breakfast and dinner, without any extra charge to the traveller. It is drunk out of tumblers in the same manner as cider with us. Coffee and chocolate are universally good, far surpassing what is to be found in the best hotels in England or the United States.

One article of the furniture at all public tables in France, however humble may be the inn, appeared to me particularly worthy of imitation at the hotels in our own country, where it has not been generally introduced. Every plate has a napkin, which is sufficiently large to shield the lap, and supersedes the use of a handkerchief, or a more vulgar resort to the table-cloth. On retiring, each person rolls up his cloth, and thrusts it through a wide ring to keep it in place, and containing a number corresponding with that of his chamber. Finger-cups are seldom used, as at the better hotels in England.

Our stay at Calais was occupied in looking at the scanty supply of objects it furnishes to attract the eye of the traveller, among which are several churches, with oddly shaped steeples, and a proper share of antique embellishments; a town hall, ornamented in front with statues of St. Pierre and Cardinal Richilieu, and containing the balloon, in which two aeronauts crossed the English Channel; a theatre, which is open only on Sunday evening; and a fortress, seated on an eminence, which commands the harbour. It is said that the print of Louis XVIII's foot may still be seen upon the beach, where he landed upon his return from England; but we expected to see traces enough of the legitimate sovereigns of France, without stepping out of our way to look at this sacred impression. The town of Calais is built of stone, with confined dirty streets, and a population of seven or eight

thousand. There is an open area in the centre, called the Place d'Armes, around which the public buildings are situated.

Next morning we took seats in the Diligence for Paris, a distance of 173 English miles, by the new route through Abbeville and Beauvais. Our vehicle and its equipments looked more like a caravan, destined to Mecca or the Holy Land, than like a stage coach for the metropolis of France. Its construction is in all respects unique and amusing. The body is fifteen or twenty feet long, and divided into three compartments, separated from one another by partitions, which cut off all intercourse between the passengers. Of these sections, the one in front, which is before the wheels, is called the cabriolet, formed like the top of a chaise, and sufficiently wide to hold three or four persons. Behind this, and between the wheels, is the body of the Diligence, called the interieur, fashioned with protuberant sides, like a stage coach, and capacious enough to accommodate six passengers. The rear division, behind the wheels, is termed the derriere, resembling the body of one of our hacks, and large enough for half a dozen persons. In addition to these grand divisions, there are places for a few odd passengers aloft, among the baggage. The wheels of the vehicle are massive and strong, in proportion to the other parts, exceeding in clumsiness the heaviest of the Pennsylvania wagons. Behind each of them a scraper is placed, to clear off the mud at every rotation, and to keep the tire clean.

The team is as odd as the carriage. It consists of five, six, seven, and sometimes eight horses, harnessed together in the most curious manner. Two of them are fastened to the pole, and the remaining three travel abreast in front, with traces so long as frequently to drag upon the ground. The animals bear upon their shoulders a kind of pack-saddle, covered with blue shaggy cloth, and armed with tall horns of wood branching out on each side, to hold the reins. Their heads are ornamented with blue and red tassels, with other finery, and a string of bells, giving them a most fantastic appearance. The harness generally is of the cheapest and most ordinary kind, made more of hemp than leather, and presenting a striking contrast to the burnished equipments of an English coach. A postillion, clad in his long boots frequently made of wood, and reaching above the knee, rides the near horse behind, guiding the team more by dint of his long whip, than the cords which serve for reins. To shield him from the inclemency of the weather, he often wears the skin of an animal, with the hairy side out, giving him a savage aspect. Every Diligence has an agent called a conducteur, corresponding with the guard of an English coach. He is an important personage, seating himself in

good weather on his throne aloft, and directing the whole movements of the caravan. To his charge is committed the baggage of the passengers, as well as their passports, and he relieves them from the vexation of paying a fee to the coachman at the end of every stage as in England. At the inns, it is his province to preside at the table, and in short, to afford every accommodation and facility to the traveller.

Comfortably seated in the rear department of such an establishment, the same group of Americans who had monopolized the interior of the coach from London, made a sortie through the royal gate of Calais, by the canals of St. Omer, Gravelines, and Dunkirk, the suburbs of St. Pierre, and the fortress of Nieulay, thus commencing their travels in France under circumstances rather inauspicious, since a severe storm of wind and rain rendered it necessary to keep the windows of the vehicle closed. A peep through the glass at a very circumscribed horizon discovered to us, that we were alternately climbing and descending smooth, rolling, gravelly hills, of moderate elevation, destitute of wood, without fences, bleak and barren, with a sparse population.

The road between Calais and Paris has for the greater part of the way been M'Adamized, and looks as if it might be good in summer; but at this season, it was extremely muddy, and the Diligence lumbered along like a great baggage-wagon. Fortunately it was impossible, amid the multifarious and complex modes of measuring roads in France, to ascertain with much accuracy at what rate we travelled. There are three kinds of computation in vogue, which appear to be used indiscriminately. The first is by posts, which have been established by the government all over the country, at the distance of about five English miles from one another. Here, post-horses and other facilities of intercourse are always to be obtained, at prices fixed with the utmost precision. It is a very perfect and excellent system. The tourist has only to purchase or hire a carriage, and at these points he is sure to find relays to expedite his passage. From these establishments has arisen another mode of measuring distances by the hour. The French say so many hours, instead of so many miles, from one place to another. With a good team, on a good road, and in good weather, distances may be very accurately computed by time; but it must of course in most instances be extremely vague. The remaining mode is by the league, which is about two and a half miles.

Finding ourselves only perplexed by the responses to our inquiries, and that taking the motions of the Diligence for a standard, one