MAL MAISON.

We passed by the Place de la Concorde, upon the statues and buildings of which, and the gardens of the Thuilleries, the fresh and early sun shone most beautifully. My merry, but feeling fellow travellers, waving their hands, addressed a short apostrophe to these suburb objects, and exclaimed, "adieu ma tres jolie ville-ah! tres jolie ville adieu.”

For near three miles after leaving the barrier, we passed through plantations of roses, which supply the markets of Paris with that beautiful flower, which, transferred thence, adorn the toilets, the vases, and the bosoms of the fair parisians, and form the favourite bouquets of the petite maitres; on each side of the road were cherry trees, in full bearing, which presented a very charming appearance. We soon reached the water works of Marli, which supply the jets d'eau of Versailles. They are upon a vast scale, and appear to be very curious. A little further on we passed Mal Maison, the country, and chief residence of the first consul and his family. It is an ancient house, embosomed in beautiful woods and gardens. At the entrance are large military lodges, for the accommodation of a squadron of the consular cavalry, who mount guard when their general is here.

At St. Germain's we breakfasted, upon pork cutlets, excellent bread, wine, and cherries, for twenty sols, or ten pence english. At Mante we had an excellent dinner, of several dishes, for thirty sols, or one shilling and three pence english. Soon after we had passed Mante, we left the higher norman road, and entered a country extremely picturesque and rich. We were conducted through the forest of Evreux, by an escort

235

СНАР.

XXI.

236

CHAP.
XXI.

FOREST OF EVREUX.

of chasseurs. This vast tract of land is infested by an immense banditti, who live in large excavations in the earth, similar to the subterranean apartments of the celebrated robbers, in whose service Gil Blas was rather reluctantly enrolled, and generally assail the traveller, with a force which would render common resistance perilous, and unavailing. This forest, in the course of the year, furnishes considerable employ for the guillotine of Caen, where the tribunal of justice is seated. The appearance of our guards was terrific enough to appal such valiant souls, as once animated the frames of prince Hal, and his merry friend Ned Poins. They wore roman helmets, from which descended, to the bottom of their backs, an immense tail, of thick black horsehair, their uniform was light green, and looked rather shabby.

We passed the forest without any molestation, and supped at the town of Evreux, which is very pleasant, where we halted for about four hours. As we were afterwards proceeding, I prepared myself to enjoy a little sleep, and as I reclined for this purpose with my hat over my face, in a corner of the carriage, I overheard one of my fellow travellers observe to the other, "the englishman is sleeping," to which he replied, 66 no, he is not sleeping, he is only thinking, it is the cha"racter of his nation."

The french cannot bear the least appearance of thought; they have a saying, "un homme qui rit ne sera jamais dan"gereux."

The next morning we breakfasted at Lisieux, an ancient town, in which are the remains of a fine convent, which for

merly

LOWER NORMANDY.

merly belonged to the Order of the Capuchins. For four or
five miles before we approached the town, the laughing and
animated faces of groups of peasantry, all in their jubilee
dresses, the old mounted upon asses, and the young walking
by the sides of them, hastening to the town, announced to us,
that a fair, and merry making was to be held there, on that
day. Lisieux was quite in a bustle. About six o'clock in the
evening of the same day, we arrived at Caen, the capital
of Lower Normandy. My fare to this city from Paris,
amounted to thirty livres, including my luggage. I had not
completed my dinner at the Hôtel de la Place, before an
english servant entered my room, to inform me, that his
mistress, Mrs, P
who, with her daughters, and another
young lady, had the rooms over mine, presented her com-
pliments to me, and requested me to take my coffee with
them that evening. I must confess I was at first a little
surprised at the message, for the english are not very re-
markable for politeness and attention to one another in a
foreign country.

After I had finished my desert, I made my bow to Mrs. P, and her family, who proved to be very pleasant, and accomplished people, and were making the tour of France with english servants. They had been in Caen near three weeks, where they had a large acquaintance of the first respectability. This unexpected introduction became additionally agreeable, upon my discovery at the Messagerie, that the diligence for Cherbourg would not proceed, till three days from the time of my arrival. The next morning I rambled with

237

CHAP.

XXI.

my