CHAPTER XI. A foreigner's view, of England-The packets-Roads-People-PostingMail and Stage Coaches-Amateur coachmen-Fast driving-Perils of travelling-A lioness attacks the Mail-Dog-carts and donkey-riding— The Streets and Houses. W HAT was England like at this time? I have notes enough, and to spare, de omnibus rebus, for a volume upon it; but I withdraw, and allow a foreigner to give his impressions, and we shall have the advantage of viewing England with other spectacles.1 I extract from a book by "M. de Levis, Duke and Peer of France," an English translation of which was published in 1815. Of course steamboats were not, and that "silver streak" between France and England, was even more of a bugbear than it is at present. "Foreigners who visit England in time of peace, usually pass through BURNS, "To a Louse, on seeing one on a Lady's bonnet, at Church." Dover; this port being the nearest point of land to the Continent of Europe. The distance is only seven leagues, but the passage is not the less uncertain; it varies from two hours to thirty-six, when it becomes excessively fatiguing; obliged to struggle against the wind in a narrow sea, and in which it is impossible to make long tacks. The cabin is so low that you cannot stand upright; it usually contains eight beds placed two by two upon one another, like drawers, in a bureau. The disagreeable smell of the bedding, and of the whole. furniture, increase the sickness which the horizontal position would tend to alleviate. This sickness is not dangerous, but it is very severe, and sometimes persons of a delicate habit experience the effects of it for several days. However, if this passage be often painful, and always disagreeable, it is, at least, very safe. In times of peace, few days pass without packet boats crossing the Channel, and we never hear of shipwrecks. The usual price for the passage is one guinea for gentlemen, and half for servants; the hire of the whole vessel costs from five to ten guineas, according to the condition of the travellers." On landing, next to the comeliness of the women and children, the men's dress seems to have struck him. "Their dress is equally remarkable for its fulness, uniformity, and neatness. Those scanty clothes, so I My italics.-J. A. |