A Tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium | Page 4

of witnessing the arrival of the
magnanimous Alexander, of that too long unfortunate monarch,
Frederick William, of those chiefs, Platoff and Blucher, whose exploits
have ranked them amongst the first of heroes, and, at last, of seeing, in
the person of a Wellington, a British marshal who had successively
foiled the most renowned of the generals of Buonaparte, and who, like
Turenne, was accustomed "_to fight without anger, to conquer without
ambition, and to triumph without vanity_."
About the middle of July I left London and proceeded to Dover, a
journey which, in the improved state of our roads and of our
conveyances, is easily performed in one day; and often as I had before
travelled the Kent road, yet I could not see without surprise, the
astonishing number of public and private carriages with which it
abounds, and which must have doubtless much increased within the last
few months. I became acquainted on the road with a French Abbé, who,
accompanied by his sister, was returning home after an absence of
twenty-two years, which he had spent mostly in England, but he could
by no means express himself intelligibly in English. I therefore
addressed him in his own language, which pleased him extremely, and
I found him an amusing companion, as well as very grateful for some
little services I rendered him in arranging with the coachman respecting
his baggage and that of his sister, as they took the whole of their
property to France with them, including many household articles which
I should not have thought worth the expence of carriage. We supped in
the same apartment at Dover, but they had brought their provisions
with them, which as I afterwards found was sometimes the practice in
France, either from motives of comfort or economy. Such travellers,
however, would not be much wished for at an English inn.
Next morning my first business was to attend at the custom-house; and
the officers, after a diligent search, finding nothing illegal amongst my
baggage, permitted me to purchase a sufferance for it to be embarked
for France. The rest of the passengers having likewise arranged their
affairs and obtained sufferances, we proceeded on board the packet,
and found that it was extremely full without this last reinforcement; but
I doubt whether the captain way of that opinion. I found the charge for
the passage amounted to one guinea, which is the sum paid for the
passage between Dublin and Holyhead, although that is nearly three

times the extent of the channel between Dover and Calais. I was
informed that the seeming disproportion in those prices was to be
attributed to the heavy post dues at Calais, which, for so small a vessel
as the packet, amounted to £14 or £15, although in the year 1793 they
did not exceed eighteen shillings.
Amongst the passengers was a Swiss gentleman, who I found passed
for a man of great importance amongst the sailors. His carriage perhaps
contributed not a little to this, as it had once been the property of the
duke of Northumberland; and although the arms were defaced, yet the
coronet, the garter, and the gilding with which it was still decorated, no
doubt contributed to increase the expences of a journey which, from its
length, is a heavy tax on the pockets of the generality of travellers,
however plain may be their equipage.
We were above two hours on board before it was possible to extricate
our vessel from the great number of transports (I believe not less than
thirty-two) which crowded the harbour, being engaged for some time in
bringing home a large portion of our cavalry, who added to the military
glory they had acquired in Spain and Portugal, by their forbearance in
tolerating insults to which they were but too often exposed in their
passage through France, by a people whose vanity forbids them to
admire valour, except in Frenchmen, but whose conduct on those
occasions served only to increase the obligations which they had in so
many instances experienced from the humanity which always attends
on British valour.
If we had to regret the delay we experienced in getting out to sea, that
sentiment soon vanished before the favourable breeze which, in about
four hours, brought us to the French coast. As the day was hazy, we had
not long to admire the venerable castle of Dover, and the cliff which
Shakspeare has celebrated; and some time elapsed before we could
distinguish the shores of France, which differ entirely from those of
England, rising gradually from the water's edge, with the single
exception of Scales Cliff, which seems to correspond with some of
those bulwarks which characterize our coast from Dover to Portland,
where, I think, chalk cliffs are succeeded by masses of rock and grey