The Stranger in France | Page 7

and vehemence, which rendered the faculty of hearing
almost a misfortune. They appeared highly delighted to see us, talked
of our dress, sir Sidney Smith, the blockade, the noble english, the
peace, and a train of etceteras. At length we obtained a little cessation,
of which we immediately seized the advantage, by directing them to

show us to our bedrooms, to procure abundance of water hot and cold,
to get us a good breakfast as soon as possible, and to prepare a good
dinner for us at four o'clock. Amidst a peal of tongues, this clamorous
procession retired.
After we had performed our necessary ablutions, and had enjoyed the
luxury of fresh linen, we sat down to some excellent coffee,
accompanied with boiled milk, long, delicious rolls, and tolerably good
butter, but found no knives upon the table; which, by the by, every
traveller in France is presumed to carry with him: having mislaid my
own, I requested the maid to bring me one. The person of this damsel,
would certainly have suffered by a comparison with those fragrant
flowers, to which young poets resemble their beloved mistresses; as
soon as I had preferred my prayer, she very deliberately drew from her
pocket a large clasp knife, which, after she had wiped on her apron, she
presented to me, with a "voila monsieur." I received this dainty present,
with every mark of due obligation, accompanied, at the same time, with
a resolution not to use it, particularly as my companions (for we had
two other english gentlemen with us) had directed her to bring some
others to them. This delicate instrument was as savoury as its mistress,
amongst the various fragrancies which it emitted, garlic seemed to have
the mastery.
About twelve o'clock we went to the hall of the municipality, to
procure our passports for the interior, and found it crowded with people
upon the same errand. We made our way through them into a very
handsome antiroom, and thence, by a little further perseverance, into an
inner room, where the mayor and his officers were seated at a large
table covered with green cloth. To show what reliance is to be placed
upon the communications of english newspapers, I shall mention the
following circumstance: my companion had left England, without a
passport, owing to the repeated assurances of both the ministerial and
opposition prints, and also of a person high in administration, that none
were necessary.
The first question propounded to us by the secretary was, "citizens,
where are your passports?" I had furnished myself with one; but upon

hearing this question, I was determined not to produce it, from an
apprehension that I should cover my friend, who had none, with
suspicion, so we answered, that in England they were not required of
frenchmen, and that we had left our country with official assurances
that they would not be demanded of us here.
They replied to us, by reading a decree, which rigorously required them
of foreigners, entering upon the territories of the republic, and they
assured us, that this regulation was at that moment reciprocal with
every other power, and with England in particular. The decree of course
closed the argument. We next addressed ourselves to their politeness
(forgetting that the revolution had made sad inroads upon it) and
requested them, as we had been misled, and had no other views of
visiting the country, but those of pleasure, and improvement, that they
would be pleased to grant us our passports for the interior. To this
address, these high authorities, who seemed not much given to "the
melting mood," after making up a physiognomy, as severe, and as iron
bound as their coast, laconically observed, that the laws of the republic
must be enforced, that they should write to our embassador to know
who we were, and that in the mean time they would make out our
passports for the town, the barriers of which we were not to pass.
Accordingly, a little fat gentleman, in a black coat, filled up these
official instruments, which were copied into their books, and both
signed by us; he then commenced our "signalement," which is a regular
descriptive portrait of the head of the person who has thus the honour
of sitting to the municipal portrait painters of the département de la
Seine inferieure.
This portrait is intended, as will be immediately anticipated, to afford
encreased facilities to all national guards, maréchaussées, thief takers,
&c. for placing in "durance vile" the unfortunate original, should he
violate the laws.
The signalement is added in the margin, to the passport, and also
registered in the municipal records, which, from their size, appeared to
contain a greater number of heads and faces, thus depicted, than any
museum or gallery I ever beheld.

How correct the