SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

THROUGH

FRANCE AND ITALY.

T

HEY order, faid I, this matter

better in France

-You have been in France? faid my gentleman, turning quick upon me with the most civil triumph in the world. Strange! quoth I, debating the matter with myself, That one and twen ty miles failing, for 'tis abfolutely no further from Dover to Calais, fhould give a man thefe rights-I'll look into them: fo giving up the argument-I went ftraight to my lodgings, put up half a dozen fhirts and a black pair of filk breeches the coat I have on," faid I, looking at the fleeve," will do"

-took a place in the Dover ftage; and the packet failing at nine the next morning by three I had got fat down to my dinner upon a fricafeed chicken, fo inconteftibly in France, that had I died that night of an indigeftion, the whole world could not have fufpended the effects of the Droits d'aubaine-my fhirts, and black pair of filk breeches -portmanteau and all must have gone to the King of France-even the little picture which I have fo long worn, and so often have told thee, Eliza, I would carry with me into my grave, would have been torn from my neck.-Ungenerous!-to seize upon the wreck of an unwary paffenger, whom your fubjects had beckon'd to their coaft-by heaven! SIRE, it is not well done; and much does it grieve me, 'tis the monarch of a people fo civilized and cour

All the effects of ftrangers (Swifs and Scotch excepted) dying in France, are feized by virtue of this law, though the heir be upon the spot-the profit of these contingencies being farmed, there is no redrefs.

teous, and fo renowned for fentiment and fine feelings, that I have to reafon with

But I have scarce fet foot in your dominions

WH

CALAI S.

HEN I had finifh'd my dinner, and drank the King of France's health, to fatisfy my mind that I bore him no spleen, but, on the contrary, high honour for the humanity of his temperI rofe up an inch taller for the accommodation.

-No-faid I-the Bourbon is by no means a cruel race: they may be misled like other people; but there is a mildnefs in their blood. As I acknowledged this, I felt a fuffufion of a finer kind upon my cheek-more warm and friendly to man, than what Burgundy (at least of two livres a bottle, which was fuch as I had been drinking) could have produced. I te bipan

Just God! faid I, kicking my portmanteau afide, what is there in this world's goods which fhould fharpen our spirits, and make fo many kind-hearted brethren of us fall out fo cruelly as we do by the way?

When man is at peace with man, how much lighter than a feather is the heaviest of metals in his hand! he pulls out his purse, and holding it airily and uncomprefs'd, looks round him, as if he fought for an object to share it with. In doing this, I felt every veffel in my frame dilate-the arteries beat all cheerily together, and every power which sustained life, performed it with fo little friction, that 'twould have confounded the most phyfical precieufe in France: with all her materialifm, fhe could scarce have called me a machine

I'm confident, faid I to myself, I fhould have overfet her creed..

The acceffion of that idea carried nature, at that time, as high as the could go-I was at peace with the