A Book of Voyages. Patrick O’Brian

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СКАЧАТЬ it would be to bargain with an itinerant Jew for a gold watch; the conscience and honour of a French Aubergiste, and a travelling Jew, are always to be considered alike; and it is very remarkable, that the Publicans in France, are the only people who receive strangers with a cool indifference! and where this indifference is most shown, there is most reason to be cautious.

      VI

      Be careful that your sheets are well aired, otherwise you will find them often, not only damp, but perfectly wet.—Frenchmen in general do not consider wet or damp sheets as dangerous, at least I am sure French Aubergistes do not.

      VII

      Young men who travel into France, with a view of gaining the language, should always eat at the table d’Hôte.—There is generally at these tables an officer, or a priest, and though there may be none but people of a middling degree, they will show every kind of attention and preference to a stranger.

      VIII

      It is necessary to carry your own pillows with you; in some inns they have them; but in villages, bourgs, &c. none are to be had.

      IX

      In the wine provinces, at all the table d’Hôtes, they always provide the common wine, as we do small beer; wine is never paid for separately, unless it is of a quality above the vin du Païs; and when you call for better, know the price before you drink it.

      X

      When fine cambrick handkerchiefs, &c. are given to be washed, take care they are not trimmed round two inches narrower, to make borders to Madame la Blanchisseuse’s night caps: this is a little douceur which they think themselves entitled to, from my lord Anglois, who they are sure is très riche, and consequently ought to be plundered by the poor.

      XI

      Whenever you want honest information, get it from a French officer or a priest, provided they are on the wrong side of forty; but, in general, avoid all intimacy with either on the right side of thirty.

      XII

      Where you propose to stay any time, be very cautious with whom you make an acquaintance, as there are always a number of officious forward Frenchmen, and English adventurers, ready to offer you their services, from whom you will find it very difficult to disengage yourself, after you have found more agreeable company. Frenchmen of real fashion are very circumspect, and will not fall in love with you at first sight; but a designing knave will exercise every species of flattery, in order to fix himself upon you for his dinner, or what else he can get, and will be with you before you are up, and after you are in bed.

      XIII

      Wherever there is any cabinet of curiosities, medals, pictures, &c. to be seen, never make any scruple to send a card, desiring permission to view them; the request is flattering to a Frenchman, and you will never be refused; and besides this, you will in all probability thereby gain a valuable acquaintance. It is generally men of sense and philosophy, who make such collections, and you will find the collector of them, perhaps, the most pleasing part of the cabinet.

      XIV

      Take it as a maxim, unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, that whenever you are invited to a supper at Paris, Lyons, or any of the great cities, where a little trifling play commences before supper, GREAT PLAY is intended after supper; and that you are the marked pigeon to be plucked. Always remember Lord Chesterfield’s advice to his son: “If you play with men, know with whom you play; if with women, for what:” and do not think yourself the more secure, because you see at the same table some of your own countrymen, though they are lords or ladies; a London gambler would have no chance in a Parisian party.

      XV

      Dress is an essential and most important consideration with every body in France. A Frenchman never appears till his hair is well combed and powdered, however slovenly he may be in other respects.—Not being able to submit every day to this ceremony, the servant to a gentleman of fashion at whose house I visited in Marseilles, having forgot my name, described me to his master, as the gentleman whose hair was toujours mal frisé.—Dress is a foolish thing, says Lord Chesterfield; yet it is a more foolish thing not to be well dressed.

      XVI

      You cannot dine, or visit after dinner, in an undress frock, with or without a bag to your hair: the hair en queüe, or a little cape to your coat, would be considered an unpardonable liberty. Military men have an advantage above all others in point of dress, in France. A regimental or military coat carries a man with a bonne grace into all companies, with or without a bag to his hair: It is of all others the properest dress for a stranger in France, on many accounts.

      XVII

      In France it is not customary to drink to persons at table, nor to drink wine after dinner. When the dessert is taken away, so is the wine;—an excellent custom, and worthy of being observed by all nations.

      XVIII

      It is wrong to be led into any kind of conversation but what is absolutely necessary, with the common, or indeed the middling class of people in France. They never fail availing themselves, of the least condescension in a stranger, to ask a number of impertinent questions, and to conclude, if you answer them civilly, that they are your equals.—Sentiment and bashfulness are not to be met with but among people of rank in France: to be free and easy is the etiquette of the country; and some kinds of that free and easy manner are highly offensive to strangers, and particularly to a shy Englishman.

      XIX

      When well-bred people flatter strangers, they seldom direct their flattery to the object they mean to compliment, but to one of their own country:—As, “What a bonne grace the English have,” says one to the other, in a whisper loud enough to be heard by the whole company, who all give a nod of consent; yet in their hearts they do not love the English of all other nations^fn4, and therefore conclude, that the English in their hearts do not love them.

      XX

      No gentleman, priest, or servant, male or female, ever gives any notice, by knocking, before they enter the bed-chamber, or apartment of ladies or gentlemen.—The post-man opens it to bring your letters; the capuchin, to ask alms; and the gentleman, to make his visit. There is no privacy but by securing your door by a key or a bolt; and when any of the middling class of people have got possession of your apartment, particularly of a stranger, it is very difficult to get them out.

      XXI

      There is not on earth, perhaps, so curious and inquisitive a people as the lower class of French: noise seems to be one of their greatest delights. If a ragged boy does but beat a drum, or sound a trumpet, he brings all who hear him about it, with the utmost speed, and most impatient curiosity.—As my monkey rode postillion, in a red jacket laced with silver, I was obliged to make him dismount when I passed through a town of any size: the people gathered so rapidly round me at Moret, three leagues from Fontainebleau, while I stopped only to buy a loaf, that I verily believe every man, woman, and child, except the sick and aged, were paying their respects to my little groom; all infinitely delighted; for none offered the least degree of rudeness. I fear a Frenchman could not have passed in the same manner, so agreeably, through a country town in England.

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