Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"But we laughed at the repast, and went to bed with the
determination that nothing should ruffle our tempers. Having
slept very well, we set off at daylight for Boulogne, where we
breakfasted. This place was full of English; I suppose because
wine is so very cheap. We went on after breakfast for Montreuil,
and passed through the finest corn country that my eyes ever
beheld, diversified with fine woods, sometimes for miles
together, through noble forests. The roads mostly were planted
with trees, which made as fine an avenue as to any gentleman's
country-seat. Montreuil is thirty miles from Boulogne, situated
upon a small hill, in the middle of a fine plain, which reached
as far as the eye could carry you, except towards the sea, which
is about twelve miles from it. We put up at the same house, and
with the same jolly landlord that recommended Le Fleur to Sterne.
Here we wished much to be fixed; but neither good lodgings or
masters could be had here--for there are no middling class of
people. Sixty noblemen's families lived in the town, who owned
the vast plain round it, and the rest very poor indeed. This is
the finest country for game that ever was; partridges
twopence-halfpenny a couple, pheasants and woodcocks in
proportion; and, in short, every species of poultry. We dined,
supped, lay, and breakfasted next day, Saturday; then we
proceeded on our tour, leaving Montreuil, you will suppose, with
great regret.
"We reached Abbeville at eight o'clock; but, unluckily for us,
two Englishmen, one of whom called himself Lord Kingsland--I can
hardly suppose it to be him--and a Mr Bullock, decamped at three
o'clock that afternoon in debt to every shopkeeper in the place.
These gentlemen kept elegant houses, horses, &c. We found the
town in an uproar; and as no masters could be had at this place
that could speak a word of English, and that all masters that
could speak English grammatically attend at the places that are
frequented by the English, which is, St Omer, Lisle, Dunkirk, and
Boulogne, to the northward of Paris, and as I had no intention of
travelling to the south of France till the spring, at any rate, I
determined, with Mac's advice, to steer for St Omer, where we
arrived last Tuesday; and I own I was surprised to find, that
instead of a dirty, nasty town, which I had always heard it
represented, to find a large city, well paved, good streets, and
well lighted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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