_October_ 28.--Breakfasted at Abbeville, and saw a very handsome Gothic church, and reached Grandvilliers at night. The house is but second-rate, though lauded by various English travellers for the moderation of its charges, as was recorded in a book presented to us by the landlady. There is no great patriotism in publishing that a traveller thinks the bills moderate; it serves usually as an intimation to mine host or hostess that John Bull will bear a little more squeezing. I gave my attestation too, however, for the charges of the good lady resembled those elsewhere; and her anxiety to please was extreme. Folks must be harder-hearted than I am to resist the _empressement_, which may, indeed, be venal, yet has in its expression a touch of cordiality. [_Paris_,] _October_ 29.--Breakfasted at Beauvais, and saw its magnificent cathedral--unfinished it has been left, and unfinished it will remain, of course,--the fashion of cathedrals being passed away. But even what exists is inimitable, the choir particularly, and the grand front. Beauvais is called the _Pucelle_, yet, so far as I can see, she wears no stays--I mean, has no fortifications. On we run, however. _Vogue la galère; et voilà nous à Paris_, Hotel de Windsor [_Rue Rivoli_], where we are well lodged. France, so far as I can see, which is very little, has not undergone many changes. The image of war has, indeed, passed away, and we no longer see troops crossing the country in every direction; villages either ruined or hastily fortified; inhabitants sheltered in the woods and caves to escape the rapacity of the soldiers--all this has passed away. The inns are much amended. There is no occasion for that rascally practice of making a bargain--or _combien_-ing your landlady, before you unharness your horses, which formerly was a matter of necessity. The general taste of the English seems to regulate the travelling--naturally enough, as the hotels, of which there are two or three in each town, chiefly subsist by them. We did not see one French equipage on the road; the natives seem to travel entirely in the Diligence, and doubtless _à bon marché_; the road was thronged with English.