The narrative of a journey undertaken in the years 1819, 1820 and 1821 through France, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, parts of Germany bordering on the Rhine, Holland and the Netherlands : $b comprising incidents that occurred to the author, who has long suffered under a total deprivation of sight; with various points of information collected on his tourHolman, James
History
The narrative of a journey undertaken in the years 1819, 1820 and 1821 through France, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, parts of Germany bordering on the Rhine, Holland and the Netherlands : $b comprising incidents that occurred to the author, who has long suffered under a total deprivation of sight; with various points of information collected on his tour
Holman, James
Europe -- Description and travel
Our dinner party consisted of a motley group of various nations, some of
the individuals composing which, were pleasant, agreeable people. Amongst
them were, what is in some measure unusual, two or three loquacious
Germans; and also a humorous old Dutchman, from whom my friend elicited
much information respecting the best route to Amsterdam. We felt
inclined to have prosecuted our journey into Holland with this latter
person, in order to have availed ourselves of his local information;
but it is questionable whether a plan of this kind generally answers,
for, on the continent, one does not always find liberality enough in
fellow-travellers to put one on his guard against the impositions of
their countrymen. We had a strong illustration of this about the present
time. I have frequently mentioned a French gentleman with whom we had
been travelling from Berne, and to whose kind attentions and gentlemanly
conduct, we felt ourselves on a variety of occasions, highly indebted:
one day, another Frenchman who had also been travelling with us,
proposed to him to direct the landlord of the inn where we dined, to
charge C⸺ and myself double the established price, so as to let them
off without payment. Our friend most indignantly rejected the proposal,
asserting that he was a disgrace to his country, and that it was the
conduct of such scoundrels, which led to the traduction of its character.
I must name one other individual of our dinner party at Bingen,—a
watchmaker, with a pack-full of watches, some of which he exhibited
to us; his prices were from six francs, to twice as many Louis, each;
several of our companions purchased of him at the former rate. How he
could afford to sell upon such terms, it is not easy to account for,
without supposing that he must have stolen his goods. He was a civil
middle-aged man, and had travelled over a great part of Europe, and, in
particular, followed the French army into Russia, where he sold great
numbers of his watches to the soldiers in exchange, I suppose, for their
plunder. After dinner we recommenced our journey, and at half past eight
arrived at Coblentz.
We were recommended by some of our fellow-passengers to fix ourselves at
the Pomme d’Or at this place, which proved, however, to be only a second
rate inn; and we afterwards learnt that the hotel of the Three Swiss is
the preferable one for travellers proceeding by the Coche d’Eau.
On the following morning, we made a party with two young Germans to visit
the baths of Emms, distant about three leagues on the other side of the
Rhine; for this purpose we engaged a coach, to convey us over one of the
worst roads we had yet met with.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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