Travels Through France And Italy, Tobias Smollett [love novels in english .TXT] 📗
- Author: Tobias Smollett
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Other Side. If I Had Been Resolved To Set Out Immediately For The
South, Perhaps I Should Have Taken His Advice. If I Had Retained
Him At The Rate Of Twenty Guineas Per Month, Which Was The Price
He Demanded, And Begun My Journey Without Hesitation, I Should
Travel More Agreeably Than I Can Expect To Do In The Carriages Of
This Country; And The Difference Of The Expence Would Be A Mere
Trifle. I Would Advise Every Man Who Travels Through France To
Bring His Own Vehicle Along With Him, Or At Least To Purchase One
At Calais Or Boulogne, Where Second-Hand Berlins And Chaises May
Be Generally Had At Reasonable Rates. I Have Been Offered A Very
Good Berlin For Thirty Guineas: But Before I Make The Purchase, I
Must Be Better Informed Touching The Different Methods Of
Travelling In This Country.
Dover Is Commonly Termed A Den Of Thieves; And I Am Afraid It Is
Not Altogether Without Reason, It Has Acquired This Appellation.
The People Are Said To Live By Piracy In Time Of War; And By
Smuggling And Fleecing Strangers In Time Of Peace: But I Will Do
Them The Justice To Say, They Make No Distinction Between
Foreigners And Natives. Without All Doubt A Man Cannot Be Much
Worse Lodged And Worse Treated In Any Part Of Europe; Nor Will He
In Any Other Place Meet With More Flagrant Instances Of Fraud,
Imposition, And Brutality. One Would Imagine They Had Formed A
General Conspiracy Against All Those Who Either Go To, Or Return
From The Continent. About Five Years Ago, In My Passage From
Flushing To Dover, The Master Of The Packet-Boat Brought-To All
Of A Sudden Off The South Foreland, Although The Wind Was As
Favourable As It Could Blow. He Was Immediately Boarded By A
Customhouse Boat, The Officer Of Which Appeared To Be His Friend.
He Then Gave The Passengers To Understand, That As It Was Low
Water, The Ship Could Not Go Into The Harbour; But That The Boat
Would Carry Them Ashore With Their Baggage.
Part 7 Letter 1 (Boulogne Sur Mer, June 23, 1763.) Pg 49
The Custom-House Officer Demanded A Guinea For This Service, And
The Bargain Was Made. Before We Quitted The Ship, We Were Obliged
To Gratify The Cabin-Boy For His Attendance, And To Give Drink-Money
To The Sailors. The Boat Was Run Aground On The Open Beach;
But We Could Not Get Ashore Without The Assistance Of Three Or
Four Fellows, Who Insisted Upon Being Paid For Their Trouble.
Every Parcel And Bundle, As It Was Landed, Was Snatched Up By A
Separate Porter: One Ran Away With A Hat-Box, Another With A Wig-Box,
A Third With A Couple Of Shirts Tied Up In A Handkerchief,
And Two Were Employed In Carrying A Small Portmanteau That Did
Not Weigh Forty Pounds. All Our Things Were Hurried To The
Custom-House To Be Searched, And The Searcher Was Paid For
Disordering Our Cloaths: From Thence They Were Removed To The
Inn, Where The Porters Demanded Half-A-Crown Each For Their
Labour. It Was In Vain To Expostulate; They Surrounded The House
Like A Pack Of Hungry Bounds, And Raised Such A Clamour, That We
Were Fain To Comply. After We Had Undergone All This Imposition,
We Were Visited By The Master Of The Packet, Who, Having Taken
Our Fares, And Wished Us Joy Of Our Happy Arrival In England,
Expressed His Hope That We Would Remember The Poor Master, Whose
Wages Were Very Small, And Who Chiefly Depended Upon The
Generosity Of The Passengers. I Own I Was Shocked At His
Meanness, And Could Not Help Telling Him So. I Told Him, I Could
Not Conceive What Title He Had To Any Such Gratification: He Had
Sixteen Passengers, Who Paid A Guinea Each, On The Supposition
That Every Person Should Have A Bed; But There Were No More Than
Eight Beds In The Cabin, And Each Of These Was Occupied Before I
Came On Board; So That If We Had Been Detained At Sea A Whole
Week By Contrary Winds And Bad Weather, One Half Of The
Passengers Must Have Slept Upon The Boards, Howsoever Their
Health Might Have Suffered From This Want Of Accommodation.
Notwithstanding This Check, He Was So Very Abject And
Importunate, That We Gave Him A Crown A-Piece, And He Retired.
The First Thing I Did When I Arrived At Dover This Last Time, Was
To Send For The Master Of A Packet-Boat, And Agree With Him To
Carry Us To Boulogne At Once, By Which Means I Saved The Expence
Of Travelling By Land From Calais To This Last Place, A Journey
Of Four-And-Twenty Miles. The Hire Of A Vessel From Dover To
Boulogne Is Precisely The Same As From Dover To Calais, Five
Guineas; But This Skipper Demanded Eight, And, As I Did Not Know
The Fare, I Agreed To Give Him Six. We Embarked Between Six And
Seven In The Evening, And Found Ourselves In A Most Wretched
Hovel, On Board What Is Called A Folkstone Cutter. The Cabin Was
So Small That A Dog Could Hardly Turn In It, And The Beds Put Me
In Mind Of The Holes Described In Some Catacombs, In Which The
Bodies Of The Dead Were Deposited, Being Thrust In With The Feet
Foremost; There Was No Getting Into Them But End-Ways, And Indeed
They Seemed So Dirty, That Nothing But Extreme Necessity Could
Part 7 Letter 1 (Boulogne Sur Mer, June 23, 1763.) Pg 50Have Obliged Me To Use Them. We Sat Up All Night In A Most
Uncomfortable Situation, Tossed About By The Sea, Cold, Arid
Cramped And Weary, And Languishing For Want Of Sleep. At Three In
The Morning The Master Came Down, And Told Us We Were Just Off
The Harbour Of Boulogne; But The Wind Blowing Off Shore, He Could
Not Possibly Enter, And Therefore Advised Us To Go Ashore In The
Boat. I Went Upon Deck To View The Coast, When He Pointed To The
Place Where He Said Boulogne Stood, Declaring At The Same Time We
Were Within A Short Mile Of The Harbour's Mouth. The Morning Was
Cold And Raw, And I Knew Myself Extremely Subject To Catch Cold;
Nevertheless We Were All So Impatient To Be Ashore, That I
Resolved To Take His Advice. The Boat Was Already Hoisted Out,
And We Went On Board Of It, After I Had Paid The Captain And
Gratified His Crew. We Had Scarce Parted From The Ship, When We
Perceived A Boat Coming Towards Us From The Shore; And The Master
Gave Us To Understand, It Was Coming To Carry Us Into The
Harbour. When I Objected To The Trouble Of Shifting From One Boat
To Another In The Open Sea, Which (By The Bye) Was A Little
Rough; He Said It Was A Privilege Which The Watermen Of Boulogne
Had, To Carry All Passengers Ashore, And That This Privilege He
Durst Not Venture To Infringe. This Was No Time Nor Place To
Remonstrate. The French Boat Came Alongside Half Filled With
Water, And We Were Handed From The One To The Other. We Were Then
Obliged To Lie Upon Our Oars, Till The Captain's Boat Went On
Board And Returned From The Ship With A Packet Of Letters. We
Were Afterwards Rowed A Long League, In A Rough Sea, Against Wind
And Tide, Before We Reached The Harbour, Where We Landed,
Benumbed With Cold, And The Women Excessively Sick: From Our
Landing-Place We Were Obliged To Walk Very Near A Mile To The Inn
Where We Purposed To Lodge, Attended By Six Or Seven Men And
Women, Bare-Legged, Carrying Our Baggage. This Boat Cost Me A
Guinea, Besides Paying Exorbitantly The People Who Carried Our
Things; So That The Inhabitants Of Dover And Of Boulogne Seem To
Be Of The Same Kidney, And Indeed They Understand One Another
Perfectly Well. It Was Our Honest Captain Who Made The Signal For
The Shore-Boat Before I Went Upon Deck; By Which Means He Not
Only Gratified His Friends, The Watermen Of Boulogne, But Also
Saved About Fifteen Shillings Portage, Which He Must Have Paid
Had He Gone Into The Harbour; And Thus He Found Himself At
Liberty To Return To Dover, Which He Reached In Four Hours. I
Mention These Circumstances As A Warning To Other Passengers.
When A Man Hires A Packet-Boat From Dover To Calais Or Boulogne,
Let Him Remember That The Stated Price Is Five Guineas; And Let
Him Insist Upon Being Carried Into The Harbour In The Ship,
Without Paying The Least Regard To The Representations Of The
Master, Who Is Generally A Little Dirty Knave. When He Tells You
It Is Low Water, Or The Wind Is In Your Teeth, You May Say You
Will Stay On Board Till It Is High Water, Or Till The Wind Comes
Favourable. If He Sees You Are Resolute, He Will Find Means To
Bring His Ship Into The Harbour, Or At Least To Convince You,
Without A Possibility Of Your Being Deceived, That It Is Not In
His Power. After All, The Fellow Himself Was A Loser By His
Finesse; If He Had Gone Into The Harbour, He Would Have Had
Another Fare Immediately Back To Dover, For There Was A Scotch
Part 7 Letter 1 (Boulogne Sur Mer, June 23, 1763.) Pg 51Gentleman At The Inn Waiting For Such An Opportunity.
Knowing My Own Weak Constitution, I Took It For Granted This
Morning's Adventure Would Cost Me A Fit Of Illness; And What
Added To My Chagrin, When We Arrived At The Inn, All The Beds
Were Occupied; So That We Were Obliged To Sit In A Cold Kitchen
Above Two Hours, Until Some Of The Lodgers Should Get Up. This
Was Such A Bad Specimen Of French Accommodation, That My Wife
Could Not Help Regretting Even The Inns Of Rochester,
Sittingbourn, And Canterbury: Bad As They Are, They Certainly
Have The Advantage, When Compared With The Execrable Auberges Of
This Country, Where One Finds Nothing But Dirt And Imposition.
One Would Imagine The French Were Still At War With The English,
For They Pillage Them Without Mercy.
Among The Strangers At This Inn Where We Lodged, There Was A
Gentleman Of The Faculty, Just Returned From Italy. Understanding
That I Intended To Winter In The South Of France, On Account Of A
Pulmonic Disorder, He Strongly Recommended The Climate Of Nice In
Provence, Which, Indeed, I Had Often Heard Extolled; And I Am
Almost Resolved To Go Thither, Not Only For The Sake Of
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