ocoa-nut waving its leaves
to the sea-breeze. Well, "homekeeping youths have homely wits," says
the same author; and he has told more truth than any man who ever wrote.
I certainly did hear of one young man who did not gain much by
travelling; he was a banker's clerk, and obtained three months' vacation
to go on the Continent. He landed at Ostend, and the next day found
himself in the track-schuyt that is towed by horses, from Bruges to
Ghent. The cabins were magnificent, velvet and gold the down cushions
luxurious, the dinner and breakfast sumptuous, the wine excellent, the
bed-rooms comfortable, and the expense moderate. Moreover, the motion
was imperceptible. What could a man wish more? He arrived at Ghent,
and could not make his mind up to quit this barge; so he returned in her
to Bruges, and then back again to Ghent; and thus he continued between
the two towns, backwards and forwards, until the three months' leave had
expired, and he was obliged to return to the desk. I have never yet
made up my mind whether this personage was a wise man or a fool.

But, until the opening of the Continent, the English were only
voyageurs, not travellers; and that, after having been so long debarred,
they should be desirous of visiting the various portions of Europe, is
not only natural but praiseworthy; but that they should make the
Continent their residence--should expatriate themselves altogether, is,
to me, a source of astonishment as well as of regret.

The excuse offered is the cheapness. It is but an excuse, for I deny it
to be the fact: I have visited most places, with and without a family;
and I will positively assert, not for the benefit of others who have
already expatriated themselves, but as a check to those who feel so
inclined, that they will discover too soon that, at less expense, they
can command more good living and substantial comforts in England, than
in any part of the Continent they may fix upon as their habitation.

Let us enter a little into the subject. First, as to the capitals,
Paris, Brussels, etcetera.

Let it first be remembered that we have no longer war prices in England,
that almost every article has fallen from thirty-five to fifty per cent.
It is true that some tradespeople who are established as fashionable
keep up their prices; but it is not absolutely necessary to employ them,
as there are those equally skilled who are more moderate. But even the
most fashionable have been obliged,