questrated under the Act against
Alienation of Lands by Popish Recusants, and so rob the Monks of their
prey. And then, being soothingly addressed by Mr. Hodge, he admitted
that the Friars were for the greater part Beggars and Thieves; and
before supper-time we obtained an easy permission from him to drive
those Pestilent Gentry from the doors, and deny him on every occasion
when they should be impudent enough to seek admission to his presence.

We were no such high Favourites in Ratisbon after this; and I believe
that the Jesuits denounced us to the Inquisition at Rome,--in case we
should ever go that way,--that the Capuchins cursed us, and the
Benedictines preached against us. The Town Authorities began also to
look upon us with a cold eye of suspicion; and but for the sojourn of an
English Envoy in Ratisbon (we had diplomatic agents then all over the
Continent, and very little they did for their Money save Dance and
Intrigue) the Burgomaster and his Councillors might have gotten up
against us what the French do call _une querelle d'Allemand_, which may
be a Quarrel about Any thing, and is a Fashion of Disagreeing peculiar
to the Germans, who may take offence at the cock of your Hat or the cut
of your Coat, and make either of them a State affair. Indeed, I believe
that some Imprudent Expressions, made use of by my Master on seeing the
Horrible Engines of Torture shown to the curious in the vaults of the
castle, were very nearly being construed into High Treason by the
unfriendly clerical party, and that an Information by the Stadt-Assessor
was being actually drawn up against him, when, by much Persuasion
coupled with some degree of gentle Violence, we got him away from
Ratisbon altogether.

CHAPTER THE FIFTH.

OF THE MANNER IN WHICH I CAME TO THE FAMOUS CITY
OF PARIS.

FROM Ratisbon we travelled down the River Danube, in a very pleasant and
agreeable manner, in a kind of Wooden House mounted on a flat-bottomed
Barge, and not unlike a Noah's Ark. 'Twas most convenient, and even
handsomely laid out, with Parlours, and with Drawing-Rooms, and Kitchens
and Stoves, and a broad planked Promenade over all railed in, and with
Flowering Plants in pots by the sides, quite like a garden. They are
rowed by twelve men each, and move with an almost Incredible Celerity,
so that in the same day one can Delight one's Eye with a vast Variety of
Prospects; and within a short space of time the Traveller ha