referred seeing englishmen _in_ her tower as friends, to the view she
frequently had of them _from_ it as enemies, alluding to the long, and
masterly blockade of this port by a squadron of english frigates. She
carried us to her little museum, as she called it, where she had
arranged, very neatly, a considerable collection of fossils, shells, and
petrefactions. Here she showed us with great animation, two british
cannon balls, which during the blockade, had very nearly rendered her
husband and herself, as cold and as silent as any of the petrefactions
in her collection. In this little cabinet was her bed, where amidst the
war of winds and waves, she told us she slept as sound as a _consul_.

In the basins of Havre, we saw several rafts, once so much talked of,
constructed for the real, or ostensible purpose of conveying the
invading legions of France, to the shores of Great Britain. I expected
to have seen an immense floating platform, but the vessels which we saw,
were made like brigs of an unusual breadth, with two low masts. The
sincerity of this project has been much disputed, but that the french
government expended considerable sums upon the scheme, I have no doubt.

I must not omit to mention, the admirable mode, which they have here,
and in most parts of France, of constructing their carts. They are
placed upon very high wheels, the load is generally arranged so as to
create an equipoise, and is raised by an axle, fastened near the shafts.
I was informed by a merchant, that a single horse can draw with ease
thirty-six hundred weight, in one of these carts. These animals have a
formidable appearance, owing to a strange custom which the french have,
of covering the collar, with an entire sheep's skin, which gives them
the appearance of having an enormous shaggy mane.

At night, we settled our bills which amounted to forty livres each. A
considerable charge in this country, but we had lived well, and had not
thought it worth our while, on account of the probable shortness of our
stay, to bargain for our lodging, and board, a plan generally proper to
be used by those, who mean to remain for some length of time, in any
place in France.

[Illustration: _Paris Diligence._]

CHAPTER IV.

_Cheap travelling to Paris.--Diligences.--French
Postilions.--Spanish Postilions.--Norman Horses.--Bolbec.--Natives
of Caux.--Ivetot.--Return of Religion.--Santerre.--Jacobin.--The
Mustard-pot.--National P