ongside 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 gentleman 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 cou