you
have to deal with; if there be any thing in the slightest degree
chipped, they will make you pay extravagantly for damages. But when at
last the awful day of departure arrived, I had every thing collected of
the description alluded to, and Madame Fournier would not even look at
them, and observed if there were any thing injured she was sure it was
to so trifling an amount that it was not worth noticing. But it was not
so with an English lady who was our fellow lodger; towards her they
certainly were neither obliging in their manner nor disposed to render
her any kind of accommodation beyond the strict letter of their
agreement; and the reason was, because she always addressed them as if
she was speaking to her servants; in short, with an arrogance of manner
that they could not brook. Thus whilst they were continually practising
little civilities and attentions towards us, which greatly contributed to
our _comfort_, they were following a totally opposite system towards
her, which rendered her very _uncomfortable_; therefore, had that lady
properly studied her happiness, she would have conducted herself towards
her hostess and family in a very different manner, and I hope my readers
who visit France will take advantage of the hint; yet I must admit that
the lady in question was a very amiable personage in every other
respect, but she detested the French, and liked, as she observed, to
pull down their pride, to make them feel their inferiority, and let them
know that the English were their masters. Madame Fournier, however, was
of a class superior to the generality of persons who let lodgings in
England; she was possessed of an independent property, her eldest
daughter was married to a Colonel, and her son a lieutenant in the navy,
but like many of the French, having a house considerably larger than she
could occupy, she let a part of it. I should always however recommend
the English when they are taking a house or apartment for any length of
time, or in fact entering into any engagement of importance with the
French, to have an agreement in writing, in case of misunderstanding,
which may arise from the English not comprehending, or not expressing
themselves in French so well as they imagine. It is always a document to
refer to which settles all differences, and is a check upon all bad
memories, either on the one side or the other; and as there are bad
people in France as well as other countries, it prevents strangers
b