. Both however appear unexceptionable in their way, as this is the
mode of conveyance adopted for the royal mail, and as generally
preferred for the sake of comfort and expedition, as the Margate or
Glasgow steam-boats. It affords the range of a tolerably spacious deck,
and a couple of cabins, to which the passengers may retire in inclement
weather. Had it indeed been less convenient or agreeable, we should have
found it a blessed respite after the rumbling tub of penance in which we
had been cooped. Indeed, the abuse which our voiturier had vented on the
_desagremens et disgraces_ of the coche d'eau, in order to secure
himself our company to Lyons, had determined us on trying this
conveyance; for the habit of lying is so constant and inveterate in this
class of fellows, as to possess all the advantages of truth; inasmuch as
you have only to believe the direct contrary of what they say. The only
inconvenient and perplexing liars are those who sometimes speak truth by
accident; and their fictions moreover are seldom extravagant enough to
afford the amusement created by romancers of the former class; among
whom I may reckon a beggar, who beset us on the quay of Chalons,
maintaining in a strong French accent, that he was the son of a carman
of Thames-street, in the parish of St. George Hanovre, and had only been
a few months in France.

The _elite_ of our company consisted of a tall well-looking officer,
wearing the croix d'honneur; a shrewd old Provencal merchant, to whom we
were indebted for much valuable travelling information; two young
friends, one of whom sang very agreeably and unaffectedly, and the
other, a lively French Falstaff ate and talked enough for both; and
last, not least, an old gentleman of the name of C. travelling to his
campagne in Languedoc, whose arch quiet manners answered very much to my
idea of the imaginary Hermite en Province. At Tournus, we took in a host
of additional passengers, not so polished, but unobtrusive and
well-behaved. I question however, whether, in the event of a rainy day,
we should have found this mode of travelling very desirable; as the
common cabin is but small in proportion to the number of persons capable
of being accommodated on deck. There is indeed a smaller cabin
adjoining, which, though the exclusive right of the diligence passengers
from Paris, is usually shared by them with the rest. It is distinguished
by the words over the door, "Chambre de Pairs," which some wag h