commercial slavery: England is only sensible in her
compters."

The audience took up little less than two hours, after which the Emperor
withdrew into an adjoining apartment; and the company departed in the
same order, and with the same appendages, as upon their entrance.

CHAP. X.

_Departure from Paris for the Loire--Breakfast at Palaiseau--A
Peasant's Wife--Rambouillet--Magnificent Chateau--French
Cure--Chartres--Difference of Old French and English
Towns--Subterraneous Church--Curious Preservation of
the Dead--Angers--Arrival at Nantes._

ON my first arrival at Paris, I had intended to remain there only till
the following week; but the kind importunities of Mr. Younge and his
family, induced me to consent to prolong my stay for some days, and an
arrangement was at length made, which caused me most cheerfully to
protract it still further. This arrangement was, that if I would remain
in Paris till after the National Fetes, Mr. Younge, his lady, and her
niece, Mademoiselle St. Sillery, would form a travelling party, and
accompany me in my tour along the banks of the Loire, and thence along
the Southern Coast. As I had no other purpose but to see France, its
scenery and its manners, nothing could possibly have fallen out more
correspondent with my wishes. I shall here cursorily mention, that
Mademoiselle St. Sillery, with the single exception of her aunt, was the
handsomest woman I had yet seen in France.

If I pass over the National Fetes, it is because they differed nothing
from those which preceded them, and which have been minutely detailed by
every Traveller who has written his Tour. These national spectacles have
nothing in them which rewards the trouble of pressing through the mob to
see them. It consisted of nothing but a succession of buffooneries and
fire-works. The fire-works were magnificent--all the other sports
contemptible. In a word, I was so anxious to leave Paris, and to get
into the woods and fields, that the bustle around me scarcely attracted
my attention.

At length, the morning of the 28th of July arrived, and after all due
preparations, I had the long wished-for pleasure of seeing Mr. Younge's
coach at the door, with its travelling appendages. Mr. Younge preferring
to accompany me on horseback, the coach was left to the ladies. In this
manner we left Paris at six o'clock on a lovely summer's morning, and in
less than half an hour were three miles on the road to Chartres, which
we