rienced. I believe I have already mentioned,
that a very wrong idea prevails as to their comparative merit. In
substantial provision and accommodation, the French inns are not a whit
inferior to English of the same degree; but they are inferior to them in
all the minor appendages. In point of eating and drinking the French
inns infinitely exceed the English: their provisions are of a better
kind, and are much cheaper: we scarcely slept any where, where we could
not procure fowls of all kinds, eggs and wine. It is too true, indeed,
that their mode of cooking is not very well suited to an English palate;
but a very little trouble will remedy this inconvenience. The French
cooks are infinitely obliging in this respect--they will take your
instructions, and thank you for the honor done them. The dinner,
moreover, when served up, will consist of an infinite variety, and that
without materially swelling the bill. Add to this the dessert, of which
an English inn-keeper, except in the most expensive hotels, has not a
single idea. In France, on the other hand, in the poorest inns, in the
most ordinary hedge ale-house, you will have a dessert of every fruit in
season, and always tastily and even elegantly served. The wine,
likewise, is infinitely better than what is met with on the roads in
England. In the article of beds, with a very few exceptions, the French
inns exceed the English: if a traveller carry his sheets with him, he is
always secure of an excellent hair mattrass, or if he prefer it, a clean
feather-bed. On the other side, the French inns are certainly inferior
to the English in their apartments. The bed-room is too often the
dining-room. The walls are merely whitewashed, or covered with some
execrable pictures. There are no such things as curtains, or at least
they are never considered as necessary. There is neither soap, water,
nor towel, to cleanse yourself when you rise in the morning. A Frenchman
has no idea of washing himself before he breakfasts. The furniture,
also, is always in the worst possible condition. We were often puzzled
to contrive a tolerable table: the one in most common use is composed of
planks laid across two stools or benches. The chairs are usually of oak,
with perpendicular backs. There are no bells; and the attendants are
more frequently male than female, though this practice is gradually
going out of vogue. There is a great change moreover, of late years, in
the civility of the landlords--th