ey will now acknowledge their
obligations to you, and not, as formerly, treat you as intruders.

To sum up the comparison between a French and English provincial inn,
the expences for the same kind of treatment, allowing only for the
necessary national differences, are about one-fourth of what they would
be in England. In the course of our tour, we were repeatedly detained
for days together at some of the inns on the road, and our whole suite,
amounting to seven in number, never cost us more than at the rate of an
English guinea a day. In England I am confident it would have been four
times the sum.

The last post but one before we reached La Charite, we were overtaken by
a tremendous shower of hail, a calamity, for such it is, which too
frequently afflicts this part of France. The hail-tones were at least as
large as nuts: some trees were at hand, under which we drove for
shelter. Had we been in an open exposed road, I have no doubt but that
the horses must have been hurt. I was informed, that these storms are
sometimes so violent as to kill the lambs, and even to wound in a very
dangerous manner the larger cattle. They usually happen about the end of
the spring and the summer.

We passed some very pretty peasant girls, dressed in bodices laced
crossways with ribbon. They informed us that they were the daughters of
a small farmer, and were going to a neighbouring chateau to dance at the
birth-day of one of the ladies of the family. Mr. Younge complimented
them on their beauty; they smiled with more grace than seemed to belong
to their station. Our ladies at this instant came up; the young peasants
made a curtsey, which instantly betrayed their secret to Mrs. Younge and
Mademoiselle St. Sillery. "Where is the masque?" said the latter. "In
the Chateau de Thiery," replied one of them, "about a fourth part of a
league through this gateway; perhaps, if you are going only to the next
post, you will join us. Papa and Mamma will be honored by your company."
The invitation was declined with many thanks to the charming girls. It
is needless to add, that they were young ladies habited as peasants,
and that there was a masque at the chateau. This kind of entertainment
is very common in this part of France.

We reached La Charite in such good time, that we resolved to push on for
Nevers. I had a walk round the town whilst our coffee was preparing. The
interior of the town does not merit a word; the streets are narrow, the
house