Early in the spring of 1787 I received a letter from a friend at Paris, Mons. Lazowski (who had resided two years at Bury, much to my amusement and satisfaction, with the two sons of the Duke of Liancourt), to inform me that he was going with the Count de la Rochefoucault to the Pyrenees, and proposed my being of the party.[[113]]
‘Liancourt: April 9, 1787.
‘Dear Sir,—I was at Liancourt when I heard from you the last time, so that I was very uneasy upon the bill which you had drawn upon M. de Vergennes, who could not be informed by me about it, but very happily my letter to him went at a proper time, and it has been paid. Nothing wants now but to have turnips, as your English wit whispers it. But we have another matter to settle together, if you are not now incumbered. I told you by the last that it could be, but I would travel this summer. The case is that the Count is, for the sake of his health, obliged to go to Bagnères-de-Luchon, in the Pyrénées, to drink those waters; he asked from me to be his companion, and his relations seemed to be glad of it. I did therefore comply with his demand, and we are going about the middle of May, which is the time just of your coming over to France. Now will you come with us? Such proposition is not a foolish one. We will pass by a part of France in going, and come back by another part, so that you will see almost the two-thirds of this kingdom. You will learn the French; with us everything will be explained to you; in short, I will be with you, and that is enough, I hope. That part by which you will pass through is not an uninteresting one. Look upon a map. You will pass through the Limousin and Toulouse in going, and in coming back by Bordeaux, &c.; the Pyrénées are very worth to be seen, and, besides, if nothing very extraordinary prevents it, we intend to go to Barcelona in Spain, in order to see the Catalogne,[[114]] the finest province after that travel. I must not tell you that I shall be another Arthur here for you, not that I presume to say that you will find in me an Encyclopædia living as I did in you, but your friend, and therefore to your commands in Paris and everywhere. Our manner of travelling is very convenient to you also; we go with our own horses, you will have one, my servants will be yours, nothing therefore shall be too much expensive. Have you your horse? Is it possible to come over with him at a proper time? If not, do write to me a word, and the Count and I will do our utmost to get one cheap enough, between fifteen and twenty pounds. If you cannot be ready here for the 15th of May, we will expect five or six days, but you see that it is impossible to expect more, since the Count must drink the waters; in two words, you seemed to wish to see this kingdom, never you will have such an opportunity; if I am obliged to stay at Bagnères, nothing will prevent you to make some excursions in the environs, and you will speak French very well. The whole depends of your family business. If you cannot now, then you will wait till September, and we will be at Paris; but you must give greatest of attention to it, and as soon as your mind will be fixed upon anything pray do write to me. What devil are you doing about the notables? (l.) I suppose you know my mind about the whole by my letter.[[115]] M. de Calonne is exiled, so is M. Necker. What will be the result I do not know, but the notables have missed the way, and they know nothing of the matter; but public business must give way to what I make a proposal to you, it is question of nothing else but to travel together a thousand miles, without more expense but that you would spend anywhere, &c. &c. so you may go to the devil if you don’t speak well of me and my prospect. My best compliments to M. Symonds &c. &c. chiefly Lady Gage and Sir Thomas.
‘Yours for ever,
‘Ly.
‘Do not forget to write and to speak about your horse, whether you will bring yours, or if we must get one for you.’
This was touching a string tremulous to vibrate. I had so long wished for an opportunity to examine France. In the survey of agriculture which I had taken in England and Ireland, of about 7,000 miles, I had calculated, from facts, the rent produce and resources of those Kingdoms, and I had often reflected on the importance of knowing the real situation of France; the effect of Government; the state of the farmers, of the poor—the state and extent of their manufactures with a hundred other enquiries certainly of political importance; yet strange as it may seem not to be found in any French book written from actual observation, all that I was before able to learn having been composed in some great city without travelling beyond the walls. I should accept a very unsatisfactory work upon sheep, written by Mons. Cartier, employed and paid by Government. I had but little time given me to consider of the proposal, but I wrote to learn if they travelled post, because I previously determined in that case not to go. And, further, I requested to know if I were to travel at any other expense than that of myself and horse. The answer was that they travelled with their own horses, and did not propose making more than twenty or twenty-five miles a day; that my expense would be merely what I stated, and mostly in a cheap part of the kingdom. This most agreeable plan I instantaneously acceded to, and soon set out for France on horseback. At Dover, being detained, I copy the following note on that expedition:—
‘l.—Had the packet sailed this morn as I expected I should not have scaled, as I never did before, Shakespeare’s Cliff. By the way it is by no means so formidable as I expected from it. I think the look down from its perpendicular position very striking, and when I reflected how much more it must be from the summit, the reflection, perhaps, injured the principal effect (l.). This is a proof that we ought never, when a powerful impression is wished, to advance to the principal point gradually. It should come upon us at once; nor should I have seen Mr. Harris’s drill plough,[[116]] which I liked much better from seeing it than from the print. But I principally should have wanted time to run over my accounts, to review the debts and credits of several loose memoranda, and find from the result that I had not acted imprudently or unguardedly in omitting the necessary preparations to such a journey. My dear child, my lovely Bobbin, I left in perfect health, the rest of my family well and provided for in every respect as they themselves had chalked out, the ‘Annals’ lodged in the hands of a man on whose friendship and abilities I could entirely confide. Revolving these circumstances in my mind gave me pleasure, so that I could hardly regret in the evening the day which in the morning I had pronounced lost. At night I went into a bye boat[[117]] and had a villainous passage of fourteen hours. Nine hours rolling at anchor had so fatigued my mare that I thought it necessary for her to rest one day, but next morning I left Calais.
‘l.—Wait at Desseins three days for a wind, Dover, London, Bradfield, and have more pleasure in giving my little girl a French doll than in viewing Versailles.’[[118]]
The journey to France cost me 118l. 15s. 2d. Things bought, 20l. 17s.; books, 8l. 16s. 6d.