I do not find that the French soldiers with whom I have conversed are so much attached to the person of the Emperor as I was led to believe; but they are attached to their country and liberty; and in serving him, they conceived they were serving the man par excellence of the People.
The French army too was beloved by the people, instead of being dreaded by them as the armies of most other European nations are. In short, whenever I met with and held conversation with soldiers of this army, I was always tempted to address them in the words of Elvira to Pizarro when she seeks to console him for his defeat:
Yet think another morning shall arise,
Nor fear the future, nor lament the past.[50]
The French Major was very much inclined to take up a quarrel with an Austrian officer, on my account, but I dissuaded him. The cause was as follows. A young Austrian boy, servant to one of the officers of Artillery, had entered the coche d'eau at Chalon, some minutes before his master, and began to avail himself of the right of conquest by taking possession of the totality of one of the cabins and endeavouring to exclude the other passengers; among other things he was going to thrust my portmanteau out of its place. I called to him to let it alone, when the French Major stepped forward and said that if he dared to touch any of the baggage belonging to the passengers, he would punish him on the spot and his master also, for that he longed to measure swords with those "Jean F—— d'Autrichiens." Fearful of a serious quarrel between them and being unwilling that any dispute should occur on my account, I requested the Major not to meddle with the business, for that I was sure the Austrian officer would check the impertinence of his servant when he came on board; and that if he did not, I was perfectly able and willing to defend my own cause. The Austrian officers came on board a few minutes after, when I addressed them in German, and explained to them the behaviour of the boy; they scolded him severely for his impertinence to us and threatened him with the Schlag, should it occur again. The rest of the journey passed without any incident. I found that my friend the Major had served in the French army in Egypt in the division Lanusse in the battle of the 21st March, 1801, (30 Ventose) and that consequently we were opposed to each other in that battle, as I was then serving as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Regiment, commanded by that excellent and amiable officer the Earl of D[alhousie] in General Doyle's brigade.
The voyage on the Saône presents some pleasing and picturesque points of view; the coteaux on the banks of the river are covered with vines. We arrived at 8 o'clock in the evening to sup and sleep at Mâcon and put up at the Hôtel des Sauvages. We had a most sumptuous repast, fish, flesh, fowls, game, fruit and wine in profusion, for all which, including our beds, we had only to pay 2-1/2 francs the person.
There is a spacious Quai at Mâcon, which always adds to the beauty of a city, and there are some fine buildings, public and private. I need not enlarge on the excellence of the Mâcon wine. The country girls we observed on the banks of the river as we floated along, and the grisettes of the town who were promenading on the Quai when we arrived, wore a peculiarly elegant costume and their headdress appeared to me to be something Asiatic.
The voyage on the subsequent day was more agreeable than the preceding one. The country between Mâcon and Lyons is much more beautiful and diversified than that which we have hitherto seen and resembles much the picturesque scenery of the West-Indian landscape. One part between Mâcon and Trévoux resembles exactly the island of Montserrat.
Within two miles of Trévoux we were hailed by some grisettes belonging to the inns at that place, in order to invite us to dine at their respective inns. There was one girl exceedingly beautiful whose name was Sophie, daughter of the proprietor of the Hôtel des Sauvages at Trévoux. She, by her grace and coquetry, obtained the most recruits and when we disembarked from the boat, she led us in triumph to her hotel. From her beauty and graceful manner, Sophie, in a country where so much hommage is paid to beauty, must be a most valuable acquisition to the interests of the inn, and tho' she smiles on all, she takes care not to make herself cheap, and like Corisca in the Pastor Fido she holds put hopes which she does not at all intend to gratify. After passing by the superb scenery on the banks of the river (which increases in interest as you approach Lyons), the Isle Barbe and la Tour de la belle Allemande, we arrived at Lyons at 5 p.m. and debarked on the Quai de la Saône. A fiacre took me up and deposited me safe at the Hôtel du Nord situated on the Place St Claire and not many yards distant of the Quai du Rhône.
LYONS, 26th Sept.
Lyons is situated on a tongue of land at the junction of the Saône and Rhône, and there is a fine bridge on the spot where the streams unite, called le pont du Confluent, which joins the extremity of the tongue of land with the right bank of the Saône. There is besides a large bridge across the Rhône, higher up, before it joins the Saône, leading in a right line from the Hôtel de Ville; and two other bridges across the Saône. The Quai du Rhône is by far the finest and most agreeable part of the city. It is spacious, well paved, aligned with trees, and boast the finest edifices public and private in the whole city; it is the favourite promenade of the beaux and belles of Lyons. The sight of the broad and majestic Rhône itself is a grand object, and on a fine day the prospect is augmented by the distant view of the fleecy head of Mont Blanc. On this Quai and within a 100 yards of the bridge on the Rhône are the justly celebrated bains du Rhône, fitted up in a style of elegance even superior to those called les Bains Vigier on the Seine at Paris. The grand Hospital is also on the Quai; the facade is beautiful; its architecture is of the Ionic order and the building itself as well as its interior economy has frequently elicited the admiration of travellers. Among the Places in this city the finest is that of Bellecour.