CHAP. IX.JOURNEY TO NICE.
On leaving Aix, our coach, besides myself, contained two gentlemen, sons of General M⸺, who had been residing for eight years at a college near Toulouse. We breakfasted at Luc, where we took up two or three more passengers; from hence we passed on to Frejus, and thence over the Estralès, formerly noted for numerous banditti. At Cannes General M⸺ came out with his daughter, in his carriage, to meet his sons, whom we here parted from. The remaining passengers also quitted us about this time, so that before we entered Antibes I had the whole carriage to myself.
At Antibes I got my passport signed, to enable me to enter his Sardinian majesty’s dominions; but this gave little trouble, as a person negotiated the affair for the remuneration of one franc.
I remained at the inn where the diligence put up, in consequence of finding that the one for Nice set off from it on the following morning. I got my supper at the table d’hôte, in companywith two or three officers; the fare was very indifferent, and the charge exorbitant, in consequence of not having made my bargain beforehand.
After supper I retired early to bed, in hopes of compensating for my loss of sleep on the preceding night in the coach; but, alas! I reckoned without my host, for it proved a night of misery; a multitude of mosquitoes tormented me without intermission, and with joy did I welcome the arrival of the moment, which announced that the diligence was preparing to depart.
At four o’clock we left the inn, but the town-gates were yet closed, and some time elapsed before they were opened to us; at length an officer came and accomplished this with military ceremony; but we were still unable to proceed, for a whole drove of asses and mules, laden with fruits, vegetables, &c. had stationed themselves in the pass on the other side, and began to enter amidst the smacking of whips, and hallooing of muleteers; this occupied at least ten minutes.
Shortly afterward we took up a man who had fought in the battle of Trafalgar, but was now atraiteurat Nice, and had been into the country to purchase grapes, in order to manufacture his own wine: he seemed pleased on discovering that I had served in the British navy, of which he spoke very highly.
We now arrived on the banks of the Var, which separates the kingdoms of France and Sardinia, and, with little interruption from the custom-house officers, immediately crossed the frontiers.
We here received the addition to our party, of two very genteel ladies and a gentleman, who proved for the remainder of the journey, most agreeable companions; I was so much interested in their conversation, that, almost without being sensible of the progress, we arrived at the Hotel des Etranger, at Nice.
I am unwilling, finally, to take my leave of France, without expressing an opinion of the character of a people, with whom I had been so long resident; the unfavourable circumstances, however, under which only I could contemplate them, make me diffident in advancing my opinion, as I am fully conscious of an inability to give the picture that energy and justice of colouring which it requires. I shall, therefore, confine myself to a few general remarks.
There is something highly fascinating in the exterior, manners, and converse of a Frenchman; courteous in his behaviour, he evinces a strong desire to please and be pleased; but although he manifests the speciousness of ardent friendship, his heart is not the soil, in which this quality is capable of taking a firm and unshaken root; assoon as the source, from which it has emanated, and been supported, ceases to be present, the previous impressions disappear, and a void is offered for the reception of new ones, equally vivid, but equally superficial.
This mixture of susceptibility and indifference makes the Frenchman a gay and pleasing, but, at the same time, an uncertain companion; he does not, like the Englishman, dwell on the enjoyments of the past, and entangle his mind with useless and prolonged regrets, but is ever ready to enliven new scenes of social intercourse; in short, he can ill sustain a state oftristesse, which he considers all his reflecting moments, and whether thrown into contact with his countrymen, or strangers, is a sensualist in his social feelings, and must seek for pleasure and amusement, for in this “he lives and has his being,” and that man is his dearest friend, who most contributes to his gratification.
With respect to the fair sex, they are generally lively and fascinating, and possessed of susceptible feelings, capable of being converted into strong attachments. These are some of the essential requisites for forming an amiable, and virtuous character; but, alas! the good is perverted by the influence of an injudicious and trifling system of education, extended at most to superficialliterary acquisitions, which barely serve for the dictation of an ungrammaticalbilletdoux, or the copying of a song. The most devoted attention is given to the art of pleasing, and the study of dress, which, with the auxiliaries of music and embroidery, form the leading occupations of young French females.
In conversation they are acute, playful, and frequently sensible, but it cannot be wondered at, when the defects of education are taken into account, that there should be little which sinks deep into the heart, and leaves an impression, or promise, of future matron-like virtue.
Many ladies, however, are educated in convents, where they acquire a temporary spirit of bigotry, which wears off after they return into the world, and frequently leaves behind it a proportionate want of religious feeling.
They, generally, marry young enough to enable a judicious husband to form a character if defective, or to correct it if deformed; but here they are truly to be pitied; for they soon experience a culpable neglect from those men who ought to be their inseparable protectors and advisers, and who, preferring the society of others, leave them incautiously to their own pursuits and feelings. Is it to be wondered at that they should cease to cultivate the domestic virtues?
To conclude; the French female contains within her those principles, which, under proper cultivation, would produce excellent wives, and estimable women; and it is a serious reflection upon the national character, that such principles should be sacrificed by the indifference, and neglect of those whose duty, as well as interest it is, to elicit and establish her virtues.