fter a stay of two months in Flanders, he proceeded to Paris, and, far
from taking up his habitation in the suburbs of St. Germain, according
to the custom of English travellers, he hired a private lodging on the
other side of the river, and associated chiefly with French officers,
who, their youthful sallies being over, are allowed to be the politest
gentlemen of that kingdom. In this scheme he found his account so much,
that he could not but wonder at the folly of his countrymen, who lose
the main scope of their going abroad, by spending their time and fortune
idly with one another.

"During his residence in Holland, he had made himself acquainted with
the best authors in the French language, so that he was able to share
in their conversation; a circumstance from which he found great benefit;
for it not only improved him in his knowledge of that tongue, but also
tended to the enlargement of his acquaintance, in the course of which he
contracted intimacies in some families of good fashion, especially those
of the long robe, which would have enabled him to pass his time very
agreeably, had he been a little easier in point of fortune. But his
finances, notwithstanding the most rigid economy, being in a few months
reduced to a very low ebb, the prospect of indigence threw a damp upon
all his pleasures, though he never suffered himself to be thereby in any
degree dispirited; being in that respect of so happy a disposition, that
conscious poverty or abundance made very slight impressions upon his
mind. This consumption of his cash, however, involved him in some
perplexity, and he deliberated with himself, whether he should return to
General Collier, or repair to London, where he might possibly fall
into some business not unbecoming a gentleman; though he was very much
mortified to find himself incapable of gratifying an inordinate desire
which possessed him of making the grand tour, or, at least, of visiting
the southern parts of France.

"While he thus hesitated between different suggestions, he was one
morning visited by a gentleman who had sought and cultivated his
friendship, and for whom he had done a good office, in supporting him
with spirit against a brutal German, with whom he had an affair of
honour. This gentleman came to propose a party for a fortnight, to
Fontainebleau, where the court then was; and the proposal being declined
by M-- with more than usual stiffness, his friend was very urgent to
know the reason