sfully appeased the choler of two officers,
who wanted either inclination or ability to pay their bill; for
experience had taught him to be apprehensive of all such travellers, who
commonly lay the landlord under contribution, by way of atonement
for the extravagance of his demands, even after he has professed his
willingness to entertain them on their own terms.

CHAPTER L.

Peregrine moralizes upon their Behaviour, which is condemned by the
Doctor, and defended by the Governor--They arrive in safety at Lisle,
dine at an Ordinary, visit the Citadel--The Physician quarrels with a
North Briton, who is put in Arrest.

These honourable adventurers being gone, Peregrine, who was present
during the transaction, informed himself of the particulars from the
mouth of the innkeeper himself, who took Heaven and the saints to
witness, that he should have been a loser by their custom, even if
the bill had been paid: because he was on his guard against their
objections, and had charged every article at an under price: but such
was the authority of officers in France, that he durst not dispute
the least circumstance of their will; for, had the case come under the
cognizance of the magistrate, he must, in course, have suffered by the
maxims of their government, which never fail to abet the oppression
of the army; and, besides, run the risk of incurring their future
resentment, which would be sufficient to ruin him from top to bottom.

Our hero boiled with indignation at this instance of injustice and
arbitrary power; and, turning to his governor, asked, if this too was
a proof of the happiness enjoyed by the French people. Jolter replied,
that every human constitution must, in some things, be imperfect and
owned, that in this kingdom, gentlemen were more countenanced than
the vulgar, because it was to be presumed that their own sentiments
of honour and superior qualifications would entitle them to this
pre-eminence, which had also a retrospective view to the merit of their
ancestors, in consideration of which they were at first ennobled; but he
affirmed, that the innkeeper had misrepresented the magistracy, which,
in France, never failed to punish flagrant outrages and abuse, without
respect of persons.

The painter approved of the wisdom of the French government, in bridling
the insolence of the mob, by which, he assured them, he had often
suffered in his own person; having been often bespattered by
hackney-coachmen,