top the
traveller_ upon you, nor raise monuments of wonder, where none are to be
seen; there is real matter enough to be found upon this great continent,
to amuse a man who travels slowly over it, to see what is to be seen,
and who wishes not to be seen himself. My style of travelling is such,
that I can never be disturbed in mind for want of respect, but rather be
surprised when I meet with even common civility. And, after all, what
does it signify, whether Monsieur _ou Tel_ travels in a laced coat _et
tres bien mis_, attended by half a dozen servants, or, as Pope says,

"will run
The Lord knows whither in a chaise and one."

I am, your's &c.

[A] The Bishops in Spain are attended and waited upon by inferior
clergy.

LETTER II.

June 25th, 1766.

Before I leave Calais, let me remind you, that an English guinea is
worth more than a _Louis d'or_; and observe, that the first question _my
friend Mons. Dessein_, at the _Hotel D'Angleterre_ will put to you,
(after he has made his bow, and given you a side look, as a cock does at
a barley-corn) is, whether you have any guineas to change? because he
gets by each guinea, full weight, ten _Sols_. By this hint, you will
conclude, he will not, upon your return, ask you for your French Gold;
but in this too you will be mistaken, for he finds an advantage in that
also; he will, not indeed give you guineas, but, in lieu thereof, he has
always a large quantity of _Birmingham Shillings_, to truck with you for
your _Louis d'ors_. I am afraid, when Lord North took into
consideration the state of the gold coin, he did not know, that the
better state it is put into in England, is the surest means of
transporting it into France, and other countries; and that scarce a
single guinea which travellers carry with them to France, (and many
hundred go every week) ever returns to England: Beside this, the
quantity of gold carried over to the ports of _Dunkirk_, _Boulogne_, and
_Calais_, by the Smugglers, who always pay ready money, is incredible;
but as money, and matters of that kind, are what I have but _little
concern in_, I will not enlarge upon a subject no way interesting to me,
and shall only observe, that my landlord, _Mons. Dessein_, who was
behind-hand with the world ten years ago, is now become one of the
richest men in _Calais_, has built a little Theatre in his garden, and
has united the profitable