delightful prospect of the sea. We have many
obligations to this good lady, who is a kind neighbour, an obliging
friend, and a most agreeable companion: she speaks English prettily,
and is greatly attached to the people and the customs of our nation.
They use wood for their common fewel, though, if I were to live at
Boulogne, I would mix it with coal, which this country affords. Both
the wood and the coal are reasonable enough. I am certain that a man
may keep house in Boulogne for about one half of what it will cost him
in London; and this is said to be one of the dearest places in France.

The adjacent country is very agreeable, diversified with hill and dale,
corn-fields, woods, and meadows. There is a forest of a considerable
extent, that begins about a short league from the Upper Town: it
belongs to the king, and the wood is farmed to different individuals.

In point of agriculture, the people in this neighbourhood seem to have
profited by the example of the English. Since I was last in France,
fifteen years ago, a good number of inclosures and plantations have
been made in the English fashion. There is a good many tolerable
country-houses, within a few miles of Boulogne; but mostly empty. I was
offered a compleat house, with a garden of four acres well laid out,
and two fields for grass or hay, about a mile from the town, for four
hundred livres, about seventeen pounds a year: it is partly furnished,
stands in an agreeable situation, with a fine prospect of the sea, and
was lately occupied by a Scotch nobleman, who is in the service of
France.

To judge from appearance, the people of Boulogne are descended from the
Flemings, who formerly possessed this country; for, a great many of the
present inhabitants have fine skins, fair hair, and florid complexions;
very different from the natives of France in general, who are
distinguished by black hair, brown skins, and swarthy faces. The people
of the Boulonnois enjoy some extraordinary privileges, and, in
particular, are exempted from the gabelle or duties upon salt: how they
deserved this mark of favour, I do not know; but they seem to have a
spirit of independence among them, are very ferocious, and much
addicted to revenge. Many barbarous murders are committed, both in the
town and country; and the peasants, from motives of envy and
resentment, frequently set their neighbours' houses on fire. Several
instances of this kind have happened in the course of the last ye