ry small expence, and used to run over in
the night to the coast of England, where they hovered as English
fishing smacks, until they kidnapped some coaster, with which they made
the best of their way across the Channel. If they fell in with a
British cruiser, they surrendered without resistance: the captain was
soon exchanged, and the loss of the proprietor was not great: if they
brought their prize safe into harbour, the advantage was considerable.
In time of peace the merchants of Boulogne deal in wine brandies, and
oil, imported from the South, and export fish, with the manufactures of
France, to Portugal, and other countries; but the trade is not great.
Here are two or three considerable houses of wine merchants from
Britain, who deal in Bourdeaux wine, with which they supply London and
other parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The fishery of mackarel
and herring is so considerable on this coast, that it is said to yield
annually eight or nine hundred thousand livres, about thirty-five
thousand pounds sterling.

The shop-keepers here drive a considerable traffic with the English
smugglers, whose cutters are almost the only vessels one sees in the
harbour of Boulogne, if we except about a dozen of those flat-bottomed
boats, which raised such alarms in England, in the course of the war.
Indeed they seem to be good for nothing else, and perhaps they were
built for this purpose only. The smugglers from the coast of Kent and
Sussex pay English gold for great quantities of French brandy, tea,
coffee, and small wine, which they run from this country. They likewise
buy glass trinkets, toys, and coloured prints, which sell in England,
for no other reason, but that they come from France, as they may be had
as cheap, and much better finished, of our own manufacture. They
likewise take off ribbons, laces, linen, and cambrics; though this
branch of trade is chiefly in the hands of traders that come from
London and make their purchases at Dunkirk, where they pay no duties.
It is certainly worth while for any traveller to lay in a stock of
linen either at Dunkirk or Boulogne; the difference of the price at
these two places is not great. Even here I have made a provision of
shirts for one half of the money they would have cost in London.
Undoubtedly the practice of smuggling is very detrimental to the fair
trader, and carries considerable sums of money out of the kingdom, to
enrich our rivals and enemies. The custom-house off