all the first growth is either consumed
in the houses of the noblesse, or sent abroad to foreign markets. I
have drank excellent Burgundy at Brussels for a florin a bottle; that
is, little more than twenty pence sterling.

The country from the forest of Fontainbleau to the Lyonnois, through
which we passed, is rather agreeable than fertile, being part of
Champagne and the dutchy of Burgundy, watered by three pleasant
pastoral rivers, the Seine, the Yonne, and the Saone. The flat country
is laid out chiefly for corn; but produces more rye than wheat. Almost
all the ground seems to be ploughed up, so that there is little or
nothing lying fallow. There are very few inclosures, scarce any meadow
ground, and, so far as I could observe, a great scarcity of cattle. We
sometimes found it very difficult to procure half a pint of milk for
our tea. In Burgundy I saw a peasant ploughing the ground with a
jack-ass, a lean cow, and a he-goat, yoked together. It is generally
observed, that a great number of black cattle are bred and fed on the
mountains of Burgundy, which are the highest lands in France; but I saw
very few. The peasants in France are so wretchedly poor, and so much
oppressed by their landlords, that they cannot afford to inclose their
grounds, or give a proper respite to their lands; or to stock their
farms with a sufficient number of black cattle to produce the necessary
manure, without which agriculture can never be carried to any degree of
perfection. Indeed, whatever efforts a few individuals may make for the
benefit of their own estates, husbandry in France will never be
generally improved, until the farmer is free and independent.

From the frequency of towns and villages, I should imagine this country
is very populous; yet it must be owned, that the towns are in general
thinly inhabited. I saw a good number of country seats and plantations
near the banks of the rivers, on each side; and a great many convents,
sweetly situated, on rising grounds, where the air is most pure, and
the prospect most agreeable. It is surprising to see how happy the
founders of those religious houses have been in their choice of
situations, all the world over.

In passing through this country, I was very much struck with the sight
of large ripe clusters of grapes, entwined with the briars and thorns
of common hedges on the wayside. The mountains of Burgundy are covered
with vines from the bottom to the top, and seem to be raised b