d two rooms on each,
is thirty-five livres. They have generally a small garden, and about one
hundred yards of common land between the road and the house, on which
grows the indispensable walnut or chestnut tree. The windows are glazed,
but the glass is usually taken out in summer. The walls are generally
sea-stone, but are clothed with grape vines, or other shrubs, which,
curling around the casements, render them shady and picturesque. The
bread is made of wheat meal, but in some cottages consisted of thin
cakes without leven, and made of buck-wheat. Their common beverage is a
weak wine, sweet and pleasant to the taste. In some houses it very
nearly resembled the good metheglin, very common in the northern
counties of England. Eggs, bacon, poultry, and vegetables, seemed in
great plenty, and, as I understood, composed the dinners of the
peasantry twice a week at least. I was surprised at this evident
abundance in a class in which I should not have expected it. Something
of it, I fear, must be imputed to the extraordinary profits of the
smuggling which is carried on along the coast.

I was pleased to see, that even the horrible Revolution had not banished
all religion from Calais. I understood that the church was well
attended, and that high mass was as much honoured as hitherto. Every one
spoke of the Revolution with execration, and of the Emperor with
satisfaction. Bonaparte has certainly gained the hearts of the French
people by administering to their national vanity.

Returning home from my walk, I was witness to a singular exhibition in
the streets. A crowd had collected around a narrow elevated stage,
which, at a distant view, led me to expect the appearance, of my friend
Punch. I was not altogether deceived: it was a kind of Bartholomew
drama, in which the parts were performed by puppets. It differed only
from what I had seen in England by the wit of the speakers, and a kind
of design, connexion, and uniformity in the fable. The name of it, as
announced by the manager, was, The Convention of Kings against France
and Bonaparte.

The puppets, who each spoke in their turn, were, the King of England,
the King of Naples, the Emperor of Austria, the Pope, and the Grand
Signor. The dialogue was indescribably ridiculous. The piece opened with
a council, in which the King of England entreated all his brother
sovereigns to declare war against France and the French Emperor, and
proceeded to assign some ludicrous reasons