tating traveller, I
put my horse to his mettle, and soon left them at a convenient distance.

I must cursorily observe, that the main circumstance which struck me in
this detachment, was the extreme youth of the major part. I saw not a
man amongst them, and some of them had an air the most perfectly
childish. Bonaparte is said to prefer these young recruits. No army in
Europe would have admitted them, with the exception of the French.

The road was truly excellent, though hilly, and indeed so continued till
within a few miles of Abbeville. The present Emperor acts so far upon
the system of the ancient monarchy, and considers the goodness of the
highways as the most important and most immediate object of the
administration; accordingly, the roads in France are still better than
under the Bourbons, as Bonaparte sees every thing with his own eyes.
Nothing, indeed, is wanting to quick travelling in France, but English
drivers and English carriages. How would a mail-coach roll upon such a
road! The French postillions, and even the French horses, such as I met
on the road, have a kind of activity without progress--the postillions
are very active in cracking their whips over their heads, and the horses
shuffle about without mending their pace.

I passed several country labourers, men and women, going to their daily
toil. I was informed by one of them, that he worked in the hay-field,
and earned six-and-thirty sous (1_s._ 6_d._) a day; that the wages for
mowers were fifty sous (2_s._ 1_d._), and two bottles of wine or cyder;
that his wife had fourteen sous and her food; and boys and children old
enough to rake, from six to twelve sous. He paid 25 livres annually for
the rent of his cottage. When he had to support himself, he breakfasted
on bread, and a glass or more of strong wine or brandy; dined on bread
and cheese, and supped on bread and an apple. He wore leather shoes,
except in wet weather, when he wore _sabots_, which cost about twelve
sous per pair.

I passed more _chateaux_ in ruins, and others shut up and forsaken. Some
of them were very prettily situated, in patches of trees and amidst
corn-fields. Several, as I understood, belonged to emigrants, whom
Bonaparte had recalled by name, but who had not as yet returned. I
learned with some satisfaction, that some shew of justice was still
necessary. Where the property of the emigrants is unsold, and still in
the hands of the nation, the emigrated proprietor is not tota