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Paris 10. Septr 1775
Dear Brother,
It is now above Ten Weeks since we left England, and you
may well begin to think, that I have forgot the promise I made
agreable to your obliging request of hearing from me; but when you
understand how much we have been engag'd & what ramblers we have been
I flatter myself you will readily excuse me. by the advice of our Friends
we preferr'd crossing the Sea at Dover to Calais to coming over from Bright
hokestone to Dieppe, not only because yr former was a much shorter passage, but
on account of my Carriage wch was likely to suffer much less by it —
as they are more expert in Shipping & unshipping such things at Dover.
& Calais, & indeed so it proved as it was effected there without the least
Injury, if I had not taken my own Carriage over, I shod have been distressed
to ye last degree for I must have hired, or perhaps been obliged to purchase
Two if not Three very inconvenient Vehicles, as we were seven in
Number, we were obliged to come to Dieppe, however by Land, as it
lay in the way to Rouen & from thence to Caen, the place of our
destination; Rouen is a very delightful Situation, & is a place of great
Trade having the advantage of the Seine wch comes thither from the
Sea, & from thence to Paris, from Calis to Rouen we passed through
Bologne, Moutreille, Abbeville & Dieppe & from thence to Rouen
from Rouen we came in one Day to Caen wch is above ninety
of our English miles; on account of our Number, we were oblig'd
to have six Horses to my Carriage; one other Horse wch is called
a Biddy for my Man Franque to Ride on, and to pay for nine
according to the Rules of the Post, by wch the Number of Horses to be paid
for is regulated by the Number of Persons to be carried. Rouen is
the Capital of Upper Normandy, as Caen is of Lower. the Country
all the way is well cultivated, & the crops of Corn appeared very
fine, & indeed seem'd to me to exceed those in our own, the
greatest Part of Lower Normandy has much of the appearance of
Herefordshire as the Corn, wch is chiefly wheat grows among the
apple Trees, wch are in great Plenty, & this year promise to produce
a great quantity of Cyder, wch is the Common Liquer of Normandy —
but I can't say I admire it, it is harsh & not pleasant, upon our
arrival at Caen, we were dispersed in the several different Families whom
we had been recommended to by Letter, & who were prepared to receive
us, the Three young Folkes, Each in a different House, & I & my Wife,
with our Two Servants Franque & his Wife, whom we called Nurse, in
a fourth, all very agreable Families, & entirely French, so that we
were all obliged to shift for ourselves in respect of language as well as
we coud, thus circumstanced you may easily imagine, we cod not be dull
our young folkes were glad to make us a visit, & we to receive them
and the Families where they were served for our acquaintance; Caen is
a large old Town abounding with Convents & Religious Houses of wch
Two
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Identifier: | JB/537/353/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 537.
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1775-09-10 |
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537 |
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353 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremiah Bentham |
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