Paris. Apologises for delay in writing, but the journey was long. Slept at Blossom's Inn, Lawrence Lane, (and hopes never again), at Brighton, then at Dieppe - description of route to Paris and of scenery. (Le) Havre centre of French West India trade and full of bustle. Rouen ugly but prosperous - to theatre in evening (as large as Covent Garden before it was rebuilt, for a town of 80-90,000 inhabitants). Countryside from Rouen to Paris ugly and ill-cultivated. Paris better to live in but worse to visit than he expected. Apparently staying temporarily with Barrois (with whome he travelled as far as Rouen) - he has an excellent house and a well-educated wife, who speaks English and understands Latin. The French are a cleanly people, but there is a general air of shabbiness, perhaps caused by the circumstances of the times - few gentlemen, and it is hard to distinguish an officer from a common soldier. Every shoe black has a mild and polite demeanour - one of the most striking things. Many streets have two names - pre- and post-revolutionary (e.g. Quai Voltaire where Barrois lives is also Quai des Theatins).
Ostend. Thursday night at Golden Cross, Charing Cross - room facing street, so no sleep. Dover coach at 6am 0 took 14 rather than advertised 11 hours. A female fellow traveller going to Paris to see plays - did not understand French, and did not realise that Parisian plays would be in French. A French lady in the coach was as ugly and as agreeable as sin. Met the master of a small vessel on Friday evening, and set sail for Ostend at 1.00 on Saturday morning - very seasick. Landed at 6.00 on Sunday morning. Must stay in Ostend until the following day, because 4/5 days ago the government (NB which?) made a passport necessary for onward travel. Did not wish to eat shrimps and drink gin in alehouses, so went to mass and vespers. Description of food prices. Tomorrow to Bruges. Please keep his letters, as he does not keep a journal and would like to read them on his return.
Bruges. Took all Monday morning to get passport - then to Bruges by barge. Country flat and dull - willows, poplars, windmills, churches, cows. Staying at the Cornflower Inn. Bruges lovely and old - stalls of the Knights of the Golden Fleece in the cathedral. Streets very twisty, so easy to lose sense of direction - but the bells of the town hall help. Does not warm to the inhabitants. Long walk in morning, table d'hote at 1.00 - 1st course 20 types of boiled fish, 2nd course 20 types of fried fish. PE no fish eater, so unlucky that there are 3 rogation days this week (plus Friday and Saturday). Tomorrow to Ghent, and then Brussels. Postscript on separate sheet. Bruges fair - gingerbread stalls, puppet shows and cutlery and linen and woollen goods for sale. Encloses card of inn containing an image of the street. Jesuit college converted to cavalry barracks - the cavalry swagger as in England. Many graven images.
Rotterdam. Changed boats at Delft en route from The Hague (leaning tower, and beggars). Description of the two-cabined horse-drawn schuit (canal boat). Erasmus statue, with Dutch verses (not Latin, which Johnson would have preferred). The Meuse, and elms on the Boompjes quay - canals in Dutch towns heavily bordered by trees. Rotterdam canals not stagnant, and deep enough for large trade vessels. A young friend of Gaisford's will take all 32 pages to the post in London (beginning Antwerp, 27th June) - PE looks forward to reading them again. To service in Cathedral Church of St Laurence - monument to the English youth Chute.
Florence. Notice in Giornale di Milano that PE arrived on 28/09 and left on 10/10 (but 3 day trip to Como, where Caroline of Brunswick was behaving with as little discretion as she did in England). Had crossed the Alps via Simplon (formerly as little known as Orpington until Napoleon's new road). Description of journey from Switzerland to Milan. Book shopping in Milan. Cheap visit to la Scala (250 boxes, in each of which an ugly countess with a male friend - PE reminded of what Charles II said of his brother, that the choice of his mistresses was presented to him by his confessor by way of penance - so the Italians pout and quarrel as if they were really man and wife). Tedious 6 day journey from Milan to Florence - saw part of Pope's army (well dressed and well looking lads). Sonnet written to celebrate PE's arrival - but a standard one presented to every English visitor to the Albergo delle Quatro Nazioni, so returned without payment. Intends to remain 6-8 weeks. Huge choice offered at dinner - Italians know how to roast, which the French do not. 2 letters to PE missing from Post Office - possibly sent in error to Lord Elmley - one letter might have helped him gain permission to take mss from the Laurentian Library to his rooms. A little disappointed by Florence (perhaps because of its enhanced reputation), but the paving of the streets is amazing. Has met old friend Fanny Allen with her brother. Eating quantities of Parmesan. Florentine tailors work quickly - measured at dusk, and promised the suit by 9 the next morning.
Augsburg. The Sothebys Italian coachman doesn't understand German, and took the wrong road to Lake Constance - Mrs Sotheby is quite unwell. Left Munich on 29th July and intended to spend only one night in Augsburg, but has remained so as to hear daily news of Mrs S's illness - will depart on 6th August for Ulm and then Stuttgart. Route from Munich to Augsburg, via Furstenfeldbruck and its closed Benedictine abbey (closed in 1806, and in fact Cistercian). Order of 'thriving' cities - 1 Frankfurt, 2 Milan and 3 Munich. The Munich fair - PE stayed at the Black Eagle (NB Mozart had stayed here in 1790) - the landlady Madame Albert had a birthday party with 40 guests, at which a huge amount of very expensive wine was drunk. Bavarians love burgundy and champagne more than metaphysics and mathematics. The reforms of Maximilian 1, the secularisation of Bavaria and its prosperity. The Augsburg cathedral is small and mean - several Lutheran churches (following the emancipation of the Protestants) - many streets named after members of the royal family. Mrs S at one point in danger of death, but now better - PE has not gone to Ulm, but has joined the Sothebys at Schwabhausen.
Baden. Finally left Augsburg on 13th August, a fortnight later than intended. Crosses Danube for first and last time at Ulm (old and ill-built); the Minster believed by the inhabitants to be the largest church in Germany (actually, it has the world's highest steeple); cheapest lodging so far on his travels. Ulm's change of dominion from Bavaria to Wurttemberg (1810) most visible in the colour of the postillions' jackets. Wurttemberg a small kingdom the king lives modestly (unlike his father). Stuttgart clean, well-built and dull - upper classes as mean with hospitality as the Italians. Left on 19th August - supped in same room in Karlsruhe as he had on 29th August, 1816. - nothing to see, so on the next day to Baden, a most agreeable watering hole. Gewrman custom of dining at 1.00 allows for long afternoon walks. Loses money at a public gaming table. Will remain until he hears from the Sothebys, and expects, after all the delays, to be back in England by Michaelmas Day (29th September) rather than 1st September. Apparently had been planning to leave again on 10th October in order to be in Milan by 1st November, but that now out of the question, since he would not have time to prepare himself, and he would not choose to cross the Alps in November.
Paris. Has heard from Foreign Office in Downing Street that he will be wanted in Naples at the end of October or beginning of November. Will leave Paris on 1st September, and remain in England for four weeks, since the journey to Naples will occupy nearly or quite a month. Tentative arrangements to dine with sister-in-law. Sorry that her brother's house in Ealing is for sale - suspects that he is finding it too expensive. Will travel via Calais and Dover.
Oxford. Tour of Scotland - Glasgow to Carlisle via Hamilton (awkward, inconvenient house, shabbily furnished, but some good pictures, chiefly portraits, and Rubens' Daniel in the Lions' Den). Remarks on Scotland - poor climate, wonderful scenery. The gentry, despite professing to love it, do not encourage agriculture or industry and do not live on their estates, preferring London or Edinburgh, so the country is poor (but Glasgow an exception, and also the Earls of Breadalbane). The lower classes are more intelligent than the English, but no more honest - very hospitable, however.
Ghent. Travelled by barge. Country flat and rich, and full of trees which obscure the view. Good dinner on board. Staying at Hotel de Flandre. Supper at 9.00 - very late. PE avoids the hot meat and eats salad and white asparagus. Ghent larger and busier than Bruges, but not as venerable. Manufacture of cloth. Description of cathedral - inhabitants paid the French
