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.
London. PE has made funds available - has paid for tenant's repairs, some debts, and has started to crop the ground. Has walked around Marylebone - 50 years ago it was as rural as now Hampstead and Highgate are, but now very built up. Rambling discussion of reasons for this. Criticism of House of Lords. Wry consideration of high society. Sympathy expressed for Caroline of Brunswick, antipathy towards George IV. Wry consideration of high society.
London. Copy of Mr Romilly's opinion on Boylston's will (v. 294?). Reconciliation of Pitt and Addington. Items of gossip. PE has remitted to John the last portion of the family estate. The family has, however, a sixth interest in a new edition of Chambaud's dictionary (perhaps from his bookseller uncle Peter, d. 1802?)
Apologises that PE has not heard from the family since January. His mother tripped over an ottoman a month ago and bruised her hip - much better, though still not able to walk. Family and other local gossip. Sister Nancy has some ducks. Recently blooded for a headache, and now better. (Sister-in-law.) Family health issues (hers and Mary's). PE's books have arrived. Preparations for coronation and her indifference to it. The house in Sloane Street has been let out, and other legal matters. Her brother is in Ealing on half pay, having failed to get a Mediterranean appointment.
A bill sent from the Admiralty to the Treasury has been delayed, but Henry expects it back shortly. He says this in case PE thinks he has already received the amount of the bill and is squandering it. (All a joke?)
Trying to propose a visit and a time for it (plus a projected trip to Knowle Park). Regards to PE's mother and Mrs John Elmsley, and good wishes to the 'little angels.'
Wynn (CWW - OW - and co-author with Southey and Bedford of The Flagellant) has had a second daughter - Bedford (not a family man) wishes to send him a mould for a son, bemoaning the probably wasted expense of rearing daughters. Southey is in town - proposes a joint visit to St Mary Cray.
