Chapter 83

Urbanity of the Parisians towards strangers--The shopkeepers in Paris overcharge their articles--Furnished Lodgings--Their price--The _Milords Anglais_ now eclipsed by the Russian Counts--Expense of board in Paris--Job and Hackney Carriages--Are much improved since the revolution--Fare of the latter--Expense of the former --Cabriolets--Regulations of the police concerning these carriages --The negligence of drivers now meets with due chastisement--French women astonish bespattered foreigners by walking the streets with spotless stockings--Valets-de-place--Their wages augmented--General Observations--An English traveller, on visiting Paris, should provide himself with letters of recommendation--Unless an Englishman acquires a competent knowledge of the manners of the country, he fails in what ought to be the grand object of foreign travel--Situation of one who brings no letters to Paris--The French now make a distinction between individuals only, not between nations--Are still indulgent to the English--Animadversion on the improper conduct of irrational British youths.