the Union of Belgium with France—­Political Consideration—­Dunkirk sold by Charles II.—­Lord Clarendon’s House so called—­Its Fortifications demolished—­Gravelines—–­Its strong Situation—­Liberty and Equality—­Cheap Travelling—­Calais the last English Possession in France—­Contrary Winds—­French Officers displeased at the Theatre—­General Jealousy of England—­Embark on board a French Packet—­Loquacity of the French—­Arrival in England—­Its Superiority to other Countries
          
                                                 317

* * * * *

A
tour
through some parts of
France, Switzerland,
&c. &c.

* * * * *

CHAP.  I.

I had long been desirous of visiting the Continent, but the long continuance of the war, and the little prospect which lately appeared of its termination, seemed to afford no chance for the accomplishment of my wish.  At a period, however, when that arbitrary power, which had so long held in subjection the other nations of the Continent, sought to overthrow the only monarch who dared to oppose it, and to claim for his subjects the natural rights from which they had been excluded by the “Continental System,” it pleased Divine Providence to destroy the fetters which enslaved the nations of Europe, as if to try, whether in the school of adversity, they had learned to merit the blessings of independence.  These great and glorious changes, the reality of which it was at first difficult to believe, having opened to the subjects and commerce of Britain, countries from which they had been for so many successive years proscribed, it was not long before numbers of British repaired to the continent to indulge that love of roving for which they had been always distinguished (and which a long war had suppressed but not eradicated) and to claim from all true patriots, in the countries they visited, that friendly reception to which the long perseverance and vast sacrifices of England, during a struggle unexampled in history, had so justly entitled the lowest of her subjects.

The unsettled state in which most part of the Continent necessarily remained for a little time after the entrance of the Allies into Paris, did not afford the most favourable moment for the journey of one who was not a military traveller; and I did not regret that business prevented my leaving England for a few months after the opening of the Continent, as I had the gratification of being a witness, in the British metropolis, to the exultation of all ranks of men; first, at seeing the legitimate monarch of France arrive there in company with our illustrious Regent who having long contributed to lessen the afflictions of the exiled Count de Lille, had first the satisfaction (to which he, amongst all the sovereigns of Europe, was best entitled,