The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 284, November 24, 1827 by Various
page 39 of 49 (79%)
page 39 of 49 (79%)
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_3d._ per quart; new potatoes (better than any we can get in England,
except what they call the _framed_ ones,) three pounds far a penny; cherries and currants (picked for the table,) _2d._ per pound; strawberries (the high flavoured wood-strawberry, which is so fine with sugar and cream,) _4d._ for a full quart, the stocks being picked off. (This latter is a delicacy that can scarcely be procured in England for any price.) The above may serve as an indication of all the rest, as all are in proportion. The finest pure milk is _2d._ per quart; good black or green teas, _4s. 6d._ per pound; and the finest green gunpowder tea, _7s._; coffee, from _1s. 3d._ to _2s._; good brandy, _1s. 3d._ per quart, and the very best, _2s._ (I do not mean the very finest old Cogniac, which costs _3s. 6d._) Wine is dearer in Calais than, perhaps, in any other town in France, that could be named; but still you may have an excellent table wine for _1s._ per quart bottle; and they make a very palatable and wholesome beer, for _1-1/2d._ and _2-1/2d._ per bottle--the latter of which has all the good qualities of our porter, and none of its bad. Fish is not plentiful at Calais, except the skate, which you may have for almost nothing, as indeed you may at many of our own sea-port towns. But you may always have good sized turbot (enough for six persons for _3s._ and a cod weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds,) for half that sum. As to the wages of female servants, they can scarcely be considered as much cheaper, nominally, than they are with us. But then the habits of the servants, and the cost of what they eat, make their _keep_ and wages together amount to not more than half what they do with us. It only remains to tell you of what is _dearer_ here than it is in England, I have tried all I can to find out items belonging to this latter head, and have succeeded in _two_ alone--namely, sugar and fuel. You cannot have brown sugar under _8d._ and indifferent loaf sugar costs _1s. 3d._ And as to firing, it is dearer, _nominally_ alone, and in point of fact, does not |
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