(_Caen, August_, 1818.)

Our reception at Caen has been somewhat inauspicious: we had scarcely
made the few necessary arrangements at the hôtel, and seated ourselves
quietly before the _caffé au lait_, when two gens-d'armes, in military
costume, stalked without ceremony into the room, and, taking chairs at
the table, began the conversation rather abruptly, with "Monsieur, vous
êtes sous arrêt."--My companions were appalled by such a salutation, and
apprehended some mistake; but the fact turned out to be, that our
passport did not bear the signature of the mayor of Rouen, and that this
ignorance of the regulations of the French police had subjected us to so
unexpected a visit. It was too late in the day for the deficiency to be
then supplied; and therefore, after a few expostulations, accompanied
with observations, on their part, that we had the good fortune to have
fixed ourselves at an _honnête hôtel_, and did not wear the appearance
of suspicious persons, the soldiers took their leave, first exacting
from me a promise, that I would present myself the next morning before
the proper officer, and would in the meanwhile consider myself a
prisoner upon my parole.

The impression which this occurrence could not fail to make upon our
minds, was, that the object of the gens-d'armes had been either to
extort from us money, or to shew their consequence; but I have since
been led to believe that they did no more than their duty.--We have
several acquaintance among the English who reside here, and we find from
the whole of them, that the utmost strictness is practised in all
matters relating to passports, and not less towards natives than
foreigners. No Frenchman can quit his _arrondissement_ unprovided with a
passport; and the route he intends to take, and the distance he designs