of applauding thousands; and, secondly, of witnessing the arrival of the
magnanimous Alexander, of that too long unfortunate monarch, Frederick
William, of those chiefs, Platoff and Blucher, whose exploits have
ranked them amongst the first of heroes, and, at last, of seeing, in the
person of a _Wellington_, a British marshal who had successively foiled
the most renowned of the generals of Buonaparte, and who, like Turenne,
was accustomed "_to fight without anger, to conquer without ambition,
and to triumph without vanity_."

About the middle of July I left London and proceeded to Dover, a journey
which, in the improved state of our roads and of our conveyances, is
easily performed in one day; and often as I had before travelled the
Kent road, yet I could not see without surprise, the astonishing number
of public and private carriages with which it abounds, and which must
have doubtless much increased within the last few months. I became
acquainted on the road with a French Abbé, who, accompanied by his
sister, was returning home after an absence of twenty-two years, which
he had spent mostly in England, but he could by no means express himself
intelligibly in English. I therefore addressed him in his own language,
which pleased him extremely, and I found him an amusing companion, as
well as very grateful for some little services I rendered him in
arranging with the coachman respecting his baggage and that of his
sister, as they took the whole of their property to France with them,
including many household articles which I should not have thought worth
the expence of carriage. We supped in the same apartment at Dover, but
they had brought their provisions with them, which as I afterwards found
was sometimes the practice in France, either from motives of comfort or
economy. Such travellers, however, would not be much wished for at an
English inn.