passage through France, by a people whose vanity forbids them to admire
valour, except in Frenchmen, but whose conduct on those occasions served
only to increase the obligations which they had in so many instances
experienced from the humanity which always attends on British valour.

If we had to regret the delay we experienced in getting out to sea, that
sentiment soon vanished before the favourable breeze which, in about
four hours, brought us to the French coast. As the day was hazy, we had
not long to admire the venerable castle of Dover, and the cliff which
Shakspeare has celebrated; and some time elapsed before we could
distinguish the shores of France, which differ entirely from those of
England, rising gradually from the water's edge, with the single
exception of _Scales Cliff_, which seems to correspond with some of
those bulwarks which characterize our coast from Dover to Portland,
where, I think, chalk cliffs are succeeded by masses of rock and grey
stone.

The tide being out on our arrival before Calais, we could not get into
the harbour, and with that impatience to leave a ship, which is natural
to landsmen, we were glad to accept the offers of some boats which
hastened around the packet, to offer their services in landing us; this,
however, they did not exactly perform, being too large to get very near
the shore, to which we were each of us carried by three Frenchmen, one
to each leg, and a third behind. This service I had often had performed
by one of my fellow-subjects, and it seemed to verify the old saying,
that '_one Englishman is equal to three Frenchmen_.'

Each Monsieur however insisted on a shilling for his services, and the
boatmen five shillings from every passenger. But I had travelled enough
to know, that extortion on such occasions is so general, as not to be