present under the side of the bed; and more so, when he perceived that
it was only a _pot de chambre_;--for, says the Frenchman, "in Spain,
they do not use the _chaise percee_!" The Frenchman is surprized at the
Spaniard, for not using so convenient a vehicle; the Englishman is
equally surprized, that the Frenchman does;--the Frenchman is always
attentive to his own person, and scarce ever appears but clean and well
dressed; while his house and private apartments are perhaps covered with
litter and dirt, and in the utmost confusion;--the Englishman, on the
other hand, often neglects his external dress; but his house is always
exquisitely clean, and every thing in it kept in the nicest order; and
who shall say, which of the two judge the best for their own ease and
happiness? I am sure the Frenchman will not give up his powdered hair,
and laced coat, for a clean house; nor do I believe those fineries would
sit quietly upon the back of an Englishman, in a dirty one. In short, my
dear sir, we must take the world, and the things in it, as they are; it
is a dirty world, but like France, has a vast number of good things in
it, and such as I meet with, in this my third tour, which shall be a
long one, if I am not _stopped_ by the way, you shall have such an
account of as I am able to convey to you: I will not attempt to _top the
traveller_ upon you, nor raise monuments of wonder, where none are to be
seen; there is real matter enough to be found upon this great continent,
to amuse a man who travels slowly over it, to see what is to be seen,
and who wishes not to be seen himself. My style of travelling is such,
that I can never be disturbed in mind for want of respect, but rather be
surprised when I meet with even common civility. And, after all, what
does it signify, whether Monsieur _ou Tel_ travels in a laced coat _et
très bien mis_, attended by half a dozen servants, or, as Pope says,

"will run
The Lord knows whither in a chaise and one."