constitution of the air that should render such distempers
endemial. That the air of Boulogne encourages putrefaction,
appears from the effect it has upon butcher's meat, which, though
the season is remarkably cold, we can hardly keep four-and-twenty
hours in the coolest part of the house.

Living here is pretty reasonable; and the markets are tolerably
supplied. The beef is neither fat nor firm; but very good for
soup, which is the only use the French make of it. The veal is
not so white, nor so well fed, as the English veal; but it is
more juicy, and better tasted. The mutton and pork are very good.
We buy our poultry alive, and fatten them at home. Here are
excellent turkies, and no want of game: the hares, in particular,
are very large, juicy, and high-flavoured. The best part of the
fish caught on this coast is sent post to Paris, in chasse-marines,
by a company of contractors, like those of Hastings in
Sussex. Nevertheless, we have excellent soles, skaite, flounders
and whitings, and sometimes mackarel. The oysters are very large,
coarse, and rank. There is very little fish caught on the French
coast, because the shallows run a great way from the shore; and
the fish live chiefly in deep water: for this reason the
fishermen go a great way out to sea, sometimes even as far as the
coast of England. Notwithstanding all the haste the contractors
can make, their fish in the summer is very often spoiled before
it arrives at Paris; and this is not to be wondered at,
considering the length of the way, which is near one hundred and
fifty miles. At best it must be in such a mortified condition,
that no other people, except the negroes on the coast of Guinea,
would feed upon it.