The wine commonly drank at Boulogne comes from Auxerre, is very
small and meagre, and may be had from five to eight sols a
bottle; that is, from two-pence halfpenny to fourpence. The
French inhabitants drink no good wine; nor is there any to be
had, unless you have recourse to the British wine-merchants here
established, who deal in Bourdeaux wines, brought hither by sea
for the London market. I have very good claret from a friend, at
the rate of fifteen-pence sterling a bottle; and excellent small
beer as reasonable as in England. I don't believe there is a drop
of generous Burgundy in the place; and the aubergistes impose
upon us shamefully, when they charge it at two livres a bottle.
There is a small white wine, called preniac, which is very
agreeable and very cheap. All the brandy which I have seen in
Boulogne is new, fiery, and still-burnt. This is the trash which
the smugglers import into England: they have it for about ten-pence
a gallon. Butcher's meat is sold for five sols, or two-pence
halfpenny a pound, and the pound here consists of eighteen
ounces. I have a young turkey for thirty sols; a hare for four-and-twenty;
a couple of chickens for twenty sols, and a couple of
good soles for the same price. Before we left England, we were
told that there was no fruit in Boulogne; but we have found
ourselves agreeably disappointed in this particular. The place is
well supplied with strawberries, cherries, gooseberries,
corinths, peaches, apricots, and excellent pears. I have eaten
more fruit this season, than I have done for several years. There
are many well-cultivated gardens in the skirts of the town;
particularly one belonging to our friend Mrs. B--, where we often
drink tea in a charming summer-house built on a rising ground,
which commands a delightful prospect of the sea. We have many
obligations to this good lady, who is a kind neighbour, an