were not in a condition to appreciate the more delicate and refined
bouquets which ought to characterize claret. A vin ordinaire, which
now at restaurateur's would cost three francs, was then furnished at
the hotels for fifteen sous: a Larose, Lafitte, Margot, such as we are
now paying eight or ten francs a bottle for, did not cost a third.
I must not, however, forget that greater attention and care is now employed
in the preparation of French wines. The exportation to England of the
light red wines of France was not sufficiently profitable, as I learnt
from my host, at that time to attract the cupidity of commerce.

In the Guards, Bordeaux was more affectionately remembered in connexion
with its women than its wine. We left it with regret, and the more
youthful and imaginative amongst us said that we were wafted across
the Channel by the gentle sighs of the girls we left behind us."


MRS. MARY ANNE CLARKE


Our army, despite its defects, was nevertheless infinitely better administered
at home when I joined than it had been a few years before; owing principally
to the inquiry that had taken place in the House of Commons, relative
to the bribery and corruption which had crept in, and which had been
laid open by the confessions of a female, who created no small sensation
in those days, and who eventually terminated her extraordinary career,
not very long since, in Paris.

The squibs fired off by Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke had a much greater influence,
and produced more effect upon the English army, than all the artillery
of the enemy directed against the Duke of York when commanding in Holland.