attractions of London for the present, for although I could not
gain admittance to the Lower House, my untiring friend, whom I
came across again as I went out, showed me the room where the
Commons sat, explained as much as was necessary, and gave me a
sight of the Speaker's woolsack, and of his mace lying hidden
under the table. He also gave me such careful details of various
things that I felt I knew all there was to know about the capital
of Great Britain. I had not the smallest intention of going to
the Italian opera, possibly because I imagined the prices to be
too ruinous. We thoroughly explored all the principal streets,
often tiring ourselves out; we shuddered through a ghastly London
Sunday, and wound up with a train trip (our very first) to
Gravesend Park, in the company of the captain of the Thetis. On
the 20th of August we crossed over to France by steamer, arriving
the same evening at Boulogne-sur-mer, where we took leave of the
sea with the fervent desire never to go on it again.

We were both of us secretly convinced that we should meet with
disappointments in Paris, and it was partly on that account that
we decided to spend a few weeks at or near Boulogne. It was, in
any case, too early in the season to find the various important
people whom I proposed to see, in town; on the other hand, it
seemed to me a most fortunate circumstance that Meyerbeer should
happen to be at Boulogne. Also, I had the instrumentation of part
of the second act of Rienzi to finish, and was bent on having at
least half of the work ready to show on my arrival in the costly
French capital. We therefore set out to find less expensive
accommodation in the country round Boulogne. Beginning with the
immediate neighbourhood, our search ended in our taking two
practically unfurnished rooms in the detached house of a rural