The XVIIIth century; its institutions, customs, and costumes France, 1700-1789 . he place in which the provisions arekept is in unpleasant proximity to the bilge-pipe. The deck iscovered with ropes and rigging, and moreover the weather does notadmit of our remaining there. There are only six Avretched berths,the possession of which is very highly prized. In reference to theway in which the boat is pulled up stream, the same writer adds : I forgot to tell you that we have four strong horses to pull us 446 THE CENTURY. along. They draw us by means of a rope attached to the mainmast,
The XVIIIth century; its institutions, customs, and costumes France, 1700-1789 . he place in which the provisions arekept is in unpleasant proximity to the bilge-pipe. The deck iscovered with ropes and rigging, and moreover the weather does notadmit of our remaining there. There are only six Avretched berths,the possession of which is very highly prized. In reference to theway in which the boat is pulled up stream, the same writer adds : I forgot to tell you that we have four strong horses to pull us 446 THE CENTURY. along. They draw us by means of a rope attached to the mainmast,and these are our favourable winds. The Limousin quadrupeds areour zephyrs. This curious mode of locomotion sometimes gives riseto scenes worthy of Vernets brush. Every now and then the horsesstop, and the rope slackens and drops into the stream. With acrack of the whip, they start off again, and the rope, pulled taut, risesout of the water with snake-like contortions. Bertin terminates hisdescription by a sketch of the horrible nights passed on the hardbenches between Fig. 284.—The water-coach, on the Seine ; after Perronct. A night in the diligence was almost as disagreeable, and a journeyof four or five hundred miles was never got through without someaccident, the least of which was an upset. The carrosse dc voitiirc,as it was termed in the seventeenth century, was an enormousvehicle, of wood bolted with iron, with four wheels and shafts,seven feet long by five feet wide, and with room for eight or tenpeople on the front and back seats, and those placed against thedoors. These doors could not open until the seats had been liftedup ; they had not any glass windows, as the berlins used in townshad, and their only protection from the wind, rain, or dust, wereleather curtains. The top of the carriage was so loaded with luggagethat it took eight horses to drag it over a bad piece of road. Sub-sequently, the travelling carriages were made still larger and heavier. TEA VE
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