"_*
After this we thought it in vain to make any farther enquiry, and
continued our walk about the town.
*"Where the Prince of Conde fought so gallantly."--"As to the battle
I know nothing about the matter; but for the Prince of Conde he
emigrated some time since--they say he is at Coblentz."
Mr. P____, who, according to French custom, had not breakfasted, took a
fancy to stop at a baker's shop and buy a roll. The man bestowed so much
more civility on us than our two sols were worth, that I observed, on
quitting the shop, I was sure he must be an Aristocrate. Mr. P____, who
is a warm Constitutionalist, disputed the justice of my inference, and we
agreed to return, and learn the baker's political principles. After
asking for more rolls, we accosted him with the usual phrase, "Et vous,
Monsieur, vous etes bon patriote?"--_"Ah, mon Dieu, oui,_ (replied he,)
_il faut bien l'etre a present."_*
*"And you, Sir, are without doubt, a good patriot?"--"Oh Lord, Sir,
yes; one's obliged to be so, now-a-days."
Mr. P____ admitted the man's tone of voice and countenance as good
evidence, and acknowledged I was right.--It is certain that the French
have taken it into their heads, that coarseness of manners is a necessary
consequence of liberty, and that there is a kind of leze nation in being
too civil; so that, in general, I think I can discover the principles of
shopkeepers, even without the indications of a melancholy mien at the
assignats, or lamentations on the times.
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