Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/417

 The Eve of the FrencJi Revolution 3 79 Thomas Jefferson was also traveling in France just before the Revolution He writes from Nice to a friend, April 1 1, 1787 : In the great cities I go to see what travelers think alone 385. Jeffer- worthy of being seen; but I make a job of it and gener- son finds 11 I'ni • 1 r^ 1 ^ ■, it less misery ally gulp it all down in a day. On the other hand, I am j n France never satiated with rambling through the fields and farms, than he examining the culture and cultivators with a degree of curi- ex P ected - osity which makes some take me for a fool, and others to be much wiser than I am. I have been pleased to find among the people a less degree of physical misery than I had expected. They are generally well clothed and have a plenty of food, — not animal, indeed, but vegetable, which is just as wholesome. Perhaps they are overworked, the excess of the rent required by the landlord obliging them to too many hours of labor in order to produce that and wherewith to feed and clothe themselves. The soil of Burgundy and Cham- pagne I have found more universally good than I had ex- pected ; and as I could not help making a comparison with England, I found that comparison more unfavorable to the latter than is generally admitted. The soil, the climate, and the productions are superior to those of England, and the husbandry as good except in one point, that of manure. From the first olive fields of Pierrelatte to the orangeries of Hieres has been continued rapture to me. I have often wished for you. I think you have not made this journey. It is a pleasure you have to come, and an improvement you have to add to the many you have already made. It will be a great comfort for you to know, from your own inspection, the condition of all the provinces of your own country, and it will be interesting to them at some future day to be krjown to you. This is perhaps the only moment of your life in which you can acquire that knowledge. And to do it most effectu- ally you must be absolutely incognito ; you must ferret the people out of their hovels, as I have done, look into their kettles, eat their bread, loll on their beds under pretense of resting yourself, but in fact to find if they are soft. You will