They attended the theatre that evening, finding no people of rank at that place, only shop-keepers and officers of the Garde Nationale. The actors declaimed in a most singular stile, emoting with ridiculously exaggerated gesticulations and in extraordinary accents, which were very difficult to follow, a task made worse by the poses they and their faces adopted during their speech. The Darcys learnt that this was the usual form of a tragedy in France, the best houses of Paris included. By the end of the evening, Mr. Darcy’s only remark was that he would never utter an unkind word about Mr. Kean or Mrs. Siddons again. Their inn, L’Hôtel de L’Europe, was very good. It had once been an handsome château, and there remained to it a lovely garden, formerly adjoining the convent that had given the city its name, the high walls already covered this early season by a profusion of blossoms delightful to see, and young grapes formed on the vines. The furnishments of their rooms were in a very superior stile, as were many of the better places in France, with chimney-pieces, thresholds, &c., made of marble, Mr. Darcy remarking that it must be very cheap and plentiful according to its frequent use.

As they left Abbeville, the scenery relapsed into the same flatness and lack of any interesting feature that could repay the tedium of passing through it. At the sides of the roads, there were many peasants employed in the making of ropes near-by large fields of hemp and flax. The country at last was become more verdant, and small plantations were spotted infrequently in the distance. The river Somme wound through a part of their way, and its course could be plainly delineated by the willows upon its banks, looking for all the world like parts of Berkshire along the Thames. The road-sides began to be ornamented with apple trees of the cider kind. These joys were not long in existence, as the road at Airaines grew straight and the country again barren, but the weather continued very kind—a pleasantly cool breeze blew under a bright sun. This day’s travel had been particularly uninteresting, and all of the Darcys were impatient to quit this section of the road and arrive at their inn to supper and comfortable beds.