We set out early to-morrow-morning for Soissons, which is about twenty
leagues from hence. Travelling is not very desirable in the present
circumstances, but Mad. de F____ has some affairs to settle there which
cannot well be entrusted to a third person. The times, however, have a
very hostile appearance, and we intend, if possible, to be absent but
three days.--Yours.
Soissons, August 4, 1793.
"And you may go by Beauvais if you will, for which reason many go by
Beauvais;" and the stranger who turns out of his road to go by Soissons,
must use the same reasoning, for the consciousness of having exercised
his free agency will be all his reward for visiting Soissons. This, by
the way; for my journey hither not being one of curiosity, I have no
right to complain; yet somehow or other, by associating the idea of the
famous Vase, the ancient residence of the first French Kings, and other
circumstances as little connected as these I suppose with modern history,
I had ranked Soissons in my imagination as one of the places I should see
with interest. I find it, however, only a dull, decent-looking town,
tolerably large, but not very populous. In the new division of France it
is the capital of the department De l'Aisne, and is of course the seat of
the administration.
We left Peronne early, and, being so fortunate as to encounter no
accidental delays, we arrived within a league of Soissons early in the
afternoon.
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