A change of system here with respect
to the Dutch, is suspected; because the Kings of Prussia and England
openly espouse the cause of the Stadtholder, and that of the Patriots is
likely to fall. The American acquaintances whom you left here, not being
stationary, you will hardly expect news of them. Mrs. Barrett, lately
dead, was, I think, known to you. I had a letter from Ledyard lately,
dated at St. Petersburg. He had but two shirts, and yet more shirts than
shillings. Still he was determined to obtain the palm of being the first
circumambulator of the earth. He says, that having no money, they kick
him from place to place, and thus he expects to be kicked round the
globe. Are you become a great walker? You know I preach up that kind
of exercise. Shall I send you a _conte-pas_? It will cost you a dozen
louis, but be a great stimulus to walking, as it will record your steps.
I finished my tour a week or ten days ago. I went as far as
Turin, Milan, Genoa; and never passed three months and a half more
delightfully. I returned through the canal of Languedoc, by Bordeaux,
Nantes, L'Orient, and Rennes; then returned to Nantes, and came up the
Loire to Orleans.
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