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84 ECONOMY.
When these were brought, he began to
count, and then to examine them ; during
this process, he sent forth a cry of indignant
reproacli to the waiter which made
the room ring, and lifting up one of the
oysters in his fingers, he ordered the garçon
to get it changed, as it was beneath
the legitimate standard of size : an Englishman,
if he had not swallowed, would at
least have quietly overlooked the oyster,
but Frenchmen or Genevese, will always
have their full penny-worth for their
penny.
It would be absurd to call the Genevese
avaricious, because they let their country-
houses to the English at rents which, even
in England, would be considered exorbitant.
The price is regulated by the demand, as
in other articles, and were they to let a
house for a hundred napoleons when they
might readily obtain three times the sum, we
might cease to blame them for avarice, but
they would not escape the charge of folly.
The same may be said respecting the pensions,
or boarding-houses, the prices of
which are rather regulated by the supposed
rank in society of the persons who keep
them, than by the superior accommodations
they afford; for many persons who are
considered as belonging to the first circles
in Geneva, are ready to receive boarders,
if they can obtain their tcTms. From
twenty to twenty-five napoleons pex month
are sometimes given, for which the t^ble
and accommodations are not equal tQ what
might be had in an English boarding-house,
for eight guineas a month. A t other
pensions the terms are from ten to twelve
napoleons a month, which is relatively
dearer than in E n g lan d ; but being en
pension in a respectable family, is by far
the easiest and best mode of becoming
acquainted with th e manners and feelings
of the inhabitants, for they mix much with
each other in their evening parties, or
soirees, and the boarders, if well introduced,
are often invited out with the
family.
It is a general observation of the English,
that in the boarding-houses the experiment
is too often made of trying what is
the minimum of expense at which the
boarders can be kept, without exciting
complaints, particularly with respect to the
quality of the food and wine. I f this be
so, 1 believe it frequently arises from inad-
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