A Frenchman's Year in Suffolk French Impressions of Suffolk Life in 1784 : the Mélanges Sur L'Angleterre of François de La Rochefoucauld

When François de la Rochefoucauld, and his brother Alexandre visited Suffolk in 1784, the events which were to lead to the French Revolution in 1789 were already in train. François' father, the duc de Liancourt, Grand Master of the Wardrobe at Louis XVI's court, was well placed to appreciate the dangers of the situation in France, and it must have been with anxious hopefulness that he sent his sons (François was then 18) to England for a year to appreciate the ordering of these things in a country which had experienced a revolution over a century earlier. Such reflections are never far below the surface of this otherwise cheerful book, which gives a vivid picture of English provincial life in a good year. François' observations range over such diverse subjects as English customs and manners and methods of agriculture and stockbreeding, and include a lively account of a general election. The spirited translation is complemented by numerous illustrations.