Reading my travel notes—or letters, if you prefer—you probably will ask how my stay in London was, what general impressions foreign visitors get living there, if lodging is expensive, if the service is good, etc. — Very well, I will tell you about these things, too, as accurately as possible.

I already mentioned that I found accommodations on the day of my arrival in the Hotel Jaunnais at Leicester-Square. This hotel, in comfort, splendor, and even cleanliness, is inferior to other London inns and is quite similar to a French hotel, but I was very pleased with it. For two guineas a week (48 r.), I had two rooms, one spacious, and the other one smaller, with a bed. The furniture is not expensive, but comfortable and quite beautiful. Count Ugarte paid more and lived in a much better room with windows overlooking the square. Parks, or little gardens fenced with iron bars, to which all the owners of the houses surrounding the square have keys, serve not only for beauty, but also for maintaining good air in London. A gilt equestrian statue of King George I stands in our park. From my rooms, the windows overlook ugly roofs. Not knowing how to communicate in English, I hired a lackey. An old Frenchman called François fell to my lot, a creature narrow-minded and sluggish, but good-natured and honest. I quarreled with him several times a day and then made peace. His main virtue consists in the fact that he speaks good English and knows all the streets in London like the back of his hand. Walking by my side or sometimes ahead of me, he would stop at every crossroads, bow, and pronounce the name of the street, pointing at the sign: Welbeck Street, Dover Street, Golden Square, etc. I paid him seven shillings (8 r. 40 kop.) per day. — Having made it a rule to adapt as far as possible to the customs and lifestyle in those places where I happen to live, I ate breakfast and dinner that are typical for England. For breakfast—tea, with slices of toasted bread and with salted beef or ham. Dinner was semi-English, semi-French: a lot of meat and other heavy dishes.