Innocent espionage

the La Rochefoucauld brothers' tour of England in 1785

Edición de la obra Mélanges sur l'Angleterre

Looking at England in the early months of 1785, covering twenty or even thirty miles a day and making detailed and intelligent notes at night, the two La Rochefoucauld brothers, Francois and Alexandre, and their tutor, saw landscapes still visible today; but the world of momentous industrial invention and optimism that they envied, as patriots, is one we can now only envy them for knowing and admire them for recording. Norman Scarfe presents the three documentary sources of the book (all previously unpublished) in his own spirited translation, while the many illustrations bring the travellers' experiences vividly to life. His epilogue traces the divergent attitudes of the brothers at the onset of the Revolution and beyond: the elder loyally serving Louis XVI, the younger establishing his cotton-mill on English lines, then joining the entourage of Napoleon.