Charles-François de Flahaut de La Billarderie

Getting around

Travel times between major French cities

Traveling between cities often involved water coaches (coches d'eau) for rivers or road carriages, with a journey from Lyon to Paris taking six days at a slow pace or three days at a faster pace in 1742.

At the table

Bread as the Foundation of Daily Meals

The staple of the ordinary diet was bread, often consumed as a soup by soaking pieces in water, broth, or vegetable mixtures. This meal structure, centered on a starchy base accompanied by secondary savory foods, remained remarkably stable for centuries.

What people wore

Basic Attire of Ordinary People

Ordinary French men typically wore a simple shirt, a frac, breeches, stockings, and leather shoes. Ordinary women wore a shirt under a corset, a skirt, an apron, a fichu, and a bonnet.

Music

The Pocket-Sized Teacher's Violin

To make professional dance lessons convenient at home, masters used the pochette, a small, boat-shaped violin that could be easily carried in a pocket or sachet.

Daily life

Intense use of single-room dwellings

Ordinary homes often consisted of a single room used for all daily activities, including cooking, sleeping, and childcare, with furniture rearranged throughout the day. In rural areas, houses were typically made of wattle and daub with thatched roofs, often lacking glass windows and floorboards.