Compiled by Patrick Polland from The Traveller's Conversational Handbook by Madame de Genlis, first published in four languages in 1804
with Anthony Newlands as the Husband, Wendy Murray as the Wife and Hugh Dickson as the Narrator

Madame de Genlis wrote it for those rich and reckless enough to go on the Grand Tour of Europe. But her Handbook is not simply an ancestor of the modern tourist's phrase-book. She wrote dialogue to cover any eventuality in early 19th-century travel. It is amusing and absurd - but then so is the predicament of any traveller who cannot speak the language.