‘If you don’t speak a word of French, if you like English comfort, clean rooms, breakfast and maîtres d’hôtel; if in a foreign land, you want your fellow countrymen around you, your brown beer, your friend and your cognac - and your water - do not listen to any of the messengers but with your best British accent cry heartily: “Meurice!” and immediately, someone will come forward to drive you straight to the rue de Rivoli.’
William Makepeace Thackeray, circa 1850