ABSTRACT
The distance from Warsaw to Dresden is some five hundred and fifty kilometres. When Marie Madeleine Jodin left Poland for Saxony in the winter of 1766-67 to take up her acting engagement, she would have faced a journey in freezing weather, over poor roads and stayed in worse inns. Eighteenth-century conditions of travel, particularly in the dead of winter, were not for the faint-hearted. Nor was is easy for a woman to travel alone. Well connected or wealthy women could ensure they had an entourage of servants. When Mme Geoffrin visited Warsaw in 1766, for example, she made what was something of a royal progress, being provided with carriages, couriers, and every possible convenience by Stanislas Poniatowski.1 To travel in comfort at the period required having one’s own carriage and servants and taking plentiful supplies, or, failing that, having wealthy friends.
