This Must Render The
Air Moist, Frouzy, And Even Putrid, If It Was Not Well Ventilated
By Winds From The Mountains Of Swisserland; And In The Latter End
Of Autumn, It Must Be Subject To Fogs.
The morning we set out
from thence, the whole city and adjacent plains were covered with
so thick a fog, that we could not distinguish from the coach the
head of the foremost mule that drew it.
Lyons is said to be very
hot in summer, and very cold in winter; therefore I imagine must
abound with inflammatory and intermittent disorders in the spring
and fall of the year.
My reasons for going to Montpellier, which is out of the strait
road to Nice, were these. Having no acquaintance nor
correspondents in the South of France, I had desired my credit
might be sent to the same house to which my heavy baggage was
consigned. I expected to find my baggage at Cette, which is the
sea-port of Montpellier; and there I also hoped to find a vessel,
in which I might be transported by sea to Nice, without further
trouble. I longed to try what effect the boasted air of
Montpellier would have upon my constitution; and I had a great
desire to see the famous monuments of antiquity in and about the
ancient city of Nismes, which is about eight leagues short of
Montpellier.
At the inn where we lodged, I found a return berline, belonging
to Avignon, with three mules, which are the animals commonly used
for carriages in this country. This I hired for five loui'dores.
The coach was large, commodious, and well-fitted; the mules were
strong and in good order; and the driver, whose name was Joseph,
appeared to be a sober, sagacious, intelligent fellow, perfectly
well acquainted with every place in the South of France. He told
me he was owner of the coach, but I afterwards learned, he was no
other than a hired servant. I likewise detected him in some
knavery, in the course of our journey; and plainly perceived he
had a fellow-feeling with the inn-keepers on the road; but, in
other respects, he was very obliging, serviceable, and even
entertaining. There are some knavish practices of this kind, at
which a traveller will do well to shut his eyes, for his own ease
and convenience. He will be lucky if he has to do with a sensible
knave, like Joseph, who understood his interest too well to be
guilty of very flagrant pieces of imposition.
A man, impatient to be at his journey's end, will find this a
most disagreeable way of travelling. In summer it must be quite
intolerable. The mules are very sure, but very slow. The journey
seldom exceeds eight leagues, about four and twenty miles a day:
and as those people have certain fixed stages, you are sometimes
obliged to rise in a morning before day; a circumstance very
grievous to persons in ill health. These inconveniences, however,
were over-balanced by other agreemens. We no, sooner quitted
Lyons, than we got into summer weather, and travelling through a
most romantic country, along the banks of the Rhone, had
opportunities (from the slowness of our pace) to contemplate its
beauties at leisure.
The rapidity of the Rhone is, in a great measure, owing to its
being confined within steep banks on each side. These are formed
almost through its whole course, by a double chain of mountains,
which rise with all abrupt ascent from both banks of the river.
The mountains are covered with vineyards, interspersed with small
summer-houses, and in many places they are crowned with churches,
chapels, and convents, which add greatly to the romantic beauty
of the prospect. The highroad, as far as Avignon, lies along the
side of the river, which runs almost in a straight line, and
affords great convenience for inland commerce. Travellers, bound
to the southern parts of France, generally embark in the
diligence at Lyons, and glide down this river with great
velocity, passing a great number of towns and villages on each
side, where they find ordinaries every day at dinner and supper.
In good weather, there is no danger in this method of travelling,
'till you come to the Pont St. Esprit, where the stream runs
through the arches with such rapidity, that the boat is sometimes
overset. But those passengers who are under any apprehension are
landed above-bridge, and taken in again, after the boat has
passed, just in the same manner as at London Bridge. The boats
that go up the river are drawn against the stream by oxen, which
swim through one of the arches of this bridge, the driver sitting
between the horns of the foremost beast. We set out from Lyons
early on Monday morning, and as a robbery had been a few days
before committed in that neighbourhood, I ordered my servant to
load my musquetoon with a charge of eight balls. By the bye, this
piece did not fail to attract the curiosity and admiration of the
people in every place through which we passed. The carriage no
sooner halted, than a crowd immediately surrounded the man to
view the blunderbuss, which they dignified with the title of
petit canon. At Nuys in Burgundy, he fired it in the air, and the
whole mob dispersed, and scampered off like a flock of sheep. In
our journey hither, we generally set out in a morning at eight
o'clock, and travelled 'till noon, when the mules were put up and
rested a couple of hours. During this halt, Joseph went to
dinner, and we went to breakfast, after which we ordered
provision for our refreshment in the coach, which we took about
three or four in the afternoon, halting for that purpose, by the
side of some transparent brook, which afforded excellent water to
mix with our wine. In this country I was almost poisoned with
garlic, which they mix in their ragouts, and all their sauces;
nay, the smell of it perfumes the very chambers, as well as every
person you approach.
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