at present it was cheered by a visitation from one of the fairest of her descendants. My meditations on the comforts of "single blessedness" were soon interrupted by the entrance of the proprietor of the mansion, with an accomplished niece of eighteen hanging upon his arm. In this instance, an introduction was an acquaintance at once. We were natives of the same hills, residents of the same city, had traversed the same ocean, and visited the same scenes abroad. Many of our associations and friendships were also mutual. The junior partner in the firm, a brother to the elder, soon joined the little circle of inmates; and one American guest after another dropped in, till the hearth was surrounded by a congress of a dozen or fifteen of our countrymen representing perhaps as many different states. A sumptuous dinner was served up, rather in the American than in the French style. The table exhibited the same taste as was visible in the decorations of the drawing room; and a spirit of genuine hospitality presided, which would have rendered a less elegant and a less luxurious repast acceptable.

Such was the commencement of an acquaintance with this estimable and agreeable family, whose attentions and kindnesses knew no limits A dinner party led to an invitation to tea on the following evening; and the tea-party was made an occasion for another invitation. Delicacy at first induced us to decline a portion of these civilities, till our friend assured us, that one of his greatest pleasures, after the business of the day, consisted in dining with a circle of his countrymen. His unbounded hospitality was afterwards accepted with as much cheerfulness as it was offered; and most of our evenings during our visit to Marseilles passed delightfully at his fireside. Every successive party drew some new guest to his table, and the society was so exclusive, as to present a vivid picture of home. A constant round of social enjoyments continued to the very eve of our departure from town, when at a farewell dinner we had the pleasure to meet twenty of our countrymen, and to pledge them in a parting glass. The separation from such a family was as painful, as an intimacy with it had been delightful; and it would grieve me to think, that the friendships contracted with the members of the little circle are destined to be brief as the happy hours which gave them birth. We parted not without a hope of meeting again upon our native shores. Be that as it may, gratitude on our part for such unaffected kindness, and a cherished remembrance of those social nights, can perish only with life.

LETTER XLIV.

EXCURSION TO LANGUEDOC-RIDE TO NISMES AMPHITHEATRE-MAISON TO MONTPELLIER-SKETCH OF THE

CARREE-FOUNTAIN-ROUTE

CITY.

March, 1826.

On the afternoon of the 2d, we left Marseilles in the Diligence, to make an excursion to Nismes and Montpellier. For about half the distance to the former place, it was necessary to tread back the same road, which had been once traversed in coming from Avignon. But the advances of spring and the rapid changes in vegetation rendered a second view of the country by no means unpleasant, especially as the weather was now delightful. Abundant resources were found in the conversation of our three fellow travellers. Two of them were Spanish gentlemen, intelligent, friendly, polite, and extremely agreeable in their manners. Our sympathies were warmly excited in their favour, on learning that they had been driven from their country, in consequence of the active part they had taken on the side of the Constitutionalists and against the legitimates, during the late troubles; and that they are still the enthusiastic advocates of free principles, entertaining a hope of the future emancipation of Spain. They spoke in terms of admiration of the liberty, greatness, and glory of the United States, with the political history of which they seemed well acquainted. Finding their country overrun by the legions of France, and the cause of the patriots hopeless, they took refuge at Marseilles, where they are now respectably established in business. I hardly thought it possible for me to entertain so much respect and esteem for the Spanish character, as a passing acquaintance with these gentlemen inspired.

But the most original and amusing of our coach companions was a Swiss Corporal, who was returning from Marseilles, to join his regiment stationed at Nismes. His cheeks were as red as his coat, and his hair almost as white as the cotton epaulettes, which danced upon his shoulders. From motives of economy and patriotism, he had taken with him, by way of rations, a bottle of light wine from his native hills, together with a plentiful supply of bread and sausages, converting one of the pockets of the Diligence into a knapsack. He was a great talker, and delighted to dwell on the romantic scenery of his own country-its mountains, lakes, and cataracts, with which he appeared to be familiar. Learning that we were from the United

States, he made very particular inquiries respecting the Swiss colony at Vevay, in the State of Indiana, whither one of his relatives had emigrated, and was now a leading man in the settlement. It created in us not a little surprise, that this mercenary subaltern from the solitudes of Switzerland should be far better versed in the geography of the United States, than are many of the editors, reviewers, and public functionaries of Europe. There was in his mind no confusion of states and cities-that ass's bridge of English topographers. He did not with the British Admiralty imagine the great Lakes of North America to be filled with salt water ;* nor was he, like the Mayor of a French city, till the last winter ignorant of the fact, that General Washington is dead.

A gentleman at the table of the hotel, in a small village beyond Aix where we dined, related a local anecdote of Napoleon, which was new to me. The emperor, on his return from Elba to Paris, was apprised that the people in this vicinity were hostile, and had formed a determination to take his life as he passed. As it was impracticable for him to change his route, and he was not at this time prepared to encounter opposition, however feeble, he had recourse to stratagem. Assuming the dress of a postillion, and mounting the forward horse, whip in hand, he drove through the village in safety, leaving its inhabitants to await in vain the arrival of the imperial exile.

Nothing occurred to disturb the repose of our ride during the night, with the exception of one trifling incident. While the Diligence was pausing a few minutes to charge horses at Orgon, the cessation of the lullaby of the coach, and the dull sound of the village clock striking two in the morning, awoke me from a confused dream about cataracts. I heard a sort of gurgling noise, which, in the dubious twilight of the mind between sleeping and waking, was mistaken for the murmurs of the Durance. It however proved to be nothing more than the Corporal, sucking away at his bottle, for which a slice of his sausage had given a relish. A becoming spirit of hospitality led him to arouse the whole circle of his fellow travellers, to invite them to partake of his soldier's fare.

* An English officer who served in the Niagara campaigns informed me, that during the late war, the British Admiralty sent to Commodore Yeo a large number of machines, to be used on board his fleet, for converting the salt-water of the Lakes into fresh. The other instance of gross ignorance, alluded to above, actually occurred a few months since. The mayor of a town in the vicinity of Paris, asked one of our countrymen, with some degree of surprise, if Washington was dead! In truth, the great mass of the people in Europe know next to nothing of America.

Day dawned upon us at St. Remi, and at 6 o'clock we reached Tarascon, a considerable town situated upon the left bank of the Rhone, fifteen or twenty miles from its mouth. The only place of importance below this is Arles, the ancient capital of Provence, but now in the last stages of decline. A handbill signed by its mayor, and inviting strangers to visit its antiquities, was observed posted up in the hotels at Marseilles. But even the novelty of this official invitation did not divert us from our route; and after examining the immense Gothic Castle of good King René, together with a few other curiosities at Tarascon, we continued our journey to Nismes. The Rhone is here crossed on a bridge of boats, some fifty or sixty in number, and moored by strong cables. A desolate island of sand divides the river into two channels of nearly equal breadth. The current though unbroken by rocks, is so rapid as to foam and roar like a cataract, bringing to mind the animated picture which Livy has drawn of Hannibal's passage of the same stream, some miles above.*

On the right bank of the Rhone opposite Tarascon, stands Beaucaire, a place of great antiquity, with narrow, dirty streets, and oldfashioned houses. An arch in the wall, beneath which the road leads, is inscribed to Louis XIV.; and the rocky eminence overlooking the town is crowned with the massive ruins of a Castle, which once belonged to the same family. The country between Beaucaire and Nismes is rich and beautiful. On the right of the road rises a long range of picturesque hills, and towards the left stretches a broad sunny plain, watered by pure streams, and smiling with tillage. In some places, orchards of olives extend as far as the eye can reach, clothing the hills in perpetual verdure. The olive however cannot be called a very beautiful tree. In form, size, and foliage, it bears a strong resemblance to the willow. Its lanceolate leaves are of a pale or whitish green, giving a peculiar aspect to the landscape. Intermingled with these verdant orchards are the mulberry, almond, and vine, together with patches of grass and grain. Both the fertility of the soil and the neatness of cultivation gave us a favourable opinion of the Province of Languedoc.

At nine in the morning we entered Nismes, and took lodgings at the Hotel de Luxembourg. It occasioned not a little surprise, to meet at

*"Galli occursant in ripam cum variis ululatibus, cantuque moris sui, quatientes scuta super capita, vibrantesque dextris tela: quanquam et ex adverso terrebat tanta vis navium cum ingenti sono fluminis, et clamore vario nautarum et militum, qui nitebantur perrumpere impetum fluminis, et qui ex altera ripa trajicientes suos hortabantur."-Vide Liv. Dec. Ter. Lib. I. Cap. X.

the very threshold two of our countrymen, one from Troy, New-York, and the other from Phiadelphia, who had come from Paris by the way of Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Montpellier, and were about to visit Avignon, Vaucluse, Marseilles, and Toulon, completing the tour of the South of France. They had been here a day or two, and were able to give us a clue to the curiosities of Nismes, as well as some useful hints respecting the residue of our excursion towards the Pyrenees. Our notes of objects worth seeing in the vale of the Rhone were cheerfully given in exchange. Such a meeting was as pleasant as it was unexpected.

Having taken breakfast and parted with our friends, hoping to join them again at Marseilles, we at once commenced a survey of the town. In passing from the hotel to the Amphitheatre, our attention was arrested by a military parade, on a beautiful area surrounded by a terrace. Nismes is full of troops, owing to suspicions entertained of the loyalty and orthodoxy of its inhabitants. It has long been the seat of protestantism and ecclesiastical feuds. At times, the most horrid atrocities have here been perpetrated; and the reigning dynasty entertain fears of the leven of heresy mingled in the religious sentiments of the people. Hence the town at present resembles a fortified camp. Every fifth man is a soldier. In the appearance and discipline of the troops no striking peculiarities were observed. The Corporal was already at his post, busy in drilling his platoon, and apparently the more ambitious of displaying his skill in tactics, for having perceived two of his fellow-passengers among the spectators.

The great object of attraction at Nismes is the Amphitheatre, which next to the Coliseum itself is said to be the most stupendous and the most interesting of Roman antiquities. In point of preservation, it claims a superiority even over its rival upon the banks of the Tiber. Its situation is on an open area, with no obstructions to prevent its colossal proportions from meeting fully the eye and striking the beholder with astonishment. The inhabitants of the town certainly deserve much credit for the pains they have taken to preserve this gigantic ruin; for clearing away the foreign rubbish with which it was formerly encumbered; and for removing the buildings about it, so as to present a perfect view. Its arena once contained a little village, consisting of something like fifty dwellings, and a population of two thousand—a fact which will give some idea of its dimensions. In the year 1809, all these houses and shops with their tenants were removed by the public authorities, and the arena has been restored to the condition in which it was left by the Romans. Within a few years the falling pillars and arches have been repaired with so much taste and