——So now I am at _Avignon_, and as there is nothing to see but the old
house, in which the duke of _Ormond_ resided, and nothing to stop me
but a short remark upon the place, in three minutes you will see me
crossing the bridge upon a mule, with _François_ upon a horse with my
portmanteau behind him, and the owner of both, striding the way before
us, with a long gun upon his shoulder, and a sword under his arm, lest
peradventure we should run away with his cattle. Had you seen my
breeches in entering _Avignon_,——Though you’d have seen them better, I
think, as I mounted—you would not have thought the precaution amiss, or
found in your heart to have taken it in dudgeon; for my own part, I
took it most kindly; and determined to make him a present of them, when
we got to the end of our journey, for the trouble they had put him to,
of arming himself at all points against them.
Before I go further, let me get rid of my remark upon _Avignon_, which
is this: That I think it wrong, merely because a man’s hat has been
blown off his head by chance the first night he comes to
_Avignon_,——that he should therefore say, “_Avignon_ is more subject to
high winds than any town in all _France:_” for which reason I laid no
stress upon the accident till I had enquired of the master of the inn
about it, who telling me seriously it was so——and hearing, moreover,
the windiness of _Avignon_ spoke of in the country about as a
proverb——I set it down, merely to ask the learned what can be the
cause——the consequence I saw—for they are all Dukes, Marquisses, and
Counts, there——the duce a Baron, in all _Avignon_——so that there is
scarce any talking to them on a windy day.
Prithee, friend, said I, take hold of my mule for a moment——for I
wanted to pull off one of my jack-boots, which hurt my heel—the man was
standing quite idle at the door of the inn, and as I had taken it into
my head, he was someway concerned about the house or stable, I put the
bridle into his hand—so begun with the boot:—when I had finished the
affair, I turned about to take the mule from the man, and thank him——
——But _Monsieur le Marquis_ had walked in——