MONTPELLIER, November 5, 1763.
DEAR SIR,--The city of Lyons has been so often and so circumstantially
described, that I cannot pretend to say any thing new on the subject.
Indeed, I know very little of it, but what I have read in books; as I
had but one day to make a tour of the streets, squares, and other
remarkable places. The bridge over the Rhone seems to be so slightly
built, that I should imagine it would be one day carried away by that
rapid river; especially as the arches are so small, that, after great
rains they are sometimes bouchees, or stopped up; that is, they do not
admit a sufficient passage for the encreased body of the water. In
order to remedy this dangerous defect, in some measure, they found an
artist some years ago, who has removed a middle pier, and thrown two
arches into one. This alteration they looked upon as a masterpiece in
architecture, though there is many a common mason in England, who would
have undertaken and performed the work, without valuing himself much
upon the enterprize. This bridge, as well as that of St. Esprit, is
built, not in a strait line across the river, but with a curve, which
forms a convexity to oppose the current. Such a bend is certainly
calculated for the better resisting the general impetuosity of the
stream, and has no bad effect to the eye.
Lyons is a great, populous, and flourishing city but I am surprised to
find it is counted a healthy place, and that the air of it is esteemed
favourable to pulmonic disorders. It is situated on the confluence of
two large rivers, from which there must be a great evaporation, as well
as from the low marshy grounds, which these rivers often overflow. 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. I was also very sick of
been ficas, grives, or thrushes, and other little birds, which are
served up twice a day at all ordinaries on the road. They make their
appearance in vine-leaves, and are always half raw, in which condition
the French choose to eat them, rather than run the risque of losing the
juice by over-roasting.
The peasants on the South of France are poorly clad, and look as if
they were half-starved, diminutive, swarthy, and meagre; and yet the
common people who travel, live luxuriously on the road. Every carrier
and mule-driver has two meals a day, consisting each of a couple of
courses and a dessert, with tolerable small wine. That which is called
hermitage, and grows in this province of Dauphine, is sold on the spot
for three livres a bottle. The common draught, which you have at meals
in this country, is remarkably strong, though in flavour much inferior
to that of Burgundy. The accommodation is tolerable, though they demand
(even in this cheap country) the exorbitant price of four livres a head
for every meal, of those who choose to eat in their own apartments. I
insisted, however, upon paying them with three, which they received,
though not without murmuring and seeming discontented. In this journey,
we found plenty of good mutton, pork, poultry, and game, including the
red partridge, which is near twice as big as the partridge of England.
Their hares are likewise surprisingly large and juicy. We saw great
flocks of black turkeys feeding in the fields, but no black cattle; and
milk was so scarce, that sometimes we were obliged to drink our tea
without it.
One day perceiving a meadow on the side of the road, full of a flower
which I took to be the crocus, I desired my servant to alight and pull
some of them. He delivered the musquetoon to Joseph, who began to
tamper with it, and off it went with a prodigious report, augmented by
an eccho from the mountains that skirted the road. The mules were so
frightened, that they went off at the gallop; and Joseph, for some
minutes, could neither manage the reins, nor open his mouth. At length
he recollected himself, and the cattle were stopt, by the assistance of
the servant, to whom he delivered the musquetoon, with a significant
shake of the head. Then alighting from the box, he examined the heads
of his three mules, and kissed each of them in his turn. Finding they
had received no damage, he came up to the coach, with a pale visage and
staring eyes, and said it was God's mercy he had not killed his beasts.
I answered, that it was a greater mercy he had not killed his
passengers; for the muzzle of the piece might have been directed our
way as well as any other, and in that case Joseph might have been
hanged for murder. "I had as good be hanged (said he) for murder, as be
ruined by the loss of my cattle." This adventure made such an
impression upon him, that he recounted it to every person we met; nor
would he ever touch the blunderbuss from that day. I was often diverted
with the conversation of this fellow, who was very arch and very
communicative. Every afternoon, he used to stand upon the foot-board,
at the side of the coach, and discourse with us an hour together.
Passing by the gibbet of Valencia, which stands very near the
high-road, we saw one body hanging quite naked, and another lying
broken on the wheel. I recollected, that Mandrin had suffered in this
place, and calling to Joseph to mount the foot-board, asked if he had
ever seen that famous adventurer. At mention of the name of Mandrin,
the tear started in Joseph's eye, he discharged a deep sigh, or rather
groan, and told me he was his dear friend. I was a little startled at
this declaration; however, I concealed my thoughts, and began to ask
questions about the character and exploits of a man who had made such
noise in the world.
He told me, Mandrin was a native of Valencia, of mean extraction: that
he had served as a soldier in the army, and afterwards acted as
maltotier, or tax-gatherer: that at length he turned contrebandier, or
smuggler, and by his superior qualities, raised himself to the command
of a formidable gang, consisting of five hundred persons well armed
with carbines and pistols. He had fifty horses for his troopers, and
three hundred mules for the carriage of his merchandize. His
head-quarters were in Savoy: but he made incursions into Dauphine, and
set the marechaussee at defiance. He maintained several bloody
skirmishes with these troopers, as well as with other regular
detachments, and in all those actions signalized himself by his courage
and conduct. Coming up at one time with fifty of the marechaussee who
were in quest of him, he told them very calmly, he had occasion for
their horses and acoutrements, and desired them to dismount. At that
instant his gang appeared, and the troopers complied with his request,
without making the least opposition. Joseph said he was as generous as
he was brave, and never molested travellers, nor did the least injury
to the poor; but, on the contrary, relieved them very often. He used to
oblige the gentlemen in the country to take his merchandize, his
tobacco, brandy, and muslins, at his own price; and, in the same
manner, he laid the open towns under contribution. When he had no
merchandize, he borrowed money off them upon the credit of what he
should bring when he was better provided. He was at last betrayed, by
his wench, to the colonel of a French regiment, who went with a
detachment in the night to the place where he lay in Savoy, and
surprized him in a wood-house, while his people were absent in
different parts of the country. For this intrusion, the court of France
made an apology to the king of Sardinia, in whose territories he was
taken. Mandrin being conveyed to Valencia, his native place, was for
some time permitted to go abroad, under a strong guard, with chains
upon his legs; and here he conversed freely with all sorts of people,
flattering himself with the hopes of a pardon, in which, however, he
was disappointed. An order came from court to bring him to his trial,
when he was found guilty, and condemned to be broke on the wheel.
Joseph said he drank a bottle of wine with him the night before his
execution. He bore his fate with great resolution, observing that if
the letter which he had written to the King had been delivered, he
certainly should have obtained his Majesty's pardon. His executioner
was one of his own gang, who was pardoned on condition of performing
this office. You know, that criminals broke upon the wheel are first
strangled, unless the sentence imports, that they shall be broke alive.
As Mandrin had not been guilty of cruelty in the course of his
delinquency, he was indulged with this favour. Speaking to the
executioner, whom he had formerly commanded, "Joseph (dit il), je ne
veux pas que tu me touche, jusqu'a ce que je sois roid mort," "Joseph,"
said he, "thou shalt not touch me till I am quite dead."--Our driver
had no sooner pronounced these words, than I was struck with a
suspicion, that he himself was the executioner of his friend Mandrin.
On that suspicion, I exclaimed, "Ah! ah! Joseph!" The fellow blushed up
to the eyes, and said, Oui, son nom etoit Joseph aussi bien que le
mien, "Yes, he was called Joseph, as I am." I did not think proper to
prosecute the inquiry; but did not much relish the nature of Joseph's
connexions. The truth is, he had very much the looks of a ruffian;
though, I must own, his behaviour was very obliging and submissive.
On the fifth day of our journey, in the morning, we passed the famous
bridge at St. Esprit, which to be sure is a great curiosity, from its
length, and the number of its arches: but these arches are too small:
the passage above is too narrow; and the whole appears to be too
slight, considering the force and impetuosity of the river. It is not
comparable to the bridge at Westminster, either for beauty or solidity.
Here we entered Languedoc, and were stopped to have our baggage
examined; but the searcher, being tipped with a three-livre piece,
allowed it to pass. Before we leave Dauphine, I must observe, that I
was not a little surprized to see figs and chestnuts growing in the
open fields, at the discretion of every passenger. It was this day I
saw the famous Pont du Garde; but as I cannot possibly include, in this
letter, a description of that beautiful bridge, and of the other
antiquities belonging to Nismes, I will defer it till the next
opportunity, being, in the mean time, with equal truth and
affection,--Dear Sir, Your obliged humble Servant.