Within the last century it has been fashionable in England to give the
name of Montpellier to many places, new streets, rows of houses, terraces,
and gardens, where the situation has been supposed to have been at all
favourable; indeed, there seems to be something attractive in the very
sound of the word Montpellier; but the original city has much fallen off,
and is not so much frequented now, but on account of its former fame, and
the assemblage of the States of Languedoc during the winter, when the
noble families still maintain their old exemplary hospitality. Joseph
Scaliger is known to have asserted, that if he had his choice where to end
his days, of all cities in the world he should prefer Montpellier; but
since that time physicians have agreed that there has been a remarkable
change of climate; and from my own observation I must declare, that I knew
several consumptive patients who seemed to have recovered at Marseilles,
and almost all relapsed again after they had remained for some time at
Montpellier.
_Cradock's Literary Memoirs_.
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