young’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.

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happened \Vithin a fortnight. On enquiry, I found they are fubjetl to thefe frofts allthrough the fpring months •, and though rye is fometimes killed by them, the mildewin wheat is hardly known; —a fact fufficiently deffruftive of the theory of frofls beingthe caufe of that diftemper. It is very rare that any fnow falls here. Sleep at Ventillac.

--22 miles.

The 12th. The Ihapfe and colour of the peafants’ houfes here add a beauty to thecountry ; they are fquare, white, and with rather flat roofs, but few windows. Thepeafants are for the moft part land-proprietors. Immenfe view of the Pyrenees beforeus, of an extent and height truly fublime: near Perges, a rich vale, that feems toreach uninterruptedly to thofe mountains, is a glorious fcenery : one vaft Iheet of cul-tivation ; every where chequered with thofe well built white houfes;—the eye lofingitfelf in the vapour, which ends only with that ftupendous ridge, whofe fnow-cappedheads are broken into the boldeft outline. The road to Cauffade leads through a veryfine avenue of fix rows of trees, two of them mulberries, w'hich are the firfl: we havefeen. Thus -we have travelled almoft to the Pyrenees before we met with an article ofculture which fome want to introduce into England. The vale here is all on a deadlevel; the road finely made, and mended with gravel. Montauban is old, but notill built. There are many good houfes, without forming handfome ftreets. It is faidto be very populous, and the eye confirms the intelligence. The cathedral is modern,and pretty well built, but too heavy. The public college, the feminary, the bilhop’spalace, and the houfe of the firfl prefident of the court of aids are good buildings ; thelad large, with a mod ihewy entrance. The promenade is finely fituated ; built onthe highelt part of the rampart, and commanding that noble vale, or rather plain,one of the riched in Europe , which extends on one fide to the fea, and in the frontto the Pyrenees ; whofe towering mafies, heaped one upon another, in a dupendousmanner, and covered with fnow, offer a variety of lights and {hades from indentedforms, and the immenfity of their projections. This profpect, which contains a femi-circle of an hundred miles diameter, has an oceanic vadnefs, in which the -eye lofesitfelf; an almod boundlefs fcenc of cultivations an animated, but confufed mafs ofinfinitely varied parts—melting gradually into the didant obfeure, from which emer-ges the amazing frame of the Pyrenees , rearing their filvered heads far above theclouds. At Montauban , I met Captain Plampin, of the royal navy; he was withMajor Crew, who has a houfe and family here, to which he politely carried us ; it isfweetly fituated on the Ikirts of the town, commanding a fine view; they were fo obli-ging as to refolve my enquiries upon fome points, of which a refidence made themcomplete judges. living is reckoned cheap here-; a family was named to us, whofeincome was fuppofed to be about fifteen hundred louis a-year, and who lived as hand-fomely as in England on 5000I. The comparative dearnefs and cheapnefs of differentcountries is a fubjeCl of confiderable importance, but difficult to analize. As I con-ceive the Englifh to have made far greater advances in the ufeful arts, and in manu-factures, than the French have done, England ought to be the cheaper country. Whatwe meet with in France , is a cheap mode of living, which is quite another conffdera-tion.-30 miles.

The 13th. Pafs Grifolles, where are well built cottages without glafs, and fomewith no other light than the door. Dine at Pompinion, at the Grand Soleil, an un-commonly good inn, where Captain Plampin, who accompanied us thus far, tookhis leave. Here we had a violent ftorm of thunder and lightning, with rain much hea-vier I thought than I had known in England ; but, when we let out for Tolouze, Iwas immediately convinced that fuch a violent {bower had never fallen in that king-

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