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Fa r s Bourgoyn, a large town. Reach Verpiliere. This day’s journey is a fine vari-ation of hill and dale, well planted with chateaux, and farms and cottages fpread aboutit. A mild lovely day of fun-lhine threw no flight gilding over the whole. For tenor twelve days pall, they have had, on this fide of the Alps , fine open warm weather,with fun-fhine ; but on the Alps themfelves, and in the vale of Lombardy , on the otherfide, we were frozen and buried in fnow. At Pont Beauvoifin, and Bourgoyn, ourpaffports were demanded by the mllice bour^eoife, but no where elfe : they affure us,that the country is perfectly quiet every where, and have no guards mounted in thevillages—nor any fufpicions of fugitives, as in the fuminer. Not far from Verpiliere,pafs the burnt chateau of M. de Veau, in a fine fituation, with a noble wood behindit. Mr. Grundy was here in Auguff, and it had then but lately been laid in alhes ;and a peafant was hanging on one of the trees of the avenue by the road, one
among many who were feized by the miUcc bourgeoife for this atrocious act-27
miles.
The 27th. The country changes at once; from one of the fined in France , it be-comes almod flat and fombre. Arrive at Lyons, and there, for the lad time, fee theAlps ; on the quay there is a very fine view of Mont Blanc , which I had not feen be-fore ; leaving Italy, and Savoy, and the Alps , probably never to return, has fomethingof a melancholy fenfation. For all thofe circumdances which render that claflicalcountry illuftrious—the feat of great men—the theatre of the mod didinguiflied ac-tions—the exclufive field in which the elegant and agreeable arts have loved to range—what country can be compared with Italy ? to pleafe the eye, to charm the ear, togratify the enquiries of a laudable curiofity, whither would you travel ? In every bo-fom whatever, Italy is the fecond country in the world—of all others, the fured proofthat it is the fird. To the theatre ; a mufical thing, which called all Italy by contradto my ears ! What duff is French mufic! the didortions of embodied diflbnance.The theatre is not equal to that of Nantes ; and very much inferior to that of Bour-s deaux.-18 miles.
The 28th. I had letters to Monf. Goudard, a confiderable filk merchant, and,^waiting on him yederday, he appointed me to breakfad with him this morning. I<tried hard to procure fome information relative to the manufactures of Lyons ; butin vain: every thing was felon and fuivant. To Monf. l’Abbe Rozier, author of thevoluminous dictionary of agriculture, in quarto. I vifited him as a man very muchextolled, and not with an idea of receiving information in the plain practical line,■which is the objeCt of my enquiries, from the compiler of a dictionary. When Monf.Rozier lived at Beziers , he occupied a confiderable farm ; but, on becoming the in-habitant of a city, he placed this motto over his door— Laudato ingentia rura, exiguumsoldo, which is but a bad apology for no farm at all. I made one or two efforts to-wards a little practical converfation ; but he flew off from that centre in fuch eccentricradii of fcience, that the -vanity of the attempt was obvious in a moment. A phyficianprefent, remarked to me, that if I wanted to know common practices and products,I fhould apply to common farmers, indicating by his air and manner, that fuch thingswere b.neath the dignity of fcience. Monf. l’Abbe Rozier is, however, a man ofconfide able knowledge, though no farmer ; in thofe purfuits, which he has cultivat-ed with inclination, he isjudly celebrated—and he merits every eulogium, for havingfet on foot the Journal de Phyfique, which, take it for all and all, is by far the beftjournal that is to be found in Europe . His houfe is beautifully fituated, commandinga noble profpeCL; his library is furnifhed with good books-, and evey appearanceabout him points out an eafy fortune. Waited then on Monf. de Froffard, a proteftant
8 minifter,