to descend the
Rhone, to _Pont St. Esprit_, or _Avignon_. So after we have taken a
fortnight's rest here, I intend rolling down with the rapid current,
which the united force of those two mighty rivers renders, as I am
assured, a short, easy, and delightful passage.

Nothing can be more beautiful than the country we passed through from
_Chalons_ hither. When we got within a few leagues of this great city,
we found every mountain, hill, and dale, so covered with _chateaux_,
country houses, farms, &c. that they appeared like towns, villages, and
hamlets. Nothing can be a stronger proof of the great wealth of the
citizens of _Lyons_, than that they can afford to build such houses,
many of which are more like palaces, than the country retreat of
_bourgeois_. The prospect from the highest part of the road, a league or
two from Lyons, is so extensive, so picturesque, and so enchantingly
beautiful, that, impatient as I was to enter into the town, I could not
refrain stopping at a little shabby wine-house, and drinking coffee
under their mulberry-trees, to enjoy the warm day, the cooling breeze,
and the noble prospects which every way surrounded us.

The town of _Lyons_, too, which stands nearly in the center of Europe,
has every advantage for trade, which men in trade can desire. The
_Soane_ runs through the centre of it, and is covered with barges and
boats, loaded with hay, wood, corn, and an infinite variety of goods
from all parts of the kingdom; while the _Rhone_, on the other side, is
still more serviceable; for it not only supplies the town with all the
above necessaries of life, but conveys its various manufactures down to
the ports of the _Mediterranean_ sea expeditiously, and at little
expence. The small boats, which ply upon the Soane as ours do upon the
Thames, are flat bottomed, and very meanly built; they have, however, a
tilt to shelter them from the heat, and to preserve the complexion, or
hide the _blushes_ of your female _Patronne_:--yes, my dear Sir,
Female!--for they are all conducted by females; many of whom are young,
handsome, and neatly dressed. I have, more than once, been disposed to
blush, when I saw a pretty woman sitting just opposite me, labouring in
an action which I thought would have been more becoming myself. I asked
one of these female _sculls_, how she got her bread in the winter? Oh,
Sir, said she giving me a very significant look, such a one as you can
better conceive, than I convey, _da