ica.

However fine and salubrious the air of this town might have been
formerly, it is far otherwise now; and it may be naturally accounted
for; the sea has retired from the coast, and has left three leagues of
marshy ground between it and the town, where the hot sun, and stagnated
waters, breed not only flies, but distempers also; beside this, there
is, and ever was, something very peculiar in the air of the town itself:
it is the only town in France where verdigris is made in any great
quantity; and this, I am inclined to think, is not a very favourable
circumstance; where the air is so disposed to cankerise, and corrode
copper, it cannot be so pure, as where none can be produced; but here,
every cave and wine-cellar is filled with sheets of copper, from which
such quantities of verdigris are daily collected, that it is one of the
principal branches of their trade. The streets are very narrow, and
very dirty; and though there are many good houses, a fine theatre, and a
great number of public edifices beside churches, it makes altogether but
an indifferent figure.

Without the walls of the town, indeed, there stands a noble equestrian
statue of Louis the XIVth, surrounded with spacious walks, and adorned
with a beautiful fountain. Their walks command a view of the
Mediterranean Sea in front, and the Alps and Pyrenees on the right and
left. The water too is conducted to a most beautiful _Temple d' Eau_
over a triple range of arches, in the manner of the _Pont du Gard_, from
a very considerable distance. The modern arches over which it runs, are
indeed, a great and mighty piece of work; for they are so very large,
extended so far, and are so numerous, that I could find no person to
inform me of their exact number; however, I speak within the bounds of
truth, I hope, when I say there are many hundred; and that it is a work
which the Romans might have been proud of, and must therefore convey an
high idea of the riches and mightiness of a kingdom, wherein one
province alone could bear, and be willing too to bear, so great an
expence, and raise so useful, as well as beautiful a monument; for
beside the immense expence of this triple range of arches, the source
from whence the water is conveyed is, I think, three leagues distant
from the town, by which means every quarter of it is plentifully
supplied with fountains which always run, and which in hot climates are
equally pleasing, refreshing, and useful.

The town abounds