putrid, if it was not well
ventilated by winds from the mountains of Swisserland; and in the
latter end of autumn, it must be subject to fogs. The morning we set
out from thence, the whole city and adjacent plains were covered with
so thick a fog, that we could not distinguish from the coach the head
of the foremost mule that drew it. Lyons is said to be very hot in
summer, and very cold in winter; therefore I imagine must abound with
inflammatory and intermittent disorders in the spring and fall of the
year.

My reasons for going to Montpellier, which is out of the strait road to
Nice, were these. Having no acquaintance nor correspondents in the
South of France, I had desired my credit might be sent to the same
house to which my heavy baggage was consigned. I expected to find my
baggage at Cette, which is the sea-port of Montpellier; and there I
also hoped to find a vessel, in which I might be transported by sea to
Nice, without further trouble. I longed to try what effect the boasted
air of Montpellier would have upon my constitution; and I had a great
desire to see the famous monuments of antiquity in and about the
ancient city of Nismes, which is about eight leagues short of
Montpellier.

At the inn where we lodged, I found a return berline, belonging to
Avignon, with three mules, which are the animals commonly used for
carriages in this country. This I hired for five loui'dores. The coach
was large, commodious, and well-fitted; the mules were strong and in
good order; and the driver, whose name was Joseph, appeared to be a
sober, sagacious, intelligent fellow, perfectly well acquainted with
every place in the South of France. He told me he was owner of the
coach, but I afterwards learned, he was no other than a hired servant.
I likewise detected him in some knavery, in the course of our journey;
and plainly perceived he had a fellow-feeling with the inn-keepers on
the road; but, in other respects, he was very obliging, serviceable,
and even entertaining. There are some knavish practices of this kind,
at which a traveller will do well to shut his eyes, for his own ease
and convenience. He will be lucky if he has to do with a sensible
knave, like Joseph, who understood his interest too well to be guilty
of very flagrant pieces of imposition.

A man, impatient to be at his journey's end, will find this a most
disagreeable way of travelling. In summer it must be quite intolerable.
The mules are very sure, but very