d exclaimed in a
rage, "Zounds! what do I see? harlequin's hat on the head of Augustus!"

Without all doubt it is ravishingly beautiful. The whole world cannot
parallel it; and I am astonished to see it standing entire, like the
effects of inchantment, after such a succession of ages, every one more
barbarous than another. The history of the antiquities of Nismes takes
notice of a grotesque statue, representing two female bodies and legs,
united under the head of an old man; but, as it does not inform us
where it is kept, I did not see it.

The whole country of Languedoc is shaded with olive trees, the fruit of
which begins to ripen, and appears as black as sloes; those they pickle
are pulled green, and steeped for some time in a lye made of quick lime
or wood ashes, which extracts the bitter taste, and makes the fruit
tender. Without this preparation it is not eatable. Under the olive and
fig trees, they plant corn and vines, so that there is not an inch of
ground unlaboured: but here are no open fields, meadows, or cattle to
be seen. The ground is overloaded; and the produce of it crowded to
such a degree, as to have a bad effect upon the eye, impressing the
traveller with the ideas of indigence and rapacity. The heat in summer
is so excessive, that cattle would find no green forage, every blade of
grass being parched up and destroyed. The weather was extremely hot
when we entered Montpellier, and put up at the Cheval Blanc, counted
the best auberge in the place, tho' in fact it is a most wretched
hovel, the habitation of darkness, dirt, and imposition. Here I was
obliged to pay four livres a meal for every person in my family, and
two livres at night for every bed, though all in the same room: one
would imagine that the further we advance to the southward the living
is the dearer, though in fact every article of housekeeping is cheaper
in Languedoc than many other provinces of France. This imposition is
owing to the concourse of English who come hither, and, like simple
birds of passage, allow themselves to be plucked by the people of the
country, who know their weak side, and make their attacks accordingly.
They affect to believe, that all the travellers of our country are
grand seigneurs, immensely rich and incredibly generous; and we are
silly enough to encourage this opinion, by submitting quietly to the
most ridiculous extortion, as well as by committing acts of the most
absurd extravagance. This folly of the E