e remains of the old town and cathedral
of Maguelone, form a striking distant group, projecting like a low reef
of rocks into the sea at the distance of three or four miles. To judge
from the site of this ancient town, which tradition describes as the
original nucleus of Montpelier, the sea must have made great inroads on
the neighbouring coast. The air, it is said, is growing less wholesome
than formerly, owing probably to the accumulation of the etangs. From
the edge of the coast to Maguelone, the distance cannot be much less
than a mile and a half at low water.

The Montpelliards are considered a scientific people; and, at all
events, they seem to have found out the secret of perpetual motion, if
we may judge from the experience of the first night we spent in the
town. At half past nine, the principal street, which our hotel
overlooked, began to swarm with heads. The whole population were on the
alert, promenading during the greater part of the night; and such a busy
hum arose from beneath the windows, which the heat obliged us to keep
open, that it was impossible even to think of sleeping till daybreak.
Our accommodations indeed were not of the most tempting sort; for
finding the Hotel du Midi full of travellers, and consequently saucy
and unaccommodating, we had tried the Cheval Blanc, described to us as
the next best hotel; and detestable enough we found it. On stepping
however next morning into a cafe and restaurant in the Place de Comedie,
whose superior appearance had attracted us, we found that M. Pical, the
master of it, was in the habit of letting rooms, and we immediately
removed to his house. Nothing indeed could be more clean and elegant
than its accommodations, or more refreshing after the dusty journey of
the former day, and the nightly bustle of the streets, than its quiet
and coolness, situated as it is in a large area in the suburbs or
boulevards. The salle-a-manger partakes of the same character with the
rest of the house, and the carte contains a list of many more good
things than we were inclined to do justice to. In short, no traveller
can do better than order himself to be driven directly to this house,
which comprises all the advantages of a private residence at a
reasonable charge, with the recommendations of great attention and
civility.

This day, May 16, we attended service at the French Protestant Church,
and were gratified both with spending a morning on the shores of the
Mediterranean