rance as in England; but there is a medium in all
things, and it would be as well if the Marseillois and their countrymen
of Lyons, had a little of that social and respectable pride, which
induces every cit of Hampstead or Clapham to set off his little box to
the best advantage. They seem to prefer the philosophical sulkiness
which Shakspeare's Iden describes himself as enjoying between four
garden walls.[51] On passing Aubagne, however, the valley of Gemenos
makes ample amends to the eye, uniting the verdure and wild character of
a Swiss vale, to the rich productions of Provence. After about three
miles, the road narrows to a mere cleft in the hills, which we threaded
for several miles, emerging at last upon the green bason of ground on
which Cujes stands. Here, for the first time, we saw capers, with a
profusion of every sort of esculent vegetable, which the inhabitants
cultivate with great assiduity, losing not an inch of ground. To such a
pitch, indeed, does their laudable economy proceed, that every
inhabitant of Cujes keeps a pet dunghill before his house, fearing no
doubt to lose sight of it; and in this wilderness of sweets the good
women sat basking and gossiping with great satisfaction.

[Footnote 51: See Second Part of Henry VI. Act 4.]

At Cujes we breakfasted in the same salle-a-manger with an agreeable old
Marseillois and his wife, who confirmed Peyrol's account of the bloody
revolutionary committee at Orange, and added circumstances which, at
this distance of time, seemed still fresh in their minds. The latter had
been confined four months in the prison at L'Isle, near Avignon, from
which detachments of persons were daily sent to be tried at Orange, none
of whom returned. Among the sufferers were a Mad. Vidou, a superannuated
widow of ninety, who was guillotined in company with her son, an amiable
and respectable man, and was unconscious of her fate till the last.
Forty nuns of the convent of Bollene were also among the prisoners,
accused of a plot to bring about a counter-revolution, and four had been
already guillotined on this charge when the fall of Robespierre took
place. Three of this lady's friends had been reported as emigrants, and
lost their property, merely from not having been at home when the
commissaires made their visit. The wife of one of these offered to
recall him in ten minutes, if necessary: "Non, Citoyenne, c'est egal;"
and he was accordingly enrolled and treated as an emigrant, thoug