pelle; gallery of paintings; nuns; few peers present; old men;
session short; not imposing; fine paintings in the Chapel;
admirable selection in the gallery; answer from Lord Cowley.

_May 8th._--Have devoted several days to study, nothing worthy of
remark.

_May 9th._--Left Paris for Lyons; on the top of the diligence on
the railroad to Orleans, level, fertile country; passed through
Orleans; saw Cathedral; Jeanne d'Arc; Loire; historical
recollections.

_May 12th._--Examined the curiosities of the town; rough-looking
people; homage to the Virgin; "Hotel du Midi;" view from the
Observatoire; Roman antiquities.

_May 13th._--Left Lyons in a steamer for Avignon; confluence of the
Rhone and Soane; varied, beautiful, and sometimes bold; romantic
scenery on the Rhone. Vienne; vineyards; wines; St. Villars;
Pontius Pilate; river very narrow and crooked; Roch de Tain;
Hannibal; vista of the valley of the Isere; Alps; Valence; St. Pay;
Percy; wine of St. Peroy; Castle of Crupol; Drome; Montilvart;
Viviers; rocks; canal; Ardiche; "Paul St. Esprit," great curiosity;
Roquemon; women carrying stones; noble and extensive work on the
banks of the river, and in the erection of new bridges.

_May 14th._--Avignon; wall; view from the tower of the Cathedral;
visit it; paintings very beautiful; palace; inquisition; left
Avignon for Beaucaire; river uninteresting; thence to Nismes by
railway; poor country; asses and mules used; women shoeing them;
people athletic, but very passionate and quarrelsome.

_May 15th._--Examined the antiquities of Nismes; truly wonderful
and interesting.

_May 16th._--Arrived at Montpellier; narrow streets; Citadel
Fountaine; promenade; Jardin des Plantes; Mrs. Temple's tomb; read
a passage from Young's Night Thoughts there; Baunia Palm; Ecole de
Medicine; Cathedral; Museum of Painting.

_May 17th._--Returned to Nismes; revisited the Amphitheatre and the
Maison Caree; beautiful in proportion and execution. Returned to
Beacaise; visited the Castle; very high, and remarkably strong;
crossed the river to examine a castle, now a prison; historical
recollections of both castles. Visited the Church dedicated to St.
Martha; curious front. Visited St. Martha's Tomb; felt awful in the
grim darkness, rendered barely visible b