we advance in Languedoc; but what is better, the
cultivation is very superior; large fields of fine wheat. There seems to
be all over the south the same want of horned cattle; horses also are
very scarce and very bad:--milk never to be had unless very early, and
then in small quantity. No land wasted here. All the houses about
Montpellier are better than near Aix, and we even saw some neat country
seats, a circumstance almost unknown in all the parts of France where we
have hitherto been. The olive trees are here much larger and finer than
in Provence; but the country, although covered with olives, vines, and
wheat, is flat, ugly, and insipid. The instruments of agriculture are
even inferior to those in Provence, which last are at least a century
behind England. The plough here is as rude as in Bengal, and is formed
of a crooked branch of a tree shod with iron. As we approached near
Montpellier, the appearance of the country began to display more
beautiful features. The ground is more varied, the fields and meadows of
a richer green, a distant range of hills closes in the view, and the
olive groves are composed of larger and more luxuriant trees. Nearer to
the town, the country is divided into small nursery gardens, which,
although inferior to those in the environs of London, give an unusual
richness to the landscape. We arrived at Montpellier at six o'clock, and
from the crowd in the town, found much difficulty in procuring an hotel.

* * *

_Monday_, 20th April.--We have better news to-day; letters from the Duke
d'Angouleme announce that the whole conspiracy has been discovered, and
that Soult (Ministre de Guerre) and several other generals have been
arrested. In consequence of which, it is expected that the plans of the
conspirators will be in a great measure defeated. The French change in a
moment from the extreme of grief to the opposite, that of the most
extravagant joy. To-day they are in the highest spirits;--but things
still look very ill. No courier from Paris for these last four days. The
ex-Emperor still marching uninterruptedly towards that city, yet no one
can conceive that he will succeed, now that the King's eyes are
open;--his clemency alone has occasioned all this--he would not consent
to remove the declared friends of Napoleon.

We passed this day at Montpellier; but were prevented by the intense
heat of the sun from seeing as much of the environs as we could have
wished. The town is old and the str