impossible for an
English lady to go in such a conveyance; and few gentlemen, even if
alone, would have the boldness to venture. The objections are: there is
but one room for all classes of people; they start at three and four
each morning; stop at miserable inns, and if you have heavy baggage, it
must be shifted at the locks, which is tedious and expensive. Adieu to
all our airy dreams of gliding through Languedoc in these _Cleopatrian
vessels_. They are infested with an astonishing variety of smells; they
are exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather; and they are filled
with bugs, fleas, and all kinds of bad company. The country to-day,
though still very flat, is much improved in beauty. Very fine large
meadows, bordered with willows, but too regular. Bullocks as common as
mules in the plough. Wheat far advanced, and barley, in some small
spots, in the ear. I learnt some curious particulars, if they can be
depended upon, concerning this conspiracy of Bonaparte from a Spanish
officer, who had taken a place in our cabriolet. He says, that one of
the chief means he has employed to create division in France, and to
make himself beloved, has been by carrying on a secret correspondence
with the Protestants, and persuading them that he will support them
against the Catholics; and by representing the King as wishing to
oppress them. To the army he has promised, that he will lead them again
against the allied Powers, who have triumphantly said they have
conquered them; this is a tender point with the French: At the present
time, when the troops are deserting their King, and flying to the
standard of the usurper, still even the most loyal among the people
cannot bear the idea that the allies should assist in opposing him.

We have continued with our coachman, and carry him on to Toulouse. He is
an excellent fellow, has a good berlin, with large cabriolet before, and
three of the finest mules I ever saw. He takes us at a round pace, from
15 to 20 miles before breakfast, and the rest after it, making up always
30 miles a-day. The pay for this equipage per mile is not much above a
franc and a half. We have found it the most comfortable way of
travelling for so large a party. He carries all our baggage, amounting
to more than 400 pounds, without any additional expence. The country
between Pezenas and Beziers, and between Beziers and Narbonne, is richer
and more beautiful than any part of Languedoc which we have yet seen. It
i