f Briancon, coral, antihecticum poterii, and the balm of Canada?
As for the turtle-soupe, it is a good restorative and balsamic; but, I
apprehend, will tend to thicken rather than attenuate the phlegm. He
mentions not a syllable of the air, though it is universally allowed,
that the climate of Montpellier is pernicious to ulcerated lungs; and
here I cannot help recounting a small adventure which our doctor had
with a son of Mr. O--d, merchant in the city of London. I had it from
Mrs. St--e who was on the spot. The young gentleman, being consumptive,
consulted Mr. F--, who continued visiting and prescribing for him a
whole month. At length, perceiving that he grew daily worse, "Doctor
(said he) I take your prescriptions punctually; but, instead of being
the better for them, I have now not an hour's remission from the fever
in the four-and-twenty.--I cannot conceive the meaning of it." F--, who
perceived he had not long to live, told him the reason was very plain:
the air of Montpellier was too sharp for his lungs, which required a
softer climate. "Then you're a sordid villain (cried the young man) for
allowing me to stay here till my constitution is irretrievable." He set
out immediately for Tholouse, and in a few weeks died in the
neighbourhood of that city.

I observe that the physicians in this country pay no regard to the
state of the solids in chronical disorders, that exercise and the cold
bath are never prescribed, that they seem to think the scurvy is
entirely an English disease; and that, in all appearance, they often
confound the symptoms of it, with those of the venereal distemper.
Perhaps I may be more particular on this subject in a subsequent
letter. In the mean time, I am ever,-- Dear Sir, Yours sincerely.

LETTER XII

NICE, December 6, 1763.

DEAR SIR,--The inhabitants of Montpellier are sociable, gay, and
good-tempered. They have a spirit of commerce, and have erected several
considerable manufactures, in the neighbourhood of the city. People
assemble every day to take the air on the esplanade, where there is a
very good walk, just without the gate of the citadel: but, on the other
side of the town, there is another still more agreeable, called the
peirou, from whence there is a prospect of the Mediterranean on one
side, and of the Cevennes on the other. Here is a good equestrian
statue of Louis XIV, fronting one gate of the city, which is built in
form of a triumphal arch, in honour of the same