magistrate, who seemed to be a taylor, accompanied me to the inn, where
by this time the whole town was assembled, and endeavoured to persuade
me to compromise the affair. I said, as he was the magistrate, I would
stand to his award. He answered, "that he would not presume to
determine what I was to pay." I have already paid him a reasonable
price for his dinner, (said I) and now I demand post-horses according
to the king's ordonnance. The aubergiste said the horses were ready,
but the guides were run away; and he could not find others to go in
their place. I argued with great vehemence, offering to leave a
loui'dore for the poor of the parish, provided the consul would oblige
the rascal to do his duty. The consul shrugged up his shoulders, and
declared it was not in his power. This was a lie, but I perceived he
had no mind to disoblige the publican. If the mules had not been sent
away, I should certainly have not only payed what I thought proper, but
corrected the landlord into the bargain, for his insolence and
extortion; but now I was entirely at his mercy, and as the consul
continued to exhort me in very humble terms, to comply with his
demands, I thought proper to acquiesce. Then the postillions
immediately appeared: the crowd seemed to exult in the triumph of the
aubergiste; and I was obliged to travel in the night, in very severe
weather, after all the fatigue and mortification I had undergone.

We lay at Frejus, which was the Forum Julianum of the antients, and
still boasts of some remains of antiquity; particularly the ruins of an
amphitheatre, and an aqueduct. The first we passed in the dark, and
next morning the weather was so cold that I could not walk abroad to
see it. The town is at present very inconsiderable, and indeed in a
ruinous condition. Nevertheless, we were very well lodged at the
post-house, and treated with more politeness than we had met with in
any other part of France.

As we had a very high mountain to ascend in the morning, I ordered the
mules on before to the next post, and hired six horses for the coach.
At the east end of Frejus, we saw close to the road on our left-hand,
the arcades of the antient aqueduct, and the ruins of some Roman
edifices, which seemed to have been temples. There was nothing striking
in the architecture of the aqueduct. The arches are small and low,
without either grace or ornament, and seem to have been calculated for
mere utility.

The mountain of Esterelles,