nnexed to every paltry inn on the road from Lyons to the
southward, and which serve both as warehouse and stable to the hosts of
stout Provencal carriers, who travel with wine, oil, and merchandise to
the interior. The remise at Vienne was sixty feet square, without
compartment; its roof-timbers were worthy of Westminster Hall, and for
its folding doors

"The gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd host,
Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through,
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;
So wide they stood!"

Independent of the uses to which these capacious buildings are properly
applied, they furnish the most agreeable place for rest and refreshment,
during the heat of the day, being, as the traveller will frequently
experience, the coolest and the sweetest place belonging to the inn.

During the rest of our day's journey, nothing occurred worthy of
attention, until the descent into Peage de Rousillon, where we slept.
Here the Rhone, of which we had lost sight, again appears winding
through the broad rich valley which opens at the foot of the hill; and
Mont Pilate also, after you have lost sight of it for the last seven or
eight miles, and expect to see it behind you, again makes its appearance
at a distance seemingly undiminished. So difficult is it to judge of the
real bearings of objects in this clear air, which in fact is less
favourable to the display of the grander features of nature, than our
own misty Ossianic climate.

Our inn at Peage de Rousillon, although the only place in the
neighbourhood at which we could have slept in any comfort, somewhat
resembled, in its general style, those recorded in Don Quixote, and
afforded similar adventures. In the midst of our supper, (which was by
no means a bad one of the kind), in burst a fat German woman in a
transport of fury, who thought herself ill-used in the allotment of the
rooms; squabbling in a very discordant key with the landlady, who
followed her "blaspheming an octave higher." Both were apparently
viragos of the first order, and the keen encounter of their wits was so
loud, that we turned a deaf ear to the German's appeal, and insisted on
their choosing another field of battle. Battle however was the order of
the day, or rather night, for both myself and my servant were roused in
the middle of the night to put a stop to a drunken quarrel on the
staircase, which we effected by ordering down stairs the Mar