ather reminded me of a
story which I had heard in my infancy, of a prudent housewife, who first
roasted half a turkey for the family dinner, and when it had been twenty
minutes on the spit, sewed on the remaining half to welcome an
unexpected guest.

Our excursion on the Saone had in every respect answered so well, that
we were tempted to make inquiry whether the Rhone was also practicable
as far as Avignon. Learning, however, that this mode of conveyance was
seldom resorted to, and not liking the appearance of the passage-boats
which we saw, we concluded, and found afterwards, that there were
sufficient objections against it, excepting to those who wish to save
time and expense. The rapidity of the current, and the violence and
uncertainty of the winds which prevail upon the Rhone, render it
necessary to employ a very skilful boatman; and, in a picturesque point
of view, as much is lost by the intervention of the high banks of the
Rhone, which shut out the distant parts of the landscape, as is gained
by the perpetual accompaniment of water as a foreground. On the whole,
we found reason to prefer the land route by Vienne and Valence, for
which our arrangements were made accordingly.

I think it is an observation of Cowper, that

"God made the country, and man made the town;"

and not even the centre of Lombard-street itself affords a truer
illustration of the sentiment, than this town of mud and money,
contrasted with its beautiful environs. The distant view of Lyons is
imposing from most points; but the interior presents but few objects to
repay the traveller for its closeness, stench, and bustle (not even good
silk stockings). Its two noble rivers have had no apparent effect in
purifying it, nor the easterly winds from the Alps, which stand in full
sight, in ventilating its narrow smoky streets: and though usually
considered the second city of the empire in wealth and importance, the
houses and their inhabitants appear marvellously inferior to Bordeaux
and the Bordelais in the air of neatness and fashion which might be
expected to mark this distinction. In every thing relating to Bordeaux
there is an easy elegant exterior, which conveys the idea of an
independent and frequented capital of a kingdom, and an eligible
residence; whereas Lyons bears the obvious marks of its manufacturing
origin, defiling, like our own Colebrook Dale, a lovely country by its
smoke and stench, and leaving hardly one of the five senses u