a parliament, of modern academies of science and art which made
some ado with their annual _Jeux Floraux_, and the nobility of the
province still had their town houses there, and lived in them all
winter. The society was more varied and refined than anywhere else in
France out of Paris.

Among the English residents was a cousin of David Hume, who had
entered the Gallican Church, and was then Vicar-General of the diocese
of Toulouse, the Abbe Seignelay Colbert. Smith brought a letter from
Hume to the Abbe, and the Abbe writes Hume in reply on the 4th of
March, thanking him for having introduced Smith, who, he says,
appeared to be all that was said of him in the letter. "He has only
just arrived," the Abbe proceeds, "and I have only seen him for an
instant. I am very sorry that they have not found the Archbishop here.
He went some six weeks ago to Montpellier, whence he will soon go to
Paris. He told me he had a great desire to make your acquaintance. I
fear that my long black cassock will frighten the Duke of Buccleugh,
but apart from that I should omit nothing to make his stay in this
town as agreeable and useful as possible."[140] He writes again on the
22nd of April, after having a month's experience of his new friends:
"Mr. Smith is a sublime man. His heart and his mind are equally
admirable. Messrs. Malcolm and Mr. Urquhart of Cromartie are now here.
The Duke, his pupil, is a very amiable spirit, and does his exercises
well, and is making progress in French. If any English or Scotch
people ask your advice where to go for their studies, you could
recommend Toulouse. There is a very good academy and much society, and
some very distinguished people to be seen here." In a subsequent
letter he says, "There are many English people here, and the district
suits them well."[141]

This Abbe Colbert, who was Smith's chief guide and friend in the South
of France, was the eldest son of Mr. Cuthbert of Castlehill in
Inverness-shire, and was therefore head of the old Highland family to
which Colbert, the famous minister of Louis XIV., was so anxious to
trace his descent. That minister had himself gone the length of
petitioning the Scotch Privy Council for a birth-brieve, or
certificate, to attest his descent from the Castlehill family, and the
petition was refused through the influence of the Duke of Lauderdale.
But his successor, the Marquis de Seignelay, found the Scotch
Parliament more accommodating in 1686 than the Scotch Pr