vines of this country, however, are said to yield
better in quantity than in quality. They produce much, but the wine is
bad, and not fit for exportation.

In every hedge we passed were medlars, plumbs, cherries, and maples with
vines trained to them. This abundance of fruit gives an air of great
plenty, and likewise much improves the beauty of the country. The French
fruit of almost every kind exceeds the English. An exception must be
made with respect to apples, which are better in England than in any
country in the world. But the grapes, the plumbs, the pears, the
peaches, the nectarines, and the cherries of France, have not their
equal all the world over. They are of course cheap in proportion to
their abundance. The health of the peasantry may perhaps in good part be
imputed to this vegetable abundance. It is a constant maxim with
physicians, that those countries are most healthy, where from an
ordinary laxative diet, the body is always kept open. Half the diseases
in the world originate in obstructions.

Rouane is a considerable town on the Loire; it is very ancient in its
origin, and its appearance corresponds with its antiquity. It is chiefly
used as an entrepot for all the merchandize, corn, wine, &c. which is
sent down the Loire. It is accordingly a place of infinite bustle, and
in despite of the river, is very dirty. He must be more fastidious than
belongs to a traveller, who cannot excuse this necessary appendage of
trade, and particularly in a town on the Loire, where a walk of ten
minutes will carry him from the narrow streets into one of the sweetest
countries under Heaven. Even the necessary filth of commerce cannot
destroy, or scarcely deface the beauty of the country.

Our inn at Rouane was execrable beyond measure. Without any regard to
decency, we were introduced into a sleeping room with three beds, and
informed that Monsieur and Madame Younge were to sleep in one,
Mademoiselle St. Sillery in another, and myself in the third. It was not
without difficulty that I could procure another arrangement. The beds,
moreover, were without pillows.

From Rouane to Bresle the country assumes a mountainous form, and the
road is bordered with chesnut trees. We had got now into the district of
mulberries, and we passed innumerable trees of them. Like other
fruit-trees, they grow wild, in the middle of fields, hedge-rows, and by
the road side. A stranger travelling in France is led to conclude, that
there is no