opposite side of the river produces
the wine called the _cote rotie_. The average yearly produce is nearly
one thousand hogsheads, and the price of the wine on the spot, in
retail, is about 3_s._ 6_d._ English money the bottle. From the window
of the apartment in which we breakfasted, we had a view of the town of
Tournon, and the ruins of an old castle, which very pleasantly invited
our imagination into former times.

Proceeding on our journey, ourselves, our horses, and our carriage, were
all transported over the river in a boat, which instead of being ferried
over by men, was dragged over by a pulley and rope on the opposite side.
I should imagine that this method is not very safe, but it certainly
saves labour and trouble; and it is impossible to build a bridge over a
river like the Rhone and the Isere. This river is very rapid, but not
very clear. Its banks are rocky, hilly, and occasionally open into the
most beautiful scenery which it is possible for poet or painter to
conceive. The Isere was well known to the ancients.

We dined at Valence, which is delightfully situated in a plain six or
eight miles in breadth. It was well known to the Romans by the name of
Valentia, and is supposed to have been so called from its healthy scite,
or, according to other writers, from the military strength of its
situation. The rocks in its vicinity gave it an air of great wildness,
and there are many popular stories as to its former inhabitants. The
town however has nothing but its scite to recommend it. The streets are
narrow, without air, and therefore very dirty. There is a church of the
most remote antiquity: I had not leisure to examine it, but its external
appearance corresponded with its reputed age. It was evidently built by
the Romans, but has been so much altered, that it is difficult to say
whether its original destination was a theatre or a temple. In the Roman
ages, theatres were national works, and therefore corresponded with the
characteristic greatness of the empire, and every thing which belonged
to it. What play-house in Europe would survive two thousand years! This
single reflection appears to me to put the comparative greatness of the
Romans in a most striking point of view. They built, indeed, for
posterity, and their architecture had the character of their writing--it
passed unhurt down the stream of time.

The inn-keeper at Valence amused us much by his empty pomposity. He was
a complete character, but civ