ility made no part of his qualities. His
dinner however was excellent and possible humour on the following day.
Mrs. Younge replied very smartly to some questions of her husband. This
lady had a true affection, and I will take upon me to say, that the
fidelity of Mr. Younge was such as to merit it.

Our road to Montelimart, our first or second stage (I really forget
which) was lined on each side with chesnut and mulberry trees. We passed
many vineyards, and innumerable orchards. For mile succeeding to mile it
was more like a garden than an open country. The fields, wherever there
was the least moisture, were covered with flowers; the hedges of the
vineyards breathed forth a most delightful odour; there was every thing
to cheer the heart and to refresh the senses. Some of the cottages which
we passed were delightfully situated: they invariably, however, whether
good or bad, were without glass to their windows; and the climate is so
dry and so mild, that they sleep with them thus exposed.

Montelimart is situated in a plain, which is covered with corn and
vineyards; and being here and there studded with tufts of chesnut trees,
has a rural and pleasing appearance. It is built on the bank of a small
river which runs from the Rhone, is a walled town, and has usually a
tolerably strong garrison. It has the same character, however, as all
the other towns on the Rhone--the streets are narrow, and the houses
low. In plain words, the town is execrable, but its scite delightful.

From Montelimart to where we slept, the name of which I have not noted,
the country improved in beauty; but we passed many peasant women, who
certainly were not so beautiful as the country. Their costume reminded
me very forcibly of Dutch toys--very broad-brimmed straw hats, and
petticoats not reaching to the knees. Add to this, naked legs, &c. Our
ladies smiled at my astonishment, and I smiled too, when I reflected to
what feelings and to what ideas people might be reduced by habit. In the
West Indies, a white lady feels no reluctance, no modest confusion, at
the sight of the nakedness of her male slave; and Madame Younge and
Mademoiselle St. Sillery, certainly the most modest women in France,
only smiled at my surprise, when these short petticoated women passed
me. So it is with custom. Time was, that many things startled me, which
I can now see or hear without wonder. But nothing, I hope, will ever
eradicate that modesty which is inseparable from a re