r from the celebrity of the poet, than from its
local relations.

CHAP. XX.

_Departure from Avignon--Olive and Mulberry Fields--Orgon--St.
Canat--French Divorces--Inn at St.
Canat--Air--Situation--Cathedral--Society--Provisions--Price
of Land--Marseilles--Conclusion._

THE letters which I had expected reached me at Avignon, and the result
of their perusal was the information, that my presence was necessary in
America. I have not, however, contracted so much of the impertinence of
a Frenchman by my tour in France, as to trouble the reader of my Notes
with my domestic affairs. Suffice it therefore to say, that some family
occurrences, of which I obtained some previous information, required my
immediate departure from France, and that in consequence I resolved to
embark at Marseilles.

With this resolution, therefore, I left Avignon for Marseilles, a
distance of about seventy miles. We divided it therefore into two days;
arranging so as to reach St. Canat on the first night, and Marseilles on
the second.

The road to Orgon, where we dined, presented us with a great variety of
scenery, though the surface was rather level. All the country was
covered with olive and mulberry trees, and innumerable fruit-trees grew
up wild in the fields, as likewise flowering shrubs in the hedges. The
climate of this part of France is so delightful, that every thing here
grows spontaneously which is raised only by the most laborious exertions
in northern countries. The cottages which we passed on the road were
picturesque to a degree: they were usually thatched, and vines or
barberry trees, or honey-suckles, entirely enveloped the walls or
casements. The peasantry, moreover, though without stockings, appeared
happy; the women were singing, and the men, in the intervals of their
work, playing with true French frivolity. We saw many women working in
the fields: the French women are invariably industrious and active. It
may be supposed that this labour and exposure to a southern sun is not
very favourable to beauty. Accordingly, we saw few good-looking damsels,
but many with good shapes and good eyes. How is it, that the French, so
generally gallant, can suffer their women to take the fork and hoe, and
work so laboriously in the fields?

Orgon had nothing which merits even mention; I believe, however, it was
well known to the ancients, and is mentioned in some of the Latin
itineraries. A convent, very picturesquely situated, is n