matin song. I know nothing more pleasing to a traveller
than to pass a night at one of these provincial inns, provided he gets a
good bed and clean blankets. The moon shines through his casement with a
soft and clear splendor unparalleled in humid climates; and in the
morning he is awoke by the singing of birds, whilst his senses are
hailed by the perfume of flowers and by the freshness of a pure aether.

Having resumed our journey, we reached Aix at an early hour on the
following day, and passed an hour very pleasantly in walking over the
town and neighbourhood.

Aix, the capital of Provence, is very pleasantly situated in a valley,
surrounded by hills, which give it an air of recluseness, and romantic
retirement, without being so close as to prevent the due circulation of
air. It is surrounded by a wall, but which, from long neglect,
originating perhaps in its inutility, has become dilapidated, and
interests only as an ancient ruin. In the former ages, when France was
subdivided into dutchies and minor kingdoms, and when her neighbours
were more powerful, such walls were a necessary defence to the town: a
change in manners and government has now rendered them useless, and in
few centuries they will wholly disappear all over Europe. The interior
of the town very well corresponds with the importance of its first
aspect. It is well paved, the houses are all fronted with white stone,
and the air being clear, it always looks clean and sprightly. Many of
them, moreover, have balconies, and some of them are upon a scale, both
outside and inside, which is not excelled by Bath in England. Aix is
almost the only town next to Tours, in which an English gentleman could
fix a comfortable residence. The society is good, and to a stranger of
genteel appearance, perfectly accessible either with or without
introduction.

The cathedral of Aix is an immense edifice; the architecture is the
oldest Gothic, and has all the strength, the substance, and I was going
to add, all the tastelessness which characterizes that Order. The front
is ornamented with figures of saints, prophets, and angels, grouped
together in a manner the most absurd, and executed as if by the hands of
a working bricklayer. The grand portal, however is very striking. On the
side of the great altar is the magnificent tomb of the Counts of
Provence; the figures here, however, are as ridiculous as the style
itself is grand. The Gothic architects had better ideas of prop