themselves with dancing, the Montagues Russes, and similar sports.

Almost all the lower, and several individuals among the upper classes, are republican in their ideas; the celebrated air, which takes its name from Marseilles, having been long the rallying cry of this party. Many are, however, well disposed towards the reigning dynasty, especially the bulk of the higher class of inhabitants, and those connected with the commercial interests, which always suffer in times of political disturbances. A few years ago there were likewise a great number of Henriquinquists, Marseilles having been the point selected by the Duchess de Berri for her appearance and attempt to excite a revolution in favour of her son.

Marseilles possesses several hospitals; but though the medical service is efficiently performed, the mortality among the patients is great, owing principally to their close and confined locality. The hospital which contains the foundlings is especially badly ventilated; the children being placed two, and sometimes three together in the same cradle, swathed up so as to prevent movement of their limbs, and the curtains of their cots closely drawn. I could not refrain from expressing to the physician who accompanied me, my astonishment and indignation at this mode of treatment, which must annually cause the death of a considerable number. He was disposed to lay the blame upon the administration, who would not grant a sufficient number of cradles; but it must surely have been in his power to prevent the nurses from altogether excluding the air, by keeping the curtains closely drawn around the cradles, which were scarcely large enough to contain the infants. The worst managed of these establishments, however, is the hospital, or rather, as one of the directors of the administration of hospitals termed it, the place of detention for the insane. This gentleman expressed himself ashamed to conduct me through the establishment, and not without reason, as the state in which it is allowed to remain reflects discredit upon all who have to do with it, and upon the town. The patients walk about, or are huddled up in corners of the courtyards, (the women's department being separated by a wall from the men's,) around which are small cells, with iron grating instead of windows, many of them dirty, and containing one or two beds, with no other furniture. Some were even without beds, the occupant lying in a corner upon straw ; chains were lately occasionally made use of as a means of repression, but the strait waistcoat is now usually employed. At meal-times each patient receives his portion of soup or bread, eating it in the courtyard, or in his cell. A few cells on the first floor are fitted up as rooms for patients whose friends pay for their maintenance, and who are separated from the rest, and are better fed. No medical treatment appears to be adopted, except depletion in cases of violent mania.

There is little inducement for the passing stranger to delay his departure from Marseilles, which would be an unpleasant residence for any length of time. In summer the heat is so great as to keep people within doors till the evening. The country is generally parched up for want of rain, the roads are excessively dusty, and near the town are hemmed in by high walls. The winter is usually very cold, and the mistral or northern wind frequently prevails, especially in the spring, at which time the sun has considerable power—so that not only invalids, but also many persons in health, experience its baneful influence. This wind was described by the ancient Romans to be at times so powerful as to raise into the air stones as large as a man's fist, with clouds of dust and gravel, and that it not unfrequently overturned carriages and horses. Inflammation of the lungs and air-passages annually carry off a larger proportion of the poorer classes of the population, and consumption is very common, being frequently the consequence of acute attacks of inflammation.

Many persons en route to Italy go to Marseilles, on account of the steam-boats which leave every two or three days for the various ports along the coast. The passage by the French mails direct to Leghorn occupies about thirty hours.

CHAPTER IV.

Flocks of La Camargue—Arles—Nismes—An execution —Montpelier—Climate and Medical School of Mont, pelier—Cette—Baths of Balarue—Canal du Midi.

The traveller who is proceeding in a western direction towards the Pyrenees, may either embark from Marseilles for Cette, or he may go by way of Arles and Nismes, either by steam to the first-named town, (ascending a branch of the Rhone,) by land through Aix and Tarascon, or by the canal. The latter was the route which I selected, and which is the most agreeable for persons unencumbered with a carriage. After a drive of four hours, you arrive at Martigues, whence the boats start for Arles. They are like the canal or river boats in England, with a cabin, and roof on which the passengers stand in fine weather, and are drawn at the rate of six or seven miles an hour by the half-wild horses of the lie de la Camargue, a flat marshy tract of country, separated from the sea by embankments, and through which the canal was cut by order of Napoleon, previous to which period it was frequently inundated by the waters of the Rhone, between two branches of which it is enclosed. It serves for the pasturage of horses, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, which on the approach of summer are driven in flocks to the mountains. The greatest regularity prevails in the migration of these caravans. The number of sheep and goats amounts to between fifteen and twenty thousand, which are divided into different flocks, according to their strength and sex; the weakest go first, in order that they may enjoy the advantage of cropping the grass before it is trodden down. Each flock is preceded by large goats with bells, which they follow as a leader. After the sheep and goats the horses follow; enormous dogs, of a breed similar to the St. Bernard, hover on the outskirts to prevent straggling, and to guard the flocks against the attacks of the wolves, which always follow at some distance.

Arles is an irregularly built town, on one of the embouchures of the Rhone, which can be navigated by large-sized vessels, (though during the prevalence of the mistral the ascent is frequently not practicable even for steam-boats, which on these occasions are obliged to remain at sea.) It contains about twenty thousand inhabitants, and is alike celebrated for the beauty of its women, which is heightened by their picturesque costume, and for its antiquities, of which the principal is an