192 
over fragments of rock, forming cascades, com- 
pared with which all the paltry squirts of Versailles 
are mere baubles ; and then winds along a most ro- 
mantic valley, overhung with rocks of every varied 
form, which are here and there clothed with fine 
evergreen shrubs, and sometimes stuck with cot- 
tages, which seem equally in danger from the small- 
ness of their foundations, and the vast crags above 
them. 
Every Frenchman that comes here thinks it in- 
cumbent on him to set his brains a-jingling, and 
scribble something about love and Petrarch and 
Laura. We were tired to death with a man who 
travelled with us to Montpellier, who repeated to 
us some verses of his own and others of his friends, 
all about Vaucluse: they excited my indignation 
so much, that I thought it almost profanation of 
nature and feeling to indulge any similar ideas at 
so prostituted a spot ; and indeed even the passion 
of Petrarch for Laura has always seemed to me too 
artificial and affected to be touching. Notwith- 
standing all this, I could spend a solitary month at 
this charming spot, in the most delightful medita- 
tions; but I should rarely think of Petrarch. We 
slept at a comfortable inn, at a town not far distant, 
and returned next day to Avignon. The following 
morning set out for Marseilles, where we arrived in 
two days. Passed through Aix, a pleasant town, in 
a most delightful country, covered with olive-trees 
with vines between them, and here and there a 
towering cypress. Aix is the only place I have 
seen (except Marseilles perhaps) to which I should 
