vin.] TRAVELS, 1835. 223 



furnished with good roads. . . . But notwithstanding all 

 this, and although the mineral waters are stated to be 

 more abundant here than anywhere else, and equal in 

 quality to those of Bareges, nobody comes here unless 

 from Toulouse and the neighbourhood. Altogether, I 

 am very glad that I came here, not only because I have 

 seen a great deal of good scenery on my way from 

 Luchon, but also because there is perhaps no other part 

 of France where you find the French quite pure and 

 unmixed with strangers ; and moreover, being a place of 

 considerable local resort, there is a good hotel. The 

 abundance of hot water here is something extraordinary. 

 There are sixty or seventy springs in the town, and one 

 of them, in the market-place, of the great temperature 

 of 168 (scalding hot), constantly sends forth a stream as 

 thick as your arm, to the great convenience of the 

 inhabitants, who use it for washing and every sort of 

 purpose. This is by far the hottest spring I have seen, 

 except the baths of Nero, and perhaps the most abundant. 

 It is marvellous to think where all this comes from, 

 but the quantity of the Pyrenean waters is indeed sur- 

 prising. . . . 



' I was dreaming, the ni^ht before last, of my arrival 

 jit home. I MID not tired of my journey ; on the contrary, 

 I have enjoyed it increasingly. I am more and more 

 convince] ,,f the value of such ;i fallow for the mind, 

 connected with the most favourable reaction upon it of 



; porous bodily state. Yet it is curious how in travel- 

 ling my thoughts almost alwavs recur to old times, and 

 to the sacred associations of childhood, which, about my 

 time of life, l>egin to be forcibly felt. Circumstances 

 the most minute present themselves in fresh and ^lowin^ 

 colours both in my daily walks and nightly dreams : and 

 nd many a time, when wandering through the 

 itiful forests of bo.\-tivrs, have I recollected the days 



>ur feasts, for which it used to be "my favourite 

 green" as poor Mr. Shand says and recalled the 

 rn with which I ii<.-d to decorate the table, my 

 i'-nt. Yes, the CM//, </'dil of a <- 



