38 Travels in France 



us by signs not to be mistaken^ and some great and operating 

 cause worked an effect too clear to be misunderstood. The 

 more one sees, the more I believe we shall be led to think, that 

 there is but one all-powerful cause that instigates mankind, 

 and that is Government! — Others form exceptions, and give 

 shades of difference and distinction, but this acts with permanent 

 and universal force. The present instance is remarkable; for 

 Roussillon is in fact a part of Spain ; the inhabitants are .Spani- 

 ards in language and in customs; but they are under a French 

 government. 



Great range of the Pyrenees at a distance. Meet shepherds 

 that speak the Catalan. The cabriolets we meet are Spanisk, 

 The farmers thresh their corn like the Spaniards. The inns and 

 the houses are the same. Reach Perpignan; there I parted 

 with Monsieur Lazowski. He returned to Bagnere de Luchon, 

 but I had planned a tour in Languedoc to fill up the time to 

 spare. — 15 miles. 



22nd. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld had given me a letter to 

 Monsieur Barri de Lasseuses, major of a regiment at Perpignan, 

 and who, he said, understood agriculture, and would be glad 

 to converse with me on the subject. I sallied out in the morning 

 to find him, but being Sunday, he was at his country-seat at 

 Pia, about a league from the town. I had a roasting walk 

 thither, over a dry stony country under vines. Monsieur, 

 Madame, and Mademoiselle de Lasseuses received me with great 

 politeness. I explained the motives of my coming to France, 

 which were not to run idly through the kingdom with the common 

 herd of travellers, but to make myself a master of their agri- 

 culture ; that if I found anything good and applicable to England 

 I might copy it. He commended the design greatly; said it 

 was travelling with a truly laudable motive; but expressed 

 much astonishment, as it w-as so uncommon; and was very sure 

 there was not a single Frenchman in all England on such an 

 errand. He desired I would spend the day with him. I found 

 the vineyard the chief part of his husbandry, but he had some 

 arable land, managed in the singular manner of that province. 

 He pointed to a village which he said was Rivesalta, which 

 produced some of the most famous wine in France ; at dinner I 

 found that it merited its reputation. In the evening returned 

 to Perpignan, after a day fertile in useful information. — 8 miles. 



2yd. Take the road to Narbonne. Pass Rivesalta. Under 

 the mountain there is the largest spring I ever saw. Otters 

 Pool and Hollpvell are bubbles to it. It rises at the foot of the 



