St. Geronds — Inns 49 



pierces the mountain. Most countries, however, have instances 

 of rivers passing underground. At St. Geronds go to the Croix 

 Blanche, the niost execrable receptacle of filth, vermin, impu- 

 dence, and imposition that ever exercised the patience or 

 wounded the feelings of a traveller. A withered hag, the demon 

 of beastliness, presides there. I laid, not rested, in a chamber 

 over a stable, whose effluvia through the broken floor were the 

 least offensive of the perfumes afforded by this hideous place.— 

 It could give me nothing but two stale eggs, for which I paid, 

 exclusive of all other charges, 20 sous. Spain brought nothing to 

 my eyes that equalled this sink, from which an English hog would 

 turn with disgust. But the inns all the way from Nismes are 

 wretched, except at Lodeve, Gauge, Carcassonne, and Mirepoix. 

 St. Geronds must have, from its appearance, four orfive thousand 

 people. Pamiers near twice that number. What can be the 

 circulating connection between such masses of people and other 

 towns and countries that can be held together and supported 

 by such inns? There have been writers who look upon such 

 observations as rising merely from the petulance of travellers, 

 but it shows their extreme ignorance. Such circumstances are 

 political data. We cannot demand all the books of France to 

 be opened in order to explain the amount of circulation in that 

 kingdom: a politician must therefore collect it from such cir- 

 cumstances as he can ascertain; and among these, traffic on the 

 great roads, and the convenience of the houses prepared for the 

 reception of travellers, tell us both the number and the condition 

 of those travellers ; by which term I chiefly allude to the natives 

 who move on business or pleasure from place to place; for if 

 they are not considerable enough to cause good inns, those who 

 come from a distance will not, which is evident from the bad 

 accommodations even in the high road from London to Rome. 

 On the contrary, go in England to towns that contain 1500, 

 2000, or 3000 people, in situations absolutely cut off from all 

 dependence, or almost the expectation of what are properly 

 called travellers, yet you will meet with neat inns, well dressed 

 and clean people keeping them, good furniture, and a refreshing 

 civility; your senses may not be gratified, but they will not 

 be offended; and if you demand a post-chaise and a pair of 

 horses, the cost of which is not less than £80 in spite of a hea\^ 

 tax, it will be ready to carry you whither you please. Are no 

 political conclusions to be drawn from this amazing contrast.? 

 It proves that such a population in England have connections 

 with other places to the amount of supporting such houses. The 



