Cuges 2 1 3 



the tool itself to a farmer and he will not know how to use it, or 

 will be too much prejudiced to like it; a model he will still less 

 take the trouble to copy. Gentlemen farming ever\nvhere their 

 own lands^ with enthusiasm and passion for the art, would apply 

 and use those models ; but I fear that none such are to be found 

 in France. The spirit and pursuits of gentlemen must be 

 changed from their present frivolous turns before any such 

 thing could be effected. He approved of my recommending 

 turnips and potatoes; but said that good sorts were wanting; 

 and mentioned a trial he had made himself, a comparison of the 

 English and Provenfal potatoes in making bread, and the English 

 produced one-third more flour than the French. — Among other 

 causes of bad husbandry in France, he named the illegality of 

 usury; at present moneyed people in the country locked it up 

 instead of lending it for improvement. These sentiments of an 

 illustrious writer do him honour; and it was pleasing to me to 

 find that he gave attention to objects which have almost mono- 

 polised mine : and yet more so to find that this justly celebrated 

 writer, though not young, is in good spirits, and that he may live 

 many years to enlighten the world by the productions of a pen 

 that has never been employed but for the benefit of the human 

 species. 



Sth. To Cuges. For three or four miles the road leads 

 through rows of bastides and walls ; it is made of powdered white 

 stone, and, without exception, the most dusty I ever saw; the 

 vines, for twenty rods on each side, were hke a dressed head: 

 the country all mountains of rock, with poor pines. — Unin- 

 teresting and ugly; the plains, of no great breadth, are covered 

 with vines and olives. Meet capers first at Cuges. At Aubagne, 

 I dined on six dishes, not bad, a dessert, and a bottle of wine, for 

 24 sous and by myself too, for no table d'hote. What Monsieur 

 Dutens could mean by calHng the post-house at Cuge;. a good 

 auberge is inexplicable; it is a miserable hole, in which I have 

 one of the best rooms, without glass to the windows. — 21 miles. 



(^th. The country to Toulon is more interesting; the moun- 

 tains are bolder; the sea adds to the view; and there is one 

 passage among the rocks where are sublime features. Nine- 

 tenths are waste mountain, and a wretched country of pines, 

 box, and miserable aromatics, in spite of the climate. Near 

 Toulon, especially at Olioules, there are pomegranates in the 

 hedges with fruit as large as nonpareils ; they have a few oranges 

 also. The basin of Toulon, with ranges of three deckers and 

 other large men-of-war, with a quay of life and business, are fine. 



