i0 
On the fummit of the rocks on the op- 
pofite fide of the valley to that wherg the 
road is cut, ftand the time-honored ruins 
of a fpacious caftle, which, unlefs the 
rocks have crumbied away fince its erec- 
tion, muft have been built on the very brink 
of the precipice: fuch at leaf is its appa- 
rent fituation from the road, and we can 
notice thefe ancient edifices only as they 
ferve to ornament and enrich the land{cape. 
Two {mall coitages, not to be difcerned 
without difficulty, ftanding at a little dif- 
tance from each other towards the bottom 
of the valley, afforded an impreffive con- 
traft to this monument of paft magnificence: 
a zig-zag path, contrived to cheat the 
afcent of its declivity, led to each; at the 
door of one, which feemed to have the 
rock for its roof, ftood a man riving blocks 
for his hearth; I watched him for a con- 
fiderable time, and liftened attentively, but 
the found of his. beetle was not to be 
heard. Proceeding leifurely down the 
fide of the mountain, I heard the difant 
noife of rufhing water;..and my eyes were 
prefently attracted by a lofty water-fall, 
whoie light {pray was affimilated with and 
loft in air before it reached the bottom. 
Admiring the fingular beauty of this deli- 
cate picture, a valt body of fhow which 
oyer-hung the torrent, was detached trom 
its hold, and mingled with the foam; the 
found of this petty awalanche'vent the air, 
and, echoing throughout the valiey, rolled 
like a pealof thunder. Some river takes 
its rife among thefe hills, and meanders in 
a fhallow ftream through the vale: in- 
quiring of a peafant, whom I met near the 
village-of Cerdon, (where my friend, who 
had been waiting for me fome time, had 
already got the horfes harnefled,) what the 
name of this river was, I underftood him- 
to call it the Berme; but as he was unable 
to write it down for me, and as I cannot 
find any fuch name of a river in my map, J 
may probably be guilty of a mifnomer. 
' At the foot of Mont. Cerdon we have 
crofled the chain of hills which divides 
France from the territory of Geneva: and 
_ at the little village we congratulated each 
other that we had no hill of any compara- 
tive confideration to afcend between Cerdon 
and Calais; recollect the feafon and the 
fituation, nor rafhly arraign our tafte, and 
accuie us of infenfibility or indifference to 
the grandeur of Alpine {Cenery : 
You gentlemen of England, who live at home 
in eafe, £ e S 
Ah! little do yeu chinkofthe dangers of the feas! 
Lat night -we reached Macon, a large 
fown, fituated on the Soane, which is a 
noble river, befide which we have. travelled 
2 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva. 
‘[Feb: 1, 
a great part of our journey this day to 
Chalons, which is falfo built on its banks, 
and from the read prefents a very ftriking 
anda very handfome appearance. It was 
late when we arrived at Macon laf night, 
‘and ‘early when we left it this morning: 
the town flands low, and the furrounding 
lands are very extenfively flooded. The 
country which we have pafled through this 
day, abounds with gentle eminences, and 
the profpects are on a beautiful and ex- 
panded {cale: the vineyards are extenfive 
and abundant, and the plants look ftrong : 
the young wheats too flourifh,and vegetation 
in general indicates that the foilisrich. Our 
roads are infamoufly out of repair: but one 
cannot travel them without aftonifhment 
and admiration, at the perfevering labour 
and enormous expence with which they 
muft have been formed. For many. miles 
together they are raifed above the level of 
the flooded meadows, ten, twenty, and in 
fome places, I thould imagine, thirty teet 
high! Exclufive of many advantages with 
which it would have been attended, furely 
on the fcore even of expence alone it 
would have beea better to have drained 
thefe meadows and low lands, by means of 
canals cut in different dire€tions, till a bot- 
tom had been made fiifficiently firm to have 
borne a road of much lefs elevation— 
Autun, Dec. 26.—It is nowtwo o’clock 
in the afternoon: who fhould havethought 
of our being laid fait here for the day? 
We might well rife by four m_ the morn- 
ing, truly, fora long pull and a ftrong 
pull! When we had come within about 
half a league of this place, we met an 
avant-courier, in rich livery, riding full 
fpzed: prefently another: next a carriage 
and fix horfes, with two livery fervants, 
two other carriages completing the {fuite, 
one drawn by four horfes, and the other by 
five. ‘This was a little alarming, and our 
fears were f{peedily juftified, for the poft- 
maiter has informed us, that it is impof- 
fible to proceed in our journey, as every 
horfe is engaged in the train of M. Talley- 
rand Perigord, Minifter of the Interior, 
whorh we had juft met in his way to Lyons, 
whither we learn that the Firit Conful is 
going in perfon to meet a deputatien of 
five hundred principal perfonages from the 
Cifalpine Republic, in order to appoint 
Confuls, and digeft fome Conftitutionat 
Regulations. A very {plendid convocation 
is expected, and I am a little mortified, 
being as it were within a ftone’s throw of 
Lyons, that it is incompatible with our 
plan to deviate from. the right line which 
our Geometry tells us is the fhorteft be- 
tween any two given points: De Buck has 
feveral, times procured. us horfes. where 
there 
