1904.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
SKETCHES of the PRESENT STATE of 
LYONS, by aw ENGLISH TRAVELLER; 
who has juft returned from that City. 
(Continued from p. 286, No, 121.) 
Agriculture and Chmate. 
ff NONSIDERABLE numbers of the citi- 
zens are occupied in cultivating the 
furrounding high-lands,which arenaturally 
flerileand unproductive. It is univerlally 
admitted, that the entire Depa: tment of the 
Rhone, which contains 135 {quare leagues, 
is fo mountainous, that it does not produce 
corn fufficient to ferve Lyons two months 
inthe year. The price of bread, the fta- 
ple and almoft fole foad of the poorer peo- 
ple, is comparativelyhigh. Generally, the 
land is compofed of a very light, gravelly, 
and fametimes calcareous loam, which 
owes mott of its fertility to the vapours 
which arife from the rivers, and depofit 
their humidity on the adjacent hills. In 
thefe mountains are found blue limefioze, 
calcareous {par, {chifiofe mica, lepidotite, 
gncifs, hornblende, quartz, common fand- 
ftone, and granite. The labour is chiefly 
performed by the women, the men being 
generally too lazy or indolent to work in 
the fields; leaving it to the female fex to 
manure, till, and fow their lands. To 
effect this, much labour is required ; and 
thefe poor women are not unfrequently 
obliged to carry manure upon their backs, 
where the declivity is fo upright that the 
afcent of affes is impracticable. Here the 
produét in corn is certainly a very poor 
recompence 3 vines are fomewhat more ad - 
vantageous ; not that the quantity of wire 
is either great or good, but that they are 
fomewhat eafier to cultivate on the face of 
fuch declivities. In general the wines are 
very inferior; are poor, thin, and‘vapid ; 
the more {trong and lively wines of Bur- 
gundy and Champagne fll very high.* 
The fruits and vegetables too are both 
high priced, and of very indifferent qua- 
lity; as much inferior as they are dearer 
than thofe of Paris. Indeed tite number 
of fruit trees is very inconfiderable ; nor 
do mulberries (ucceed well, perhaps owing 
to the penury of the foil and the frequency 
of exhalations. Of the aétual tiate of 
agriculture, both here and throughout all 
France, it may be truly faid, that it is all 
and every where tilled, but no where cu:- 
tivated. The climate of Lyons is in a 
high degree cold, notwithftanding iis 
* The former attwo andthe latter at three 
francs a bottle ; 1s 8d. and as. 6d. 
MontTuHuy Mac. No. 122: 
Sketches of the prefent State of Lyons. 
385 
fouthern fituation. On one fide are chains 
of mountains from two to five thousand 
feet high, on the other the hoary-headed 
Alps, where refrigerating breezes incef- 
fantly {pring. At noon, during the fume 
mer months, the heat.is pretty confider- 
able; but thé mornings and evenings are 
continually frefh, and not untrequently 
chilling. In winter the frofts are often 
Jong and very intenfe. Agues and other 
nervous difeafes are common; and the 
Convent of St. Anthony was formerly an 
hofpital called ‘* Domus contradioria, a . 
contractione nervorum.’ ‘The voluminous 
and verbole writers of Lyons have not 
yet much advanced medical or meteorolo- 
gical icience by their numerous obferva- 
tions; a regular meteorological journal, 
notwithftanding the talents and induftry of 
Lamarik, being a thing ftill unknown 
there. 
Population and State of Socicty. 
Various are the ftatements of the aétual 
population of this city; eflimates of the 
number of its inhabitants have varied, ac- 
cording to the prejudice cf the calculator, 
from #20 to 78,000, all of which were 
_ official returns! Whe authors of the Sia- 
tiffique Générale de France have gratui- 
toufly given it 109,500 perfons; but, as 
is ufual with thofe writers, without enter- 
ing into any details. In general, the mo. 
dern French philofophers, whether in 
Rtatillics, commerce, er even in chemi- 
cal refults, examine fome familiar pare 
with much appearance of great ma. 
thematical accuracy, and afterwards 
liberally fxppofe the reft! It is in this 
manner that fuch founding numbers of 
inhabitants appear in their publifhed re+ 
ports. Tt is na doubt much ‘eafier to 
Juppofe than to inveftigate the real vum- 
ber. Lyons doés not new contain 
4000 houles, many of which are five and 
fix flories high, and contain, perhaps, 
from four to ix tamiiies. Thefe families 
generally confit either of an old or debi- 
litared man and woman, and very rarely 
or never exceed three perfons. Indeed, 
human nature feems to have degenerated 
here into miniature, by avarice and de- 
bauchery, which are likewife depopulating 
its walls not lefs rapidly than the fword. 
Few childyven are feen, and thofe that do 
appear are frequently either hunch-backed, 
bandy-legped, or otherwie deformed te- 
males. he rarity of children or young 
people will not appe ir extraordinary, when 
it is remembered, that during the laf ten 
years, infanticide was not only deemed 
innocent but meritorious, to refcue an une 
3k fortunate 
bo 
ry 
