£86 
fortunate wretch from mifery. To fuch 
an extent has this been carried, that, if we 
may believe fome of the moft obfervant, 
refpeCtable, and. b<ft-informed. people, 
more than one eighth (at one period, one 
fixth) of all the new-born children have 
been murd2ved! .Thofe Chriftian people 
judtify themfelves by the circumfances ; 
perbaps their hufbinds were torn from 
them to ferve in the armies, while they 
were big with chil’, or with a numercus 
family, or kiiled in battle; or perhaps the 
> fruit of an illicit intrigue to procure them- 
felves and other children fubfiitence. Of 
the few marriag:s that took place, {ill 
fewer were productive to the population, 
as. the, continued agitation of the paffions, 
the general milery and famine, occaficned 
by the want of employment and heavy 
tax-s,* muft have impeded the courfe of 
the animal economy, and occafioned fuch 
abortions ; that we now fee numbers of 
apparently healthy young people married 
fever. or eight years without having a na- 
tural born child. Thefe faéts conficered, 
with the lofs of 12,000 by the infurrecti n, 
the numerous emigrations and military 
conf{criptions, it is impoffible that the 
actual number of inhabitants can exceed 
68,0co. A town compofed of very nar- 
row, dark, and dirty ftreets; of high, 
firait, and excefiively dirty houfes; de- 
prived in a great meafure of freth air; 
expoled to the con{tant humidity exhal- 
ing from the rivers, and filled with every 
kind of nuifance that could refult from 
much more extenfive manufactories, can- 
not be very favourable either to healih or 
population. As to their ftate of fociety 
and their dometlic economy, they have no 
doubt changed confiderably. . ‘Ihe ailem- 
blage of many people produces ister- 
coyrfe, but it may not be of a facial 
kind. Communication is indipenfable, and 
therefore fociety muft exit; but feciey 
without friendfhipis a foullefs mechanifm, 
inimical to human life. Were we to ex- 
amine the fociety of the Lyonefe, it ~ouid 
be found perfectly cefitute of all friend- 
thip. Their converfation offers but two 
topics, complaints, accufations, and mu- 
tual recriminations, or rude and vulgar 
ob{cenity, both of which are carried to 
the utmoft extremity. Gambling is their 
only amufement 3; yet even then avarice 
-excites, difiipates, and the only alterna- 
* The taxes have been ftiJl augmenting 
every month on one articleor other: a tax on 
doors, on windows, fhops, é&c. andin 1802, four 
_7 turnpike. gates were rented fos 200,000 francs, 
or 33341. ftexling. 
Sketches of the prefent State of Lyons. 
' [Dec.t, 
tive is an application to fome fruitlefs la- 
bour. Every thing of tafte is contemned ; 
ard the theatre has not. here, as ia Paris, 
charms to afluage their miferies, and 
drown their misfortariés’ “In oblivion. 
Either from avarice or m’sfortune, their 
neceflity for inceffant labour appears ur- 
gent, and admits not of excufe. The drud- 
gery almof&t always fails to the womeb, 
whofe fituation in Lycns is truly pitiable ; 
and who are not, perhaps, fo highly 
efeemed by the men, as horfes are in 
England. Domeftic difputes mdeed are 
frequent and violent. The fitaation of 
the labourers and poorer mechanics is alfo 
very hard ; the neceffaries of life are com- 
paratively dear, and the reward of labour 
is very moderate. Their food of conrfe 
is generally nothing more than very coarfe 
brown bread, with fometimes foup or fruit. 
Ta no other town of France, indeed, do we 
fee fuch a confant application to Jabour, 
and’ fo little produced. Perhaps ‘their 
avarice, misfortunes, and unfocial mifan- 
thropy, may have contributed to abridge 
their capacity and powers of €xécution ; 
and that they may be an example of what 
the Parifians allege as an apology for 
their indolent levity, that a Frenchman 
can work more in three days than in fix! 
They hunt pleafure, defpife content, -and 
accumulate their own woes. 
Appearance and Charader. 
The appearance of this people is by ne | 
means prepoffefling or very remarkable. 
Nature, indeed, appears to have admi- 
rably adjufed their mental and phyfical 
powers, both of which feem rather dimi- 
nutive, Their fa:ure is generally fmall, 
and indifferently proportioned ; of a black. 
and failow complexion, with.a vifage and 
forehead furrowed with wrinkles. The 
women are cenerally much Je!s fair and as 
much lefs handfome than in the other 
provinces of France. Of their tafe and 
drefs we have a ttiking example in thofe 
nocturnal beauties, who prefent a melan- 
choly picture of paint, gaudy elegasce, - 
and dity rags. Indeed cleanlinefs is not 
deemed a virtue in Lyons. Here is labour 
without indufiry, and induttry witheut 
prodvétivenefs ; polite literature without 
tafie,* and ljearning without philofophy. 
- Whether 
* Asanexample of their former tafte and 
philofophy, we may obferve the famous decree 
of the Cunfulate of Lyons, m 1707, which 
ordered amoft ancient and curious monument, 
called the Tombeau de deux Amans, in the fub~ 
urb of Veyle, tobe deftroyed. Li is not iur- 
prifiog. 
