Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vo | Page 8

disgust it; but
ceaseless variety of colouring among the plants, while the cærulean
willow, the yellow walnut, the gloomy beech, and silver theophrastus,
seem scattered by the open hand of lavish Nature over a landscape of
respectable extent, uniting that sublimity which a wide expanse always
conveys to the mind, with that distinctness so desired by the eye; which
cultivation alone can offer and fertility bestow. Every town that should
adorn these lovely plains, however, exhibits, upon a nearer approach,
misery; the more mortifying, as it is less expected by a spectator, who
requires at least some days experience to convince him that the squallid
scenes of wretchedness and dirt in which he is obliged to pass the night,
will prove more than equivalent to the pleasures he has enjoyed in the
day-time, derived from an appearance of elegance and wealth--elegance,
the work of Nature, not of man; and opulence, the immediate gift of
God, and not the result of commerce. He who should fix his residence
in France, lives like Sir Gawaine in our old romance, whose wife was
bound by an enchantment, that obliged her at evening to lay down the
various beauties which had charmed admiring multitudes all day, and
become an object of odium and disgust.
The French do seem indeed an idle race; and poverty, perhaps for that
reason, forces her way among them, through a climate that might tempt
other mortals to improve its blessings; but, as the motto to the arms
they are so proud of expresses it--"they _toil not, neither do they
spin_." Content, the bane of industry, as Mandeville calls it, renders
them happy with what Heaven has unsolicited shaken into their lap;
and who knows but the spirit of blaming such behaviour may be less
pleasing to God that gives, than is the behaviour itself?
Let us not, mean time, be forward to suppose, that whatever one sees
done, is done upon principle, as such fancies will for ever mislead one:

much must be left to chance, when we are judging the conduct either of
nations or individuals. And surely I never knew till now, that so little
religion could exist in any Christian country as in this, where they drive
their carts, and keep their little shops open on a Sunday, forbearing
neither pleasure nor business, as I see, on account of observing that day
upon which their Redeemer rose again. They have a tradition among
the meaner people, that when Christ was crucified, he turned his head
towards France, over which he pronounced his last blessing; but we
must accuse them, if so, of being very ungrateful favourites.
This stately city, Lyons, is very happily and finely situated; the Rhone,
which flows by its side, inviting mills, manufactures, &c. seems
resolved to contradict and wash away all I have been saying; but we
must remember, it is five days journey from Paris hither, and I have
been speaking only of the little places we passed through in coming
along.
The avenue here, which leads to one of the greatest objects in the
nation, is most worthy of that object's dignity indeed: the marriage of
two rivers, which having their sources at a prodigious distance from
each other, meet here, and together roll their beneficial tribute to the
sea. Howell's remark, "That the Saone resembles a Spaniard in the
slowness of its current, and that the Rhone is emblematic of French
rapidity," cannot be kept a moment out of one's head: it is equally
observable, that the junction adds little in appearance to their strength
and grandeur, and that each makes a better figure separate than united.
La Montagne d'Or is a lovely hill above the town, and I am told that
many English families reside upon it, but we have no time to make
minute enquiries. L'Hotel de la Croix de Malthe affords excellent
accommodations within, and a delightful prospect without. The Baths
too have attracted my notice much, and will, I hope, repair my strength,
so as to make me no troublesome fellow-traveller. How little do those
ladies consult their own interest, who make impatience of petty
inconveniences their best supplement for conversation!--fancy
themselves more important as less contented; and imagine all delicacy
to consist in the difficulty of being pleased! Surely a dip in this

delightful river will restore my health, and enable me to pass the
mountains, of which our present companions give me a very
formidable account.
The manufacturers here, at Lyons, deserve a volume, and I shall
scarcely give them a page; though nothing I ever saw at London or
Paris can compare with the beauty of these velvets, or with the art
necessary to produce such an effect, while the wrong side is smooth,
not struck through. The hangings for the Empress of Russia's