I have now been here some time, and have employed most of it, in
visiting daily the _Maison Carree_, the _Amphitheatre_, the Temple of
_Diana_, and other Roman remains, which this town abounds with above all
others in France, and which is all the town affords worthy of notice,
(for it is but a very indifferent one.) The greater part of the
inhabitants are Protestants, who meet publicly between two rocks, at a
little distance from the city, every Sunday, sometimes not less than
eighteen thousand, where their pastors, openly and audibly, perform
divine service, according to the rites of the reformed church: Such is
the difference between the mild government of _Louis_ the 16th, and that
which was practised in the reign of his great grandfather. But reason
and philosophy have made more rapid strides in France, within these few
years, than the arts and sciences. It is, however, a great and mighty
kingdom, blest with every convenience and comfort in life, as well as
many luxuries, beside good wine; and good wine, drank in moderation (and
_here_ nobody drinks it otherwise) is not only an excellent cordial to
the nerves, but I am persuaded it contributes to long life, and good
health. Here, where wine and _eau de vie_ is so plenty, and so cheap
too, you seldom meet a drunken peasant, and never see a gentleman
(_except he be a stranger_) in that shameful situation.

Perhaps there is not, on any part of the Continent, a city or town which
has been so frequently sacked by foreign invaders, nor so deeply stained
with human blood, by civil and religious wars, as this: every street and
ancient building within its walls still exhibit many strong marks of the
excesses committed by the hands of domestic as well as foreign
barbarians, except only the Temple now called, and so called from its
form, the _Maison Carree_, which has stood near eighteen hundred years,
without receiving any other injuries than the injuries of time; and time
has given it rather the face of age, than that of ruins, for it still