thought it best to carry a little with me, and leave nothing to chance;
and I should have been content to have found, by the help of my gun, the
bird vulgarly called the _Gelinotte des Pyrenees_; it has a curved bill
like a hawk, and two long feathers in the tail; but though I saw a great
number of different birds, I was not fortunate enough to find the
_Ganga_, for that is the true name of a bird, so beautiful in feather,
and of so delicate a flavour, that it is even mentioned by Aristotle,
and is a native of these hills.

P.S. I forgot to tell you, that the day we left _Cette_ we stopped,
according to custom, to eat our cold dinner, in an olive grove; from
whence we had a noble view of the Mediterranean Sea, and a most
delightfully situated _Chateau_, standing upon the banks of a salt-water
lake, at least twenty miles in circumference, "clear as the expanse of
heaven;" and that while we were preparing to spread our napkin, a
gentleman of genteel appearance came out from a neighbouring vineyard,
and asked us if any accident had happened, and desired, if we wanted
any thing, that we would command him, or whatever his house afforded,
pointing to the _Chateau_, which had so attracted our notice: we told
him, our business was to eat our little repast, with his leave, under,
what we presumed, was his shade also, and invited him to partake with
us. He had already captivated us by his polite attention, and by his
agreeable conversation: we lamented that we had not better pretensions
to have visited his lovely habitation. We found he was well acquainted
with many English persons of fashion, who have occasionally resided at
Montpellier; and I am sure, his being a winter inhabitant of that city,
must be one of the most favourable circumstances the town affords. These
little attentions to strangers, are never omitted by the well-bred part
of the French nation. I could not refill asking the name of a gentleman,
to whom I felt myself so much obliged, nor avoid telling him my own,