There is no dependence on what travellers say of different towns and
places they have visited, and therefore you must not lay too much stress
upon what I say. A Lady of fashion, who had travelled all over France,
gave the preference to the town I wrote last to you from (_Marseilles_);
to me, the climate excepted, it is of all others the most disagreeable;
yet that Lady did not mean to deceive; but people often prefer the town
for the sake of the company they find, or some particular or local
circumstance that attended their residence in it; in that respect, I too
left it reluctantly, having met with much civility and some old friends
there; but surely, exclusive of its fine harbour, and favourable
situation for trade, it has little else to recommend it, but riot, mob,
and confusion; provisions are very dear, and not very good.

On our road here we came again through _Aix_. The _Mule blanche_ without
the town, is better than any auberge within, and Mons. _L'Abbe Abrard
Prætor, de la ordre de St. Malta_, is not only a very agreeable, but a
very convenient acquaintance for a stranger, and who is always ready to
shew the English in particular, attention, and who had much attention
shewn him by Lord A. PERCY and his Lady.

From _Aix_ we passed through _Lambresque_, _Orgon_, and _Sencage_, a
fine country, full of almond trees, and which were in full blossom on
the 7th of March. At _Orgon_ the post-house was so bad, that after my
horse was in the stable, I was obliged to put him to, and remove to the
_Soleil d'Or_, without the town, and made a good move too. The situation
of _Notre Dame de St. Piere_, a convent on a high hill, is worthy of
notice, and the antiquity of the town also.--Five leagues from _Orgon_
we crossed a very aukward passage in a ferry-boat, and were landed in
the Pope's territories, about five miles from _Avignon_. The castle, and