resque costumes, are seen mingling with Italian sailors in their bright scarlet caps, and English ones with the round glazed hats, trim jackets, and white linen, conspicuously displaying that personal cleanliness for which they are remarkable. Merchants of all coun

tries, servants of all nations, are bustling about, the mélange giving animation to the varied picture, which forcibly reminded me of many paintings of the old masters in which similar scenes are represented.

The inns are good, and the one in which we have taken up our abode is excellent. The cook gave us a good specimen of his talents last evening on our arrival, and maintained his reputation to-day by a déjeuner-àla-fourchette that would not have dishonoured Monsieur Ude himself. How much more rational are déjeuners-à-la-fourchette than luncheons; the first succeeding to a single cup of coffee or tea taken some three hours before, and the second being the successor to a plentiful morning repast, producing repletion with its long catalogue of evils.

Drove to-day to the Villa or Château La Pannis in the environs of Marseilles, and saw some good pictures; but a Georgione, radiant as sunshine, threw all the others into the shade. It positively was dazzling; such golden hues and such carnation tints-none but one of the Venetian school, and one too of the very best of it, could ever have achieved. I was tempted to break the tenth commandment, and to envy the Marquis La Pannis the possession of this beautiful picture.

23rd.-Went to the museum, which has some good

specimens of Grecian sculpture and sarcophagi, and then visited the public library, which is extensive and has many manuscripts, but none very remarkable.

Visited the coral manufactories, and saw that marine substance converted into every possible shape that fancy could devise or industry execute: it forms a considerable branch of commerce here and is in great demand among strangers.

The mistrael, or vent de bise, which is so much felt at Avignon, is scarcely less powerful or less dreaded here. It prevails during a great part of the year in Provence; but is most prevalent along the banks of the Rhône, on whose breast it disports with no gentle gambols, but with the anger of Boreas in his most illnatured moods. So destructive are the effects of this wind to the eyes, that the greater number of the class most exposed to it are martyrs to diseases of these organs. Yet, though so pernicious to the sight, it is not without its advantages in other respects, as it purifies the air, and renders the excessive heat less injurious to health. It generally blows after heavy rain, all traces of which it dispels with a rapidity almost incredible.

Marseilles has less of the characteristics of a large city than any town of its extent that I know, but bears in every street the impress of a sea-port. Sailors of every grade, from the yellow-faced admiral, whose countenance has been bronzed by exposure to tropical climes, down to the rosy-cheeked midshipman, whose plump face has not yet lost the sleekness peculiar to childhood, and whose curly locks look as if a mother's hand had often played with them, are met at every

step, bustling along with that heaving motion which would always indicate their profession, even without the uniform that belongs to it.

Sailors of every nation are a fine race; but, without undue partiality, I may say, that none can be compared with our own: and as I heard some of them conversing as they walked in those accents and that language dear to me, I felt as if each rough face was that of an old friend with whom it was a pleasure to meet. It is in a foreign land that we most love our own, and turn with kindness to every individual belonging to it. Precious and mysterious sympathy implanted in our hearts for wise purposes, cold must be the heart where thou art not cherished!

TOULON, 25th.-The route from Marseilles to Toulon, for the first few miles, is rendered tedious and monotonous by being inclosed between stone walls. The villas, too, scattered at either side of the road, are disfigured by the same hideous barrier which gives them the appearance of prisons. With all the advantages of climate and situation, the total want of taste and neatness evident in the generality of country houses in France renders them little desirable as residences. Often, therefore, in passing through beautiful and romantic scenery, disfigured by edifices bidding alike defiance to taste and comfort, I have wished that some of our picturesque Elizabethan structures or pretty cottages were transported thither, and inter. spersed through the rich landscapes which only require their presence to be perfect.

Aubagne, two posts from Marseilles, was the birth

place of the Abbé Barthelemy. The house in which he resided still exists, and as I viewed it I thought of the pleasant hours passed in reading Anacharsis' Travels, with a sentiment of gratitude towards the memory of its author that gave the abode an additional interest for me. The neighbourhood of Aubagne is remarkable for its romantic features; and De Lille has celebrated the valley of Gemenos, which is in its vicinity.

As we advance more southward a considerable difference is visible in the appearance of the country. The olive trees are larger and their green is of a less sombre hue than those around Avignon, and the almond trees, with their delicate and snowy blossoms, form a beautiful contrast to the dark foliage of the other trees. The fields, too, are clothed with vegetation of the most lively and brilliant verdure, and the climate is more genial.

The approach to Toulon is striking and picturesque, being a narrow ravine bounded at each side by steep rocks of fantastic forms rudely piled in large masses, some overhanging the road, half poised, as it were, in air.

26th. This is a town of considerable extent, and the modern portion of it is well built and remarkably clean. Three sides of the town are bounded by lofty mountains, and the fourth is open to the sea. Male foreigners are not permitted to see the arsenal; but ladies are more gallantly treated, and an intelligent guide was appointed to attend my female friends and self over the whole building. The first place shown to us was the sculpture hall, which is divided into two

compartments. One is occupied by persons employed in carving the different ornaments for ships; and in the other are arranged with the utmost order models and skeletons of ships, with all the parts from the hold to the most minute rope, each object marked and numbered to explain its use. Every modern invention and improvement that has been applied to ships is exhibited in miniature; and mechanism, to judge by the specimens here displayed, seems to have attained no ordinary degree of perfection in France. The sides of this fine hall are covered with carved figure-heads and sterns for vessels, on which much workmanship and gilding has been lavished. Among the best are some colossal figures by the celebrated Puget. The drawing-room of one of our neatest English houses could not be more perfectly free from the least soil than was this hall, and the compartment occupied by the sculptors wore an air of cleanliness and order that I thought incompatible with the habits of artisans.

We paused to examine the works in hand, some of which were executed with a spirit and skill that emulated those of Puget. Some pannels, with bassirelievi admirably carved, would not have disgraced Fiamingo.

From the hall of sculpture we proceeded to the guard-room, which was also scrupulously clean. The beds and tables were so well contrived, that they might be turned up or down in the space of two minutes. The knapsacks of the soldiers were hung at the heads of each bed, and the apartment was so well ventilated that its atmosphere was pure.