german, Mademoiselle de Montpenfier, than from any other writer. By her anec-. dotes I am induced to admire him amidst his family and courtiers, as one of the finest and compleatest gentlemen of his time and nation. He was happy in his own difpofition and temper, and that happinefs diffused itself to all who were near him. His perfonal accomplishments were eminent and captivating. Let us look a little into his mind. His vanity was fecreted by his modefty. His profufeness was

Daughter of Gafton, duke of Orleans, and grand-daughter to Henry IV. Her cruel treatment by the king her coufin, for marrying the count de Laujun, is well known, and muft ever impeach both the juftice and humanity of that prince. See the Age of Lewis XIV. chap. 25. and Talbot's Letters on the French Nation, vol. 11. p,. 60-64. "Her memoirs," fays Voltaire, " "rather thofe of a woman full of herself, than of

་

are

a princess, who had been a witness of great events: but many curious particulars are con"tained in them. " She died in 1693.

foftened

foftened into generofity, not only by his manner of giving, but because he openly cherished, and unboundedly protected every art and science in the world. His infidelity as an hufband is much palliated, when we confider the peevishness and fimplicity of his wife. His ignorance was covered by his prudence. Conscious of his own defects, he corrected them in the education of his fon; tacitly lamenting his own want of erudition. His devotion degenerated into the too com mon extreme of bigotry; which never fails to produce the blindness of cruelty, and the deafness of oppreffion. Except in his falfe notions of religion, he was generous, compaffionate, and humane. His talents, if not shining, at least were ftrong and clear. His private conduct was always decent, often fplendid, never mean. During the favours of fortune, he indulged his vanity. During her frowns, he behaved himself with true philofophy. He died more heroically

in

in his bed than he had ever appeared in his camp. Confider him in his regal fphere; though he was far from being a perfectly good prince, he was almost as far from being a bad one. Nature formed him (as fhe has formed most men, to whom she gives paffions and abilities) a remarkable mixture of good and evil. The good part attended the man; the evil part, the monarch. His ambi tion was inexcufable, as it has occafioned most of the calamities, that have been fince felt in Europe.

L' Hotel de Ville, the town house, at Lyons, is not only splendid without, but very magnificent within. It consists of many fine rooms, adorned with the portraits of the royal family, and of the chief and moft eminent magiftrates of the city. Each chamber is fitted up and furnished for the particular bufinefs, to which it is adapted.

The Armory, Sal d'Armes, which is fhewn to ftrangers as a great curiosity,

is by no means equal to the armory in the Tower of London. Had I never feen the latter, the former poffibly might have appeared worthy of admiration.

At Lyons we went to a French comedy. It was well performed, and well decorat→ ed; but, unless I am very partial, when we took leave of the English theatre, we quitted fenfe, nature, action, dignity, and all the proper and graceful decorations of the ftage.

I have now faid enough of Lyons and Lugdunum. If I am to speak of France in general, I look upon it as a great and powerful monarchy. The extent of it may be known by maps; but the ftrength of it is a fecret, not eafily to be gueffed at, but fufficiently revealed to make the English cautious and wary how they enter into a war with a nation, whofe magazines of all forts are stupendous, whofe kingdom is fertile and well cultivated, whose people, however dif

united,

united, as indeed at prefent upon particular points in church or ftate, never fail, at the least appearance of an enemy, to join themselves into an impenetrable phalanx, and to appear in the field, as one foul informing many thousand bo. dies. We mistake and misconstrue their faculties. Their gaiety, we imagine, folly their prudence, we mifcall, infincerity: their ftrength we despise. Our falfe judgment may, one day or other, coft us dear. The French, (already numerous and prolific,) if they fuffered a natural commerce to fubfift between their nuns and friars, would fwarm and overrun the world.

Before I left Lyons, I had a glimpse of the archbishop, cardinal Tencin. His figure is tall, and his mien noble and engaging. He vifits and captivates all ftrangers. He lives in great hofpitality; but he lives in banishment. Some particulars, relative to this not unfortunate