one of the handsomest towns of France, and the most considerable in Languedoc excepting Thoulouse, is situated in E. Long. 4° 20'. N. Lat. 45° 58'. It hath a citadel, a bishop's see, an university, a royal academy of sciences, and a mint. This town has been long famous for a salubrious air and skilful physicians. In reality the air may be salutary in catarrhous consumptions from its dryness and elasticity; but it is too sharp in cases of pulmonary imposthumes. The climate, according to some late travellers, is so much altered for the worse, that the inhabitants themselves scarce know it to be the same: it has been changing many years, and every year becomes worse and worse. It has been known to rain almost three months without intermission; and at intervals such thick flanking fogs, as nothing but the banks of Newfoundland could equal; and several times, for two or three days on a stretch, the sky is so heavily loaded, that neither sun, moon, nor star, can be seen. In summer it is so insufferably hot, that till the cool of the evening there is no flirring out. Its situation, though on an eminence, never could be healthy; as between it and the Mediterranean (which is about three leagues distant) it is one continued marsh and swamp, ever covered with noxious vapours, which, when the sea-breeze sets in, blows directly on the town and the country adjacent; of the bad effects of which, its unhealthy inhabitants, with their yellow meagre looks, are the most convincing proofs.

The town has nothing curious to induce a stranger to stay longer in it than three or four days, except he arrives there about Christmas; at which time it is very gay, as all the nobility of Languedoc meet there at that time to settle the affairs of the province, though it is not the capital, but esteemed nearly the centre. There is during that time a play, which, with an indifferent concert, are all the public amusements. The people in trade are reputed by the French themselves to be the greatest extortioners, and sure not to let a penny escape them, be the means to come at it ever so unjust: as an instance, they had the confidence to charge an English sea officer that died there, 300 livres (twelve guineas and a half) for eight days lodging.

This city stands upon a rising ground fronting the Mediterranean, which is about three leagues to the southward: on the other side is an agreeable plain, extending about the same distance towards the mountains of the Cevennes. It is reckoned well built, and what the French call bien percée; yet the streets are in general narrow and the houses dark. The inhabitants are supposed to amount to 40,000: they are sociable, gay, and good tempered, and they trade very largely in wine, cordials, oil, verdigrease, and salt petre. They have several manufactures in silk and woollen goods. There are many Protestants here and at Nîmes. The markets are well supplied with fish, poultry, butcher's meat, and game, at reasonable rates. The wine of the country is strong and harsh: Burgundy is dear, and so is the sweet wine of Frontignan, though made in the neighbourhood of Cette. Liquors of various sorts are compounded and distilled at Montpelier. The environs are extremely pleasant, having on one side La Place de Peyrou, which forms a fine terrace. From thence, on a clear day, may be seen to the eastward the Alps, which form the frontiers of Italy; to the south-west, the Pyrenean mountains, which form those of Spain, each esteemed fifty leagues distant; and to the southward a most extensive view of the Mediterranean. Not far from thence is a noble aqueduct, built like two bridges one above the other; by this water is brought from a mountain at three leagues distance, into two basins in a small elegant temple at the west end of the place; and the king's garden, where on certain days public lectures are held on botany. On the other side of the town is the esplanade, a beautiful walk, bordered on each side by olive trees, from whence there is a pleasing prospect of the sea and the country adjacent to the town; near which is the citadel, a place of no strength, though well walled in, as it is commanded by several rising grounds, and has only a dry ditch. There are commonly kept there four battalions of infantry.—Kk2 Montreal. Should an Englishman choose to reside here any time, the Grande Rue, that is the great street, is the genteel quarter to reside in, where 12 or 18 livres a month is the price for a genteel chamber, which in the time of the flutes would let for 60; and if he does not choose to meet with the officers, there is a genteel ordinary, where the English commonly eat, in the Rue d'Argenterie, which is contiguous to your lodgings. Families who reside here find their account in keeping house; and every traveller who designs to stay longer than a day or two in any of these towns, will do well to write beforehand to his correspondent to procure furnished lodgings, to which he may be driven immediately, without being under the necessity of staying in an execrable inn, where he must pay four livres a head for every meal, and five livres a day for an apartment.