a city of France, in the department of Vaucluse, the capital of the county of Venafin, and seated on the banks of the Rhone. It was formerly an archbishop's see; and the residence of several popes at this place for 70 years has rendered it considerable. Near the Rhone there is a large rock, within the circumference of the walls, upon which is a platform, from whence may be had a prospect of the whole city and the places about it. This city is about three miles and two furlongs in circumference, and is in general ill built, irregular, and devoid of beauty. But it is surrounded by handsome battlemented walls and turrets, not unlike those of Rome; and its public edifices are large, solid, and grand as the taste of the fourteenth century could make them. Several popes and anti popes, who, during their lives, shook the Romish church with violence and mutual altercation, repose quietly near each other in the various monasteries of the place. The church of the Cordeliers contains, in an obscure corner, the almost defaced tomb of Petrarch's Laura and her husband Hugh de Sade; and nearly opposite is the tomb of the brave Gullon, so well known for his invincible courage as well as for his inviolable attachment to his sovereign Henry IV. Many productions of Rene of Anjou are to be seen in the city; whose inhabitants amount to about 30,000, of whom 1000 are ecclesiastics and some hundreds Jews. The palace of the vice-legate is composed of several large square towers, and he gives audience in a great hall, which is full of fine paintings, as is also the chapel and the apartments. The arsenal is near the palace.

The church of Notre Dame is ancient, but not large, and is one of the best adorned in the city. After having ascended about 50 steps, you come to a very ancient portico, which sustains a great tower; as you enter the church on the left hand, you see paintings which equal the finest in Italy. The great altar is very magnificent, and is adorned with a shrine that contains the relics of we know not how many saints. The treasure of the sacrifice is worthy of the curiosity of the traveller. The little palace where the archbishop resides is formed of three bodies of lodgings, accompanied with courts and small pavilions. It overlooks the Rhone, the city, and the fields. These buildings and the mint adorn a large square, which is the common walk of the inhabitants.

In Avignon they reckon seven gates, seven palaces, seven colleges, seven hospitals, seven monasteries, seven nunneries, and seven popes who have lived there in 70 years. The steeples are numerous, and the bells are never at rest; one of silver is rung only on the death of a pope. The church of the Celestines is very magnificent, and full of fine monuments; and the rest are not without their curiosities. The university has four colleges; and the place where the Jews live is a distinct quarter, from whence the Jews, who pay tribute, dare not stir out without yellow hats, and the women must have something yellow about their heads, to distinguish them from the Christians. Their number is very considerable in a very confined place, where the only way of enlarging their abodes is by building their houses higher. Their synagogue is so dark, that they are obliged to light lamps. However, they are forced to hear a monk preach a sermon every week. Across the Rhone, here, extend the ruins and decayed arches of that bridge against which Madame de Grignan was so near being lost, and of which Madame de Sévigné makes terrified mention. It was demolished in 1699 by one of the inundations common to the Rhone. When entire, it was not less than a quarter of a mile in length; but being so narrow, as not to permit two carriages to pass in any part, it had previously become almost useless; and motives of policy prevent the construction of a new bridge, while Avignon belongs to the papal see. The curious that travel this way go to see the fountain of Vaucluse, where the river Sorgues, which passes through this city, has its source; and whither Petrarch so often retired to indulge his grief and hopeless love. It is situated in a valley five miles distant from the city. The sides of the river are skirted by meadows of the most lively green; above which rise abrupt and lofty rocks, that seem designed to exclude it from human view. The valley becomes gradually narrower toward the extremity, and winding continually describes the figure of a horse-hoe. The view is at length terminated by an enormous mass of rock, forming a barrier across it, of a prodigious height, and absolutely perpendicular. Through its vast recesses run the streams which supply the fountain of Vaucluse, and at its foot appears a basin of water, several hundred feet in circumference, stretched like an expanse, silent and quiet. The sides are very steep, and it is said that in the middle no bottom can be discovered, though attempts have been often made for that purpose; a circumstance probably resulting from the violence with which the springs bubble up, which prevents any weight from descending beyond a certain depth. Though the fountain is clearer in itself than crystal, yet the incumbent rock casts a continual shade, approaching to black, over its surface. The water escaping from this state of inaction by a narrow passage, is immediately precipitated in a cascade down a rocky channel, where it foams over a number of vast detached stones, which intercept and impede its progress. They are covered with a deep green moss of many ages, and have probably tumbled from the mountain that overhangs the torrent. The rocks themselves, which surround and invest this romantic Avignon mantic spot, are worn by time and the inclemency of the weather into a thousand extraordinary and fantastic forms, to which imagination gives shape and figure. On one of the pointed extremities, and in a situation which appears almost inaccessible, are seen the remains of an ancient castle, projecting over the water. The peasants call it Il Cafello di Petrarcha; and add, with great simplicity, that Laura lived upon the opposite side of the river, under the bed of which was a subterranean passage by which the two lovers visited each other. Nothing is, however, more certain, than that these are the ruins of the chateau belonging to the lords or seigneurs of Avignon; and the bishop of Cavaillon resided in it during the frequent visits which he used to make to Petrarch.—The poet's dwelling was much lower down, and nearer to the bank of the Sorgues, as evidently appears from his minute description of it, and the relation he gives of his quarrel with the Naiads of the stream, who encroached during the winter on his little adjoining territory. No remains of it are now to be discerned. Below the bridge there is an island where the Sorgues joins the Rhone, in which are several pleasure-houses. E. Long. 4. 59. N. Lat. 43. 57.