No matter how, or in what mood—but I flew from the tomb of the lovers—or rather I did not fly from it—(for there was no such thing existing) and just got time enough to the boat to save my passage;—and ere I had sailed a hundred yards, the Rhône and the Saôn met together, and carried me down merrily betwixt them.
But I have described this voyage down the Rhône , before I made it⸺
⸺So now I am at Avignon , and as there is nothing to see but the old house, in which the duke of Ormond resided, and nothing to stop me but a short remark upon the place, in three minutes you will see me crossing the bridge upon a mule, with François upon a horse with my portmanteau behind him, and the owner of both, striding the way before us, with a long gun upon his shoulder, and a sword under his arm, lest peradventure we should run away with his cattle. Had you seen my breeches in entering Avignon ,⸺Though you’d have seen them better, I think, as I mounted—you would not have thought the precaution amiss, or found in your heart to have taken it in dudgeon; for my own part, I took it most kindly; and determined to make him a present of them, when we got to the end of our journey, for the trouble they had put him to, of arming himself at all points against them.
Before I go further, let me get rid of my remark upon Avignon , which is this: That I think it wrong, merely because a man’s hat has been blown off his head by chance the first night he comes to Avignon ,⸺that he should therefore say, “ Avignon is more subject to high winds than any town in all France :” for which reason I laid no stress upon the accident till I had enquired of the master of the inn about it, who telling me seriously it was so⸺and hearing, moreover, the