A Great Number
Of Statues Were Found In This Place, Together With Antient
Inscriptions, Which Have Been Published By Different Authors.
I
need not tell you that Julius Agricola, the father-in-law of
Tacitus, the historian, was a native of Frejus, which is now a
very poor inconsiderable place.
From hence the country opens to
the left, forming an extensive plain between the sea and the
mountains, which are a continuation of the Alps, that stretches
through Provence and Dauphine. This plain watered with pleasant
streams, and varied with vineyards, corn-fields, and meadow-ground,
afforded a most agreeable prospect to our eyes, which
were accustomed to the sight of scorching sands, rugged rocks,
and abrupt mountains in the neighbourhood of Nice. Although this
has much the appearance of a corn-country, I am told it does not
produce enough for the consumption of its inhabitants, who are
obliged to have annual supplies from abroad, imported at
Marseilles. A Frenchman, at an average, eats three times the
quantity of bread that satisfies a native of England, and indeed
it is undoubtedly the staff of his life. I am therefore surprised
that the Provencaux do not convert part of their vineyards into
corn-fields: for they may boast of their wine as they please; but
that which is drank by the common people, not only here, but also
in all the wine countries of France, is neither so strong,
nourishing, nor (in my opinion) so pleasant to the taste as the
small-beer of England.
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