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I tried to observe, on the road, by what
degrees the French arrive at this extreme
depravity in their musical expression; and
I find, that in descending the Alps, it does
not come on all at once. In Provence
and Languedoc, the tunes of the country
people are rather pretty: I prevailed on
them to sing some to me wherever I stopt,
which they did in a natural and simple
manner. The airs are less wild than the
Scots, as less ancient, but I rather think
the melodies of Provence and Langue-
doc are older than any now subsisting
that were formed upon the system of
Guido.
From Lyons I travelled night and day
to Paris, and arrived there on Saturday,
Dec. 8th; but I shall detain my reader
no longer with observations upon French
music, of which the expression is notori-
ously hateful to all the people in Europe
but themselves: however, in the midst
of this seeming severity of decision, it is
but just to own, that the French have as
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