Saturday, June 30, 1838

1838

June

Saturday 30

8 1/4

11 20/..

Fine morning.  Fahrenheit 66 1/2° at 9 1/4 a.m.   All ready for being off, and breakfast at 9 3/4 – Afterwards at accounts till now 10 3/4 –

Ann and I out at 11 – Just peeped in the church of St. Dominic.  Neat, small, good, modern style church (arcaded – Style of St. Paul’s London) –

Then to the musée d' histoire naturelle - Nothing particular, but among the “Silicium,” 2 quartz hyalin crystals tournés en tire-bouchon – About 7 inches long – A solid corkscrew so regular, could scarce believe the man, who persisted in it they were natural – The grasshoppers (Sauterelles) merely hop about – make no noise – Les cigales make the noise (a sort of beetle with large wings?) –

The musée several rooms d'histoire naturelle above – The musée des antiquités below it – one room, then at the latter 1/2 hour till 12 1/4 – Nothing very particular – Old Roman cippi in abundance and bits of frieze and cornices (Corinthian) – One cippus with little conical column in the middle of the little pediment – A little whole length figure holding (left hand) little conical column rising out of fleur de lis (lotus?) – This figure standing on this cippus about 6 yards from the entrance door, right on entering –

Stood looking in at shop windows as we walked along, and at the Jardin botanique (from the musée des antiquités) in 22 minutes at 12 47/..Had the Jardineur Chef (Pierre Comme) from 1 to 1 3/4 and gave him 1/50 très content – to explain to us the trees we did not know –

The herbaceous plants all ticketed – Their system of Jussieu only just adopted, some few of the tickets not yet affixed – All was before classed according to Linnaeus –

The garden small but very nicely kept and arranged – Nothing in the serres, which seem tolerable – Asked for and brought away branches of the

               micocoulier, common fruit une petite baie noire 1 on a little 1/2 inch long stalk

               cornus         ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto 14 to 16 more or less clustered like

               Mountain ash

               Diospyrus    une petite prune jaune bonne quant elle est bien pourrie – like a

                                       sweetmeat, the very thing I ate in 1830 at Toulon and never 

                                       could see or make out since –

3 or 4 very fine Sophora Japonica trees very like accacias

Colythea, throp’s bloodacina

              Juglans noir nigra, hard large black nut (hiccory of North America?

              Ditto oleaformis olive shaped good edible nut

Murier with large thick crassulent leaves – fruit black and large –

In returning, bought white metal teapot chez David Johnstone, or the person who sells for him – connected with the Consul Scotts – a large wine merchant here, and has lately set up a pottery (faience and China manufactory) and employs 300 people – Very good for Bordeaux now that there is no commerce – The woman said the shipping trade was ill off – Everything of commerce is bad at Bordeaux now and has been the [last] 2 years

Went to our bookseller’s – Mérat’s botany not to be had in Bordeaux –

Then walked round the arcade of the great theatre and came in at 3 – Had la maitresse d’hotel for some time – a very nice civil person – Told her I thought her Inn one of the best on the continent –

Off from the hotel de Rouen at Bordeaux (very good hotel) at 4 3/4 – Annoyed to recollect before getting out of the  town that I had forgot to ask for and pay our valet de Place of yesterday Pierre . . . .

Bouscaut merely la poste and a little débit de tabac opposite, and 2 or 3 houses a couple of hundred yards off – Between Bouscaut and Castres, several large plantations of pine (Scotchy) what espèce ?

At Castres at 5 55/..  Nice little town – Very nice country – Very fine day – Very fine afternoon – Vines tall – old ceps (stems) – Now at 6 10/.. 1st Olive tree?  growing against end of cottage – Green hedges and accacias line the road on both sides and vines right and left, and on the beautiful well-peopled line of high hill-bank (right bank) of Garonne –

Now at 6 1/4, fine remain of old gothic castle (large round tower etc.) and village very picturesque on the hillside in the distance on the other side the river – Very high vine-props all hereabouts – 8 or 10 feet high – many of them (willows and poplars) growing – Fine rich vale (left) up to the Garonne flowing at some distance from us and quite out of sight –

Till 6 40/.., reading Galignani’s Messengers got at the post office yesterday – of 13, 16, 18, and 19th instante mense. 

Vide Messenger of 13th instante mense, fire proof house

Vide Lady Hester Stanhope still living –

Cerons at 6 48/.., la poste and 10 or 12 scattered houses – Among the rest, a maison d’Education, a little auberge, and an auberge-like hotel (Cheval blanc) and a farm – housing hay (hay grass) everywhere hereabouts with a pair of oxen – and hay grass both in cock and still to cut –

At 7 1/4, meet 2 ladies riding aside – (the ladies aside, the peasants astride?) – The right bank of the Garonne studded with villages and houses – Quite a vineyard garden – Very picturesque – At 7 40/.., another lady riding aside –

Langon at 7 50/.. , and alight at the poste for the night – Bazas 1 3/4 poste farther would be too late for Ann to dine – Will breakfast there tomorrow and see the Cathedral – Bazas formerly a bishop’s see –

Dinner at 8 50/.. (Wrote out about 1/2 of today before dinner) – Very comfortable – Good dinner and 2 rooms opening into each other –

Had had Josephine and written so far at 10 55/.. p.m., at which hour, Fahrenheit 68°.  Very fine day –

Note tonight by a postillon – I suppose to ask me to pay Pierre what I pleased through the maitre de poste here – Bon – This sets me at ease about it.

WYAS Finding Numbers SH:7/ML/E/21/0134 and SH:7/ML/E/21/0135