ipliill
PROVINCE OF LANGUEDOCDESIROUS
of combining inflxuétion with amufement, and of rendering hirafelf of feme
ufe to thofe w h o may hereafter wi i h to vifit the fouthern part of France, and of direéting
their courfe to Italy by the way of Lyons (at prefent called VOle Affranchie) or Nice, the
Author, in addition to thefe defcriptions, explanatory of the plates, hopes to be pardoned
f o r attempting to give a ihort iketch of the hiftory of this province. He wiihes his work
to ferve as an itinerary to travellers in exploring the beautiful fragments of antiquity which
abound throughout this claffic region.
Languedoc has been reckoned one of the moi l fertile, moi t populous, and lai-geft provinces
in France. It extends, as nearly as can be efiimated, two hundred ajîd four miles
in length, and one himdred and two in breadth. It is faid to contain above one thoufand
inhabitants in the fpace of every fquare league, or nine fquare miles, making in all about
two millions three hundred thouland fouls.
Before the revolution this province was governed by the Etats, who were anfwerable
for the quota of taxes fixed by the French government, &c. Their parliament, wliich
was held at Touloufe, had the power of judging all civil and criminal caufes : in fa6l, its
government was in a great meafure iimilar to that of Provence. But fince the epoch of
1789 it forms fix departments, viz. the Gard, Heravdt, Lozère, Ardcche, Tarn, and
Aveiron.
In the time of the Romans it included Gallia Narbonenfis Prima, a part of Aquitania,
and Celtica, and was called by them Occitania.
In the reign of Auguftus it bore alio the appellation of Braccata, from a kind of trowfers
worn by the inhabitants, which was a part of di-efs peculiar to tljemfelves, and by
•which they were diflinguiihcd from the reft of the Gauls.
O n the dccline of the Roman Empire tlxe whol e of this province fell under the dominion
of the Bui-gimdians and Gotlis ; and it was aftenvards governed by different fove-
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