The letter ends here, and, as I have found but few more of that year, we must depend on his hurriedly written notebooks for a further record of his wanderings.
Leaving Dijon on January 18, Morse and his companions continued their journey through Châlons-sur-Saone, to Macon and Lyons, which they reached late at night. The next two days were spent in viewing the sights of Lyons, which are described at length in his journal. Most of these notes I shall omit. Descriptions of places and of scenery are generally tiresome, except to the authors of them, and I shall transcribe only such portions as have a more than ordinary personal or historic interest. For instance the following entry is characteristic of Morse's simple religious faith:—
"From the Musee we went to the Hôtel Dieu, a hospital on a magnificent and liberal scale. The apartments for the sick were commodiously and neatly arranged. In one of them were two hundred and twelve cots, all of which showed a pale or fevered face upon the pillow. The attendants were women called 'Sisters of Charity,' who have a peculiar costume. These are benevolent women who (some of them of rank and wealth) devote themselves to ministering to the comfort and necessities of the wretched.
"Benevolence is a trait peculiarly feminine. It is seen among women in all countries and all religions, and although true religion sets out this jewel in the greatest beauty, yet superstition and false religions cannot entirely destroy its lustre. It seems to be one of those virtues permitted in a special manner by the Father of all good to survive the ruins of sin on earth, and to withstand the attacks of Satan in his attempts on the happiness of man; and to woman in a marked manner He has confided the keeping of this virtue. She was first in the transgression but last at the cross."
Leaving Lyons at four o'clock on the morning of the 22d, they journeyed slowly towards Avignon, delayed by the condition of the roads covered by an unusual fall of snow which was now melting under the breath of a warm breeze from the south. On the way they pass "between the two hills a telegraph making signals." This was, of course, a semaphore by means of which visual signals were made.
Reaching Avignon on the night of the 23d, they went the next day, which was Sunday, in search of a Protestant church, but none was to be found in this ancient city of the Popes, so they followed a fine military band to the church of St. Agricola and attended the services there, the band participating and making most glorious music.
Morse, with his Puritan background and training, was not much edified by the ritual of the Catholic Church, and, after describing it, he adds:—
"I looked around the church to ascertain what was the effect upon the multitude assembled. The females, kneeling in their chairs, many with their prayer-books reading during the whole ceremony, seemed part of the time engaged in devotional exercises. Far be it from me to say there were not some who were actually devout, hard as it is to conceive of such a thing; but this I will say, that everything around them, instead of aiding devotion, was calculated entirely to destroy it. The imagination was addressed by every avenue; music and painting pressed into the service of—not religion but the contrary—led the mind away from the contemplation of all that is practical in religion to the charms of mere sense. No instruction was imparted; none seems ever to be intended. What but ignorance can be expected when such a system prevails?…
"Last evening we were delighted with some exquisite sacred music, sung apparently by men's voices only, and slowly passing under our windows. The whole effect was enchanting; the various parts were so harmoniously adapted and the taste with which these unknown minstrels strengthened and softened their tones gave us, with the recollection of the music at the church, which we had heard in the morning, a high idea of the musical talent of this part of the world. We have observed more beautiful faces among the women in a single day in Avignon than during the two weeks we were in Paris."
After a three days' rest in Avignon, visiting the palace of the Popes and other objects of interest, and being quite charmed with the city as a whole and with the Hôtel de l'Europe in particular, the little party left for Marseilles by way of Aix. The air grows balmier as they near the Mediterranean, and they are delighted with the vineyards and the olive groves. The first sight of the blue sea and of the beautiful harbor of Marseilles rouses the enthusiasm of the artist, and some days are spent in exploring the city.