Lyon was a thriving city, and after Paris, the most prosperous town in France. The combination of industry and commerce had created a wealth that produced the finest theatre in France, and all of the luxuries of Paris. Looking similar to the city of Bath to the Darcys, in being constructed along the slopes of several prominent hills, Lyon was framed against vineyards, atop which were a number of castle-like constructions, with the Rhône travelling along the base of the hills quite grandly. Opposite was Buonaparte’s Grande Place, surrounded by very tall, handsome houses, some of six or seven storeys. There was a great cathedral at Lyons, celebrated for its windows; the nuns walked about the streets in the usual black habits of the Catholick nuns in England, but with a very high wimple, covered about with a black veil, and very long beads, hanging down the length of their robes.

The Darcys hired a very odd type of vehicle, called a carriole, to take them to see the great confluence of the Rhône and the Saone, by repute one of the great wonders of Europe. Mr. Darcy exclaimed that the vehicle looked more like a wheeled bedstead than anything else: it had dirty, coarse Hessian curtains, and the seat, looking for all the world like a mattress for the bed, was hung on the inside, upon which the passengers sat back-to-back. This ensemble was made complete by a pair of horses greatly ornamented with ribbands and bells, and a coachman scarcely less so in nankeen breeches and polished gaiters, over a pair of unnecessarily yellow shoes. Such a journey would have been insupportable were the sight of the confluence less sublime, with its remarkable contrasts of colour continuing a great way before becoming so combined as to make the separate contribution of each indistinguishable. They were fortunate in that there had been a spring of good rain-fall, so that the two adjoining rivers were well-swollen, and the confluence long and wide.

The Darcys also attended the theatre, and saw a tragédie. The theatre was not at all clean, the seats were tatty and ragged—very surprising for such a prosperous city, and a city long-famed for its cloth manufacture—and the stage was the only area within, that had the benefit of candle-light. Despite these deficiencies, the performance was excellent, and the audience respectful and attentive. Mr. Darcy was surprised by the manners and conversation of the merchants and manufacturers, who attended the performance en masse, so very unlike those in England. As an Englishman, Darcy could not suppose there was any remarkable difference between the refinement and courtesy of the general populace of Lyon, and the courtiers of Paris or Versailles. He concluded his letter to Mr. Parker, having described the similarities and differences in their methods of farming, with the following: