A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain Volume II Part 1

A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain.

Volume II.

by Philip Thicknesse.

LETTER x.x.xIV.

NISMES

SIR,

I am very certain that a man may travel twice through Spain, and half through France, before he sees a woman of so much beauty, elegance, and breeding, as the mistress of the house I lodge in near this city. I was directed to the house, and recommended to the lady, as a lodger; but both were so fine, and superior in all respects to any thing I had seen out of Paris, that I began to suspect I had been imposed upon. The lady who received me appeared to be (it was candle-light) about eighteen, a tall, elegant figure, a beautiful face, and an address inferior to none: I concluded she was the daughter, till she informed me, that _Mons.

Saigny_, her husband, was gone to _Avignon_. What added, perhaps, to this lady's beauty in my eyes, or rather ears, was her misfortune,--she could not speak louder than a gentle whisper. After seeing her sumptuous apartments, I told her I would not ask what her price was, but tell her what I could afford only to give; and observed, that as it was winter, and the snow upon the ground, perhaps she had better take my price than have none. She instantly took me by the hand and said, she had so much respect for the English nation, that my price was her's; and with a still softer whisper, and close to my ear, said, I might come in as soon as I pleased--"_Quand vous voudrez, Monsieur_," said she. We accordingly took possession of the finest apartments, and the best beds I ever lay on. The next day, I saw a genteel stripling about the house, in a white suit of cloaths, dressed _en militaire_, and began to suspect the virtue of my fair hostess, not perceiving for some hours that it was my hostess herself; in the afternoon she made us a visit in this horrid dress,--(for horrid she appeared in my eyes)--her cloaths were white, with red cuffs and scarlet _lappels_; and she held in her straddling lap a large black m.u.f.f, as big as a porridge-pot. By this visit she lost all that respect her superlative beauty had so justly ent.i.tled her to, and I determined she should visit me no more in man's apparel. When I went into the town I mentioned this circ.u.mstance, and there I learnt, that the real wife of _Mons. Saigny_ had parted from him, and that the lady, my hostess, was his mistress. The next day, however, the master arrived; and after being full and finely dressed, he made me a visit, and proffers of every attention in his power: he told me he had injured his fortune, and that he was not rich; but that he had served in the army, and was a gentleman: he had been bred a protestant, but had just embraced the true faith, in order to qualify himself for an employment about the court of the Pope's _Legate_ at _Avignon_. After many expressions of regard, he asked me to dine with him the next day; but I observed that as he was not rich, and as I paid but a small rent in proportion to his n.o.ble apartments, I begged to be excused; but he pressed it so much, that I was obliged to give him some _other reasons_, which did not prove very pleasing ones, to the lady below. This fine lady, however, continued to sell us wood, wine, vinegar, sallad, milk, and, in short, every thing we wanted, at a very unreasonable price. At length, my servant, who by agreement made my soup in their kitchen, said something rude to my landlord, who complained to me, and seemed satisfied with the reprimand I had given the man; but upon a repet.i.tion of his rudeness, _Mons. Saigny_ so far forgot himself as to speak equally rude to me: this occasioned some warm words, and so much ungovernable pa.s.sion in him, that I was obliged to tell him I must fetch down my pistols; this he construed into a direct challenge, and therefore retired to his apartments, wrote a card, and sent it to me while I was walking before the door with a priest, his friend and visitor, and in sight of the _little female captain his second_, and all the servants of the house; on this card was wrote, "_Sir, I accept your proposition_;" and before I could even read it, he followed his man, who brought it in the true stile of a butler, rather than a butcher, with a white napkin under his arm. You may be sure, I was no more disposed to fight than _Mons. Saigny_; indeed, I told him I would not; but if any man attacked me on my way to or from the town, where I went every day, I would certainly defend myself: and fortunately I never met _Mons.

Saigny_ in the fortnight I staid after in his house; for I could not bear to leave a town where I had two or three very agreeable acquaintance, and one (_Mons. Seguier_) whose house was filled as full of natural and artificial curiosities, as his head is with learning and knowledge. Here too I had an opportunity of often visiting the Amphitheatre, _the Maison Carree_, (so Mons. Seguier writes it) and the many remains of Roman monuments so common in and about _Nismes_. I measured some of the stones under which I pa.s.sed to make the _tout au tour_ of the Amphitheatre, they were seventeen feet in length, and two in thickness; and most of the stones on which the spectators sat within the area, were twelve feet long, two feet ten inches wide, and one foot five inches deep; except only those of the sixth row of seats from the top, and they alone are one foot ten inches deep; probably it was on that range the people of the highest rank took their seats, not only for the elevation, but the best situation for sight and security; yet one of these great stones cannot be considered more, in comparison to the whole building, than a single brick would be in the construction of Hampton-Court Palace. When I had the sole possession (and I had it often) of this vast range of seats, where emperors, empresses, Roman knights, and matrons, have been so often seated, to see men die wantonly by the hands of other men, as well as beasts for their amus.e.m.e.nt, I could not but with pleasure reflect, how much human nature is softened since that time; for notwithstanding the powerful prevalency of custom and fashion, I do not think the ladies of the present age would _plume_ their towering heads, and curl their _borrowed_ hair, with that glee, to see men murdered by missive weapons, as to die at their feet by deeper, tho' less visible wounds. If, however, we have not those cruel sports, we seem to be up with them in prodigality, and to exceed them in luxury and licentiousness; for in Rome, not long before the final dissolution of the state, the candidates for public employments, in spite of the penal laws to restrain it, _bribed openly_, and were chosen sometimes _by arms_ as well as money. In the senate, things were conducted no better; decrees of great consequence were made when very few senators were present; the laws were violated by private knaves, under the colour of public necessity; till at length, _Caesar_ seized the sovereign power, and tho' he was slain, they omitted to recover their liberty, forgetting that

"A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty Is worth a whole eternity of bondage."

_Addison's_ CATO.

I can almost think I read in the parallel, which I fear will soon be drawn between the rise and fall of the British and Roman empire, something like this;--"Rome had her CICERO; Britain her CAMDEN: Cicero, who had preserved Rome from the conspiracy of _Catiline_, was banished: CAMDEN, who would have preserved Britain from a b.l.o.o.d.y civil war, removed." The historian will add, probably, that "those who brought desolation upon their land, did not mean that there should be no commonwealth, but that right or wrong, they should continue to controul it: they did not mean to burn the capitol to ashes, but to bear absolute sway in the capitol:--The result was, however, that though they did not mean to overthrow the state, yet they risqued all, rather than be overthrown themselves; and they rather promoted the ma.s.sacre of their fellow-citizens, than a reconciliation and union of parties,"--THUS FELL ROME--Take heed, BRITAIN!

LETTER x.x.xV.

ARLES.

I left _Nismes_ reluctantly, having formed there an agreeable and friendly intimacy with Mr. _D'Oliere_, a young gentleman of Switzerland; and an edifying, and entertaining acquaintance, with Mons. _Seguier_. I left too, the best and most sumptuous lodgings I had seen in my whole tour; but a desire to see _Arles_, _Aix_, and _Ma.r.s.eilles_, &c. got the better of all. But I set out too soon after the snow and rains, and I found part of the road so bad, that I wonder how my horse dragged us through so much clay and dirt. When I gave you some account of the antiquities of _Nismes_, I did not expect to find _Arles_ a town fraught with ten times more matter and amus.e.m.e.nt for an antiquarian; but I found it not only a fine town now, but that it abounds with an infinite number of monuments which evince its having once been an almost second Rome.

There still remains enough of the Amphitheatre to convince the beholder what a n.o.ble edifice it was, and to wonder why so little, of so large and solid a building, remains. The town is built on the banks of the Rhone, over which, on a bridge of barges, we entered it; but it is evident, that in former days, the sea came quite up to it, and that it was a haven for ships of burden; but the sea has retired some leagues from it, many ages since; beside an hundred strong marks at _this_ day of its having been a sea-port formerly, the following inscription found a century or two ago, in the church of _St. Gabriel_, will clearly confirm it:

M. FRONTONI EVPOR IIIIIIVIR AVG. COL. JVLIA.

AVG. AQVIS s.e.xTIIS NAVICVLAR.

MAR. AREL. CVRAT EJVSD. CORP.

PATRONA NAVTAR DRVENTICORVM.

ET VTRICVLARIORVM.

CORP. ERNAGINENSIUM.

JULIA NICE VXOR.

CONJVGI KARISSIMO.

Indeed there are many substantial reasons to believe, that it was at this town _Julius Caesar_ built the twelve gallies, which, from the cutting of the wood to the time they were employed on service, was but thirty days.--That it was a very considerable city in the time of the first Emperors, is past all doubt. _Constantine_ the Great held his court, and resided at _Arles_, with all his family; and the Empress _Faustina_ was delivered of a son here (_Constantine_ the younger) and it was long before so celebrated for an annual fair held in the month of August, that it was called _le n.o.ble Marche de Gaules_. And _Strabo_, in his dedication of his book to the Emperor, called it "_Galliarum Emporium non Parvum_;" which is a proof that it was celebrated for its rich commerce, &c. five hundred years before it became under the dominion of the Romans. But were I capable of giving you a particular description of all the monuments of antiquity in and near this town, it would compose a little book, instead of a sheet or two of paper. I shall therefore only pick out a few things which have afforded me the most entertainment, and I hope may give you a little; but I shall begin with mentioning what must first give you concern, in saying that in that part of the town called _la Roquette_, I was shewn the place where formerly stood an elevated Altar whereon, three young citizens were sacrificed annually, and who were fattened at the public expence during a whole year, for the horrid purpose! On the first of May their throats were cut in the presence of a prodigious mult.i.tude of people a.s.sembled from all parts; among whom the blood of the victims was thrown, as they imagined all their sins were expiated by that barbarous sacrifice; which horrid practice was put a stop to by the first Bishop of _Arles_, ST.

TROPHIME. The Jews, who had formerly a synagogue in _Arles_, were driven out in the year 1493, when that and their celebrated School were demolished. There were found about an hundred after, among the stones of those buildings some Hebrew characters neatly cut, which were copied and sent to the Rabbins of Avignon, to be translated, and who explained them then thus:

Chodesh: Elvl. Chamescheth, lamech, nav. Nislamv. Bedikoth.

Schradai.

i.e. they say,

"In the month of August five thousand and thirty--the Visitation of G.o.d ceased."

Perhaps the plague had visited them.--There was also another Hebrew inscription, which was on the tomb of a famous Rabbin called Solomon, surnamed the grandson of David.

The Amphitheatre of _Arles_ was of an oval form, composed of three stages; each stage containing sixty arches; the whole was built of hewn stone of an immense size, without mortar, and of a prodigious thickness: the circ.u.mference above, exclusive of the projection of the architecture, was 194 toises three feet, the frontispiece 17 toises high and the area 71 toises long and 52 wide; the walls were 17 toises thick, which were pierced round and round with a gallery, for a convenience of pa.s.sing in and out of the seats, which would conveniently contain 30,000 men, allowing each person three feet in depth and two in width; and yet, there remain at this day only a few arches quite complete from top to bottom, which are of themselves a n.o.ble monument.

Indeed one would be inclined to think that it never had been compleated, did we not know that the Romans left nothing unfinished of that kind; and read, that the Emperor _Gallus_ gave some superb spectacles in the Amphiteatre of _Arles_, and that the same amus.e.m.e.nts were continued by following Emperors. Nothing can be a stronger proof than these ruins, of the certain destruction and corruption of all earthly things; for one would think that the small parts which now remain of this once mighty building would, endure as long as the earth itself; but what is very singular is, that this very Amphitheatre was built upon the ruins of a more mighty building, and perhaps one of a more substantial structure.

_Tempus edax rerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas omnia destruis_. In the street called _St. Claude_, stood a triumphal arch which was called _L'Arche admirable_; it is therefore natural to conclude, that the town contained many others of less beauty. There are also within the walls large remains of the palace of _Constantine_. A beautiful antique statue of _Venus_ was found here also, about an hundred and twenty years ago.--That a _veritable_ fine woman should set all the beaux and _connoisseurs_ of a whole town in a flame, I do not much wonder; but you will be surprized when I tell you that this cold trunk of marble, (for the arms were never found) put the whole town of _Arles_ together by the ears; one _Scavant_ said it was the G.o.ddess _Diana_, and wrote a book to prove it; another insisted upon it, that it was the true image of _Venus_; then starts up an Ecclesiastic, who _you know has nothing to do with women_, and he p.r.o.nounced in dogmatical terms, it was neither one nor the other; at length the wiser magistrates of the town agreed to send it as a present to their august monarch Lewis the XIVth; and if you have a mind to see an inanimate woman who has made such a noise in the world, you will find her at _Versailles_, without any other notice taken of her or the quarrels about her, than the following words written (I think) upon her pedestal, _La Venus d'Arles_. This ended the dispute, as I must my letter.

LETTER x.x.xVI.

I have not half done with _Arles_. The more I saw and heard in this town, the more I found was to be seen. The remains of the Roman theatre here would of itself be a sufficient proof that it was a town of great riches and importance. Among the refuse of this building they found several large vases of baked earth, which were open on one side, and which were fixed properly near the seats of the audience to receive and convey the sounds of the instruments and voices of the actors distinctly throughout the theatre, which had forty-eight arches, eleven behind the scenes of ten feet wide, three grand arches of fourteen feet wide, and thirty-one of twelve feet; the diameter was thirty-one canes, and the circ.u.mference seventy-nine; and from the infinite number of beautiful pieces of sculpture, frizes, architraves, pillars of granite, &c. which have been dug up, it is very evident that this theatre was a most magnificent building, and perhaps would have stood firm to this day, had not a Bishop of _Arles_, from a principle of more piety than wisdom, stript it of the finest ornaments and marble pillars, to adorn the churches. Near the theatre stood also the famous temple of _Diana_; and, as the famous statue mentioned in my former letter was found beneath some n.o.ble marble pillars near that spot, it is most likely _La Venus d'Arles_ is nevertheless the G.o.ddess _Diana_.

I never wish more for your company than when I walk, (and I walk every day) in the Elysian fields. The spot is beautiful, the prospect far and near equally so: in the middle of this ancient _Cimetiere_ stands a motly building, from the middle of which however rises a cupola, which at the first view informs you it is the work of a Roman artist; and here you must, as it were, thread the needle between an infinite number of Pagan and Christian monuments, lying thick upon the surface in the utmost disorder and confusion, insomuch, that one would think the Day of Judgment was arrived and the dead were risen. Neither _Stepney_ church-yard, nor any one in or near a great city, shew so many headstones as this spot does stone coffins of an immense size, hewn out of one piece; the covers of most of which have been broken or removed sufficiently to search for such things as were usually buried with the dead. Some of these monuments, and some of the handsomest too, are still however unviolated. It is very easy to distinguish the Pagan from the Christian monnments, without opening them, as all the former have the Roman letters DM (_Diis Manibus_) cut upon them. It is situated, according to their custom, near the high-way, the water, and the marshes. You know the ancients preferred such spots for the interment of the dead.

The tombs of _Ajax_ and _Hector_, HOMER says, were near the sea, as well as other heroes of antiquity; for as they considered man to be composed of earth and water, his bones ought to be laid in one, and near the other.

I will now give you a few of the most curious inscriptions; but first I will mention a n.o.ble marble monument, moved from this spot into the _Cimetiere_ of the great Hospital. This tomb is ornamented with Cornucopiae, _Paterae_, &c. and in a shield the following inscription:

CABILIAE D.F. APPRVLLAE FLAM D DESIGNATAE COL. DEA. AUG. VOC. M O. ANNOS XIIII, MENS II. DIES V.

MARITVS VXORI PIENTISSIMAE.

POSUIT.

This poor girl was not only too young to die, but too young to marry, one would think; I wish therefore her afflicted husband had told us how many years he had been married to a wife who died at the age of fourteen, two months, and five days. The cornucopiae, I suppose, were to signify that this virtuous wife, I was going to say maid, was the source of all his pleasure and happiness. The _Paterae_ were vases destined to receive the blood of the victims.

Supponunt alij cultros, tepidumque cruorem Suscipiunt Pateris,--_Says the Poet_.

On each side of the tomb are the symbols of sacrifice. It is very evident from the fine polish of this monument, that her husband had obtained the Emperor's particular leave to finish it highly.

Rogum _ascia ne Polito_ says the law of the twelve tables.

On another tomb, which is of common stone, in the middle of a shield supported by two Cupids, is the following inscription:

M IVNIO MESSIANO ----VTRICI. CORP. ARELAT.

D EIVS D. CORP. MAG. III. F M QUI VIXIT ANN. XXVIII.

M. V. D. X. IVNIA VALERIA.

ALVMNO CLARISSIMO.

The first word of the second line is much obliterated.

There are an infinite number of other monuments with inscriptions; but those above, and this below, will be sufficient for me to convey to you, and you to my friend at _Winchester_.

L DOMIT. DOMITIANI EX TRIERARCHI CLa.s.s. GERM.

D PECCOCEIA VALENTINA M CONIUGI PIENTISSIMA.

Before I leave _Arles_, and I leave it reluctantly, whatever you may do, I must not omit to mention the princ.i.p.al monument, and pride of it, at this day, i.e. their Obelisque. I will not tell you where nor when it was dug up; it is sufficient to say, it was found here, that it is a single piece of granite, sixty-one feet high, and seven feet square below; yet it was elevated in the Market-place, upon a modern pedestal, which bears four fulsome complimentary inscriptions to _Lewis_ the XIV.