A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain Volume II Part 2

copious sweats. I would not have mentioned this circ.u.mstance, but it may be the _mal du pais_, and ought to be mentioned for the _method of cure_.

There was not quite so good an understanding between the Pope's _Legate_ and the English residing here, as could be wished; some untoward circ.u.mstance had happened, and there seemed to be faults on both sides; it was carried, I think, to such a length, that when the English met him, they did not pull off their hats; but as it happened before I came, and as in our walks and rides we often met him airing in his coach, we paid that respect which is everywhere due to a first magistrate, and he took great pains to return it most graciously; his livery, guards, &c. make a very splendid appearance: he holds a court, and is levee'd every Sunday, though not liked by the French. At the church of St. _Didier_, in a little chapel, of mean workmanship, is the tomb of the celebrated _Laura_, whose name _Petrarch_ has rendered immortal; the general opinion is, that she died a virgin; but it appears by her tomb, that she was the wife of _Hugues de Sade_, and that she had many children. About two hundred years after her death, some curious people got permission to open her tomb, in which they found a little box, containing some verses written by _Petrarch_, and a medallion of lead, on one side of which was a Lady's head and on the reverse, the four following letters, M.L.M.E.

_Francis_ the First, pa.s.sing thro' _Avignon_, visited this tomb, and left upon it the following epitaph, of his own composition:

"En pet.i.t lien compris vous pouvez voir Ce qui comprend beaucoup par renommee Plume, labour le langue & le devoir Furent vaincus par l'aimant de l'aimee O gentille ame, etant tant estimee Qui le pourra louer quen se laissant?

Car la parole est toujours reprimee Quand le sujet surmonte le disant."

This town is crowded with convents and churches. The convent of the _Celestines_, founded by _Charles_ the VIth, is richly endowed, and has n.o.ble gardens: there are not above fourteen or fifteen members, and their revenue is near two thousand pounds sterling a year. In their church is a very superb monument of Pope _Clement_ the VIIth, who died here in the year 1394, as a long Latin inscription upon it announces.

They shew in this house a picture, painted by King _Renee_; it represents the frightful remains of his beloved mistress, whose body he took out of the grave, and painted it in the state he then found it, i.e. with the worms crawling about it: it is a hideous figure, and hideously painted; the stone coffin stands on a line with the figure, but is above a foot too short for the body; and on the other side is a long scrole of verses, written in Gothic characters, which begin thus:

"_Une fois fus sur toutes femmes belle Mais par la mort suis devenue telle Machair estoit tres-belle fraische & tendre O'r est elle toute tournee en cendre._"

There follow at least forty other such lines.

There is also in this convent, a fine monument, on which stands the effigies of _St. Benezet_, a shepherd of _Avignon_, who built (they say) the bridge from the town over the Rhone, in consequence of a dream, in the year 1127: some of the n.o.ble arches are still standing, and part of a very pretty chapel on it, nearly in the middle of the river; but a great part of the bridge has been carried away, many years since, by the violence of the river, which often not only overflows its banks, but the lower part of the town. In 1755, it rose seventeen feet higher than its usual flowing, and I saw marks in many of the streets, high above my head, against the sides of houses, which it had risen to; but with all my industry, I could find no _mark upon the house where Lady Mary Wortley Montagu dwelt_, though she resided some time here, and though I endeavoured to find it.

I need not describe the celebrated fountain of _Vaucluse_, near this town, where _Petrarque_ composed his works, and established Mount Parna.s.sus. This is the only part of France in which there is an Inquisition, but the Officers seem content with their profits and honours, without the power.

One part of the town is allotted to the Jews, where about six or seven hundred live peaceably and have their synagogue; and it was here the famous rabbin _Joseph Meir_ was born; he died in the year 1554; he was author, you know, of _Annals des Rois de France_, and _de la Maison Ottomane_.

Not far from _Avignon_, on the banks of the same rapid river, stands _Beaucaire_, famous for its annual FAIR, where merchandize is brought from all parts of Europe, free of all duties: it begins on the 22d of July; and it is computed that eight million of livres are annually expended there in eight days. _Avignon_ is remarkable for the No. Seven, having seven ports, seven parishes, seven colleges, seven hospitals, and seven monasteries; and I may add, I think, seven hundred bells, which are always making a horrid jingle, for they have no idea of ringing bells harmoniously in any part of France.

LETTER XL.

LYONS.

After a month's residence at _Avignon_, where I waited till the weather and roads amongst the high _Dauphine_ mountains were both improved, I sat out for this city. I had, you know, outward bound, dropt down to _Port St. Esprit_ by water, so it was a new scene to us by land, and I a.s.sure you it was a fine one; the vast and extensive rich vales, adorned on all sides with such romantic mountains, could not be otherwise, in such a climate. Our first stage was only four leagues to _Orange_; this is the last town in the Pope's territories; and within a quarter of a mile of it stands, in a corn field, a beautiful Roman triumphal arch, so great in _ruins_, that it would be an ornament even in Rome. The _Palais Royal_ at this town, has nothing to recommend it, but that it affords a prospect of this rich morsel of antiquity.

From _Orange_ we pa.s.sed through _Pierlaite, Donzeir_, and several smaller towns, and we lay one night at a single house, but an excellent auberge, called _Souce_, kept by an understanding sensible host.

At a little village called _A'tang_, on the banks of the Rhone, we stopped a day or two, to enjoy the sweet situation. Just opposite to it, on the other side of the river, stands a large town, (_Tournau_,) which added to the beauty of our village, over which hangs a very high mountain, from whence the best Hermitage wine is collected: I suppose it is called _Hermitage_, from a Hermit's cell on the top of it; but so unlike the _Montserrat_ Hermitages, that I contented myself with only tasting the Hermit's wine; it was so good indeed, that though I did not see how it was possible to get it safe to the north side of France, I could not withstand the temptation of buying a cask, for which I was to pay twelve guineas, and did pay one as earnest, to a very sensible, and I believe honest and opulent wine merchant, who, however, made me a present of two bottles when I came away, almost worth my guinea; it is three livres a bottle on the spot; and he shewed me orders he had received from men of fashion in England, for wine; among which was one from Mr. _Ryder_, Sir _Dudley Ryder_'s son I fancy, who, I found, was well satisfied with his former dealings. Do you know that Claret is greatly improved by a mixture of Hermitage, and that the best Claret we have in England is generally so _adulterated_?

The next towns we pa.s.sed were _Pevige_ and _Vienne_, the latter only five leagues from this city. It is a very ancient town, and was formerly a Roman colony. The cathedral is a large and n.o.ble Gothic structure, and in it is a fine tomb of Cardinal _Mountmoin_, said to be equal in workmanship to _Richlieu_'s in the _Sorbonne_, but said to be so, by people no ways qualified to judge properly; it is indeed an expensive but a miserable performance, when put in compet.i.tion with the works of _Girrardeau_. About half a mile without the town is a n.o.ble pyramidal Roman monument, said to have stood in the center of the Market-place, in the time of the Romans. There is also to be seen in this town, a Mosaic pavement discovered only a few years since, wonderfully beautiful indeed, and near ten feet square, though not quite perfect, being broken in the night by some malicious people, out of mere wantonness, soon after it was discovered.

At this town I was recommended to the _Table Round_; but as there are two, the _grande_ and the _pet.i.t_, I must recommend you to the _pet.i.t_ where I was obliged to move; for, of all the dreadful women I ever came near, Madam _Rousillion_ has the _least mellifluous_ notes; her ill behaviour, however, procured me the honour of a very agreeable acquaintance, the _Marquis DeValan_, who made me ashamed, by shewing us an attention we had no right to expect; but this is one, among many other agreeable circ.u.mstances, which attend strangers travelling in France. French gentlemen never see strangers ill treated, without standing forth in their defence; and I hope English gentlemen will follow their example, because it is a piece of justice due to strangers, in whatever country they are, or whatever country they are from; it is doing as one would be done by. That prejudice which prevails in England, even among some people of fashion, against the French nation is illiberal, in the highest degree; nay, it is more, it is a national disgrace.--When I recollect with what ease and uninterruption I have pa.s.sed through so many great and little towns, and extensive provinces, without a symptom of wanton rudeness being offered me, I blush to think how a Frenchman, if he made no better figure than I did, would have been treated in a tour through Britain.--My Monkey, with a pair of French jack boots, and his hair _en queue_, rode postillion upon my st.u.r.dy horse some hours every day; such a sight, you may be sure, brought forth old and young, sick and lame, to look at him and his master. _Jocko_ put whole towns in motion, but never brought any affront on his master; they came to look and to laugh, but not to deride or insult. The post-boys, it is true, did not like to see their fraternity _taken off_, in my _little Theatre_; but they seldom discovered it, but by a grave salutation; and sometimes a good humoured fellow called him comrade, and made _Jocko_ a bow; they could not laugh at his bad seat, for not one of them rode with more ease; or had a handsomer laced jacket. Mr. _Buffon_ says, the Monkey or _Maggot_, (and mine is the latter, for he has no tail) make their grimace or chattering equally to shew their anger or to make known their appet.i.te. With all due deference to this great naturalist, I must beg leave to say, that his observation is not quite just; there is as much difference between the grimace of my _Jocko_, when he is angry or hungry, and when he grins to shew delight, as there is in a man, when he gnashes his teeth in wrath, or laughs from mirth.

Between _Avignon_ and this town I met a dancing bear, mounted by a _Maggot_: as it was upon the high road, I desired leave to present _Jocko_ to his grandfather, for so he appeared both in age and size; the interview, though they were both males, was very affecting; never did a father receive a long-lost child with more seeming affection than the _old gentleman_ did my _Jocko_; he embraced him with every degree of tenderness imaginable, while the _young gentleman_ (like other young gentlemen of the present age) betrayed a perfect indifference. In my conscience I believe it, there was some consanguinity between them, or the reception would have proved more mutual. Between you and me, I fear, were I to return to England, I might find myself a sad party in such an interview. It is a sad reflection; but perhaps Providence may wisely ordain such things, in order as men grow older, to wean them from the objects of their worldly affections, that they may resign more readily to the decree of fate. That good man, Dr. ARBUTHNOT, did not seem to dread the approach of death on his own account, so much as from the grievous affliction HE had reason to fear it would bring upon his children and family.

LETTER XLI.

LYONS,

_The Harangue of the_ Emperor CLAUDIUS, _in the_ SENATE. _Copied from the original Bronze plate in the Hotel de Ville, of_ Lyons.

FIRST TABLE.

MOERERUM . NOSTR ::::: SII ::::::::: Equidem primam omnium illam cogitationem hominum quam maxime primam occursuram mihi provideo deprecor ne quasi novam istam rem introduci exhorrescatis sed illa potius cogitetis quam multa in hac civitate novata sint et quidem statim ab origine vrbis nostrae in quod formas statusque res P nostra diducta sit.

Quandam reges hanc tenuere vrbem nec tamen domesticis successoribus eam tradere contigit supervenere alieni et quidam externi vt Numa Romulo successerit ex. Sabinis veniens vicinus quidem se tunc.

Sed tunc externus ut Anco Marcio Priscus Tarquinius propter temeratum sanguinem quod Patre Demaratho Corinthio natus erat et Tarquiniensi Matre generoso sed inopi ut quae tali marito necesse habuerit succ.u.mbere c.u.m domi repelleretur. A gerendis honoribus postquam Roman migravit regnum adeptus est huic quoque et filio nepotive ejus nam et hoc inter auctores discrepat insertus Servius Tullius si nostros sequimur captiva natus ocresia si tuscos coeli quandam vivennae sodalis fidelissimus omnisque ejus casus comes post quam varia fortuna exactus c.u.m omnibus reliquis caeliani exercitus Etruria excepit mentem caelium occupavit et a duce suo caelio ita appellitatus mutatoque nomine nam Tusce mostrana ei nomen erat ita appellatus est ut dixi et regnum summa c.u.m rei p utilitate optinuit deinde postquam Tarquini superbi mores invisi civitati nostrae esse coeperunt qua ipsius qua filiorum ejus nempe pertaesum est mentes regni et adconsules.

Annuos magistratus administratio rei p translata est quid nunc commemorem dictatu valentius repertum apud majores nostros quo in asperioribus bellis aut in civili motu difficiliore uterentur aut in auxilium plebis creatos tribunos plebei quid a latum imperium solutoque postea Decemvirali regno ad consules rursus reditum quid indecoris distributum consulare imperium tribunosque militum consulari imperio appellatos qui seni et saepe octoni crearentur quid communicatos postremo c.u.m plebe honores non imperi solum sed sacerdotiorum quoque jam si narrem bella p quibus coeperint majores nostri et quo processerimus vereor ne nimio insolentior esse videar et quaesisse jactationem gloria prolati imperi ultra oceanum sed illoc potius revertor civitatem.

SECOND TABLE.

:::::::::::::::::: SANE ::: NOVO :: DIVVS :: AUG ::: LVS. et Patruus Ti Caesar omnem florem ubisque coloniarum ac municipiorum bonorum scilicet virorum et locupletium in hac curia esse voluit quid ergo non Italicus senator Provinciali potior est jam vobis c.u.m hanc partem censurae meae ad probare coepero quid de ea re sentiam rebus ostendam sed ne provinciales quidem si modo ornare curiam poterint rejiciendos puto.

Ornatissimae ecce colonia volentissimaque Viennensium quam longo jam tempore senatores huic curiae confert ex qua colonia inter paucas equestris ordinis ornamentum L vestinum familiarissime diligo et hodieque in rebus meis detineo cujus liberi tiorum gradu post modo c.u.m annis promoturi dignitatis suae incrementa ut dirum nomen latronis taceam et odi illud palaestric.u.m prodigium quod ante in domum consulatum intulit quam colonia sua solidum civitatis Romanae beneficium consecuta est idem de patre ejus possum dicere miserabili quidem invtilis senator esse non possit tempus est jam ri CaeSAR Germanice detegere te patribus conscriptis quo tendat oratio tua jam enim ad extremos fines Galliae Narbonensis venisti.

Tot ecce insignes juvenes quot intuetor non magis sunt poenitendi senatores quam aenitet Persic.u.m n.o.bilissimum virum amic.u.m meum inter imagines majorum suorum Allobrogici nomen legere quod SL haec ita esse consent.i.tis quid ultra desideratis quam ut vobis digito demonstrem solum ipsum ultra fines provinciae Narbonensis jam vobis senatores mittere quando ex Luguduno habere nos nostri ordinis viros non poenitet timide quidem P C vobis provinciarum terminos sum sed destricte jam comatae Galliae causa argenda est in qua si quis hoc intuetur quod bello per decem anno exercuerunt divom Julium diem opponat centum armorum immobilem fidem obsequiumque multis trepidis rebus nostris plusquam expertum illi patri meo druso Germaniam subi genti tutam quiete sua securamque a tergo pacem praest.i.terunt et quidem c.u.m AD census novo tum opere et in adsueto gallis ad bellum avocatus esset quod opus quam arduum sit n.o.bis nunc maxime quam vis nihil ultra quam ut publice notae sint facultates nostrae exquiratur nimis magno experimento cognoscimus.

The above harangue, made by CLAUDIUS, in favor of the LYONOISE, and which he p.r.o.nounced in the Senate, is the only remains of the works of this Emperor, though he composed many. _Suetonius_ says he composed forty-three books of a history, and left eight compleat of his own life; and adds, that he wrote more elegantly than judiciously.

LETTER XLII.

LYONS.

I have now spent a month in my second visit to this great and flourishing city, and fortunately took lodgings in a _Hotel_, where I found the lady and sister of _Mons. Le Marquis De Valan_, whose politeness to us I mentioned in a former letter at _Vienne_, and by whose favour I have had an opportunity of seeing more, and being better informed, than I could have been without so respectable an acquaintance.

At _Vienne_ I only knew his rank, here I became acquainted with his good character, and fortune, which is very considerable in _Dauphine_, where he has two or three fine seats. His Lady came to _Lyons_ to lye-in, attended by the Marquis's sister, a _Chanoinesse_, a most agreeable sensible woman, of a certain age; but the Countess is young and beautiful.

You may imagine that, after what I said of _Lyons_, on my way _to_ Spain, I did not a.s.sociate much with my own country-folks. On my return, indeed, my princ.i.p.al amus.e.m.e.nt was to see as much as I could, in a town where so much is to be seen; and in relating to you what I have seen, I will begin with the _Hotel De Ville_; if it had not that name, I should have called it a Palace, for there are few palaces so large or so n.o.ble; on the first entrance of which, in the vestibule, you see, fixed in the wall, a large plate of Bronze, bearing stronger marks of fire than of age; on which were engraven, seventeen hundred years ago, two harangues made by the Emperor _Claudius_ in the senate, in favour of the _Lyonoise_, and which are not only legible at this day, but all the letters are sharp and well executed; the plate indeed is broke quite through the middle, but fortunately the fraction runs between the first and second harangues, so as to have done but little injury among the the letters. As I do not know whether you ever saw a copy of it, I inclose it to you, and desire you will send it as an agreeable exercise, to be well translated by my friend at Oxford.

On the other side of the vestibule is a n.o.ble stair-case, on which is well painted the destruction of the city, by so dreadful a fire in the time of the Romans, that _Seneca_, who gives an account of it in a letter to his friend, says,

"_Una nox fuit inter urbem maximam et nullum._"

i.e. One night only intervened between a great city and nothing.

There is something awful in this scene, to see on one side of the stair-case the conflagration well executed; on the other, strong marks of the very fire which burnt so many ages ago; for there can be no doubt, but that the Bronze plate then stood in the _Roman Hotel de Ville_, and was burnt down with it, because it was dug up among the refuse of the old city on the mountain called _Fourvire_, on the other side of the river, where the original city was built.--In cutting the letters on this large plate of Bronze, they have, to gain room, made no distance between the words, but shewn the division only by a little touch thus < with="" the="" graver;="" and="" where="" a="" word="" eroded="" with="" a="" c,="" or="" g,="" they="" have="" put="" the="" touch="" within="" the="" concavity="" of="" the="" letter,="" otherwise="" it="" is="" admirably="" well="">

Upon entering into the long gallery above stairs, you are shewn the late King and Queen's pictures at full length, surrounded with the heads of some hundred citizens; and in one corner of the room an ancient altar, the _Taurabolium_, dug up in 1704, near the same place where _Claudius's_ harangue was found; it is of common stone, well executed, about four feet high, and one foot and a half square; on the front of it is the bull's head, in demi relief, adorned with a garland of corn; on the right side is the _victimary_ knife[A] of a very singular form; and on the left the head of a ram, adorned as the bull's; near the point of the knife are the following words, _cujus factum est_; the top of the altar is hollowed out into the form of a shallow bason, in which, I suppose, incense was burnt and part of the victims.

[A] The knife, which is cut in demi relief, on the _Taurobolium_, is crooked upon the back, exactly in the same manner, and form, as may be seen on some of the medals of the Kings of Macedonia.