The South of France-East Half Part 16

[Headnote: AVIGNON PALACE.]

The present +Palace+, commenced by Benedict XII. in 1336, and finished by Gregory XI. in 1370, is an ugly huge structure, consisting of plain walls 100 ft. high and 14 thick, strengthened by long ungainly b.u.t.tresses. Above the entrance, composed of a low archway, are the arms of Clement VI.; and higher up, on two oriel turrets, the balcony from which the Popes blessed the people. Within the gate is the Cour d'Honneur, a vast quadrangular s.p.a.ce between flat walls, pierced by from 3 to 4 stories of windows, not on the same level nor of the same size.

From the court ascend the Escalier d'Honneur, a groined staircase, of which the steps were formerly of marble, to the Salle Consistoriale d'Hiver, with an elegantly-groined roof. Before this hall was divided into two, it was 52 ft. high, 65 wide, and 170 long. From it we enter the Salle d'Armes, with mural paintings by Simone Memmi of Sienna.

Ascending higher the grand staircase, we pa.s.s on the left the small window for the Spies, and then go along a narrow lobby tunnelled in the wall, to a succession of large bare halls, the Galerie de Conclave, the Salle des Gardes, the Salle de Reception, and then enter the Tour St.

Jean, containing the Chapelle du Saint-Office, or the chapel of the +Inquisition+, with mural paintings. In the story immediately below is the chapel of the Popes. From the Tour St. Jean, after pa.s.sing through a large hall, we enter an octagonal room, gradually narrowing towards the centre, till it forms a chimney-tower, called the Tour Strapade. Some say this was the torture room; but it is evidently more suited for a kitchen, which in all probability it was. Adjoining is the Glaciere, into whose underground cellars, now built up, the democrats of 1791 flung the bodies of 60 men and women they had murdered. From this we enter again the Place d'Honneur by the Tour Trouillas, in which Rienzi was imprisoned five years, bound to a chain fixed to the roof of his cell. During the time of the Popes, from 1305 to 1234, and till 1793, the half of Avignon was occupied by ecclesiastical edifices, which tolled daily 300 bells, and had among them a daily succession of religious processions.

[Headnote: ROCHER DES DOMS. CATHEDRAL.]

From the palace the road leads up to the highest part of the town, the +Rocher des Doms+; commanding a magnificent view, and laid out as a public garden, with in the centre a statue of Jean Althen, who introduced, in 1766, the culture of the "garance," the _Rubia tinctoria_, now superseded, for the dyeing of red. From this terrace a stair leads down to the Rhone near the Bridge Benezet (see page 63). In the middle of the river is the Ile de Barthela.s.se, and on the other side are the Tour de Philippe le Bel, the town of Villeneuve, and above it the Fort St. Andre. On the promenade is the Cathedral +Notre-Dame-des-Doms+, 194 feet above the Rhone, approached by a stair called the Pater, because originally it had as many steps as there are words in the Lord's Prayer. This church has undergone many changes, and belongs to various periods. The portal and lower part of the tower are of the 10th cent., and are due to Fulcherius. The nave is two centuries later. The apse was added in 1671. The most remarkable part of the structure is the cupola, terminating in an octagonal lantern, and supported on pendentive arches. It bears traces of frescoes painted in 1672. In the sanctuary is the marble throne used by the Popes, in the sacristy the Gothic mausoleum of Jean XXII., and in one of the side chapels the tomb of Benoit XII. In the third chapel (right hand) is a Madonna in white marble, by Pradier. The sacristan is generally in the small room next the main entrance. Fee, fr. for showing the church and the tomb.

Now return to the Place de l'Hotel de Ville. At the foot or south end a tram-car leaves every to the Pont d'Avignon station on the other side of the Rhone, 2 sous; and another to St. Lazare at the eastern end of the town near the cemetery, 2 sous. An omnibus starts every hour from the corner of the theatre for Villeneuve, where it stops at the east end of the church. Fare both ways, 4 sous.

[Headnote: ST. AGRICOL. MUSeE CALVET.]

In the "Place" the princ.i.p.al edifice is the +Hotel de Ville+, built in 1862, on the site of the Palais Colonna, 14th cent, of which all that remains is the handsome belfry called Jacquemard and his wife, from the two figures which strike the hours. Next the Hotel de Ville is the theatre, built in 1847. Behind is the church of +St. Agricol+, 1340, the patron saint of Avignon. To the right on entering is the tomb of the painter Pierre Mignard, d. 4th April 1725, aged 86, and third chapel on same side is a virgin and child in wood by Coysevox. To the left of the entrance is an ancient and elegant marble baptismal font. At the foot of the short street St. Agricol, in the Rue Calade, is the Oratoire, built in 1730. At No. 65 of the Rue Calade is the +Musee Calvet+, containing a valuable collection of art treasures open to the public on Sundays from 12 to 4, and a library and reading-room open every day except Sunday.

Against the wall of the inner court is the tomb of the donor of this museum, Claud Francois Calvet, d. 25th July 1810, in his 82d year. On the right is the monument erected by Sir Charles Kelsall in 1823 to Laura de Sade, dead of smallpox in 1348, and buried in the church of the Cordeliers (see p. 62). On the other side is the tomb of the military strategist Folard, a native of Avignon. In the outer court, and in the rooms and pa.s.sages on the ground-floor, are Roman altars, monuments, milestones, torses, amphorae, and 170 Latin inscriptions, found in the neighbourhood, but chiefly from Orange and Vaison (p. 53). Among the sculptures in relief, one represents a Roman chariot drawn by two horses with their hoofs shod. There are 27 Greek inscriptions, 3d or 4th cent., from Venice. The statuary and sculpture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance have been gathered princ.i.p.ally from the suppressed churches and convents. The most noticeable are: the mausoleums of Pope Urbain V., of Cardinals Lagrange and Brancas, and of Marshal Palice. Within railings are: Ca.s.sandra by Pradier, a faun by Brian, and a bather by Esparcieux, all in the finest white marble. Upstairs is a valuable collection of Roman gla.s.s and bronzes, and 20,000 coins and medals, including a complete set of the seals and medals of the Popes during their residence at Avignon, and the seal used by the Inquisition while here. There are nearly 500 pictures, and a collection of drawings, including the original sketches of Horace Vernet. Most of the pictures have the artists' names affixed. Those in the great hall are by Albano, Ba.s.sano, Berghem, Bloemen, Bourdon, Ca.n.a.letto, A. Carracci, Caravaggio, Chalons, Coypel, Credi, David, *Eckout (crucifixion), Sa.s.so Ferrati, F. Floris, Gericault, Girodet, Gros, Holbein, Lomi, Meel, P. and N. Mignard, J. and P. Parrocel, Poussin, Euysdael, Salvator Rosa, Teuiers jun., Veronese, Vigee-Lebrun, and Zurbaran. In the small room are the paintings by Claude-Joseph, Horace and Carle Vernet, with a few by Paul Huet. The marble busts of Horace and Carle are by Thorwaldsen.

In the centre of an inner room, containing the medals and engravings, is the famous ivory crucifixion, 27 inches long, of one piece, excepting the arms, a chef-d'uvre of the sculptor Guillermin in 1659. It is said that Canova stood in ecstasy over this delicate achievement in art.

Continuing down the R. Calade to the other side of the R. Petrarque or de la Republique, we have on the right the Museum of Natural History in the church St. Martial, 15th cent. [Headnote: REQUIEN.] The greater part of the specimens were bequeathed by M. Requien, d. 1851, and of them the most interesting are those connected with the neighbourhood, such as the flamingo and beaver of the Rhone, and the fossils from Aix. In the eastern continuation of the R. Calade, at No. 62 R. des Lices, is the College +Saint Joseph+, containing within its grounds all that remains (the belfry and piece of the north aisle) of the church of the Cordeliers; in which Laura was buried. The aisle has been repaired, and is now used as a chapel. Visitors are freely admitted. It is to the left of the entrance. Of the tomb there are no vestiges, having been destroyed along with the church by an infuriated mob in 1791. On the E.

side of the R. Petrarque, by the narrow R. Prevot, is the church of +St.

Dedier+, 1355, containing, in first chapel right from entrance, a relief in marble representing Christ bearing his cross, executed by Francesco in 1481 at the request of King Rene. Opposite, over second arch, 36 ft.

above the floor, is a stone pulpit with a sculptured pendant. The grave of St. Benezet is under a plain slab in the middle of the nave, in front of the high altar. Near St. Dedier is the Hotel Crillon, 17th cent.; and to the east of the Place de l'Hotel de Ville is the church of St. Pierre (9 in plan), 1520, with an elaborately-sculptured door and pulpit. The pictures about the high altar are by N. Mignard, J. and P. Parrocel, and Simon de Chalons. From the S.E. corner of the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, the R. des Marchands and its continuation the Rues Saunerie and Carreterie, lead to the Porte St. Lazare, with, to the right, the town +hospital+ (7 in plan), having a frontage of 192 yards, built in the last century on the site of the hospital of St. Martha, founded in 1354.

Here, outside the town-walls to the right, then by a broad road to the left, is the Cemetery. The Protestant division is on the right side of the entrance. [Headnote: J. S. MILL.] In a corner at the end of a short avenue of pine trees is the white marble monument to John Stuart Mill, b. 20th May 1806, d. 7th May 1873. In the same grave is interred Harriet Mill, his beloved wife, who died at Avignon in the Hotel de l'Europe, Nov. 3, 1858. A touching epitaph, recounting her virtues, occupies the whole surface of the top slab. From the Porte St. Lazare, a walk may be taken between the ramparts and the Rhone down to the bridge built in 1184, partly in the style of the Pont-du-Gard, by the shepherd, saint, and architect, +Benezet+, who before had constructed one over the Durance at Maupas. This bridge, which stood 100 years, was 2952 ft. long and 13 wide, on 19 arches, of which four still remain.

On the second arch is the chapel of St. Nicolas, in which the relics of St. Benezet were kept till removed to the church of St. Dedier.

[Headnote: VILLENEUVE-LES-AVIGNON.]

+Avignon to Villeneuve.+

Every , a tram crosses the bridge for the Pont d'Avignon station, while every hour an omnibus crosses for +Villeneuve-les-Avignon+, pop. 3100, 2 m. from the "Place," or 1 m. from the Pont station. Near the parish church, 14th cent., is the Hospital, containing, in the chapel to the left, the mausoleum of Innocent VI., under a lofty elaborately-sculptured canopy, rising in pinnacles to the roof. Upstairs is the picture gallery, in two rooms. The most remarkable picture belongs to the 15th or 16th cent., painted on wood, and represents two subjects, Purgatory and the Judgment Day, apparently by two different artists. Although stiff, the design is admirable, and all the heads, even the smallest, are carefully executed. But the gem is the most charming and bewitching portrait by Mignard of Mme. de Ganges attired as a nun. She was born at Avignon in 1636, and when only 13 married the Marquis de Castellane, with whom she frequented the court of Louis XIV., where she was called La Belle Provencale. After her husband's death she married the Marquis de Ganges, with whom she returned to Avignon, where her sorrows commenced, caused by the conduct of her two brothers-in-law, the Abbot and the Chevalier de Ganges, whose unlawful pa.s.sion she steadfastly resisted. At last the exasperated abbot having made her drink poison, she threw herself out of the window, and while lying on the ground in the agony of death, the chevalier pierced her seven times with his sword. These two monsters were condemned by the parliament to be broken alive on the wheel. The other pictures in the collection by Mignard are: Jesus before the Doctors, an Annunciation, and a St. Bruno.

Fee, 1 fr., given to the hospital. In the parish church, built in the 14th cent, by Cardinal Arnaud de Via, there is nothing extraordinary.

Near it are the ruins of the Chartreuse-du-Val-de-Benediction, and on an eminence Fort Andre, now inhabited as a walled village. The omnibus for Avignon starts every hour at the hour, from the apsidal end of the parish church of Villeneuve.

Avignon is very much exposed to different winds, especially the Mistral, yet perhaps they are necessary, for, according to the adage, "Avenio ventosa, c.u.m vento fastidiosa, sine vento venenosa," the odours from the drains in some of the streets being very offensive.

Till July 26, 1793, Avignon belonged to the Papal See, when it was forcibly taken possession of by the Republican army under General Cartaux, who owed his victory to the skill of his captain of artillery, the young commandant Napoleon, who afterwards remained nearly a month in this town for the establishment of his health, in No. 65 Rue Calade, opposite the Musee Calvet, where he wrote "Le Souper de Beaucaire."

[Headnote: AVIGNON TO NiMES. L'ISLE.]

+Avignon to Nimes.+

Avignon is 1 hour or 15 miles N.E. from Nimes by rail, starting from the Pont-d'Avignon station on the west side of the Rhone. Those wishing to visit the Pont-du-Gard on the way should take their tickets for the Pont-du-Gard station, changing carriages at Remoulins. If with luggage, it is better to take the tickets only to Remoulins; where, without loss of time on arriving, take other tickets to the Pont-du-Gard, leaving the luggage behind. Time will generally be saved by returning from the Pont to Remoulins on foot, about 3 m. by the road, but 5 m. by the rail. See Map, p. 56. For Nimes see p. 101, and for the Pont-du-Gard see p. 104.

Consult the "Indicateur des Chemins de Fer du Lyon" before starting.

[Headnote: L'ISLE. FONTAINE DE VAUCLUSE.]

+Avignon to Vaucluse by L'Isle.+

From Avignon the Fontaine de Vaucluse is 18 m. eastward, by the village of Isle, on the line to Cavaillon. L'Isle, pop. 7000, a village on the Sorgues, with decorated church rebuilt in the 17th cent. Handsome reredos over high altar and several good paintings. The Tour d'Argent dates from the 11th cent. At the station the omnibuses of the Isle hotels, Petrarque et Laure and St. Martin, await pa.s.sengers and take them to Vaucluse and back for 4 frs. each. From the village of Vaucluse, pop. 600, take for the fountain the road on the right bank of stream, but for the house and garden of Petrarch take the left side, crossing the bridge. On the left side, against a cliff near the cloth mill, is a small house on the site of Petrarch's, of which it is a copy. Before it, is still a piece of what was Petrarch's garden. On the other side of the Sorgue is a cigar-paper mill. There is a little hotel at Vaucluse, the Hotel Petrarch et Laure. Under a stupendous cliff 1148 feet high is the source of the river Sorgue, the placid +Fontaine de Vaucluse+, about 30 yards in diameter-- "a mirror of blue-black water, so pure, so still, that where it laps the pebbles you can scarcely say where air begins and water ends." During floods, however, the cavern being no longer able to contain the increased volume, the water rushes over in a cascade into the bed below. The poet's modest house stood at the foot of the rock crowned by the ruins of the castle in which lived his friend Cardinal Philippe de Cabasole. Petrarch himself gives the following description of the site:-- "On one side my garden is bounded by a deep river; on another by a rugged mountain, a barrier against the noon-day heats, and which never refuses, not even at mid-day, to lend me its friendly shade; but the sweet air reaches me through all obstacles. In the distance a surly wall makes me inaccessible to both man and beast. Figs, grapes, walnuts, almonds--these are my delights. My table is also graced with the fish that abound in my river; and it is one of my greatest pleasures to watch the fishermen draw their nets, and to draw them myself. All about me is changed. I once used to dress myself with care; now you would believe me a labourer or a shepherd. My house resembles that of Fabius or Cato. I have but a valet and a dog. The house of my servant adjoins my own. I call him when I want him, and when I have no more need of him he returns home."

[Headnote: PETRARCH.]

On the 6th of April 1327 Francesco Petrarca saw in a church of Avignon Laura the daughter of Audibert de Noves, for whom he conceived a romantic but hopeless attachment. Incessantly haunted with the beautiful vision of the fair Laura, he visited in succession the south of France, Paris, and the Netherlands, and after an exile of eight months returned to bury himself in the solitude of Vaucluse.

Vehicles are also hired at Avignon. Fare to Vaucluse and back, 12 to 18 frs.; time, 8 hours. Also for the Pont du Gard, same price.

20 m. from Avignon by rail is Cavaillon (p. 66), whence a branch line extends 20 m. E. to Apt, another line 27 m. S.E. to Pertuis on the Ma.r.s.eilles and Gren.o.ble line, and another 22 m. S. to +Miramas+ (p. 76), between Arles and Ma.r.s.eilles. (See map, p. 66.)

[Headnote: APT.]

AVIGNON TO MANOSQUE BY APT.

40 m. E. by rail from Avignon, by Cavaillon, is +Apt+, pop. 7000, on the torrent Calavon, in a sheltered hollow surrounded by mountains and calcareous cliffs. _Hotels:_ The *Louvre; des Alpes. The princ.i.p.al industries are agriculture, pottery, and the making of preserved fruits. Fruit to be glazed with sugar, as well as that on which the sugar is to be crystallised, is allowed to soak from 2 to 8 months in a strong solution of white sugar, in uncovered "terrines," like small basins. Fruits with thick rinds, such as oranges, are p.r.i.c.ked before being immersed. The best pottery (Bernard Croix) is near the station, to the left on descending the hill. The clay, gray and reddish, is in thick beds close to the establishment, and resembles that of Vallauris, near Cannes, in its power of resisting fire, and is therefore princ.i.p.ally used for the manufacture of kitchen pottery. M.

Croix has added artistic pottery and dinner and tea services, of which the prices are extremely low. Opposite is the establishment of L. A.

Esberard, who confines himself almost exclusively to kitchen pottery.

The parish church of St. Anne dates from the 11th cent. To the left on entering is the chapel of St. Anne, under a low octagonal domed tower.

Below the altar is a crypt, 10th cent., said to contain the bones of the mother of Mary. Round about the town are pleasant walks, of which many are shaded with Oriental plane trees. Coach daily to Manosque (_Hotel:_ Eymon), 26 m. E., pa.s.sing Cereste, 5 m. E., and Reillanne, on the top of a hill, 5 m. farther. Manosque is on the rail between Ma.r.s.eilles and Gren.o.ble. (See maps, pages 26 and 66.)

+Cavaillon to Miramas+, 22 m. S. (see map, p. 66), across a fertile plain, with vineyards and groves of olive, almond, and apricot trees.

+Cavaillon+ (pop. 8000). _Inns:_ Parrocel; Teston. Omnibus at station.

Cavaillon is a pleasant town, intersected by avenues, and situated on the Durance at the base of great limestone cliffs. It possesses an ancient triumphal arch and a cathedral dating from the 12th and 13th cents., with a cloister of the 12th. Excellent melons are grown in the neighbourhood. 4 m. S. from Cavaillon is +Orgon+ (pop. 3000. _Inns:_ Paris; Poste), on the Durance. 11 m. farther S. is +Salon+ (pop. 7100.

_Inns:_ Poste; Croix de Malte), on the ca.n.a.l c.r.a.ponne. This town, dealing largely in first-cla.s.s olive oil, has still remnants of its old ramparts: a church, St. Michel, of the 13th cent., another, St.

Laurent, of the 14th, and a castle of the same date. In the town is a fountain to the memory of Adam de c.r.a.ponne, the engineer of the ca.n.a.l.

(For Miramas, see p. 75.)

[Map: The Mouths of the Rhone]

[Headnote: TARASCON. MARTHA'S TOMB.]

miles from PARIS miles to Ma.r.s.eILLES

{474}{63} +TARASCON+, pop. 11,000. _Hotels:_ At the foot of the station stairs, the Luxembourg; in the town, the Empereurs. Junction with branch to Nimes, 17 m. W., and 31 m. farther Montpellier. Below the station is a large hospital for old men and orphans, founded in 1761 by Clerc Moliere. Tarascon is an unimportant town on the Rhone, opposite Beaucaire, and connected with it by a chain bridge 1450 feet long. In the church of St. Martha, built in the 12th cent., is an ancient crypt, just under the spire, with the tomb of Martha, the sister of Lazarus, whose mortal remains are said to repose here under the peaceful-looking marble effigy which marks the spot. The tradition of the place says she had come with her maid from Aix, at the request of the inhabitants, to kill a terrible dragon with a body as thick as a bull's, and having succeeded, the inhabitants, out of grat.i.tude to her, after her death buried her in this place. A few steps from the church, by the side of the river, rises the ma.s.sive strong square castle, begun in 1400 and finished by the Roi Rene, now used as a prison. On the opposite side of the river, overlooking Beaucaire, are the more picturesque ruins of the castle of Montmorency, whose adjoining garden forms one of the many promenades of the people of Beaucaire. Beaucaire is a poor town with poor houses. The formerly famous fair, commencing on July 1, has become now of little importance. It is held in the broad avenue between the castle and the Rhone.

[Headnote: ST. REMY. LES BAUX.]

9 m. east from Tarascon by rail is +St. Remy+, pop. 6800. _Inn:_ Hotel du Cheval Blanc, a comfortable house, where carriages can be hired for Les Baux, 6 m. S.W., 10 frs. Also for Arles by Les Baux and Mont-Majour, 19 m. distant, 24 frs. A mile from the Hotel Cheval Blanc, by the high road, stood the ancient Glanum, one of the commercial stations of the Phnician traders from Ma.r.s.eilles, before it fell into the possession of the Romans, who have left here two remarkable monuments, of which the more perfect consists of an open square tower standing on a ma.s.sive pedestal, and surmounted by a peristyle of ten columns surrounding two statues representing the parents of s.e.xtus and Marius, of the family of the Julii, by whom it was erected. It is 50 ft. high; the faces of the statues look to the north. The sculpture on the north side of the pedestal represents a cavalry fight; the south, "sacrificing;" the west, a combat between infantry; and the east, which is the most dilapidated, "Victory crowning a wounded soldier." Alongside stands a triumphal arch, of which the most perfect portions are the coffered panellings of the soffit.

6 m. S.W. from St. Remy is +Les Baux+, the ancient Castrum de Baucis, pop. 100. _Inn:_ Monte Carlo. The castle town of Les Baux, commenced in 485, occupies a naked mountain of yellow sandstone, worn away by nature into bastions and b.u.t.tresses, and coigns of vantage, sculptured by ancient art into palaces and chapels, battlements and dungeons. Now art and nature are confounded in one ruin. Blocks of masonry lie cheek-by-jowl with ma.s.ses of the rough-hewn rock; fallen cavern vaults are heaped round fragments of fan-shaped spandrel and cl.u.s.tered column shaft; the doors and windows of old pleasure rooms are hung with ivy and wild fig tapestry; while winding staircases start midway upon the cliff and lead to vacancy. High overhead, suspended in mid-air, hang chambers--lady's bower or poet's singing room--now inaccessible, the haunt of hawks and swallows. Within this rocky honeycomb-- "cette ville en monolithe," as it has been aptly called, for it is literally scooped out of one mountain block--live a few poor people, foddering their wretched goats at carved piscina and stately sideboards, erecting their mud-beplastered hovels in the halls of feudal princes. From Les Baux road to Fontvieille, 7 m.; whence rail to Mont-Majour and Arles (see map, page 66).

[Headnote: ARLES.]

{483}{54} +ARLES+, pop. 26,000. _Hotels:_ Nord; Forum; near each other in the Place du Forum. Arles is situated on the Rhone, near the Camargue, in a marshy place, as its original name, Arelas, from the Celtic words, "Ar lach," damp place, indicates. It is said to have been founded 900 years before Ma.r.s.eilles, 700 years before Rome, and 1500 before the birth of Christ. The ramparts and walls rising from the public gardens and the Boulevard des Aliscamps are chiefly the work of the Emperor Constantine, who came to Arles with his family and mother, Saint Helena.

He built by the side of the Rhone a superb palace, called afterwards "de la Trouille," because opposite a ferry-boat, which was pulled or dragged from one side of the river to the other. Of this palace little more remains than the attached tower La Trouille, constructed of alternate layers of brick and stone. On the 7th August 312 his wife Faustina presented him with a son, Constantine II., who succeeded his father in May 357. He commenced the Forum, but was shortly after killed in battle defending himself against his brother Constance, who usurped the throne and finished the Forum. All that remains of this formerly splendid edifice are the two Corinthian columns, with part of the pediment encrusted into the wall of the Hotel du Nord. It occupied the site of the Place du Forum, called also the Place des Hommes, because labourers and men-servants used to be hired in this "Place."