A Man
Needs Not Be A Connoisseur In Architecture, To Enjoy These
Beauties.
They are indeed so exquisite that you may return to
them every day with a fresh appetite for seven years together.
What renders them the more curious, they are still entire, and
very little affected, either by the ravages of time, or the havoc
of war. Cardinal Alberoni declared, that it was a jewel that
deserved a cover of gold to preserve it from external injuries.
An Italian painter, perceiving a small part of the roof repaired
by modern French masonry, tore his hair, and exclaimed in a rage,
"Zounds! what do I see? harlequin's hat on the head of Augustus!"
Without all doubt it is ravishingly beautiful. The whole world
cannot parallel it; and I am astonished to see it standing
entire, like the effects of inchantment, after such a succession
of ages, every one more barbarous than another. The history of
the antiquities of Nismes takes notice of a grotesque statue,
representing two female bodies and legs, united under the head of
an old man; but, as it does not inform us where it is kept, I did
not see it.
The whole country of Languedoc is shaded with olive trees, the
fruit of which begins to ripen, and appears as black as sloes;
those they pickle are pulled green, and steeped for some time in
a lye made of quick lime or wood ashes, which extracts the bitter
taste, and makes the fruit tender. Without this preparation it is
not eatable. Under the olive and fig trees, they plant corn and
vines, so that there is not an inch of ground unlaboured: but
here are no open fields, meadows, or cattle to be seen. The
ground is overloaded; and the produce of it crowded to such a
degree, as to have a bad effect upon the eye, impressing the
traveller with the ideas of indigence and rapacity. The heat in
summer is so excessive, that cattle would find no green forage,
every blade of grass being parched up and destroyed. The weather
was extremely hot when we entered Montpellier, and put up at the
Cheval Blanc, counted the best auberge in the place, tho' in fact
it is a most wretched hovel, the habitation of darkness, dirt,
and imposition. Here I was obliged to pay four livres a meal for
every person in my family, and two livres at night for every bed,
though all in the same room: one would imagine that the further
we advance to the southward the living is the dearer, though in
fact every article of housekeeping is cheaper in Languedoc than
many other provinces of France. This imposition is owing to the
concourse of English who come hither, and, like simple birds of
passage, allow themselves to be plucked by the people of the
country, who know their weak side, and make their attacks
accordingly. They affect to believe, that all the travellers of
our country are grand seigneurs, immensely rich and incredibly
generous; and we are silly enough to encourage this opinion, by
submitting quietly to the most ridiculous extortion, as well as
by committing acts of the most absurd extravagance.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 100 of 276
Words from 51466 to 51999
of 143308
