On The West Side It
Is Surrounded By A Wall And Rampart; On The East, It Is Over-Hung
By A Rock, On Which We See The Ruins Of An Old Castle, Which,
Before The Invention Of Artillery, Was Counted Impregnable.
It
was taken and dismantled by marechal Catinat, in the time of
Victor Amadaeus, the father of his Sardinian majesty.
It was
afterwards finally demolished by the duke of Berwick towards the
latter end of queen Anne's war. To repair it would be a very
unnecessary expence, as it is commanded by Montalban, and several
other eminences.
The town of Nice is altogether indefensible, and therefore
without fortifications. There are only two iron guns upon a
bastion that fronts the beach; and here the French had formed a
considerable battery against the English cruisers, in the war of
1744, when the Mareschal Duke de Belleisle had his headquarters
at Nice. This little town, situated in the bay of Antibes, is
almost equidistant from Marseilles, Turin, and Genoa, the first
and last being about thirty leagues from hence by sea; and the
capital of Piedmont at the same distance to the northward, over
the mountains. It lies exactly opposite to Capo di Ferro, on the
coast of Barbary; and, the islands of Sardinia and Corsica are
laid down about two degrees to the eastward, almost exactly in a
line with Genoa. This little town, hardly a mile in
circumference, is said to contain twelve thousand inhabitants.
The streets are narrow; the houses are built of stone, and the
windows in general are fitted with paper instead of glass. This
expedient would not answer in a country subject to rain and
storms; but here, where there is very little of either, the paper
lozenges answer tolerably well. The bourgeois, however, begin to
have their houses sashed with glass. Between the town-wall and
the sea, the fishermen haul up their boats upon the open beach;
but on the other side of the rock, where the castle stood, is the
port or harbour of Nice, upon which some money has been expended.
It is a small basin, defended to seaward by a mole of free-stone,
which is much better contrived than executed: for the sea has
already made three breaches in it; and in all probability, in
another winter, the extremity of it will be carried quite away.
It would require the talents of a very skilful architect to lay
the foundation of a good mole, on an open beach like this;
exposed to the swell of the whole Mediterranean, without any
island or rock in the offing, to break the force of the waves.
Besides, the shore is bold, and the bottom foul. There are
seventeen feet of water in the basin, sufficient to float vessels
of one hundred and fifty ton; and this is chiefly supplied by a
small stream of very fine water; another great convenience for
shipping. On the side of the mole, there is a constant guard of
soldiers, and a battery of seven cannon, pointing to the sea.
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