On The Other Side, A Branch Of The Sorgue Runs
Through Part Of The City.
This is the river anciently called
Sulga, formed by the famous fountain of Vaucluse in this
neighbourhood, where the poet Petrarch resided.
It is a charming
transparent stream, abounding with excellent trout and craw-fish.
We passed over it on a stone bridge, in our way to Orange, the
Arausio Cavarum of the Romans, still distinguished by some noble
monuments of antiquity. These consist of a circus, an aqueduct, a
temple, and a triumphal arch, which last was erected in honour of
Caius Marius, and Luctatius Catulus, after the great victory they
obtained in this country over the Cimbri and Teutones. It is a
very magnificent edifice, adorned on all sides with trophies and
battles in basso relievo. The ornaments of the architecture, and
the sculpture, are wonderfully elegant for the time in which it
was erected; and the whole is surprisingly well preserved,
considering its great antiquity. It seems to me to be as entire
and perfect as the arch of Septimius Severus at Rome. Next day we
passed two very impetuous streams, the Drome and the Isere. The
first, which very much resembles the Var, we forded: but the
Isere we crossed in a boat, which as well as that upon the
Durance, is managed by the traille, a moveable or running pulley,
on a rope stretched between two wooden machines erected on the
opposite sides of the river. The contrivance is simple and
effectual, and the passage equally safe and expeditious. The
boatman has nothing to do, but by means of a long massy rudder,
to keep the head obliquely to the stream, the force of which
pushes the boat along, the block to which it is fixed sliding
upon the rope from one side to the other. All these rivers take
their rise from the mountains, which are continued through
Provence and Dauphine, and fall into the Rhone: and all of them,
when swelled by sudden rains, overflow the flat country. Although
Dauphine affords little or no oil, it produces excellent wines,
particularly those of Hermitage and Cote-roti. The first of these
is sold on the spot for three livres the bottle, and the other
for two. The country likewise yields a considerable quantity of
corn, and a good deal of grass. It is well watered with streams,
and agreeably shaded with wood. The weather was pleasant, and we
had a continued song of nightingales from Aix to Fontainebleau.
I cannot pretend to specify the antiquities of Vienne, antiently
called Vienna Allobrogum. It was a Roman colony, and a
considerable city, which the antients spared no pains and expence
to embellish. It is still a large town, standing among several
hills on the banks of the Rhone, though all its former splendor
is eclipsed, its commerce decayed, and most of its antiquities
are buried in ruins. The church of Notre Dame de la Vie was
undoubtedly a temple. On the left of the road, as you enter it,
by the gate of Avignon, there is a handsome obelisk, or rather
pyramid, about thirty feet high, raised upon a vault supported by
four pillars of the Tuscan order. It is certainly a Roman work,
and Montfaucon supposes it to be a tomb, as he perceived an
oblong stone jetting out from the middle of the vault, in which
the ashes of the defunct were probably contained. The story of
Pontius Pilate, who is said to have ended his days in this place,
is a fable. On the seventh day of our journey from Aix, we
arrived at Lyons, where I shall take my leave of you for the
present, being with great truth - Yours, etc.
LETTER XLI
BOULOGNE, June 13, 1765.
DEAR SIR, - I am at last in a situation to indulge my view with a
sight of Britain, after an absence of two years; and indeed you
cannot imagine what pleasure I feel while I survey the white
cliffs of Dover, at this distance. Not that I am at all affected
by the nescia qua dulcedine natalis soli, of Horace. That seems
to be a kind of fanaticism founded on the prejudices of
education, which induces a Laplander to place the terrestrial
paradise among the snows of Norway, and a Swiss to prefer the
barren mountains of Solleure to the fruitful plains of Lombardy.
I am attached to my country, because it is the land of liberty,
cleanliness, and convenience: but I love it still more tenderly,
as the scene of all my interesting connexions; as the habitation
of my friends, for whose conversation, correspondence, and
esteem, I wish alone to live.
Our journey hither from Lyons produced neither accident nor
adventure worth notice; but abundance of little vexations, which
may be termed the Plagues of Posting. At Lyons, where we stayed
only a few days, I found a return-coach, which I hired to Paris
for six loui'dores. It was a fine roomy carriage, elegantly
furnished, and made for travelling; so strong and solid in all
its parts, that there was no danger of its being shaken to
pieces by the roughness of the road: but its weight and solidity
occasioned so much friction between the wheels and the axle-tree,
that we ran the risque of being set on fire three or four times a
day. Upon a just comparison of all circumstances posting is much
more easy, convenient, and reasonable in England than in France.
The English carriages, horses, harness, and roads are much
better; and the postilions more obliging and alert. The reason is
plain and obvious. If I am ill-used at the post-house in England,
I can be accommodated elsewhere. The publicans on the road are
sensible of this, and therefore they vie with each other in
giving satisfaction to travellers. But in France, where the post
is monopolized, the post-masters and postilions, knowing that the
traveller depends intirely upon them, are the more negligent and
remiss in their duty, as well as the more encouraged to insolence
and imposition.
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