The Proportions Of The Building Are So Happily
United, As To Give It An Air Of Majesty And Grandeur, Which The
Most Indifferent Spectator Cannot Behold Without Emotion.
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.
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