Perhaps the speculators who invented this _Station Hivernale_ thought
that it was necessary to add something more, in order to attract
patients to the place, and Valescure was established among pine woods.
The aromatic scent of the terebinth, its sanatory properties, so highly
estimated, so experimentally efficacious in pulmonary disorders, etc.,
etc. Valescure is just as certainly exposed to winds as is S. Raphael.
As to pines and eucalyptus, they can be had elsewhere, in combination
with shelter.
However, let me quote M. Leuthéric, who has a good word to say for S.
Raphael:—
“Few regions of Provence present conditions of landscape and climate
(!!) more seductive. The little town of Saint Raphael is placed
beyond the zone of infection from the marshes of Fréjus. It stretches
gracefully along the shore at the foot of the savage chain of the
Estérel. On all sides pointed rocks of red porphyry pierce the sombre
foliage of cork trees and pines. The coast is fringed by sandbanks,
extending along under cliffs covered with ilexes. A little way out
to sea, two tawny-coloured rocks, like fantastic beasts at rest,
close the harbour, and receive over their long backs the foam of the
breakers; the first is couched some cable lengths from the shore, the
second five hundred metres beyond it. They bear the names of the Land
and the Sea Lions.”[8]
[Illustration: S. RAPHAEL, LE LION DE TERRE]
It was here that Napoleon entered the vessel deporting him to Elba,
attended by the Commissioners of the Allied Powers. He had left
Fontainebleau upon April 20th, 1814. As he got south he was made to
perceive that his popularity, if he ever had any in Provence, was
gone. Near Valence he encountered Augereau, whom he had created Duke
of Castiglione, and who was an underbred, coarse fellow. Napoleon and
his Marshal met on the 24th. Napoleon took off his hat, but Augereau,
with vulgar insolence, kept his on. “Where are you going?” asked the
fallen Emperor, “to Court?”—“I care for the Bourbons as little as I do
for you,” answered Augereau: “all I care for is my country.” Upon this,
Napoleon turned his back on him, and re-entered the carriage. Augereau
would not even then remove his hat and bow, but saluted his former
master with a contemptuous wave of the hand.
At Valence, Napoleon saw, for the first time, French soldiers wearing
the white cockade. At Orange the air rang with cries of “_Vive le Roy!_”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account