Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone: Made During the Year 1819Hughes, John
History
Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone: Made During the Year 1819
Hughes, John
Provence (France) -- Description and travel; Rhône River (Switzerland and France)
About five miles from Vienne, we ascended a steep hill to the left,
leaving on the opposite side of the Rhone a well-wooded chateau,
belonging to a Mons. d'Arangues; which forms a good accompaniment to the
view of Mont Pilate. By the road side was a very primitive mill, near
which we saw a woman sifting corn as we walked up the hill. The corn is
laid in the circular trough, and ground by a stone revolving round the
shaft in the centre; which is probably worked by an ass. Such little
circumstances as these frequently remind us more strongly of the change
of place, than the difference of language and costume, which we are
prepared to witness in the different provinces of a wide empire.
Nothing, for instance, forms a stronger or more distinct feature in
one's recollections of the south of France, than the enormous remises
which are annexed to every paltry inn on the road from Lyons to the
southward, and which serve both as warehouse and stable to the hosts of
stout Provencal carriers, who travel with wine, oil, and merchandise to
the interior. The remise at Vienne was sixty feet square, without
compartment; its roof-timbers were worthy of Westminster Hall, and for
its folding doors
"The gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd host,
Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through,
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;
So wide they stood!"
Independent of the uses to which these capacious buildings are properly
applied, they furnish the most agreeable place for rest and refreshment,
during the heat of the day, being, as the traveller will frequently
experience, the coolest and the sweetest place belonging to the inn.
During the rest of our day's journey, nothing occurred worthy of
attention, until the descent into Peage de Rousillon, where we slept.
Here the Rhone, of which we had lost sight, again appears winding
through the broad rich valley which opens at the foot of the hill; and
Mont Pilate also, after you have lost sight of it for the last seven or
eight miles, and expect to see it behind you, again makes its appearance
at a distance seemingly undiminished. So difficult is it to judge of the
real bearings of objects in this clear air, which in fact is less
favourable to the display of the grander features of nature, than our
own misty Ossianic climate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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