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)
"I have felt a kind of bitter pleasure in writing the memorial of this
mournful event, the rather in this place, which so often meets my eyes,
to the end that I may consider there is nothing left which ought to
delight me in this world; and that I may be reminded by the frequent
sight of these words, and the due appreciation of this fleeting life,
that my principal tie to the world being broken, it is time for me to
fly from this Babylon; which, through the preventing grace of God, will
be an easy task, when I reflect deeply and manfully on the superfluous
cares, the vain hopes, and the unlooked for events of the time past."
This simple and affecting tribute, written, as it evidently seems, under
such solemn impressions, clears the memory of Laura from the imputation
of any thing trifling or criminal, while it sufficiently establishes the
identity of "a nymph," according to Gibbon, "so shadowy, that her
existence has been questioned."
May 14.--We left Avignon this morning, with a more favourable impression
of its cleanliness and comfort than any other town had as yet left on
our minds. The road to Nismes, winding up a hill on the opposite side of
the river, above Fort Villeneuve, is remarkably adapted also to display
its numerous spires, and the grand Gothic mass of the legate's palace,
to the utmost advantage: and we watched with something like regret the
disappearance of these objects over the brow of the hill which we had
ascended, more especially as on this spot the eye takes leave, for some
time, of every thing agreeable. The view here consists of a high dull
flat, with hardly a tree, and the road of rolling stones and dust; and a
high wind prevailed, which seemed a combination of the Bise and Mistral,
aided by all the bottled stores of a Lapland witch, and very nearly blew
poor Durand off his box. After passing Fouzay and Demazan, two Little
villages, adorned each a la Provencale, with a ruined castle, we turned
out of the road to Nismes at Remoulin, where the features of the country
somewhat improve. Another mile and a half brought us to an indifferent
inn within a ten minutes' walk of the Pont du Gard. It is adapted for
nothing more than a baiting-place for a few hours, and not at all of
that description which so well-known a ruin would be in most cases
capable of maintaining. The landlord, however, "a sallow, sublime sort
of Werter-faced man," was civil, and inclined to do his best, and
gathered us some double yellow roses, of a sort we had never seen
before, to season his bad fare.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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