The Idler in FranceBlessington, Marguerite, Countess of
History
The Idler in France
Blessington, Marguerite, Countess of
France -- Description and travel; France -- Social life and customs
With this facility of communication with two such flourishing towns, it
is extraordinary that Arles should have so long retained the primitive
simplicity that seems to pervade it, and that a good hotel has not yet
been established here.
Our good hostess provided nearly as substantial a supper for us last
night as the early dinner served up on our arrival, and again presided
at the repast, pressing us to eat, and recommending, with genuine
kindness, the various specimens of dainties set before us. Our beds,
though homely, were clean; and I have seldom, in the most luxurious
ones, reposed equally soundly.
When our courier asked for the bill this morning, the landlady declared
she "knew not what to charge, that she never was in the habit of making
out bills, and that we must give her what we thought right."
The courier urged the necessity of having a regular bill, explaining to
her that he was obliged to file all bills, and produce them every week
for the arrangement of his accounts,--but in vain: she could not, she
declared, make one out; and no one in her house was more expert than
herself.
She came to us, laughing and protesting, and ended by saying, "Pay what
you like; things are very cheap at Arles. You have eaten very little;
really, it is not worth charging for." But, when we persisted on having
her at least name a sum, to our infinite surprise she asked, if a
couple of louis would be too much?--And this for a party of six, and
six servants, for two days!
We had some difficulty in inducing her to accept a suitable
indemnification, and parted, leaving her proclaiming what she was
pleased to consider our excessive generosity, and reiterating her good
wishes.
CHAPTER III.
ST.-RÉMY.
The town of St.-Rémy is delightfully situated in a hollow that
resembles the crater of an extinct volcano, and is surrounded by
luxuriant groves of olive. The streets, though generally narrow, are
rendered picturesque by several old houses, the architecture of which
is striking; and the _place_--for even St.-Rémy has its Place Publique
and Hôtel-de-Ville--is not without pretensions to ornament. In the
centre of this _place_ is a pretty fountain, of a pyramidal form.
The antiquities which attracted us to St.-Rémy are at a short distance
from the town, on an eminence to the south of it, and are approached by
a road worthy the objects to which it conducts. They consist of a
triumphal arch, and a mausoleum, about forty-five feet asunder.
Of the triumphal arch, all above the archivault has disappeared,
leaving but the portico, the proportions of which are neither lofty nor
wide. On each side of it are two fluted columns, said to have been of
the Corinthian order, but without capitals, and the intercolumniations,
in each of which are figures of male and female captives.
A tree divides the male from the female; their hands are tied, and
chained to the tree; and a graceful drapery falls from above the heads
down to the consoles on which the figures stand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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