Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (fastest ebook reader .txt) 📕

With Him The Night Before His Execution. He Bore His Fate With

Great Resolution, Observing That If The Letter Which He Had

Written To The King Had Been Delivered, He Certainly Should Have

Obtained His Majesty's Pardon. His Executioner Was One Of His Own

Gang, Who Was Pardoned On Condition Of Performing This Office.

You Know, That Criminals Broke Upon The Wheel Are First

Strangled, Unless The Sentence Imports, That They Shall Be Broke

Alive. As Mandrin Had Not Been Guilty Of Cruelty In The Course Of

His Delinquency, He Was Indulged With This Favour. Speaking To

The Executioner, Whom He Had Formerly Commanded, "Joseph (Dit

Il), Je Ne Veux Pas Que Tu Me Touche, Jusqu'a Ce Que Je Sois Roid

Mort," "Joseph," Said He, "Thou Shalt Not Touch Me Till I Am

Quite Dead."--Our Driver Had No Sooner Pronounced These Words,

Than I Was Struck With A Suspicion, That He Himself Was The

Executioner Of His Friend Mandrin. On That Suspicion, I

Exclaimed, "Ah! Ah! Joseph!" The Fellow Blushed Up To The Eyes,

And Said, Oui, Son Nom Etoit Joseph Aussi Bien Que Le Mien, "Yes,

He Was Called Joseph, As I Am." I Did Not Think Proper To

Prosecute The Inquiry; But Did Not Much Relish The Nature Of

Joseph's Connexions. The Truth Is, He Had Very Much The Looks Of

A Ruffian; Though, I Must Own, His Behaviour Was Very Obliging

And Submissive.

On The Fifth Day Of Our Journey, In The Morning, We Passed The

Famous Bridge At St. Esprit, Which To Be Sure Is A Great

Curiosity, From Its Length, And The Number Of Its Arches: But

These Arches Are Too Small: The Passage Above Is Too Narrow; And

The Whole Appears To Be Too Slight, Considering The Force And

Impetuosity Of The River. It Is Not Comparable To The Bridge At

Westminster, Either For Beauty Or Solidity. Here We Entered

Languedoc, And Were Stopped To Have Our Baggage Examined; But The

Searcher, Being Tipped With A Three-Livre Piece, Allowed It To

Pass. Before We Leave Dauphine, I Must Observe, That I Was Not A

Little Surprized To See Figs And Chestnuts Growing In The Open

Fields, At The Discretion Of Every Passenger. It Was This Day I

Saw The Famous Pont Du Garde; But As I Cannot Possibly Include,

In This Letter, A Description Of That Beautiful Bridge, And Of

The Other Antiquities Belonging To Nismes, I Will Defer It Till

The Next Opportunity, Being, In The Mean Time, With Equal Truth

And Affection,--Dear Sir, Your Obliged Humble Servant.

Dear Sir,--By The Pont St. Esprit We Entered The Province Of

Languedoc, And Breakfasted At Bagniole, Which Is A Little Paltry

Town; From Whence, However, There Is An Excellent Road Through A

Mountain, Made At A Great Expence, And Extending About Four

Leagues. About Five In The Afternoon, I Had The First Glimpse Of

The Famous Pont Du Garde, Which Stands On The Right Hand, About

The Distance Of A League From The Post-Road To Nismes, And About

Three Leagues From That City. I Would Not Willingly Pass For A

False Enthusiast In Taste; But I Cannot Help Observing, That From

The First Distant View Of This Noble Monument, Till We Came Near

Enough To See It Perfectly, I Felt The Strongest Emotions Of

Impatience That I Had Ever Known; And Obliged Our Driver To Put

His Mules To The Full Gallop, In The Apprehension That It Would

Be Dark Before We Reached The Place. I Expected To Find The

Building, In Some Measure, Ruinous; But Was Agreeably

Disappointed, To See It Look As Fresh As The Bridge At

Westminster. The Climate Is Either So Pure And Dry, Or The Free-Stone,

With Which It Is Built, So Hard, That The Very Angles Of

Them Remain As Acute As If They Had Been Cut Last Year. Indeed,

Some Large Stones Have Dropped Out Of The Arches; But The Whole

Is Admirably Preserved, And Presents The Eye With A Piece Of

Architecture, So Unaffectedly Elegant, So Simple, And Majestic,

That I Will Defy The Most Phlegmatic And Stupid Spectator To

Behold It Without Admiration. It Was Raised In The Augustan Age,

By The Roman Colony Of Nismes, To Convey A Stream Of Water

Between Two Mountains, For The Use Of That City. It Stands Over 

The River Gardon, Which Is A Beautiful Pastoral Stream, Brawling

Among Rocks, Which Form A Number Of Pretty Natural Cascades, And

Overshadowed On Each Side With Trees And Shrubs, Which Greatly

Add To The Rural Beauties Of The Scene. It Rises In The Cevennes,

And The Sand Of It Produces Gold, As We Learn From Mr. Reaumur,

In His Essay On This Subject, Inserted In The French Memoirs, For

The Year 1718. If I Lived At Nismes, Or Avignon (Which Last City

Is Within Four Short Leagues Of It) I Should Take Pleasure In

Forming Parties To Come Hither, In Summer, To Dine Under One Of

The Arches Of The Pont Du Garde, On A Cold Collation.

This Work Consists Of Three Bridges, Or Tire Of Arches, One Above

Another; The First Of Six, The Second Of Eleven, And The Third Of

Thirty-Six. The Height, Comprehending The Aqueduct On The Top,

Amounts To 174 Feet Three Inches: The Length Between The Two

Mountains, Which It Unites, Extends To 723. The Order Of

Architecture Is The Tuscan, But The Symmetry Of It Is

Inconceivable. By Scooping The Bases Of The Pilasters, Of The

Second Tire Of Arches, They Had Made A Passage For Foot-Travellers:

But Though The Antients Far Excelled Us In Beauty,

They Certainly Fell Short Of The Moderns In Point Of Conveniency.

The Citizens Of Avignon Have, In This Particular, Improved The

Roman Work With A New Bridge, By Apposition, Constructed On The

Same Plan With That Of The Lower Tire Of Arches, Of Which Indeed

It Seems To Be A Part, Affording A Broad And Commodious Passage

Over The River, To Horses And Carriages Of All Kinds. The

Aqueduct, For The Continuance Of Which This Superb Work Was

Raised, Conveyed A Stream Of Sweet Water From The Fountain Of

Eure, Near The City Of Uzes, And Extended Near Six Leagues In

Length.

In Approaching Nismes, You See The Ruins Of A Roman Tower, Built

On The Summit Of A Hill, Which Over-Looks The City. It Seems To

Have Been Intended, At First, As A Watch, Or Signal-Tower,

Though, In The Sequel, It Was Used As A Fortress: What Remains Of

It, Is About Ninety Feet High; The Architecture Of The Doric

Order. I No Sooner Alighted At The Inn, Than I Was Presented With

A Pamphlet, Containing An Account Of Nismes And Its Antiquities,

Which Every Stranger Buys. There Are Persons Too Who Attend In

Order To Shew The Town,

And You Will Always Be Accosted By Some Shabby Antiquarian, Who

Presents You With Medals For Sale, Assuring You They Are Genuine

Antiques, And Were Dug Out Of The Ruins Of The Roman Temple And

Baths. All Those Fellows Are Cheats; And They Have Often Laid

Under Contribution Raw English Travellers, Who Had More Money

Than Discretion. To Such They Sell The Vilest And Most Common

Trash: But When They Meet With A Connoisseur, They Produce Some

Medals Which Are Really Valuable And Curious.

Nismes, Antiently Called Nemausis, Was Originally A Colony Of

Romans, Settled By Augustus Caesar, After The Battle Of Actium.

It Is Still Of Considerable Extent, And Said To Contain Twelve

Thousand Families; But The Number Seems, By This Account, To Be

Greatly Exaggerated. Certain It Is, The City Must Have Been

Formerly Very Extensive, As Appears From The Circuit Of The

Antient Walls, The Remains Of Which Are Still To Be Seen. Its

Present Size Is Not One Third Of Its Former Extent. Its Temples,

Baths, Statues, Towers, Basilica, And Amphitheatre, Prove It To

Have Been A City Of Great Opulence And Magnificence. At Present,

The Remains Of These Antiquities Are All That Make It Respectable

Or Remarkable; Though Here Are Manufactures Of Silk And Wool,

Carried On With Good Success. The Water Necessary For These Works

Is Supplied By A Source At The Foot Of The Rock, Upon Which The

Tower Is Placed; And Here Were Discovered The Ruins Of Roman

Baths, Which Had Been Formed And Adorned With Equal Taste And

Magnificence. Among The Rubbish They Found A Vast Profusion Of

Columns, Vases, Capitals, Cornices, Inscriptions, Medals,

Statues, And Among Other Things, The Finger Of A Colossal Statue

In Bronze, Which, According To The Rules Of Proportion, Must Have

Been Fifteen Feet High. From These Particulars, It Appears That

The Edifices Must Have Been Spacious And Magnificent. Part Of A

Tesselated Pavement Still Remains. The Antient Pavement Of The

Bath Is Still Intire; All The Rubbish Has Been Cleared Away; And

The Baths, In A Great Measure, Restored On The Old Plan, Though

They Are Not At Present Used For Any Thing But Ornament. The

Water Is Collected Into Two Vast Reservoirs, And A Canal Built

And Lined With Hewn Stone. There Are Three Handsome Bridges

Thrown Over This Vast Canal. It Contains A Great Body Of

Excellent Water, Which By Pipes And Other Small Branching Canals,

Traverses The Town, And Is Converted To Many Different Purposes

Of Oeconomy And Manufacture. Between The Roman Bath And These

Great Canals, The Ground Is Agreeably Laid Out In Pleasure-Walks.

For The Recreation Of The Inhabitants. Here Are Likewise

Ornaments Of Architecture, Which Savour Much More Of French

Foppery, Than Of The Simplicity And Greatness Of The Antients. It

Is Very Surprizing, That This Fountain Should Produce Such