Philip Thicknesse - A Year\'s Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II (of 2)

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A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE, AND PART OF SPAIN.

by

PHILIP THICKNESSE.

VOLUME II

Dublin
Printed by J. Williams, (No. 21.) Skinner-Row.

M,DCC,LXXVII.

A

JOURNEY, &c.

LETTER XXXIV.

NISMES

SIR,

I am very certain that a man may travel twice through Spain, and half
through France, before he sees a woman of so much beauty, elegance, and
breeding, as the mistress of the house I lodge in near this city. I was
directed to the house, and recommended to the lady, as a lodger; but
both were so fine, and superior in all respects to any thing I had seen
out of Paris, that I began to suspect I had been imposed upon. The lady
who received me appeared to be (it was candle-light) about eighteen, a
tall, elegant figure, a beautiful face, and an address inferior to none:
I concluded she was the daughter, till she informed me, that _Mons.
Saigny_, her husband, was gone to _Avignon_. What added, perhaps, to
this lady's beauty in my eyes, or rather ears, was her misfortune,--she
could not speak louder than a gentle whisper. After seeing her sumptuous
apartments, I told her I would not ask what her price was, but tell her
what I could afford only to give; and observed, that as it was winter,
and the snow upon the ground, perhaps she had better take my price than
have none. She instantly took me by the hand and said, she had so much
respect for the English nation, that my price was her's; and with a
still softer whisper, and close to my ear, said, I might come in as soon
as I pleased--"_Quand vous voudrez, Monsieur_," said she. We accordingly
took possession of the finest apartments, and the best beds I ever lay
on. The next day, I saw a genteel stripling about the house, in a white
suit of cloaths, dressed _en militaire_, and began to suspect the virtue
of my fair hostess, not perceiving for some hours that it was my hostess
herself; in the afternoon she made us a visit in this horrid
dress,--(for horrid she appeared in my eyes)--her cloaths were white,
with red cuffs and scarlet _lappels_; and she held in her straddling lap
a large black muff, as big as a porridge-pot. By this visit she lost all
that respect her superlative beauty had so justly entitled her to, and I
determined she should visit me no more in man's apparel. When I went
into the town I mentioned this circumstance, and there I learnt, that
the real wife of _Mons. Saigny_ had parted from him, and that the lady,
my hostess, was his mistress. The next day, however, the master arrived;
and after being full and finely dressed, he made me a visit, and
proffers of every attention in his power: he told me he had injured his
fortune, and that he was not rich; but that he had served in the army,
and was a gentleman: he had been bred a protestant, but had just
embraced the true faith, in order to qualify himself for an employment
about the court of the Pope's _Legate_ at _Avignon_. After many
expressions of regard, he asked me to dine with him the next day; but I
observed that as he was not rich, and as I paid but a small rent in
proportion to his noble apartments, I begged to be excused; but he
pressed it so much, that I was obliged to give him some _other reasons_,
which did not prove very pleasing ones, to the lady below. This fine
lady, however, continued to sell us wood, wine, vinegar, sallad, milk,
and, in short, every thing we wanted, at a very unreasonable price. At
length, my servant, who by agreement made my soup in their kitchen, said
something rude to my landlord, who complained to me, and seemed
satisfied with the reprimand I had given the man; but upon a repetition
of his rudeness, _Mons. Saigny_ so far forgot himself as to speak
equally rude to me: this occasioned some warm words, and so much
ungovernable passion in him, that I was obliged to tell him I must fetch
down my pistols; this he construed into a direct challenge, and
therefore retired to his apartments, wrote a card, and sent it to me
while I was walking before the door with a priest, his friend and
visitor, and in sight of the _little female captain his second_, and all
the servants of the house; on this card was wrote, "_Sir, I accept your
proposition_;" and before I could even read it, he followed his man, who
brought it in the true stile of a butler, rather than a butcher, with a
white napkin under his arm. You may be sure, I was no more disposed to
fight than _Mons. Saigny_; indeed, I told him I would not; but if any
man attacked me on my way to or from the town, where I went every day, I
would certainly defend myself: and fortunately I never met _Mons.
Saigny_ in the fortnight I staid after in his house; for I could not
bear to leave a town where I had two or three very agreeable
acquaintance, and one (_Mons. Seguier_) whose house was filled as full
of natural and artificial curiosities, as his head is with learning and
knowledge. Here too I had an opportunity of often visiting the
Amphitheatre, _the Maison Carree_, (so Mons. Seguier writes it) and the
many remains of Roman monuments so common in and about _Nismes_. I
measured some of the stones under which I passed to make the _tout au
tour_ of the Amphitheatre, they were seventeen feet in length, and two
in thickness; and most of the stones on which the spectators sat within
the area, were twelve feet long, two feet ten inches wide, and one foot
five inches deep; except only those of the sixth row of seats from the
top, and they alone are one foot ten inches deep; probably it was on
that range the people of the highest rank took their seats, not only for
the elevation, but the best situation for sight and security; yet one of
these great stones cannot be considered more, in comparison to the
whole building, than a single brick would be in the construction of
Hampton-Court Palace. When I had the sole possession (and I had it
often) of this vast range of seats, where emperors, empresses, Roman
knights, and matrons, have been so often seated, to see men die wantonly
by the hands of other men, as well as beasts for their amusement, I
could not but with pleasure reflect, how much human nature is softened
since that time; for notwithstanding the powerful prevalency of custom
and fashion, I do not think the ladies of the present age would _plume_
their towering heads, and curl their _borrowed_ hair, with that glee, to
see men murdered by missive weapons, as to die at their feet by deeper,
tho' less visible wounds. If, however, we have not those cruel sports,
we seem to be up with them in prodigality, and to exceed them in luxury
and licentiousness; for in Rome, not long before the final dissolution
of the state, the candidates for public employments, in spite of the
penal laws to restrain it, _bribed openly_, and were chosen sometimes
_by arms_ as well as money. In the senate, things were conducted no
better; decrees of great consequence were made when very few senators
were present; the laws were violated by private knaves, under the colour
of public necessity; till at length, _Caesar_ seized the sovereign power,
and tho' he was slain, they omitted to recover their liberty, forgetting
that

"A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty
Is worth a whole eternity of bondage."
_Addison's_ CATO.

I can almost think I read in the parallel, which I fear will soon be
drawn between the rise and fall of the British and Roman empire,
something like this;--"Rome had her CICERO; Britain her CAMDEN: Cicero,
who had preserved Rome from the conspiracy of _Catiline_, was banished:
CAMDEN, who would have preserved Britain from a bloody civil war,
removed." The historian will add, probably, that "those who brought
desolation upon their land, did not mean that there should be no
commonwealth, but that right or wrong, they should continue to controul
it: they did not mean to burn the capitol to ashes, but to bear absolute
sway in the capitol:--The result was, however, that though they did not
mean to overthrow the state, yet they risqued all, rather than be
overthrown themselves; and they rather promoted the massacre of their
fellow-citizens, than a reconciliation and union of parties,"--THUS FELL
ROME--Take heed, BRITAIN!

LETTER XXXV.

ARLES.

I left _Nismes_ reluctantly, having formed there an agreeable and
friendly intimacy with Mr. _D'Oliere_, a young gentleman of Switzerland;
and an edifying, and entertaining acquaintance, with Mons. _Seguier_. I
left too, the best and most sumptuous lodgings I had seen in my whole
tour; but a desire to see _Arles_, _Aix_, and _Marseilles_, &c. got the
better of all. But I set out too soon after the snow and rains, and I
found part of the road so bad, that I wonder how my horse dragged us
through so much clay and dirt. When I gave you some account of the
antiquities of _Nismes_, I did not expect to find _Arles_ a town fraught
with ten times more matter and amusement for an antiquarian; but I found
it not only a fine town now, but that it abounds with an infinite number
of monuments which evince its having once been an almost second Rome.
There still remains enough of the Amphitheatre to convince the beholder
what a noble edifice it was, and to wonder why so little, of so large
and solid a building, remains. The town is built on the banks of the
Rhone, over which, on a bridge of barges, we entered it; but it is
evident, that in former days, the sea came quite up to it, and that it
was a haven for ships of burden; but the sea has retired some leagues
from it, many ages since; beside an hundred strong marks at _this_ day
of its having been a sea-port formerly, the following inscription found
a century or two ago, in the church of _St. Gabriel_, will clearly
confirm it:

M. FRONTONI EVPOR
IIIIIIVIR AVG. COL. JVLIA.
AVG. AQVIS SEXTIIS NAVICVLAR.
MAR. AREL. CVRAT EJVSD. CORP.
PATRONA NAVTAR DRVENTICORVM.
ET VTRICVLARIORVM.
CORP. ERNAGINENSIUM.
JULIA NICE VXOR.
CONJVGI KARISSIMO.

Indeed there are many substantial reasons to believe, that it was at
this town _Julius Caesar_ built the twelve gallies, which, from the
cutting of the wood to the time they were employed on service, was but
thirty days.--That it was a very considerable city in the time of the
first Emperors, is past all doubt. _Constantine_ the Great held his
court, and resided at _Arles_, with all his family; and the Empress
_Faustina_ was delivered of a son here (_Constantine_ the younger) and
it was long before so celebrated for an annual fair held in the month of
August, that it was called _le Noble Marche de Gaules_. And _Strabo_, in
his dedication of his book to the Emperor, called it "_Galliarum
Emporium non Parvum_;" which is a proof that it was celebrated for its
rich commerce, &c. five hundred years before it became under the
dominion of the Romans. But were I capable of giving you a particular
description of all the monuments of antiquity in and near this town, it
would compose a little book, instead of a sheet or two of paper. I
shall therefore only pick out a few things which have afforded me the
most entertainment, and I hope may give you a little; but I shall begin
with mentioning what must first give you concern, in saying that in that
part of the town called _la Roquette_, I was shewn the place where
formerly stood an elevated Altar whereon, three young citizens were
sacrificed annually, and who were fattened at the public expence during
a whole year, for the horrid purpose! On the first of May their throats
were cut in the presence of a prodigious multitude of people assembled
from all parts; among whom the blood of the victims was thrown, as they
imagined all their sins were expiated by that barbarous sacrifice; which
horrid practice was put a stop to by the first Bishop of _Arles_, ST.
TROPHIME. The Jews, who had formerly a synagogue in _Arles_, were driven
out in the year 1493, when that and their celebrated School were
demolished. There were found about an hundred after, among the stones
of those buildings some Hebrew characters neatly cut, which were copied
and sent to the Rabbins of Avignon, to be translated, and who explained
them then thus:

Chodesh: Elvl. Chamescheth, lamech, nav. Nislamv. Bedikoth.
Schradai.

i.e. they say,

"In the month of August five thousand and thirty--the Visitation
of God ceased."

Perhaps the plague had visited them.--There was also another Hebrew
inscription, which was on the tomb of a famous Rabbin called Solomon,
surnamed the grandson of David.

The Amphitheatre of _Arles_ was of an oval form, composed of three
stages; each stage containing sixty arches; the whole was built of hewn
stone of an immense size, without mortar, and of a prodigious thickness:
the circumference above, exclusive of the projection of the
architecture, was 194 toises three feet, the frontispiece 17 toises
high and the area 71 toises long and 52 wide; the walls were 17 toises
thick, which were pierced round and round with a gallery, for a
convenience of passing in and out of the seats, which would conveniently
contain 30,000 men, allowing each person three feet in depth and two in
width; and yet, there remain at this day only a few arches quite
complete from top to bottom, which are of themselves a noble monument.
Indeed one would be inclined to think that it never had been compleated,
did we not know that the Romans left nothing unfinished of that kind;
and read, that the Emperor _Gallus_ gave some superb spectacles in the
Amphiteatre of _Arles_, and that the same amusements were continued by
following Emperors. Nothing can be a stronger proof than these ruins, of
the certain destruction and corruption of all earthly things; for one
would think that the small parts which now remain of this once mighty
building would, endure as long as the earth itself; but what is very
singular is, that this very Amphitheatre was built upon the ruins of a
more mighty building, and perhaps one of a more substantial structure.
_Tempus edax rerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas omnia destruis_. In the
street called _St. Claude_, stood a triumphal arch which was called
_L'Arche admirable_; it is therefore natural to conclude, that the town
contained many others of less beauty. There are also within the walls
large remains of the palace of _Constantine_. A beautiful antique statue
of _Venus_ was found here also, about an hundred and twenty years
ago.--That a _veritable_ fine woman should set all the beaux and
_connoisseurs_ of a whole town in a flame, I do not much wonder; but you
will be surprized when I tell you that this cold trunk of marble, (for
the arms were never found) put the whole town of _Arles_ together by the
ears; one _Scavant_ said it was the goddess _Diana_, and wrote a book to
prove it; another insisted upon it, that it was the true image of
_Venus_; then starts up an Ecclesiastic, who _you know has nothing to
do with women_, and he pronounced in dogmatical terms, it was neither
one nor the other; at length the wiser magistrates of the town agreed to
send it as a present to their august monarch Lewis the XIVth; and if you
have a mind to see an inanimate woman who has made such a noise in the
world, you will find her at _Versailles_, without any other notice taken
of her or the quarrels about her, than the following words written (I
think) upon her pedestal, _La Venus d'Arles_. This ended the dispute, as
I must my letter.

LETTER XXXVI.

I have not half done with _Arles_. The more I saw and heard in this
town, the more I found was to be seen. The remains of the Roman theatre
here would of itself be a sufficient proof that it was a town of great
riches and importance. Among the refuse of this building they found
several large vases of baked earth, which were open on one side, and
which were fixed properly near the seats of the audience to receive and
convey the sounds of the instruments and voices of the actors distinctly
throughout the theatre, which had forty-eight arches, eleven behind the
scenes of ten feet wide, three grand arches of fourteen feet wide, and
thirty-one of twelve feet; the diameter was thirty-one canes, and the
circumference seventy-nine; and from the infinite number of beautiful
pieces of sculpture, frizes, architraves, pillars of granite, &c. which
have been dug up, it is very evident that this theatre was a most
magnificent building, and perhaps would have stood firm to this day, had
not a Bishop of _Arles_, from a principle of more piety than wisdom,
stript it of the finest ornaments and marble pillars, to adorn the
churches. Near the theatre stood also the famous temple of _Diana_; and,
as the famous statue mentioned in my former letter was found beneath
some noble marble pillars near that spot, it is most likely _La Venus
d'Arles_ is nevertheless the Goddess _Diana_.

I never wish more for your company than when I walk, (and I walk every
day) in the Elysian fields. The spot is beautiful, the prospect far and
near equally so: in the middle of this ancient _Cimetiere_ stands a
motly building, from the middle of which however rises a cupola, which
at the first view informs you it is the work of a Roman artist; and here
you must, as it were, thread the needle between an infinite number of
Pagan and Christian monuments, lying thick upon the surface in the
utmost disorder and confusion, insomuch, that one would think the Day of
Judgment was arrived and the dead were risen. Neither _Stepney_
church-yard, nor any one in or near a great city, shew so many
headstones as this spot does stone coffins of an immense size, hewn out
of one piece; the covers of most of which have been broken or removed
sufficiently to search for such things as were usually buried with the
dead. Some of these monuments, and some of the handsomest too, are still
however unviolated. It is very easy to distinguish the Pagan from the
Christian monnments, without opening them, as all the former have the
Roman letters DM (_Diis Manibus_) cut upon them. It is situated,
according to their custom, near the high-way, the water, and the
marshes. You know the ancients preferred such spots for the interment of
the dead.

The tombs of _Ajax_ and _Hector_, HOMER says, were near the sea, as well
as other heroes of antiquity; for as they considered man to be composed
of earth and water, his bones ought to be laid in one, and near the
other.

I will now give you a few of the most curious inscriptions; but first I
will mention a noble marble monument, moved from this spot into the
_Cimetiere_ of the great Hospital. This tomb is ornamented with
Cornucopiae, _Paterae_, &c. and in a shield the following inscription:

CABILIAE D.F. APPRVLLAE FLAM
D DESIGNATAE COL. DEA. AUG. VOC. M
O. ANNOS XIIII, MENS II. DIES V.
MARITVS VXORI PIENTISSIMAE.
POSUIT.

This poor girl was not only too young to die, but too young to marry,
one would think; I wish therefore her afflicted husband had told us how
many years he had been married to a wife who died at the age of
fourteen, two months, and five days. The cornucopiae, I suppose, were to
signify that this virtuous wife, I was going to say maid, was the source
of all his pleasure and happiness. The _Paterae_ were vases destined to
receive the blood of the victims.

Supponunt alij cultros, tepidumque cruorem
Suscipiunt Pateris,--_Says the Poet_.

On each side of the tomb are the symbols of sacrifice. It is very
evident from the fine polish of this monument, that her husband had
obtained the Emperor's particular leave to finish it highly.

Rogum _ascia ne Polito_ says the law of the twelve tables.

On another tomb, which is of common stone, in the middle of a shield
supported by two Cupids, is the following inscription:

M IVNIO MESSIANO
----VTRICI. CORP. ARELAT.
D EIVS D. CORP. MAG. III. F M
QUI VIXIT ANN. XXVIII.
M. V. D. X. IVNIA VALERIA.
ALVMNO CLARISSIMO.

The first word of the second line is much obliterated.

There are an infinite number of other monuments with inscriptions; but
those above, and this below, will be sufficient for me to convey to you,
and you to my friend at _Winchester_.

L DOMIT. DOMITIANI
EX TRIERARCHI CLASS. GERM.
D PECCOCEIA VALENTINA M
CONIUGI PIENTISSIMA.

Before I leave _Arles_, and I leave it reluctantly, whatever you may do,
I must not omit to mention the principal monument, and pride of it, at
this day, i.e. their Obelisque. I will not tell you where nor when it
was dug up; it is sufficient to say, it was found here, that it is a
single piece of granite, sixty-one feet high, and seven feet square
below; yet it was elevated in the Market-place, upon a modern pedestal,
which bears four fulsome complimentary inscriptions to _Lewis_ the XIV.
neither of which will I copy. In elevating this monstrous single stone,
the inhabitants were very adroit: they set it upright in a quarter of an
hour, in the year 1676, just an hundred years ago, amidst an infinite
number of joyful spectators, who are now all laid in their lowly graves;
for though it weighed more than two thousand hundred weight, yet by the
help of capsterns, it was raised without any difficulty. The great King
_Harry_ the IVth had ordered the houses in the arena of the Amphitheatre
to be thrown down, and this obelisk to be fixed in the center of it; but
his death, and _Lewis_'s vanity, fixed it where it now stands; it has
no beauty however to boast of but its age and size, for it bears neither
polish, characters, nor hieroglyphicks, but, as it seems to have been an
Egyptian monument, the inhabitants of _Arles_ have, like those people,
consecrated it below to their King, and above to the sun: on the top is
fixed a globe of azure, sprinkled with _fleurs de lis d'or_, and crowned
with a radiant sun, that is to say, as the sun was made by GOD to
enlighten the world, so LEWIS LE GRAND was made to govern it.

I am sure now, you will excuse my mentioning what is said of this great
man _below_; but speaking of light, I must not omit to mention, that
there are men of veracity now living in this town, who affirm, that they
have seen, upon opening some of the ancient monuments here, the eternal
lamps burning. The number of testimonies we have of this kind puts the
matter past a doubt, that a flame has appeared at the lip of these
lamps when first the tombs have been opened; one was found, you know, on
the _Appian_ way, in the tomb of _Cicero_'s daughter, which had burnt
more than seventeen centuries; another at _Padua_, which had burnt eight
hundred years, and which was found hanging between two little phials,
one of gold, the other of silver, which were both quite full of liquor,
extremely clear, as well as many others; but as it is impossible to
believe that flame can exist, and not consume that which feeds it, is it
not more natural to conclude that those lamps, phials, &c. contained a
species of phosphorus, which became luminous upon the first opening of
the tombs and the sudden rushing in of fresh air; and that the reverse
of what is generally supposed is the fact, that they are not
extinguished, but illuminated by the fresh air they receive? I have seen
several of these lamps here and elsewhere, most of which are of baked
earth. It has been said, that there is an oil to be extracted from gold,
which will not consume, and that a wick of _asbestos_ has burnt many
years in this oil, without consumption to either. I have seen a book
written by a German Jesuit, to confirm this fact; so there is authority
for you, if not conviction.

As I know your keen appetite after antiquities, I will send you a few
other inscriptions, and leave you to make your own comments; and
_voila_.

D M
L. HOSTIL. TER.
SILVANI.
ANN. XXIIII. M. II. D.
XV MATER FIL PIJSSIMI
MISERA ET IN LVCIV.
AETERNALI BENIFICI.
O NOVERCAE.

The following inscription is cut upon a marble column, which stands near
the Jesuits' church:

SALVIS D.D.N.N. THEODOSIO, ET VALENTINIANO.
P.F.V. AC TRIVM. SEMPER AUG. XV.
CONS. VIR. INL. AUXILIARIS PRAE.
PRAET, GALLIA. DE ARELATE MA,
MILLIARIA PONI. S.
M.P.S.

In the ancient church of _St. Honore_, which stands in the center of all
these Heathen and Christian monuments, are to be seen nine Bacchanalians
of very ancient workmanship; where also is the tomb of _St. Honore_,
employed as the altar of the church; and beneath the church are
catacombs, where the first Christians retired to prayer during the
persecution by the Emperors, and where is still to be seen their altar
and seven ancient sepulchres, of beautiful marble, and exquisitely
worked; the first is the tomb of _St. Genet_; the second of _St.
Roland_, Archbishop of _Arles_; the third of _St. Concord_, with an
epitaph, and two doves with olive branches in their beaks, cut in bass
relief, and underneath are the two letters X and P; on this tomb is the
miraculous cross seen in the heavens by _Constantine_, who is
represented before it on his knees; and on the cover of this tomb are
the heads of _Constantine_, _Faustina_, and his son; and they say the
Emperor saw this miracle in the heaven from the very _Cimetiere_ in
which this monument stands, i.e. in the year 315; the fifth is the tomb
of _St. Dorothy_, Virgin and Martyr of _Arles_; the sixth _St. Virgil_,
and the seventh _St. Hiliare_, (both Archbishops of _Arles_,) who has
borrowed a Pagan sepulchre, for it is adorned with the principal
divinities of the ancients in bass relief.--It seems odd to see on a
Christian Bishop's tomb _Venus_, and the three Destinies. The people
here say, that this tomb represents human life, as the ancients believed
that each God contributed something towards the being. Be that as it
may, the tomb is a very curious one, and much admired by the
_Connoisseurs_, for its excellent workmanship; but what is more
extraordinary than all these, is, that this catacomb, standing in the
middle of the others, with its cover well and closely fixed, has always
water in it, and often is quite full, and nobody can tell (_but one of
the priests perhaps_) from what source it comes. There is also in this
church the tomb and a long Latin Epitaph of _St. Trophime_, their first
Bishop; but the characters are very Gothic, and the Cs are square,
[Image: E E with no mid bar]; he came here in the year 61, and preached
down that abominable practice of sacrificing three young men annually.
He died in the year 61, at 72 years of age. On the front of the
Metropolitan church of _Arles_, called _St. Trophime_, are the two
following lines, in Gothic characters, cut above a thousand years:

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