Travels Through France And Italy, Tobias Smollett [love novels in english .TXT] 📗
- Author: Tobias Smollett
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Very Magnificent Edifice, Adorned On All Sides With Trophies And
Battles In Basso Relievo. The Ornaments Of The Architecture, And
The Sculpture, Are Wonderfully Elegant For The Time In Which It
Was Erected; And The Whole Is Surprisingly Well Preserved,
Considering Its Great Antiquity. It Seems To Me To Be As Entire
And Perfect As The Arch Of Septimius Severus At Rome. Next Day We
Passed Two Very Impetuous Streams, The Drome And The Isere. The
First, Which Very Much Resembles The Var, We Forded: But The
Isere We Crossed In A Boat, Which As Well As That Upon The
Durance, Is Managed By The Traille, A Moveable Or Running Pulley,
On A Rope Stretched Between Two Wooden Machines Erected On The
Opposite Sides Of The River. The Contrivance Is Simple And
Effectual, And The Passage Equally Safe And Expeditious. The
Boatman Has Nothing To Do, But By Means Of A Long Massy Rudder,
To Keep The Head Obliquely To The Stream, The Force Of Which
Pushes The Boat Along, The Block To Which It Is Fixed Sliding
Upon The Rope From One Side To The Other. All These Rivers Take
Their Rise From The Mountains, Which Are Continued Through
Provence And Dauphine, And Fall Into The Rhone: And All Of Them,
When Swelled By Sudden Rains, Overflow The Flat Country. Although
Dauphine Affords Little Or No Oil, It Produces Excellent Wines,
Particularly Those Of Hermitage And Cote-Roti. The First Of These
Is Sold On The Spot For Three Livres The Bottle, And The Other
For Two. The Country Likewise Yields A Considerable Quantity Of
Corn, And A Good Deal Of Grass. It Is Well Watered With Streams,
And Agreeably Shaded With Wood. The Weather Was Pleasant, And We
Had A Continued Song Of Nightingales From Aix To Fontainebleau.
I Cannot Pretend To Specify The Antiquities Of Vienne, Antiently
Called Vienna Allobrogum. It Was A Roman Colony, And A
Considerable City, Which The Antients Spared No Pains And Expence
To Embellish. It Is Still A Large Town, Standing Among Several
Part 7 Letter 39 ( Boulogne, May 23, 1765..) Pg 309Hills On The Banks Of The Rhone, Though All Its Former Splendor
Is Eclipsed, Its Commerce Decayed, And Most Of Its Antiquities
Are Buried In Ruins. The Church Of Notre Dame De La Vie Was
Undoubtedly A Temple. On The Left Of The Road, As You Enter It,
By The Gate Of Avignon, There Is A Handsome Obelisk, Or Rather
Pyramid, About Thirty Feet High, Raised Upon A Vault Supported By
Four Pillars Of The Tuscan Order. It Is Certainly A Roman Work,
And Montfaucon Supposes It To Be A Tomb, As He Perceived An
Oblong Stone Jetting Out From The Middle Of The Vault, In Which
The Ashes Of The Defunct Were Probably Contained. The Story Of
Pontius Pilate, Who Is Said To Have Ended His Days In This Place,
Is A Fable. On The Seventh Day Of Our Journey From Aix, We
Arrived At Lyons, Where I Shall Take My Leave Of You For The
Present, Being With Great Truth--Yours, Etc.
Part 7 Letter 40 ( Boulogne, June 13, 1765.) Pg 310
Dear Sir,--I Am At Last In A Situation To Indulge My View With A
Sight Of Britain, After An Absence Of Two Years; And Indeed You
Cannot Imagine What Pleasure I Feel While I Survey The White
Cliffs Of Dover, At This Distance. Not That I Am At All Affected
By The Nescia Qua Dulcedine Natalis Soli, Of Horace. That Seems
To Be A Kind Of Fanaticism Founded On The Prejudices Of
Education, Which Induces A Laplander To Place The Terrestrial
Paradise Among The Snows Of Norway, And A Swiss To Prefer The
Barren Mountains Of Solleure To The Fruitful Plains Of Lombardy.
I Am Attached To My Country, Because It Is The Land Of Liberty,
Cleanliness, And Convenience: But I Love It Still More Tenderly,
As The Scene Of All My Interesting Connexions; As The Habitation
Of My Friends, For Whose Conversation, Correspondence, And
Esteem, I Wish Alone To Live.
Our Journey Hither From Lyons Produced Neither Accident Nor
Adventure Worth Notice; But Abundance Of Little Vexations, Which
May Be Termed The Plagues Of Posting. At Lyons, Where We Stayed
Only A Few Days, I Found A Return-Coach, Which I Hired To Paris
For Six Loui'dores. It Was A Fine Roomy Carriage, Elegantly
Furnished, And Made For Travelling; So Strong And Solid In All
Its Parts, That There Was No Danger Of Its Being Shaken To
Pieces By The Roughness Of The Road: But Its Weight And Solidity
Occasioned So Much Friction Between The Wheels And The Axle-Tree,
That We Ran The Risque Of Being Set On Fire Three Or Four Times A
Day. Upon A Just Comparison Of All Circumstances Posting Is Much
More Easy, Convenient, And Reasonable In England Than In France.
Part 7 Letter 40 ( Boulogne, June 13, 1765.) Pg 311The English Carriages, Horses, Harness, And Roads Are Much
Better; And The Postilions More Obliging And Alert. The Reason Is
Plain And Obvious. If I Am Ill-Used At The Post-House In England,
I Can Be Accommodated Elsewhere. The Publicans On The Road Are
Sensible Of This, And Therefore They Vie With Each Other In
Giving Satisfaction To Travellers. But In France, Where The Post
Is Monopolized, The Post-Masters And Postilions, Knowing That The
Traveller Depends Intirely Upon Them, Are The More Negligent And
Remiss In Their Duty, As Well As The More Encouraged To Insolence
And Imposition. Indeed The Stranger Seems To Be Left Intirely At
The Mercy Of Those Fellows, Except In Large Towns, Where He May
Have Recourse To The Magistrate Or Commanding Officer. The Post
Stands Very Often By Itself In A Lone Country Situation, Or In A
Paultry Village, Where The Post-Master Is The Principal
Inhabitant; And In Such A Case, If You Should Be Ill-Treated, By
Being Supplied With Bad Horses; If You Should Be Delayed On
Frivolous Pretences, In Order To Extort Money; If The Postilions
Should Drive At A Waggon Pace, With A View To Provoke Your
Impatience; Or Should You In Any Shape Be Insulted By Them Or
Their Masters; And I Know Not Any Redress You Can Have, Except By
A Formal Complaint To The Comptroller Of The Posts, Who Is
Generally One Of The Ministers Of State, And Pays Little Or No
Regard To Any Such Representations. I Know An English Gentleman,
The Brother Of An Earl, Who Wrote A Letter Of Complaint To The
Duc De Villars, Governor Of Provence, Against The Post-Master Of
Antibes, Who Had Insulted And Imposed Upon Him. The Duke Answered
His Letter, Promising To Take Order That The Grievance Should Be
Redressed; And Never Thought Of It After. Another Great
Inconvenience Which Attends Posting In France, Is That If You Are
Retarded By Any Accident, You Cannot In Many Parts Of The Kingdom
Find A Lodging, Without Perhaps Travelling Two Or Three Posts
Farther Than You Would Choose To Go, To The Prejudice Of Your
Health, And Even The Hazard Of Your Life; Whereas On Any Part Of
The Post-Road In England, You Will Meet With Tolerable
Accommodation At Every Stage. Through The Whole South Of France,
Except In Large Cities, The Inns Are Cold, Damp, Dark, Dismal,
And Dirty; The Landlords Equally Disobliging And Rapacious; The
Servants Aukward, Sluttish, And Slothful; And The Postilions
Lazy, Lounging, Greedy, And Impertinent. If You Chide Them For
Lingering, They Will Continue To Delay You The Longer: If You
Chastise Them With Sword, Cane, Cudgel, Or Horse-Whip, They Will
Either Disappear Entirely, And Leave You Without Resource; Or
They Will Find Means To Take Vengeance By Overturning Your
Carriage. The Best Method I Know Of Travelling With Any Degree Of
Comfort, Is To Allow Yourself To Become The Dupe Of Imposition,
And Stimulate Their Endeavours By Extraordinary Gratifications. I
Laid Down A Resolution (And Kept It) To Give No More Than Four
And Twenty Sols Per Post Between The Two Postilions; But I Am Now
Persuaded That For Three-Pence A Post More, I Should Have Been
Much Better Served, And Should Have Performed The Journey With
Much Greater Pleasure. We Met With No Adventures Upon The Road
Worth Reciting. The First Day We Were Retarded About Two Hours By
The Dutchess D--Lle, And Her Son The Duc De R--F--T, Who By
Virtue Of An Order From The Minister, Had Anticipated All The
Part 7 Letter 40 ( Boulogne, June 13, 1765.) Pg 312Horses At The Post. They Accosted My Servant, And Asked If His
Master Was A Lord? He Thought Proper To Answer In The
Affirmative, Upon Which The Duke Declared That He Must Certainly
Be Of French Extraction, Inasmuch As He Observed The Lilies Of
France In His Arms On The Coach. This Young Nobleman Spoke A
Little English. He Asked Whence We Had Come; And Understanding We
Had Been In Italy, Desired To Know Whether The Man Liked France
Or Italy Best? Upon His Giving France The Preference, He Clapped
Him On The Shoulder, And Said He Was A Lad Of Good Taste. The
Dutchess Asked If Her Son Spoke English Well, And Seemed Mightily
Pleased When My Man Assured Her He Did. They Were Much More Free
And Condescending With My Servant Than With Myself; For, Though
We Saluted Them In Passing, And Were Even Supposed To Be Persons
Of Quality, They Did Not Open Their Lips, While We Stood Close By
Them At The Inn-Door, Till Their Horses Were Changed. They Were
Going To Geneva; And Their Equipage Consisted Of Three Coaches
And Six, With Five Domestics A-Horseback. The Dutchess Was A
Tall, Thin, Raw-Boned Woman, With Her Head Close Shaved. This
Delay Obliged Us To Lie Two Posts Short Of Macon, At A Solitary
Auberge Called Maison Blanche, Which Had Nothing White About
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