Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (beautiful books to read .txt) 📖

Part 7 Letter 17 ( Nice, July 2, 1764.) Pg 162

It Sent Forth Colonies, And Established Them Along The Coast Of

Liguria. Of These, Nice, Or Nicaea, Was One Of The Most

Remarkable; So Called, In All Probability, From The Greek Word

Nike, Signifying Victoria, In Consequence Of Some Important

Victory Obtained Over The Salii And Ligures, Who Were The Antient

Inhabitants Of This Country. Nice, With Its Mother City, Being In

The Sequel Subdued By The Romans, Fell Afterwards Successively

Under The Dominion Of The Goths, Burgundians, And Franks, The

Kings Of Arles, And The Kings Of Naples, As Counts Of Provence.

In The Year One Thousand Three Hundred And Eighty-Eight, The City

And County Of Nice Being But Ill Protected By The Family Of

Durazzo, Voluntarily Surrendered Themselves To Amadaeus, Surnamed

The Red, Duke Of Savoy; And Since That Period, They Have

Continued As Part Of That Potentate's Dominions, Except At Such

Times As They Have Been Over-Run And Possessed By The Power Of

France, Which Hath Always Been A Troublesome Neighbour To This

Country. The Castle Was Begun By The Arragonian Counts Of

Provence, And Afterwards Enlarged By Several Successive Dukes Of

Savoy, So As To Be Deemed Impregnable, Until The Modern Method Of

Besieging Began To Take Place. A Fruitless Attempt Was Made Upon

It In The Year One Thousand Five Hundred And Forty-Three, By The

French And Turks In Conjunction: But It Was Reduced Several Times

After That Period, And Is Now In Ruins. The Celebrated Engineer

Vauban, Being Commanded By Louis Xiv To Give In A Plan For

Fortifying Nice, Proposed, That The River Paglion Should Be

Turned Into A New Channel, So As To Surround The Town To The

North, And Fall Into The Harbour; That Where The Paglion Now Runs

To The Westward Of The City Walls, There Should Be A Deep Ditch

To Be Filled With Sea-Water; And That A Fortress Should Be Built

To The Westward Of This Fosse. These Particulars Might Be

Executed At No Very Great Expence; But, I Apprehend, They Would

Be Ineffectual, As The Town Is Commanded By Every Hill In The

Neighbourhood; And The Exhalations From Stagnating Sea-Water

Would Infallibly Render The Air Unwholesome. Notwithstanding The

Undoubted Antiquity Of Nice, Very Few Monuments Of That Antiquity

Now Remain. The Inhabitants Say, They Were Either Destroyed By

The Saracens In Their Successive Descents Upon The Coast, By The

Barbarous Nations In Their Repeated Incursions, Or Used In

Fortifying The Castle, As Well As In Building Other Edifices. The

City Of Cemenelion, However, Was Subject To The Same Disasters,

And Even Entirely Ruined, Nevertheless, We Still Find Remains Of

Its Antient Splendor. There Have Been Likewise A Few Stones Found

At Nice, With Antient Inscriptions; But There Is Nothing Of This

Kind Standing, Unless We Give The Name Of Antiquity To A Marble

Cross On The Road To Provence, About Half A Mile From The City.

It Stands Upon A Pretty High Pedestal With Steps, Under A Pretty

Stone Cupola Or Dome, Supported By Four Ionic Pillars, On The

Spot Where Charles V. Emperor Of Germany, Francis I. Of France,

And Pope Paul Ii. Agreed To Have A Conference, In Order To

Determine All Their Disputes. The Emperor Came Hither By Sea,

With A Powerful Fleet, And The French King By Land, At The Head

Of A Numerous Army. All The Endeavours Of His Holiness, However,

Could Not Effect A Peace; But They Agreed To A Truce Of Ten

Years. Mezerai Affirms, That These Two Great Princes Never Saw 

Part 7 Letter 17 ( Nice, July 2, 1764.) Pg 163

One Another On This Occasion; And That This Shyness Was Owing To

The Management Of The Pope, Whose Private Designs Might Have Been

Frustrated, Had They Come To A Personal Interview. In The Front

Of The Colonade, There Is A Small Stone, With An Inscription In

Latin, Which Is So High, And So Much Defaced, That I Cannot Read

It.

 

 

 

In The Sixteenth Century There Was A College Erected At Nice, By

Emanuel Philibert, Duke Of Savoy, For Granting Degrees To

Students Of Law; And In The Year One Thousand Six Hundred And

Fourteen, Charles Emanuel I. Instituted The Senate Of Nice;

Consisting Of A President, And A Certain Number Of Senators, Who

Are Distinguished By Their Purple Robes, And Other Ensigns Of

Authority. They Administer Justice, Having The Power Of Life And

Death, Not Only Through The Whole County Of Nice, But Causes Are

Evoked From Oneglia, And Some Other Places, To Their Tribunal,

Which Is The Dernier Ressort, From Whence There Is No Appeal. The

Commandant, However, By Virtue Of His Military Power And

Unrestricted Authority, Takes Upon Him To Punish Individuals By

Imprisonment, Corporal Pains, And Banishment, Without Consulting

The Senate, Or Indeed, Observing Any Form Of Trial. The Only

Redress Against Any Unjust Exercise Of This Absolute Power, Is By

Complaint To The King; And You Know, What Chance A Poor Man Has

For Being Redressed In This Manner.

 

 

 

With Respect To Religion, I May Safely Say, That Here

Superstition Reigns Under The Darkest Shades Of Ignorance And

Prejudice. I Think There Are Ten Convents And Three Nunneries

Within And Without The Walls Of Nice; And Among Them All, I Never

Could Hear Of One Man Who Had Made Any Tolerable Advances In Any

Kind Of Human Learning. All Ecclesiastics Are Exempted From Any

Exertion Of Civil Power, Being Under The Immediate Protection And

Authority Of The Bishop, Or His Vicar. The Bishop Of Nice Is

Suffragan Of The Archbishop Of Ambrun In France; And The Revenues

Of The See Amount To Between Five And Six Hundred Pounds

Sterling. We Have Likewise An Office Of The Inquisition, Though I

Do Not Hear That It Presumes To Execute Any Acts Of Jurisdiction,

Without The King's Special Permission. All The Churches Are

Sanctuaries For All Kinds Of Criminals, Except Those Guilty Of

High Treason; And The Priests Are Extremely Jealous Of Their

Privileges In This Particular. They Receive, With Open Arms,

Murderers, Robbers, Smugglers, Fraudulent Bankrupts, And Felons

Of Every Denomination; And Never Give Them Up, Until After

Having Stipulated For Their Lives And Liberty. I Need Not Enlarge

Upon The Pernicious Consequences Of This Infamous Prerogative,

Calculated To Raise And Extend The Power And Influence Of The

Roman Church, On The Ruins Of Morality And Good Order. I Saw A

Fellow, Who Had Three Days Before Murdered His Wife In The Last

Month Of Pregnancy, Taking The Air With Great Composure And

Serenity, On The Steps Of A Church In Florence; And Nothing Is 

Part 7 Letter 17 ( Nice, July 2, 1764.) Pg 164

More Common, Than To See The Most Execrable Villains Diverting

Themselves In The Cloysters Of Some Convents At Rome.

 

 

 

Nice Abounds With Noblesse, Marquisses, Counts, And Barons. Of

These, Three Or Four Families Are Really Respectable: The Rest

Are Novi Homines, Sprung From Bourgeois, Who Have Saved A Little

Money By Their Different Occupations, And Raised Themselves To

The Rank Of Noblesse By Purchase. One Is Descended From An

Avocat; Another From An Apothecary; A Third From A Retailer Of

Wine, A Fourth From A Dealer In Anchovies; And I Am Told, There

Is Actually A Count At Villefranche, Whose Father Sold Macaroni

In The Streets. A Man In This Country May Buy A Marquisate, Or A

County, For The Value Of Three Or Four Hundred Pounds Sterling,

And The Title Follows The Fief; But He May Purchase Lettres De

Noblesse For About Thirty Or Forty Guineas. In Savoy, There Are

Six Hundred Families Of Noblesse; The Greater Part Of Which Have

Not Above One Hundred Crowns A Year To Maintain Their Dignity. In

The Mountains Of Piedmont, And Even In This Country Of Nice,

There Are Some Representatives Of Very Antient And Noble

Families, Reduced To The Condition Of Common Peasants; But They

Still Retain The Antient Pride Of Their Houses, And Boast Of The

Noble Blood That Runs In Their Veins. A Gentleman Told Me, That

In Travelling Through The Mountains, He Was Obliged To Pass A

Night In The Cottage Of One Of These Rusticated Nobles, Who

Called To His Son In The Evening, "Chevalier, As-Tu Donne A

Manger Aux Cochons?" "Have You Fed The Hogs, Sir Knight?" This,

However, Is Not The Case With The Noblesse Of Nice. Two Or Three

Of Them Have About Four Or Five Hundred A Year: The Rest, In General,

May Have About One Hundred Pistoles, Arising From The Silk, Oil, Wine,

And Oranges, Produced In Their Small Plantations, Where They Have

Also Country Houses. Some Few Of These Are Well Built,

Commodious, And Situated; But, For The Most Part, They Are

Miserable Enough. Our Noblesse, Notwithstanding Their Origin, And

The Cheap Rate At Which Their Titles Have Been Obtained, Are

Nevertheless Extremely Tenacious Of Their Privileges, Very

Delicate In Maintaining The Etiquette, And Keep At A Very Stately

Distance From The Bourgeoisie. How They Live In Their Families, I

Do Not Choose To Enquire; But, In Public, Madame Appears In Her

Robe Of Gold, Or Silver Stuff, With Her Powder And Frisure, Her

Perfumes, Her Paint And Her Patches; While Monsieur Le Comte

Struts About In His Lace And Embroidery. Rouge And Fard Are More

Peculiarly Necessary In This Country, Where The Complexion And

Skin Are Naturally Swarthy And Yellow. I Have Likewise Observed,

That Most Of The Females Are Pot-Bellied; A Circumstance Owing, I

Believe, To The Great Quantity Of Vegetable Trash Which They Eat.

All The Horses, Mules, Asses, And Cattle, Which Feed Upon Grass,

Have The Same Distension. This Kind Of Food Produces Such Acid

Juices In The Stomach, As Excite A Perpetual Sense Of Hunger. I

Have Been Often Amazed At The Voracious Appetites Of These

People. You Must Not Expect That I Should Describe The Tables And

The Hospitality Of Our Nissard Gentry. Our Consul, Who Is A Very

Honest Man, Told Me, He Had Lived Four And Thirty Years In The

Part 7 Letter 17 ( Nice, July 2, 1764.) Pg 165

Country, Without Having Once Eat Or Drank In Any Of Their Houses.

 

 

 

The Noblesse Of Nice Cannot Leave The Country Without Express

Leave From The King; And This Leave, When Obtained, Is For A

Limited Time, Which They Dare Not Exceed, On Pain Of Incurring

His Majesty's