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

Of Aix Is Disagreeably Cold In The Winter, It Is

Rendered Quite Insufferable In The Summer, From Excessive Heat,

Occasioned By The Reflexion From The Rocks And Mountains, Which

At The Same Time Obstruct The Circulation Of Air: For It Must Be

Observed, That The Same Mountains Which Serve As Funnels And

Canals, To Collect And Discharge The Keen Blasts Of Winter, Will

Provide Screens To Intercept Intirely The Faint Breezes Of

Summer. Aix, Though Pretty Well Provided With Butcher's Meat, Is

Very Ill Supplied With Potherbs; And They Have No Poultry But

What Comes At A Vast Distance From The Lionnois. They Say Their

Want Of Roots, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Etc. Is Owing To A Scarcity

Of Water: But The Truth Is, They Are Very Bad Gardeners. Their

Oil Is Good And Cheap: Their Wine Is Indifferent: But Their Chief

Care Seems Employed On The Culture Of Silk, The Staple Of

Provence, Which Is Every Where Shaded With Plantations Of

Mulberry Trees, For The Nourishment Of The Worms. Notwithstanding

The Boasted Cheapness Of Every Article Of Housekeeping, In The

South Of France, I Am Persuaded A Family May Live For Less Money

At York, Durham, Hereford, And In Many Other Cities Of England

Than At Aix In Provence; Keep A More Plentiful Table; And Be Much

More Comfortably Situated In All Respects. I Found Lodging And

Provision At Aix Fifty Per Cent Dearer Than At Montpellier, Which

Is Counted The Dearest Place In Languedoc.

 

 

 

The Baths Of Aix, So Famous In Antiquity, Were Quite Demolished

By The Irruptions Of The Barbarians. The Very Source Of The Water

Was Lost, Till The Beginning Of The Present Century (I Think The

Year 1704), When It Was Discovered By Accident, In Digging For

The Foundation Of A House, At The Foot Of A Hill, Just Without

The City Wall. Near The Same Place Was Found A Small Stone Altar,

With The Figure Of A Priapus, And Some Letters In Capitals, Which

The Antiquarians Have Differently Interpreted. From This Figure,

It Was Supposed That The Waters Were Efficacious In Cases Of

Barrenness. It Was A Long Time, However, Before Any Person Would

Venture To Use Them Internally, As It Did Not Appear That They

Had Ever Been Drank By The Antients. On Their Re-Appearance, They

Were Chiefly Used For Baths To Horses, And Other Beasts Which Had

The Mange, And Other Cutaneous Eruptions. At Length Poor People

Began To Bathe In Them For The Same Disorders, And Received Such

Benefit From Them, As Attracted The Attention Of More Curious

Inquirers. A Very Superficial And Imperfect Analysis Was Made And

Published, With A Few Remarkable Histories Of The Cures They Had

Performed, By Three Different Physicians Of Those Days; And Those

Little Treatises, I Suppose, Encouraged Valetudinarians To Drink

Them Without Ceremony. They Were Found Serviceable In The Gout,

The Gravel, Scurvy, Dropsy, Palsy, Indigestion, Asthma, And

Consumption; And Their Fame Soon Extended Itself All Over

Languedoc, Gascony, Dauphine, And Provence. The Magistrates, With 

Part 7 Letter 39 ( Boulogne, May 23, 1765..) Pg 306

A View To Render Them More Useful And Commodious, Have Raised A

Plain Building, In Which There Are A Couple Of Private Baths,

With A Bedchamber Adjoining To Each, Where Individuals May Use

Them Both Internally And Externally, For A Moderate Expence.

These Baths Are Paved With Marble, And Supplied With Water Each

By A Large Brass Cock, Which You Can Turn At Pleasure. At One End

Of This Edifice, There Is An Octagon, Open At Top, Having A

Bason, With A Stone Pillar In The Middle, Which Discharges Water

From The Same Source, All Round, By Eight Small Brass Cocks; And

Hither People Of All Ranks Come Of A Morning, With Their Glasses,

To Drink The Water, Or Wash Their Sores, Or Subject Their

Contracted Limbs To The Stream. This Last Operation, Called The

Douche, However, Is More Effectually Undergone In The Private

Bath, Where The Stream Is Much More Powerful. The Natural Warmth

Of This Water, As Nearly As I Can Judge From Recollection, Is

About The Same Degree Of Temperature With That In The Queen's

Bath, At Bath In Somersetshire. It Is Perfectly Transparent,

Sparkling In The Glass, Light And Agreeable To The Taste, And May

Be Drank Without Any Preparation, To The Quantity Of Three Or

Four Pints At A Time. There Are Many People At Aix Who Swallow

Fourteen Half Pint Glasses Every Morning, During The Season,

Which Is In The Month Of May, Though It May Be Taken With Equal

Benefit All The Year Round. It Has No Sensible Operation But By

Urine, An Effect Which Pure Water Would Produce, If Drank In The

Same Quantity.

 

 

 

If We May Believe Those Who Have Published Their Experiments,

This Water Produces Neither Agitation, Cloud, Or Change Of

Colour, When Mixed With Acids, Alkalies, Tincture Of Galls, Syrup

Of Violets, Or Solution Of Silver. The Residue, After Boiling,

Evaporation, And Filtration, Affords A Very Small Proportion Of

Purging Salt, And Calcarious Earth, Which Last Ferments With

Strong Acids. As I Had Neither Hydrometer Nor Thermometer To

Ascertain The Weight And Warmth Of This Water; Nor Time To

Procure The Proper Utensils, To Make The Preparations, And Repeat

The Experiments Necessary To Exhibit A Complete Analysis, I Did

Not Pretend To Enter Upon This Process; But Contented Myself With

Drinking, Bathing, And Using The Douche, Which Perfectly Answered

My Expectation, Having, In Eight Days, Almost Cured An Ugly

Scorbutic Tetter, Which Had For Some Time Deprived Me Of The Use

Of My Right Hand. I Observed That The Water, When Used

Externally, Left Always A Kind Of Oily Appearance On The Skin:

That When, We Boiled It At Home, In An Earthen Pot, The Steams

Smelled Like Those Of Sulphur, And Even Affected My Lungs In The

Same Manner: But The Bath Itself Smelled Strong Of A Lime-Kiln.

The Water, After Standing All Night In A Bottle, Yielded A

Remarkably Vinous Taste And Odour, Something Analogous To That Of

Dulcified Spirit Of Nitre. Whether The Active Particles Consist

Of A Volatile Vitriol, Or A Very Fine Petroleum, Or A Mixture Of

Both, I Shall Not Pretend To Determine: But The Best Way I Know

Of Discovering Whether It Is Really Impregnated With A Vitriolic

Principle, Too Subtil And Fugitive For The Usual Operations Of 

Part 7 Letter 39 ( Boulogne, May 23, 1765..) Pg 307

Chymistry, Is To Place Bottles, Filled With Wine, In The Bath, Or

Adjacent Room, Which Wine, If There Is Really A Volatile Acid, In

Any Considerable Quantity, Will Be Pricked In Eight And Forty

Hours.

 

 

 

Having Ordered Our Coach To Be Refitted, And Provided With Fresh

Horses, As Well As With Another Postilion, In Consequence Of

Which Improvements, I Payed At The Rate Of A Loui'dore Per Diem

To Lyons And Back Again, We Departed From Aix, And The Second Day

Of Our Journey Passing The Durance In A Boat, Lay At Avignon.

This River, The Druentia Of The Antients, Is A Considerable

Stream, Extremely Rapid, Which Descends From The Mountains, And

Discharges Itself In The Rhone. After Violent Rains It Extends

Its Channel, So As To Be Impassable, And Often Overflows The

Country To A Great Extent. In The Middle Of A Plain, Betwixt

Orgon And This River, We Met The Coach In Which We Had Travelled

Eighteen Months Before, From Lyons To Montpellier, Conducted By

Our Old Driver Joseph, Who No Sooner Recognized My Servant At A

Distance, By His Musquetoon, Than He Came Running Towards Our

Carriage, And Seizing My Hand, Even Shed Tears Of Joy. Joseph Had

Been Travelling Through Spain, And Was So Imbrowned By The Sun,

That He Might Have Passed For An Iroquois. I Was Much Pleased

With The Marks Of Gratitude Which The Poor Fellow Expressed

Towards His Benefactors. He Had Some Private Conversation With

Our Voiturier, Whose Name Was Claude, To Whom He Gave Such A

Favourable Character Of Us, As In All Probability Induced Him To

Be Wonderfully Obliging During The Whole Journey.

 

 

 

You Know Avignon Is A Large City Belonging To The Pope. It Was

The Avenio Cavarum Of The Antients, And Changed Masters Several

Times, Belonging Successively To The Romans, Burgundians, Franks,

The Kingdom Of Arles, The Counts Of Provence, And The Sovereigns

Of Naples. It Was Sold In The Fourteenth Century, By Queen Jane

I. Of Naples, To Pope Clement Vi. For The Sum Of Eighty Thousand

Florins, And Since That Period Has Continued Under The Dominion

Of The See Of Rome. Not But That When The Duc De Crequi, The

French Ambassador, Was Insulted At Rome In The Year 1662, The

Parliament Of Provence Passed An Arret, Declaring The City Of

Avignon, And The County Venaiss In Part Of The Ancient Domain Of

Provence; And Therefore Reunited It To The Crown Of France, Which

Accordingly Took Possession; Though It Was Afterwards Restored To

The Roman See At The Peace Of Pisa. The Pope, However, Holds It

By A Precarious Title, At The Mercy Of The French King, Who May

One Day Be Induced To Resume It, Upon Payment Of The Original

Purchase-Money. As A Succession Of Popes Resided Here For The

Space Of Seventy Years, The City Could Not Fail To Be Adorned

With A Great Number Of Magnificent Churches And Convents, Which

Are Richly Embellished With Painting, Sculpture, Shrines,

Reliques, And Tombs. Among The Last, Is That Of The Celebrated

Laura, Whom Petrarch Has Immortalized By His Poetry, And For Whom 

Part 7 Letter 39 ( Boulogne, May 23, 1765..) Pg 308

Francis I. Of France Took The Trouble To Write An Epitaph.

Avignon Is Governed By A Vice-Legate From The Pope, And The

Police Of The City Is Regulated By The Consuls.

 

 

 

It Is A Large Place, Situated In A Fruitful Plain, Surrounded By

High Walls Built Of Hewn Stone, Which On The West Side Are Washed

By The Rhone. Here Was A Noble Bridge Over The River, But It Is

Now In Ruins. On The Other Side, A Branch Of The Sorgue Runs

Through Part Of The City. This Is The River Anciently Called

Sulga, Formed By The Famous Fountain Of Vaucluse In This

Neighbourhood, Where The Poet Petrarch Resided. It Is A Charming

Transparent Stream, Abounding With Excellent Trout And Craw-Fish.

We Passed Over It On A Stone Bridge, In Our Way To Orange, The

Arausio Cavarum Of The Romans, Still Distinguished By Some Noble

Monuments Of Antiquity. These Consist Of A Circus, An Aqueduct, A

Temple, And A Triumphal Arch, Which Last Was Erected In Honour Of

Caius Marius, And Luctatius Catulus, After The Great Victory They

Obtained In This Country Over The Cimbri And Teutones. It Is