Year: 1644 (Page 3 of 9)

We lay at Loumas ; the next morning, came to Aix, having passed that extremely rapid and dangerous river of Durance. In this tract, all the heaths, or commons, are covered with rosemary, lavender, lentiscus, and the like sweet shrubs, for many miles together ; which to me was very pleasant.

Aix is the chief city of Provence, being a Parliament and Presidential town, with other royal Courts and Metropolitan jurisdiction. It is well built, the houses very high, and the streets ample. The Cathedral, St. Saviour’s, is a noble pile adorned with innumerable figures ; especially that of St. Michael ; the Baptisterie, the Palace, the Court, built in a most spacious piazza, are very fair. The Duke of Guise’s house is worth seeing, being furnished with many antiquities in and about it. The Jesuits have here a royal College, and the City is a University.

…and, lodging one night on the way, we arrived at noon at Avignon.

This town has belonged to the Popes ever since the time of Clement V.; being, in 1352 ((In 1348. -AD)) alienated by Jane, Queen of Naples and Sicily ((Jane, or Joanna I Queen of Naples, sold Avignon to Pope Clement V in 1348 for 80,000 florins – GS)). Entering the gates, the soldiers at the guard took our pistols and carbines, and examined us very strictly ; after that, having obtained the Governor’s and the Vice-Legate’s leave to tarry three days, we were civilly conducted to our lodging.

The city is on the Rhone, and divided from the newer part, or town, which is on the other side of the river, by a very fair stone bridge (which has been broken); at one end is a very high rock, on which is a strong castle well furnished with artillery. The walls of the city are of large square freestone, the most neat and best in repair I ever saw. It is full of well-built palaces; those of the Vice-Legate and Archbishop being the most magnificent.

There are many sumptuous churches, especially that of St. Magdalene and St. Martial, wherein the tomb of the Cardinal d’Amboise is the most observable  ((I believe Evelyn is referring to the tomb of Cardinal Jean de la Grange, a somewhat famous tomb. Jean de la Grange was Cardinal of Amiens otherwise known as the diocese of Ambianum – possibly leading to Evelyn’s confusion. The tomb of Cardinal d’Amboise has always been in Rouen Cathedral -GS)) . Clement VI. lies buried in that of the Celestines, the altar whereof is exceeding rich : but for nothing I more admired it than the tomb of Madonna Laura, the celebrated mistress of Petrarch (( In the Church of the Cordeliers, destroyed in the Revolution. It was then, says Arthur Young (Travels, etc., 1792, i. 173:

“nothing but a stone in the pavement, with a figure engraven on it partly effaced, surrounded by an inscription in Gothic letters, and another in the wall adjoining, with the armorial of the family De Sade”—to which Laura belonged. The last remains of Laura were taken to the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1793—says Mr. Augustus Hare—and have been lost. But he quotes a charming quatrain, either by Francis I. or Clement Marot, which was added when the tomb was opened in 1533 :—
“0 gentille âme, estant tant estimée,
Qui te pourra louer qu’en se taisant ?
Car la parole est toujours réprimée
Quand le sujet surmonte le disant.”

[Translation

O gentle Soul, being so esteemed,
Who could praise you save in silence?
For speech is always restrained
When the subject surpasses the speaker. ]

South-Eastern France, 1890, p. 368.   –AD))

We saw the Arsenal, the Pope’s Palace, and the Synagogue of the Jews, who here are distinguished by their red hats. Vaucluse, so much renowned for the solitude of Petrarch, we beheld from the castle ; but could not go to visit it for want of time, being now taking mules and a guide for Marseilles.

and the next morning by Pont St. Esprit, which consists of twenty-two arches; in the piers of the arches are windows, as it were, to receive the water when it is high and full. Here we went on shore, it being very dangerous to pass the bridge in a boat.

Hence, leaving our barge, we took horse, seeing at a distance the town and principality of Orange

Hence, the next morning we swam (for the river here is so rapid that the boat was only steered) to a small village called Tain, where we dined. Over against this is another town, named Tournon, where is a very strong castle under a high precipice. To the castle joins the Jesuits’ College, who have a fair library (( Founded by the favourite of Francis I., the Cardinal de Tournon, in 1542. It was later an Ecole Militaire. –AD)). The prospect was so tempting, that I could not forbear designing it with my crayon.

We then came to Valence, a capital city carrying the title of a Duchy; but the Bishop is now sole Lord temporal of it, and the country about it. The town having a University famous for the study of the civil law, is much frequented; but the churches are none of the fairest, having been greatly defaced in the time of the wars. The streets are full of pretty fountains. The citadel is strong and garrisoned. Here we passed the night, and… [continues next day]

We bargained with a waterman to carry us to Avignon on the river, and got the first night to Vienne, in Dauphiné. This is an Archbishopric, and the province gives title to the heir-apparent of France ((The eldest son of France is, during the life of his father, called the Dauphin, from the stipulation (as it seems) made with Umbert: who bequeathed that province [Dauphine] conditionally to Philip de Valois” [Evelyn’s State of France, Miscellaneous Writings, 1825, p. 54]  –AD )). Here we supped and lay, having among other dainties, a dish of truffles, which is a certain earth-nut, found out by a hog trained to it, and for which those animals are sold at a great price. It is in truth an incomparable meat.

We were shown the ruins of an amphitheatre ((On the slopes of Mont Pipet –AD)), pretty entire ((“On the slopes of Mont Pipet the remains of a Roman theatre may, it is said, be traced amount the vineyards, but they are very inconsiderable.” – from A handbook for travellers in France: being a guide to Norway, Brittany, the rivers Seine, Loire, Rhône, and Garonne, the French Alps, Dauphiné, Provence, and the Pyrenees by John Murray, 1858. -GS)); and many handsome palaces, especially that of Pontius Pilate ((The Castle of Salomon. According to Eusebius and others, Pilate was banished to Vienne, after his return to Rome from Judaea. –AD)), not far from the town, at the foot of a solitary mountain, near the river, having four pinnacles. Here it is reported he passed his exile, and precipitated himself into the lake not far from it.  ((This is widely regarded to be a legend – for example  “Tiberius built that high Tower where Pilate is said to have ended his Days. In the neighbouring Vineyards, there are still large Pyramids near the Place where ’tis said his Palace stood, and a Lake in which they say he drown’d himself. ‘Tis pretended, he was a Native of this Town; but some account all that is said of his Birth and Death here a meer Legend, that took its Rise from Humbert Pilati, Secretary to the last Dauphin, before it came to the Crown of France, whose Country House near St. Valliere is by the Vulgar called the House of Pilate” – Book: Atlas geographus -GS))

The house is modern , and seems to be the seat of some gentleman; being in a very pleasant, though melancholy place. The cathedral of Vienne is St. Maurice; and there are many other pretty buildings, but nothing more so, than the mills where they hammer and polish the sword blades.

We arrived at Roane, where we quitted our guide, and took post for Lyons. Roane seemed to me one of the pleasantest and most agreeable places imaginable, for a retired person: for, besides the situation on the Loire, there are excellent provisions cheap and abundant.

It being late when we left this town, we rode no further than Tarare that night (passing St. Saforin ((St. Symphorien-de-Lay, where the ascent of the Montagne de Tarare begins. –AD)) ), a little desolate village in a valley near a pleasant stream, encompassed with fresh meadows and vineyards. The hills which we rode over before we descended, and afterward, on the Lyons side of this place, are high and mountainous; fir and pines growing frequently on them. The air methought was much altered as well as the manner of the houses, which are built flatter, more after the eastern manner.

Before I went to bed, I took a landscape of this pleasant terrace ((“To take out one’s memorandum-book and make a sketch of a charming prospect, was the usual thing before the camera was invented.” – English Travellers of the Renaissance by Clare Howard -GS)) . There followed a most violent tempest of thunder and lightning.

The next day, we went somewhat out of the way to see the town of Bourbon l’Archambaut, from whose ancient and rugged castle is derived the name of the present Royal Family of France. The castle stands on a flinty rock, overlooking the town.

In the midst of the streets are some baths of medicinal waters, some of them excessive hot, but nothing so neatly walled and adorned as ours in Somersetshire; and indeed they are chiefly used to drink of, our Queen being then lodged there for that purpose ((Henrietta Maria (see ante). She passed some three months at Bourbon, “arriving there in so crippled a condition that she could not walk without being supported on either side, and so weakened in nerves that she was almost always in tears.” At the conclusion of the treatment she began “to hope she should not die” (1905, ii. 311).  James II. also came to Bourbon shortly before his death. But the visitor most associated with the place is Mme. de Montespan.  –AD)).

After dinner, I went to see the St. Chapelle, a prime place of devotion, where is kept one of the thorns of our Savior’s crown, and a piece of the real cross; excellent paintings on glass, and some few statues of stone and wood, which they show for curiosities. Hence, we went forward to La Palise, a village that lodged us that night.

By Franchesse, St. Menoux, thence to Moulins, where we dined. This is the chief town of the Bourbonnais ((Bourbonnais was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponded to the modern département of Allier, along with part of the département of Cher. -Wikipedia)) on the river Allier, very navigable. The streets are fair; the castle has a noble prospect, and has been the seat of the Dukes. Here is a pretty park and garden. After dinner, came many who offered knives and scissors to sell; it being a town famous for these trifles. This Duchy of Bourbon is ordinarily assigned for the dowry of the Queens of France.

Hence, we took horse for Varennes ((i.e. Varennes, in the Dep. of Allier, not the more noted Varennes-en-Argonne, Dep. of the Meuse. –AD)), an obscure village, where we lay that night.

I took my leave of Mr. Nicholas, and some other English there; and, on the 23d, proceeded on my journey by Pont du Charge; and lay that evening at Coulaiure, thirteen leagues.