judgment, that it is difficult for the eye to distinguish the portions that have been added.

The form of this immense pile is an exact oval, the longest diameter of which, extending from east to west, is about 450 feet, the transverse something like 350, and the height of its walls 70 feet, consisting of two stories besides an attic. It is built of large blocks of stone, admirably adjusted together without mortar, and originally bound by iron clamps, which have been pillaged by its barbarous assailants. Round the parapet masts were erected to support an awning for protecting the audience from the inclemencies of the weather. Its four entrances correspond with the cardinal points of the compass; and over the portals are some remains of Roman sculpture, such as the wolf nursing her regal boys. It was sufficiently spacious to accommodate seventeen thousand spectators, nearly half the present population of Nismes. Its size furnishes a strong argument, to prove the extent of the ancient town, which in the day of its glory was called a second Rome.

Having walked round and examined this astonishing fabric from the ground, we climbed to its top, and standing upon its battlements indulged in that train of associations, which the ruin readily awakens. What scenes of gaiety and pleasure were here exhibited some sixteen or eighteen hundred years ago, when the benches were thronged with the beauty and fashion of the provincial capital; and when the arena was enlivened by the combats of gladiators, the spectacle of human beings condemned to encounter ferocious beasts, or the more polished amusements of dramatic representations, intermingled with the song and dance! How had these crumbling arches once rung with applause these dark recesses once blazed with the splendours of the fete ! What a contrast with the silence and desolation which now reign through the dreary habitations of the owl and the bat!

Other reflections not less interesting are suggested by this splendid monument of other ages. For a period of near two thousand years, during which other edifices and even empires have risen and fallen to decay, these solid ramparts, like the works of nature herself, have withstood the shock of war, the assaults of barbarians, and the silent devastations of time. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the Amphitheatre became a citadel, which was frequently taken and retaken by the Francs, the Visigoths, and Saracens; and in the year 737, the celebrated Charles Martel made a formal attempt to demolish its walls by fire, the traces of which are yet visible. But the fury of its savage conquerors spent itself in vain against the durable monument of a nation, whose legions, whose fortresses and works of art in other cases

proved less impregnable; and the traveller here finds an image of Rome herself, prostrate in the dust, yet great even in ruins.

From the Amphitheatre at Nismes, we went to another relic of Roman taste and magnificence, called the Maison Carrée, or square house-an appellation not justified by its form, as it is a paralellogram about 80 feet in length, 40 in width, and upwards of 60 in height. The only entrance is at one end, where there is a splendid porch supported by ten fluted Corinthian columns, thirty feet high, and three. feet in diameter. A lofty flight of steps leads to the portico, and the whole edifice stands upon elevated substructions, so as to appear to the best advantage. Rows of pillars and pilasters, about thirty in number, extend on all sides; and the frieze, as indeed every part of the building, is of the most exquisite workmanship. In the lightness of its form and the symmetry of its proportions, it is the finest architectural model I have ever seen. The opinions of antiquaries are at variance, as to its design and the uses to which it was appropriated by the Romans. Some have considered it a temple, and others a prætorian palace. The traces of an inscription have led to a conjecture, that it was consecrated to Caius and Lucius Cæsar, the adopted sons of Augustus.

Its destination in after times is less a subject of doubt. In the middle ages it was used as a town-house, and subsequently as a stable, till the monks of St. Austin performed a lustration, and elevated it to the dignity of a church including a cemetery. During the French Revolution, it served the triple purposes of a place for public meetings, a granary, and store-house. In May, 1823, the Dutchess d'Angouleme paid it a visit, when it was converted into a Museum and dedicated by an inscription in letters of gold to "Marie Therese." It is now filled and surrounded with a great number of Roman antiquities, found in the neighbourhood of Nismes. The articles consist of altars, sepulchral monuments, specimens of mosaic, coins, and various kinds of sculpture, together with a collection of paintings and a variety of minor curiosities, not very well assorted or arranged. A handsome railing has been extended round the premises belonging to the Maison Carrée, and the whole is in an excellent state of preservation.*

* When the celebrated Abbé Barthelemy, author of the Travels of Anacharsis, visited Nismes in 1755, on his way to Italy, he found its antiquities in a most wretched state of dilapidation, and his influence was strenuously exerted to save them from utter ruin. He proposed, with more zeal than judgment, to the French minister, that the Maison Carrée should be removed to Paris, to embel

Another prominent object of attraction at Nismes is a singular Fountain, scarcely inferior in the copiousness and transparency of its waters to that of Vanchese. It gushes out at the foot of a calcareous bill, filling a natural basin seventy feet in diameter and twenty or thirty in depth. The margin is fringed with aquatic plants and surrounded on all sides by a terrace, whence the eye looks down and fathoms the crystal wave, with almost the same ease as it would so much air. Fishes of various kinds were seen playing in the sun and revelling in the purity of their little domain. This fountain is so copious, as to form all at once a stream navigable with small boats, which, after descending in a pretty cascade near its source, winds through the town, furnishing an abundant supply of water both for mechanical and domestic purposes. Its banks are bordered with beautiful walks, forming the fashionable promenade of the inhabitants. In one place a deep canal has been cut round an area of several acres, planted with ornamental trees, intersected by alleys, furnished with seats, and adorned with statues, the whole being designed as a pleasure garden. But the statuary is bad; and it appeared to me, that a great deal of money had here been expended with very little taste. Had the waters been left to flow naturally through these grounds, more slightly embellished by works of art, a far more agreeable retreat would have been opened to the citizens of Nismes.

Between this spacious garden and the fountain is a little island planted with evergreens, blooming with flowers, and decorated with piles of marble gods, demi-gods, and heroes, with broken noses, much weather-beaten, and in a shattered condition. To this islet there is no admittance. Above and below it are handsome bridges, and around it are the public baths, much exposed and now little used. They were established by the Romans, who also erected on the margin of the fountain a temple to Diana, the remains of which are still visible. The edifice seems to have been of rather a rude construction, consisting of large blocks of uncemented free-stone, incorporated with the cliffs. Statues, mosaics, and antiquities of various kinds

lish the capital, and for the sake of rescuing it from the assaults of boys, who were shattering its beautiful friezes and its leaves of acanthus, in hunting for birds' nests! He draws a most melancholy picture of the reckless indifference manifested towards antiquities, to which Nismes is now indebted for all its interest and all its importance. From an examination of the prints of the nails, which once fastened a metallic inscription to the architrave, he deduces an ingenious conjecture, that the Maison Carrée is the work of the immortal architect Vitruvius.-See his travels in Italy.

have been found in and about this temple; but to whose worship the shrine was dedicated is yet a matter of uncertainty.

To the west of the Fountain rises an eminence several hundred feet in height, the steep acclivity of which is adorned with hanging gardens, terraces, spiral walks, and copses of evergreens. As the spectator winds up the ascent, his eye is delighted with a full view of an extensive esplanade opening towards the south, and of the pure waters shaded with groves of cypress and elm. The top of the hill is crowned with the ruins of an ancient tower, denominated from its size, Tour Magne. It is intrinsically a grotesque and picturesque object, but rendered doubly so by its position, rising above the town, and being visible at a distance in all directions. The design of this massive structure, which is in the form of a pyramid and contains a spacious rotunda, in the basement story, is involved in as much doubt as the other antiquities already mentioned. Some suppose it to have been a light-house, (an odd conjecture, as there is no port in the vicinity,) while others contend that it was a mausoleum. But the most rational tower of an ancient

opinion seems to be, that it was the principal wall, with which it was evidently connected, serving the double purpose of a fortress and an observatory. A flight of winding steps leads to the top; but as the whole ruin is now tottering to its fall, permission to ascend is refused.

The terrace at the base of the tower affords a splendid view of Nismes and its environs. In one direction the eye ranges to the banks of the Rhone, and rests upon the distant mountains of Provence, while on the other hand it catches glimpses of the Mediterranean bounding the broad fertile plain, which stretches along the coast of Languedoc. Three or four hundred feet beneath him, the spectator surveys the town and its venerable monuments, surrounded on all sides by fields and gardens, at this season clothed in the verdure of spring. Few landscapes embrace a wider extent, or a more agreeable diversity of objects.

Descending from the hill, we traversed the circuit of the ancient walls, and examined the remains of the principal gate, which bears the name of Augustus. The ruins were discovered and disinterred by a party of workmen, while engaged in demolishing an old house, in the year 1793. On one of the fragments an inscription was found, by which it appears, that the walls of Nismes were constructed under the auspices of Augustus, sixteen years before the Christian era; and that this gate was on the great road from Rome to Narbonne. It consisted of two large arches for the passage of carriages, and two smaller ones for the accommodation of persons on foot. The front

is ornamented with pillars, niches for statues, and bas-reliefs, which have risen without mutilation from the tomb, in which they lay buried for so many ages.

Modern Nismes is a pretty town, containing a population of about 40,000, extensively engaged in the manufacture of silks and other French goods. The streets are generally wide, clean, and airy, in many places lined with blocks of handsome houses. A circle of boulevards, scarcely inferior in width and beauty to those of Paris, extends quite round the city, occupying the site of the ancient walls. The public institutions of Nismes are numerous, and several of the edifices for their accommodation may be considered elegant. Among these is a large theatre, which on the evening of our attendance was filled with a genteel audience, though the entertainment presented few attractions.

On the 4th we continued our excursion to Montpellier, thirty miles beyond, in a southerly direction. Among the passengers in the Diligence, was a well-dressed and affable Frenchman, who furnished another instance of the ignorance which prevails among all classes of Europeans, in every thing relating to the United States. Learning in the course of conversation, that we were Americans, he gravely asked us whether our country still remains a British colony! Although apparently well informed in other respects, he had never heard of Washington nor Franklin, and the news of the Declaration of Independence had not yet reached him. The great body of the people in the interior of France and even in England know almost as little of the United States, as they do of Patagonia or Japan-a circumstance somewhat mortifying to a citizen of the great Republic, who goes abroad with an expectation that the renown of its arms and the glory of its free institutions are spread through the world.

The country between Nismes and Montpellier is said to be one of the finest portions of Languedoc. The road runs through a wide, level tract, bounded on the right by a chain of hills, and on the left by the sea, the latter being visible at intervals for the whole distance. Villages, hamlets, and farm houses, are sprinkled over the plain, indicating a populous district. The soil is a reddish loam, sometimes stony, but peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the vine and olive, which are the principal products. To these may be added wheat, which is grown in great abundance and of an excellent quality. The olive is planted in rows at about the same distances as apple trees in an American orchard, and the ground is prepared in much the same way. A generous and mellow soil is required. The vine is reared in long and perfectly straight ridges, ten or twelve feet apart, and the