d'Anis, and then Puy, or Pueeh, i.e., a peak, from the volcanic mountain on whose north and west sides it lies, sloping in a remarkably picturesque way towards the Borne, which valley joins those of the Dolaison and Loire close by. This conical peak, in the midst of a circle of other rugged volcanic hills covered with vineyards, &c., is 2,484 feet above the sea, or 460 feet above its own spreading base; from which the lava-built houses, with their tiled roofs, rise in tiers, past the Cathedral, the gardens of the seminary, &c., to the top, called the Roche de Corneille, and crowned by the ruined castle. Viewed from the Pont St. Jean, this top offers a rough likeness to Henry IV., with his aquiline nose, moustache, and beard. On the east of Mont d'Anis, is a sharp peak of volcanic breccia, nearly 300 feet high, called L'Aiguilhe, or L'Aiguille (the needle), on which is the little spire Chapel of St. Michel, seemingly inaccessible, but reached by a spiral of 218 steps. It is in the Romanesque style of the 10th century. Below, between the peaks, is the "temple of Diana," a little seven-sided Romanesque Chapel of St. Clair, now used as a barn or a theatre. From the very sloping position of the town, the streets are too irregular and steep for carriages: they are paved with lava. One old gate has great machicolated towers on each side. A flight of 120 broad steps brings you up to the Cathedral, which stands with its back to the rock, and is built of lava, in a half Romanesque style. It has two pillars of red porphyry in front, an isolated pyramidal spire and low towers, a nave of three aisles on great pillars, good carved pulpit, a painting of the Innocents, a carving on wood of St. Andrew's martyrdom, and an altar of divers colours, on which stands an ebony image of the Virgin in gold brocade, brought (they say) from Egypt, by St. Louis on his return from the Crusades, 1254; a gift which produced many pretended miracles, besides an abbey and convents, and many royal visits. The bishop of Le Puy was, by custom, president of the States of Velay. A large priests' seminary and the hospital stand near the cathedral. At the college (which has a chapel with an Italian front) is a library of 5,000 volumes. St. Laurent's great church n Basse Ville, near the bridge, contains the modern effigies of Du guesclin, copied from those destroyed by the Baron des Adrets, when he and his fierce Calvinists attacked the town. A new Hôtel de Ville is in Place des Breuil; and at the Museum is a collection of pictures, Roman antiquities, minerals, and fossils. Manufactures of blond and cotton lace, woollen goods, leather, skins for wine bottles, muleteers' hats, and bells, &c. Coaches to Clermont, St. Etienne, Mende, and Tain station, on the Marseilles line. Among the various objects of notice in the neighbourhood (of which the Roche de Corneille commands a fine prospect), are the Orgues d'Espally (west), the châteaux of Polignac, St. Vidal, and Loudes (north-west), château of Ceyssac (southwest), Roche Rouge, or Red Rock (east), the cavernes des Fées, the lac de Limagne, and numerous volcanic peaks. [POLIGNAC (3 kil.) is a village near the Borne, round the base of a basalt mass, crowned by the fine keep and round towers of the ruined castle of the Polignac family, which stands on the site of a temple of Apollo (Apollonicum, whence the present name), and was destroyed at the Revolution. Its seigneurs were styled "Kings of the Mountains." At 18 kil. beyond this, up the river, near Allègre, is the Cratère. or Dôme de Bar, a perfect crater, 1,590 feet diameter, and 127 deep, the sides being planted with beeches. Orgues d'Espally (2 miles west of Puy) on the Borne, is a striking pyramidal mass of basalt pillars, like the pipes of an organ (orgues), at the top of which are traces of a château, where Charles VII., when nearly all France was lost to him, was proclaimed by the States of Velay, 1424. One of the best views of le Puy is got here. At 30 kil. south-east-by-south of le Puy is Mont Mezenc, in the Cevennes, the highest of the volcanic range of Ardèche (1,940 yards above the sea), at the head of the Lignon, Gazelle, Erieux, &c., and not far from the Gerbier de Joncs (1,710 yards), at the Loire's head. Mont Mezenc has the two fine falls of la Roche and la Baume, on the west side, 82 and 98 feet down; and commands one of the noblest views in France, taking in the French and Swiss Alps, &c.] PRADELLES (8 kil.) where a road turns off to Aubenas in Ardèche (see Route 29). Langogne (6 kil.), a station on the Nismes and Clermont-Ferrand line (see Route 31). CHÂTEAUNEUF-RANDON (19 kil.), on a rocky height, belonged to the seigneurs of Gévaudan, and was defended by the old castle of Randon, which the English held, 1380, when they gave it up to Duguesclin, who died in the meantime, and to whom a pillar was set up at Bitarelle, 1820. Duguesclin was a gentle soldier for that rugged age. On his death-bed, he desired his people to remember, that wherever they made war, churchmen, women, children, and the poor, were not their enemies. At 19 kil. further is MENDE. HOTELS.-Du Pavillon; Crey; Rosier, &c. The stations for this place, on the Clermont and Nismes line, are Alais and Villefort. Population, 6,960. Chief town of department Lozère, seat of a bishop, &c., in the fertile valley of the Lot, among the Margeride mountains (a range of the Cevennes), one of which, Mont Mimat, 3,600 feet above the sea, or 650 above the town (to which it gave name), has the hermitage of St. Privat, who was martyred here by the Vandals. He is called the apostle of the Gabale, or people of Gévaudan. The streets are narrow and crooked, but ornamented with many fountains. Country houses are perched on the hills around. The Cathedral, with two tall Gothic spire towers (one slender and well carved), stands on the site of St. Privat's grave. At the old episcopal palace, now used for the Préfecture, is a gallery of pictures, some by Bénard. The library contains 7,000 volumes. There is a college, a priests' seminary, &c. Conveyances to Le Puy, Montpellier, Nismes, Clermont-Ferrand, &c. In the neighbourhood are the following:-Pont Corinthian pilasters, &c., on each face.-Bagnols (9 kil.), and the sulphur springs higher up the Lot.-St. Julien-de-Tournel, 8 kil. higher up, a seat of the lords of Gévaudan. Mont Lozère, a peak 4,900 feet above sea. From Mende, on the road to Rodez and Albi, you pass BARIAC (9 miles) on the Lot; 11 kil. to the north-west of which is MARVEJOLS, a sous-préfecture of nearly 4,850 population, in the valley of the Colagne; it was nearly destroyed by the royal forces under the Duc de Joyeuse, 1586, but restored by Henry IV., and is well built. The springs about have a good dyeing quality. CHANAC (7 kil.), on the Lot, has remains of Druid stones near it, and, upon the cliffs above, an old château of the bishops of Mende. At 8 kil. to the north-east, on the Colagne, at Chirac, are several other Druid monuments, and a spot called Cimetière des Anglais, where the English were defeated in the 14th century. LA CANOURGUE (10 kil.), in a fertile valley, where the serge stuffs of Canourgue are made, has remains of an ancient fort of St. Amand. Much Roman pottery was found here, 1829. At 5 kil. to north of it, is the church of St. Salmon, built by Pope Urban V. A bridge over the Lot, leads from it to the village of Mont-Jézieu, so called because a colony of Jews were settled here before the 14th century. SEVERAC (20 kil.), in department Aveyron, is on the Biaur, above which is the old château of its marquises, built in the 17th century; square, with corner towers. Millau (30 kil.) or Milhau, a sous-préfecture in Aveyron, of 12,640 souls, and the ancient Emilianum, in a pretty part of the Tarn. It suffered in the Albigensian wars, and was one of the first to accept the reformed faith, in 1534, when the marriage of the Benedictine prior with the Abbess of Arpajonie took place here. General assemblies were frequently held in the town, and it is still chiefly Protestant. The stone bridge was rebuilt 1817; a suspension bridge is of later date. There are good walks about. Good ewe-milk cheese (called Roquefort), gloves, vellum, thread, &c., are made. Generals Sarret and Solignac were natives. At 55 kil. N.W. is Rodez (see Route 52), to which a rail from here is in progress. The road to Montpellier turns off to the south-east (see Route 32). From Millau, a rail (opened 1874) runs down towards Béziers; past Tournemire (where a branch of 8 miles goes off to St. Affrique, as below), Montpaon, Lunas-Latour (where the branch from Estréchoux comes in), Bousquet, Bédarieux, &c. (See Route 66.) St. Affrique (28 kil.) or St. Fric, a sous-préfecture of 6,810 souls, and a railway station (as above), in a rocky part of the Sorgue, has many old Gothic houses, and parts of the walls, built 1357, but which Louis XIII. dismantled for its attachment to Protestantism. An old hospital is used for the Mairie, and stands opposite the new palais de justice. The neighbouring hills are covered with vineyards and orchards. Good cloth is made, and it has a trade in cheese, wool, &c. [At 12 kil. south-south-east are the warm mineral sulphur waters of Silvanès (104° temperature), which are used from June to September. About 6 kil. south-west of this, near the little village of Pont-de-Camarès, on the Dourdon, are the cold eaux-gazeuses, or carbonic acid gas springs of Andabre and Prugnes, which taste something like soda-water.] ST. SERNIN (32 kil.), on the Rance, at the bottom of a circle of mountains. About 16 kil., south-east, is Belmont, on the slant of a rock over the Rance, with a good spire to its church. LA FRAYSSE (24 kil.), in department Tarn; 23 kil. beyond which is Albi (see Route 52) on the line to Toulouse and Castres. Toulouse is about 30 miles further. ROUTE 29. Valence, to Privas and Alais, Through the silk country of Ardèche, and among the Cevennes Mountains. Valence station, as in Route 20. Then Livron 11 miles), where the branch line turns off by a serpentine line across the Rhône, past La Voulte (14 miles). Le Pouzin (3 miles), at the mouth of the Ouzève, St. Lager (4 miles), &c., to PRIVAS (20 miles from Livron). HOTELS.-Du Nord; De la Croix d'Or (Golden Cross); Du Lion d'Or; Du Commerce. Population, 6,670. This small capital of department Ardèche (the K old Vivarais), in a hilly spot, where two little streams join the Ouzève, among vineyards and silk works, was an old fortified town, taken, for its attachment to Protestantism, in 1629, after eight weeks' siege, by Louis XIII., the walls razed, and the garrison put to the sword. Some old houses are seen, and the modern streets are well laid out. It contains a Catholic church, Protestant temple (on the castle site), palais do justice, with a four-column portico; college for 200; bibliothèque of 2,000 volumes; large new prison, and hospital. Silk goods, leather, oil, spirits, &c., are made. [Antraigues (20 kil. west-south-west) is finely seated at the Volane's head, among forests of chestnuts, &c., on masses of basalt and beds of lava, which were thrown out by the neighbouring volcanoes; especially one, called Coupè d'Aisac, having a regularly shaped crater, now filled up by trees. The mountains of Mezenc, Gerbier-de-Jones, and other peaks of the Cevennes, are in view.] AUBENAS (30 kil.), a depôt for the silk trade of the Ardèche (population, 8,530), among the volcanic peaks of the Coiron mountains, which are covered with vines, olives, mulberries, &c. It stands on a hill, over the river Ardèche, above which rise its spire and domed churches, and the towers of its Hôtel de Ville, once a castle of the Ornano and Harcourt families. Parts of the town walls remain; and the college and hospice deserve notice. Silk and cotton are spun, and paper, &c., made; trade in silk, leather, corn, wine, oil, chestnuts, &c. Coach to Montélimart station. [VALS (5 kil. north-north-west), up the Volane, which makes several falls, in a most picturesque spot, is noted for its tonic mineral waters; and is near the Pont de Bridon, where the lava beds and basalt rocks, above-mentioned, begin. The waters are drunk between June and Septem ber. At 14 kil. north-west is Thueyts, round which, and Mont Pezat, are vast beds of lava, &c., with volcanic ranges, which rise towards Mezenc and the source of the Loire.] ST. ETIENNE-de-Boulogne (3 kil.), has the fine ruins of one of the feudal castles of the Vivarais district. [At 10 kil. east-south-east, is VILLENEUVE-DE-BERG, originally a fortified tower of the monks of Mazan, who built the town in Philippe le Hardi's time. There is a pillar to Oliver de Serres, a native, who wrote the Théâtre d'Agriculture, and first planted the mulberry; the learned De Gebelin was also born here. Population, 2,600. Coach to Montélimart station.] L'ARGENTIERE (10 kil.), out of the road, in the deep, rocky valley of Ligne, is a sous-préfecture of 3,000 souls, and so called from the lead mines (from which silver, or argent, is extracted), worked here since the 12th century. The old Gothic church is a light building, and rather elegant; and there is an ancient castle on the cliffs. Trade in silk, &c. Near it is a grotto, including several caves [ST. LAURENT DES BAINS (27 kil. north-west), has some excellent warm sulphur waters, n a wild and rocky, but healthy, spot, on the Borne.Jaujac (14 kil. north of Argentière), lies among volcanic peaks, in department Ardèche, and Ardèche river.] JOYEUSE (8 kil.), on the Drobie, a branch of the Ardèche. [Below RUOмs (7 kil. east-south-east), is a wild rocky part of the Ardèche (especially at the junction of the Voisin), where the river worms itself through caves and round masses of rock of the most fantastic shape (some are regular cubes); while the banks on both sides, in one part, rise, at an angle of 45°, by immense steps made by the wearing away of softer masses of rock. At Vallom (which has a famous stalactitic grotto), 7 kil. lower down, are two curiosities-1st, the Fall of Ray Pic (122 feet down, over a basalt rock), under the curve of which you may take shelter in rain, like the Hepste fall in Brecknockshire, and which freezes in winter; and 2nd, the remarkable Pont de l'Arc, a rugged, natural bridge, of hard, grey limestone, stretching in one arch across the river, about 173 feet span, and 96 high, the uneven roadway upon it being over 200 feet above the water, and 40 feet wide. It has been used from Roman times; Louis XIII, built a fort to command the pass; and cottages stand hard by it. In the neighbourhood is the Gouffre (or gulf) de la Goule, a savage valley, or pass, between the Usége mountains.] JALEZ (11 kil.), near the Chassezac, where the road to Villefort and Mende, in Lozère, turns off. St. Ambroix (12 kil.) on the Cèze, in department Gard, on the Besseges and Alais rail. Thence to Alais (12 miles), on the Nismes railway; or 34 kil. to the south-east is Uzes, whence it is 20 kil. to Nismes. See Routes 30 and 31. ROUTE 30. Avignon, to Tarascon, Nimes, Montpellier, and Cette. Distance from Tarascon, 65 miles, or 105 kil. six trains daily, 3 to 4 hours. Avignon to Tarascon, 13 miles, as in Route 20. Thence, by a viaduct on 7 solid arches, over the Rhône, to Beaucaire (2 miles), which has an old Provençal castle on the broken rocks above, and is noted for a commercial Fair, lasting from 22nd to 29th July, attended by merchants from all parts of the Mediterranean. As many as 300,000 people are sometimes collected. It is held on the canal and the banks of the river. The old carved Hôtel de Montmorency deserves attention. Population, 9,545. A bridge of boats, here, has been replaced by Sequin's noble suspension bridge, hanging on four bends, each 426 feet long. It is the largest in France, and ranks next to Menai, which is itsel second to that of Fribourg, by another architect, Challey. The Aurelian way to Nimes and Spain went through this place, the ancient Ugernum. When its square castle was built, the name was altered to Bellum-Cadrum, Bel-quadro, &c., from which the present form is derived. Outside the town is the pretty Gothic oratory of St. Louis, of the 14th century. A canal runs down to the sea, below Aigues Mortes, in connection with the Canal du Midi. At 17 kil. north-north-east is the famous Pont du Gard, as described in Route 20. Bellegarde (5 miles). Several cuttings in the scarped rocks are traversed. Manduel (3 miles), beyond which is Beaulieu Castle, and Regagnach hill, on which Druid stones have been found. Pass a curved viaduct on 23 arches; then a cutting in the rocks, which sometimes look like ruined castles; then a tunnel; and at length Marguerittes (34 miles), and Courbessac (14 mile). Patches of olives are seen in the generally dry soil. Nimes, or Nismes, appears under the cliffs, 2 miles further. NISMES, 30 miles from Avignon, 490 from Paris. Here the line from Clermont Ferrand falls in. (See Route 31.) HOTEL.-Grand Hotel du Luxembourg. An excellent first class hotel for families and gentlemen. Population, 62,395, one-third of whom are Protestants: there are 150,000 in the department. OBJECTS OF NOTICE.-Cathedral-Maison Carrée-Amphitheatre-Temple of Diana-Tour Magne-Porte de France-Porte d'Auguste. This old city, the capital of department Gard (part of Languedoc), seat of a bishop, a Protestant consistory, a college, &c., is most remarkable for its monuments of Roman antiquity. It stands in the dusty, unattractive, though fertile plain of the Vistre, near the Garrigues hills, or beginning of the Cevennes range. Some think it was founded by the Marseilles Greeks; the Romans, however, who took it, 121 B.C., and called it Nemausus, were its greatest benefactors, and, under Agrippa, built the baths, aqueduct (from Pont du Gard), &c.; while Antonine, whose ancestors were natives, constructed the amphitheatre. It was then two or three times larger than now. The Vandals (407), Saracens (720-7), and others, so reduced it by their ravages, that, in 1336, it had only a population of 400. It was a sort of republic, under consuls, &c., from 1226 till 1555, when it was finally joined to the French crown. The best general view of Nismes is from the hill, near the barracks, or from the Tour Magne, which overlooks a vast range of country. The old town, or Cité, is a heap of small dirty streets, surrounded by the Grand Cours and the faubourgs of the modern town; this Cours, on the site of the boulevards, is well planted, and set off with delightful gardens. In Cours Feuchères, near the station, is a handsome fountain, erected 1847; and on the Esplanade is a still finer fountain, dedicated to the city, by Questel, with colossal figures by Pradier Many of the lowest streets are named after emperors and noted men, as Adrian, Vidal, a judge, Baduel and Petit, the scholars, Saurin, the divine, Traucat, who planted the first mulberries here, &c. Its later buildings are not of much consequence. The Cathedral, in the Cité, is an irregular pile, with bits of all styles in it, from the Byzantine downwards; the oldest part, near the tower, being of the 11th century (the base, they say, was part of a Roman temple); while the rest belongs to the 16th and 17th centuries. It contains a picture of the Baptism, and tombs of Fléchier and Cardinal Bernis. St. Paul's, in Place de la Madeline, is a modern building, in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles, begun 1835, by Questel, and much admired by the Nimois. Length, 200 feet; height of spire, 177 feet. The figures over the portal are by Collins, and the wall paintings, which form some of the most considerable works, in this style, of the present day, are by H. Flandrin. The churches of the college, and of St. Bandile are also seen, the latter having a good façade. There are two Protestant churches, Grand and Petit Temple (a Protestant church was founded as early as 1559, by G. Moget); and a synagogue in Rue Rousny. An Hôtel Dieu, founded 1313, by Raymond Rosi, was rebuilt 1830; Richard's large hôpital, for old people, foundlings, and lunatics, was founded 1686, and enlarged 1811. The Palais de Justice, in the classical style (after the Propylæa at Athens), was built 1826, on the site of Plotinus's Roman basilica near the railway station and Cours Feuchéres. Maison Centrale de Detention (house of detention), on the site of Vauban's citadel and Fort de Rohan, serves for 13 departments, and has room for 1,200. The bibliothèque of 40,000 volumes and MSS., is connected with the cabinet of natural history. On the site of the Recollets convent is the Theatre, by Meunier, with an Ionic portico of 16 pillars. Not far from this is one of the great antiquarian treasures of the city, the Maison Carrée (i.e., Square House), the common name of a beautiful Temple, founded either by Augustus or Agrippa (the inscription being gone), and thought to have been part of the public forum. |