The Idler in France

E-text prepared by Robert Connal, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
By MARGUERITE GARDINER, THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON
1841.
I have omitted to notice the route to this place, having formerly described the greater portion of it. I remarked a considerable improvement in the different towns we passed through: the people look cleaner, and an air of business has replaced the stagnation that used to prevail, except in Marseilles and Toulon, which were always busy cities.
Nismes surpasses my expectations, although they had been greatly excited, and amply repays the long détour we have made to visit it.
When I look round on the objects of antiquity that meet my eye on every side, and above all on the Amphitheatre and Maison Carrée , I am forced to admit that Italy has nothing to equal the two last: for if the Coliseum may be said to surpass the amphitheatre in dimensions, the wonderful state of preservation of the latter renders it more interesting; and the Maison Carrée , it must be allowed, stands without a competitor. Well might the Abbé Barthélemy, in his Voyage d'Anacharsis , call it the masterpiece of ancient architecture and the despair of modern!
The antiquities of Nismes have another advantage over those of Italy: they are kept wholly free from the disgusting entourage that impairs the effect of the latter; and in examining them in the interior or exterior, no risk is incurred of encountering aught offensive to the olfactory nerves, or injurious to the chaussure .
We devoted last evening to walking round the town, and so cloudless was the sky, so genial the air, and so striking the monuments of Roman splendour, that I could have fancied myself again transported to Italy.
Our inn, the Hôtel du Midi, is an excellent one; the apartments good, and the cuisine soignée . In this latter point the French hôtels are far superior to the Italian; but in civility and attention, the hosts of Italy have the advantage.