The South of France—East Half

by C. B. Black

172 m. S.W. from Lyons, 27½ m. S.W. from Avignon, 31 m. N.E. from Montpellier by Gallargues, 17 m. W. from Tarascon, 80 m. N.W. from Marseilles, and 450 m. S.E. from Paris by Clermont-Ferrand, is

NÎMES,

population 64,000, on the Vistre, 150 feet above the sea. A flight of steps as at Tarascon leads from the town up to the station. At the foot of these steps is the Hôtel des Arts, pretty comfortable room 2 frs., dinner with wine 3 frs. The trams start from in front of the house. In the town are: On the Esplanade, the H. Luxembourg, the most expensive. By the side of it, fronting a garden, the H. du Midi or Durand, from 9 to 12 frs. Fronting the amphitheatre the Cheval Blanc, commercial, 8 to 10 frs. Opposite the Maison Carrée, the H. Manivet, 9 to 12 frs., the most conveniently situated for visiting the sights. Their omnibuses await passengers at the foot of the station stair. Post Office, No. 4 B. du Grand Cours, between St. Baudine and the Public Gardens. Telegraph Office in the Place de la Salamandre, a small “Place” off the B. des Calquières. Temple Protestant, the Porte d’Auguste, and the handsome new church of St. Baudine, with its two elegant spires, are at the north end of the B. des Calquières, beyond the Esplanade.

Sights.—The Amphitheatre, the Maison Carrée, and the Roman Baths. Cab Stands are found at the station, at the Amphitheatre, and at the Maison Carrée. Cab carrying 4, 2 frs. per hour.

A straight, wide, and handsome avenue extends from the station to the Esplanade; having in the centre a large fountain with four marble colossal statues by Pradier round the base, representing the Rhône, the Gardon, and the fountain nymphs of Nemausa and Ura. On the top of the pedestal is a larger statue, also by Pradier, representing Nîmes, with its face towards the station. Behind it are the Palais de Justice and the Amphitheatre, and to the left the church of St. Perpetua.

Nîmes: Amphitheatre.

The great sight in Nîmes is the Roman [Amphitheatre], the most perfect extant. In form it is elliptical, of which the great axis measures 437 ft., and the lesser 433 ft., and the height 70 ft. Around the building are two tiers of arcades, each tier having 60 arches, and all the arches being separated from each other by a Roman Doric column. Above runs an attic, from which project the consoles on which the beams that sustained the awning rested. Within each arcade, on the ground-floor and on the upper story, runs a corridor round the building, the upper one being roofed with stone slabs 18 ft. long, reaching

from side to side. There were four entrances, one facing each of the cardinal points of the compass. The interior contained 32 rows of seats in 4 zones, capable of accommodating from 18,000 to 20,000 spectators. The lowest zone corresponded to the dress circle, the others to the galleries. The present entrance is from the western side, fee 50 c., opposite No. 8 Place des Arènes. The stair that leads up to the top is under the fifth arch west. No description can express the sensation experienced from contemplating this vast Roman structure from the highest tier or from the edge of the outside wall. At the same time it must be remembered that there are no railings, and that an inadvertent step might have serious consequences. The date of the building is uncertain. Titus, Adrian, and Antoninus Pius have each been conjectured to have been the founder. The Visigoths converted it into a fortress, the Castrum Arenarum, occupied by the Saracens at the beginning of the 8th cent., till driven from France by the armies Charles of Martel; died in 715.

On the N. side of the amphitheatre is the Boulevard St. Antoine, with, on the left hand or W. side, the Palais des Beaux Arts, including the Public Library, containing 60,000 vols.; the Archæological Museum, containing many interesting articles, chiefly Roman, found in the neighbourhood; and the Picture Gallery, containing, among other pictures, a Magdalene by Guido; A Holy Family, a Head of John the Baptist, and a portrait of himself, by Titian; A Head of a Girl and a Return from Hunting, by Rubens; Portraits of Vanloo and of his mother, by himself; Cromwell regarding Charles I. laid out in his coffin, by Paul Delaroche, his chef d’œuvre; “Nero and a Sorceress experimenting on a slave with the poison they were preparing for Britannicus,” by Javier Sigalon; An old woman, by Greuze; also works by Gérard Dow, Claude Lorrain, Metzu, Ostade, Paul Potter, Ruysdael, Van den Welde, and Wouvermans.

At the N. end of this Boulevard is the church of St. Paul, with frescoes on gold and blue grounds by H. and P. Flandrin.