broken alive on the wheel. The other pictures in the collection by Mignard are: Jesus before the Doctors, an Annunciation, and a St. Bruno. Fee, 1 fr., given to the hospital. In the parish church, built in the 14th cent, by Cardinal Arnaud de Via, there is nothing extraordinary. Near it are the ruins of the Chartreuse-du-Val-de-Bénédiction, and on an eminence Fort André, now inhabited as a walled village. The omnibus for Avignon starts every hour at the hour, from the apsidal end of the parish church of Villeneuve.
Avignon is very much exposed to different winds, especially the Mistral, yet perhaps they are necessary, for, according to the adage, “Avenio ventosa, cum vento fastidiosa, sine vento venenosa,” the odours from the drains in some of the streets being very offensive.
Till July 26, 1793, Avignon belonged to the Papal See, when it was forcibly taken possession of by the Republican army under General Cartaux, who owed his victory to the skill of his captain of artillery, the young commandant Napoleon, who afterwards remained nearly a month in this town for the establishment of his health, in No. 65 Rue Calade, opposite the Musée Calvet, where he wrote “Le Souper de Beaucaire.”
Avignon to Nîmes.
[ Avignon to Nîmes.]
Avignon is 1½ hour or 15½ miles N.E. from Nîmes by rail, starting from the Pont-d’Avignon station on the west side of the Rhône. Those wishing to visit the Pont-du-Gard on the way should take their tickets for the Pont-du-Gard station, changing carriages at Remoulins. If with luggage, it is better to take the tickets only to Remoulins; where, without loss of time on arriving, take other tickets to the Pont-du-Gard, leaving the luggage behind. Time will generally be saved by returning from the Pont to Remoulins on foot, about 3 m. by the road, but 5 m. by the rail. See [Map, p. 56]. For [Nîmes] see p. 101, and for the [Pont-du-Gard] see p. 104. Consult the “Indicateur des Chemins de Fer du Lyon” before starting.
L’Isle. Fontaine de Vaucluse.
[ Avignon to Vaucluse by L’Isle.]
From Avignon the Fontaine de Vaucluse is 18 m. eastward, by the village of Isle, on the line to Cavaillon. [L’Isle], pop. 7000, a village on the Sorgues, with decorated church rebuilt in the 17th cent. Handsome reredos over high altar and several good paintings. The Tour d’Argent dates from the 11th cent. At the station the omnibuses of the Isle hotels, Petrarque et Laure and St. Martin, await passengers and take them to Vaucluse and back for 4 frs. each. From the village of [Vaucluse], pop. 600, take for the fountain the road on
the right bank of stream, but for the house and garden of Petrarch take the left side, crossing the bridge. On the left side, against a cliff near the cloth mill, is a small house on the site of Petrarch’s, of which it is a copy. Before it, is still a piece of what was Petrarch’s garden. On the other side of the Sorgue is a cigar-paper mill. There is a little hotel at Vaucluse, the Hôtel Petrarch et Laure. Under a stupendous cliff 1148 feet high is the source of the river Sorgue, the placid [Fontaine de Vaucluse] about 30 yards in diameter— “a mirror of blue-black water, so pure, so still, that where it laps the pebbles you can scarcely say where air begins and water ends.” During floods, however, the cavern being no longer able to contain the increased volume, the water rushes over in a cascade into the bed below. The poet’s modest house stood at the foot of the rock crowned by the ruins of the castle in which lived his friend Cardinal Philippe de Cabasole. Petrarch himself gives the following description of the site:— “On one side my garden is bounded by a deep river; on another by a rugged mountain, a barrier against the noon-day heats, and which never refuses, not even at mid-day, to lend me its friendly shade; but the sweet air reaches me through all obstacles. In the distance a surly wall makes me inaccessible to both man and beast. Figs, grapes, walnuts, almonds—these are my delights. My table is also graced with the fish that abound in my river; and it is one of my greatest pleasures to watch the fishermen draw their nets, and to draw them myself. All about me is changed. I once used to dress myself with care; now you would believe me a labourer or a shepherd. My house resembles that of Fabius or Cato. I have but a valet and a dog. The house of my servant adjoins my own. I call him when I want him, and when I have no more need of him he returns home.”