CHAP. VII.
NISMES.
A short time before my departure from Montpellier, I had the misfortune to sprain my ancle, which abridged materially my usual pleasure of walking, but did not prevent me pursuing my original intention of proceeding to Aix.
M. de C⸺ was kind enough to accompany me to the coach, and, with the best possible motives, recommended me to the care of the passengers and conducteur, but which I must admit I would rather have declined, as it disarmed me of that independence I wished to feel; I fancied it was placing me in the light of a school-boy; or perhaps of a package of “Glass.—Keep this side uppermost.” I would prefer being treated with the little ceremony of a woolpack, which by its accommodating elasticity, not only avoids injury from slighter contact, but under more decided and ruder pressure, becomes so solid, so confirmed, so compact, as effectually to oppose additional restraint, and probably at length by its innate powers, to throw off the superincumbent weight, and immediately regain its original state; in short, I find less difficulty, and inconvenience, in travelling amongst strangers, than people imagine, and prefer being left to my own resources; habit has given me the power of acquiring, by a kind of undefinable tact, as correct ideas of objects as the most accurate descriptions would give; and unbiassed by the opinions of others, I feel more facility in forming my estimates of human nature.
After an unpleasant journey, owing to the heat of the weather and fulness of the coach, and passing through the neat town of Lunelle, famous for its wines, we arrived about noon at Nismes, where I took up my residence at a traiteur’s, in a particularly airy situation near the esplanade; this situation I felt of importance, as from its position on an extensive plain, this city suffers intolerably from the heats of summer.
On the following day, being Sunday, I attended divine service at one of the Protestant churches, in company with Mrs. and Miss L⸺, with whom I had previously been acquainted at Toulouse and Montpellier; we were shewn into the corporation seat, and I am afraid gave much trouble to its proper occupiers, who, with great politeness, incommoded themselves to accommodate us. We were much pleased with the discourse of the preacher, as well as the indications of devotion on the part of the congregation.
Nismes abounds with Protestants, who indeed constitute a large proportion of its more industrious and opulent population; a circumstance to which the sanguinary political scenes, of which it has so frequently been the theatre, are to be attributed. The Roman religion has undoubtedly a tendency to check the energetic industry of its professors, by the encouragement which its numerous fêtes give to habits of amusement, idleness, and dissipation; and, alas! it is too correspondent with the dispositions of fallen human nature, for rapine and fraud to spring out of such vitiated soil, and avail themselves of the advantages attained by honest industry.
But far be it from me, to decry the importance of religious observances, and rational relaxation from the toils of suffering humanity; or to throw the least censure on that admirable and divine institution, which, according to our admired Spectator, rubs off the rust of the preceding week, and leads the poor man to a close acquaintance with his best friend. The institutions of catholicism, or rather papalism, are in this respect essentially contradictory to the divine command, which has solemnly declared, amidst the awful denunciations of Mount Sinai,—“Six days shalt thou labour; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God;” for who of its more strict professors does not pay as much religious observance to the fifth day, as to the one indicated by the merciful Creator.
While at Nismes, my ancle proved extremely painful, and I felt otherwise indisposed, so as to be incapable for a time of taking my usual walks; I was, in consequence, induced to consult a French apothecary, who had talked me into a favourable opinion of his skill, by expatiating, in what I considered a philosophical way, upon the virtues of his medicines. I was, consequently, placed upon a course of ptisan refraichissant, without which French practice would be at a loss, but which, begging the pardon of this French Æsculapius, although it might do very well in mild cases, I should be loath to intrust my safety to in a desperate one, where nature might possibly want urging forward, or severe correction, rather than treating with such a complaisance; so much for my smattering of physic: but, notwithstanding, I must do my apoticaire the justice to admit, that with the aid of his ptisan, and other means, I was in a few days sufficiently improved to be able to resume, in some measure, my customary walks.
Nismes, originally the Nemausum of the Romans, is a city of considerable antiquity, of which sufficient remains are still to be found, to attest its former grandeur.