The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-27 00:00:00

Rocks, hills, v

e quay an

before your v

motony, as upon the Rhine, you are glad to take to
ur book or a game of chess, or order some of the
npting wines and refreshments from the stately, well-
assed, precise stewardess. The waters, as you approach
rignon, are sometimes too high to allow a passage under

the-lightly-built suspension bridges, or, if a very dry sea-
sn, too shallow for navigation, and you must betake
yourself to a land trip. As it was, we were detained one
-night, only a few miles distant from Avignon, some said
because the captain's wife lived there, others on account
of the state of the river. We, however, arrived at Avig-
mori at 10 a.m. nest day ; and here I was struck by the
clatmge of climate. In London and Paris it was cold,
foggy, sleet and rain. At Avignon, as I gazed from the
walls of the Papal palace, upon the straggling, ill-built

the air was

my soft

o be in the delightful

mosphere of the South of F
ti-Popes sleep side by side

Many Popes and

.e also may be seen the c
brated Laza

the city of Avignon.
!d tomb of Petrarch's
husband, Hugh de Sade.
talons, have destroyed even

lias changes, c

uarrels,

pretty cl]

these celebrated dead

the lofty candles, the

r-burning lamp, the n 1

Icendini to bea;en's

arches,—where the respc
and the solemn pealing anth(
thoughts of heavenly beatitude,
and garden-baskets crowd the

e to the Hymn to the Virgin,
, raised the rapt soul to
—heaps of fruits, seeds,
rated temple, now in

. ,
rains / A few years since, and Avignon boasted of seven
gates, seven palaces, seven colleges, seven hospitals, and
of the seven Popes they Lad once residing within seventy
years in the city. Before the Revolution there were also
seven nunneries and monasteries; but these were at that
dreadfui,reaction abolished, and the large silver bell, that
rang only on the death of the Pope, melted down. The
Jews are not now obliged, as at Rome, to dwell in a con-
fined, filthy, and narrow part of the city; nor are they
compelled to wear yellow hats and a particular dress, as
if infected with plague.
From Avignon I joined a French gentleman in a vol-
..

meg. H

nd, handsome, benevolent
e Institute of France, and
Ind sympathy I expe.

„tor
ntleman, a member of tt
ever shall I forget the politenes

tear short journey from Avignon,
vines, to the city of Nimes.
our May in England.
amps at 4 p.m. were

rienced from M.Libri in c
through groves of olives
Truly, December here was I
Around the fountains at Paris
scarcely visible :

f Nismes, crowds of
with children, were basking in the
The Roman antiquities at Nismes ex-

3ungers, servants
)eceuiber sun

around the

cited my particular attention and admiration. After a
very excellent dinner at the fable d' hate, seated by the
side of my kind and attentive new friend, at about the
seventh course some dishes of small birds excited the
attention of a guest opposite to me, who was very inqui-
sitive as to the name of the delicate bipeds. " Are they
quails ?" " No, dey are not quails." " Thrushes ?"
" No." " Larks ?" " No." " Fieldfares ?" "NQ ;
I sink in England you call dem foals!"
After a comfortable repast, I sauntered forth to see,
by the light of the moon, Nismes and its celebrated
Roman amphitheatre. Never shall I forget the imPres-
„ion I felt, •ag turning the corner of a street, it suddenly
burst out before my view like a dark gloomy slumbering
giant, that had reposed for so many ages, alike defying
the crumbling hand of time, and that of the more rude
despoiler man. The Maison-earree, or square house, is
45tie of the finest Roman remains of its class in the
-world. The temple of Diana, although still beautiful, is