NICE, January 15, 1764.
DEAR SIR,--I am at last settled at Nice, and have leisure to give you
some account of this very remarkable place. The county of Nice extends
about fourscore miles in length, and in some places it is thirty miles
broad. It contains several small towns, and a great number of villages;
all of which, this capital excepted, are situated among mountains, the
most extensive plain of the whole country being this where I now am, in
the neighbourhood of Nice. The length of it does not exceed two miles,
nor is the breadth of it, in any part, above one. It is bounded by the
Mediterranean on the south. From the sea-shore, the maritime Alps begin
with hills of a gentle ascent, rising into mountains that form a sweep
or amphitheatre ending at Montalban, which overhangs the town of Villa
Franca. On the west side of this mountain, and in the eastern extremity
of the amphitheatre, stands the city of Nice, wedged in between a steep
rock and the little river Paglion, which descends from the mountains,
and washing the town-walls on the west side, falls into the sea, after
having filled some canals for the use of the inhabitants. There is a
stone-bridge of three arches over it, by which those who come from
Provence enter the city. The channel of it is very broad, but generally
dry in many places; the water (as in the Var) dividing itself into
several small streams. The Paglion being fed by melted snow and rain in
the mountains, is quite dry in summer; but it is sometimes swelled by
sudden rains to a very formidable torrent. This was the case in the
year 1744, when the French and Spanish armies attacked eighteen
Piedmontese battalions, which were posted on the side of Montalban. The
assailants were repulsed with the loss of four thousand men, some
hundreds of whom perished in repassing the Paglion, which had swelled
to a surprising degree during the battle, in consequence of a heavy
continued rain. This rain was of great service to the Piedmontese, as
it prevented one half of the enemy from passing the river to sustain
the other. Five hundred were taken prisoners: but the Piedmontese,
foreseeing they should be surrounded next day by the French, who had
penetrated behind them, by a pass in the mountains, retired in the
night. Being received on board the English Fleet, which lay at Villa
Franca, they were conveyed to Oneglia. In examining the bodies of those
that were killed in the battle, the inhabitants of Nice perceived, that
a great number of the Spanish soldiers were circumcised; a
circumstance, from which they concluded, that a great many Jews engage
in the service of his Catholic majesty. I am of a different opinion.
The Jews are the least of any people that I know, addicted to a
military life. I rather imagine they were of the Moorish race, who have
subsisted in Spain, since the expulsion of their brethren; and though
they conform externally to the rites of the Catholic religion, still
retain in private their attachment to the law of Mahomet.
The city of Nice is built in form of an irregular isosceles triangle,
the base of which fronts the sea. On the west side it is surrounded by
a wall and rampart; on the east, it is over-hung by a rock, on which we
see the ruins of an old castle, which, before the invention of
artillery, was counted impregnable. It was taken and dismantled by
marechal Catinat, in the time of Victor Amadaeus, the father of his
Sardinian majesty. It was afterwards finally demolished by the duke of
Berwick towards the latter end of queen Anne's war. To repair it would
be a very unnecessary expence, as it is commanded by Montalban, and
several other eminences.
The town of Nice is altogether indefensible, and therefore without
fortifications. There are only two iron guns upon a bastion that fronts
the beach; and here the French had formed a considerable battery
against the English cruisers, in the war of 1744, when the Mareschal
Duke de Belleisle had his headquarters at Nice. This little town,
situated in the bay of Antibes, is almost equidistant from Marseilles,
Turin, and Genoa, the first and last being about thirty leagues from
hence by sea; and the capital of Piedmont at the same distance to the
northward, over the mountains. It lies exactly opposite to Capo di
Ferro, on the coast of Barbary; and, the islands of Sardinia and
Corsica are laid down about two degrees to the eastward, almost exactly
in a line with Genoa. This little town, hardly a mile in circumference,
is said to contain twelve thousand inhabitants. The streets are narrow;
the houses are built of stone, and the windows in general are fitted
with paper instead of glass. This expedient would not answer in a
country subject to rain and storms; but here, where there is very
little of either, the paper lozenges answer tolerably well. The
bourgeois, however, begin to have their houses sashed with glass.
Between the town-wall and the sea, the fishermen haul up their boats
upon the open beach; but on the other side of the rock, where the
castle stood, is the port or harbour of Nice, upon which some money has
been expended. It is a small basin, defended to seaward by a mole of
free-stone, which is much better contrived than executed: for the sea
has already made three breaches in it; and in all probability, in
another winter, the extremity of it will be carried quite away. It
would require the talents of a very skilful architect to lay the
foundation of a good mole, on an open beach like this; exposed to the
swell of the whole Mediterranean, without any island or rock in the
offing, to break the force of the waves. Besides, the shore is bold,
and the bottom foul. There are seventeen feet of water in the basin,
sufficient to float vessels of one hundred and fifty ton; and this is
chiefly supplied by a small stream of very fine water; another great
convenience for shipping. On the side of the mole, there is a constant
guard of soldiers, and a battery of seven cannon, pointing to the sea.
On the other side, there is a curious manufacture for twisting or
reeling silk; a tavern, a coffee-house, and several other buildings,
for the convenience of the sea-faring people. Without the harbour, is a
lazarette, where persons coming from infected places, are obliged to
perform quarantine. The harbour has been declared a free-port, and it
is generally full of tartans, polacres, and other small vessels, that
come from Sardinia, Ivica, Italy, and Spain, loaded with salt, wine,
and other commodities; but here is no trade of any great consequence.
The city of Nice is provided with a senate, which administers justice
under the auspices of an avocat-general, sent hither by the king. The
internal oeconomy of the town is managed by four consuls; one for the
noblesse, another for the merchants, a third for the bourgeois, and a
fourth for the peasants. These are chosen annually from the
town-council. They keep the streets and markets in order, and
superintend the public works. There is also an intendant, who takes
care of his majesty's revenue: but there is a discretionary power
lodged in the person of the commandant, who is always an officer of
rank in the service, and has under his immediate command the regiment
which is here in garrison. That which is here now is a Swiss battalion,
of which the king has five or six in his service. There is likewise a
regiment of militia, which is exercised once a year. But of all these
particulars, I shall speak more fully on another occasion.
When I stand upon the rampart, and look round me, I can scarce help
thinking myself inchanted. The small extent of country which I see, is
all cultivated like a garden. Indeed, the plain presents nothing but
gardens, full of green trees, loaded with oranges, lemons, citrons, and
bergamots, which make a delightful appearance. If you examine them more
nearly, you will find plantations of green pease ready to gather; all
sorts of sallading, and pot-herbs, in perfection; and plats of roses,
carnations, ranunculas, anemonies, and daffodils, blowing in full
glory, with such beauty, vigour, and perfume, as no flower in England
ever exhibited.
I must tell you, that presents of carnations are sent from hence, in
the winter, to Turin and Paris; nay, sometimes as far as London, by the
post. They are packed up in a wooden box, without any sort of
preparation, one pressed upon another: the person who receives them,
cuts off a little bit of the stalk, and steeps them for two hours in
vinegar and water, when they recover their full bloom and beauty. Then
he places them in water-bottles, in an apartment where they are
screened from the severities of the weather; and they will continue
fresh and unfaded the best part of a month.
Amidst the plantations in the neighbourhood of Nice, appear a vast
number of white bastides, or country-houses, which make a dazzling
shew. Some few of these are good villas, belonging to the noblesse of
this county; and even some of the bourgeois are provided with pretty
lodgeable cassines; but in general, they are the habitations of the
peasants, and contain nothing but misery and vermin. They are all built
square; and, being whitened with lime or plaister, contribute greatly
to the richness of the view. The hills are shaded to the tops with
olive-trees, which are always green; and those hills are over-topped by
more distant mountains, covered with snow. When I turn myself towards
the sea, the view is bounded by the horizon; yet in a clear morning,
one can perceive the high lands of Corsica. On the right hand, it is
terminated by Antibes, and the mountain of Esterelles, which I
described in my last. As for the weather, you will conclude, from what
I have said of the oranges, flowers, etc. that it must be wonderfully
mild and serene: but of the climate, I shall speak hereafter. Let me
only observe, en passant, that the houses in general have no chimnies,
but in their kitchens; and that many people, even of condition, at
Nice, have no fire in their chambers, during the whole winter. When the
weather happens to be a little more sharp than usual, they warm their
apartments with a brasiere or pan of charcoal.
Though Nice itself retains few marks of antient splendor, there are
considerable monuments of antiquity in its neighbourhood. About two
short miles from the town, upon the summit of a pretty high hill, we
find the ruins of the antient city Cemenelion, now called Cimia, which
was once the metropolis of the Maritime Alps, and the scat of a Roman
president. With respect to situation, nothing could be more agreeable
or salubrious. It stood upon the gentle ascent and summit of a hill,
fronting the Mediterranean; from the shore of which, it is distant
about half a league; and, on the other side, it overlooked a bottom, or
narrow vale, through which the Paglion (antiently called Paulo) runs
towards the walls of Nice. It was inhabited by a people, whom Ptolomy
and Pliny call the Vedantij: but these were undoubtedly mixed with a
Roman colony, as appears by the monuments which still remain; I mean
the ruins of an amphitheatre, a temple of Apollo, baths, aqueducts,
sepulchral, and other stones, with inscriptions, and a great number of
medals which the peasants have found by accident, in digging and
labouring the vineyards and cornfields, which now cover the ground
where the city stood.
Touching this city, very little is to be learned from the antient
historians: but that it was the seat of a Roman praeses, is proved by
the two following inscriptions, which are still extant.
P. AELIO. SEVERINO.
V. E. P.
PRAESIDI. OPTIMO.
ORDO. CEMEN.
PATRONO.
By the Senate of Cemenelion, Dedicated to His Excellency P. Aelius
Severinus, the best of Governors and Patrons.
This is now in the possession of the count de Gubernatis, who has a
country-house upon the spot. The other, found near the same place, is
in praise of the praeses Marcus Aurelius Masculus.
M. AVRELIO. MASCVLO.
V. E.
OB. EXIMIAM. PRAESIDATVS
EIVS. INTEGRITATEM. ET
EGREGIAM. AD OMNES HOMINES
MANSVETVDINEM. ET. VRGENTIS
ANNONAE. SINCERAM. PRAEBITIONEM.
AC. MVNIFICENTIAM. ET. QVOD. AQVAE
VSVM. VETVSTATE. LAPSVM. REQVI-
SITVM. AC. REPERTVM. SAECVLI
FELICITATE. CVRSVI. PRISTINO
REDDIDERIT.
COLLEG. III.
QVIB. EX. SCC. P. EST
PATRONO. DIGNISS.
Inscribed by the three corporations under the authority of the Senate,
to their most worthy Patron, His Excellency M. Aurelius Masculus, in
testimony of their gratitude for the blessings of his incorruptible
administration, his wonderful affability to all without Distinction,
his generous Distribution of Corn in time of Dearth, his munificence in
repairing the ruinous aqueduct, in searching for, discovering and
restoring the water to its former course for the Benefit of the
Community.
This president well deserved such a mark of respect from a people whom
he had assisted in two such essential articles, as their corn and their
water. You know the praeses of a Roman province had the jus sigendi
clavi, the right to drive a nail in the Kalendar, the privilege of
wearing the latus clavus, or broad studs on his garment, the gladius,
infula, praetexta, purpura & annulus aureus, the Sword, Diadem, purple
Robe, and gold Ring, he had his vasa, vehicula, apparitores, Scipio
eburneus, & sella curulis, Kettledrums, [I know the kettledrum is a
modern invention; but the vasa militari modo conclamata was something
analogous.] Chariots, Pursuivants, ivory staff, and chair of state.
I shall give you one more sepulchral inscription on a marble, which is
now placed over the gate of the church belonging to the convent of St.
Pont, a venerable building, which stands at the bottom of the hill,
fronting the north side of the town of Nice. This St. Pont, or Pontius,
was a Roman convert to Christianity, who suffered martyrdom at
Cemenelion in the year 261, during the reigns of the emperors Valerian
and Gallienus. The legends recount some ridiculous miracles wrought in
favour of this saint, both before and after his death. Charles V.
emperor of Germany and king of Spain, caused this monastery to be built
on the spot where Pontius suffered decapitation. But to return to the
inscription: it appears in these words.
M. M. A.
FLAVIAE. BASILLAE. CONIVG. CARISSIM.
DOM. ROMA. MIRAE. ERGA. MARITUM. AMORIS.
ADQ. CASTITAT. FAEMINAE. QVAE. VIXIT
ANN. XXXV. M. III. DIEB. XII. AVRELIVS
RHODISMANVS. AVG. LIB. COMMEM. ALP.
MART. ET. AVRELIA, ROMVLA. FILII.
IMPATIENTISSIM. DOLOR. EIVS. ADFLICTI
ADQ. DESOLATI. CARISSIM. AC MERENT. FERET.
FEC. ET. DED,
Freely consecrated by Aurelius Rhodismanus, the Emperor's Freedman, to
the much honoured memory of his dear Consort Flavia Aurelia of Rome, a
woman equally distinguished by her unblemished Virtue and conjugal
affection. His children Martial and Aurelia Romula deeply affected and
distressed by the Violence of his Grief, erected and dedicated a
monument to their dear deserving Parent. [I don't pretend to translate
these inscriptions literally, because I am doubtful about the meaning
of some abbreviations.]
The amphitheatre of Cemenelion is but very small, compared to that of
Nismes. The arena is ploughed up, and bears corn: some of the seats
remain, and part of two opposite porticos; but all the columns, and the
external facade of the building, are taken away so that it is
impossible to judge of the architecture, all we can perceive is, that
it was built in an oval form. About one hundred paces from the
amphitheatre stood an antient temple, supposed to have been dedicated
to Apollo. The original roof is demolished, as well as the portico; the
vestiges of which may still be traced. The part called the Basilica,
and about one half of the Cella Sanctior, remain, and are converted
into the dwelling-house and stable of the peasant who takes care of the
count de Gubernatis's garden, in which this monument stands. In the
Cella Sanctior, I found a lean cow, a he-goat, and a jack-ass; the very
same conjunction of animals which I had seen drawing a plough in
Burgundy. Several mutilated statues have been dug up from the ruins of
this temple; and a great number of medals have been found in the
different vineyards which now occupy the space upon which stood the
antient city of Cemenelion. These were of gold, silver, and brass. Many
of them were presented to Charles Emanuel I. duke of Savoy. The prince
of Monaco has a good number of them in his collection; and the rest are
in private hands. The peasants, in digging, have likewise found many
urns, lachrymatories, and sepulchral stones, with epitaphs, which are
now dispersed among different convents and private houses. All this
ground is a rich mine of antiquities, which, if properly worked, would
produce a great number of valuable curiosities. Just by the temple of
Apollo were the ruins of a bath, composed of great blocks of marble,
which have been taken away for the purposes of modern building. In all
probability, many other noble monuments of this city have been
dilapidated by the same barbarous oeconomy. There are some subterranean
vaults, through which the water was conducted to this bath, still
extant in the garden of the count de Gubernatis. Of the aqueduct that
conveyed water to the town, I can say very little, but that it was
scooped through a mountain: that this subterranean passage was
discovered some years ago, by removing the rubbish which choaked it up:
that the people penetrating a considerable way, by the help of lighted
torches, found a very plentiful stream of water flowing in an aqueduct,
as high as an ordinary man, arched over head, and lined with a sort of
cement. They could not, however, trace this stream to its source; and
it is again stopped up with earth and rubbish. There is not a soul in
this country, who has either spirit or understanding to conduct an
inquiry of this kind. Hard by the amphitheatre is a convent of
Recollets, built in a very romantic situation, on the brink of a
precipice. On one side of their garden, they ascend to a kind of
esplanade, which they say was part of the citadel of Cemenelion. They
have planted it with cypress-trees, and flowering-shrubs. One of the
monks told me, that it is vaulted below, as they can plainly perceive
by the sound of their instruments used in houghing the ground. A very
small expence would bring the secrets of this cavern to light. They
have nothing to do, but to make a breach in the wall, which appears
uncovered towards the garden.
The city of Cemenelion was first sacked by the Longobards, who made an
irruption into Provence, under their king Alboinus, about the middle of
the sixth century. It was afterwards totally destroyed by the Saracens,
who, at different times, ravaged this whole coast. The remains of the
people are supposed to have changed their habitation, and formed a
coalition with the inhabitants of Nice.
What further I have to say of Nice, you shall know in good time; at
present, I have nothing to add, but what you very well know, that I am
always your affectionate humble servant.