The state in which that once-superb edifice, the Temple of Diana, now
appears; with concern, I perceived that there remains only enough to
give the spectator an idea of its former beauty; for though the roof has
been broken down, and every part of it so wantonly abused yet enough
remains, within, and without, to bear testimony that it was built, not
only by the greatest architect, but enriched also by the hands of other
great artists: indeed, the mason's work alone is, at this day,
wonderful; for the stones with which it is built, and which are very
large, are so truly worked, and artfully laid, without either cement or
mortar, that many of the joints are scarce visible; nor is it possible
to put the point of a penknife between those which are most open. This
Temple too is, like the _Maison Carree_, shut up by an old barn-door: a
man, however, attends to open it; where, upon entering, you will find a
striking picture of the folly of all human grandeur; for the area is
covered with broken statues, busts, urns, vases, cornices, frizes,
inscriptions, and various fragments of exquisite workmanship, lying in
the utmost disorder, one upon another, like the stript dead in a field
of battle. Here, the ghost of Shakespeare appeared before my eyes,
holding in his hand a label, on which was engraven those words you have
so often read in his works, and now see upon his monument.
I have often wondered, that some man of taste and fortune in England,
where so much attention is paid to gardening, never converted one spot
to an _Il Penseroso_, and another to _L'Allegro_. If a thing of that
kind was to be done, what would not a man of such a turn give for an
_Il Penseroso_, as this Temple now is?--where sweet melancholy sits,
with a look
"That's fastened to the ground,
A tongue chain'd up, without a sound."
The modern fountain of _Nismes_ or rather the Roman fountain recovered,
and re-built, falls just before this Temple; and the noble and extensive
walks, which surround this pure and plentiful stream, are indeed very
magnificent: what then must it have been in the days of the Romans, when
the Temple, the fountain, the statues, vases, &c. stood perfect, and in
their proper order? Though this building has been called the Temple of
Diana, by a tradition immemorial, yet it may be much doubted, whether it
was so. The Temples erected, you know, to the daughter of Jupiter, were
all of the Ionic order, and this is a mixture of the Corinthian, and
Composit. Is it not, therefore, more probable, from the number of niches
in it to contain statues, that it was, in fact, a Pantheon? Directly
opposite to the entrance door, are three great tabernacles; on that of
the middle stood the principal altar; and on the side walls were twelve
niches, six on the right-hand are still perfect. The building is eleven
_toises_ five feet long, and six _toises_ wide, and was thrown into its
present ruinous state during the civil wars of Henry the Third; and yet,
in spite of the modern statues, and gaudy ornaments, which the
inhabitants have bestrewed to decorate their matchless fountain, the
Temple of Diana is still the greatest ornament it has to boast of.