By the by, as we drove to the railway, we passed through the public square, where the Bastille formerly6 stood; and in the centre of it now stands a column, surmounted7 by a golden figure of Mercury (I think), which seems to be just on the point of casting itself from a gilt8 ball into the air. This statue is so buoyant, that the spectator feels quite willing to trust it to the viewless element, being as sure that it would be borne up as that a bird would fly.
Our first day's journey was wholly without interest, through a country entirely9 flat, and looking wretchedly brown and barren. There were rows of trees, very slender, very prim10 and formal; there was ice wherever there happened to be any water to form it; there were occasional villages, compact little streets, or masses of stone or plastered cottages, very dirty and with gable ends and earthen roofs; and a succession of this same landscape was all that we saw, whenever we rubbed away the congelation of our breath from the carriage windows. Thus we rode on, all day long, from eleven o'clock, with hardly a five minutes' stop, till long after dark, when we came to Dijon, where there was a halt of twenty-five minutes for dinner. Then we set forth11 again, and rumbled12 forward, through cold and darkness without, until we reached Lyons at about ten o'clock. We left our luggage at the railway station, and took an omnibus for the Hotel de Provence, which we chose at a venture, among a score of other hotels.
As this hotel was a little off the direct route of the omnibus, the driver set us down at the corner of a street, and pointed13 to some lights, which he said designated the Hotel do Provence; and thither14 we proceeded, all seven of us, taking along a few carpet-bags and shawls, our equipage for the night. The porter of the hotel met us near its doorway15, and ushered16 us through an arch, into the inner quadrangle, and then up some old and worn steps,—very broad, and appearing to be the principal staircase. At the first landing-place, an old woman and a waiter or two received us; and we went up two or three more flights of the same broad and worn stone staircases. What we could see of the house looked very old, and had the musty odor with which I first became acquainted at Chester.
After ascending17 to the proper level, we were conducted along a corridor, paved with octagonal earthen tiles; on one side were windows, looking into the courtyard, on the other doors opening into the sleeping-chambers19. The corridor was of immense length, and seemed still to lengthen20 itself before us, as the glimmer21 of our conductor's candle went farther and farther into the obscurity. Our own chamber18 was at a vast distance along this passage; those of the rest of the party were on the hither side; but all this immense suite22 of rooms appeared to communicate by doors from one to another, like the chambers through which the reader wanders at midnight, in Mrs. Radcliffe's romances. And they were really splendid rooms, though of an old fashion, lofty, spacious23, with floors of oak or other wood, inlaid in squares and crosses, and waxed till they were slippery, but without carpets. Our own sleeping-room had a deep fireplace, in which we ordered a fire, and asked if there were not some saloon already warmed, where we could get a cup of tea.
Hereupon the waiter led us back along the endless corridor, and down the old stone staircases, and out into the quadrangle, and journeyed with us along an exterior24 arcade25, and finally threw open the door of the salle a manger, which proved to be a room of lofty height, with a vaulted26 roof, a stone floor, and interior spaciousness27 sufficient for a baronial hall, the whole bearing the same aspect of times gone by, that characterized the rest of the house. There were two or three tables covered with white cloth, and we sat down at one of them and had our tea. Finally we wended back to our sleeping-rooms,—a considerable journey, so endless seemed the ancient hotel. I should like to know its history.
The fire made our great chamber look comfortable, and the fireplace threw out the heat better than the little square hole over which we cowered28 in our saloon at the Hotel de Louvre. . . .
In the morning we began our preparations for starting at ten. Issuing into the corridor, I found a soldier of the line, pacing to and fro there as sentinel. Another was posted in another corridor, into which I wandered by mistake; another stood in the inner court-yard, and another at the porte-cochere. They were not there the night before, and I know not whence nor why they came, unless that some officer of rank may have taken up his quarters at the hotel. Miss M——— says she heard at Paris, that a considerable number of troops had recently been drawn29 together at Lyons, in consequence of symptoms of disaffection that have recently shown themselves here.
Before breakfast I went out to catch a momentary30 glimpse of the city. The street in which our hotel stands is near a large public square; in the centre is a bronze equestrian31 statue of Louis XIV.; and the square itself is called the Place de Louis le Grand. I wonder where this statue hid itself while the Revolution was raging in Lyons, and when the guillotine, perhaps, stood on that very spot.
The square was surrounded by stately buildings, but had what seemed to be barracks for soldiers,—at any rate, mean little huts, deforming32 its ample space; and a soldier was on guard before the statue of Louis le Grand. It was a cold, misty33 morning, and a fog lay throughout the area, so that I could scarcely see from one side of it to the other.
Returning towards our hotel, I saw that it had an immense front, along which ran, in gigantic letters, its title,—
HOTEL DE PROVENCE ET DES AMBASSADEURS.
The excellence34 of the hotel lay rather in the faded pomp of its sleeping-rooms, and the vastness of its salle a manger, than in anything very good to eat or drink.
We left it, after a poor breakfast, and went to the railway station. Looking at the mountainous heap of our luggage the night before, we had missed a great carpet-bag; and we now found that Miss M———'s trunk had been substituted for it, and, there being the proper number of packages as registered, it was impossible to convince the officials that anything was wrong. We, of course, began to generalize forthwith, and pronounce the incident to be characteristic of French morality. They love a certain system and external correctness, but do not trouble themselves to be deeply in the right; and Miss M——— suggested that there used to be parallel cases in the French Revolution, when, so long as the assigned number were sent out of prison to be guillotined, the jailer did not much care whether they were the persons designated by the tribunal or not. At all events, we could get no satisfaction about the carpet-bag, and shall very probably be compelled to leave Marseilles without it.
This day's ride was through a far more picturesque35 country than that we saw yesterday. Heights began to rise imminent36 above our way, with sometimes a ruined castle wall upon them; on our left, the rail-track kept close to the hills; on the other side there was the level bottom of a valley, with heights descending37 upon it a mile or a few miles away. Farther off we could see blue hills, shouldering high above the intermediate ones, and themselves worthy38 to be called mountains. These hills arranged themselves in beautiful groups, affording openings between them, and vistas39 of what lay beyond, and gorges40 which I suppose held a great deal of romantic scenery. By and by a river made its appearance, flowing swiftly in the same direction that we were travelling,—a beautiful and cleanly river, with white pebbly41 shores, and itself of a peculiar42 blue. It rushed along very fast, sometimes whitening over shallow descents, and even in its calmer intervals43 its surface was all covered with whirls and eddies44, indicating that it dashed onward45 in haste. I do not now know the name of this river, but have set it down as the "arrowy Rhone." It kept us company a long while, and I think we did not part with it as long as daylight remained. I have seldom seen hill-scenery that struck me more than some that we saw to-day, and the old feudal46 towers and old villages at their feet; and the old churches, with spires47 shaped just like extinguishers, gave it an interest accumulating from many centuries past.
Still going southward, the vineyards began to border our track, together with what I at first took to be orchards48, but soon found were plantations49 of olive-trees, which grow to a much larger size than I supposed, and look almost exactly like very crabbed50 and eccentric apple-trees. Neither they nor the vineyards add anything to the picturesqueness51 of the landscape.
On the whole, I should have been delighted with all this scenery if it had not looked so bleak52, barren, brown, and bare; so like the wintry New England before the snow has fallen. It was very cold, too; ice along the borders of streams, even among the vineyards and olives. The houses are of rather a different shape here than, farther northward53, their roofs being not nearly so sloping. They are almost invariably covered with white plaster; the farm-houses have their outbuildings in connection with the dwelling,—the whole surrounding three sides of a quadrangle.
We travelled far into the night, swallowed a cold and hasty dinner at Avignon, and reached Marseilles sorely wearied, at about eleven o'clock. We took a cab to the Hotel d'Angleterre (two cabs, to be quite accurate), and find it a very poor place.
To go back a little, as the sun went down, we looked out of the window of our railway carriage, and saw a sky that reminded us of what we used to see day after day in America, and what we have not seen since; and, after sunset, the horizon burned and glowed with rich crimson54 and orange lustre55, looking at once warm and cold. After it grew dark, the stars brightened, and Miss M——— from her window pointed out some of the planets to the children, she being as familiar with them as a gardener with his flowers. They were as bright as diamonds.
We had a wretched breakfast, and J——- and I then went to the railway station to see about our luggage. On our walk back we went astray, passing by a triumphal arch, erected56 by the Marseillais, in honor of Louis Napoleon; but we inquired our way of old women and soldiers, who were very kind and courteous,—especially the latter,—and were directed aright. We came to a large, oblong, public place, set with trees, but devoid57 of grass, like all public places in France. In the middle of it was a bronze statue of an ecclesiastical personage, stretching forth his hands in the attitude of addressing the people or of throwing a benediction58 over them. It was some archbishop, who had distinguished59 himself by his humanity and devotedness60 during the plague of 1720. At the moment of our arrival the piazza61 was quite thronged62 with people, who seemed to be talking amongst themselves with considerable earnestness, although without any actual excitement. They were smoking cigars; and we judged that they were only loitering here for the sake of the sunshine, having no fires at home, and nothing to do. Some looked like gentlemen, others like peasants; most of them I should have taken for the lazzaroni of this Southern city,—men with cloth caps, like the classic liberty-cap, or with wide-awake hats. There were one or two women of the lower classes, without bonnets63, the elder ones with white caps, the younger bareheaded. I have hardly seen a lady in Marseilles; and I suspect, it being a commercial city, and dirty to the last degree, ill-built, narrow-streeted, and sometimes pestilential, there are few or no families of gentility resident here.
Returning to the hotel, we found the rest of the party ready to go out; so we all issued forth in a body, and inquired our way to the telegraph-office, in order to send my message about the carpet-bag. In a street through which we had to pass (and which seemed to be the Exchange, or its precincts), there was a crowd even denser64, yes, much denser, than that which we saw in the square of the archbishop's statue; and each man was talking to his neighbor in a vivid, animated65 way, as if business were very brisk to-day.
At the telegraph-office, we discovered the cause that had brought out these many people. There had been attempts on the Emperor's life,— unsuccessful, as they seem fated to be, though some mischief66 was done to those near him. I rather think the good people of Marseilles were glad of the attempt, as an item of news and gossip, and did not very greatly care whether it were successful or no. It seemed to have roused their vivacity67 rather than their interest. The only account I have seen of it was in the brief public despatch68 from the Syndic (or whatever he be) of Paris to the chief authority of Marseilles, which was printed and posted in various conspicuous69 places. The only chance of knowing the truth with any fulness of detail would be to come across an English paper. We have had a banner hoisted70 half-mast in front of our hotel to-day as a token, the head-waiter tells me, of sympathy and sorrow for the General and other persons who were slain71 by this treasonable attempt.
J——- and I now wandered by ourselves along a circular line of quays72, having, on one side of us, a thick forest of masts, while, on the other, was a sweep of shops, bookstalls, sailors' restaurants and drinking-houses, fruit-sellers, candy-women, and all manner of open-air dealers73 and pedlers; little children playing, and jumping the rope, and such a babble74 and bustle75 as I never saw or heard before; the sun lying along the whole sweep, very hot, and evidently very grateful to those who basked76 in it. Whenever I passed into the shade, immediately from too warm I became too cold. The sunshine was like hot air; the shade, like the touch of cold steel,—sharp, hard, yet exhilarating. From the broad street of the quays, narrow, thread-like lanes pierced up between the edifices77, calling themselves streets, yet so narrow, that a person in the middle could almost touch the houses on either hand. They ascended78 steeply, bordered on each side by long, contiguous walls of high houses, and from the time of their first being built, could never have had a gleam of sunshine in them,—always in shadow, always unutterably nasty, and often pestiferous. The nastiness which I saw in Marseilles exceeds my heretofore experience. There is dirt in the hotel, and everywhere else; and it evidently troubles nobody,—no more than if all the people were pigs in a pigsty79. . . .
Passing by all this sweep of quays, J——- and I ascended to an elevated walk, overlooking the harbor, and far beyond it; for here we had our first view of the Mediterranean80, blue as heaven, and bright with sunshine. It was a bay, widening forth into the open deep, and bordered with heights, and bold, picturesque headlands, some of which had either fortresses81 or convents on them. Several boats and one brig were under sail, making their way towards the port. I have never seen a finer sea-view. Behind the town, there seemed to be a mountainous landscape, imperfectly visible, in consequence of the intervening edifices.
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1
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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gilding
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| n.贴金箔，镀金 | |
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compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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lengthen
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| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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spaciousness
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| n.宽敞 | |
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cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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equestrian
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| adj.骑马的；n.马术 | |
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deforming
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| 使变形，使残废，丑化( deform的现在分词 ) | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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44
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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50
crabbed
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| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
picturesqueness
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52
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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53
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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54
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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55
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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56
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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57
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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58
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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59
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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devotedness
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61
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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64
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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68
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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69
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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70
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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73
dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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74
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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75
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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76
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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77
edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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78
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
pigsty
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| n.猪圈，脏房间 | |
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80
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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