A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, 1777 - Volume 1 (of 2) by Philip Thicknesse
page 41 of 146 (28%)
page 41 of 146 (28%)
|
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 |
|