"Nevers makes a fine appearance, rising proudly from the Loire," wrote
Arthur Young, "but on the first entrance it is like a thousand other
places."

But the indefatigable apostle of the turnip had no time for archaeology
on his great tour, or he would have discovered that Nevers possesses
more than one architectural gem of the first water. The cathedral
certainly, alike without and within, must take rank after those of
Chartres, Le Mans, Reims, and how many others! but the exquisite little
church of St. Etienne and the Ducal Palace, are both perfect in their
way, and will enchant all lovers of harmony and proportion. The first,
another specimen of so-called Romanesque-Burgundian, has to be looked
for, standing as it does in a kind of _cul de sac_; the second occupies
a conspicuous site, forms, indeed, the centre-piece and crowning
ornament of the town. Daintiest of the dainty, this fairy-like Italian
palace in the heart of France, reminds us that once upon a time Nevers
was the seat of Italian dukes, the last of whom was a nephew of Mazarin.
The great Cardinal, "whose heart was more French than his speech," and
who served France so well, despite his nationality and his nepotism,
having purchased the Nivernais of a Gonzague, finally incorporated it
into the French crown in 1659.

To this day, Nevers remains true to its Italian traditions. Go into the
tiniest suburban street, enter the poorest little general shop, and you
are reminded of the art that made the city famous hundreds of years ago,
an art introduced by a Duke of Mantua, relation of Catherine de Medicis.
It was in the sixteenth century, that this feudal lord of the Nivernais
summoned Italian potters hither, among these a native of Faenza. Under
his direction a manufactory of faience was established, the ware