Travels Through France And Italy - Tobias Smollett (diy ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Error Of

Ignoring How Apt A Frenchman Is To Conceal A Number Of His Best

Qualities. Two Other Considerations Deserve Attention. The Race-Portrait

Was In Smollett's Day At The Very Height Of Its

Disreputable Reign. Secondly, We Must Remember How Very

Profoundly French Character Has Been Modified Since 1763, And

More Especially In Consequence Of The Cataclysms Of 1789 And 

Part 4 Pg 20

1870.

 

 

 

Smollett's Vis Comica Is Conspicuous In The Account Of The

Coiffure Of The Period And Of The Superstitious Reverence Which A

Frenchman Of That Day Paid To His Hair. In Tracing The Origin Of

This Superstition He Exhibits Casually His Historical Learning.

The Crine Profuso And Barba Demissa Of The Reges Crinitos, As The

Merovingians Were Called, Are Often Referred To By Ancient

Chroniclers. Long Hair Was Identified With Right Of Succession,

As A Mark Of Royal Race, And The Maintenance Of Ancient

Tradition. A Tondu Signified A Slave, And Even Under The

Carolingians To Shave A Prince Meant To Affirm His Exclusion From

The Succession.

 

 

Part 5 Pg 21

 

 

A General Improvement In English Roads, Roadside Inns, And

Methods Of Conveyance Commenced About 1715. The Continental Roads

Lagged Behind, Until When Arthur Young Wrote In 1788-89 They Had

Got Badly Into Arrears. The Pace Of Locomotion Between Rome And

England Changed Very Little In Effect From The Days Of Julius

Caesar To Those Of George Iii. It Has Been Said With Point That

Trajan And Sir Robert Peel, Travelling Both At Their Utmost Speed

Achieved The Distance Between Rome And London In An Almost

Precisely Similar Space Of Time. Smollett Decided To Travel Post

Between Paris And Lyons, And He Found That The Journey Lasted

Full Five Days And Cost Upwards Of Thirty Guineas. [One Of The

Earliest Printed Road Books In Existence Gives The Posts Between

Paris And Lyons. This Tiny Duodecimo, Dated 1500, And More Than

Worth Its Weight In Gold Has Just Been Acquired By The British

Museum. On The Old Roman Routes, See Arnold's Lectures On Modern

History, 1842.] Of Roads There Was A Choice Between Two. The

Shorter Route By Nevers And Moulins Amounted To Just About Three

Hundred English Miles. The Longer Route By Auxerre And Dijon,

Which Smollett Preferred Extended To Three Hundred And Thirty

Miles. The Two Roads Diverged After Passing Fontainebleau, The

Shorter By Nemours And The Longer By Moret. The First Road Was

The Smoother, But Apart From The Chance Of Seeing The Vendange

The Route De Burgoyne Was Far The More Picturesque. Smollett's

Portraiture Of The Peasantry In The Less Cultivated Regions

Prepares The Mind For Young's Famous Description Of Those "Gaunt

Emblems Of Famine." In Burgundy The Doctor Says, "I Saw A Peasant

Ploughing The Ground With A Jackass, A Lean Cow, And A He-Goat

Yoked Together." His Vignette Of The Fantastic Petit-Maitre At

Sens, And His Own Abominable Rudeness, Is Worthy Of The Master

Hand That Drew The Poor Debtor Jackson In The Marshalsea In

Roderick Random.

 

Part 5 Pg 22

 

 

His Frank Avowal Of Ill Temper At The Time Deprives Our

Entertainment Of The Unamiable Tinge Of Which It Would Otherwise

Have Partaken. "The Truth Is, I Was That Day More Than Usually

Peevish, From The Bad Weather As Well As From The Dread Of A Fit

Of Asthma, With Which I Was Threatened. And I Daresay My

Appearance Seemed As Uncouth To Him As His Travelling Dress

Appeared To Me. I Had A Grey, Mourning Frock Under A Wide

Greatcoat, A Bob-Wig Without Powder, A Very Large Laced Hat, And

A Meagre, Wrinkled, Discontented Countenance."

 

 

 

From Lyons The Traveller Secured A Return Berline Going Back To

Avignon With Three Mules And A Voiturier Named Joseph. Joseph,

Though He Turned Out To Be An Ex-Criminal, Proved Himself The One

Frenchman Upon Whose Fidelity And Good Service Smollett Could

Look Back With Unfeigned Satisfaction. The Sight Of A Skeleton

Dangling From A Gibbet Near Valence Surprised From This Droll

Knave An Ejaculation And A Story, From Which It Appeared Only Too

Evident That He Had Been First The Comrade And Then The

Executioner Of One Of The Most Notorious Brigands Of The Century.

The Story As Told By Smollett Does Not Wholly Agree With The Best

Authenticated Particulars. The Dick Turpin Of Eighteenth Century

France, Mandrin Has Engendered Almost As Many Fables As His

English Congener. [See Maignien's Bibliographie Des Ecrits

Relatifs A Mandrin.] As Far As I Have Been Able To Discover, The

Great Freebooter Was Born At St. Etienne In May 1724. His Father

Having Been Killed In A Coining Affair, Mandrin Swore To Revenge

Him. He Deserted From The Army Accordingly, And Got Together A

Gang Of Contrebandiers, At The Head Of Which His Career In Savoy

And Dauphine Almost Resembles That Of One Of The Famous Guerilla

Chieftains Described In Hardman's Peninsular Scenes And Sketches.

Captured Eventually, Owing To The Treachery Of A Comrade, He Was

Put To Death On The Wheel At Valence On 26th May 1755. Five

Comrades Were Thrown Into Jail With Him; And One Of These

Obtained His Pardon On Condition Of Acting As Mandrin's

Executioner. Alas, Poor Joseph!

 

 

 

Three Experiences Smollett Had At This Season Which May Well Fall

To The Lot Of Road-Farers In France Right Down To The Present

Day. He Was Poisoned With Garlic, Surfeited With Demi-Roasted

Small Birds, And Astonished At The Solid Fare Of The Poorest

Looking Travellers. The Summer Weather, Romantic Scenery, And

Occasional Picnics, Which Smollett Would Have Liked To Repeat

Every Summer Under The Arches Of The Pont Du Gard--The Monument

Of Antiquity Which Of All, Excepting Only The Maison Carree At

Nimes, Most Excited His Enthusiastic Admiration, All Contributed

To Put Him Into An Abnormally Cheerful And Convalescent

Humour. . . .

 

Part 5 Pg 23

 

 

Smollett Now Bent His Steps Southwards To Montpellier. His

Baggage Had Gone In Advance. He Was Uncertain As Yet Whether To

Make Montpellier Or Nice His Headquarters In The South. Like

Toulouse And Tours, And Turin, Montpellier Was For A Period A

Mecca To English Health And Pleasure Seekers Abroad. A City Of No

Great Antiquity, But Celebrated From The Twelfth Century For Its

Schools Of Law And Physic, It Had Been Incorporated Definitely

With France Since 1382, And Its Name Recurs In French History

Both As The Home Of Famous Men In Great Number And As, Before And

After The Brief Pre-Eminence Of La Rochelle, The Rival Of Nimes

As Capital Of Protestantism In The South. Evelyn, Burnet, The Two

Youngs, Edward And Arthur, And Sterne Have All Left Us An

Impression Of The City. Prevented By Snow From Crossing The Mont

Cenis, John Locke Spent Two Winters There In The Days Of Charles

Ii. (1675-77), And May Have Pondered A Good Many Of The Problems

Of Toleration On A Soil Under Which The Heated Lava Of Religious

Strife Was Still Unmistakeable. And Smollett Must Almost Have

Jostled En Route Against The Celebrated Author Of The Wealth Of

Nations, Who Set Out With His Pupil For Toulouse In February

1764. A Letter To Hume Speaks Of The Number Of English In The

Neighbourhood Just A Month Later. Lomenie De Brienne Was Then In

Residence As Archbishop. In The Following November, Adam Smith

And His Charge Paid A Visit To Montpellier To Witness A Pageant

And Memorial, As It Was Supposed, Of A Freedom That Was Gone For

Ever, The Opening Of The States Of Languedoc. Antiquaries And

Philosophers Went To Moralise On The Spectacle In The Spirit In

Which Freeman Went To Andorra, Byron To The Site Of Troy, Or De

Tocqueville To America. It Was There That The Great Economist Met

Horne Tooke.

 

 

 

Smollett's More Practical And Immediate Object In Making This

Pilgrimage Was To Interview The Great Lung Specialist, Known

Locally To His Admiring Compatriots As The Boerhaave Of

Montpellier, Dr. Fizes. The Medical School Of Montpellier Was

Much In Evidence During The Third Quarter Of The Eighteenth

Century, And For The History Of Its Various Branches There Are

Extant Numerous Memoires Pour Servir, By Prunelle, Astruc, And

Others. Smollett Was Only Just In Time To Consult The Reigning

Oracle, For The "Illustrious" Dr. Fizes Died In The Following

Year. He Gives Us A Very Unfavourable Picture Of This "Great

Lanthorn Of Medicine," Who, Notwithstanding His Prodigious Age,

His Stoop, And His Wealth, Could Still Scramble Up Two Pairs For

A Fee Of Six Livres. More Than Is The Case With Most Medical

Patients, However, Should We Suspect Smollett Of Being Unduly

Captious. The Point As To How Far His Sketch Of The French Doctor

And His Diagnosis Was A True One, And How Far A Mere Caricature,

Due To Ill Health And Prejudice, Has Always Piqued My Curiosity.

But How To Resolve A Question Involving So Many Problems Not Of

Ordinary Therapeutic But Of Historical Medicine! In This

Difficulty I Bethought Me Most Fortunately Of Consulting An

Part 5 Pg 24

Authority Probably Without A Rival In This Special Branch Of

Medical History, Dr. Norman Moore, Who With His Accustomed

Generosity Has Given Me The Following Most Instructive Diagnosis

Of The Whole Situation.

 

 

 

"I Have Read Smollett's Account Of His Illness