city
was exposed, it served as the last resort of the citizens, and
sustained a great number of successive attacks; so that its
preservation is almost miraculous. It is likely, however, to suffer
much more from the Gothic avarice of its own citizens, some of whom are
mutilating it every day, for the sake of the stones, which they employ
in their own private buildings. It is surprizing, that the King's
authority has not been exerted to put an end to such sacrilegious
violation.

If the amphitheatre strikes you with an idea of greatness, the Maison
Carree enchants you with the most exquisite beauties of architecture
and sculpture. This is an edifice, supposed formerly to have been
erected by Adrian, who actually built a basilica in this city, though
no vestiges of it remain: but the following inscription, which was
discovered on the front of it, plainly proves, that it was built by the
inhabitants of Nismes, in honour of Caius and Lucius Caesar, the
grandchildren of Augustus by his daughter Julia, the wife of Agrippa.

C. CAESARI. AVGVSTI. F. COS.
L CAESARI. AVGMI. F. COS.
DESIGNATO.
PRINCIPIBVS IVVENTUTIS.

To Caius and Lucius Caesar, sons of Augustus, consuls elect, Princes of
the Roman youth.

This beautiful edifice, which stands upon a pediment six feet high, is
eighty-two feet long, thirty-five broad, and thirty-seven high, without
reckoning the pediment. The body of it is adorned with twenty columns
engaged in the wall, and the peristyle, which is open, with ten
detached pillars that support the entablature. They are all of the
Corinthian order, fluted and embellished with capitals of the most
exquisite sculpture, the frize and cornice are much admired, and the
foliage is esteemed inimitable. The proportions of the building are so
happily united, as to give it an air of majesty and grandeur, which the
most indifferent spectator cannot behold without emotion. A man needs
not be a connoisseur in architecture, to enjoy these beauties. They are
indeed so exquisite that you may return to them every day with a fresh
appetite for seven years together. What renders them the more curious,
they are still entire, and very little affected, either by the ravages
of time, or the havoc of war. Cardinal Alberoni declared, that it was a
jewel that deserved a cover of gold to preserve it from external
injuries. An Italian painter, perceiving a small part of the roof
repaired by modern French masonry, tore his hair, an