,
appears by comparison to shrink into insignificance, and shelter itself
behind the old Roman arches, the lower tier of which, eleven in number,
overtop it in height by about three-fifths. The span of the largest arch
is about 78 feet; of the other ten, 66 each: and they are surmounted by
a row of thirty-five smaller arches. With the exception of two or three
of these last, the whole fabric is complete, and, if unmolested, appears
likely to witness more changes of language and dynasty than it has
already done. I do not know that the mind is ever more impressed with
the idea of Roman power and greatness, than by contemplating such
structures as these, erected for subordinate purposes at a distance from
the main seat of empire. It is like discovering a broken hand or foot of
the Colossus of Rhodes, and estimating in imagination the height and
bulk of the whole statue from the size of its enormous extremities.

[Footnote 38: Vide Cooke's Views.]

From the Pont du Gard the road to Nismes has little to recommend it
excepting the high state of cultivation of the country, and this is not
of a nature to gratify an eye accustomed to English verdure.
Olive-groves, it is true, have been naturalized in poetry as conveying
an image of beauty and freshness; but in reality nothing can be more
opposed to the oaks and elms of an English hedge-row, than the pale
shining gray of this stunted tree, which has more of a metallic than a
vegetable appearance. Nor does a perpetual succession of corn-fields,
however rich in reality, present the same appearance of luxuriant
vegetation as an English pasture. There is, besides, nothing in the
nearer approach to Nismes, which reminds one of the environs of an
opulent commercial town, and its precincts would cut a poor figure when
compared with those of Leeds or Bristol. The transition is immediate,
from a dull range of corn-fields, without a gentleman's house, to a long
dirty suburb. On emerging, however, from the latter into the better and
more central part of the town, one is surprised to find wide and elegant
streets well watered and planted, and public buildings, whose beauty and
good taste show that the citizens of Nismes have made a good use of the
fine architectural models afforded by the ancient Nemausis. The Palais
de Justice deserves to be particularly remarked for its classical
elegance, and contrasts well with the black solid arches of the Arenes,
near which it is placed.

"_Monsieou