nd
Sir Walter Scott's fine portraiture of Archibald Bell-the-Cat: and I
think the analogy holds good in classical remains. Somewhat should be
decayed for effect's sake; and those parts only left which are
strikingly beautiful, or of a leading and important nature. The Arena,
which we next visited, is perhaps more consonant to this standard than
the Maison Carree. Its structure is similar to that of the Colosseum at
Rome, of which, however, it falls infinitely short in size and grandeur,
while at the same time it so far exceeds it in perfectness, as to give a
complete idea to an inexperienced eye of its original figure and
arrangement, and of the admirable system of accommodation which such
places possessed. It has just enough of the graceful decay of age to
render it picturesque, and enough of freshness to answer the questions
of the antiquarian: and neither too much nor too little is left to the
imagination. Mr. Albanis Beaumont, in his work on the Maritime Alps,
calculates the number of persons which this building must have held at
16,599, and the spectators in the Colosseum at 34,000. He also states
the widest interior circumference of the Arena, as 1110-1/2 feet. The
plate engraved in his work, dated 1795, represents two square towers
over the principal entrance, erected perhaps by Charles Martel, when he
converted the building into a citadel; they have however been since
destroyed, and the work of clearing away the houses which defaced both
its inside and outside, commenced originally by Louis XVI., has been
completed. It now stands in a broad open space, adapted to set off its
full height and proportions.

The public garden also presents a well-arranged group of interesting
objects; but to behold them to any advantage, it is necessary to turn
your back upon a pert little cafe, roofed with party-coloured tiles like
the scales of a fancy fish, which glares from under the shade of the
trees. From hence you look over a handsome balustrade into a large
excavated space adorned with stone steps, which collects the waters of a
fine fountain, and in which the foundations of the ancient Baths are
still visible. On the summit of the opposite cliff, from whence these
waters issue, the ruined Pharos, which forms the principal landmark of
Nismes, rises with great majesty, and at its foot, immediately to the
left of the fountain, the ruined temple of Diana, though not
individually striking, combines admirably with the general gr