There Was Nothing Striking In The Architecture Of The
Aqueduct.
The arches are small and low, without either grace or
ornament, and seem to have been calculated for mere utility.
The mountain of Esterelles, which is eight miles over, was
formerly frequented by a gang of desperate banditti, who are now
happily exterminated: the road is very good, but in some places
very steep and bordered by precipices. The mountain is covered
with pines, and the laurus cerasus, the fruit of which being now
ripe, made a most romantic appearance through the snow that lay
upon the branches. The cherries were so large that I at first
mistook them for dwarf oranges. I think they are counted
poisonous in England, but here the people eat them without
hesitation. In the middle of the mountain is the post-house,
where we dined in a room so cold, that the bare remembrance of it
makes my teeth chatter. After dinner I chanced to look into
another chamber that fronted the south, where the sun shone; and
opening a window perceived, within a yard of my hand, a large
tree loaded with oranges, many of which were ripe. You may judge
what my astonishment was to find Winter in all his rigour
reigning on one side of the house, and Summer in all her glory
on the other. Certain it is, the middle of this mountain seemed
to be the boundary of the cold weather. As we proceeded slowly in
the afternoon we were quite enchanted.
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