Smollett Was
Indubitably One Of The Pioneers Of The Promenade Des Anglais.
Long before the days of "Dr. Antonio" or Lord Brougham, he
described for his countrymen the almost incredible dolcezza of
the sunlit coast from Antibes to Lerici.
But how much better
than the barren triumph of being the unconscious fugleman of so
glittering a popularity must have been the sense of being one of
the first that ever burst from our rude island upon that secluded
little Piedmontese town, as it then was, of not above twelve
thousand souls, with its wonderful situation, noble perspective
and unparalleled climate. Well might our travel-tost doctor
exclaim, "When I stand on the rampart and look around I can
scarce help thinking myself enchanted." It was truly a garden of
Armida for a native of one of the dampest corners of North
Britain.
"Forty or fifty years ago, before the great transformation took
place on the French Riviera, when Nizza, Villafranca, and Mentone
were antique Italian towns, and when it was one of the
eccentricities of Lord Brougham, to like Cannes, all that sea-board
was a delightful land. Only a hundred years ago Arthur
Young had trouble to get an old woman and a donkey to carry his
portmanteau from Cannes to Antibes. I can myself remember Cannes
in 1853, a small fishing village with a quiet beach, and Mentone,
a walled town with mediaeval gates and a castle, a few humble
villas and the old Posta to give supper to any passing traveller.
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