登陆注册
15703000000063

第63章

The sand,the salt,the dull seaview,surround it with a bright,quiet melancholy.There are fifteen towers and nine gates,five of which are on the southern side,overlooking the water.I walked all round the place three times (it doesn't take long),but lingered most under the southern wall,where the afternoon light slept in the dreamiest,sweetest way.I sat down on an old stone,and looked away to the desolate saltmarshes and the still,shining surface of the etang,and,as I did so,reflected that this was a queer little outoftheworld corner to have been chosen,in the great dominions of either monarch,for that pompous interview which took place,in 1538,between Francis I.

and Charles V.It was also not easy to perceive how Louis IX.,when in 1248and 1270he started for the Holy Land,set his army afloat in such very undeveloped channels.An hour later I purchased in the town a little pamphlet by M.Marius Topin,who undertakes to explain this latter anomaly,and to show that there is water enough in the port,as we may call it by courtesy,to have sustained a fleet of crusaders.I was unable to trace the channel that he points out,but was glad to believe that,as he contends,the sea has not retreated from the town since the thirteenth century.

It was comfortable to think that things are not so changed as that.M.Topin indicates that the other French ports of the Mediterranean were not then disponsibles,and that AiguesMortes was the most eligible spot for an embarkation.

Behind the straight walls and the quiet gates the little town has not crumbled,like the Cite of Carcassonne.It can hardly be said to be alive;but if it is dead it has been very neatly embalmed.The hand of the restorer rests on it constantly;but this artist has not,as at Carcassonne,had miracles to accomplish.

The interior is very still and empty,with small stony,whitewashed streets,tenanted by a stray dog,a stray cat,a stray old woman.In the middle is a little place,with two or three cafes decorated by wide awnings,a little place of which the principal feature is a very bad bronze statue of Saint Louis by Pradier.It is almost as bad as the breakfast I had at the inn that bears the name of that pious monarch.You may walk round the enceinte of AiguesMortes,both outside and in;but you may not,as at Carcassonne,make a portion of this circuit on the chemin de ronde,the little projecting footway attached to the inner face of the battlements.This footway,wide enough only for a single pedestrian,is in the best order,and near each of the gates a flight of steps leads up to it;but a locked gate,at the top of the steps,makes access impossible,or at least unlawful.AiguesMortes,however,has its citadel,an immense tower,larger than any of the others,a little detached,and standing at the northwest angle of the town.I called upon the casernier,the custodian of the walls,and in his absence I was conducted through this big Tour de Constance by his wife,a very mild,meek woman,yellow with the traces of fever and ague,a scourge which,as might be expected in a town whose name denotes "dead waters,"enters freely at the nine gates.The Tour de Constance is of extraordinary girth and solidity,divided into three superposed circular chambers,with very fine vaults,which are lighted by embrasures of prodigious depth,converging to windows little larger than loopholes.The place served for years as a prison to many of the Protestants of the south whom the revocation of the Edict of Nantes had exposed to atrocious penalties,and the annals of these dreadful chambers during the first half of the last century were written in tears and blood.Some of the recorded cases of long confinement there make one marvel afresh at what man has inflicted and endured.In a country in which a policy of extermination was to be put into practice this horrible tower was an obvious resource.

From the battlements at the top,which is surmounted by an old disused lighthouse,you see the little compact rectangular town,which looks hardly bigger than a gardenpatch,mapped out beneath you,and follow the plain configuration of its defences.You take possession of it,and you feel that you will remember it always.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 阳光会晒干眼泪

    阳光会晒干眼泪

    生命里的每一刻都值得感恩,好的坏的都值得我们尽力来活!
  • 悲伤狂想曲

    悲伤狂想曲

    一场突发的病毒大爆发,致使全美国陷入了一场末日危机,我在一次逃难的路上,和妻女走散,之后,我在冲破丧尸的围攻之下救了一个科学家,他把唯一的可以抑制病毒蔓延的解药缝在了我的肚子里头,我在各路追杀及逃亡的路上遇到了我的妻女,然而,在国家大义和亲情之间,我到底该如何抉择?微博地址:http://www.*****.com/?5610132572/profile?topnav=1&wvr=6&is_all=1
  • 瓦洛兰之我是英雄

    瓦洛兰之我是英雄

    丁沐阳是一名大二学生,正统的宅男,喜欢动漫、小说和网络游戏。某一天,他突然从梦中醒来的时候,却发现自己已经来到了英雄联盟里的瓦洛兰大陆,遇见了传说中的锐萌萌。而当丁沐阳终于觉醒了四神兽血脉之后,他开始了他在瓦洛兰大陆丰富多彩的生活。此后,丁沐阳便有了一个叫锐萌萌的师父。而后,他跟着泰隆学习暗杀之术,跟着压缩学习御风之术,跟着齐天大圣学七十二般变化……随着丁沐阳进一步地了解瓦洛兰大陆的黑幕,他终于发现了自己的到来竟然不是偶然,而他的身上又究竟有着什么样的使命呢?瑞兹背后的神秘卷轴,卡尔萨斯手中的莫雷洛宝典,神秘的瓦洛兰之心,还有来自虚空的神秘物种……命定来战,终将超神!
  • 紫昧学院,当冷公主遇上了他

    紫昧学院,当冷公主遇上了他

    (已完结)她冷酷无情,是人人闻风丧胆的杀手—泪,为不让妈咪失望,玩转学院,不料却遇到了同样冰冷的他......
  • 趣味中医一本通

    趣味中医一本通

    《趣味中医一本通》共分趣话中医、本草传说、悬壶奇案、中医绝技、中医传承、药名诗联、中医成语、谚语养生、文苑医话、名人养生、宫廷秘方、中医诊病12章,语言通俗,事例生动,使读者在轻松阅读间了解千古杏林传奇,博览经典中医名著。认识名药名店名方,领悟中医文化精髓。一卷在手,品味咀嚼,不啻一顿精神美餐。《趣味中医一本通》适合喜爱中医的读者阅读品味。
  • 大宝广博楼阁善住秘密陀罗尼经

    大宝广博楼阁善住秘密陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 盗墓大笔记

    盗墓大笔记

    大爱老三的盗墓笔记,一算时间,这一晃又是一个十年了。最佩服老三的是他对小说的掌握和把握,挖的遍地坑又让你觉得欲罢不能,在本人拍案叫绝之时,突发奇想,想要写一篇恶搞,聊以慰藉,不喜吻喷!
  • 哥特女王

    哥特女王

    这是一个游戏,一个赌上了一切的游戏。她:“你疯了吗?为什么要这样做!”他:“是啊,疯了疯了疯了,一切的一切从一开始就疯了,只要是你想要的,我都会双手奉上,哪怕是跳动的心脏,那也没有关系。”若饮遍不洁之血,从此远离光明就能换回爱过少女的无意一撇,他愿承受所有诅咒;若美丽天赋能交换某人的真心,他愿放弃白肤红唇娇艳欲滴;若能从此摆脱孤独的桎梏,即便身陷永劫的地狱他也甘之如饴;女王准则有三条:第一条,要发觉女王殿下和平时不同的发型!第二条,要好好把女王从头看到脚!第三条,女王殿下每说一句话,就要回她三句!【食用需知:哥特X女王X人偶X美男X复仇X契约】
  • 神玉流天

    神玉流天

    笑天地无情,催殇杯枯了。相看血满袖!只愿醉今生,何故他人扰?今朝弃杯去,明日身谁葬?一生似狂妄,不过转浮云!存在于古修真界六道之外之外的第七界,有蓝玉落入神界。历经千万载,修炼得到魂魄,追随的主人却被人谋逆篡位,双双堕落人间。自此两别。尽管拥有不坏金刚之身,顶着重重身份,仍无法寻回主人。今世,你在何处?何处便是我的安身所在!
  • 半刃刀经

    半刃刀经

    这是一部背景宏大的玄幻故事。倍受族人欺辱的废物程一洛,在偶然间得到青木灵珠之后,一步一个脚印地向上修行着。修行者,妖魔、海外灵族、仙界、神界,都在他强大的实力下臣服。最终,他发现了青木灵珠的密秘,竟然是……