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 "disponibles,"
and that Aigues-Mortes 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.
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