A Years Journey through France and Part of Spain | Page 7

Trophime_, their first Bishop; but the characters are very Gothic, and
the Cs are square, [Image: E E with no mid bar]; he came here in the
year 61, and preached down that abominable practice of sacrificing
three young men annually. He died in the year 61, at 72 years of age.
On the front of the Metropolitan church of Arles, called _St. Trophime_,
are the two following lines, in Gothic characters, cut above a thousand
years:
Cernitur eximius vir Christi Discipulorum, De Numero Trophimus, hic
Septuaginta duorum.
This church was built in the year 625, by _St. Virgil_, and is a curious
piece of antiquity within, and particularly without; but I will not omit to
give you one of its singularities within; it is an ancient and curious
inscription in large Gothic letters, near the organ:
Terrarum Roma Gemina de luce majistrA. Ros Missus Semper Aderit:
velut incola IoseP Olim Contrito Letheo Contulit OrchO.
To read this you will see you must take the first letter of each verse:

TRO, _Trophemus_; GAL, _Galliæorum_; and APO, Apostolus. The
letter H, belonging to the word Joseph, must be carried to the word
Orcho, and the P must stand by itself.
_Trophimus Galliarum Apostolus, ut ros missus est, ex urbe Romæ
rerum Dominæ Gemina de luce, scilicet a Petro et Paulo, Ecclesiæ
luminaribus; Contrito orcho Letheo, nempe statim post Christi
Passionem qua Dæmonis & orchi caput contrivit, semper animos
nostras nutriet, cibo illo, divinæ fidei quem nobis contulit: ut alter
Joseph qui olim Ægypti populum same pereuntem liberavit._

LETTER XXXVII.
MARSEILLES.
Soon after we left the town of Arles, on our way to Aix, and this city,
we entered upon a most extraordinary and extensive plain; it is called
the Crau, and is a principal and singular domain, belonging to and
situated on the south side of that city; it is ten leagues in diameter; on
which vast extent, scarce a tree, shrub, or verdure is visible; the whole
spot being covered with flint stones of various sizes, and of singular
shapes. Petrarch says, as Strabo, and others have said before him, that
those flint stones fell from Heaven like hail, when Hercules was
fighting there against the giants, who, finding he was likely to be
overcome, invoked his father Jupiter, who rained this hard shower of
flint stones upon his enemies, which is confirmed by _Æschylus_.
"Jupiter Alcidem quando respexit inormem, Illachrymans, Ligures
saxoso perpluit imbre."
But as this account may not be quite satisfactory to you, who I know
love truth more than fable, I am inclined to think you will consider
_Possidonius_'s manner of accounting for it more feasible: He says,
that it was once a great lake, and having a bed of gravel at the bottom,
those pebble stones, by a succession of ages, have grown to the size
they now appear; but whether stones grow which lie upon the surface

of the earth and out of their proper strata, I must leave you and other
naturalists to determine, without repeating to you what Aristotle, and
others, have said upon that subject; and therefore, instead of telling you
either what they say, or I think, I will tell you what I know, which is,
that barren as the Crau appears to be, it not only feeds, but fattens an
infinite number of sheep and cattle, and produces such excellent wine
too in some parts of it, that it is called Vin de Crau, by way of
pre-eminence: it has a poignant quality, is very bright, and is much
esteemed for its delicious flavour. The herb which fattens the sheep and
feeds such quantities of cattle is a little plant which grows between and
under the flint stones, which the sheep and other animals turn up with
their feet, to come at the bite; beside which, there grows a plant on this
Crau that bears a vermilion flower, from which the finest scarlet dye is
extracted; it is a little red grain, about the size of pea, and is gathered in
the month of May; it has been sold for a crown a pound formerly; and a
single crop has produced eleven thousand weight. This berry is the
harvest of the poor, who are permitted to gather it on a certain day, but
not till the Lord of the Manor gives notice by the sound of a horn,
according to an ancient custom and privilege granted originally by
King RENE.--On my way over it, I gathered only a great number of
large larks by the help of my gun, though I did not forget my
Montserrat vow: It was a fine day, and therefore I did not find it so
tedious as it must be in winter or bad weather; for if any thing can be
worse than sea, in