Antiquities 



design, I think, of early sixteenth-century work, 

 and the effect is most pleasing ; but there is 

 little in the whole town which one would take 

 the trouble to look at in Italy or Spain. None 

 of the fine arts seem to have flourished here at 

 any time. Probably the Morgados, the territorial 

 lords, who for several centuries had everything 

 in their control, were very unenlightened coun- 

 try squires, who never produced a Maecenas. 



In masonry the good Latin tradition of 

 sound and substantial work still survives, and 

 the houses are built with great solidity. One 

 misses the stone stairways and marble balustrades 

 of Italy, but pleasant fountains and stone 

 seats of passably good design are common ; 

 and long pergolas with stone pillars and tops 

 of chestnut wood are an agreeable feature. The 

 houses were formerly roofed Vvith brown-grey 

 tiles which " weather " to a very charming 

 and reposeful tint. These were unfortunately 

 abandoned some years ago for tiles of that 

 staring red which one sees in the neighbourhood 

 of Marseilles ; and more recently a hideous 

 diaper design of many colours has come into 

 fashion. And architectural taste generally is at 

 present at a very low ebb. 



19s 



