182 ST. RAPHAEL. 



houses whlcli bear manv well-known i"ra.mes on their gates. 

 Here we see "Maison Close", that house so shut in which 

 Alphonse Karr built for himself in order to live secluded. 

 Charles Gounod sought retirement in "Oustalet dou Ca- 

 pelan", and an inscription records that : ^- '"L' illustre maitre, 

 Charles Gounod, composa Romeo et Juliette a 1' Oustalet 

 dou l^apelan, au printemp.s de LSbO." Jules Barbier, his 

 librettist, who lived near b^■, added to it: "Ilic divum 

 Romeo scripsit Gounod mcus ISbb. Ingenio baud amicitia 

 impar". Gounod was fond of sta)-irig at St. Raphael; 

 "I have lighted upon the Bay of Naples here, (so he 

 used often to sa\-) with the Campagna of Rome in the 

 background". 



Is the position of St. Raphael realh" as beautiful 

 as Gounod maintains ? I cannot sa\' so, although I will 

 not den^- to this place a peculiar charm of its own. 

 I m\-self miss at St. Raphael the full view of the Esterel 

 range ; nor do I feel sufiicienth' recompensed for this 

 want b^' tlie uniform outline of the Montagues des 

 Maures, or b}' the broad valle\- of the Argens which 

 Gounod compared to the Campagna of Rome. I would 

 rather follow the example of Carolus Duran and settle 

 on the other side of the valley, at St. Aigulf by the 

 wooded shore, whence at eventide the jagged Esterel 

 may be seen aglow with purple. 



CHAPTER V. 



St. Raphael forms an excellent starting point for 

 excursions into the Esterel range : and truh' these moun- 

 tains are worth\ of a visit; the\' are among the gems 



