1805. | 
are above 2]. for each perfon, will be 
found, circumftances confidered,. muci 
greater than thofe of Hagland ; hut of 
this we fhall treat more fully hereaiter. 
ORANGE. 
This ancient place has repeatedly been the 
theatre of triumphal victory and bloody 
carnage; but all the horrors of the Roman 
and Celtic battles vanifh before the pulgar 
ferocity, cruelty, and blood-thirfty mur- 
ders of the agent of Robefpierre! It is 
fituated at the foot ofa finall ridge of hils, 
that run for feveral miles nearly north and 
fouth, and on the fide of an extenfive 
agreeablegplain, which is watered by feve- 
ral rivulets, and by the river Higues, which 
occafionally ferves to tranfpert wares from 
the more remote villages. The extent, cul- 
tivation and fertility, fmoothnefs of this 
plain, the diftant profpeét of the Alps, the 
flanking chain.of hills and haggard rocks, 
the few new and white houles, but above 
all the ncble ruins of Roman antiquities, 
conf{pire to excite the livelieft emotions — 
Its prefent afpect is rather that of a fub- 
urb, confifting of fingle rows of houfes, 
than acomplete town. Upwards of forty 
meat jittle houfes have been recently 
built, fomewhat in the Englifh fiyle, 
part of which is brick and part clay. 
their conftruction the idea of convenience 
and utility has predominated; an idea 
httle knownand le!s Qudied in France.— 
Some houtes have alfo been buiit for the 
filk-manufa&tures. Thefe improvements 
have not originated from an increale of 
wealth and population, but from the ge- 
neral defolation made by the agents of 
Robeipierre, whofe treatment of the vene- 
rable antiquities and inoffenfive inhabi- 
tants of this town is marked ‘by circum- 
ftances of cruelty and barbarity hitherto 
unknown in the annals of human exiftence. 
One of thefe barbarians, caufelefsly in- 
fpired with the moft virulent hatred of the 
‘Orangefe, determined to accufe the whole 
inhabitants of a royalift confpivacy 3 an 
acculation their ignorance and incapacity 
rendered impoffible to have any founda- 
tion in truth. To achieve his project, he 
commenced by guillotiniag five or fix 
young men, to try its effects on their pa- 
rents and friends ; pity and indignation 
were evident in every countenance. The 
villain denounced them all as traitors ; 
and after murdering above feven hundred 
in the courfe of a w-ek, announced his 
vidtory to his warthy matter, Robefpierre, 
from whom he claimed the honours of a 
triumph. At the conclufion of his letter 
this wretch made wfe of the miferable pun, 
in allusion to the pofition ef the guillotine, 
7 
Prefent State of Crange, Avignon, Se. 
Tn 
\ 
il 
in front and at the foot of a mountain :— 
«\ Thave made the traitors pay their laff 
obedience to the Mountain, by making 
their beads fall before it ;°? Mountain be- 
ing then the name of Robetpierre’s fac- 
tion. The general maflacre and plunder 
of this ill-fated people wou'd be too fhock- 
ing to relate: it is the intereft of fociety 
to be ignorant of the extent of the crimes 
of fuch barbarians. Men, women, and 
children were, facrificed, and their houfes 
levelled to the ground! This cuftom 
is ala Francais. ‘The Romans conquer- 
ed the Allobroges here, repaired the town, 
railed fortifications, built an amphitheatre, 
an aqueduct, public baths, and erected a 
fuperb triumphal arch, which have fur- 
vived the ravages of the Goths. Orange 
was for twocenturies the property of the 
Houle of Naffzu; until Louis XIV. took 
it from William Ill. and difmantled its 
fortifications and other antiquities, except 
the triumphal arch, which yetexilts. By 
the beft-informed antiquaries, this arch 
is fupyofed to have been erected for Caius 
Marius and Lutatius Catulus, after 
they had vanquifhed the Teutons and 
Cimbres.. Among the trophies of war, 
the word Maria is {till legible, and a wo- 
man locking out of a window, fuppofed 
to be Martha the Syrian, a famous divi- 
nerefs, whom Marius always confulted be- 
fore undertaking any thing of confe- 
quence. The arch isa fegment of a circle, 
about fix feet in diameter,’ fupported by 
two quadrangular pillars about eighteen 
feet high and fix in diameter; the entabla- 
ture may be nine feet by twelve, and well 
‘filled with baffo-relievos, which have been 
at once mafter-pieces of art and ingenuity; 
the whole fruéture is about thirty-fix 
feet high. . Thefe vulgar, furious barba~ 
rians, when they were unable to deftroy 
this noble pile of Roman induftry and ge- 
nius like the pvor people’s cottages, 
amufed themfelves by throwing {tenes 
apainft the figures, and thus rendering 
them no longer diftinguifhable. Indeed 
itis difheult to avoid remarking, that the 
uniform conduét both of the ancient and 
modern French has been that of demolith- 
ing and defacing every work of excellence 
immedijately after their victories: their 
fucceffes have ever been the prelude to de- 
firustion ; thole of the Englifh to melio- 
ration. 
Agriculture is the principal refource of 
this people; but, notwithitanding the 
abundance cf water, the land is neither 
very weil cultivated nor very fertile ; and 
though a valley, it does: not produce 
bread enough for the diminifhed inhabi- 
Bz tants- 
