United States or Faroe Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
For Carcassonne is moving, beyond a doubt; and the traveller who in the course of a little tour in France may have felt himself urged, in melancholy moments, to say that on the whole the disappointments are as numerous as the satisfactions, must admit that there can be nothing better than this.
It has not been preserved in lava like Pompeii, and its streets and houses, its ramparts and castle, have become fragmentary, not through the sudden destruction, but through the gradual withdrawal, of a population. It is not an extinguished, but a deserted city; more deserted far than even Carcassonne and Aigues-Mortes, where I found so much entertainment in the grass-grown element.
After a time he said musingly: "Ah! how all these names, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Languedoc, bring back to me the memory of my namesake of olden times, Richard I. of England. This, over which we are floating, was the land of the Troubadours, and Richard was the very Prince of Troubadours. With all his faults England never had a king like him!"
The attitude and position of Carcassonne enforce its character.
So it happened that when Captain Arms announced that the Ark was passing over the ancient city of Carcassonne, Cosmo, the king, De Beauxchamps, Amos Blank, and the captain were all together on the bridge. When Captain Arms mentioned their location, King Richard became very thoughtful.
Let the reader take up Albert Duerer's delightful little engraving of the Hermit, and compare the background of a German walled town and castle on a height with La Cite, Carcassonne, and he will see how vast is the difference in quality of picturesqueness between the two. The Cite is actually enclosed within double ramparts, and a portion of these dates from the time of the Visigoths.
Under existing circumstances, his object was to humble the enemies of his party and to support the favourite who had assisted to overcome them. A contrary zeal animated the Bishop of Carcassonne, who urged that "the King ought to receive the sacrament; and by expelling the concubine to give an example of repentance to France and Christian Europe, which he had scandalised."
But this I know and foretell that you will never come to Carcassonne." Instantly there was a buzz of talk telling of Carcassonne some had heard of it in speech or song, some had read of it, and some had dreamed of it. And the king sent Arleon of the Harp down from his right hand to mingle with the Weald-folk to hear aught that any told of Carcassonne.
Our peregrinations made it very clear that Carcassonne was impregnable; it is impossible to imagine, without having seen them, such refinements of immurement, such ingenuities of resistance.
After that I am free to say that the restoration of Carcassonne is a splendid achievement. The little custodian dismissed us at last, after having, as usual, inducted us into the inevitable repository of photographs. After leaving it and passing out of the two circles of walls, I treated myself, in the most infatuated manner, to another walk round the Cité.
Word Of The Day