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TURKIS MAGNA, OR TOURMAGNE.
VARIOUS have been the opinions and conje£tures advanced by different writers, as to the
occafion and time of the eredlion of this edificc. But as there are neither infcriptions nor
bafs-reliefs exifting which can prove with any certainty its origin, the Author fears it is
likely to remain a problem difficult, if not impoffible, perfeftly to refolve. He can therefore
only venture to offer to the public his own remarks on this fubjeft, adding at the fame
time the dimenfions and proportions of this fragment of antiquity as taken by himfelf
upon the fpot.
This ruin, which certainly attra6ls the attention of the curious more by its form and
ftupendous fize, than by the beauty of its architefture, is called Turris Magna, or Tourmagne,
fignifying a Great Tower : an appellation which feems to have been given to this
edifice of a much later date than that of its ere6tion, probably o\ving to its being higher,
and of courfe more confpicuous, than thofe which flanked the walls of the city; for it is
evident that this could not have been its original name, as it has neither the form of what
was called by the ancients a tower, nor even of any building made ufe of by the Romans
for a fimilar purpofe. It has however, fi^om its extreme height and conftniilion, been
fiippofed to have been intended at firlt as a watch or fignal tower, allowing that at that
period Uie fea extended to Nifmes, though in the fequel it will appear that it has been
fortified, having been ufed as a fort in tlie reign of Charles the Seventh of France; but
thefe fortifications were totally dcftroyed at tlie peace of lf32g.
The Axithor is led to fuppofe, from its remains in its prefent i-uinatcd ftate, that it was
originally ereited in honour of fomc great exploit relating to the eftabliihment of tlic colony,
or to fome viftory gained by the Romans over the neighbouring nations; in like
manner as the Turbia in the county of Nice, which was a trophy credled by tlie Senate of
Rome, and which now exhibits the appearancc of an old ruinated tower which has gi-eatly
fufFered from the barbarity of fucceffive ages. It ftands on the top of a mountain which
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