Paris and London—St.
Goar—Coblentz—Royal Saxon Guards—Ruins of
Ehrenbreitstein—Andernach—The Devil's
House—Lowdersdorf—Linz—Bonn—Illuminations, Balls, &c.—End of
the Picturesque Scenery—Boat driven on Shore—Walk to Cologne—A
vast and gloomy City—Simile of Dr. Johnson's—Few Country Houses on
the Rhine—Rubens—His excellence as a Painter and his great
Modesty—Juliers—Aix la Chapelle—Its Antiquity—Waters—Pleasant
Situation—Population not equal to its
Estent—Burscheid—Manufactures of Cloth, &c.—Cathedral—Sunday ill
observed—Liege—A large and extremely dirty
City—Booksellers—Cutlery—Distress of the
Manufacturers—Thieves—Bad Money—Expeditions Public
Carriage—Axiom of Rousseau—St.Tron—Chimes—Tirlemont, its much
reduced Manufactures
278


CHAP. XVII.
Population of the Netherlands—Louvain—Its Public
Buildings—University—Character of the Belgians—By some
represented as the worst in Europe—That Statement probably
overcharged—Extortion—John Bull at Paris—French Kitchens,
&c.—Breweries—Roads—Taste in Gardening—Canals not an agreeable
mode of Travelling—Heavy Taxes—Unsettled Political State—Vast
Numbers of English at Brussels—Its Extent, Population and
Appearance—The Park—Anecdote of Peter the Great—Town
House—Churches—Collections of Paintings—Anecdote of
Bassano—Hotels—Table d'Hote, like the Tables at
Cheltenham—Expence of Living—Houses—Jurourin—Forest of
Sogne—House of Correction compared with ours—Walk round the
City—Fortified Towns—Sieges of Ostend, Valenciennes, Troy and
Azotus—Malines—Considerations on its Decline—Its
Silk—Population—Buildings—Manner of cutting the Trees near the
Roads—Antwerp, its Importance—Docks—River—Riches of
Belgium—Buildings at Antwerp—Accuracy of the Flemish
Painters—Appearance of the Country—The Inns not equally decorated
with those in Germany—Wooden Shoes
296


CHAP. XVIII.
Ghent—Its great Size—Decreased in Populalation and
Consequence—Charles
V.—D'Arteville—Canals—Trade—Buildings-Prison—Land and Water
Travelling—Ostend and Bruges—Derivation of Bourse—Noisy and
Silent Travellers—Proficiency of Foreigners in English—Taste in
Bonnets—Sportsmen without Game—Courtray—Dogs Drawing—Boundary
Stone of France—Custom House—Passports, Danger of being
without—Lille—Fortified by
Vauban—Population—Buildings—Theatre—Society—Œconomical
Residence-Remarkable View from
Cassel—Berg—Fens—Canals—Dunkirk—First Impressions—The Origin
of its Name—Buildings and Population—Flemish Language—Of the
Union of Belgium with France—Political Consideration—Dunkirk sold
by Charles II.—Lord Clarendon's House so called—Its Fortifications
demolished—Gravelines—-Its strong Situation—Liberty and
Equality—Cheap Travelling—Calais the last English Possession in
France—Contrary Winds—French Officers displeased at the
Theatre—General Jealousy of England—Embark on board a French
Packet—Loquacity of the French—Arrival in England—Its Superiority
to other Countries
317

A TOUR THROUGH SOME PARTS OF FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, &c. &c.

CHAP. I.

I had long been desirous of visiting the Continent, but the long continuance of the war, and the little prospect which lately appeared of its termination, seemed to afford no chance for the accomplishment of my wish. At a period, however, when that arbitrary power, which had so long held in subjection the other nations of the Continent, sought to overthrow the only monarch who dared to oppose it, and to claim for his subjects the natural rights from which they had been excluded by the "Continental System," it pleased Divine Providence to destroy the fetters which enslaved the nations of Europe, as if to try, whether in the school of adversity, they had learned to merit the blessings of independence. These great and glorious changes, the reality of which it was at first difficult to believe, having opened to the subjects and commerce of Britain, countries from which they had been for so many successive years proscribed, it was not long before numbers of British repaired to the continent to indulge that love of roving for which they had been always distinguished (and which a long war had suppressed but not eradicated) and to claim from all true patriots, in the countries they visited, that friendly reception to which the long perseverance and vast sacrifices of England, during a struggle unexampled in history, had so justly entitled the lowest of her subjects.

The unsettled state in which most part of the Continent necessarily remained for a little time after the entrance of the Allies into Paris, did not afford the most favourable moment for the journey of one who was not a military traveller; and I did not regret that business prevented my leaving England for a few months after the opening of the Continent, as I had the gratification of being a witness, in the British metropolis, to the exultation of all ranks of men; first, at seeing the legitimate monarch of France arrive there in company with our illustrious Regent who having long contributed to lessen the afflictions of the exiled Count de Lille, had first the satisfaction (to which he, amongst all the sovereigns of Europe, was best entitled, by the great part, which under his government, England had performed for the cause of European liberty) of saluting him as King of France, amidst the