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trast between the solemn appearance of this dead,' and the gayety and dissipation of the living, which is built over it!

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LYONS.

Lyons, situated at the conflux of the Rhone and Saone, has long ranked as the second city in France, and contains about 115,000 inhabitants. Its situation is delightful, but it has little pretensions to elegance of architecture. The streets cross each other at right angles, but they are in general extremely narrow, and many of them are dark and gloomy. The houses are mostly of hewn stone, generally of five or six stories, and built in a heavy style of architecture. In the new parts of the town the buildings display considerable elegance, and there are some handsome squares and fine promenades.

Lyons carries on an extensive trade, not only with Paris and other French cities, but also with foreign countries. It ranks as the first city in France with regard to manufactures, and is particularly noted for its silks, which have heretofore comprised more than half of the whole silk fabrics manufactured in the kingdom. The neighbourhood of Lyons is one of the pleasantest parts of France, being not only more fertile and beautiful, but also more populous than the vicinity of Paris,

MARSEILLES.

Marseilles, situated on the Mediterranean, contains 110,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by rocky hills, encompassed with walls, four miles in circuit, and divided into Old and New Town. The former has narrow and dirty streets, with ill built houses; the latter, comprising two thirds of the whole, is equal in beauty to any town in France, having straight and spacious streets, with houses remarkably elegant. The street, which separates the New from the Old Town, is one of the finest in Europe. Marseilles is the greatest seaport of the kingdom, a place of extensive commerce, and the chief outlet of the manu factures and natural productions of the south of France.

BORDEAUX.

Bordeaux, situated on the Garonne, 47 miles above its mouth, contains 91,000 inhabitants. It contains a number of elegant edifices, but the interior of the city is not handsome, the streets being generally narrow, crooked, and badly paved. In regard to maritime commerce, Bordeaux ranks among the French towns second only to Marseilles. It is celebrated for its exports of wine, amounting annually to about 100,000 pipes.

ROUEN.

Rouen, situated on the Seine, 70 miles above its mouth, contains 87,000 inhabitants. It is an ancient city, situated in a fertile and pleasant country, with beautiful environs. The houses are high, mostly of wood, and of an antiquated style, the streets very narrow, and the interior of the town not very pleasant. The cathedral is a very magnificent Gothic edifice, one of the finest in France. The front is of exquisite workmanship. One can hardly imagine it possible, that stone can be so highly wrought, rivalling, as it does, the delicacy of paper, and the fineness of lace. The spire is very elegant and lofty, said to be 410 feet high. Rouen is one of the greatest manufactur ing towns in France, celebrated particularly for its cottons, and is to France almost what Manchester is to England.

VERSAILLES-PALACE.

Versailles is pleasantly situated 12 miles W. by S. of Paris, and contains 28,000 inhabitants. It is celebrated chiefly for its palace, built at great expense by Louis XIV., and rendered the most magnificent royal residence in Europe. It is situated on rising ground, and is approached by three great avenues, each lined with double rows of trees. The front and wings are built of polished stone, ornamented with statues, and a colonnade of Doric order in the centre. The interior is equally grand and beautiful, the great hall being, about 220 feet in length, with costly decorations in marble, painting, and gilding. The other apartments are of corresponding size and elegance.

Versailles having from its situation but little water, it was necessary to bring a supply from a distance by machinery. This was executed on a grand scale; and no city or royal residence can boast a greater display of reservoirs, fountains, and canals. The spacious park and gardens, situated behind the palace, contain parterres, jets d'eau, cascades, and thickets, in pleasing variety; also a magnificent orangery. The expense of these works amounted to many millions sterling; but since 1789, the palace has been uninhabited; and Versailles now presents the sad picture of grandeur in decay.

NISMES ANTIQUITIES.

Nismes is situated about 70 miles NW. of Marseilles, and contains about 40,000 inhabitants. It is built on the side of a hill covered with vineyards, and has considerable manufactures. It was anciently a fine city, and is now chiefly remarkable for its Roman antiquities, which are numerous and splendid.

The amphitheatre, standing in the lower part of the city, is an object of great interest. It was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius, is better preserved than either that of Rome or Verona, and is indeed the finest monument of the kind existing. It is of an oval form, 407 feet long, and 1,080 in circumference, being capacious enough to contain 20,000 spectators. The architecture is of the Tuscan order, 60 feet high, composed of two open galleries, built one over another, consisting each of 60 arcades. The grand circle is entire; its columns, porticoes, and most of its ornaments, are in good preservation. It exhibits an admirable union, symmetry, and solidity; the stones being of great size, of the finest kind, and are held together by cramps of brass.

Near the amphitheatre is the Maison Quarrée, an ancient édifice, exhibiting the most exquisite beauties of architecture and sculpture. It is 76 feet in length, 38 in breadth, and 64 in height. It has six columns in front, and 10 on each side; the height of them is 27 feet; and they are all of the Corinthian order. The building is greatly admired, by connoisseurs in architecture, for its admirable proportions and beautiful sculpture. Though built in the reign of Augustus, it has been but little injured by time,

and remains as striking a monument as exists of Roman grandeur and taste.

There are many other interesting antiquities, among which are a remarkable building, styled the Fountain, containing remains of Roman baths; an ancient temple, called the Temple of Diana; and an ancient tower, upwards of 200 feet in height.

PONT DU GARD.

The Pont du Gard is a celebrated Roman aqueduct bridge, nine miles NE. of Nismes. It stands over the river Gard, or Gardon, and connects two mountains situated on the opposite sides. It is 157 feet in height, 530 in length at the bottom, and 872 at the top. It consists of three tiers of arches, the first having 6 arches, the second 11, and the third 35. It supports a canal of four feet in width, and five in depth, lined with a strong cement, which is as fresh now as when it was built. It was built in the Augustan age by the Roman colony of Nismes, to convey a stream between the two mountains for the use of that city.

The road to Nismes is turned out of its direct course in order to pass by this aqueduct, and a bridge is thrown over the Gardon close to its eastern side. The appear

ance of this monument is the more remarkable from its situation, in the midst of a solitary desert, over a stream roaring among the rocks, forming a number of pretty cascades, and overshadowed, on each side, by trees; the whole conspiring to render the effect more striking, and the admiration more lively. The order of architecture is Tuscan, and its preservation is so perfect, that it appears as fresh as a modern bridge of a few years standing. Its grandeur and symmetry have excited the admiration of every traveller. Rousseau declares the Romans alone were capable of producing such a work.

VAUCLUSE.

The fountain of Vaucluse is situated a few miles from Avignon. At the termination of the valley of Vaucluse, is a huge perpendicular rock, rising to the height of 600 feet; within this rock is the cavern in which the fountain rises. It is overhung and surrounded by huge rocks and

mountains; the entrance of the cavern is 60 feet in height, and before it rises an immense rock, which quite conceals it; through this rock the water filters, gushing out at its base in innumerable little streams. Such is the ordinary state of the fountain; but when in the spring the snows of the mountains melt, the water rises above the rock, and forms a remarkable cascade. The quantity of water is so great, that it forms at once a river, called the Sorgues, which is capable of driving mills, and bearing boats.

This fountain has been immortalized by Petrarch, who has been styled the father of modern poetry, and who is no less famous for his romantic passion for his mistress Laura, than for his poetic genius. The residence of these lovers was in the vicinity of Vaucluse.

INHABITANTS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS.

See Plate, No. 44.

The French are slender, active, well proportioned, but rather short. Their eyes and hair are black, and their complexions dark or sallow, which it has been thought gave rise to painting the face among the ladies. The French ladies are more celebrated for their vivacity and wit, than for personal beauty; many, however, have very interesting countenances; but their beauty consists rather in expression than feature. The female peasants, in general, are remarkably deficient in beauty, much more so than women of the same class in England. The higher classes are very attentive to the exercises of dancing, fencing, and riding, in the practice of which they excel all their neighbours, in skill and gracefulness.

The essence of the French character is an exuberance of animal spirits, producing a perpetual and restless activity. They are quick, ingenious, fertile in expedients, rising above every difficulty or adversity; but mutable, trifling, confident, vain, credulous, and incapable of moderation. With much that renders them amiable in society, as readiness to oblige, delicate attentions, kind sympathy, and lively sensibility, they are often unsafe, in their intercourse, from laxity of principle, unmeaning professions, jealous irritability, and strong disposition to intrigue. Their feelings verge to every kind of excess; and there is nothing, either good or bad, of which they are not ca

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