of France, it has a garrison of ten thousand men, and the drums
and bands play from morning to evening, much to the delight of the
children, at all events. It is a well-built town, although the houses
are most of them of very ancient date, with three stories of
_mansardes_, in their high-peaked roofs. I am rather partial to the
Alsatian character; it is a combination of French, Swiss, and German,
which make a very good cross. Not being in any particular hurry, I have
remained here ten days, and I will say for Strasbourg, that it has many
recommendations. It is lively and bustling; the walks outside the
ramparts are beautiful, and living is very reasonable. It has, however,
the reputation of being a very unhealthy place, and, I am afraid, with
truth. It is singular that the beautiful cathedral, although it has
already suffered so much by lightning, has not yet been fitted with a
conductor. There was a meeting of the dignitaries some years back; some
argued in favour and some against it, and it ended in neither party
being persuaded, and nothing being done. I met another Englishman here,
to whom the question might so properly be put, "What the deuce are you
doing here?" An old worthy, nearly seventy, who, after having passed
his fair allowance of life very happily in his own country, must,
forsooth, come up the Rhine, without being able to speak a word of
French, or any other language but his own. He very truly told me that
he had just begun to see the world at a time that he should be thinking
of going out of it. He honoured me with the office of interpreter as
long as he stayed, and I was not sorry to see him booked for the
steam-boat, all the way to the London Custom House stairs.

There is one remarkable point about the town of Strasbourg, which is,
that the Protestants and Catholics have, I believe always, and do now,
live in a state of amity which ought to be an example to others. In
running over the history of the town, I do not find that they ever
persecuted each other; but if they have not persecuted each other, I am
shocked to say that they have not spared the Jews. At the time of the
plague, they accused the Jews of having occasioned it by poisoning the
wells, and only burnt alive _two thousand of them at once_! I wonder
when the lightning struck the cathedral they did not drown two thousand
more in the Rhine--strange Christianity! when smitten by the hand of
God, to revenge themselves by smiting