ance of the _Caffes_, and several _Places_, had
quite a new and imposing effect; they being somewhat after the Parisian
fashion. After a day of dust, heat, and rapid motion, a seat upon one of
the stone-benches of the garden--surrounded by dark green trees, of which
the tops were tipt with silver by the moon beam--could not fail to refresh
and delight me: especially as the tranquillity of the place was only
disturbed by the sounds of two or three groups of _bourgeoises_, strolling
arm in arm, and singing what seemed to be a popular, national air--of which
the tune was somewhat psalm-like. The broad walks abounded with bowers, and
open seats; and the general effect was at once singular and pleasing. The
Hotel-Royal is an excellent inn; and the owners of it are very civil
people.

My first visits were paid to churches and to bookseller's shops. Of
churches, the _Cathedral_ is necessarily the principal. It is large, lofty,
and of an elegant construction, of the Grecian order: finished during the
time of Stanislaus. The ornamental parts are too flaunting; too profuse,
and in bad taste. This excess of decoration pervades also the house of the
Governor; which, were it not so, might vie with that of Lord Burlington;
which it is not unlike in its general appearance. In the Cathedral, the
monument of Stanislaus, by Girardon, is _considered_ to be a chef-d'ouvre.
There was a Girardet--chief painter to Stanislaus, who is here called "the
rival of Apelles:" a rival with a vengeance! From thence I went to an old
church--perhaps of the thirteenth, but certainly of the fourteenth century.
They call it, I think, _St. Epreuve._ In this church I was much struck with
a curious old painting, executed in distemper, upon the walls of a side
aisle, which seemed to be at least three hundred years old. It displayed
the perils and afflictions of various Saints, on various emergencies, and
how they were all eventually saved by the interposition of the Virgin. A
fine swaggering figure, in the foreground, dressed out in black and
yellow-striped hose, much delighted me. Parts of this curious old picture
were worth copying. Near to this curiosity seemed to be a fine, genuine
painting, by Vandyke, of the Virgin and Child--the first exhibition of the
kind which I had seen since leaving Paris. It formed a singular contrast to
the picture before described. On quitting this old church, I could not help
smiling to observe a bunch of flowers, in an old mustar