racter, to have been
erected on some sudden emergency; from these, however, the noble Pont de
Tilsit, near the cathedral, claims an exception. Long before we
approached this last bridge, however, the boat reached the diligence
office, and our porter dived with us to the left, through a succession
of courts and streets as high and gloomy as the cavern of Posilipo. We
emerged into the Place de Terreaux, and took up our quarters opposite to
the Hotel de Ville, a formal, but fine old building.

CHAP. III.

LYONS.

EVERY traveller on his first arrival at a large place of any interest,
and where his time is limited, must have experienced a difficulty in
classing and forming, as it were, into a mental map, the various objects
around him, and in familiarizing his eye with the relative position of
the most striking features. To meet this difficulty, I should advise any
one visiting Lyons, to direct his first walk to the eastern bank of the
Rhone, and after crossing a long stone bridge called the Pont la
Guillotiere, to follow the course of the river for about a mile along
the meadows, towards its junction with the Saone. From this point of
view, Lyons really presents a princely appearance.[5] The line of quays
facing the Rhone, and which constitute the handsomest and most imposing
part of the city, extend along the opposite bank in a lengthened
perspective, in which the Hotel Dieu and its dome form a central and
conspicuous feature. In the back ground, the heights which divide the
Rhone and Saone from each other rise very beautifully, covered with
gardens and country seats. More to the left, and on the other side of
the Saone, the hill of Fourvieres (anciently Forum Veneris) presents a
bold landmark, and forms a very characteristic back-ground to the city.
Instead of continuing his walk towards the junction of the Rhone and the
Saone, which possesses nothing worthy of notice, I should recommend the
traveller to re-cross the Pont la Guillotiere, and make for this
eminence. In his way he may pass through the Place Louis le Grand,
formerly the Place de Bellecour, of the architecture of which the
Lyonnais are very proud, and which is a marked spot in the revolutionary
history of Lyons. Though on a costly and extensive plan, its proportions
want breadth, and are too much frittered away to convey the idea of
grandeur or solidity; and the inscription Vive le Roi, which occupies a
place on two of its sides, in enormous letter