s, assists in giving it the
air of a temporary range of building for a loyal fete. Not so the
beautiful[6] Pont de Tilsit, by which you cross the Saone soon
afterwards. This bridge, built by Buonaparte, to commemorate the treaty
of Tilsit, unites elegance, solidity, and chasteness of design in a very
great degree. Some of the stones, which I measured, are eighteen feet in
length, and proportionably large, and altogether it reminded me of
Waterloo bridge upon a smaller scale, and divested of its columns. The
cathedral, which stands on the other side of the Saone, nearly at the
foot of this bridge, is a venerable black old building of great
antiquity, and though far inferior to those of Beauvais, Tours,
Abbeville, or Rouen, in its general outline, possesses many detached
parts of rich and curious architecture. It bears no marks of the
devastation which it suffered in the Revolution, or during the late war,
when, as we were told, the Austrians stabled their horses in it. Much of
its repair has been owing to Cardinal Fesch, the late archbishop. The
windows, rich as they are, have a gloomy effect, from being entirely
composed of painted glass; and prevented us from distinguishing much
very clearly. A statue of John the Baptist, however, crowned with
artificial roses, should not be forgotten. A considerable part of the
old town of Lyons lies on this side of the Saone; but as it will not
repay the trouble of exploring, the traveller will do well to proceed
immediately, or rather climb, to the church of Notre Dame de Fourvieres.
The fame of peculiar sanctity which this church enjoys, attracts many
daily visitors from Lyons, though from its situation, it reminds one of
the chapel in Shropshire, which as country legends tell, "the devil
removed to the top of a steep hill to spite the church-goers." The
continual resort of all ranks hither has attracted also a host of
beggars, who have taken their stations in the only footway leading up
to the church, some singly, some in parties, every four or five yards,
and all besetting you in full chorus. The same cause has drawn to the
terrace in front of the church a seller of Catholic legends, who to suit
all tastes, mingles the spiritual, the secular, and the loyal, in his
profession. The legend of St. Genevieve, Le Testament de Louis XVI.,
L'Enfant Prodigue, Damon and Henriette, Judith and Holofernes, and Le
Portrait du Juif ambulant, might all be bought at his stall, adorned
with blue an