rg, I was perfectly well again, and able to do ample
justice to her Splendid Pies! I attended high mass in the great
Cathedral of Strasbourg, and was surprised and pleased at the sight
of 10,000 soldiers, in review order, drawn up within its walls. It
was tiresome enough work mounting to the top of the spire, (which
I ascertained, by the steps I took, to be exactly 490 feet high,
Strasbourg measure; and this is exactly eight feet higher than St.
Peter's at Rome), but I made it out, notwithstanding the sulky looks
of the jackanapes who lives at the top. Nothing can surpass the beauty
of the view from this cathedral. At your feet you have the ancient
town, with all its regular fortifications and outworks--the majestic
Rhine, with its bridge of boats, and ruined Gothic bridge, sublime in
its decay--and as far as the eye can reach you have an exceedingly
rich country, everywhere speckled with towns, and fertilized by
luxuriant streams.

[1] Apropos--our _Supplement_ contains a fine Engraving of this
very spot.

I made a point of visiting my venerable friend, the old Comte de
Strasbourg, who, unchanged in the rolling on of centuries, lies in his
glass coffin, to all appearance in the same freshness of health and
vigour in which, when myself a very young man, I saw him many hundred
years ago;[1] his countess, his son, and his daughter, keep him
company, each in their separate place of repose. Alas, alas! the sight
made me weep.

[1] The venerable count died about the year 1519. The glass
coffins are still shown.

A few days afterwards, I was rather unexpectedly stopped in my tour.
For a night I had taken up my residence in the carriage of a young
Englishman, who that day arrived from Rome, the hostler having assured
me that he would remain for some time. I did so, as I found it much
quieter and cooler than the hotel "La ville de Lyon," which was
overcrowded. In the morning, I thought my friends were merely going a
short drive, so I kept my seat. We, however, travelled on till night,
when I heard we were bound for London; but as my companions were very
agreeable, I thought I might as well accompany them the whole way.
They seemed to be annoyed at every posthouse with their passports,
&c.; I was never even asked about the matter. The custom-house gentry,
in their searches, to be sure, occasionally gave me a little trouble,
but I was soon up to their tricks. We had an avant-courier constantly
galloping befo