mfort. The tradesmen have every appearance of
being in more substantial circumstances than is usual with the French
provincial dealers; their houses, therefore, are neat and in good
repair, the windows are not patched with paper, the wood-work is fresh
painted, and the pavement kept clean.

The name of the Huguenots, a party which so fatally divided France
during three reigns, originated in one of the gates of this city, which
is called the Hugon gate, from Hugo, an ancient count of Tours. In the
popular superstition and nursery tales of the country, this Hugo is
converted into a being somewhat between a fairy and a fiend, and even
the illustrious De Thou has not disdained to make mention of this
circumstance: "_Caesaro duni_," says this celebrated historian, "_Hugo
Rex celebratur, qui noctu Pomaeria civitatis obequitare, et obvios
homines pulsare et rapere dicitur_." Be this as it may, the party of the
Huguenots, according to Davila, having originated in this city, they
were thence called Huguenots, as a term of derision and reproach.

We visited the cathedral, which, with more decency than in England, is
open at all hours of the day, and is not exhibited for money. There
might be some excuse for this, where any of the subjects of exhibition
are portable, and such as might be carried away. But who would feel any
disposition to pilfer the wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, or the hat of
General Monk, in Westminster Abbey? Why, therefore, is not this
disgraceful practice thrown aside? Why is a nation converted into a
puppet-show? The English Minister would doubtless be ashamed to bring
the returns of these exhibitions amongst the ways and means of the year;
yet it is effectually the same to suffer these taxes to be taken as the
prices for seeing the public buildings of the nation. There is nothing
of this kind in America, or in any other kingdom in the world. The
cathedral of Tours has nothing to distinguish it except its antiquity,
two beautiful towers, and a library of most valuable manuscripts.
Amongst these there is a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the
alphabet of the country, upwards of eleven hundred years ago. There is
likewise a copy of the four Evangelists, written in Saxon letters, in
the beginning of the fifth century, about fifty years after Constantine
declared Christianity to be the religion of the Roman Empire. Next to
the cathedral, St. Martin's church is usually shewn to strangers. It is
the largest chur