your widely-circulating Miscellany, is very much at your service.

The Town of Port Louis is situated in a valley on the North west shore of the Island, and in latitude 20° 10' South, iongitude 57° 35′ East. It is on every side, except towards the Bay, surrounded by a screen of mountains of moderate height; this renders the air during the continuance of summer, excessively hot. The houses are mostly but one story bigh, and generally constructed of wood, with high ridged roofs, covered with shingles. The streets wear the appearance of some regularity, and the Town extends along the Bay for nearly two miles. The entrance, or mouth of the Harbour, is formed by a narrow neck of land on one side, and a small island connected by a causeway with the town in the other; the opening is less than one quarter of a mile over; it is defended by a battery at each point, and whilst the French held possession of the place, an iron chain was extended across, which shut up the entrance. On the whole, the space of water circumscribed, and which constitutes the Harbour, is very small, and not capable of containing many ships, although it is of considerable depth; there are two small Docks near the landing-place, and the Government-house extends with a uniform front to the Bay; it is an unfinished edifice, of three stories, consisting of an elevated front, with two wings of uniform height. The first story is constructed of stone, and ornamented with a colonade of the Doric order; the two upper stories are of wood, painted in imitation of stone, the whole structure is in the Spanish taste, being surrounded with galleries and balconies, and displays a magnificent appearance, particularly when contrasted with the neighbouring houses. The Church is a heap of ruins, which is much to be regretted, as the shell or body of the building exhibits a most elegant specimen of the modern Gothic style of architecture; it is built with the feruginous stone so peculiar to this island. The front is battlemental, and flanked with two square towers, in one of which is a clock. Opposite the edifice there is erected a stone cross, about ten feet in height; near to which there is a tombstone erected to the memory of one of our East India

captains, who died through excessive fatigue at the capture of the town. The roof of this structure (Church) being too elevated, and very heavily constructed, the walls were found to be insufficient to sustain the pressure, in consequence of which the foundation settled, and the pile now displays a melancholy picture of dilapidation, a great part of the materials having been appropriated to other purposes by the late French Government.

The Roman Catholic inhabitants attend divine service in a large temporary wooden house built within the dockyard, and the English civilians and soldiers in garrison occupy a house formerly a store, for the same purpose, but they are at present converting a gunpowder magazine into a church. Close to the water side there is an Exchange, for the accommodation of the merchants, at a small dis tance from the government-house, and conveniently situated at the entrance of the principal street; it is adorned with carved piazzas and benches for the ready dispatch of business. The Barracks are built at one extremity of the town; they form two large squares, surrounded with houses of one story, solidly constructed of stone; it is said they are capable of containing about 6000 troops.

In a direct line from the water side, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, there is a piece of inclosed ground of about 20 acres in extent, denominated the Champ de Mars; it is surrounded on every side by woods and mountains, except towards the town, which makes the heat here intolerable before sunset, at which time, particularly on Sundays, it is crowded with all the beauty and fashion of the place, who assemble to listen to the music of the bands attached to the garrison, and to enjoy the cool air, which is certainly a great luxury in this tropical region. From the petty mountain, a rocky elevation in the Champ de Mars, there is a most delightful prospect of the town, harbour, and shipping, and the entrance of the Indian Ocean, extending towards Bourbon. An unfinished monument is erected here to the memory of General Malantie, a predecessor of General De Caen in the Government of the Mauritius, and beneath it his body is interred; it is a single pillar of the Corinthian order, the

pedestal

pedestal of which represents an antique altar, and, according to the plan, was to have been crowned with an urn of gilt brass, and surmounted with a plumed helmet, the shaft of the pillar ornamented with medallions; the pedestal, and half of the shaft of the pillar, is finished, and if the whole had been completed, agreeable to the design (which is in the possession of Charles Stokes, esq.) it would have represented a most interesting and ornamented object in the foreground of this public promenade.

Sequestered in the bosom of a woody mountain, about a mile distant from this spot, the romantic Cottage of Paul and Virginia is still to be seen, surrounded with many of those picturesque scenes so pathetically ascribed by the pen of the philosopher St. Pierre, in his studies of Nature. At the most vulnerable point of the town, by which road the English entered it, there is an extensive suburb, called Malabar Town, chiefly inhabited by Chinese, Malays, and Lascars; at the extremity of this village there is a fortified line, which extends from the furthest angle of the Puss mountain to the sea shore, and which secures the town on that side; having passed this barrier, there is a most charming road, which extends through a woody country to the village of Pamplemousses, about eight miles distant from the town. Here is the celebrated Botanical Garden, denominated the King's garden; it is in extent nearly as large as Kensington, and improved with considerable taste, being adorned with shady alcoves, burrows, and canals of pure water; and the open country, from hence to the coast, is truly delightful, exhibiting all the majestic scenery of

Nature.

This town is well supplied with water from the grand river, a never failing source, and there are conduits almost in every street, The French government in the first instance were at great expence in sinking a number of iron pipes beneath the surface, and built a reservoir on an elevated part of the Champ de Mars, to receive and collect the streains from the adjoining mountains, in order to supply the town in case of a drought, which, in the summer season, they were ap. GENT. MAG. October, 1820,

prehensive might happen at some near or remote period; but this work, after its completion, from neglect and want of attention, has fallen into ruin, several of the pipes being overturned and fallen from the line of the channel, and the level of the water; in fact, it is now in a state of the most miserable dilapidation, aud the perfect part of it merely serves to convey a little stream of water to the College, once inhabited by St. Pierre.

In the summer season the rivulets are dried up, and you cross several bridges of some width in several parts of the town, without the least sign of water, but on the approach of winter the rains then descend in torrents.

The Theatre here is a regular piece of architecture, although executed in wood; it is of two stories, ornamented with a lofty flight of steps, by which you ascend into the body of the house through a magnificent portico. Detached from the gallery, there is a place set apart for the people of colour. From the paucity of performers, the pieces acted here are generally below mediocrity, and the scenery is a collection of miserable daubings.

Near the Exchange there is a circulating library, which is tolerably well-supplied with English books, which have accumulated in a great measure from the captures of English Indiamen, who generally take books out in speculation to India for sale. Attached to the Library there is a lounging and reading-room, supplied with newspapers.

During the continuance of the French, there was a most extensive Establishment here of a Naval Arsenal, the property of an individual of the name of Raundeaux; 500 persons were daily employed, and it furnished every requisite for the outfit and equipment of shipping; it is now on the decline. There is a naval yard contiguous, similar to Perry's at Blackwall, for building and repairing vessels, the property of Monsieur Piston.

The French have been indefatigable in their improvements in this town, considering the short time that they have held it in possession, being about (since 1720) ninety-three years. According to the statement of the judicious and learned Abbé Raynell, it cost the Old French Government,

in

in the expenditure and the establishment and local improvements, eight millions of livres per ann. which at 10d. each, amount to 333,000l. sterling. It is singular and unaccountable how the English were misinformed touching the state of defence of this island, and deterred from capturing it year after year, during the continuance of the late war, from a false opinion of its being impregnable, as there is scarcely a spot on the coast but what is vulnerable.

The population of this town is supposed to be about 8,000 Whites, and 14,000 Blacks and people of Colour. Yours, &c. A. SINNOT.

LETTERS FROM THE CONTINENT. (Continued from p. 132.) LETTER IX.

IN

Luxembourg, Aug. 18, 1818. N travelling we often meet with sour bread, and in general it is only good when quite new.

Amongst the things I omitted to see in Paris, the most curious are the Catacombs; these are immense collections of human bones, which oc cupy subterraneous caverns to a great extent under and adjoining the town. When the buildings were extended, and church-yards were turned into streets, the graves were opened, and the bones removed to these places. The arrangement of the bones is said to be extremely regular, and the sight of several millions of human remains, to be striking; however I felt no wish to see it.

In Paris and in the country, the usual breakfast is either cutlets and wine, or else fruit; the melons are of a noble size; in fact, every thing seems to grow on a larger scale than with us.

We reckon 4 or 5 miles to the French post; the books make it 5; it varies considerably. If a stage be less than four miles, it is never called less than a post; some posts are be tween five and six. We are usually driven near six miles an hour on good level road; about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour is spent in chang. ing horses, and the average length of a stage is 7 or 8 miles.

The finest champagne is produced in the neighbourhood of Rheims ; this name is pronounced as if written Rahnce in the word Paris the final

S is not sounded, in Senlis it is. On Sunday morning at half-past four, a great bell in Rheims Cathedral was rung for the commencement of morning services; but I did not rise till seven. Though our Inn, as I mentioned in my last, was as near the Cathedral as the Chapter Coffeehouse to York Minster; yet Precentor's Court at Rheims (I mean the street of which the Inn is the corner house) is a good wide one, and the West front of the Cathedral may be seen down it; on the North side the Cathedral is tolerably open. The West front is the principal feature of this Church, and is that for which Whittingham has extolled it above York Minster; it a good deal resembles Wells, but the statues and figures are nearly all perfect, and beautifully executed; the execution, and delicacy of workmanship in the finishing, even of the smallest figures, as well as the painted glass, must be admitted both here, at Amiens, and at the other Churches we have seen, to exceed our English Cathedrals.The two West towers are as nearly uniform as possible, but are rather too short, and there is no middle tower, but a sort of spike of wood towards the East end. After all which has been said of the West front, I think that of Amiens is superior in elevation and grandeur. The inside of this Cathedral, considering the size of it, which is only 264 feet in length, is very solemn and striking; the roof is lofty, and the pillars beautifully formed; the windows at the East and West end, and the upper windows throughout the Church, are filled with rich painted glass, in perfect preservation; blue is the predominant colour. On entering I was struck with the gloominess of the choir; it begins at some distance West of the transept, so as to comprehend part of what should be the nave, and against the North end of the transept is placed a large organ. The gloom I alluded to seems to be occasioned partly by the organ's blocking up a large window, and partly by the lower parts of all the windows being covered with great pieces of tapestry, which I understood to be only temporarily placed, in honour of the feast of the Assumption, which happened the day before. Near the organ is an old clock with

two

two sets of figures, which revolve as it is striking. The best part of the Cathedral is the West end, as seen within side from the East, and I know of nothing so beautiful or magnificent in any other Church. Immediately over the great West door, and within the arch of it, there is a large Catherine's wheel, above this a long window, and at the top another Catherine's wheel, filling the whole width of the aile. The effect of these three windows, all filled with the richest painted glass, cannot be described. Each of the buttresses without side the building has an ele gantly finished statue in perfect_repair. On the North side there is a large handsome door, the arch of which is filled with curious imagery, representing saints rising out of their tombs at the resurrection, most of them naked; there is also a saint who carries his own head in his hand, and another who has got his head on a dish, and appears praying to it; but one ought to know the legendary stories attached to these representations, which appear very ridiculous.

After breakfast we went to the mass, which began at nine and lasted till eleven; the whole of the nave and part of the side ailes were filled with people, chiefly well dressed females, all upon moveable chairs. In all the Cathedral Churches the choir is set apart for the priests and choristers, and for a few men who sit in the stalls, but the middle or floor of the choir is kept clear, that the people may have a full view of what goes on at the altar. In the middle of the mass, after the gospel, a sermon was preached by an old priest, from a pulpit placed on one side of the centre of the nave. It was short and quite extemporé; he used a great deal of action and variety of tone, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes raising himself still higher by a stool or hassock, sometimes putting on his black coif, then taking it off, throwing his arms about and beating the pulpit sides. All the chairs were turned so as to front him, which had a striking effect. The nave was so crowded that I could not get within it, and was obliged to be in the aile behind him, where I could only catch a sentence now and then; the subject was the evidences of religion, the duty of faith, and of a

correspondent practice. After ser mon, the priests proceeded with the sacramental parts of the mass: the organ was only used in symphonies, the choristers were accompanied by a serpent and clarionet. The per formers, vocal and instrumental, are usually priests, deacons, and what we should call lay choristers; they wear fine thin surplices, fitted closely to the arms and waist, and they all, except the officiating priests at the al tar, stand in the middle of the choir, in the place of our litany box, with their faces to the East; before them are two or three huge mass-books on elevated desks," bibles with the original music set to them." The Church was robbed of some altars and valu able ornaments at the Revolution, but in other respects has escaped very well. It is the place of the corona tion of the Kings of France, but the present King has not yet been crowned. I ascended the roof, and had a view of the town and neighbourhood; it is a very clean respectable looking place, with 36,000 inhabitants. The neighbouring country much resembles that near Amiens; there are woods near the town, but the distant country is quite open, and contains nothing but corn stubbles. It rises in moderate hills in all directions. From the galleries round the nave I had a fine view of the interior of the Church, and of its rich painted glass. I was shown the great bell, which weighs 23,000lbs. and is only rung four times a year; had we been here on Saturday, the Assumption, we should have heard it; it is a very handsome bell, of an immense size, and in the key of F. The centre of the West end has been lately cleaned up and put in a perfect repair, and the scaffolding is now before one of the side aile doors. Immediately over the principal entrance at this end is the following inscription:

"Deo optimo maximo,

Sub inve. Beatæ Mariæ Virginis. Templum seculo XIII. re-edificatum."

The Church of St. Remise is a handsome Gothic building, and is the only one, except the Cathedral, which drew our attention.

From Rheims we proceeded in the evening to VoUZIERS over a wold country, exactly resembling our own wolds; there were no trees except

about

about the villages, which were in little hollows, like Fridaythorpe, Kilham, &c. There was this difference in Yorkshire between this country and the wolds, that here nothing but corn is produced. This is such an unfrequented route that our postillion several times had to stop in villages to inquire the road. It was in many places so narrow a track that there was scarcely room for the carriage wheels, which, by the bye, occupy a space twice the width of the body of the carriage. Russian troops are quartered at Vouziers, and at all the villages on this road. Near Vouziers we got into a broad straight line of high road, an old turnpike which seemed as if it had not been repaired for a century; it was terribly rough and rutty. At Vouziers we found a dirty looking Inn, very little frequented; the landlord could not tell by our speech or appearance of what country we were, and we found that in the course of his life only two or three Englishmen had ever been at Vouziers: one of these was a Colonel, brought thither a prisoner, and without any money in his pocket, whom our host told us he had the compassion to entertain gratis. We sat down to supper with himself and two respectable French travellers; we had a very good supper of stewed veal, chickens, fruit, Swiss cheese, brandy, and wine. Our landlord, who made us two very profound bows at entering his house, and another at leaving it, kept his hat on the whole of supper time, and sat on one side of the table; after supper we hobDobbed with our glasses. I was disturbed in the night, both by bugs and by the yells of the Russian sentinels, who every half hour passed an hideous watchword or cry from post to post through the whole town.

Hi

therto our books and portmanteau, our great coats, and some loose halfpence, have been suffered to remain in the cabriolet all night, as we were assured they might do so with perfect safety, and we have found it to be so, for the poorest of the French are remarkably honest; but we were here recommended by the landlord to take every thing out, otherwise the Russian soldiers, many of whom were quartered in this Ino, would take possession of them. The charge

for supper and beds was 5 franks each, (4s. 2d.)

man,

August 17.-The Church of Vou. ziers (which is a small market-town) has three very fine Saxon arches. This morning one of the French travellers, a very respectable groomed, saddled, and bridled his horse, and set off on his journey; there is no one here to perform the part of ostler as with us. The packing of our portmanteaus was done by an old woman.

We had a very rough road to BOULT-AU-BOIS, and thence to BuZANCY, where we breakfasted at an unfrequented village Inn. The luns here are not resorted to as with us, for labourers, &c. to go and tipple at, but only for the entertainment of travellers; our hostess was quite civil and obliging, and did her utmost to make us a good breakfast. We travelled along a pleasant country, amongst woods and over gentle hills; the horses which drove us were taken from the plough, and the postillions were farmer's men, ignorant of the distances and of the proper charges. The Russian horses are black, and the men wear a dark green uniform, Near Vouziers we saw the Russian cavalry parading.

From Buzancy we proceeded to STENAY, a town on the river Meuse, where a number of Prussian troops are in barracks.

From thence to MONTMEDY we had a prospect of extensive reaches of open hilly country, with large forests in the distance. Montmedy is an old fortified town at the top of a steep hill, which on one side is almost perpendicular; it is at least as high as Scarborough Castle. The town extends, without side the ramparts and gates, to the foot of the hill, where our Inn was situated.

We had intended proceeding the same evening to LONGWYON, if not to LONGWY, but the delays from badness of road, and slowness of changing horses were such, that it was four o'clock when we arrived at Montmedy, where we learnt there was no post at Longwyon, and a stage of 23 miles of hilly bad road to Longwy.

We did not think it wise to set off under the probability of being thrown into the dark before we reached Longwy, and spent

the