ommanding French general, Renet, is in the
frontispiece. A good copy of this interesting work should always grace
the shelves of an historical collector. Brunet notices a copy of it
UPON VELLUM, in some monastic library in Lorraine. [Three days have
not elapsed, since I saw a similar copy in the possession of Messrs.
Payne and Foss, destined for the Royal Library at Paris. A pretty,
rather than a magnificent, book.]

[201] See page 362.

[202] When this 'chaussee,' or route royale, was completed, it was so
admired, that the ladies imitated its cork-screw shape, by pearls
arranged spirally in their hair; and this head dress was called
_Coiffure a la Saverne_.

_LETTER XIII._

STRASBOURG. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION. THE CATHEDRAL. THE
PUBLIC LIBRARY.

_Hotel de l'Esprit, July 26, 1818_.

MY DEAR FRIEND;

It is Sunday; and scarcely half an hour ago, I heard, from a Lutheran
church on the other side of the water, what I call good, hearty, rational
psalm-singing: without fiddles or trombones or serpents. Thus, although
considerably further from home, I almost fancied myself in old England.
This letter will touch chiefly upon topics of an antiquarian cast, but of
which I venture to anticipate your approbation; because I have long known
your attachment to the history of ALSACE--and that you have Schoepflin's
admirable work[203] upon that country almost at your finger's ends. The
city of Strasbourg encloses within its walls a population of about fifty
thousand souls. I suspect, however, that in former times its population was
more numerous. At this present moment there are about two hundred-and fifty
streets, great and small; including squares and alleys. The main streets,
upon the whole, are neither wide nor narrow; but to a stranger they have a
very singular appearance, from the windows being occasionally covered, on
the outside, with _iron bars_, arranged after divers fashions. This gives
them a very prison-like effect, and is far from being ornamental. The
glazing of the windows is also frequently very curious. In general, the
panes of glass are small, and circular, confined in leaden casements. The
number of houses in Strasbourg is estimated at three thousand five hundred.

There are not fewer than forty-seven bridges in the interior of the town.
These cross the branches of the rivers _Ill_ and _Bruche_--which empty
themselves into the _Rhine_. The fortific