the
wit to prefer free limbs and fresh air to a prison, it would be all that is
agreeable and genteel. It seems to be thought, that a certain ci-devant
leader of fashion has chosen Calais as his place of voluntary exile, out of
a spirit of contradiction. But the truth is, he had the good sense to see
that he might "go farther and fare worse;" and that, at any rate, he would
thus secure himself from the intrusions of that "good company," which had
been his bane. By-the-by, his last "good thing" appertains to his residence
here. Some one asked him how he could think of residing in "such a place as
Calais?" "I suppose," said he, "it is possible for a gentleman to _live_
between London and Paris."

The interior of Calais I need not describe further, except to say that
round three-fourths of it are elevated ramparts, overlooking the
surrounding country to a great extent, and in several parts planted with
trees, which afford most pleasant and refreshing walks, after pacing the
somewhat perplexing pavements of the streets, and being dazzled by the
brilliant whiteness which reflects from that, and from the houses. The
port, which occupies the other fourth, and is gained by three streets
parallel to each other, and leading from the "Place," is small, but in
excellent order, and always alive with shipping, and the amusing operations
appertaining thereto; and the pier is a most striking object, especially
at high water, when it runs out, in a straight line, for near three
quarters of a mile, into the open sea. It is true our English
engineers--who ruin hundreds of their fellow citizens by spending millions
upon a bridge that nobody will take the trouble to pass over, and cutting
tunnels under rivers, only to let the water into them when they have got
all the money they can by the job--would treat this pier with infinite
contempt as a thing that merely answers all the purposes for which it was
erected! as if _that_ were a merit of any but the very lowest degree. "Look
at Waterloo Bridge!" they say; "we flatter ourselves _that_ was not a thing
built (like the pier of Calais) merely for use. Nobody will say that any
such thing was wanted! But, what a noble monument of British art, and what
a fine commemoration of the greatest of modern victories!" True: but it
would have been all this if you had built it on Salisbury Plain; and in
that case it would have cost only half the money. The pier of Calais is, in
fact, every thing that it ne