8

HINTS of

OCCURRENCES , &c.

table de hote till the next morning; when a gentleman of Mentz, who was himfelf but juft arrived, perceiving wewere ftrangers, entered politely into converlation with us. On relating to him our adventure, he told us it was thecuftom of that houfe, the Saint Efprit, to fupply a valet de place to every gentleman who came there, if only for aday; and that he imagined our omitting to conform to the cuftom, of which we were totally ignorant, had drawnupon us the refentment of the waiters, and the contempt of the guefts. I could not avoid concluding on this explana-tion of the matter, that the Saint Elprit, at Strafburg, was a very improper place of refort for a ftranger of anynation. I gave myfelf juft time to view the cathedral; and I took leave of the Saint Efprit, and the city of Strafburg,with the fame kind of good will I fhould have felt at my efcape from a hord of favages.

The cathedral is the largeft, and, I think, the fineft building of the kind I ever faw; it is of great antiquity, andpoflefles the peculiar honor, of having none but peers of France or counts of the empire for its canons. The gates, cor-relponding with the ftyle of the building, are of brafs : the ornaments with which the infide of this ftupendous pile isdecorated, are fo rich and abundant, that they aftonilh even thofe who are accuftomed to the churches of France.There is, notwithftanding, a degree of neatnefs, elegance, and fimplicity, in the tout enfemble of this church, which isvery difficult to be preferved, and is feldom found in places fo highly ornamented. It contains, among other thingsof great value, a bell that weighs nearly three tons ; in the compofition of which two tons and upwards of pure filverwere employed. The ftru£hire of the fteeple, which is the higheft in chriftendom, is admirable; the form ispyramidal: its fides have in many parts the appearance of being curioufty perforated, and thefe perforations, if I mayfo call them, which are of great ufe in admitting light and air to the infide, contribute greatly to its outward beautyand elegance. In this fteeple is fixed the celebrated clock, which befides the hours of the day, defcribes very corredtlythe motions of the planets : it is generally allowed to be a curious and wonderful piece of mechanifm; but its motionbeing by fome accident fufpended, I had no opportunity of viewing its boafted perfections. Strafburg is a place ofconfiderable ftrength, and is named as the moft ancient city in Germany*, but has nothing venerable in its appearance:the ftreets are extremely narrow, and the buildings very mean. The country round is an entire flat; deftitutc of thofeobjefts which commonly embellifh the environs of great cities, and difplay the various taftes of the inhabitants.

Leaving Strafburg, where we had the good fortune to procure a returned chaife for Manheim, at the moderateprice of one guinea and a half; we refted the firft night at Lautenburg; and proceeded the next day to Landau.We made this little circuit, hoping to find the country more diverfified and amufing than the fhores of the Rhine,which from Strafburg to Spire are as flat and tirefome to the eye as thofe from Baffil to Strafburg: but we gained^nothing by the exchange; the fame unwearied afpe<5t prefented itfelf the whole way. Landau is a place of confiderable

* It is faid to have been built 2000 years before the birth of Chrift.

ftrength;