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DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 'i 1 w d ipiicDW 
 
 Brest HairliOiir. 
 
 Brest, one of the principal towns of the ancient province 
 of Britany, and now the seat of the sous-prefecture of Finis- 
 tere, lies to the westward of Paris, in 6°-49 east longitude, and 
 in t8°-23-14 north latitude; its distance from Paris is 138 
 leagues. 
 
 In the explanation we are about to give of the picture 
 which represents a View of Brest Harbour, we propose fol¬ 
 lowing the order that has been adopted by the authors of the 
 Diorama. 
 
 The view is taken from within the Rose Battery, so called 
 from its position on the top of a rock named the Rose, owing 
 to its form, which reminds us of the diamond bearing that 
 name. The rock is at the entrance, on the right of the 
 harbour. 
 
 1. Gate of the Rose Battery ,—This gate, painted green, 
 as well as those of the whole enclosure, is the entrance to a 
 battery which commands the road on the eastern side, defends 
 the mouth of the harbour, with the assistance of several other 
 batteries (the masked one for instance) lined with guns of the 
 largest size, and the royal battery lined with twenty-four 
 brass pieces of cannon, and renders its approach impossible for 
 a hostile squadron. 
 
 2. The a round for cannon shot, close by the Rose Battery. 
 
 3. Magdalen Tower. —This tower forms part of an old 
 castle which defends the approach to Brest, by the road. 
 
 4. Brest Tower. —From our present point of observation, it 
 is the second tower of the irregular castle, whose ruins afford 
 a curious field for research. 
 
 5. North-EasH end of the Castle —'This platform bears no 
 resemblance to a fortification, with the exception of its ex¬ 
 terior lines. In the direction of Brest, it forms a continua- 
 
(4) 
 
 tion of the citadel of the castle. The children of ihe neigh¬ 
 bourhood have chosen this ground for the theatre of their 
 amusements. 
 
 6. The machine for masting ships of large dimensions .— 
 This ingeniously erected machine rests upon a level base of 
 considerable size and elevation. The combination of powers 
 in this invention for masting, the finest of any iin the French 
 military harbours, is of a very simple nature; its motion is 
 very quick, and its strength adequate to the greatest efforts. 
 Ships of the line undergo the process of masting and nn- 
 masting, in less than one hour. 
 
 At the foot of the masting machine, and a little further on, 
 is a creek called the masting creek. This, and another point 
 close upon the harbour gate, which are discovered below the 
 small steeple N°. 10, to be noticed hereafter, are the 
 
 usual points of communication between Brest and Recou- 
 vrance. 
 
 Issuing from the gate which is near the masting machine 
 and closes the quay, a street is perceived on the 
 
 right hand, the lower extremity of which is below the 
 
 level of the higher extremity of the whole elevation of 
 
 the platform N°. 5. A single staircase of 100 steps connects 
 the higher with the lowtr point of this street, called the 
 Seven Saints, a name which it derives from an old church, 
 founded under the patronage of the Seven Martyrs who were 
 canonised in the early days of the Christian era. 
 
 A street, or rather a road rendered practicable for carriages, 
 leads from the extremity of the street above mentioned to the 
 citadel of the castle, and directly in front of that beautiful 
 promenade, the Hours d'Ajot. 
 
 This promenade, of which we discover a few trees above the 
 castle, consists of four rows of young elms forming three spa¬ 
 cious long avenues. It begins at the walls of the castle, and ex¬ 
 tends to the ramparts. A protection wall, which connects the 
 fortified works of Brest with the citadel, extends breast high 
 along the Hours d’Ajot, from whence the eye embraces a 
 roadsted of about nine leagues in circumference. This 
 view is undoubtedly the finest that cau be imagined. 
 
 7. The Telegraph of St. Louis' T'ower.— This telegraph is 
 in communication with Paris; the first signals are with the 
 height which commands Brest on the side of Landcrnau. 
 
 The church of St. Louis, above the telegraph in question, 
 is rather spacious; it bears no stamp of that sublime style 
 
(5) 
 
 that prevailed at the time of its construction. Its archi¬ 
 tecture is poor, and devoid of ornament. This edifice is 
 said to have cost upwards of 300,000 livres. 
 
 8. The Hospital .—The Jesuits possessed, close to the 
 church of St. Louis, a seminary, the buildings of which, of 
 little extent in the origin, but afterwards augmented by 
 others of a light form, that have been erected on the scite of 
 the old gardens of the convent, are destined for the reception 
 of the sick and wounded belonging to ali the military corps, 
 and especially the navy. 
 
 Close to the old seminary stands the burned hospital. 
 This hospital, which was set fire to several years back, is 
 reserved for the inhabitants of Brest. It is entirely civil in 
 its destination. 
 
 Between this edifice, and the hospital of St. Louis are ob¬ 
 served some very fine quarters intended for the naval artillery. 
 
 8. (Bis.J A small observatory over the naval quarters. 
 
 9. A fountain upon the Quay .—This is a modern monument 
 done in a very plain style. 
 
 The quay upon which this fountain stands is lined with 
 ugly low houses. This part of the harbour is situated between 
 the Rose creek, and the creek of the Intendance, which is 
 chiefly for merchant vessels. 
 
 10. The Harbour Clock .—The small steeple discovered in 
 this place stands over an edifice, that ranks foremost of all 
 those which compose the arsenal of Brest built by Louis XIV, 
 in 16f59. The building seen above the Harbour Clock is occu¬ 
 pied by the pupils of the drawing academy, the library, the 
 offices of the naval town major, and of the harbour works. 
 One of the halls in this edifice goes by the name of the Hall 
 of Models. In this place are collected together, for the instruc¬ 
 tion of naval officers and pupils, the models of ships of every 
 size and dimension, whether of ancient or of modern forms; 
 the models of men of war of all classes; and copies, in small 
 proportions, of floating machines employed for various pur¬ 
 poses in the harbour. 
 
 Facing the clock is a dock for receiving frigates and cor¬ 
 vettes that have to undergo repairs; the entrance of this dock 
 is closed by a dam, that serves as a communication between 
 the quay of the general magazine and the harbour gate, 
 the opeuing of which is concealed from our view by the ex¬ 
 treme houses forming the angle of the commercial quay and 
 of the main street, the most considerable street in Brest. 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 11. The Bagnio, the higher and lower Rope Walks, dfc.—~ 
 These vast edifices, the longitudinal angles of which are seen 
 to extend in perspective lines as far as the fourth plan of the 
 picture, are the most considerable of the naval arsenal. The 
 lower parts consist of two distinct wings, comprising the rope 
 yards, and above them the Bagnio, an extensive building in 
 which are confined all prisoners condemned to chains and to 
 the painful works of the harbours, since the galleys have 
 been suppressed. 
 
 The rope yards are of nearly equal dimensions. We do not 
 exactly know of how many feet their length may consist; 
 but can safely affirm that it does not fall short of twice the 
 length of a first rate man of war’s cable, and may there¬ 
 fore be estimated at about 1200 feet. 
 
 Behind the edifices, the objects of which have just been 
 pointed out, the bason of the harbour forms, in turning to 
 the right, au angle of about seventy-five degrees; at one of the 
 extreme sides of the angle, that which is directly opposite 
 to the rope yards, in an inverse sense, a somewhat sharper 
 angle, and in the same direction an obtuse one, thereby pre¬ 
 senting that extremity of the harbour as the figure of Y with 
 its branches wide apart. 
 
 There are several buildings to be seen on both sides. On the 
 right, and in a line with the quays, the canons, and the 
 anchors, are found the store houses for prelars (tarred and 
 painted cloths), the wine stores, the awnings and magazines 
 /or pleasure boats, for making pulleys, &.c. Turning to 
 the right, at the extremity of the creek of the powder mill, is 
 the coopering store ; further on, in the same direction, the 
 shambles; on the left from the mouth of the Persfeld river, 
 whose waters fall into the bason of Brest harbour, are 
 seen a paper mill; the creek for the construction of small 
 corvettes and other vessels of little dimensions; the stocks, 
 called la Montagne, for building ship boats and small craft, the 
 masting magazine, the workhouses for the ornamentalsculplure 
 of ships, the joiners’ shops, the ordnance offices, and the exten¬ 
 sive building which we observe covered over with a half cylin¬ 
 drical roof, and resting upon a multitude of pillars formed like 
 short quadrangular pyramids. This building, indicated by 
 N°. 12, is the covered creek; under its covering the largest 
 sized ships are constructed. The Nestor, the Orion, &c. 
 have come of late years from those stocks ; the workmanship 
 of the creek is the production of M. Sa7ie, a very skilfu 
 
(7) 
 
 engineer, and is considered to be a master-piece in its kind. 
 The ship on the stocks in the covered creek is la Cou- 
 ronne. This side of the creek is a sloping surface, upon 
 which frigates and large corvettes are commonly constructed. 
 
 13. r J'he locksmiths', sailmakers', and blacksmiths' works, 
 where all the iron and sails are prepared for the fitting out 
 of ships. 
 
 Beyond these work-shops, are two large docks; the one is 
 covered over, and capable of containing two ships; the other, 
 which is closer to the harbour, is uncovered. These two 
 docks, the masoury of which is very solid, are destined for 
 the reception of first rate ships that may have suffered consi¬ 
 derable damage, and require to be refitted and new coppered. 
 
 14. The Woods and Dwelling of the Capuchines. —This 
 old convent, the woods of which crown the heights that com¬ 
 mand the harbour on the left side, is assigned over, as a pro¬ 
 perty, to one of the military authorities of the harbour. At 
 the foot of the mountain upon Which is situated the Capu- 
 chine Convent, may be seen a house newly finished, and ap¬ 
 plied to the purpose of a prison. 
 
 15. Pontanion is the name of this house. 
 
 10. Quarter of the Recouvrance. — This side of the city of 
 Brest is very different from the right side ; it is, generally 
 speaking, inhabited by the workmen of the harbour. An 
 old church consecrated to Nolre-Dame de-Recouvrance was 
 in great repute in this quarter. Sea-faring men had enriched 
 it with donations, which, under the temporary influence of 
 their fears, they had pledged themselves to present. 
 
 Some work-shops belonging to the arsenal, and amongst 
 them the battery in the direction of the Recouvrance, are 
 descried outside the picture on the left, and on a level with 
 the spectator. Below the elevation where we are standing, 
 may be seen the Chain, a kind of floating gate which is closed 
 at the beat of drum in the harbour and roadsted, on a signal 
 given by the firing of a gun from a half-circular battery 
 named the Horse Shoe. This Horse Shoe faces the Rose 
 Battery, and is erected upon the ruins of a large tower, which, 
 together with the castle, contributed to the protection of 
 Brest in former times. 
 
 We cannot state with any accuracy the names of the un¬ 
 rigged ships that are seen in the picture before us. Those 
 we have it in our power to name are the Admiral, a cut 
 down man of war rigged with a single mast, which the be- 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 holder will easily distinguish by its blue and white awning. 
 The Amiral is a kind of head quarters for the officers who 
 are under the orders of the chiefs of the several departments 
 connected with the harbour. The Due d'Angouleme a three 
 decker, and the Duguay Trouin a 74 gun ship. Both ships 
 are unrigged, and preserved from the intemperature of the 
 climate by immense prelars (pieces of tarred canvass) impe¬ 
 netrable to rain. The same precautions are taken for pre¬ 
 serving every ship in the harbour, or not intended for active 
 service. 
 
 Brest deserves to be better known than through a picture, 
 however faithful in its description (and the one that en¬ 
 gages our attention claims no less merit in this character than 
 as a work of artj. The Arsenal of Brest was founded by Louis 
 XIV, and carried on by Louis XV and Louis XVI, and embel¬ 
 lished 20 years ago by Bonaparte. This arsenal, as a whole, 
 or in its details, is well worthy the attention of men not exclu¬ 
 sively attracted by trifling objects. 
 
 ^otare-Dame-dLe'-diar&reSi 
 
 Chartrks, an old and a considerable town, at the distance 
 of 23 leagues from Paris in a south westerly direction, stands 
 in 50°-55 west longitude, and 48°-26-54 north latitude ; its 
 situation and its agricultural and commercial importance have 
 given to it, amongst towns of the second class, that rank 
 which, in the division of France into departments, is assigned 
 to cities chosen for the residence of an administrative au¬ 
 thority. Chartres is the seat of the prefecture of Eure and 
 Loire. The ancient province of Beauce acknowledged it for 
 its capital. Its population amounts to about 13,800 in¬ 
 habitants. 
 
 The situation of Chartres, which is built over deep caverns, 
 justifies the appellation of the city of Dens given to it by 
 Ptolemy. 
 
 The church of Notre-Dame, now exhibited, is one ot the 
 finest gothic remains still extant in France. The epocha of 
 its foundation is not accurately known. Like all the edifices 
 and institutions of agesjong gone by, its cradle is surrounded 
 with stories equally marvellous and incredible. 
 
(9) 
 
 We shall not attempt to throw an imperfect light over the 
 gloom in which the early days of the Cathedral of Chartres 
 are enveloped ; it will be sufficient to repeat the words of 
 Mr. Gilbert, the author of a valuable account of this mo- 
 nuinent: “ It may be considered as certain that St. Lavi- 
 nien and St. Potentien, founders of the metropolitan church 
 of Sens, came to Chartres ; and that St. Aventin their dis¬ 
 ciple, who is acknowledged to have been the first bishop of 
 this city, laid the foundation of the first church, towards the 
 end of the third century.” 
 
 We must observe that several portions, sach as the southern 
 gate (with the exception of the porch which appears to be¬ 
 long to the twelfth century), the principal gate and the 
 two steeples, were constructed at a rather later period 
 than that of its earliest foundation. Those who have seen 
 the Cathedral of Chartres such as it exists in the present 
 day , and who possess some knowledge of the science of 
 antiquities, will easily discover, on an inspection of this 
 edifice, the period to which each part may be assigned, 
 as well as the traces of the various tastes displayed in its 
 erection. 
 
 We think it unnecessary to say any thing of the two ce¬ 
 lebrated steeples, the finest ornaments of the Cathedral 
 of Chartres, or to enter into details devoid of interest, as 
 being inapplicable to any visible object of the picture 
 exhibited to our view, concerning the external architecture 
 of the cathedral, or the numerous accessaries that embellish 
 its gates, its porches, its fret-work, or its galleries. 
 
 We shall take no notice of the subterraneous church, but 
 confine ourselves to the upper church, that has afforded 
 to the authors of the Diorama the subject of the picture, 
 of the different parts of which we are now to present a 
 description. 
 
 In the circumference of the double row of pillars extend¬ 
 ing all round the closed choir, whose elegant enclosure is 
 presented to our view, seven chapels, of various forms 
 and dimensions, occupy the places which each casement or 
 compartment in the foreground of the church seems to 
 have been designed to supply, in the distribution of the 
 building. The position of the spectator is supposed to be 
 in one of these chapels, close to which the painter has placed 
 us for our better enjoyment of the view, and which are res¬ 
 pectively called the Knights’ Chapel, and the Penitentiary s’ 
 Chapel. 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 The Penitentiarys’ Chapel occupies no visible point in the 
 picture; it is comprised in the space which is represented by 
 the spot we now occupy; the entrance of the Knights’ 
 Chapel, on the left side of the picture, is entirely on the first 
 plane surface ; it is known by a semi-circular grate, of 
 about three feet in height. The statue, which we discover on 
 a pedestal close to the wall that separates this chapel from the 
 adjoining one called the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, is a 
 representation of Jesus Christ, such as he appeared to Mary 
 Magdalen after his resurrection. 
 
 The chapel of St. John the Baptist, which we have just 
 mentioned, adjoins the Knights’ Chapel. The communication 
 with it is through the double row of pillars, by a small flight of 
 stairs with an iron balustrade, the slope of which forms, with 
 the pavement, an angle of about twenty-five degrees. 
 
 On the plane surface, further removed from us, we dis¬ 
 tinguish the Chapel of All Saints, closed by an iron grate 
 ornamented with a pediment, the style of which is of no re¬ 
 mote antiquity. This grate, now used as an enclosure 
 to the chapel, belonged in former times to the Church of St. 
 Pierre (St. Peter), one of the churches that were either de¬ 
 molished or suppressed in the course of the revolution. 
 
 In the direction of the pillar, against which is placed the 
 velvet standard of a brotherhood, and behind the pillar of the 
 third plane surface, against which is suspended a pic¬ 
 ture representing a religious subject, there is a small chapel, 
 not within our view; it is named the Chapel of St. Lazarus. 
 
 The Chapel of the Scourging is on the right of the beholder, 
 near the pillar which receives a reflexion from the blue colours 
 of the windows that are shone upon by the rays of the sun. 
 
 Another chapel entirely concealed from our view, and 
 standing between the Chapel of the Scourging and that in 
 which several persons are seen kneeling at the foot of an 
 image of the Virgin Mary, is called the Chapel of the 
 Transfiguration. 
 
 Not far Iron) this seventh chapel, we find leaning against a 
 column, though at a rather considerable elevation from the 
 ground, a sculptured group of a dark colour, the appearance 
 of which indicates antiquity. It represents the Madona who 
 is held in much reverence in the Church of Notre-Dame-de- 
 Chartres. A light is continually burning at the feet of th~ 
 Virgin, and proceeds from a lamp which receives the reflexio • 
 of the sun's rays, and is observed to shine with great brillianc 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 in the obscure corner in the second lower aisle on the left hand. 
 The figure of the Virgin was transferred to thisplacein 1772. 
 
 The enclosure of the choir, which takes up the centre of the 
 picture, is a composition of a gothic style, well worthy the at¬ 
 tention and the admiration of connoisseurs. Its architecture 
 is of exceeding richness, and its ornaments are in the best 
 taste. The same maybe said of the figures which add toits splen¬ 
 dour. The basso relievos inchased in the massive parts, and con¬ 
 tained within the angles which give to the semi-circumference 
 of the choir, the form of a prism with angles of equal length, 
 uniformly represent subjects taken from the lives of Jesus 
 Christ and of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 We shall now explain the subjects of those that are within 
 our view, and commence by the left hand side. 
 
 The first basso relievo that we perceive (the 19th of the 
 collection) represents the adultress; the second our Saviour 
 restoring the blind man to sight} the third (which is the first 
 on the right of the great pillar that takes up the first 
 plane surface ground) the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem; 
 the fourth the inhabitants of Jerusalem rushing forward to¬ 
 wards our Saviour, and strewing the ground with branches of 
 palm tree. The subject of the fifth is our Saviour in the 
 Garden of Olives; the sixth represents the treachery of Judas, 
 and Peter’s violence towards Malchus. In the seventh and 
 last, we see Jesus Christ tied to a pillar and scourged by his 
 executioners. 
 
 It would be difficult to name theauthors of thesebasso relievos, 
 the greater part of which are deserving of particular notice; 
 we have but a vague information respecting them. In order that 
 we may avoid assigning to the chisel of one artist what may be 
 owing to the talent of another, we shall not attempt to couple 
 with each of the basso relievos, the name of its supposed author; 
 but content ourselves with observing that Jean Texier was the 
 architect upon whose models this fine monument of architec¬ 
 ture was executed between the years 1514 and 1539; and that 
 Thibaut, Boudin, Dieu, Le Gros, and many other sculptors 
 successively contributed to its perfection. The work was not 
 completed until the years 1700 to 1706; the labours of the 
 artists just mentioned have not a more recent date than 1681. 
 When, under the reign of Louis XIV, the Metropolitan Chapel 
 of Paris came to the resolution of embellishing the choir of 
 Notre Dame, the Cathedral chapters decided at the same time 
 upon similar repairs in their respective churches. 
 
 The small gilt carved roses that are observed on the exter- 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 nal contour of the vaulted arches in the form of ogees, and 
 lowering upon the choir, are ornaments which Messrs. Daguerre 
 and Bouton have ingeniously indicated in this part of the 
 church, though they have carefully avoided presenting them to 
 the view of the spectator. 
 
 We shall not enter into any farther details respecting those 
 parts of the picture which arrest our view- We shall not 
 draw the attention to those motionless accessaries which con¬ 
 tribute to the illusion created by the correct representation of 
 this wonderful work of architecture; we shall leave unnoticed 
 the priest who will be overtaken by night in his meditative con¬ 
 templation—the congregation of faithful who in honor of the 
 divine mysteries remain so long on their knees before the holy 
 images—the seats that seem to have been placed in their pre¬ 
 sent position, as exhibited to our view, in order to try the sa¬ 
 gacity of the beholders, in distinguishing what is nature itself 
 from what is the effect of art—as well as every other object 
 that creates our admiration; they appear as evidences of the 
 talents of two artists, whose merits have been too universally 
 appreciated to require any eulogium on our part. 
 
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