f**^"i ^it: g '^^ K. J YjmF'i -J g 5 ^ i it ^^_.i ^^B ■ P f 1 li P^^ Lliu iw^mm ft * CITIES OF THE WORLD. k^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/citiesofworldtheOOhoddrich VIEWS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 11 1, The Hall of Eeeords (North-west View) ; 2, Bank of California ; 3, Baldwin Hotel ; 4, Stock Exchange ; 5, Tlie Lotta Fountain (looking West into Geary Street). CITIES OF THE WORLD: THEIB OBIGIN, PBOGBESS, AND PBESENT ASPECT. BY EDWIN HODDER'^F.RG.S, AUTHOR OF " THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE SEVENTH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, K.G.," ETC* §CCu3trate6. ■X- ^ CAS SELL & COMPAISY, Limited: LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK ^ MELBOURNE. [all bights resebved.] -^H ncroh library CONTENTS. SAN FEANCISCO. (By M. F. Sweetsek.) PAOR California— Sir Francis Drake— The Spanish Galleons— The Franciscan Missions— Indians Converted and Dsing— The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company— Conquest by the United States— Discovery of Gold— The Great Imniifjration- The Vigilance Committee— Building a Town Site— The Bay— The Golden Gate— The Docks— Exports —The Italian Fleet— Clipper-ships-Local Manufactures— Telegraph Hill— Spanishtown— Lone Mountain— Kearney and Montgomery Streets— The Great Hotels— California Street— The Millionnaires— Gambling— The World-City — The Chinese— Customs— The Six Companies— Chinatown— Pagan Worship— Asiatic Festivals— The Christian Pro- paganda—The " Hoodlum "—Theatres— Woodward's Gardens— Libraries— Local Authors— Newspapers— Art— The Primitive Godlessness— The Rising Churches— Mission Dolores— Charities— The Hebrews— The Climate— The Trade Winds— Flowers and Trees— A New Race— Earthquakes— Oakland— The Mountains— Golden Gate Park— The Cliff House— The Fortifications— The Dawn of Local Pride and Power 1 ROUEN. Origin and Progress of the City— Cotton Industry— Situation— The Old Town— Modern Improvements— Introduction of Christianity— The Cathedral : its Historical and Legendary Associations— Among the Tombs— Church of St. Ouen— A Tragical Story— Other Churches of Rouen— The Palais 'de Justice— The Markets— A Dragon Story -The Place de la Pucelle, and Joan of Arc— The Cloche d'Argcnt—Founlains— Gates— Biographical Reminiscences- Bridges 32 MADRID. The River Manzanares— Site of Madrid— Its Early History and Development— Aspect of the City— The Puerta del Sol— The Streets and Public Places— Scenes in the Plaza Mayor- Autos de Fe— Terrors of the Inquisition— The Prado— The Churches of Madrid— The Legend of Our Lady of Atocha— The Palaces— The Museum, and its Marvellous Collection of Pictures— Pleasure-places— A Bull-flght— The Escorial 55 CAIRO. The Capital of Arabdom- The "Victorious City"— Fostat— Improvements by Saladin— The Mameluke Sovereignty- Modern Cairo— The Ezbekeeyeh— Palaces of the Khedive— The Citadel— The Glory of the "After-glow "—A Mar- vellous View— Mosques in the Citadel — The Massacre of the Mamelukes— Bazaars— Oriental Customs— Religious Festivals— Legendary Sites— The Nile— Nilometer— Island of Roda— Boulak and its Museum— Heiiopolis— The Virgin's Tree— The Pyramids— The Sphinx— Education in Egypt— A School Interior— Public Schools— The Uni- versity—Population—Copts and their Worship— Fellaheen and their Cruel Bondage— Taxation 83 TORONTO AND QUEBEC. (By M. F. Sweetsee.) Toronto :— The Site— The Harbour- Governor Simcoe— The Esplanade— The Railways— The Foundation of the City— The MacNab— Old Wine in New Bottles— The Streets— Imperial Highways— Yonge Street — The North— Osgoode Hall— Parliament House— The Great Province— The University— Trinity College— Knox College— Ui>per Canada College— Queen's Park — A Group of Veterans — St. James's — The American Attack — The Canadian Cities. Quebec :— Its Topography— The St. Lawrence River— Business of the Port— A Bric-ti-Brac City— The Citadel— A Cry of Wonder— The New Forts— The Walls of the City— The Queen's Gift— The Rampart— Dufferin Terrace— A View in Lower Canada— An Historic Sketch— The Name Quebec— The Discoverers— Champlain Founds the City —Cargoes of Demoiselles— Frontenac's Defiance— The Fruitless American Siege— Lord Dufferin's Plans— The Basilica— Cliamplain, Frontenac, and Laval- The Market Square— The Jesuits— The Seminary— Laval University —The Ursuline Convent -The Hotel Dieu— The Anglican Cathedral- A Hero and a F'rince SufTor- Parliament House— The Lower Town— N6tre l>ame dcs Victoires— The Extra-mural Wards— The British Victory on the Plains of Abraham — The Environs— Lorctte— Falls of Montmorenci- Beauport— I^ Bonne Ste. Anne— The Isle of Orleans 109 MARSEILLES. An Ancient Mariner— A Curious Wedding— Early and Later History of IMarscilles- The Marseillaise Hymn— Present Aspect of the City— The Place Neuve— The Streets with their Legendary and Historical Associations- The Prudo— The Wonders of the Corniche Road— Commerce of the City- The Port-Churches and Church Traditions- Pageants and Festivals— St. Victor— Notre Dame de la Garde— FortificationR—Disappearancc of Antiquities of Marseilles -The Tour de St. Paul— H6tel d.T Villc— The Palais de Longchamps Hospitals and other Charitable Institutions — Local Industries— The Great Men of Marseilles ... 118 PAGE VI CITIES or THE WOELD. CALCUTTA, AND THE CITIES OF THE GANGES. Approach to Calcutta— History— Drawbacks— The Maidan— Fort William— Government House— The Strand— Bazaars- Places of Worship— Missionary Memorials— BaiTackpore—Serampore. Murshidabad :— The Ancient Capital of Bengal— The Garden of Happiness-Commerce. Patna. Benares:— Its Antiquity— Buddhism— The Gh4ts— Sacred Bulls— Shrines— Temples and Holy Places— The Monkey Temple— The Burning Ghat— Story of Suttee. Allahabad :— During the Mutiny— Akbar's Fort— A Pilgrim Festival. Agra :— The Capital of the Mogul Empire —The Citadel of Akbar— The Audience Hall— The Imperial Palace— The Pearl Mosque— The Taj Mahal— Akbar's Tomb at Sikundra. Delhi :— Its Long History— Its Architecture— Palace of Shah Jehan— During the Mutiny. LucKNOw:— The British Residency— The Imambara— Recent Improvements. Cawnpore:— The Massacre— The Memorial Garden. History of the Cities of the Ganges 15D MUNICH AND NUREMBERG. Munich :— Church Possessions— The Bridge at Yohring— Foundation of Munich— Development— Munich of To-day — The Old and New Towns— The Theresaen Wiese — Churches — The Palace — The Max- Joseph-Platz — The Butcher's Leap— The Ministry of War— Statues, Obelisks, and Fountains— The Gallery of Sculpture— Picture Galleries— Bavarian National Museum. Nuremberg :— Early History- Cunning Craftsmen— Witty Inventions— The Spirit of Poetry and Art— The Bridge across the Pegnitz— The Konigs-Strasse— Picturesque Architecture- Houses of Celebrities— Albrecht Durer— Hans Sachs— Statues and Fountains— The Old Rathhaus and its Memories —The Thirty Years' War— The Castle— Church of St. Sebald— Legends of St. Sebald— Church of St. Lawrence— The Graves of Albrecht Dilrer and Hans Sachs— The Seilersgasse- Relics— The Library- The City of Toys— The Venice of Germany 200 ST. PETERSBURG. Peter the Great and his New Capital— The Building of the City— Inundations— Streets and Street Scenes— Cathedral of St. Isaac— The Fortress— Church of St. Peter and St. Paul— Story of Prince Alexis— Peter's Boat— Our Lady of Kazan— Churches and Monasteries— Russian Heroes and their Tombs— Royal Palaces, and Stories concerning them— The Czar Nicholas— The Police and the Actor- A Curious Code of Etiquette— Picture-Hunting— The Hermitage— The Cottage of Peter the Great— Monuments— Government Departments and Civic Institutions- Curiosities of the Museum— Libraries— Feasting and Fasting— Scenes on the Neva— The Futuie 226 PEKIN Early History— Situation— Cities within the City -On the Walls— Beauty and Decay— The Tartar City— The Gates- Military Defences— General Appearance— The Observatory- Temple of Letters— Street Scenes- Tribunal of Rites —Temple of Confucius— Life and Teaching of the Philosopher— Temple of the Thousand Lamas— The Yellow City— The Bell Tower— Temple of Fa-qua— Sea of Roses— The Coal Mountain— A Tragic Story— Buddhist Temples —The Red, or Prohibited City— Imperial Palace— The Grand Place— Elephant Stables— Roman Catholic Mission Stations— The Jesuits— The Chinese City— Streets and Shops, Trades and Tradesmen, Buyers and Sellers — The Place of Execution — The Altar of Heaven — The Altar of Shinnung, Founder of Agricultui-e — Chinese Beggars— Pekin after Dark— Marriages and Funerals— Environs of Pekin— F.uroi>can Cemeteries— Altars, Temples, and Palaces- The Great WaU of China— Canal System 251 LYONS. Ir ^oman Times— Successes and Reverses— The City of To-day— The Place Bellecour— Principal Districts and Streets —The Fortress of St. John— Legend of the Tour de la Belle-Allemande— Rousseau in Lyons— The Quays— The River and its Bridges- Clerical Influence— Religious History of the City— Churches, their Vicissitudes and Associations— The Cathedral— Pilgrim Church of Notre Dame de Fourvieres- View from the Terrace— Hotel de Ville— Bourse and other Public Buildings- Industries— Silk-weaving and \^'eavers 275 CHICAGO. (By M. F. Sweetsek.) The Red Men of the Prairies— The Pioneers of France— The Fur Traders— The Massacre of the Garrison— The Anglo-Saxon Advance— A Mournful Exodus— The Rising Tide of Population— The Great Fire of 1871— The March of the Flames -Anarchy and Panic— Driven into Lake Michigan— The Loss -The Civic Phoenix— Commerce— The River and its Fleet— The Main Streets— Public Buildings— Lake Park— The Refinements of Civilisation- Newspapers— The Churches— The Residence Quarters— The Schools— Douglas— The Urban Parks— The Granaries —A City of Cattle— The Trade in Timber— The Water-works— Problems in Drainage-The Great Western Railway System- The Parks and Boulevards— Siiburban Towns -The Prairie 295 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I PAOK San Francisco :— Views in San Francisco ... . Frontispiece The Hall of Records (North-west View). Bank of California. Baldwin Hotel. Stock Exchange. The Lotta Fountain (looking West into Geary Street). Union Square, San Francisco 1 Natural Bridge, Farallone Islands .... ib. San Francisco and the Bay 5 Plan of San Francisco 9 Washington Alley 13 The City Hall 16 Montgomery Street— The Palace Hotel in tlie Distance 17 Interior of a Chinese Joss-house 21 The Old Church of Mission Dolores, built in 1776 . 25 Fisherman's Bay, Farallone Islands .... 31 Rouen :— The Arms of Rouen 32 Rouen, from St. Catherine's Hill. . to face page 33 Plan of Rouen 33 Rouen Cathedral (West Front) 36 Tomb of Louis de Br6z6 37 The Church of St. Ouen 40 The Palais de Justice 41 The Place de la Pucelle 45 Hotel Bourgth6roude 48 Rue de la Grosse Horloge 49 The Quai des Meules 53 Madrid :— The Royal Stables . 55 Plan of Madrid 57 Aguador on the Puerta del Sol 60 View of Madrid 61 Fountain of Neptune 64 Fountain of the Four Seasons, Prado ... 65 The Royal Palace 68 Statue of Philip IV. on the Plaza de Oriente . . 69 Nurses on the Prado 72 The Armoux'y 73 Velasquez 77 The Escorial to face page 79 Entry of the Bull-flghters into the Arena ... 80 The BuU-flght : Leaping the Barrier .... 81 The Plaza de Toros 82 Cairo :— Old Cairo, from the Isle of Roda 83 Sphinx from the Serapeum ib. Mashrebceych or Jiattice Window in Cairo . . 8f Cairo {continued) :— The Citadel of Cairo Plan of Cairo lloumeyleh Place, with the Mosque of Hassan to face page Public Drinking Fountain The Nile at Old Cairo . The Tombs of the Caliphs The Nilometer . The Island of Roda . The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx The Second and Third Pyramids Entrance to the Pyramid of Cheops Obelisk of the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis 85 92 93 95 96 100 101 104 105 Toronto and Quebec:— The Arms of Toronto 109 Map of Toronto 113 King Street 116 • The Colleges of Toronto :— Trinity College 117 University College ib. Upper Canada College ib. Knox College ib. Normal School Buildings ib. St. James's Church . 121 The Citadel and Ramparts of Quebec :— St. John's Gate 125 Inside Gate ib. Citadel from the Wharf ib. Old Hope Gate, Block, and Guard House . . ib. Kent Gate ib. Shell Guns ib. Chain Gate ib. Plan of Quebec 128 DufTerin Terrace and Laval University, Quebec— Beaupr6 and Laurcntian Mountains in the Distance to face page 129 Old French House 129 The Esplanade 133 Market-place t6. Caliche, or Canadian Hansom 136 Champlain Steps 140 Views in Quebec: — Laval University and Grand Battery . . .141 The Spot where Montgomery Fell . . . ib. Beauport Church ib. Parliament Building ib. The Seminary . . . ... . . . ib. Jesuit College, Fabritiue Street (lately denxo-i lished) ib. The Falls of Montmorenci 145 Martello Tower on the Plains of Abraham . . 147 V'lll CITIES OF THE WORLD. Marseilles :— The Arms of Marseilles 148 Plan of Marseilles 152 The Cathedral of Marseilles 153 General View of Marseilles 157 The Harbour, Marseilles 165 . to face Calcutta, and the Cities of the Ganges : - Diamond Harbour, on the Hoofjlily . The Port of Calcutta The Esplanade, Calcutta Calcutta, Water-carriers House in the European Quarter Map of Calcutta and the Ganges . The Festival of Ganesa, Benares Window of the Mftn Munder, Benares Gardens of the Taj Mahal, Agra . The Mausoleum of Akbar, Sikundra . The Throne-room in the Palace of Delhi The British Residency, Lucknow The Martini6re, Lucknow . jMffe 169 172 173 173 177 181 184 185 189 192 193 196 197 Munich and Nuremberg :— The Towers of Munich Cathedral .... 200 Munich 201 The Marienplatz, with Old and New JRathhaus . 205 The City Walls, Nuremberg 209 The House of Hans Sachs 212 The Beautiful Fountain 213 The Hangman's Passage 210 Tomb of St. Scbald, Nuremberg . . to face page 217 St. Sebald's Church 217 The Parsonage of St. Sebald's Church . . .219 The Karolinen-Strasse and Church of St. Law- rence 220 Plan of Nuremberg 221 Porch of tlie Frauenkirche 224 The Menagerie Tower 225 St. Petersburg:— The Arms of St. Petei-sburg 226 Plan of St. Petersburg 228 The Cathedral of St. Isaac 229 The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan . . .232 The Nevski Prospect 233 The Winter Palace 237 The Statue of Peter the Great 240 PAGE St. Petersburg (continued) :— The Column of Alexander, St. Petersburg to face page 243 The Triumphal Arch of Narva 245 The Nicolai Bridge across the Neva .... 249 Pekin :— Triumphal Arch on the Bridge over the Lakes of the Palace 251 Pekin : The Tartar City 253 The Tsicn-M6n Gate 256 Plan of Pekin 257 Chinese Mandarin 261 Mussulman Mosque (now disused) in the Red City 264 Entrance to the Temple of the Moon .... 265 Street Scene in Pekin . . . .to face page 267 Chinaman Selling the Pekin Gazette .... 269 Pekin Tragedians 272 Lyons : - The Arms of Lyons 275 Lyons 277 General View of Lyons . . . .to face page 281 The Place Perrache 281 The Place Bellecour 284 Plan of Lyons 285 Notre Dame de Fourvieres 289 The H6tel de Ville 293 Chicago :— Chicago River, from Rush-Street Bridge . . .295 Plan of Chicago 297 Lake-Shore Drive 300 The Arms of Chicago 301 Views in Chicago :— Covirt-House 305 State Street N., from Madison Street . . ib. Interior of Chamber of Commerce . . . ib. Chamber of Commei'ce ib. Custom-house and Post-office .... ib. St. James's Episcopal Church 308 University of Chicago 309 Chicago Water-works 313 Views in Chicago :— View in South Park 317 Rustic Bridge ib. Douglas Monument ib. Swan Island ib. Washington Square . ' ib. Trinity Clmrch. UNION 8QUAEE, SAN FEANCISCO. Emanuel Synagogue, Cities of the World. SAN FRANCISCO. California— Sir Francis Drake— The Spanish Galleons— The Franciscan Missions— Indians Converted and Dying— The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company— Conquest by the United States— Discovery of Gold -The Great Immigration —The Vigilance Committee— Building a Town Site— The Bay— The Golden Gate— The Docks— Exports— The Italian Fleet— Clipper-ships— Local Manufactures— Telegraph Hill— Spanishtown— Lone Mountain— Kearney and Montgomery Streets— The Great Hotels— California Street— The Millionnaires- Gambling- The World-City— The Chinese— Customs— The Six Companies— Chinatown -Pagan Worship— Asiatic Festivals— The Christian Propaganda— The " Hoodlum "-' Theatres— Woodward's Gardens- Libraries -Local Authors— Newspapers— Art— The Primitive Godlessness— The Rising Churches— Mission Dolores— Charities— The Hebrews— The Climate— The Trade Winds— Flowers and Trees— A Xew Race— Earthquakes— Oakland— The Mountains -Golden Gate Park- The Cliff House— The Fortifications— The Dawn of Local Pride and Power. BOUT midway between Central America and Alaska, and on a line drawn from the Sandwich Islands to Quebec (nearly equi-distant from either of those points), there is a notable break in the American coast-line of the Pacific. A deep and narrow sfrait cuts through the iron- bound shore, and gives eiltrance to a spacious gulf, whose waters penetrate for many leagues into a rich and beautiful country, prolific in grain, wine, and gold, and blessed with a climate of wonderful serenity. The peninsula formed by this gulf on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west ia nearly forty miles long, with an average width NAIUBAL BBIDOE, FA£ALLON£ ISLANDS. 41 2 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. of above twelve miles; and on its northern point, where it narrows to four miles across, and is bounded by the ocean, the strait, and the gulf, stands the city of San Francisco, the chief port of the western coast of the Americas, the metropolis of the State of California, and a city of nearly a quarter of a million of inhabitants. The name California, which has for several decades been heard so much throughout the world, was invented by an obscure Spanish romance-writer, and appeared in his semi- chivalric story (written about the time Cortez conquered the Mexican Empire), as applied to an imaginary land on the north-west of the Aztec dominions. The term was soon affixed to the great mountainous peninsula whose rugged shores front the Pacific; and the j^resent American State subsequently received the name of Uj)j)er California. But many silent years passed away before this mysterious realm was visited by Christian men. Cabrillo^s caravels crept timidly up the coast in 1543; and in 1579 that gallant mariner of Bideford town. Sir Francis Drake, with his ships laden deep under the plur.dered treasures of Mexican and Peruvian fleets and cities, cast anchor in a harbour near the Bay of San Francisco. There are people who believe that the present name of the city is but a Spanish and Catholic modification of Sir Francis's Bay, commemorating the name and the explorations of the valiant English sailor. Nearly twenty years later the Spanish galley San Augnstin, sailing from Manilla to examine the route of the treasure-galleons, was wrecked on this coast; and its pilot, by strange chance saved from the sea and the savages, conducted a naval expedition from Acapulco to the disastrous shore. At the close of the long and desperate wars between England and France, in 1763, the former Power remained in control of the great French colonies in Asia and America — Pondicherry and Canada — and her navigators were everywhere exploring more distant seas, to establish new centres of British power. Spain, suddenly aroused to a fear lest these intrepid sea-kings should seize upon the neglected coast of California, made haste to send religious colonies there, hoping to found new cities and provinces, which should avert the imagined danger. From the prayerful cloisters of San Fernando, groups of ascetic Franciscan monks, the Methodists of Catholicism, moved forward into the unknown land, attended by little bands of soldiers, and founded the Missions, primarily intended for the Christianisation of the heathen tribes, and after that to be the nuclei of new Spanish cities. Chief among these dark-robed evangelists were Junipero Serra and Padre Palou, from Majorca, in the Mediterranean — grim, patient, and self-abnegating heroes of the Cross. From the first-founded Mission, San Diego, a band of monks and soldiers marched northward for several days, in 1769, until they discovered the Golden Gate and the Bay. Palou thus recorded what he considered the miracle of the event ; "As soon as I read this news, I attributed their failure to find the harbour of Monterey to a Divine disposal that they should continue their course until they should arrive at the port of San Francisco, for the reason that I am about to state : When the venerable father, Friar Junipero, was consulting with the illustrious inspector-general, about the first three Missions which we directed him to found in his New California, seeing the names and the patrons which he had assigned to them, he said to him, ' Senor, and is there no Mission for our Father ?^ [St. Francis], to which Galvez replied, 'If St. Francis de- sires a Mission, let bira see that his port is found, and it will be placed there.' The expedition San Francisco.] THE MISSION AND THE INDIANS. 3 went up, arrived at the port of Monterey, stopped and planted tbe cross, without any of the party recognising it ; went up forty leagues farther, found the port of our Father St. Francis, and recognised it immediately by its agreement with the marks they had. In consideration of these facts, what shall we say but that our Father wished to have a Mission at his port ? " In 1775 the San Carlos, under command of Lieutenant Ayala, sailed into the Bay of San Francisco, and remained there forty days, exploring the delightful shores and streams, and the vast and fruitful solitudes which surrounded the inland sea. This was the first vessel to enter the Golden Gate, the pioneer keel of myriads which were destined to bring hither a new nation. On June 27th, 1776, while the British Colonies on the Atlantic coast were in full war against England, a little Spanish expedition, marching from Monterey, founded San Francisco. There were two monks, seven laymen, and seventeen dragoons, with their families. As soon as the buildings were ready, the friars celebrated mass and chanted a Te Deum, while salvoes of artillery saluted the new civic daughter of Spain. Tlie Indians of the San Francisco region burst into tears and Availings when they saw the Spanish explorers, as if some dark prophetic vision of their approaching dispersion and extinction had appeared before them. In commemoration of this mystery, Don Portala named the harbour near by Llorones, meaning "The Cry-babies/' The new ecclesiastico-military establishment was entitled the Mission cle los Dolores de Nuestro Padre San Francisco, which was familiarly shortened into Mission Dolores. In the morning hours of its existence, San Francisco was composed of two sections — the Mission, with the church and its Indian village, q,nd the Presidio, or garrison, existing only for the protection of the monks. Hundreds of red-skinned converts were made, some attracted by the peace and plenty of the new establishment, and others torn from their distant hill-fastnesses by military expeditions, and led in as captives. Education seems not to have been thought of; but at sunrise every day there was an imposing service of mass, which all the Indians were careful to attend. The natives came to be regarded as wards, owning the Mission and country, of which the friars, who lived simply and dressed meanly, were but the guardians. The etiquette of the establishments decreed that when a monk met an Indian, he should say, "Love God, my son;" and the other should answer, "Love God, father." The power of the clergy was absolute and despotic, but mildness and charity ruled its exercise; and the aborigines were never so happy and well-provided as when under their care. In 181'3 upwards of 1,200 Indians dwelt at Mission Dolores, and they oAvned 14,000 head of domestic animals. Objectionable as some of their methods undoubtedly were, the Franciscans reached a higher measure of success than has rewarded any of the other religious and philanthropic organisations which have tried to civilise the native Calif ornians. The race was doomed, and the deaths far exceeded the births in number, year after year, as if Providence had decreed that these children of nature, narrow in capacity and slow to learn, were to be swept from the land, in order that the new civilisation might have free course. League by league the Indians retired to and through the mountains, before the advance of the white shepherds and cow-boys; and these in turn were slowly pushed back by the settlements of the wheat-farmers, by the vineyards of the south and the orchards of the noi-th. An enthusiastic Californian sees 4 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. in the final economic result a horticulture which combines the energy of New England with the scientific training of Europe, on a soil as fertile as that of Egypt, and in a climate as genial as that of Italy. But little sympathy is expended on the victims of this conquest, the Canaanites of this land of Israel. There were twenty-one Missions on the California coast, each about forty miles from another. When these great and beneficent establishments were secularised by the Mexican Government, in 1835, the Indians, left without the care of the monks, strayed abroad, and fell into three classes: — idle and dissolute beggars, hard- worked servants, and wild savages of the hill-country. The tribes of the San Francisco peninsula have quite dis- appeared. There were five thousand Spanish-Mexicans in the territory, mostly ex-soldiers of the garrisons, who called themselves gente de razon, " people of reason." To these gentlemen a large part of the domain was granted, in the form of ranchos, or rural estates. An attempt was made to replace the Missions by />?/e<^/cs, or towns, in which the Indians were to have full citizenship ; but the unhappy aborigines, the " people without reason,'' had no leaders and no capabilities, and their condition could not be ameliorated. For nearly sixty years Mission Dolores enjoyed the blessings of peace, ignorance, and faith. Two or three miles distant, near a little cove, the Indian converts used to gather large quantities of mint, a natural growth which they esteemed so highly that they named the locality Terha Buena (Good Herb). But there were deep waters off shore, withal, and good anchorage; and the reverend monks would have been wiser if they had led their flocks beyond the Cordilleras, rather than to have remained near this dangerous harbour. In 1835, therefore, the inevitable Englishman appeared upon the scene, pitching his tent at Yerba Buena; raising two Russian vessels which had sunk in the Bay, and in their holds thereafter bringing the products of the towns on the inland waters to this point, where they were loaded on the ships of New York, Boston, and Russian America. A year later, this enterprising Anglican, Richardson, was joiijed by an American, Leese, who opened a small trading-house here, and the settlement soon reached the dignity of fourteen inhabitants. A road was opened to the Mission Dolores, and the dark-faced Spaniards used to ride down in their broad-wheeled cai'retas, occasionally, to see what these busy aliens were doing. The Russians had for long maintained a trading-post at Fort Ross, by virtue of an arrangement made between the Czar and the King of Spain. But the Mexican Re- public, when it became free from Spanish rule, endeavoured to drive out the Russians, and without success. Finally, when the sea-otters became scarce about Fort Ross, the intruding Muscovites retired to the frozen shores of Alaska; and the Hudson's Bay Company, that powerful corporation of British traders, established stations in California, the chief of which was at Yerba Buena. In those days the two grog-shops, the chief public buildings of the hamlet, were kept by Escalante, a Manilla man, and Moreno, a Lascar; and under their lowly roofs the unconscious founders of the metropolis used to assemble nightly. In 181'^, Sir George Simpson, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, visited Yerba Buena, and admired "the miniature Mediterranean" of its bay. His agents had driven out the American merchants by a sharp and honest competition, and British interests were predominant along the coast. Alexander Forbes, the historiau San Francisco. 1 THE OWNERSHIP OF CALIFORNIA. of California, urged that England should take possession of the country, and connect it with the nearly adjacent provinces of British America. At the same time, Duflot- de Mofras was endeavouring to awaken public sentiment in France, to secure the occupation of California by Gaulish infantry. ' In the meantime, the population continued small and unprogressive ; and Mexico was so far away, and so much weakened by ceaseless civil wars, that she could not efficiently SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY. govern her huge northern province, nor command the respect of its people. The Americans were spying out and occupying the country, on three lines of advance. The North Pacific whale-fisheries had attracted hundreds of New England ships, many of which visited Verba Buena for water and provisions ; and the sailors carried home wonderful stories of the silent paradise in tiie western seas. At the same time, through the passes of the Rocky Mountains, group after group of hunters and trappers from the region of the Upper Missouri emerged upon the Sacramento plains, or from the foot-hills of the Sierras beheld vast and fertile valleys extending their solitary leagues towards the sunset. Another class of Yankees, settling near the pueblos, had intermarried with the chief Spanish families, the Vallejos, Ortegas, and Carrillos, and began to leaven the dull Latin lump with intense Gothic vigour. 6 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [San Francisco. The United States tried to buy California in 1835, but Mexico was not in a trading mood; and an American exploring- expedition under Captain Wilkes (the same who afterwards unlawfulh^ captured the British mail-steamer Trent) soon afterwards reported this bay to be '^ one of the finest, if not the very best harbour in the world.'^ Bad feeling had existed between Mexico and the United States for many years, and the latter determined to seize California on the first opportunity. Hearing a false rumour of war, in 1842, the American commodore in the Pacific captured the capital of the province — and apologised for it very quickly. But it was only four years later that the frigate Savannah appeared ofE Monterey, and the Portsmouth at Yerba Buena, bearing in garrisons of American marines. There was war between the two Republics, and California became one of the prizes won by the northern victor. The population of Yerba Buena was soon greatly augmented by the arrival of a ship-load of active and enterprising Mormons, from New England, who brought with them a printing-press and all manner of mechanical tools. The little settlement was then under the rule of a naval lieutenant, bearing the Spanish title of alcalde. It was not long before the citizens found that the name of their town — Yerha Buena — offered serious obstacles to the Anglo-American pronunciation, and was suggestive of nothing, so they re- christened the infant metropolis with the name of San Francisco. To the newly-named town an era of wonders was drawing rapidly near. In January, 1848, the men who were building a saw-mill at Coloma, about 200 miles from San Francisco, discovered bits of yelfow metal in the flume, and fancying that it might be valuable, sent a half-ounce do^vn to the Bay, where experts pronounced it gold. In the early summer months, the people at the coast began to realise that there was treasure in those inland hills, and then suddenly a wild stampede began, and the town was practically deserted. The newspapers stopped publication, because editors and compositors had joined in the rush to the mines ; shops were closed, for clerks and proprietors had disappeared ; abandoned ships rocked idly in the Bay, their sailors having fled ; the children played about their locked school-houses, for the pedagogues were away among the Coloma hills. After their brief escapade in the mining country, the San Francisco editors returned to the Bay, and founded the great daily newspaper called the Alta California, afterwards the organ of the Vigilance Committee, and still one of the chief journals of the Pacific States. The merchants also returned, weary of the rough life of the camps, and realising that an immense flood of immigration was about to pour into California, through its chief port. The result surpassed their expectations. In 1847 the town had 300 inhabitants ; and at the end of 1849 it had 20,000. Within seven months 700 vessels had entered the harbour ; and steamboats were panting up and down the Bay in all directions. The residents of the city were nearly all men ; and their dwelling-places, rising on every side, were plain canvas tents, or rude shanties lined with white cloth. In the year 1852, seven vessels a day entered or left the port. Thus for years the fortune-seeking myriads poured in from all parts of the world ; and the great, uneasy community, a thousand leagues from Christian civilisation and strong government, rapidly descended from bad to worse, until utter anarchy was threatened. The political administration of San Francisco became altogether corrupt and shamelessly venal, and the elections were carried, year after year. San Francisco.] THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 7 by armed ruffianism and lavish bribery. Between 184^^9 and 1856 a thousand homicides had been committed in the city, and but seven of the murderers were executed. At last James King", who had denounced this anarchy with bitter ener<^y in the columns of the Bidletm newspaper, was shot down in the street by an ex-convict of New York, who was at that time a municipal official. This was the crowning infamy, and the people saw that they must despise law, and enact justice with their own hands. They gathered in a secret lodge-hall, and formed the famous Vigilance Committee, which with extraordinary swiftness became organised into military companies, fully armed and efficiently drillocl. Business was suspended, and the proceeding of the league advanced with ominous and terrifying silence and secrecy. A few days later, twenty-four companies, with artillery, surrounded the prison, and removed the assassin of King and another murderer, whom they tried, with all due formality, and hanged from the windows of the head -quarters. Many other desperadoes were seized, tried, and punished, in the same swift and stern manner, and the daily records of crime dwindled to blanks. The Governor of California pro- claimed San Francisco in a state of insurrection, and asked the aid of the National authorities to subdue it. But the Vigilantes easily overpowered and disarmed the so- called Law-and-Order militia; and the United States declined to interfere. Trade was resumed, but the companies rushed to arms as often as the great bell over the head- quarters building pealed out its solemn tones. After about ten weeks of this government, the peace of the city was deemed secure, and the Committee disbanded. It had executed four murderers, and banished twenty-five criminals; and upwards of seven hundred others had fled far away, in abject terror. The entire force of the A igilantes was paraded on the last day, and marched through the redeemed and purified streets, adorned with flags and flowers. There were 5,137 men, including thirty-three companies of infantry, 300 dragoons, and three companies of artillery, with eighteen guns. A few years later, when the United States were disrupted by the slaveholders' rebel- lion, California remained true to the Union, and although the continuous roar of war never approached her borders, she contributed freely, of men and money, to restore the broken Republic. The unwavering loyalty of this isolated community was largely due to the strenuous efforts and wonderful eloquence of two men, Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian clergyman, from Boston, and Edward D. Baker, a statesman and soldier, from London. The latter was sent to Washington as a Senator, and soon afterwards fell in the front of battle, while gallantly leading the 1st California. Regiment. The community not only had to contend against its own bad elements, but also found it necessary to wage a continual warfare with nature. The site of the city was in many respects very unfavourable for building, and great difficulties have been experienced in grading over the swamps. Sometimes new streets, just made ready for official inspection and approval; would suddenly sink through the spongy peat, and be replaced by lanes of dismal mud and water. A huge steam-shovel was kept busy for more than twenty years, cutting down the high hills of sand, and loading countless dust-carts with material for making solid ground for the new metropolis. Between 1868 and 1878 the municipal domains were enlarged by 800 acres of land, reclaimed from the Bay and the swamps, and speedily occupied for business purposes. More than thirty million tons of sand and g CITIES OF THE WOKLD. [San Francisco. soil have been removed from the heights, in order to level up the low ground and flats, and make the broad plain which is now occupied by a dense population. In order to conform to the legal grade, 900 brick buildings were lifted up from their low foundations, by ingenious hydraulic machines. When Lieutenant Ayala sailed his ship through the Golden Gate in 1775, he found within '^a collection of harbours in which all the navies of Spain could hide from one another;" and a few years later, Vancouver, the great discoverer, proclaimed it '^as fine a port as the world affords — a principal object of the Spanish Crown.-'' To-day the harbour is recognised as by far the best between Victoria and Panama; and by virtue thereof San Francisco becomes the entrepot of the Pacific coast, the outlet of the richest wheat-lands and orchards on the continent, the reservoir of streams of gold and silver from Nevada and the foot-hills, the centre of supplies for the great mining districts, and the eastern port of the powerful British colonies in the South Seas. The Golden Gate, the strait which joins San Francisco Bay to the ocean, is a little more than three miles long, with a width of from one to two miles, and a depth exceeding 400 feet. The Bay, which opens inside, has been called (by Californians) more beautiful than the Bay of Naples, or that of Rio de Janeiro — a remark often made about almost every harbour in America. It is nearly seventy miles in navigable length, and from three to twelve miles in width. The scene along the water-front is always full of life and interest, presenting the same sights and sounds that are familiar at Sydney and Hong Kong, at Callao and Yokohama. Here are forests of masts, with intricate thickets of rigging; great smoke- stacks, darkening the surrounding air; and docks laden down with boxes and bales of goods, mounds of outbound grain, heaps of inbound tea, and grim}' piles of British and Australian coal. There are lines of sailing-ships bound for scores of ports in the Pacific Offean; and fleets of coasting craft from the nearer American harbours; and steamers which ply regularly to Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and other cities on the southern coast, and to the ports of Oregon and British Columbia. The most southerly of the line of docks is occupied by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which owns more than a score of large vessels, mostly iron screw-propellers, running to British Columbia, China, Australia, Central America, and Panama. Two of the ships of this company, the Cit^ of PeJcin and the Clfj/ of ToJcio, have each a tonnage exceeding 5,000 tons, and are provided with every luxury. The Dry Dock is in South San Francisco, hewn from the solid rock of Hunter's Point, and 4£1. feet long. This great work, and the adjacent Floating Dock, cost £400,000. The huge grain-sheds, built by the State Harbour Commissioners, are the scene of a trade which is continually growing in magnitude, and has the closest connection with the docks of Liverpool. The gold-hunters of '49 regarded the parched plains and brown hills of California as worthless, and all agreed that when the deposits of pre- cious metals were exhausted, the State would be abandoned to the Indians and Mexicans. But experiments in farming and irrigation were rewarded with astonishing success, and now California produces 35,000,000 bushels of wheat every year — an amount which is exceeded only by the old and densely-populated States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. San Francisco.] CALIFORNIA CLIPPERS. 9 The culture of the grape, also, has assumed great proportions, and the clarets and bur- gundies of France, the white wines of the Rhine, the sweet varieties of Hungary, the red wines of Spain and Portugal, and sparkling champagnes are produced freely in the California vineyards. The valuation of these vineyards is £7,000,000, and their yearly income reaches nearly £800,000. San Francisco, with its 15,000 bar-rooms, rich in marble, mahogany, and plate-glass, consumes but a small part of this product, most of which is exported. Near to the southern end of the great sea-wall is the mooring-ground of the fisher- men, a hardy company of red-shirted and swarthy-faced Italians, whose swift little craft PLAN OF SAN FEANCISCO. are equipped with graceful lateen sails, imported from the Mediterranean, and give a Venetian or Neapolitan aspect to the scene. The dreaded Chinamen have inaugurated a sharp competition in the fishing business, and call down many a deep and musical execra- tion from the maritime Italians. More familiar in aspect than these Levantine boats are the beautiful vessels of the San Francisco Yacht Club, whose races up the Bay are watched with great interest. About the year 1850 the famous California clipper-ships made their appearance in the Western seas, inaugurating a new era in naval architecture. These remarkable vessels, the swiftest sailing-ships that the world has ever seen, made the voyage from Boston and New^ York around Cape Horn and up to San Francisco in less than a hundred days, and were enabled to get £10 a ton for fi-eightage-rates. Their sharp bows cleft the 42 10 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Franciaco. waves with great rapidity, pressed forward by a vast and unprecedented spread of canvas on the tall masts, while from the sloping decks new companies of Argonauts saw the distant Andes break the eastern horizon, or gazed in wonder at the unfamiliar constella- tion of the Southern Cross. In those days there were but few farms in the interior, and Oregon had hardly begun to be settled, so that almost all the supplies of the city were brought from great distances. Some flour came in from Australia and Chili, and a little sugar and rice from Asia, but the greater part of the provisions and other goods needed was brought from the North Atlantic States, by the long route around South America. All this was changed upon the opening of the Panama Railway, in 1855, connecting comparatively short lines of steam-navigation on both sides. In a single year 6,000 tons of biscuit were shipped from New York to San Francisco, around the Horn, passing twice through the torrid zone. During the earlier days there were alternate seasons of scarcity and of abundance. At one time, tobacco sold for 8s. a pound, and within a year the market was so overstocked that boxes of the weed were thrown down in the mud, to serve as stepping-stones, and employed also as foundations for buildings. A pound of saleratus was worth £3 in gold. Balances, worth Is., sold readily for £15. Cotton cloth was as valuable as silk. The completion of the Pacific Railway, in 1869, placed San Francisco within less than a week of New York (the distance being something over 3,300 miles) ; and it is no longer possible for such vicissitudes to occur. The neighbouring counties produce an abundance of bread-stuffs and other supplies ; and the people of the city are rapidly getting into a way of establishing factories, to supply their other needs. The chief manufacturing is connected with the iron-foundries, of which there are nearly fifty, and several brass-foundries, employing 3,000 men. Iron and coal cost tmce or thrice as much as in Pennsylvania, or England, yet these works are conducted at a profit, being mainly engaged in making ponderous machinery for the mines, engines of great power and endurance, locomotives, steamship-engines, and other works in iron of the largest class. There are also chemical works, car factories, sugar refineries, powder-mills, ship-yards, cotton-mills, glass-houses, assaying works, petroleum refineries, and other branches of manufacturing industry. The famous Mission Mills employ nearly 400 Chinamen, and make the finest woollen blankets in the world. The San Franciscan peninsula — although many of its hills have been cast into the sea to make new streets — still retains several bold and picturesque eminences, commanding very attractive views over the surrounding waters and the diversified coast counties. On the north stands Telegraph Hill, from whose summit signals were formerly displayed on the approach of ships, indicating the class and colours of the in-bound vessels, and warning the isolated citizens to make ready for the expected arrivals. On one side it overlooks the placid inland sea, the frowning fortress-walls on Alcatraz, and the distant crest of Mount Tamalpais; and on the other the long streets, crowded with stirring life, stretch away towards the Mission Peaks and Bernal Heights. Farther away appear the fair leagues of the Santa Clara Valley, the rugged Potrero ridges, the populous Bay towns, from Alameda to Berkeley, and many a frowning mountain, many a line of jagged sierras. Under the shelter of Telegraph Hill, on the south, was the famous Happy Valley of the first San Francisco.] LONE MOUNTAIN. 11 immigrants, where the tents of the adventurers stood thick as on the camp-ground of an army corps. Spanishtown clings to the western slope of Telegraph Hill, and is the abode of the Mexicans and Spanish-Californians. At Carnival-time there are strange festivities in this Latin faubourg, when rival bands of play-day warrioi*s fight for hours, pelting each other with hundreds of pounds of flour, and the victors have the honour of naming the lady who shall be queen of the coming festivities. In 1881 the Cuartel Colorado companies fought the Pueblo Nuevo regiment for many hours, one division preferring the Senorita Guadalupe Carbano, and the other choosing the Seiiorita Manuela Hermiera, as the sovereign lady of the Carnival-tide. Barbary Coast, a densely-populated locality at the foot of Telegraph Hill, and close to the busiest streets, is the plague-spot of San Francisco — the haunt of the wicked, the profligate, and the abandoned classes. Within a few crowded squares there is enough human venom to poison a continent, enough misery to plunge the angelic hosts into unavailing grief. Forty years ago, assassinations were of almost daily occurrence, and the revolver, the bowie-knife, the stiletto, found many a victim among these horrible dens, where desperadoes of both sexes and of all nations held high revelry. Criminals found here a city of refuge; and honest men caught within its purlieus were robbed — perhaps were murdered. The vigilance and activity of a strong police force have averted much of this peril at the present time; but the Barbary Coast and Dupont Street still invite and nourish the libertinism for which San Francisco is so sadly celebrated — so mournfully pre-eminent among Anglo-Saxon cities. It is within these precincts that the traveller can comprehend something of what the entire settlement was forty years ago, when (to use the amply vigorous words of an English traveller) "the scum of Polynesia, desperadoes from Australia, bullies and blackguards from the wild State of Missouri, Spanish cut-throats from the cities of the Pacific coast, dissolute women and reckless adventurers from the slums of Europe, congregated in San Francisco, and there plied their several avocations, and followed their devious courses, in defiance of a law which had lost its terrors for them, and in disregard of any other check save the revolver or the bowie-knife. At that time San Francisco was one-half a brothel and one-half a gaming-hell.'^ To the southward of Telegraph Hill, just beyond the heart of the city, rises Rincon Hill, at one time the aristocratic quarter, but latterly well-nigh ruined by street-cuttings. Farther west is Russian Hill, 360 feet high, and, with the adjacent Clay Street and California Street Hills, forming the third wall of the triangular amphitheatre in which most of the buildings are placed. Farther towards the sea is Lone Mountain, which is neither lone nor a mountain, but a shapely conical hill, cro^vned with an enormous white cross, and surrounded with graves. The hill belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, and is entirely enclosed by the burying-ground of that sect. In the Aacinity are several other large and beautiful cemeteries, pertaining to the non-Catholics, and adorned with costly monuments. This entire district, where Romanists, Freemasons, Dissenters of all sorts, the soldiers, statesmen, and financiers of the infant commonwealth, are buried, is popularly known as Lone Mountain, and the term has in it something weird and sad, befitting such a locality. From the flowery crest of the hill [Calvary the Romanists call it) one may 12 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. look westward across the undulating sand-hills to the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, superb under. the light of sunset; or northward, over the glittering strait of the Golden Gate, to the fore-shortened masses of the Coast Range ; or eastward, where the lengthening streets of the city of sorrow and of hope, of ancient crime and rising prosperity, stretch towards the horizon of the Sierra Nevada. It may well be wondered whether the angels look down with greater joy upon the complex civilisation of New York and Boston than they felt when gazing upon the wigwams of the simple and devout Red Indians which have been swept away. In their eyes the San Francisco of to-day must be a pande- monium, a conclave of evil spirits even when compared with the lowly pastoral life of the vanished Mission Dolores. And to all this human faithlessness, this feverish strife for place and preferment, this insincerity so sad, this dogged refusal to think, this practical negation of a life beyond. Lone Mountain is the end, as Greenwood is out on the Atlantic side, or Pere-la-Chaise, still farther afield. Turning from the silent bourne of so many chequered lives, eastward into the new metropolis, a nervous and buoyant life is seen on every side, thrilling with excitement and quivering with indomitable ambition. The Happy Valley has vanished, and a semi- European city stands in its place. When the present transitional era is over, and a certain degree of architectural harmony, already beginning, is rounded out, the city will be as fair as it is strong and energetic. Market Street, the widest and longest of the thoroughfares, runs south-westward from the water-front towards the beach which faces the Pacific — ^passing from a region of stately commercial buildings and hotels to a dusty limbo of suburban shanties, and then to the bleak sand-hills around Mission Dolores. This is rapidly becoming the chief street of the city, and is almost the only highway leading to the open country. It also divides the older wards, on the north, from the new and inchoate city on the south. There are upwards of fifty miles of tramways here, some of the cars being drawn through the streets and up the steep hills by an ingenious system of stationary engines and endless wire cables. Midway between the two rails are two parallel bars of iron, an inch apart, between and below which is the ever-moving cable ; and the driver, by moving his lever (connecting with a " grip " which projects through the crevice towards the cable), can attach the car thereto, and thus have it set in motion; or he can release the cable, and then the car is stopped by brakes. Strangers in San Francisco gaze in surprise at the heavily-laden cars gliding smoothly up the steep hills, and without any apparent means of locomotion. One of these cables is three miles long, and daily carries thousands of passengers out to Golden Gate Park. Kearney Street is the busy main thoroughfare — the favourite resort of the promenaders — ^the region of the most brilliant and attractive shops. Here is the famous Maison Doree, the most aristocratic of San Francisco's thousand restaurants, where the gilded youth of both sexes, the local actors, the visiting tourists, seek their mid-day lunches or their after-theatre suppers. There are many who prefer the triumphs of the Italian cuisine at Campi's, or the simpler indigenous fare at the '^ United States ; " while along the harbour-line the " Sailors' Delight," the " Fair Wind," and similar alluring names summon the mariners to less sumptuous tables. The shop-windows of Kearney Street are skilfully arranged, and exhibit a great variety of tempting wares to the eyes of the San Francisco.] HOTELS AND CLUBS. 13 passers-by. The (Quarterly Review was quite within bounds when it asserted that in no other city are such extravagant prices asked (and cheerfully paid) for the unnecessary things of life — splendid furniture, costly apparel, rare jewels, and fancy horses. The miner comes down from the mountains as rich and reckless as a sailor after a long voyage, and his heavy twenty-dollar gold pieces soon vanish, unregretted, in a bout of unlimited drinking, of dinners at the best of restaurants, of conflicts with the faro-bank, of revellings still worse in form. He speaks of the metropolis only as " Frisco,^^ or " The Bay," and reckons a month spent among its pleasures as ample com- pensation for a year of weary labour in the distant and gloomy sierras. Montgomery Street is devoted to the better class of retail trade, and its side - walks are filled with hurrying crowds, ruddy-faced men and richly- dressed women. The shops leave nothing to be desired, exhibiting the costliest jewellery, the daintiest toi- lettes, the most efficient weapons, and the favourite table delicacies of half a dozen nationalities. At one time this was the chief street of San Fran- cisco, but Kearney Street, parallel and close to it, being broader and more uniformly built up, usurped (or at least divided) its pre-eminence. Montgomery Street runs plump up against Tele- graph Hill, which is ascended from its head by a line of steps. The larger hotels and theatres are on or near these two streets, and so are the club-houses, the chief of which, occupied by the aristocratic Union Club, was constructed of stone quarried and dressed in China. Some of the most important buildings in this district were built with fortunes acquired in the mines; and the Palace Hotel thus commemorates the Crown Point Bonanza, the Nevada Block represents the Con- solidated Virginia Mines, the Baldwin House arose from the Ophir and Mexican Mines, and other handsome structures, as tall and as ornate as the fear of earthquakes will allow, bear witness to the unburied treasures of many other famous hills. The best of the few public buildings is the new City Hall, a picturesque and costly structure on Yerba Buena Park, with a dome which is visible for a great distance. Near this monument of civic ambition and wealth are the celebrated Sand Lots, where the WASHINGTON ALLEY. 14 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [San Francisco. San Francisco workmen and "hoodlums^-' have for years been accustomed to assemble^ to listen to wild and incendiary harangues from their leaders. The chief of these is one Denis Kearney^ a teamster^ whose rude eloquence has often powerfully swayed thousands of men assembled here, and insured prompt action against abuses of the people's rights, or fomented outbreaks of lower-class prejudice and hatred. The civic soldiery have need to be kept in a high state of efficiency to check these wild communards of the West. The volunteer militia force of the city numbers 2,500 men, well drilled and organised, and forming a powerful conservative force in the midst of this conglomerate population. There is a battalion of cavalry and a battery of light artillery, and the remainder of the brigade is composed of three regiments and fifteen companies of infantry. The popula- tion of the city exceeds 333,000, according to the census of 1880. In the early days of San Francisco, the number of immigrants was so great that no adequate accommodation could be provided for them, even at the exorbitant prices which were freely offered. Great buildings of red- wood, with cloth partitions and paper ceilings, arose on all sides, affording such tempting bait to the flames that in a single year upwards of 361,500,000 worth of property was destroyed by fire. Several old ships were beached, and became the hotels of this nomadic horde. These primitive inns have been replaced by a group of huge modern hotels, which would be noteworthy even in London or Paris for their extent and luxury. The Palace Hotel is the most famous caravanserai of the Pacific States, the paradise of the flush speculator, the day-dream of thousands of weary prospectors among the arid mountains of Arizona and Nevada. This vast structure, seven storeys high, and covering nearly three acres, cost about £600,000, and has accom- modation for 1,300 guests. Externally, it is remarkable for a great number of bow-windows projecting from every room; and within is the broad court-yard, paved with marble, and covered with a glass roof at the top of the building. At evening, when this inner square is brilliantly lighted up, and frequent carriages pass in and out, the scene becomes full of interest and variety. The court is surrounded by rows of balconies projecting from every floor, and adorned with countless flowers and tropical plants. The water used in the- hotel comes from four deep artesian wells on the premises, which afford ample means for fighting fire; while an intricate network of iron rods and bars, riveting all parts of the building together, is intended for a defence against earthquakes. Upon the lofty roof, overlooking the city and bay, a promenade a third of a mile long has been constructed. This huge inn was built by Senator Sharon, with a part of the wealth which he had acquired from the famous Comstock Mines, in Nevada. The Baldwin House is another enormous and magnificent hotel, erected at a cost of .£700,000, a part of the profits of a speculator in shares during a single winter, and upon its lofty roof supporting a broad promenade and a half -score of domes. In its court-yard is a superb opera-house, with seats for 1,700 persons, and so richly decorated that the frescoing alone cost £6,000, the curtain also being of rich crimson satin. The Lick House and the Cosmopolitan, the Grand and the Occidental, are scarcely less magnificent than the Palace and the Baldwin; and below these there are as many as a hundred other public hotels of various grades. In and near California Street are the financial head-quarters of the Pacific Coast, the banks, exchanges, safe-deposit vaults, and other general offices. The great Bank of San Francisco] "FRISCO" MILLIONN AIRES. J 5 Nevada, the Anglo- Calif ornian Bank, the London and San Francisco Bank, the Bank of California, and other powerful institutions of that class, occupy stately buildings in the district ; and here also are the halls of the three exchanges, the San Francisco, the California, and the Pacific, which are popularly known as the Big, the Little, and the New Exchanges. The first-named is the oldest and most select in its membership, and a seat therein costs c€6,000. There are hundreds of brokers in the vicinity, many of whom stand outside the exchanges — the curbstone-brokers so-called, who during the hours of busi- ness are possessed with the same wild frenzy which holds high carnival within the halls, when the street is crowded with apparently infuriated men. The chief object of specu- lation is mining shares; and there is no class of society which does not dabble in this dangerous business. The clergy of the city are not exempt from the mania ; the merchants continually yield to its allurements j even the women make speculative investments in shares, and feel the full excitement of the rising and falling markets. Thousands have been ruined in this fascinating gambling, and hundreds have won fortunes. The State Constitution, enacted only a few years ago, has driven from California more than £10,000,000 of capital, two-thirds of that sum having been withdrawn from the banking capital of San Francisco alone. Just before that date the assessors of the city reported that there were thirty individuals there whose fortunes exceeded £250,000 — five of them being worth from £600,000 to £900,000 each, one worth ^62,000,000, and three worth not far from ,£4,000,000. Several of these millionnaires have erected palaces in the aristocratic quarter of New York, side by side with other new and superb mansions owned by the grain and pork princes of Chicago and Cincinnati. Many a strange romance might be told of these Californian favourites of fortune. Four of the wealthiest were village shopkeepers, until the vast subsidies given by the Government to the Central Pacific Railway fell into their hands. An engineer on an ocean steamship landed here, and in a few years accumu- lated millions of dollars. A vendor of milk, who left his cans and measures to become a curbstone-broker, is now worth £1,500,000. Two butcher-boys, abandoning the commerce in shoulders and briskets, have acquired landed estates large enough for principalities. Messrs. Flood and O^Brien were bar-tenders in San Francisco, and Messrs. Fair and Mackay worked in the mines at Virginia City. Honest, earnest, and laborious men, of humble origin and moderate ambitions, the Fates brought them together as partners, and delivered into their hands a silver-mine of small apparent value, which had never paid a dividend. With indomitable patience they bored and dug away in the barren shafts, until suddenly a vast deposit of rich ore opened before them, and the shares, which they had bought for less than a pound sterling, rose to a market valuation of over £2,400 each. Within ten years, £25,000,000 in treasure was taken from this marvellous Consolidated Virginia mine. Mackay, the friendless little Dublin boy, now owns two-fifths of this mountain of silver, and keeps his wife and children in a splendid palace near the Champs Elysees in Paris. When General Grant was in the French capital, and the American colony prepared brilliant fetes in his honour, it is said that Mrs. Mackay wished to have the great Arc de Triomphe illuminated, and upon receiving the amused refusal of the Parisian officials, she sent a messenger to the municipal authorities, offering to buy the arch, and asking them to name their price for it. 16 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [San Francisco. Chrysopolis, the Golden City, is a term which has been applied to San Francisco, whose foundations were laid and whose growth has been insured by the precious metals. Nowhere else has human industry made such vast changes in the face of nature as appear in the tributary regions, where rivers have been turned from their beds, hills have been washed away, and mountain ranges have been conquered in quest of treasure. The yield of the mines of Peini and Mexico, which enriched and enervated Spain, is surpassed by the prodigious wealth of the Sierra Nevada, and it cannot be wondered at that the citizens should yearn and strive "to fill themselves with gold as a sponge fills itself with water.'' The United States Mint, a ponderous stone structure near the centre of the city, is THE CITY HAIL. believed to have the most ingenious and efficient coining machinery in the whole world. Many thousands of miners send bullion to this point, where heaps of gold-dust and silver ingots are seen on all sides, apparently unguarded, and in reckless confusion. Yet the characteristic hap-hazard character of American institutions has no part here; and such is the precision of the processes that in a coinage of £6,000,000 in a single year, only £100 has been lost by waste. Between 1845 and 1879 the United States produced £297,535,660 in gold, and £84,544,450 in silver, much of which has been turned into coin at this mint. The stone of which the building was constructed came from the Gulf of Georgia, in British America, Gambling was permitted by the Mexican Government, and legalised by the American authorities, who derived a large revenue from this source. In '49 the best buildings in the city of tents and shanties were made use of for this purpose, and the halls were hung San Francisco.] GAMBLING-HOUSES. 17 with costly pictures, and made attractive by orchestral music. The faro-banks afforded the chosen amusement for Americans, while associations of suave Frenchmen conducted the games of rouge-et-noir and roulette, and dark-visaged Mexicans preferred the chances of monte. At one time there were more than a hundred of these sinister tables, heaped high with coin, nuggets, and gold-dust, and patronised alike by merchants, officials, and labourers. MONTGOMERY STREET — THE PALACE HOTEL IX THE DISTANCE. The numerous gambling-houses which are still found in the city, thriving in spite of hostile laws, are therefore a legacy of those reckless days of 1819, and a poignant example of the survival of the unfittest. Even the Chinese have been so far civilised as to have a hundred and fifty of these gambling-dens, where the hard-earned dollars of the yellow heathen are freely staked against chance. It need not be stated that fraud and violence connive with adverse fate against the unfortunate men who enter here, and that the seductive faro- banks are rarely subjected to appreciable losses. It is not wonderful, then, that this lovely land, blessed above all others in America 43 18 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. in fertile soil and delightful climate, should bury more suicides, in proportion to her population, than any other State. In San Francisco the cases of self-murder used to average more than one a week, the ever-ready revolver being the usual implement of destruction. Some are ruined by drink, or licentiousness, or unsettled homelessness ; others by adverse fortune, disappointed ambition, terrible transitions ; and of the hardest- stricken there are two classes — one driven to the vast and crowded insane asylums, the other leaping desperately into the pitiless darkness of eternity. The woes are also in no small part due to the electric stimulation of the air^ keeping the people under a high pressure of excitement, which is not yet regulated by discreet concessions of holiday rest. A spirit of luxury and extravagance holds full sway over society, and brings with it better homes, richer diet, and more costly apparel than the eastern American enjoys. Most of the Californians are free from the responsibilities of family, and think it no wrong to live freely, since they have no need to provide for others, and their own future is easily assured. In the ceaseless changes of the stock-market, too, the millionnaire of to-day often becomes the poor man of to-morrow, his fortune swept away by unforeseen fluctuations. They seek, therefore, to secure enjoyment in the passing hour of prosj)erity, and while the means thereto exist. The thrift which insures domestic peace among the misty hills of New England is unknown in this land of vineyards and golden rocks. The artisan or the petty merchant who, by a sudden rise in real estate or in mining shares, becomes as rich as the Medici, knows that every flood-tide has its ebb, and celebrates his golden age with the best of wines and cigars, the richest of furniture and surroundings, the choicest of entertainments. When Mr. Mills, the president of the Bank of California, made his home in New York, in 1881, the bill for furnishing his house exceeded £80,000. Cosmopolis, the world-city, is a term which might be used as synonymous with San Francisco, for its population includes the representatives of all nations; and the delicate tendrils of heart- sympathy connect its many-tongued people with millions of homes in Europe, Asia, and Africa, which have sent their children hither in search of the golden fleece. The faces and voices of the Christian, the Buddhist, the Jew, appear in its streets; and here is the home alike of Anglo-Saxon, Goth, Latin, Celt, Slav, Tartar, and Mongolian. There is a large number of Englishmen here — sturdy, industrious, and thorough, and occupying places both high and low, as bankers, journalists, and navvies. Their brethren from beyond the Tweed have sought the golden shores in great numbers, and <"onvene in frequent festive meetings at the Hall of the Caledonian Society. The British Benevolent Society has 1,300 members, and gives aid and relief to about 1,500 unfor- tunate Britons every year. The German General Benevolent Society numbers nearly 3,000 members and annually distributes j68,000 among sick or hungry Teutons, maintaining also a large hospital. The Societc Francaise de Bienfaisance Mutuelle maintains a still larger hospital. Far across the mighty Pacific Ocean, on the under side of the world, is the mys- terious empire of China, where 400,000,000 patient, peaceful, and industrious Mongolians have dwelt for immemorial ages, under the strange and intricate laws of a patriarchal despotism, apparently devoid of enterprise, energy, or imagination, but faithful to prece- San Fiaaoisco.] CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA. 19 dents, reverent towards knowledge, and skilful in handicrafts. Soon after the discovery of gold in California, the long-sealed gates of the Central Flowery Kingdom were broken down, and myriads of Chinamen crossed the Pacific, to seek relief from the over-crowding and the poverty of their homes; and the new land received an immense benefit from their iron diligence, which, under Anglo-American supervision, built highways and railways, dug irrigation canals, planted fields and vineyards, and developed mines. Durino; the last five years the tide of immigration has well-nigh ceased, and many of these labourers have returned to Asia, frightened by popular jaersecutions and hostile legislative enactments. There still remain 75,000 Chinamen in California, and 25,000 in the adjacent Pacific regions ; and forty-five of the American States and territories contain representatives of this race. Only a few hundred women have crossed the Pacific, and these are for the most part held in a terrible and degrading slavery. So the hundred thousand bachelors, free from family expenses, and requiring but jS40 apiece for their yearly expenses, have become formidable competitors against the white artisans, and very nearly monopolise certain departments of labour. They control the laundry business, the manufacture of cigars, shoes, and various articles of clothing; are in great demand as house-servants; and transact a large business in cultivating vegetables and vending them throughout the city. There are also large mercantile firms, rated at from j640,000 to £100,000 each, whose members occasionally give luxurious Oriental entertainments to their American brethren. So intense is the hostility of the lower classes, led by politicians and demagogues, against the Chinese, that the sentiment has become one of the great national questions, and bids fair to descend to later generations bristling with diificulties. Ernest Renan speaks of China as " a state of decrepitude without parallel in history, where an empire of millions of men awaits the coming of a few thousand barbarians to bring it masters and regenerators. What happened on the invasion of the Roman Empire by the- Germanic bands will happen again with China, ^'' But California fears a conquest of a different kind, when easily-spared millions of Celestials shall be impelled eastward by hunger, by a failure of the tea-plant, perhaps by the rise of a new Mohammed. The scum of the Asiatic coast has already crowded back the Aryan whites from every position on which it has advanced; and the Californians anxiously ask what will be their fate when the edu- cated and disciplined men of the same race enter the Golden Gate. By lives of semi- starvation, crowded in narrow and noisome quarters, with machine-like and fatalistic precision of labour, the yellow workman has been trained down to a point at which the white workman cannot live. When the Chinaman enters any industry, he (though as yet the off-scouring of his nation) drives out his Anglo-Saxon rival. He is no longer the simple and unresisting animal that first crept into California from the Pacific Mail steamships, for he can gamble and give long odds ; he is not ignorant of drunkenness ; and under his effeminate tunic he carries a bowie-knife or revolver. It is no wonder, then, that this handfnl of Anglo-Americans fiercely resisted his incoming, demanded national legis- lation against it, and preferred that their domain should remain waste rather than become a new Tonquin, a Tartar province. The Chinese of California are smaller and less strong than the American inhabitants, but possess great powers of endurance, and in the long run can easily outwork their 20 ■ CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisca Caucasian neighbours. Their favourite articles o£ diet are fish and pork, rice and tea, cooked over open braziers, and eaten with chop-sticks. But rarely do they depart from the costume of their native land — the cork-soled cloth shoes, flowing trousers, light blue cotton blouses, very loose and hanging down to the knees, with immense sleeves, and singular Oriental hats. The wealthy merchants are usually clad in rich silks and cassimeres. The women wear clothing which differs from these only in being more voluminous, and usually of fine materials. In one respect, at least, the Chinaman has been civilised up to the Calif ornian level — he gambles in the most reckless and dissolute manner, and evades the stringent municipal laws on this subject by skilfully concealing the places where the games are in operation. Next to this dangerous amusement, he loves the two theatres, where crude performances are given by companies of Chinese actors (there are no actresses), a single drama requiring sometimes a hundred nights for its completion. In this land of intemperates it is a very rare thing to see a drunken Chinaman, but the substitute used by these Asiatics is worse than the fiery liquor of their white neighboui-s. It is opium, whose delicious dreams enchant the persecuted race, huddled by scores in the dark and dingy opium-dens. The Six Chinese Companies are protective and charitable organisations, including all the Chinamen on the Pacific Coast in their membership, and each provided with an office, in San Francisco. They advance the funds for the passage-money of immigrants, take care of the sick and the dead, and supervise the labours of their countrymen. On one .occasion, after an anti-Chinese mass-meeting, the presidents of the Six Companies sent a very dignified defence of their people to the President of the United States. In some sort, too, these Companies endeavour to obtain that i-arest of all Californian commodities — -justice — remembering that the government of the city is (as one of its cliief news- papers has phrased it) *^an institution to be placated with backsheesh rather than an organisation for the maintenance of society.^' The Tong Fan Asoon Po (The Oriental) is a weekly newspaper, printed from a litho- graphic stone, and having a circulation of 700 among the Chinese of San Francisco. It contains abstracts of the news gleaned from its Trans-Pacific exchanges, local items, and editorials upon subjects of present interest. Everything is printed in the strange Chinese characters, associated in the European mind mainly with tea-chests. Chinatown, where most of these unfortunate aliens live, covers about nine blocks, adjoining the gloomy precincts of Barbary Coast, and here the yellow men are crowded into narrow and filthy quarters, hundreds of them in a single house, surrounded by poisonous masses of all manner of refuse, and violating every hygienic law, yet singularly healthy and vigorous withal. Every visitor to San Francisco is taken to visit this strange foreign faubourg, and its idol-temples, theatres, and opium-dens. It is the Ghetto of the West. Among the Asiatic inhabitants of the city there are devotees of three faiths : those of Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-Tsze ; and they support six joss-houses, or places of worship — dark, incense-stifled rooms, each having from three to twelve idols, secluded in alcoves, before which, are placed tables for meat-offerings, and boxes in which fragrant sandal- wood perpetually burns. The favourite divinities appear to be the " god of the Sombre Heavens,^-' the "god of Medicine,^' the "god of War," and the "god of Wealth.'' The San Francisco.] CHINESE FESTIVALS. 21 peculiar earnestness of the adoration of the two last-named shows that these pagans are not incapable of apprehending the root-ideas of Anglo- American civilisation. The priests of the shrines are comfoi-tably supported by the sale of devotional objects. The great festival is at their New Year's Day, which occurs late in February, and fills the Chinese quarter with strange heathen revels, fantastic draperies, many-coloured lanterns of singular shapes, and placards inscribed with vivid and mysterious texts. The misery and squalor of the lanes are hidden beneath gay-coloured bunting; and every one is out, calling on his friends and kinspeople. During the last days of the old year, all accounts are closed and all debts paid — a Confucian custom, which might be introduced without detri- ment in London and New York. Every one seems happy and mirthful — the shops are closed — thousands of Chinamen from the inland towns join in the celebration — the theatres and restaurants, the opium-dens and gam- bling-houses, are crowded — and the streets are brilliant with richly-robed Mongolian aristocrats, and women and children with painted faces. In order to frighten away the evil spirits, so that the new year may begin auspi- ciously, a continuous and unendurable racket is made with bombs, fire- crackers, gongs, kettle-drums, and fid- dles. About two months later comes the festival of Tsing Ming ('^ the Pure and Resplendent ''), when it is believed that the spirits of the dead re-visit the earth, and wonderful feasts are prepared for them, while their graves are renovated and put in order. When a Chinaman dies, he is said to ''salute the age," or to "ascend to the sky,'' and elaborate pagan rites are celebrated at the tomb. The American Christians have recognised the hand of God in bringing these idolaters within the jurisdiction of the Church, and many efforts have been made to evangelise them. The Roman Catholics make earnest attacks upon their pagan doctrines; and the Presbyterians and Methodists also have achieved a certain measure of success. Sevei^al hundred Californian Chinamen have become intelligent church-members, and their Young Men's Christian Association includes upwards of 500 men. There are nearly a score of mission-schools in the city, and two successful houses of refuge for reformed Chinawomen. But where he may find dozens of perfunctory friends, the man of Asia must encounter also hundreds of bitter and lawless antagonists. The " hoodlum " is the natural enemy of the Chinaman, and his cowardly and merciless persecutor — the terror of the streets it night, the insulter of women, the robber of peaceably-disposed citizens, the foe of the INTEBIOE OF A CHINESE JOSS-HOUSE. 22 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. police. He is of the same type and race as the " larikkin " of Australia — an overgrown boy or dissolute young man^ grown up without the sweet influences of home and mother, averse to labour, haunting the corner-groceries and dark alleys, and always plotting new mischiefs or consummating ingenious devilries. When a Chinaman passes a gang of these distorted abortions of civilisation, it is inevitable that they shall pull him down by his queue, hammer him with their fists, or shower him with a volley of stones — deeming such treatment of a heathen and an alien as one of the proud duties of their American citizenship. For many years California was a great Alsatia, whither the outcasts of all nations found refuge ; and the " road-agents " of the mining counties, as desperate and as chivalrous as the highwaymen of Hounslow Heath and the Spanish robbers on the southern roads, as cruel as Greek banditti, still perpetuate the memory of the exiled canaille of New York, London, and Mexico. The hoodlum, however, is a product of the soil — a young man, excluded from lowly labour by Chinese competition, and from skilled artisanship by trades-unionism, and left to idle about the streets, armed to the teeth, proficient in all vices and crimes, the scourge of the city, the despair of the philan- thropist, and a warning to England. It needs not to be stated that in a city made up of such elements as are found here, and where the hotel is paramount over the home, the theatre is one of the most favoured institutions. The California Theatre and the opera-houses are large and luxurious structures; and the minor variety-theatres command a profitable patronage as well. Many of the best actors and singers in the world have visited this far-off capital, as a midway house between New York and Australia, and their engagements have been very successful. Waders Opera-House has sittings for 3,000 people, and sometimes there are even 4,000 auditors, when some special attraction is given. In Woodward's Gardens the San Franciscan finds the " Tioo," the Agricultural Hall, and the Brighton Aquarium united, and he pays but a shilling for all this combination of joys. Here is the grand pavilion, seating 5,000 people, with a polished floor for dancing, skating, and various droll plays and contests ; the observatory, overlooking the city and harbour ; the museum, crowded with Verreux's (of Paris) choicest natural history specimens, a full collec- tion of Japanese minerals, and countless Pacific Coast curiosities ; the art-gallery, with numerous paintings and sculptures ; the Zoological Gardens, where living tigers, bears, jaguars, camels, and other animals dwell in roaring discontent; the race-course, a great amphitheatre for chariot and foot races; the aquarium and the seal-ponds, the bear-pit and deer-park, the aviary and conservatories. Around these popular resorts there are trees and shubberies, flowers and lawns, hillocks and grottoes, lakelets and fountains, pagodas and rustic seats, and other means of diverting the urban youth, and attracting their seniors. The later pioneers were not so exclusively devoted to adventure and money-making as to neglect the more refined pleasures of literature. The Mercantile Library contains 50,000 volumes, and owns a large and handsome building near the centre of the city. Its reading- room is supplied with scores of various magazines and reviews, a hundred newspapers from the Atlantic States, a hundred and fifty from the Pacific Coast, and files from the Sandwich Islands and the Cape uf Good Hope. A small annual contribution entitles one to the use San Francisco.] LETTERS AND ART. ?.'i of these. The Mechanics' Institute has a library of 30,000 volumes, which is continually enriched from the money made at the great Industrial Exhibitions. The Odd Fellows also have a collection of 25,000 volumes ; and several other societies are provided with large and growing libraries. The historian of the Pacific Coast, "the Caesar Augustus of Americanides," is Mr. Hubert II. Bancroft, formerly a San Francisco publisher, who has ransacked the world for books and MSS. pertaining to this region, and now possesses a library of 20,000 volumes of Californiana, besides myriads of documents and papers. With a large corps of assistants, he has been engaged for years in the preparation of a huge many-volumed book on the native races of the Pacific Coast, and a systematic history of the territory and State of California. In the quest for original papers, Mr. Bancroft has made repeated visits to London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, and Vienna ; and he secured 3,000 volumes from the Bihlioteca Imperial de Mejico of the Emperor MaximiHan. The Overland Monthly, which ran a short career, from 1868 to 1875, was the medium through which many literary citizens reflected the wild, free sentiment of the Pacific slope. Bret Harte was the editor, and among the local contributors were men whose fame is now world-wide — Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, Charles W. Stoddard, and others — working in similar veins of sentiment, but with widely different manners. Boston and New York soon perceived the rare merit of these Pacific Coast authors, and lured them away from this sweet Laodicean climate; and London, in its turn, admired and received them. They are better known now in Paternoster Row than in Kearney Street; and the Call- fornian, the successor of the Overland Monthly ^ is fostering a new brood of geniuses. There certainly have been but few communities of such brief existence which could point to so many eminent authors as their own, or show native schools of literature so original, piquant, and powerful. Poetry grows on this soil as freely and luxuriantly as among the hills of Scotland ; history has found devoted students and annalists ; and philo- logy has made some of its most interesting discoveries in this cosmopolitan community. The newspapers of the city are vigorous and fearless, and continually report the tidings of the round world, and all that dwell therein. A keen observer remarks that the journalists of San Francisco include " graduates of all universities from Aberdeen to Rome, and graduates of those famous foundations, the School of Adversity, the Academy of Audacity.'" There is, indeed, a wide range between the dignified conservatism of the Alta, the Ballefin, and the Examiner, and the enterprising sensationalism of the Chronicle, the Call, and the Post — between the dull solemnity of the sectarian weeklies and the stinging quips of the News-LeHer, the Parisian sparkle of the Courrier Francais. In the broad field of art, this community has made a really notable progress ; and its chief painters. Hill, Keith, Rosenthal, and Virgil Williams, are held in high esteem among American artists. The grand scenery of the Sierras and the coast, the brilliancy of the Western skies and landscapes, have afforded abundant resources for the development of a new school of painting, which may produce notable results in the next century. The San Francisco Art Association has several hundred members, and often gives exhibitions of paintings. It also maintains a school of design, and a growing collection of casts from antique statuary. Such enlightening agencies may render impossible repetitions of the droll 24 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. incident reported in one of the local newspapers, and gleefully re-published in the Eastern journals. It is said that a rich mining speculator sent to Florence for a copy of the Venus of Milo, and when it arrived he sued the Central Pacific Railway for mutilating a work of art, and the jury awarded him heavy damages ! The theology which has prevailed in San Francisco (and may be destined to remain yet longer) is illustrated in a scrap from one of the local dialect-stories, representing a dialogue between a learned divine and a rugged old teamster : — " ' Mr. Small, do not you believe in the overruling providence of God ? ' ' Which god ? ' ' There is but one God/ ' I don^t see it, parson. On this yere Pacific Coast gods is numerous — Chinee gods. Mormon gods, Injin gods. Christian gods, an^ TJw Bank of Calif orny' " There are hopeful indica- tions, however, that the careless indifferentism, tbe intense secularism, of the early days is passing away, to be replaced by a well-ordered condition of Christian civilisation, vigorous in growth, and blossoming in charities and philanthropies. The Methodists, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, each have about a dozen churches here ; the Lutherans, Baptists, and Independents each have half as many ; and several smaller sects also hav^e their places of worship. Chief in interest among these buildings are the Unitarian church, the scene of the famous Starr King's ministry; the Catholic Cathedral, a stately (but not large) Gothic building ; Grace Church, the chief Anglican shrine ; the Mission Dolores, the ancient church of the Franciscan Fathers, erected in 1776 of adobes, or sun-dried bricks; and the Synagogue of Emanuel, whose quaint Oriental towers are conspicuous in all views of the city. Connected Avith these churches, or the outgrowth of the same spirit, are numerous hospitals and asylums for various classes of needy and unfortunate persons, the orphans, the widows, the sick. The exact number of the fixed sittings in the San Francisco churches is close upon 45,000, which are thus divided : Roman Catholic, 9,300 ; Presbyterian, 7,700 ; Methodists, 5,200 ; EpiscopaUan, 5,000 ; Hebrew, 4,500 ; Baptist, 4,000 ; Independent, 3,800; and miscellaneous, 5,500. The vicinity of Union Square, in the older part of the city, contains several of the most important churches, and has therefore been likened to the Leonine quarter of Rome. The rapid extension of the cable-tramways, however, draws the people more and more towards the outskirts of the city, and the modern churches are built in the new wards. There is also a Young Men's Christian Association, owning a hand- some stone building down town, with the customary comforts of libraiy and reading-room, gymnasium, and halls. The Masons and Odd Fellows possess commodious buildings in the heart of the city, from which ceaseless benefactions pour forth. The religion of the Spanish settlers was of the Roman variety in its most pronounced form, but the priest at the Mission, Padre Santillan, departed as soon as the American flag was raised, and the first regular non-Catholic services were those of the Mormons, who used to assemble upon the ringing of a hand-bell in the public square. In 1849, however, the Independents founded a church ; and a year later, within the grey old walls of Rome, Alemany was consecrated as first bishop of the remote diocese of California. About the same time the Episcopalians of the East ordained a bishop of their own faith, and sent him to the Pacific, not without hopes of a cathedral in the new vineyards of civilisation. The ancient buildings of Mission Dolores are still in existence, about two miles from the centre of the city, and serve a useful purpose as a Roman Catholic chapel. Whatever San Francisco.l CALITORNIAN CHARITY. 25 they might have shown of symmetry and beauty has vanished, and the gloomy old church now presents a mouldy and weedy aspect, while around it are the overgrown and forgotten graves and fantastic monuments of many of the caballeros who died before the American conquest. The Roman clergy of the present day claim half of the population of San Francisco as adherents of their Church, and support fourteen parishes and a large system of schools and charities. A new cathedral of imposing dimensions will no doubt at some future date replace the present St. Mary^s Cathedral. The adobe buildings about the Mission, once the home of converts and students, are now in the last stages of dilapida- tion, and occupied by a few shopkeepers. Opposite the venerable church, and within THE OLD CHXmCH OF MISSION DOLORES, BtTILT IN 1776. sound of its cracked silver bells, is the modern convent of Notre Dame, in the midst of odorous gardens. The beauty of charity finds nowhere more loving hearts and open purses than those of the mercurial and free-handed Californians ; and although sectarian lines and ecclesias- tical dogmatism are perhaps held lightly, the foremost of the Christian graces is held as very dear among the descendants of the Argonauts. Within the limits of the city there are upwards of 20,000 members of secret charitable fraternities, and more than a score of benevolent societies for different nationalities. The fires, floods, pestilences, and Indian wars of the adjacent States and territories call forth large suras of money for the allevia- tion of distress; and similar disasters in the remotest nations are relieved from the same bountiful source. When the Civil War was raging, San Francisco sent nearly £200,000 to the East, to minister to the comfort of the troops in the field or hospital ; and when France was quivering under the iron heel of Germany, ^660,000 were raised here for the benefit of 44 26 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. the French Republic. The starving Jews in North Africa, the sufferers by the earthquakes in Peru, the hard-pressed Garibaldians in Italy, the half-drowned people of flooded cities of Hungary, of Switzerland, of France, have successively received large charitable funds raised here, and sent forth with kindly sympathy. It was a harsh English critic who said that the pursuit of money was, in the eyes of Californians, '^not so much the chief as the only end for which man was created.^'' There are about 20,000 Jews in San Francisco; and the larger part of the clothing, jewellery, and dry-goods trades, the woollen mills, and the fur trade to the northward, is in their hands. They are more industrious and law-abiding than any other race, and also more prolific. There are two large synagogues of German and English Jews, and three of Russians and Poles. In climate, as in many other things, San Francisco reverses the order of the cities along the North Atlantic. The winter is the rainy season, and brilliant sunny days often follow nights of storm, with air which is full of tonic and bracing properties. In summer, however, the trade winds prevail, and sweep the entire peninsula from ocean to Bay, with raw blasts, so that overcoats are indispensable. The citizens who seek summer rest take journeys inland, where the air is more genial; and the country people, exhausted by the parching heats of the valleys, delight in the invigorating sea-winds which whirl through the streets of the city. The yearly temjjerature is the same as those of Bordeaux and Constantinople, but far more equable. The mean annual temperature is 55° Fahrenheit. The climate has often been likened to that of Italy, as the topography of the State has been ingeniously compared with that of the great Mediterranean peninsula, with the Coast Bange duplicating the Apennines, and the sea of mountains on the east replacing the Adriatic. For six months rain is unknown — the unirrigated fields resemble faded carpets, the inland soil hardens into iron-like firmness, and the roads are covered with drifting banks of dust. As Hepworth Dixon said : ^' From month to month the seasons come and go in one soft round of spring. In winter it is May ; in summer it is only June.^' That is the English way of stating it ; the local form is thus given by Hubert Bancroft : " That there is something indescribably fascinating about California, a peculiar play of light and shadow on the hills and in the heart, an atmosphere aerially alcoholic, we who have felt its subtle influence well know. Said one of the expatriated by the Vigilance Committee to the captain of the steamer, on reaching Panama : ^ Captain, this is no place for me ; you must take me back to San Francisco.' ' But they will hang you higher than Haman if I do."* ' Captain,' whined the evil-doer, ' I would rather hang in Californian air than be lord of the soil of another country."' The Golden Gate has been called the keyhole of California, and through it continually draw the cool Pacific winds, spreading out like a fan over the heated inland counties, and reaching even to the Sierras. There is rarely a day too hot or too cold for comfortable out-door labour. The winters are showery, like those of England, and sometimes, in a rainy year, become disagreeable. In summer the intense heat of the mornings is modified before noon by a steady sea-breeze, which makes a great-coat comfortable, and fills the streets with clouds of dust from the subui-ban sand-hills. This general equability of climate insures the continued pre-eminence of San Francisco, since its abundant human energy is unfettered by extremes of temperature, and labour can be rendered more efficient and continuous. Baa Francisco.] CLIMATE, 27 The exhilarating atmosphere — a sun of Italy, with an air as crisp as that of the Tyrol — has enabled the citizens to convert the sandy desert of thirty years ago, with its clouds of dust in summer, its abysses of mud in winter, into a kingdom of flowers. Many of the houses have broad lawns, dense shrubberies, and a profusion of flowers grow- ing on enormous bushes. The scarlet geraniums and lemon verbenas attain a height of ten and fifteen feet; and scarcely less ambitious are the fuchsias, the roses, the superb calla lilies. There are many exotics — evergreens from Japan, eucalypti from Australia, pines from Norfolk Island, cacti from Mexico, and the transplanted flora of the Sierras — growing securely in the open air all the year round, and requiring only a copious supply of the water which has been brought to the city by aqueducts from the distant southern mountains. There are but few large trees as yet, but the noble art of arboriculture has many followers. What California can do in the way of trees is shown at Mariposa and Calaveras, where the monarchs of the forest attain a height exceeding 300 feet, and are from forty to ninety-four feet in circumference of trunk. California has often been termed the American Palestine — not, certainly, with reference to the apostolic life of its people, or the theocratic character of its government, but rather in respect to many coincidences in nature. Here are plains covered with wild mustard, hedges of cactus, vanishing brooks, artificial irrigation, groves of mulberries, bare and burnt mountains, dead seas, siroccos, precious wells, disastrous droughts, the wine-presses, the almond-trees of Alameda, the grapes of San Diego, the olives of Los Angeles. Ethnologists recognise that a new race Avill be developed by these climatic conditions, and wonder how far the Anglo-Saxon disposition may become modified by centuries of these Asiatic surroundings. Already it has assumed a stronger type than appears in the Eastern States ; and the spare and nervous Yankee immigrant is transformed into a ruddy and sturdy fellow, with a pronounced English aspect. One of the monks attached to the ancient Mission Dolores is said to have predicted the rise of a great city on this site, and that, in the end, it and the entire peninsula should be engulfed by the sea. If this doleful Jeremiad is to be realised, it will doubtless be the result of an earthquake, for the soil of California has often been shaken up by these terrible agencies. There are fifteen shocks a year in San Francisco, for the most part hardly per- ceptible, but sometimes attaining portentous power, and bringing the panic-stricken inhabitiints into the streets and on to their knees, sometimes in the scanty habiliments of the night, amid reeling walls and falling cornices. Strangers are always appalled by this wavering of the solid earth, but the citizens have grown so accustomed to insecurity that it has no fears for them. The worst earthquake of recent years occurred in 1868, when many large buildings were thrown down, and more than sixty persons were wounded or killed. It lasted for forty-two seconds; and there never were so many prayers offered up in San Francisco in a calendar month as arose in that brief space of time, when God and eternity seemed so close upon each soul. Oakland, a city of 35,000 inhabitants, is across the Bay, just far enough from the Pacific to escape the rigour of its gales, and thus enjoying the dry and equable climate in perfection, embowered in groves of live oaks, and famous for its beautiful scenery. Many of the city merchants and professional men live in this favourite suburb, crossing the 28 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco. Bay every day on the great steam ferry-boats. The best private schools in the State are found here ; and the University of California is in the adjacent village of Berkeley, at the foot of the Contra Costa Mountains. Forty years ago, the site of Oakland was a grazing-ground for wild cattle, but now it is occupied by a city so beautiful as to have won the title of " The Bride of the Bay.^' Here the great Pacific Railway, which connects California with the Atlantic States, finds its terminus, and overland passengers are trans- ferred by ferry (in half an hour) to San Francisco. The Bay is enlivened all day long by steamboats, bound for various suburban towns on its shores — for Saucelito, nestling under the Marin hills ; San Quentin, the site of the State Prison ; San Rafael, where rich villas have replaced the ancient Spanish Mission ; Vallejo, a busy town near the United States Navy Yard; Berkeley and Alameda; Sacramento, 117 miles distant, up the Sacramento River; and many another city or hamlet, far and near. It is only about fifty years since Kotzebue, the dauntless Russian explorer, thus prophesied concerning the Bay : — '' It has hitherto been the fate of this region, like that of modest merit or humble virtue, to remain unnoticed; but posterity will do it justice. Towns and cities will hereafter flourish where all is now desert. The water, over which scarcely a solitary boat is seen to glide, will reflect the flags of all nations; and a happy, prosperous people, receiving with thankfulness what prodigal Nature bestows for their use, will disperse its treasures over every part of the world.'* Mount Diablo is but a few miles out, and ascends from a level plain to the height of 3,800 feet, making a conspicuous landmark as seen from the San Franciscan hills, and com- manding an immense prospect up and down the coast. Mount Tamalpais rises from the formidable heights beyond San Rafael, and overlooks the ocean and the Bay for many leagues. Mount Hamilton, not far from the beautiful college town of San Jose and the famous quicksilver mines of New Almaden, rises over the Santa Clai-a Valley to a height of 4,443 feet, and is destined to be a famous locality in scientific circles. The late Mr. James Lick, a very wealthy San Franciscan, bequeathed ^6140,000 for the establishment, in connection with the University of California, of an astronomical observatory on the summit of Mount Hamilton, where the atmospheric conditions are peculiarly favourable. The Golden Gate Park extends from the western border of the inhabited streets to the Pacific Ocean, forming a parallelogram, three miles long and half a mile wide. Five years ago this was as hopeless a waste of drifting sand-hills as could be found in all Sahara; but great quantities of lupin-seed were sown therein, and grew luxuriantly, anchoring the treacherous soil with a network of fibrous roots, and making possible the cultivation of more ornamental plants. The main expenditures have been made upon the broad and smoothly -paved drive-ways, where the handsome carriages and liveries of the bonanza noblesse are seen on every pleasant day, and more than ever on a bright Sunday. The surface of the Park is highly diversified, and very extensive views may be gained from its breezy hill-tops. Several creditable thickets have risen on the sandy ridges, and the usual paraphernalia of an urban park are being added from year to year. The avenue which leads into it is three-fourths of a mile long, and 275 feet wide, winding gracefully through scenes of new-born sylvan beauty. The conservatory has but one superior in America, and contains an interesting variety of palms, rare tropical plants and flowers, orchids, and aquatic plants, among which are the Egyptian lotus and the Victoria Regia, San Francisco.] THE SEAWAED VIEW. 29 Where the peninsula of San Francisco faces the Pacific is a long line of rugged and beetling cliffs, upon which rise the broad, low, and rambling walls of the Cliff House, the most famous suburban resort in this region. It is about six miles from the city, by the Point Lobos Road, or the route through the Golden Gate Park, and on a fair day the avenues leading in this direction are crowded with carriages, whose occupants take high delight in the invigorating sea-breeze, and the beautiful views of the Golden Gate, Point Bonita, and the remote blue peaks of Mount Tamalpais and the hills of the Coast Range. The prospect from the cliff extends over the blue and tranquil Pacific for many leao"ues, to the level horizon which dips away towards Asia. On a clear day, the distant rocky spires of the Farallone Islands may be seen low down in the west, weird, mysterious, and solitary. Not far off-shore are the Seal Rocks, inhabited by hundreds of sea-lions, whose hoarse barking and crying rise perpetually, as the huge and unwieldy creatures (some of which weigh fully 3,000 pounds) ride upon the dashing waves or clamber over the jagged ledges. A great number of sea-fowl inhabit the upper reaches of the rocky islets, and add to the ceaseless wild music which surrounds them. South of the Cliff House is a broad beach several miles long, where many carriages may be seen at low tide on a fine day, passing downward, and returning to town over the far-viewing road which crosses the Mission Hills. Beautiful as the scenery is along this rugged shore, however, it cannot lure the average visitor from the tables of the Cliff House, celebrated among Western men for its rich and characteristic cuisine. Facing seaward, between Point Lobos and the Golden Gate, is a continuous line of military works, nearly three-fourths of a mile long, composed of twenty-five batteries, each containing two heavy gvins, a magazine, and traverses. The parapet of this formid- able defence is thirty-six feet thick, and consists of sea-sand, covered with firm green turf. On the right of these works, at the southern portal of the Golden Gate (here about a mile wide), stands a huge fortress of stone and brick, mounting 100 guns, in four tiers, and on three sides beaten by the waves of the Pacific. Above its roof rises the Fort Point Lighthouse; and far below, in the court, are the furnaces for heating shot. On either side of the iron entrance-gate are ancient Spanish cannon, bearing the arms of Charles III., and probably mementoes of Fort Blanco, which the Spaniards erected near this site, and armed with ten iron six teen-pounders. Across the Golden Gate are the heavily-armed Lime Point batteries, some at the water-side, and others on the bluffs and on Point Cavallo, commanding the adjacent coasts and sea-ways for leagues. Inside the channel is Alcatraz Island, the Gibraltar of the Pacific, whose imposing bulwarks of masonry have been demolished, since the advent of iron-clads revolutionised naval warfare, and are replaced by low earth-works of enormous thickness, rising in tiers one above another. Alcatraz is garrisoned by artillerists, and contains the chief military prison of the Department of the Pacific, where insubordinate soldiers are compelled to work on the fortifications. A little way to the north is Angel Island, pertaining to the Government,' and the head-quarters of an infantry regiment; and on the south, in the confines of the city, is another strong battery, manned by a company of artillery. Most of these defensive works are armed with 15-inch and 20-inch guns, and effectually p-otect the city against any 30 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [San Francisco attack short of that of a first-class iron-clad, squadron. The chief American naval station on the Pacific side is several leagues north of San Francisco, where the Strait of Carquinez connects San Pablo Bay (a northerly extension of San Francisco Bay) and Suisun Bay, the embouchure of the great Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Just off this important strait, on Mare Island, the Government has spent many millions of dollars in erecting dry docks, massive buildings, barracks, and other appurtenances of a first-class dock-yard. Between Fort Point and the city is the Presidio, formerly the site of the Spanish garrison, and now owned by the United States Government, which has occupied the domain with spacious barracks, officers^ quarters, and a parade-ground large enough for brigade manoeuvres. The general in command of the Department of the Pacific usually makes his head-quarters here, retaining about him a few companies of infantry, ready to be sent against the Indians of Oregon, or Arizona, or the Sierras. A part of the Spanish construc- tions of 1776, which consisted of a high adobe wall and several garrison buildings, still remains; and the officers' quarters, surrounded with flowers, and commanding exquisite sea-views, are the abode of the aristocratic and refined society of an important military post. The roses are surrounded by walls of rusty cannon-balls, and the ladies of the garrison are often entrenched in such cliques as are familiar in Chatham, and Gibraltar, and Simla; but the military band discourses sweet music every day, and the sea- winds blow through the straits with refreshing vigour. At one time this post was commanded by General Sherman, the hero of the world-renowned march to the sea, and, after him, by General McDowell, the head of the Federal army at the disastrous defeat of Bull Run. Among the first immigrants to California were thousands of wild adventurers, veterans of the Mexican war, semi-piratical fillibusters, convicts escaped from the British penal colonies in the South Seas, caucus politicians from New York, Southern desperadoes, and Northern bankrupts. But these grim Philistines were not the men who elevated an insignificant Spanish hamlet to metropolitan splendour and power — who established the longest railway and steamship lines in the Western world — who organised a State, vigorous and efficient in all its departments — vv^ho replaced the mud walls of Mission Dolores with the stately buildings and long-drawn streets of the capital of the Pacific coast. Thou- sands of the immigrants of the golden age were men of high culture and trained powers, the most adventurous and enterprising of the younger generations of America and England. They found a group of barren hills and a gloomy shore — but they remembered Venice, and built miles of streets and hundreds of houses over the waters of the bay ; they remembered Rome, and cut down the ancient heights to make noble roads ; they remem- bered Westphalia, and destroyed lawlessness by a tribunal more stern and powerful than the Vehmgericht. It is not many years since the myriads who poured into California in search of wealth ceased to regard it as a sojourning-place, and came to regard it as a home. The growth of local pride has been rapid and exuberant; and the Calif ornian of to-day remem- bers his early home — the rocky hills of New England, the worn-out j)lains of Virginia, even the forests and farms and grey old towers of England — only with a kindly pity. The imperial State which lies between Mount Shasta and San Bernardino, between the Yo Semite and the blue and placid Pacific, is his home; and he loves the orchards cf San Francisco.] FUTURE OF CALIFORNIA. 31 Santa Clara, the orange-groves of Los Angeles, the grain-lands of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, the vineyards of Sonoma, better than the elms of Massachusetts, the pines of the South, or the venerable oaks of Britain. The feeling of State pride, so lately born, has already become a distinguishing trait, and generates a firm belief that no other land is so fair, no other people so favoured, or has been since the world began. This beautiful and profound enthusiasm has already achieved mighty works, and will establish, in time, a new and peculiar people in the isolated paradise of the Pacific. As yet, however, California is but "mewing her mighty youth,^' and passing through a period of strange transitions. There are four elements of danger, which may retard her , growth — the monopolist, the demagogue, the hoodlum, and the Chinaman; but these may be mitigated by the pressure of awakened public sentiment, or allowed to counteract each other, or be swept away by such a popular up-rising as San Francisco has already seen. In the meantime, as the Westminster Review has wisely remarked, after being the treasury, California has become the garden of the world. fisherman's bay, FARAT.LONE laLANDS. ROUEN. Origin and Progress of the City— Cotton Industry— Situation— The Old To wti— Modern Improvements— Introduction of Christianity— The Cathedral: its Historical and Legendary Associations— Among the Tombs— Church of St. Ouen-- A Tragical Story— Other Churches of Rouen— The Palais de Justice— The Markets— A Dragon Story— The Place de la Pucelle, and Joan of Arc— The Cloche d'Argent— Fountains— Gates— Biographical Reminiscences— Bridges. 'Vjp^ HE high importance of Rouen as a centre o£ commerce and industrial }b^ skill, its historical associations, and the splendour and beauty of its monuments, all join to give to the ancient capital of Normandy a foremost rank among the provincial cities of fair France ; and, intimately THE ARMS OF conncctcd as it was for a time with our own country, it presents to English- men many special features of interest. There are some who assert that a town occupied the present site of Rouen long before Lutetia — now Paris — rose upon her islands in the Seine. This may be true, but at any rate it is certain that the Romans found Rothomagus on the spot where Rouen now stands. It was then the capital of the Gallic tribe of the Veliocasses, and, as shown by the discovery in modern times of numerous architectural and other remains, was a town of considerable importance during the Roman occupation. Clovis and his Franks seized upon the city in 529 a.d. Three centuries later pirate hordes were sweeping down upon the northern provinces of France, and, in order to save the rest of his kingdom, the King of France ceded to the Normans, Rouen and all the province of Neustria (since known as Normandy), on condition that the chief, Rollo, should be baptised. Of the many sieges and various vicissitudes Rouen has since experienced, we can mention here only the most prominent. Some, however, will be particularised in connection with the historical monuments. After the conquest of England, in 1066, Normandy became an appanage of the English Crown till Philip Augustus, in 1204, re-united it to France, after a severance of three hundred years. The city of Rouen flourished and extended its commerce under Frankish and Norman rulers, and it was enlarged, improved, and embellished by Philip Augustus, Francis 1., and other French monarchs. In 1419, Heniy V. of England be- sieged the city, and for six months a desperate resistance was maintained, till 30,000 of the inhabitants had perished. The Rouennais were then about to fire the place, and finish by selling their lives as dearly as possible in a sortie en masses when the king^ hearing of the project, offered terms to the besieged. A heavy ransom was paid ; Alain Blanchard, the brave and popular leader of the people in their gallant defence, was hanged, and for thirty years Rouen was occupied by the English forces. It was during this occupancy that the cruel tragedy of the burning of Jeanne d^Arc took place — an event to which we shall have again to refer. In 1449, Dunois, in spite of a brave defence by " the great Talbot,*^ recaptured the city. Rouen saw many a sight of horror when the Roman Catholics were Bouen.] HISTORY. 33 trying to suppress Huguenot heresy ; and when Francis II. was king the adherents of the Reformation seized all the strongholds of the town, persecuted the Catholics, and did irreparable damage to the cathedral and churches. In October, 1562, the Duke of Guise established Catholic supremacy in Rouen, by giving the city up to eight days' pillage by his soldiery, and putting to the sword or burning every armed inhabitant. Ten years afterwards came the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. A humane governor was then ruling in the city, and to the utmost of his power he limited the operation of the cruel orders Scale. 400 ^ 600 rypo.EtcKnifC»..itl.tl m. PLAN OF BOUEN. received from the infamous Queen-Mother, Catherine de Medicis, so that in Rouen about four hundred persons only perished. In 1594- Henry of Navarre, when winning back his kingdom, piece by piece, occupied eight months in besieging the city. From later kings and rulers Rouen received a due share of notice. Louis XV. suspended its Parliament, but instituted an Academy of Literature, Science, and Arts. Its free institutions were, however, restored by the succeeding monarch. At the Revolutionary epoch Rouen suffered in turns from famine, pillage, and massacre. During more recent times her history has been for the most part a story of growth and prosperity. On December 5, 1870, she saw the enemy once more at her gates, deemed herself incapable of offering any effective resistance, and quietly became for a considerable time the head-quarters of the Prussian 45 34 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Rouen. General Manteuffel, and in March, 1^71, the residence of the Crown Prince and General von Moltke. But the Prussians went, and the war indemnity was paid, and Rouen has peacefully developed its commerce and industry, and grown richer and more prosperous every day. As a commercial town of Erance, Rouen stands second only to Lyons. It is the chief French seat of the cotton industry, its speciality being the striped and checked stuffs known as Rouenneries. About 50,000 persons out of the 150,000 who make up the population of the town and its suburbs are employed in spinning, weaving, dye- printing, bleaching, and similar pursuits. The manufacture of bon-bons and sncre de pomme is also carried on to a large extent. The admirable situation of the city has, of course, conduced much to its commercial prosperity. As an inland town it has easy communication with Paris and all parts of France, and at the same time possesses maritime advantages by reason of its tidal river, a thousand feet in width, bearing vessels of 500 tons burthen to its busy quays. Two sheltering islands in the river enclose a broad haven for sea-going vessels. The visitor who stands to view the city and its environs from where the stone bridge crosses the extremity of the He de la Croix -beholds a splendid panorama before him. The broad, bright river, sprinkled with green islets, is seen flowing gently along a rich valley, and past the majestic and venerable city. Behind the wide stone quays, continually traversed by steam tram-cars and alive with business activity, gradually rise the old tortuous streets and handsome new thoroughfares, the cathedral, the Gothic churches, the mediaeval houses, the modern emporiums, the towers and belfries that gc to make up Rouen. The Rouennais gondolas, associated like those of Venice with a thousand romantic stories, the steamers darting to and fro, and the flags of many nations fluttering above a forest of masts, lend life and colour to the foreground, and beyond the old Norman city are seen the encom- passing hills and wooded ravines that make its environs so picturesque and delightful. The most interesting portion of Rouen is the old town circumscribed by the Quays and the Boulevards, the latter having taken the place of the fortification which resisted Henry V. of England. Outside this boundary stretch the faubourgs, largely inhabited by the industrial classes, and displaying a vast number of tall smoky chimneys and long factories, reflecting back the sun's rays from their innumerable windows. But even within the old boundaries a great metamorphosis has of late years been effected. The Rouen whose picturesque streets Prout drew with such enthusiastic delight, and of which Victor Hugo sang, is fast disappearing. It wants to be like Paris, and is sacrificing therefore much of its picturesqueness for the sake of having rows of grand houses and hand- some squares. It began to modernise itself in 1853, by improving its quays and chief thoroughfares ; in 1860 it borrowed 12,000,000 francs in order to renovate the entire city, and, ever since, demolition and re-construction have been going on. The three principal new streets are the Rue de la Republique, the Rue Jeanne d'Arc, and the Rue de FHotel de Ville, all lined with elegant structures and attractive shops. The principal artery of the city from north to south is formed by the Rue Grand Pont, the Rue des Carmes (the Bond Street of Rouen), and the Rue Beauvoisine. This is an ancient thoroughfare, but largely rebuilt, and splendid shops abound in it. The most frequented promenade in the city is the Cours Boieldieu, l)y the waterside, affording fine prospects of the town and AouenJ THE CATHEDRAL. 35 river. Here are situated the finest cafes and restaurants, and on certain evenings a band plays for the public entertainment. But it is yet possible to get away from elegant modern mansions and handsome shops and gay promenades into labyrinthine streets, where nothing seems to have been changed for centuries. The houses are structures to gaze at in wondering admiration, and to dream about long after, marvellous combinations of solid oak beams and slates and stone and plaster, seemingly toppling over to each other across the roadway. The glimpses of shady interiors, the curious windows and doors, the rich carvings and pendant ornaments, the broken lines of the architecture, the far-projecting eaves and quaint roofs and gables combine to hold the imagination and recall a thousand romantic dreams and memories. But these old world nooks and corners are fast becoming fewer and fewer, and Rouen will ere long only possess its monumental edifices as links between its present busy life and the memories of past ages. In the neighbourhood of the Rue des Arpents are some streets which, though narrow and dirty, are intensely interest- ing. In the Rue du Bac it is easy to fancy that the houses are vying with each other which shall overhang most. The Rue Martainville is the route by which the Dukes of Normandy were wont to enter their capital. The Rue d'Epiceries presents on market days a characteristic spectacle, and a contrasting scene is afforded by the Marche aux Fleurs, where there is an enchanting display of fuchsias, myrtles, mignonette, verbenas, gladioli, lilies, and so forth, growing iu pots, and also a vast profusion of huge bouquets. Christianity was introduced into the district now known as Normandy by St. Nicaise, but the first Bishop of Rouen was St. Mellon, a native of Cardiff, in Wales. He built the first Christian church in the city, in a.d. 207, and officiated as its pastor till his death, in 302. He was widely reverenced for his zeal and charity. By his successors the church was enlarged, and in the year 400 rebuilt. It was pillaged and destroyed in 841, but rose from its ruins and witnessed the baptism of Duke Rolph, or Rollo, in 912. Successive Dukes of Normandy lent their aid to the bishops in the further enlargement and endowment of the church. Three years before the Norman Conquest, Duke William was present at the dedication of the completed edifice. In 1200 it was burnt down, and from that time till the middle of the sixteenth century the present cathedral was in process of construction. King John of England may be looked upon as one of the founders, inasmuch as he assigned certain funds for the rebuilding of the sacred structure. The aspect of the western front of the cathedral (which overlooks a small square, formerly used as a fruit and flower market) seems to awaken different emotions in different minds. Some can find no words but those of wonder and admiration to express their feelings as they survey the vast proportions of the grand Gothic fa9ade, and east their eyes over the rich profusion of sculptures and elaborate decorations. Others complain of corrupt taste and confusion in ornament, and one writer describes the fa9ade as "viciously florid.^' The central porch and upper part of the fa9ade were erected by the celebrated Cardinal Georges d'Amboise in 1509-1530. The two Leroux, pere et fls, master-masons of Rouen, were the architects, and a number of Norman artists were employed to execute 36 CITIES OE THE WORLD. [Bouen, the sculptures. The side portals are two centuries older, and of simpler design. Above the portals are sculptured a crowd of bishops, saints, apostles, and Bible personag-es. Over the left doorway is the celebrated figure of Herodias dancing before Herod. The lady ip EOUEN CATHEDEAL (WEST FEONT). represented with heels high in the air, and is apparently performing what little street- boys call a catherine-wheel. The best hour for viewing the vast mass of stone-work that forms the west front of the cathedral is just after sunset, when in the mellowing light the intricate details of the rich ornamentation and stone screens of open tracery tone down and harmonise to produce one grand effect. The fayade is flanked by two stately towers. To the north is the Tower of St. Romain, built in a purer and severer style than the rest of the building, and a really Rouen. J THE CATHEDRAL. 37 beautiful specimen of thirteenth-century architecture. Its substructures include a por- tion of the early cathedral that witnessed the baptism of Rollo, and at an earlier date the murder of Bishop Pretextat by the emissaries of Queen Fredegonde. The queen's anger had been excited because, two years before, Pretextat had officiated at the marriage of her step-son Merovee to her rival and sister, Brunehant. The latter lady had been exiled to Rouen by Chilperic, the husband of Fredegonde and father of Merovee. The beautiful tower to the south is the Tour de Beurre, 230 feet in height, built at the end of the fifteenth century. It is usually stated that it derives its name from having been built with money received for the privilege of eating butter in Lent. To accept this theory we are compelled to credit the mediaeval Normans with so excessive a passion for butter, that we incline rather to favour the idea of a local ■archseologist, and believe that the cost of the Tour de Beurre was defrayed by a tax on all butter brought into Rouen market. However this may be, the lofty tower, surmounted by an octagonal stage and open pai*apet, stands beside the cathedral, a splendid monument of mediaeval art. It once contained the famous bell called Oeorges d^Amboise, weighing 36,000 pounds, whose founder, John le Machon, died of overjoy twenty-six days after its completion. The great bell pealed so loudly when Louis XVI. entered the city in 1786 that it cracked, and not long after it was melted down by the Revolutionists. The central spire is uni- versally condemned as unsightly and obtrusive. It is utterly unworthy of the grand •edifice it surmounts. A former wooden spire was destroyed by lightning in 1822, and the present cast-iron structure, towering to a height of 482 feet, was erected in its place. Up the centre winds a corkscrew staircase to a dizzy height, commanding an extensive prospect. The Portail de la Librairie in the north transept derives its name from a court that led up to it, and which was anciently a sort of " Paternoster Row.'^ The south transept is entered by the Portail de la Calende. Both these portals are profusely sculptured, and are flanked by five open towers. The interior of the cathedral — 435 feet in length and 90 feet high — is grandly proportioned ; but the general effect is marred by a smaller tier of arches above the main arches opening into the aisles. In the nave are two altars, one of which, the Altar of the TOMB OF LOUIS DE BBEZK. 3S CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Rouen. Vow, recalls the procession that came hither with intercessory offerings at the time of a terrible visitation of the plague in 1037. In the nave and in each transept there is a large and richly-decorated rose-window. The five-and-twenty chapels contain fine stained-glass windows dating from the thirteenth century and other's added in the Renaissance period, as well as many interesting monuments. In the Chapel of Petit St. Romain, in the south aisle, is the tomb of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, described on the tomb as " the first Duke and founder and father of Normandy, of which he was at first the terror and scourge, but afterwards the restorer.^^ In the opposite chapel is the tomb of the second Duke, William Longue Epee, who, at the siege of Rouen in 930, successfully repulsed the invading army,, and slew their leader, the Count de Colentin, with his own hand. He was afterwards assassinated by Arnulph, Count of Flanders. In the choir, separated from the nave by a modem screen, are eighty-five elaborately carved stalls; the carvings are a strange medley of sacred and profane subjects, and many of them could scarcely have been conducive to devotional feelings in the minds of the occupants of the stalls. Near the choir-screen is the long-lost monument of Richard Coeur de Lion, who, when he died, bequeathed his body to Fontevrault and his heart to Rouen. The *^ Lion-hearf^ was discovered some years ago in a small casket, and transferred for safe-keeping to the Museum of Antiquities. A small tablet In the pavement marks the spot where it was originally interred. The monument is a roughly-hewn and much-mutilated limestone efiigy of the king, six and a half feet in length. His crowned head reposes on a square cushion, and his feet rest against a couchant lion. This monument, as well as that of John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France under Henry VI., was very roughly handled by the Huguenots in 1562, and was for a long time buried out of sight. There are some other monuments, which have experienced the same vicissitudes. The finest tombs in the cathedral are in the Lady Chapel, behind the high altar. Some of these cover the remains of archbishops of little more than local celebrity. One monument, stripped of its sculptures, is in memory of the famous general, Peter de Breze, and his wife, Jeanne du Bee Crespin. The general was Grand Seneschal of Anjou, Poitou,. and Normandy, and was the first to enter Rouen when Charles III. drove out the English. He was killed at the battle of Montlhery in 1465. Close by is the tomb of Louis de Breze, brother of the foregoing, and likewise Grand Seneschal of Normandy, the husband of the famous Diana of Poitiers, the favourite of Henry II. and others. Upon a sar- cophagus of black marble lies stretched the white marble effigy of the dead seneschal — a realistic representation of a wasted corpse. At its head sits the disconsolate widow. In a recess above is a white marble statue of the seneschal on horseback. The inscription billow testifies to the widow^s grief, and records her vow to be buried by her husband^s side. This vow was not kept; and indeed the keeping of vows of any sort does not seem to have been the fair Diana's forte. But the most elaborate monument in this chapel, and indeed in the whole cathedral, IS that constructed in memory of the Archbishop Georges d'Amboise and his nephew by Roullant Leroux, the designer of the western porchw Beneath a rich gilt canopy are the kneeling figures of the two cardinaJs, marvellously life-like in their aspect of calm devotion. The twelve apostles above and the six cardinal virtues below, the bas-reliefs, rich arabesques. Rouen.] THE CHURCH OF ST. OUEN. 39 and pilasters, are all exquisite in design and execution. The bodies were taken from the tomb in 1793, and the lead coffins were melted down and utilised by the Revolutionary zealots. Although, as a matter of course, we have given the place of honour to the Cathedral, yet in point of fact that edifice is surpassed in size and grandeur, as well as in purity of style, by the Church of St. Ouen. This church represents :he chapel of the Abbey of St. Peter, built by Clotaire I. in 558, but received its present name when the ashes of St. Ouen, who was Archbishop of Rouen in 678, were brought here for sepulture. In May, 8J<1, the abbey was burned down by the Norman invaders, but was restored when Rollo became a convert to Christianity. His successors followed his example, and under their fostering care the abbey increased and flourished. In the time of Richard the Fearless its fame had spread far and wide, and the Emperor Otho applied for a safe-conduct, that he might go and pay his devotions at the abbey shrines. A new church, commenced in 1046, was eighty years in course of construction ; ten years after its completion it was destroyed by fire in a single day. The Empress Matilda and her son, Henry II., gave the monks substantial aid in rebuilding their church, but in 1248 it was again burned down. The first stone of the present edifice, which is the fifth that has occupied the site, was laid in 1318, when the celebrated Jean Roussel Marc d' Argent was abbot. Before the close of the century the nave, transepts, and tower had been completed on one uniform plan, anc with strict harmony of detail. The western front was added about forty years ago. In addition to scriptural subjects, the sculptures show a swarm of Norman princes and prelates, forming an epitome of local history. The southern entrance, the Portail des Marmousets, so named from its curious delineations of animal life, is a splendid example of Gothic work. Above the intersection of the nave and transept rises the elegant central tower to a height of 285 feet. Its aspect of delicate grace is singularly striking, whether beheld from a distance or inspected close at hand. It consists of an octagon of open arches and tracery, tlirowing out flying buttresses to the ricbly-crocketed pinnacles in the angles. It is surmDunted by a crown of fleurs-de-lis, and affords a splendid view from its summit. The interior of St. Ouen impresses every beholder with its wonderful beauty. It is the purest specimen of the Pointed style in all France. The dimensions are— length, 443 feet; width, 83 feet; and height, 104 feet. The nave is a long vista of slender columns supporting pointed arches, and then rising past the ample clei'estory to the roof. The windows — 125 in number, besides the three large rose-windows — occupy so much space that the roof seems to be kept in its place, not by solid walls, but by pillare and buttresses only. The abundant windows fill the church with light and brightness well suited for the display of the delicate grace of the architecture. Each of the four columns beneath the central tower is a sheaf of twenty-four slender shafts, displaying an unrivalled union of grace and strength. In connection with the two large rose-windows in the transept, a tragic story is told. It is said that the master-mason, Alexander Berneval, devoted his whole attention to the window in the south transept, and gave over the north transept window entirely to his apprentice. When the work was finished, it was obvious that "the apprentice's window** 40 CITIES OF THE WORLD. iKouen.- ■ (as it is still called) — into the delicate tracery of which the combination of tri- angles, called the pentalpha, had been skilfully introduced — far excelled the pro- duction of the master. The latter was so enraged at the discovery that he killed his talented apprentice, and consequently suffered the extreme penalty of the law. But the monks had great esteem for Berne val, who had executed much good work in their cathedral, and they accordingly interred his body in the Chapel of St. Agnes, side by side with the apprentice, who, for bettering his master's teaching by the power of his native genius, had met with an early doom. Besides the chapel just mentioned, there are ten others in the Church of St. Ouen, of which the most noticeable is the Lady Chapel, containing the tombs of Monsieur de Talbot, Marechal of France, who died in 1433, and of the celebrated Abbot Roussel, who, as we have pre- viously stated, was the founder of the present church. The stately nave of St. Ouen has witnessed some strange scenes in the course of its history. In 1562, when for a time the Huguenots were ruling in the city, three immense bonfires were lit within the sacred edifice, and stalls and pulpit, organ and priestly vestments fed the flames. Seeing to what barbarous cruelty the French Protestants had been sub- jected, the only wonder is that these fiery zealots did not do far more than they did whilst they had the opportunity. But Guise, with his Papist cohorts, swooped down upon the city, and stamped out the Protestant revolt, and the fair Church of St. Ouen was again Rouen.] THE CHURCH OF ST. MACLOU. 4-1 restored and beautified. Two centuries later, when France was in the throes of revohition, the sacred edifice again saw its ministers cast adrift, and its grand nave turned into a place of sale and barter, a workshop for mechanics, and a scene of licentious orgies. In addition an armourer's shop was opened, a huge smithy erected, and the grand array of windows became so blackened by the Stygian fumes of the forge that they were no longer transparent. But all these troubles came to an end; judicious restorations were again effected, and the wondrous nave of St. Ouen still fascinates the beholder with its blending of imposing grandeur and graceful beauty. Outside the church there is a pretty public garden occupying the site of the ancient garden of the monastery. Here, where once the abbots of St. Ouen and their cowled monks paced to and fro, children sport and gambol, and of an evening the citizens and their wives sit on the rows of chairs, whilst the band plays selections from Offenbach or Audran. Close by stands a perfect Norman tower, a fragment of the church erected under the auspices of Rollo and his successors. Ta the regret of many, the monastery buildings were finally demolished or transformed in 18^2. They were associated with many French Kings who made the monastery their residence when staying at Rouen. Henry II., Charles IX., Henry III., Henry IV., and Louis XIII., all made a longer or shorter stay within the venerable walls. It was here that Henry IV. convened an Assembly of Notables in 1596, when at his wits' end for money to maintain the position, and made abundant promises Avith that hearty bonhomie that rendered him so popular. Here, too, he addressed the aldermen of Rouen : — "My friends, be good subjects to me, and I will be to you the best king you ever had.'' The site of the ancient monastery is now occupied by the Hotel de Ville, whose modern front, adorned with Corinthian columns, faces a large handsome Place, measuring 650 feet by 400. In the centre of the Place stands an equestrian statue of the First Napoleon, cast from cannon taken at Austerlitz. Within the Hotel de Ville, in addition to the usual municipal offices, there is a museum of paintings, old and new, good, bad, and indifferent, with a decided predominance of the last two classes, and a public library of 110,000 volumes and 3,000 MSS., many of the latter being of great value and richly illuminated. But we must return to the churches of Rouen, and of these the third in order of merit is decidedly the Church of St. Maclou. The beauty and elegance of this "exquisitt- little jewel " of architecture are unquestioned. It was erected in 1-132, on the site of an earlier building. The elegant spire replaced a former structure in 1869. Its finest feature is the triple porch, constructed somewhat on the plan of a bow-window. The architecture, the tastefully-executed sculpture, and the stone-work tracery that fills the lofty canopies above are all exquisitely beautiful. The excellent carvings on the wooden doors are said to be the work of Jean Goujon. One of the principal ornaments of this church is the winding stone staircase leading to the organ-loft, a most elaborate piece of workmanship. The interior of the church presents a very curious effect, inasmuch as the lower portions of the stained-glass windows were mutilated by the Huguenots as far as they could reach, whilst the upper portions retain their original beauty. Not far from the church in the Rue Martainville is th^ Aitre de St. Maclou, at one time the 45 42 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Rouen. finest of the eighty cloistered burial-grounds of Rouen. Rows of lime-trees shade this last resting-place of bygone citizens. In the ancient building that surrounds the quadrangle a thousand of the poorest children of Rouen are taught by the Sisters. The sculptures on the columns of the cloister represent various scenes in a Dance of Death. In the evil days when France was overrun by the armies of England^ and cruelly wasted by the incessant broil of turbulent factions, and when ever and anon some terrible famine or pestilence made fearful havoc of humanity, men grew so indifferent as to life or death, and so familiar with the latter, that they rushed into frantic excesses that may well seem almost incredible. Men of all ranks met in the cemeteries to join in the weird ceremony of the Dance of Death. The King of Terrors himself was personified by the leader in this wildly grotesque revel, who wore the form of a hideous skeleton. Previous to the Revolution there were thirty-six churches in Rouen, but there are now less than half that number. Several ancient structures that echoed for centuries the voice of prayer and praise are now utilised as warehouses. The Church of St. Gervais claims to be the oldest church in Rouen, as, although two or three times rebuilt, it still includes original work of the Roman period. It was in the year 386 that Victrix, Bishop of Rouen, received from Milan the priceless gift of a box containing the relics of St. Gervais. He became at once possessed with a passionate desire to build a church for the reception of these precious relics. In the ardour of his zeal he laboured with his own episcopal hands and carried heavy stones on his own episcopal shoulders. In the crypt of the present church are still to be seen some portions of the earliest edifice, and possibly some of the handiwork of the good bishop himself. It was in the adjacent Priory of St. Gervais that William the Conqueror ended his stormy career. Enraged at a coarse joke of the French King, he had been engaged in ravaging that monarches territory, and was threatening to advance and attack Paris. But whilst gloating over the burning churches and convents of Mantes, his horse trod on SDme hot cinders and stumbled, and William received a severe internal injury from the pamrael of his saddle. He travelled with great difficulty to his palace at Rouen, but there his troubled mind could find no rest, and he caused himself to be conveyed to the Priory of St. Gervais. For many weeks he lay in suffering, and professed the most sincere penitence, while to quiet his conscience he bequeathed money to rebuild the churches at Mantes, and had all prisoners set at liberty. His barons, fearing that anarchy or invasion would follow the decease of their leader, fled to guard their possessions. His sons departed to secure their inheritances. Friends and courtiers all forsook him. At length in September, 1087, the Conqueror died, praying to the Virgin. The servants scarcely waited for his last breath to lay hands on all within their reach, stripping the very body of its raiment, and leaving it alone and uncared for. A knight dwelling in the vicinity paid for the expenses of the funeral cortege and escorted it to Caen, where, with maimed rites, the body of William I., King of England and Duke of Normandy, was hastily and ignominiously consigned to the tomb. We must not stay to speak in detail of the stained glass and other attractions of the Churches of St. Godard, St. Patrice, St. Vivien, or St. Nieaise. The Church of St. Romain claims notice as a shrine of historic interest. It was formerly a chapel of the Bouen.] THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE. 43 Convent of Barefooted Friars, the present church dating from 1G79. Behind the high altar is the granite tomb of St. Romain, who was Bishop of Rouen about the year 630. His early years were spent in the Court of King Clotaire. On succeeding to his bishopric he became famous for his vigilant efforts to extirpate idolatry, and performed many miracles, to one of which we shall presently have occasion specially to refer. The elegant low square tower and flying buttresses of the Church of St. Vincent are a noticeable ornament of the city. In ancient days the salt-measures of Rouen were deposited here, and the church received a toll on all cargoes of salt passing up the river, in lieu of which it now receives an annual sum of 140 livres. The church contains a painting by Albrecht Diirer, representing the Virgin and Apostles, and also the famous stained-glass window known as the Vitrail de Chars. This gorgeous specimen of sixteenth-century glass-painting repre* sents the triumph of religion in the city of Rouen. The design is very elegant, and the red and blue and yellow hues which predominate in the window are intensely bright and beautiful. The edifice has been well restored, and is the fashionable place of worship for the Norman aristocracy when staying in Rouen. Passing from the churches, the most important of the civic edifices of Rouen is the Palais de Justice, consisting of three distinct buildings, erected at different times and forming three sides of a parallelogram. The left-hand wing, the Salle des Procureurs, dates from 1493, and was built as a sort of exchange for merchants. The central building was erected six years afterwards by Louis XII., to accommodate the ancient Norman Court of Exchequer. This supreme Court of the province was even then more than four centuries old, and under the name of a Parliament, bestowed on it by Francis I. in 1515, it existed, with various interruptions, until the Revolution. The fa9ade is elaborately de- corated with the rich ornamentation of the period; dormer windows, arcades, canopies, pinnacles, and statues are all executed with marvellous skill, and the general effect is mag-, nificent. The grand chamber in which the Parliament met is now the Salle des Assisesj It has been stripped of its pendant ornaments, and the arabesques and mottoes that once ad med the walls have disappeared. The oaken ceiling, black as ebony, is profusely carved and ornamented. A brilliant scene was witnessed here when Louis XII. inaugurated the hall by holding a Lit de Justice. A royal throne was erected in the spacious chamber, with all the splendid decorations just fresh from the hands of the artists. On the king's right sat the Papal Legate and the princes ; on his left were the nobility ; at the foot ol the throne were the representatives of the people; at the further end of the hall stood a great army of artists — painters, gilders, carvers, glass-stainers — Frenchmen and foreigners, who had come to Rouen to lend their talents for the accomplishment of the dreams of Georges d'Amboise. In the adjacent Coimcil Chamber is a painting presented by Louis XII., representing Christ on the cross, with the holy women at His feet. There are also several modern portraits of presidents and councillors of the Parliament of Normandy. The right wing of the building was rebuilt in 1842-52, and was very judiciously re- (3onstructed in harmony with the rest of the edifice. It contains the hall where the Cours National holds its sittings and the Salle des Appels. This wing was originally built iluring last century in a style that contrasted so outrageously with the splendid fa9adeK i-i- CITIES OF THE WORLD. CBouea. of the centre and right wings, that it was matter for congratulation when it partially fell down in 1812. The suppressed Convent of St. Marie, in the Rue de la Republique, a quaint old house, delightfully situated, is now utilised as a Museum of Antiquities, where the en- thusiastic student of the past may revel to his hearths content amidst a very numerous and varied collection of articles illustrating the artistic skill of the Middle Ages, as well as THE PAL.VIS DE JUSTICE. diver.s objects of historic iiitorost. The windows of the gallery have been taken from various suppressed churches and convents, and illustrate the entire history of the art of painting or staining glass from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. The history of the ceramic art in Rouen is illustrated in a similar way by a series of choice specimens, many of which are without a rival in any known collection. Amongst the historical curiosities we may mention the shrunk and shrivelled heart of Richard Coeur de Lion, the shrine of St. Sever, and a fragment of the great bell, ^^ Georges d'Amboise.-" Not far from the Quai de Paris, in the Place de la Haute Vieille Tour, are the Halles or warehouses for the staple productions of Rouen. The oldest dates from the time of Louis XI. Linen cloths, cotton goods, worsted goods, and wheat each have a separate Bouen.] THE HAUTE VIEILLE TOUE. 45 Halle of vast dimensions. They occupy the site of the palace-fortress commenced by Rollo, and completed by Richard the Fearless^ as one of the defences of the town of Rouen. Here dwelt Wilham the Conqueror previous to his invasion of England, and here John, King of England and last Duke of Normandy, imprisoned his nephew Arthur, and afterwards murdered him. It was whilst dwelling in this palace that John amused himself by having^ THE PLACE DE I.A Pt'CELLK. a Lombard Jew^s teeth pulled out, one each day, until the old man consented to pay the immense sum of money which the king demanded. When Philip Augustus, the King of France, heard of the murder of his relative Arthur, he made it the pretext for an invasion of Normandy. At the approach of Philip, John fled from Rouen, and the French King l)esieged the city, which held out for a month, and then negotiated a truce, promising to Furrender to the King of France if John did not send aid within thirty days. The deputation that went to seek John found him playing a game of chess, and angry at being disturbed. He could send no aid to Rouen — Rouen (he declared) must help itself. 46 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [Ronea. Accordingly the French King took possession of the city^ treated the inhabitants gene- rously^ but was determined to destroy all vestiges of the power of the Norman Dukes. The Haute Yieille Tour was completely demolished, and a new chateau built instead on another site. In front of the Cloth Hall is a structure in the style of the Renaissance, built in 1542, consisting of four stages of Corinthian architecture, and terminating in a lantern. This is the Chapel of St. Romain, long famous for the annual custom of La Levee de la Fierte de St. Romain, which originated as follows : — It is said that in the days when good St. Romain was Bishop of Rouen, and was reaping abundant success in his efforts to root out paganism, he performed many miracles, to the edification of the faithful and the confusion of gainsayers. It happened that at that time there dwelt in the fens and morasses near Rouen a dragon of prodigious size, known as the Gargouille, which not only preyed on the flocks and herds, but also on mankind. Sometimes the city was flooded on account of the Gargouille taking a fancy for a bath in the Seine; it seriously damaged huge trees, and even the towers of churches, by rubbing itself against them ; the workmen who were engaged in building a church in the city wanted to carve on it some figures of monsters, but dared not do it on account of their terror of the Gargouille. The awful creature was an epicure in its way, for it had a special fondness for devouring young girls. This state of things was too terrible to be borne, and the good St. Romain was for a long time sorely exercised to find a remedy, until at length he resolved to attack the monster, and he found in the city prison a condemned malefactor who agreed to accompany him. The two adventurers boldly entered the Gargouille's den, and the terrific beast began to snort furiously, and advanced to devour the intruders. But St. Romain made the sign of the cross, and the Gargouille became immediately meek and tractable. The bishop put a leash round its neck, and the criminal led the Gargouille into Rouen, where, amidst the acclamations of the rejoicing multitude, it was publicly burnt. Of course the malefactor was pardoned, and King Dagobert declared that a condemned criminal should annually be selected for pardon by the clergy of Rouen Cathedral. And so once a year, on Ascension Day, until the time of the Revolution, the chapter used to select a condemned prisoner, and have him taken from the Palais de Justice to the Chapel of St. Romain just mentioned. Then, in grand procession, the canons and clergy brought a shrine containing the relics of St. Romain to the same spot. A long ceremonial was here publicly gone through, and then the prisoner, with a chaplet of flowers on his head, and bearing in his hands the shrine and relics, returned with the procession to the cathedral. He was hospitably entertained and judiciously counselled, and then next morning set at liberty. The good St. Romain was Bishop of Rouen towards the beginning of the seventh century, but the miracle does not seem to have been found out till towards the end of the fourteenth, when the chapter of the cathedral publicly announced it in support of the annual Levee de la Fierte. Some covered Halles for ordinary market purposes have stood since 1860 on the Place du Vieux-Marche. There has been a market on this spot as far back as the eleventh century. In those days they were probably of the nature of great fairs. Their privileges Eouen] THE TRAGEDY OF JEANNE D'ARC. 47 were very strictly guarded^ and they were opened in state by the prior and canons of the cathedral. This place was the frequent scene of the burning of Hug-uenots with horrible refinements of cruelty. The terrible estrapade permitted the writhing victims to be alternately lowered into the flames and raised above them^ till death ended the protracted agony. The Place de la Pucelle was detached from the Vieux-Marche in the sixteenth century, and about the same time a pretty triangular fountain, with a statue of Jeanne d'Arc, was erected in commemoration of her execution near this spot. This fountain was afterwards destroyed, and was replaced in 1755 by the present tasteless monument, representing Jeanne under the semblance of Bellona. When the siege of Orleans had been raised, and Charles VII. crowned at Rheims, and the enthusiastic maiden of Domremy had declared her mission accomplished, she was persuaded to remain with the army, and in May, 1430, was taken prisoner by the Burgundians, and sold for 10,000 livres to the English. She was brought to Rouen, and it was resolved to put her on her trial for sorcery ; and in order to procure evidence, spies were employed to inveigle her. In March, 1431, a court was formed, and sixteen times was the intrepid maiden examined, and astonished her hearers by her mingled courage, simplicity, and acuteness. Strangely enough, the French seemed more eager for her death than the English, and the University of Paris was loud in its appeals to King Henry to deliver Jeanne to the secular authorities. On May 24th she was placed on a scaffold in the Cemetery of St. Ouen, a crowd of dignitaries and ecclesiastics occupying a platform opposite. Jeanne was then preached at and publicly interrogated, and at length her fortitude gave way, and she consented to abjure her pretensions and visions. But on her return to prison the visions again appeared to her. She resumed male attire, which seems to have been left at hand to entrap her ; she re-asserted that she had been sent by God, and was accordingly abandoned as a relapse to the secular arm. On the 30th of May, 1431, the yovmg girl, who had not yet reached her twentieth birthday, was brought out to die at the stake, on the spot henceforward sacred to her memory. Six scaffolds had been prepared on the old market-place. Upon one sat the English Cardinal, upon the others were the judges, priests, and various officials. When the con- demned arrived on the funeral car, escorted by eight hundred English soldiers, tears were streaming from her eyes, and she was heard to repeat two or three times, " Rouen ! Rone It ! je devais done mourir daus fes mnrs ! " The ceremony began with an accusatory and maledictory sermon by a preacher from the University of Paris ; but Jeanne, kneeling with folded hands, heard not the stormy eloquence of the preacher: she was communing with her heavenly visions, and " Priez ■pour moi I priez pour moi ! " she cried to the saints and angels she saw thronging round her. Her touching accents and fervent aspect moved the hearts of the assistants, and SDme began to shed tears, when some of the captains, fearing that their prey might even yet escape them, chafed at the delay. " Come, priests,^^ cried one, '^ do you mean us to dine here ? " and, losing all patience, he sent two sergeants to snatch the girl from the clergy, and deliver her to the executioner ^vithout waiting for the official notification. As she felt the hands of the English soldiers laid on her, Jeanne shuddered, and cried, " Rouen, iu 48 CITIES OF THE WOELD. tRouen. seras done ma derniere demeure ! " The executioner^ moved with compassion, protested against the unusual height of the pile beneath the stake — a veritable mountain of wood and sulphur, calculated to prolong the sufferings of the victim. Above her head was placed an inscription, " Heretic, relapse, apostate, idolater ! " The pile was lit, and Jeanne uttered a cry of terror. Then, recovering her fortitude, and seeing that the priest who exhorted her was not heeding the flame, she bade him descend. She prayed that the city of Rouen might not suffer on account of her death, and asked for a cross. A soldier held up one rudely constructed on the spot with two sticks, and, gazing over the flames at the sacred symbol, Jeanne d'Arc was soon heard uttering her last prayer. Remorse speedily visited the participants in this tragedy. " ]Many, both French and English,^^ says the historian Crowe, "felt horror-stricken at having contributed to the fearful death of one so simple, so pure, and so devoutly religious, who had been animated by a patriot- ism so disinterested, and whose mission or whose aim was but to rid France of its factions and its invaders." . After the expulsion of the English from Rouen an inquiry was instituted for the purpose of revising the sentence. A papal bull was published declaring her innocent, and Rouen, and indeed all France, now honours the memory of Jeanne d'Arc as that of a saint and martyr. In the Rue Morand stands an ancient donjon-tower (now restored), the last of seven that once appertained to the chateau built by Philip Augustus. This chateau was long a residence of the Dauphins of France, as Dukes of Normandy. It was demolished by Henry IV. after the siege of Rouen, but the great donjon-tower was left, as it formed part of the city fortifications. The tower is now known as the Tour Jeanne d'Arc, as it was the scene of the private interrogations of the unfortunate maid, and of her being threatened with the -instruments of torture which were displayed to her view. In the Place de la Pucelle there is a large stone mansion, partly dating from the same era as the Palais de Justice, and partly of later origin. It is very rich in sculptures, and HOTEL BOUKGTHEKOUDE. Kouen.] THE HOTEL BOURGTHfiEOUDE. ■iO is an exceedingly interesting specimen of Norman domestic architecture. The house wok begun towards the end of the fifteenth century by William Leroux, Lord of Bourgtheroude, and completed by his son in 1537. Slender buttresses or pilasters divide the entire front into compartments^ between which are bas-reliefs by different masters. Every available EUE DE LA GEOSSE HOELOGE. spai.'e is covered with ornament. The labours of the field and vineyard, fishing, banqueting, and so forth, are carefully depicted, and the salamander, the device of Francis I., is very con- spicuous amongst the ornaments. On the north side of the interior court, and contiguous to the octagonal tower, there is a spacious gallery with foliaged pilasters bounding the arched windows; beneath are the celebrated bas-reliefs on marble tablets representing the inter- view of Henry VIII. and Francis I. at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and in the proces- 47 51) CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Kouen. sions of the two kings, Wolsey and other well-known characters are readily distinguishable. It is probable that the younger Leroux parted with the mansion before the decorations were completed, and that Francis I. (or perhaps the seductive Diana de Poitiers) became the owner. At any rate, it is certain that Francis I. was dwelling here in 1540. In 1550 it was inhabited by his son Henry II. during a visit to Rouen, and a very cm-ious book printed in that city in 1551 gives an elaborate account of the " somjitueux ordre, plaisants spectacles, et magnifiques theatres dresses et exhibes par les citoyens de Rouen a sa sacree Majeste et a tres-illiistre dame Katharine de Medicis la Royne son Spouse" It was no doubt a sufficiently "^^^a/'-saw^^ sjieetacle" when the long procession of archers in white maroquin and yellow satin, the four mendicant orders of Cordeliers, Jacobins, Carmelites, and Augustines, divers city officials in robes of office, trade guilds, soldiers, and triumphal cars with ladies personating Religion, &c., came winding on through the quaint old streets. But this was not all ; there were six elephants, almost life-like in their movements ; and then, too, there was the most honourable part of the procession — the presidents, councillors, advocates, and functionaries of the great Court of Parliament, splendidly robed in scarlet stuff and velvet and ermine, with various decorations signifying their different ranks. We find in 1590 the Cardinal of Florence, a scion of the Medicis family, who was staying in France as the Papal Legate, occupying the Hotel Bourgtheroude. There is reason to think that the mansion continued to be State or Crown property, for the Earl of Shrewsbury, when sent by Queen Elizabeth to bestow the Order of the Garter on Henry of Navarre, dwelt here in October, 159G ; and at a later period, when Louis XIV. during his minority visited Rouen, this mansion was assigned to the renowned Mademoiselle, the illustrious and energetic lady who, disappointed in her hopes of becoming Queen of Prance, was obliged to rest content with being Duchess of Moutpensier, and wedding M. de Lauzun. The Rue de la Grosse Horloge was, prior to reCent modern renovations, one of the most picturesque streets in the city. It is spanned by an ancient gateway built in 1511, bearing the great city clock, from which the street derives its name. It adjoins the Tour du Beffroi or Tour de la Grosse Horloge, and both were originally' annexes of an ancient Hotel de Ville. The belfrj'-tower was built in 1389, and was known in the fifteenth century as the Tour du Massacre. It is a massive square Gothic tower, with large ogival windows, and terminated in a platform surrounded by iron balustrades, to reach which a wind- ing staircase of 200 steps must be ascended. Within the tower hangs the so-called Cloche d^ Argent, which rings ihe curfew every evening, and also peals forth whenever there is a fire in the city or on the occasion of national fetes. It is said that when the Republican Government seized all the bells they could lay hands on to melt them down into cannon in 1793, the good citizens of Rouen missed their bell so much that they set to woi-k to replace it with the least possible delay. Accordingly they brought whatever metals they had, and amongst the rest there was so much silver plate brought by rich inhabitants, that the bell accordingly received the name by which it is generally known. But the more probable derivation of the name is from the silvery tones of the bell, which are very noticeable. At the base of the tower, and reaching to the first storey, stands the Fontaine de Rouen.]. FAMOUS NATIVES. 51 la Grosse Horloge, re-constructed in 1732. Above the flowing water is a fine piece of sculpture, representing, it is usually stated, Alpheus and Arethusa, although a local writer insists that it represents Ocean and the River Seine. Whilst noticing this fountain it may be stated that there are no less than thirty- six ornamental fountains in Rouen. The considerably dilapidated Fontaine Lisieux is said to represent Mount Parnassus ; the Fontaine de la Crosse is a graceful monument of the fifteenth century, crowned by a beautiful statue of the Virgin ; and there is the Fontaine de la Croix de St. Pierre, near the Church of St. Vivien. There was a fountain at this spot for centuries, but it has been two or three times re-constructed, once by Georges d'Amb(nse, the famous bishop — who seemed never happy unless he was building something — and last of all in 1870. At the Revolution the cross at the summit was replaced by a bust of Marat. '' L'Aini du Peuple'' did not enjoy a long popularity; in 1798 his bust was plucked down and thrown into the Seine; and it was not till 1802 that a cross was again placed on the fountain. The only specimen of the ancient city gates still remaining is the Porte Guillaume Lion, on the Quai de Paris. The gate was erected in 1454, a little in advance of a tower built by a certain Guillaume Lion two centuries before, and has been twice rebuilt, namely, in 1510 and 1749. The Revolutionary authorities made a vain attempt to re-name it the Porte Guillaume Tell. The structure, which would be more effective if it were not dwarfed by the large modern buildings on the quay, is decorated with sculptures by Claude Leprinee, a Norman artist. In front of the Lycee, near the northern end of the Rue de la Republique, is ll:e Place de la Rougemare, one of the historic sites of Rouen, although not marked by any special monument. It is now the butter-market, but 900 years ago there was at this spot a large pool or lake. In 945 the Emperor Otho attacked Rouen; but Richard I., son of Rollo, defeated the German troops with such terrible slaughter that the great lake referred to was red with their blood. It was henceforth known as the Rougemare, and the Place that now occupies its site retains the name as a memorial of that sanguinary struggle. Of local celebrities of whom Rouen gratefully preserves the remembrance, a foremost place must be given to the brothers Comeille. In the Rue de la Pie an inscription records the position of the now demolished house where Pierre and Thomas Corneille were born. The latter would have won for himself a lasting fame by his undoubted talent, but he is overshadowed by his brother, the immortal author of " The Cid " and " Polyeucte.'' In the Rue des Rons Enfans stands the house in which the amiable philosopher Fontenelle was bom. He was the nephew of Corneille; his father, Le Bovier de Fontenelle, having married Marthe Comeille, sister of the great poet. Man of science, philosopher, poet, and general writer, he lived for a hundred years all but a month, and occupied a fauteuil at the Academy for sixty years without exciting the envy or enmity of any of his colleagues. In the Rue aux Ours was born, in 1775, the illustrious French composer Boieldieu, and in 1785 the celebrated chemist Dulong, who in the course of his experiments lost one eye and two fingers in the cause of science. Commemorative inscriptions point out the two houses. In the Rue des Juifs is similarly indicated the house where the French painter Jouvenet was born, in April, 1644. A street leading from the Q-uai de Paris to the Place St. Marc 62 CITIES OF THE WORLD. i. Rouen. is named after him. Armand Carrel, founder of Le National, the first journalist of his age, and the " very Bayard of Republican journalism/' was born at Rouen in 1800. He was killed in a duel in July, 1836. At the end of the Suspension Bridge is a house given by the town to the family of Louis Brune, a man who made it his special mission to plunge into the Seine and save drowning persons. Many lives were saved by his^ exertions. Whilst alluding to these reminiscences of individuals we may mention that when Charles II. and his companion Wilmot fled from England, they had great difficulty, on account of the state of their clothes, in gaining admittance to an inn in the fish-market, and narrowly escaped being given in charge to the police as a pair of thieves. It was at Rouen that Lord Chancellor Edward Hyde Clarendon died after his seven years' exile from his native land. We have already spoken of the Jardin de St. Ouen ; there are some other spaces in the city laid out in a similar manner. Where the broad Rue de 1' Hotel de Ville cuts the Rue Jeanne d'Are is the Jardin de Solferino, with its green turf and beds of flowers, inimic lakes, mimic rocks, hired chairs, and a band of music at certain hours. The Jardin (les Plantes, on the other side of the river, is a fine park, an enjoyable place for a ramble by ordinary visitors, and an invaluable aid to the studies of the Schools of Botany and Arboriculture. The first bridge across the Seine at Rouen was built in 1167 by Queen Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. It was destroyed in the middle of the fifteenth century, and a bridge of boats for a long period was the only means of communication between the two shores. The present stone bridge was built in 1829, the first stone being laid by King Louis Philippe. The bridge of boats was replaced by a suspension bridge 650 feet in length in 1836. The stone bridge crosses near the extremity of the He de la Croix, and the view from that point has been already described. Here stands, upon a pedestal of Carrara marble, supported by a mass of granite," a bronze statue of Pierre Corneille, the model for which was the work of the sculptor David d' Angers. The cost of the statue was defrayed by public subscription, and its solemn inauguration took place on October 19th, 1834. Opposite the statue stretches the little narrow island of la Croix — the " Mabille '' of Rouen — containing a pretty garden kno\yn as Tivoli Normand, devoted to al-fresco pleasures. On the opposite side of the river lies the extensive suburb of St. Sever. It contains numerous factories and tall chimneys, wharves, barracks, docks, lunatic asylums, re- formatory schools, slaughter-houses, gas-works, and so forth. It is a very busy place, and on the outskirts are great numbers of comfortable houses of well-to-do citizens. The modern Church of St. Sever, constructed in 1858, in the Renaissance style, took the place of an earlier erection, dating from 1538, which also was preceded by buildings of far greater ^antiquity. It is said that in the reign of Richard the Fearless, the grandson of Rollo, two priests set out on a pilgrimage from Rouen to a church situated in a forest Dear St. Michael, in which the sepulchre of St. Sever, a former Bishop of Avranches, " was situated. The monks became possessed with a desire to obtain the saint's body, and plotted together how they might carry out their design. Thej^ were overheard, and the priest was informed of their intentions. Being thus frustrated, the monks returned to Rouen.] THE ENVIRONS. 5i Rouen, and brought such influence to bear on Duke Richard that he gave them authority to remove the saint^s body to Rouen. Accordingly, they went back to the sepulchre, and in spite of the tears and protestations of the priest and his flock, brought the shrine away with them. As they journeyed back to Rouen, this shrine grew two or three times so heavy that they could not move it without vowing to build a chapel to the saint at that spot. At last it permanentlx- spffled dowm on the spot where now THE QUAI DE8 MEULES. stands the Church of St. Sever, and refused to be removed farther. The shrine of St. Sever, now preserved in the Museum of Antiquities, is considered to have been brought from the earliest church erected here, but that it is the identical one which gave the monks such trouble on their journey is, to say the least, very doubtful. There is another old church in St. Sever, or rather the ruins of one, for it wns reduced to a few burnt walls by a fire in 1875. It was constructed by St. Louis to serve as a chapel for the Emmurees, the earliest religious order for females established in France. It was the temporar}' repository of the remains of Georges d'Amboise and 54? CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Eouen. Marshal Breze whilst their tombs were beiiio- eoiistrueted in the cathedral. In the sixteenth century the church fell to decay, but was again rebuilt and re-endowed in 16/0, but definitively suppressed at the Revolution. It was for a time a girls'" school, and subsequently a magazine for cavalry forage. Tlie blackened walls will probably soon disappear entirely, as has already disappeared from the Place St. Sever the Barbacane, which fifty years ago was the oldest tower in the city, and the last vestige of the Petit Chateau erected by Henry V. of England. The Cavalry Barracks, known as the Caserne Bonne Nouvelle, occupies the site of a priory founded in 1060, and derives its name from the fact that Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, was there at her devotions when the news was brought to her of the great victory achieved over the English by their future king. At this priory, in 1135, was deposited the heart of Henry I. of England. Here, in 1167, was buried Matilda, wife of Henry V., Emperor of Germany, a great benefactress of ancient Rouen, and here in 1203 was interred the unfortunate Prince Arthur, the victim of his uncle's cruelty. The priory was half destroyed by a fire in 12'13, and completely demolished in 1418 to make way for new defences of the city. It was subsequently partially rebuilt, and there are still remaining the ruins of an old portal, dating from 1655. In the environs of Rouen are many pleasant and interesting localities. On the imme- diate outskirts rises the Mont St. Catherine, affording a grand view of the city and its surroundings ; the sparkling Seine winding along at the foot of the hill ; beside the river the city, with its spires and towers, and the green circling belt of the Boulevards ; and beyond, the eye wanders over the broad forests of Rouvray and La Londe. On the surface of the Mont there are remains of the fortress constructed by Villars and the Leaguers, which was captured and destroyed by Henry of Navarre, who would not retain the fort, declaring that he desired no fortress but the hearts of his subjects. Charming prospects are also to be obtained from Bonsecours, where is a gorgeous Gothic church, erected in 1854. The Chateau of Canteleu is another delightful spot. La Bouille, with its caverns and quarries, attracts crowds of people on fete days. There was severe fighting here between the advancing Germans and retreating French in December, IS 70. THE EOYAL STABLES. MADRID. The River Manzanares-Site of Madrid— Its Early History and Development— Aspect of the City-Th> Puerta del Sol— The Streets and Public Places-Scenes in the Plaza Mayor— Autos de Fi'-Terrors of the Inquisition-The Prado— The Churches of Madrid-The Legend of Our Lady of Atocha -The Palaces-The Museum, and its Marvellous Collection of Pictures— Pleasure-places -A Bull-fight— The Escorial. T is a well-known fact of European geography that Madrid is on the Manzanaresj but it may not be so generally known that in scarcely any other great city of Europe does the contiguous river form so inconspicuous and insignificant a feature. The Manzanares, in spite of its high-sounding name, is only a mountain torrent, rising some eight leagues away, in the defile of Navicerrada, and only attaining to respectable dimensions when swollen by the melting of the winter snows. The river has, in consequence, been one of the standing jokes of Europe for centuries. Alexandre Dumas tells how he and his son went on the bridge known as the Puente de Toledo, and came away disapjwinted at not being able to discover the river. A certain German ambassador declared that the Manzanares was the best river he had ever seen, for it was navigable either on horseback or in a carriage. It is recorded that when Ferdinand II. took a fancy to walk along the river-bed, it was necessary to have it well watered in order to lay the dust. It is said that when Napoleon's troops entered the city, they cried out, "What! has the river run away too ? '^ Numerous are the stories and hon-mots that might be quoted referring to this waterless river. " Give it to the Manzanares; it needs it more than I do," is the reported s|5eech of a young man to whose lips a cup of cold water was pressed in a moment of faintness at a bull-fight. At certain seasons of the year, however, the jNIanzanares becomes a broad stream, ana oO ' CITIES OF THE AYORLD. [Madrid. Philip II. was quite right in building the Puente de Segovia, a substantial stone structure of nine arches, 695 feet in length. Of this bridge Madame d^Aulnoy pleasantly chats : "When strangers see the bridge, they begin to laugh; it seems to them so absurd to find a bridge where there is no water. One visitor said he would advise the city to sell the bridge in order to buy some water with the proceeds.''^ The site of Madrid is 2,450 feet above the sea-level, so it is little wonder that no navigable river washes its walls. The city occupies the centre of a vast sandy plain, bounded by mountains to the north, but stretching to the horizon on the three other sides. Its atmosphere is extremely rare, and its thermometrical changes frequent and violent. In sunny streets and squares protected from the north it is possible to be almost scorched with tropical heat, and the next moment, on suddenly turning a corner, to encounter icy blasts from the snow-clad Guadaramas, cutting the lungs like cold steel. Still, with ordinary precautions good health may be enjoyed by healthy persons, though, of course, to some constitutions residence at Madrid would mean speedy death. Since 1854 the canal of Lozoya has brought plenty of good water to the city ; before that time it is said that there was hardly enough to drink, and, of course, none left for ablutions. Most of the traditional discomforts of Madrid have been obviated of late years by improved public super- vision and sanitary arrangements. Although decidedly central, Madrid was by no means easily accessible from the rest of the kingdom until the recent developments of the Spanish railway system; and had not its rarefied atmosphere proved so beneficial to the gouty Emperor Charles V., it would probably have remained a second or third-rate provincial town. Of the origin of Madrid various wild stories are told, one chronicler affirming that it was founded soon after the Deluge, and others, ten centuries before Rome. Upon the ruined Arco de Santa Maria were found certain characters which Juan Lopos de Hoyos, the friend of Cervantes, decided to be Chaldean, and argued therefrom that the said arch was built by Nebuchadnezzar on the occasion of his passing through Madrid. Probably in consequence of the comments of various travellers, the Guida OJiciale has of late ceased to give the year of the city, although in 1864 it gave the year of Rome as 2616 and of Madrid as 4033! And now the Madrileiios • take refuge in vague generalities, asserting that the origin of their city is lost in the night of time. All attempts to identify Madrid with the Mantua Carpetanorum of the Ptolemaic tables, or with the Miacum of the Romans, have proved a failure, the fact being that the place was never heard of in history till the tenth century. The Moors were then masters of Toledo, and held a strongly fortified advanced post named ]Mazerit, which was captured in 933 by Don Ramiro II., the King of Leon ; it again fell into the power of the Arabs, but was (i.ially wrested from them in 1083 by Alfonso VIII. A Christian population settled here; Kings of Leon and Castille made it their occasional residence; and Madrid was gradually c.nerging from its obscurity when Charles V. came, found the climate well suited to his c .nstitution, and bestowed various favours and privileges on the city, which were extended ])/ his son Philip II., whc definitively abandoned Toledo, and made Madrid the capital of the i;.imense Spanish dominions. Formerly there had been several capitals in Spain, but the new (.rder of things made it necessary that there should be a capital with no historic memories. Madrid.] THE OLD CITY. 57 either Spanish or Moorish, and free from either sympathies or jealousies to impede the central authority and administration. The ancient walls were removed, the city was en- larged, and most of the principal streets date from the time of Philip II. During the sixteenth century the now barren environs of Madrid were covered with forests, to which royal and noble hunters resorted to slay the bear and the wild boar ; the city continued to grow and was embellished and improved by various kings, but in a confused and irregular manner, even while grand, regularly built cities were growing up in the Spanish T^}t->.Etchv'gCo.del.ct ic. PLAN OF MADHID. dominions beyond the Atlantic ; and even in the seventeenth century travellers visiting Madrici described the condition of the streets as intolerably bad ; the houses were without drainage or other sanitary appliances, and woe betided the nocturnal wanderer who did not get out of the way quickly enough when the shout of "Agua va ! " was heard from a window above him. Matters in this respect were not much improved during the early part of the eighteenth century; the air was so bad that silver could not be kept from tarnishing, and the effect on the public health was most disastrous. But in 1760, Charles III. bestirred himself to purify and renovate his capital ; the streets were cleansed and paved ; sanitary appliances were introduced ; monumental edifices, gates, and fountains were reared ; and spacious pro menades and gardens were formed. The city was transformed, and ever since that time has been growing increasingly worthy of its position as the capital of a great country. 48 oS CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. During the present century Madrid has witnessed many stirring scenes. It was entered by the French under Murat on March 23, 1808 ; strugg-les, tumults, and insurrections fol- lowed, until in December of that year Napoleon took possession of the city, and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain. He luled at Madrid till Wellington and the English troops entered the city after the battle of Salamanca, in 1812 ; but in 1823 the French troops wore again in Madrid under the Due d^Angouleme, to support the tyrant Ferdinand VII. Since that time insurrections and revolutions have been very frequent in Madrid, as well as various emeiites connected with the alternate elevation to power of Espartero, Narvaez, O'Donuell, and other ministers. In 1868, after Serrano had defeated the royal army at Alcolea, Madrid declared the dethronement of Isabella II., and welcomed Prim with enthusiasm; but as far as the capital was concerned, the revolution was unmarked by violence or destruction. Since then Madrid has passed through many eventful experiences — the provisional government, the short-lived reign of Amadeus of Savoy, the republic, the accession of Alfonso XII. — and now it is to be hoped that the path of peaceful and prosperous develoj)- ment has been reached. Madrid at the present day has a population of 367,284, and has considerably outgrown its ancient limits ; a railway system connects it with the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean, Portugal, and France, thus linking to itself all the most important towns of the peninsula. The aspect of the city as it is approached is very fine ; on every hand new plantations are springing up to replace the long-absent forests of old days j around the city runs a well- planted boulevard, with numerous shady walks diverging from it; while, within, spires and domes innumerable rise glittering in the sun. The interior town is about If miles long by 1| broad. Towards the south-west are found the most ancient houses, lining the sides of narrow winding streets, and in the central and eastern quarters are spacious and well-lighted streets, built in accordance with modern taste — or want of taste ; but throughout the city there is very little to be seen of a Moorish, Mediaeval, or early Spanish type, while everywhere Parisian shops and tall houses with gaily-painted stucco fronts abound. The heart of the city is the Puerta del Sol — not a gate, as its name would imply, but a public place, named after some sun-adorned portal that has long since disappeared. It is at the confluence of nine of the most frequented streets of the city, and has of^icn been com- pared to the Agora at Athens, or the Forum at Home. Here the idlers and seekers after news congregate, lounging and smoking round the central fountain or sauntering under the veloria on the sunny side. But it is likewise a scene of busy activity and is on the way to everywhere. " To whichsoever point of the Madrilenian compass you may be bound,^' says George Augustus Sala, "whether it be to the Prado, to the Palace, to the Churcli of our Lady of Atocha, to the Montana del Principe Pio, to dinner, to the club, the tertalia — one of the cosy and elegant little broughams which may be hired here for two shillings an hour — is sure to take you through the Puerta del Sol. All roads lead to Rome, they say : all streets converge in the Puerta. The golden coach of royalty, the dog-cart of the dandy polio, the sparkling chariot of the diplomatist, the brewer^s dray, the mules' team, and the hearse — all cross each other there. It is at once the Gate of Ivory and the Gate of Horn ; all the glittering shams and all the sad realities of Spain meet at the confluence of the nine streets. It is the road to the Palace and the road to the cemetery." Madrid.] THE PUERTA DEL SOL. 59 The buildings round the Puerta del Sol are high and regular, displaying an abundance of huge advertisement boards, but nothing characteristic of Spanish architecture. Here are the grandest and dearest hotels and cafes of Madrid, and plenty of rich and elegant shops mostly occupied by foreign tailors, modistes, jewellers, vendors of articles de Paris and such- like things. On the south side stands the Gobernacion (Ministry of the Interior), an imposing but somewhat heavy building. The buildings on the east side replaced the old Church of Buon Sucesso, whose clergy enjoyed the special privilege of performing mass up to two o'clock in the afternoon, so that the edifice was a favourite place of devotion with late- rising fashionables. In front of the old Church of Buon Sucesso broke out the insurrection against the French in May, 1808. Joachim Murat with 25,000 French soldiers was holding the city; the Spanish King was detained at Bayonne, and Napoleon had sent orders for the queen and children to be sent there also. It is said that Murat was seeking occasion to intimidate the Madrilenos, and ostentatiously sent away the royal family ia broad daylight. A tumult broke out — a French ofiicer passing the excited crowd was unhorsed, and a few French soldiers in various parts of the city massacred. Murat took a bloody revenge. Before noon his artillery had swept the streets and squares, and soldiers had fired volleys down the cross-streets, until tranquillity was restored. To make the intimidation more com- plete, great numbers of artisans and labourers were shot during the following night, for being found bearing arms — that is to say, they wore the clasp-knives universally carried by men of their class. The Puerta del Sol has been the birthplace of most of the emeutes and insurrections so prominent in modern Spanish history, and the wall of the Gobernacion is riddled with shot- marks. But these events were seldom marked by special features of interest, and their results were generally transitory. To-day (in spite of the loungers) the Puerta del Sol is gay mth busy life and industry. A noisy, ceaseless, open-air traffic is going on all around; all the journals of Madrid are sold here, mostly by women and children, whose shrill voices, especially towards evening, when the most popular sheets appear, make a perfect babel. Here, too, are the clamorous men and urchins, half-clad and often barefoot, who vend cerillos (wax matches). Your true Spaniard is always smoking, but he smokes in a lazy fashion; his cigar is perpetually going out, and the consumption of wax matches is something prodigious. Very prominent also are the vendors of cold water, who, carrying in one hand their straw-wrapped stone bottle, and in front of them a tray of half-pint glasses and a stock of azucarillos (rose-flavoured biscuits made of sugar-paste), shout vociferously, " Agua ! Qnien quiere agna ? " and do a roaring trade, for the copious imbibition of cold water is another of the favourite pursuits of a Madrileno. At the corners of the streets diverging from the Puerta stand the mozos de cordel, mostly sturdy Asturians, each mth a rope round his body or over his shoulder, ready to tie together and convey to any part of the city the luggage that may be committed to his care. Street-vendors of various trifles solicit the patronage of the passers-by, while in the open space where once was a fruit-market, cab-drivers crack their whips beside the principal cab-stand of Madrid. The crowds thronging the side pavements show very little Spanish costume amongst them ; the Parisian bonnet has almost universally displaced the graceful mantilla. Occasionally, however, in times of excitement — 60 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. re-actions of patriotic fervour — the mantillas and other characteristic articles of attire appear for a time, as if by way of demonstration. In the centre of the Puerta is a basin and a fountain supplied, like all the other foun- tains in the city, with splendid water from the Guadarama mountains, by means of the AGUADOS ON THE PUERTA DEL SOL. canal, whose constructor was created Marquis del Lozoya, amidst the acclamation of a grateful city. From morning till night this fountain is ringed by silent men basking in the sun and smoking. Of the streets that radiate from the Puerta del Sol, the finest and largest is the Calle de Alcala, on the north side of which rises the monumental fa9ade of the vast building, formerly the Aduana, or Custom House, but now occupied by the Hacienda (Ministry of Finance), the Museo de Historia Natural, and the Academia de San Fernando. In the Museum are many curiosities, including the skeleton of a Megatherium (the finest existing Madrid. THE PLAZA DE LAS CORTES. 61 antediluvian slceleton in the world), two stuffed bulls (formerly noted heroes of the arena), a skeleton of a French drummer, &e. Here also is a splendid collection of marbles, jaspers, porphyries, an index to the mineral resources of Spain that only wait tx) become a source of imtold wealth. The Academy is not of much importance; it contains, however, what some consider the chef-d'oeuvre of Murillo — "St. Elizabeth Healing the Lepers.-" St. Elizabeth is an exquisite realisation of dignified beauty, the lepers are disgustingly VIEW OF MADEID. realistic. The Calle de Alcala leads to the Puerta de Alcaic, the finest of the city gates. It is seventy feet in height and consists of five arches, forming altogether a triumphal monument in memory of Charles III. In the Plaza de las Cortes, which lies to the south of the Calle de Alcala, stands the not particularly giand Palacio del Congreso, built in 184Z-5(), and richly adorned in the interior with paintings by modern artists. The public gallery is much frequented by strangers anxious to listen to the flowery, racy, and somewhat Oriental eloquence of Castelar, Canovas, or other popular orators. In the Plaza before the Chamber, in January, 1874, General Pavia planted his artillery and drove out the Deputies, and established a temporary irresponsible government, with the Duke de la Torres at its head. In the centre n:2 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. of the Plaza is a statue of the immortal author of "Don Quixote/"* representing him as a warrior^ and recalling his bravery at Lepanto (where he lost an arm for his country) rather than his literary genius. It was modelled at Rome by Antonio Sola, and founded in Prussia. From the Plaza de las Cortes, the Carrera de San Geronimo, one of the most pleasing and most frequented streets in the city, and containing the best shoj^s, leads back to the Puerta del Sol, while opposite to it is the Calle Mayor, leading westward. In the lower part of this busy street are clustered the offices of the Escribanos (notaries), many of them glad to earn a living as public letter-writers, for the poorer class of Spaniards are not yet all able to write their own letters. In this street stands the Casa de Onate, a vast mansion of an ancient Spanish family. Its owner in 1622 was killed when riding in his carriage, and it is said that the deed was done by order of Philip IV., who was jealous of Oiiate's attention to Elizabeth of France. Here also stands the Casa de los Lu janes, an ancient palace to which Francis I. was brought a prisoner, smarting from his defeat at Pavia, before being transferred to a tower of the royal residence. In close proximity to the Calle Mayor is the Plaza Mayor, which must take rank as the chief of the seventy-two squares of Madrid. It is an immense rectangular space 434' feet long by 334 feet broad, entered from without by several arched passages, and all round it runs an arched colonnade, from which rise columns seventy-one feet high support- ing the upper balustrades and balconies of the five-storeyed houses. Beneath the arcades are shops for the sale of various small articles, chiefly the results of local industry" — such as bonnets, garters with devices, castanets, knives, Catalonian lace, and so forth ; while in the numerous reading-rooms are to be found large numbers of grave and earnest readers deep in politica studies. The central area consists of an elliptical esplanade surrounded by a carriage-drive, and is now an intensely interesting rendezvous of the lower classes of Madrid. At Christmas time the whole area is jailed up with an abundance of turkeys, oranges, sweetmeats, and all sorts of good things for the festive season. From allusions to the Plaza in the works of Cervantes, it was evidently a crowded spot in his day ; he particularises its mendicants and cut-purses. In the centre stands a bronze statue of Philip III., by whom the Plaza was built in the seventeenth century, on the site of a former Plaza built by Juan II. In spite of one or two conflagrations, this ancient and somewhat prison-like enclosure still answers to the description given of it by St. Simon, who very enthusiastically describes the grand illuminations he beheld here when all the balconies were ablaze with wax-candles, so that he could see to read the smallest characters in the very centre of the area; and the set-pieces of fireworks after- wards exhibited were "marvellous and unparalleled.'^ On one side stands the Panaderia, once the head-quarters of the guild of bakers, an immense building commenced in 1590, but only the granite portico dates from that time, the three upper storeys having been built after the great fire of 1672, and covered with ornaments of the Churriguerresque school — a school that derives its name from the extrava- gant fancies of the architect Churriguerra. Over the window of the princiiml balcony are the royal arms, denoting the spot from which laws and edicts were promulgated, and from wh'ch the royal family surveyed the proceedings on festal occasions. Madnd.] THE PLAZA MAYOR. 63 The Plaza Maj^or was the scene of all great court festivals, usually signalised by carousals, tourneys, bull-fights, and other exciting sports, or displays of pageantry. The bull-fights always formed a special feature of the royal fetes. Then the ancient square must, indeed, have presented a grand sj)ectacle. From the ground to the lowest balcony a timber erection of raised seats accommodated the populace who flocked in their thousands to the sjiectacle. Above were the balconies richly carj)eted and curtained, bright with gilding and coloured tapestry of silk and velvet. Certain of these balconies (chiefly those of the Panaderia) were set apart for the court, state officials, and ambassadors, the rest were hired for the occasion, and we are informed by Salgado'^ that the price of the rooms on the first storey was 200 crowns; the upper storeys were cheaper. It was the fashion for cavaliers to hire these rooms, and magnificently entertain their lady friends. All Madrid flocked to the Plaza Mayor in the evening previous to one of the grand festivals, 'f In the cool of the evening (a most dangerous season, I confess) " says honest Salgado, '^ all persons promis- cuously throng thither; but chiefly about ten of the clock at night, when the affections are much delighted with a most sweet melody and concert of instrumental and vocal music, and on all occasions of that nature the guitar and harp are most frequently used.^^ Our author goes on to say, " It is further to be observed that if the jealous Spaniard can espy any man com- plimenting his wife with jocose words or kisses, without any consideration he will furiously assault such a person with sword and cudgel, whence arise many most lamentable tragedies ; for the preventing of which the law has wisely appointed a considerable number of alquaciles, whom we here call constables, whose proper and sole office it is to mediate betwixt those persons, rewarding them with bonds and fetters for the commission of such horrid outrages.^^ Salgado gives a detailed picture of the next day^s proceedings : the crowded state of the Plaza; the bringing in of the bulls to their enclosure; some preliminary prize- fighting by volunteer gladiators ; the arrival of the king and court, with lifeguards in splendid uniform ; the deluging of the arena with water ; the various combats wdth the bulls, and the dragging off of the bodies of the victims. But for these details, and various surprising instances of bravery, we must refer our readers to the quaint narrative itself. Charles I. of England (when Prince of Wales) attended a bull-fight at the Plaza Mayor, sitting in a splendid balcony beside the Infanta whom he came to woo, but, as it subsequently turned out, not to wed. On that occasion, to add novelty to the spectacle, a ferocious bull, after nearly killing two men, was slain by a gorgeously attired lady — the supposed lady being really one of the most expert bull-fighters in disguise. The last gi'eat bull-fight in the Plaza Mayor took place in October, 1846, on the occasion of the marriages of Isabella II., Queen of Spain, and her sister the Infanta. The Plaza has other memories, however, than those of a festive character. It was again and again the scene of the '^ Autos de Fe,^^ those celebrated public solemnities ^vith which the Inquisition prefixed its wholesale burnings of heretics. The most important celebration of the kind in this square took place in 16S0, on the occasion of the marriage of Carlos II., and a full narrative of the event has been left by Jose del Olmo, himself one of the familiars of the Holy Office, from Avhose work we shall take a few facts. f * See " Harleian Miscellany," Vol. IX. t "Relacion del'Auto General de F6, celebrado en Madrid, en 1680." 64 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madnd. The king having expressed a wish to attend one of these si)ectaeles, the Inquisitor-Genera) gave a month^s notice of the event, and promised the Pope's spiritual favours to all wLa promoted or attended it. Prisoners were sent up from various towns at the king's expense. To prepare the Plaza Mayor " not fewer than fifty master-builders with their workmen FOUNTAIX OF NEPTUNE went to offer their assistance, and laboured incessantly, stopping only to take their meals, and joyfully exclaiming in the middle of their work, ' Success to the faith of Jesus Christ ! all will be done in due time; and if materials should be wanting, we will pull down our houses to supply what is needed to accomplish so holy a purpose ! * " Two days before the fatal Sunday a troop of " Soldiers of the Faith " marched through the city, each with a bundle of wood on the point of his halberd,, and calling at Madnd.] AN "AUTO DE Ffi." 65 the palace the captain presented a bundle, richly ornamented with ribbons, to the king, who took it and showed it to the queen, and then returned it to the captain, asking that this fagot might be the first lit. Thence the " Soldiers of the Faith " proceeded to the Quemadero or burning-place, a space about sixty feet square, outside the Puerto de Fuencarral, previously arranged for the accommodation of culprits, executioners, and monks, and carefully guarded by the " Soldiers " till the executions were over. During the day and night of Saturday strenuous efforts were made to procure recantations from the condemned. FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR SEASONS, PBADO. On Sunday morning, June 30th, at seven o'clock, a motley procession set out from the House of the Inquisition. First came the " Soldiers of the Faith," then the parish cross veiled in black, and attended by twelve surpliced priests; one hundred and twenty prisoners followed, of whom fifty-five were relajndos, victims condemned to the flames, thirty-four in effigy, and twenty-one in person. Some of the effigies bore in their hands boxes containing the bones, or heretical writings, of those they represented. Of the twenty- one relajados present, twelve were gagged and had their hands tied; five were women and one a Turk. Monks walked beside the victims, who were clad in long robes strangely adorned with flames and dragons. The officers of the Inquisition followed, with a great number of familiares, mostly noblemen or their sons, all on horseback. The procession 49 A 66 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [Madrid. closed witli the Inquisitor-General on a fine bay horse with violet velvet trappings, attended by twelve gaily-caparisoned lacqueys, and escorted by fifty horsemen, robed in black satin with silver lace. On reaching the Plaza Mayor, the criminals were paraded before the king and royal family, and then Mass, and a sermon and the reading of extracts from the trials of the prisoners, occupied the time till 4 p.m., when an official, called the Secretario del Secreto, took the relajados by the hand and delivered them to the secular authority, praying that they might be mercifully and kindly dealt with ! The victims were then mounted on asses and taken to the Quemadero, where the impenitent were burned alive ; those who had recanted were strangled first. Some of the victims sprang joyfully into the flames — our author is careful to warn his readers that this circumstance must only be regarded as a culpable act of despair — and all night long the sky was red above that horrible burning-place, for not till nine next morning had the "Soldiers of the Faith ■'■' completed their work. The Casa Sancta, the House of the Inquisition, was destroyed in a revolution early in the present century. The institution itself was abolished by the Cortes, and its power had for some time been very limited in comparison with its ancient authority. The very Quemadero had been covered up and forgotten, when, not many years ago, the workmen engaged in constructing a new Boulevard came upon successive black layers, which turned out to be the remains of that terrible spot — iron links, and nails, and rivets, charred wood and bones, all were there — mute witnesses of fearful cruelties. Two bony hands clasped as if in prayer, and transfixed by a large nail ; human ribs with a spear protrud- ing — these were amongst the horrors unveiled. A thrill of shame went through Spain, and indeed all Europe ; and by the discovery of these long-entombed memorials of the martyrs, a deadly blow was struck at priestly intolerance. It should be remembered that what took place in Madrid formed but a part of the work of the Sj)anish Inquisition. Only too truly does a popular writer, Mr. G. A. Sala, speak of this infamous institution as that " which during the three hundred and forty-one years of its abominable existence sowed death, terror, and desolation broadcast through a magnificent empire — which forced three millions of industrious and peaceable people into exile — which pronounced three hundred and forty-seven thousand individual judgments, in virtue of^which, to say nothing of the hideous tortures inflicted in secret, thirty-four thousand persons were burned alive, eighteen thousand burned in effigy, and two hundred and ninety thousand sent to the galleys, scourged, branded, or flung for life into loathsome dungeons.^' From one corner of the Plaza Mayor, the Calle de Atocha, the longest street in Madrid, leads towards the Prado. South of the Plaza, the Calle de Toledo and other noisy streets run through the most populous districts of the city. Many a picturesque and characteristic scene may be witnessed here — barbers practising their craft in the open air ; charcoal vendors, provided with long lever-like arrangements, hanging on at one end to counterpoise the char- coal at the other ; troops of asses rushing past, and sweeping all before them ; horses with well-laden projecting baskets, knocking down stalls or other obstacles ; and open shops, resem- bling in appearance the bazaars of the East. Among the busy crowd are seen Manchego mendicants, Andalusian smugglers, gipsies, and groups of country people from various districts, in their picturesque local costumes. The noise is incessant; street musicians, with Madrid.] « THE PRADO. 67 bagpipes and g-uitars and other instruments^ seem everywhere ; beggars whine and sing ; all sorts of street vendors perpetually shout haricots, radishes, nuts, melons, hot chestnuts, fine sand, flowers, pine-apples, and so forth, ad hijinitutn ; and — though last, not least — the sellers of lottery tickets bawl vociferously, and importunately solicit patronage from passers-by. Night only brings partial relief, for the watchmen cry the hours and the state of the weather, as in England in the olden time. In the Calle de Segovia are hostelries such as Cervantes describes, and it is easy to see the counterparts of his characters in the lounging groups at the doors. The Calle de Toledo leads to the Puerto de Toledo, a monumental gate, commemorating the return of Ferdinand VII. from his captivity at Valengay. Farther on is the Puente de Toledo, built in 1735, an elegant bridge of nine arches, spanning the waterless river on the site of an earlier erection. In the centre are statues of the noted local saints, San Isidro and his wife. On the field near the bridge public executions take place. Here General Diego Leon was shot for alleged high treason by Espartero. Here also perished the Cura Merino, who was strangled and burned for an attempt on the life of Isabella II. The dirtiest quarter of Madrid is the Rastro, where vice and misery dwell side by side, where low taverns and shops of second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers abound, and where thieves and robbers find a congenial refuge, and converse with each other in an argot of their own, very different from pure Castilian. In this quarter stands the Fabrica de Tobacos, a vast factory, forming a little world in itself, its workers — men, women, and children — numbering over three thousand. Every one who has read of Madrid is aware that the Prado is the chief gathering- place of out-door fashionable life. As its name implies, it was originally a field, until Charles III. transformed it into an elegant promenade. It forms the central portion of the broad boulevard which, under various names, curves from the Church of Atocha to the new northern suburbs. The most frequented portion is the Salon del Prado, a splendid promenade, 230 feet broad, with avenues of trees and numerous fountains. At one end is the Fuente de Cibeles, a splendid fountain, wherein a colossal Cybele is seated on a car drawn by lions ; at the other end is an equally gi-and Fuente de Neptuno. East of the salon, surrounded by cypresses, stands the obelisk known as the Monumento del Dos de Mayo, built in memory of the victims of Murat, massacred on that day in 1808. But the chief attraction of the Prado is the concourse of the gay world ceaselessly promenading to and fro, or occupying the hundreds of chairs that line the avenue. A lively trade is perpetually going on in oranges, water, and cigar-lights, whose vendors, by their alacrity and vivacity, add to the life of the scene. Northward of the Fountain of Cybele stretches the Paseo de Recoletos and Paseo de la Fuente Castellana; the latter, laid out by Espartero, was for a time known as the Delicias de Isabel II., until the Spaniards grew tired of that lady and her endless intrigues. This portion of the Prado is now the most aristocratic promenade in the city. " It is bordered,'^ says Edmondo de Amicis, " on the right by the growing suburb of Salamanque, the habitation of rich Madrilenos, deputies, and poets ; and on the left by a long chain of little mansions and villas and theatres, and abundant new edifices painted in the liveliest colours. It is not a single promenade : ther*» are ten of them, each more beautiful than the other ; there are avenues for people who love a crowd, and alleys for solitary wanderers, separated by interminable hedges of myrtle and 68 CITIE& OF THE WOELD. [Madrid. bordered by gardens aud little woods, where rise statues and fountains, and innumerable mysterious footpaths cross and re-cross. On fete days an enchanting spectacle may be enjoyed here; from one end to the other of the avenues, the two long processions of men and women, and horses and carriages, pass each other ; it is scarcely possible to walk along the Prado ; the gardens are peopled by thousands of children ; music from the theatres floats on the air ; on every side there is a murmur of voices from unseen speakers, a rustling of dresses, a prattling of infants, a sound of horse-hoofs. It is not merely the life and gaiety of a pro- menade; it is the joyous excitement, the noise, the whirlwind, the feverish gaiety of a fete.^"* THE EOTAL PALACE. South of the Fountain of Neptune are other avenues, fountains, and statues — an exten- sion of the Prado, leading to the Church of Atocha. The Paseo de Atocha is less aristocratic and more popular than the other Paseos. On the waste ground at each side are the huts of mountebanks and itinerant showmen. Here, in September, is held the Feria (fair), when long lines of stalls laden with all kinds of small merchandise make their appearance, and in varied costume the country people flock in from far and near. Outside the line of boulevards we have been describing lies the beautiful park of Madrid, the Buon Retiro, where those who love retirement can find it in the shady promenades among the lilac hedges. There are shrubberies, and pavilions, and long lines of. royal statues, and a lake, on which there is positively skating in winter. The palace that Madrid.] CHURCHES OF MADRID. 69 once stood here, and in which Philip IV. royally entertained the wits and artists of his day, was hurnt down in 17£0, and many fine paintings by Titian and Velasquez perished. IF PHILIP IV. ON THE PLAZA DE OEIENTE. The churches o£ Madrid are numerous, but are not g^enerally conspicuous either for architectural beauty or for antiquity. Instead of grand Gothic piles, as at Toledo and Seville, we have constructions chiefly dating from the seventeenth century, and apparently mostly on one model — a single nave, a transept, a lofty cupola, and broad heavy columns half joined 70 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Haana. to the whitewashed walls ; as a rule, the interiors are very dirty ; the altars are richly and lavishly adorned/ but not always with irreproachable taste. Cadiz, Saragossa, and some other Spanish towns have two cathedrals, but Madrid has none. Phihp II. thought of building one, but his devotion to the Escorial prevented him from carrying out the project; and although the idea has been again and again entertained, the cathedral for the capital of Spain is not yet forthcoming. In the meantime, the Church of Santa Maria de la Almudena ranivs as an Iglesia Mayor. It is the oldest church in the city, having originally been a Moorish mosque, until Alphonso purified it, and dedicated it to the Virgin, whose image, said to have been carved by Nicodemus and painted by St. Luke, is its most precious possession. The building has been repaired and modernised ; attached to it is the Gothic Chapel of St. Ana, built by Bozmediano, the secretary of Charles V. It was formerly the custom on the jiesfa of St. Ana for the people to come here singing and dancing ; in the story of " Gitanilla '' by Cervantes, he introduces us to his gipsy heroine amongst this motley crowd. The Church of San Gines, in the Calle del Arenal, was rebuilt in 1642. Beneath it is a dark crypt, in which, during Lent, pious worshippers have been accustomed to whip them- selves ; eats with nine tails or less, according to the endurance of the penitent, being lent for a consideration by the sexton. Self-flagellation was quite an institution in Madrid in olden times, and was publicly performed in the streets during the Holy- week celebrations. A seventeenth-century traveller tells us how he saw in a procession " certain penitents clothed in white, with their faces covered with large linen masks. They had their backs bare down to the girdle, and in this state passed along the streets, whipping themselves with little cords full of knots ; and to make the blood flow better, they had little balls of wax or bits of glass attached to the cords.^' Charles III. forbade the masking and public whipping and dances, and of late the flagellation in the dark vault of San Gines has become unfashionable. In the Moreria, the old district near the river, stands San Andres, re-constructed in the seventeenth century, and occupying the site of an older structure in which Ferdinand and Isabella used to worship. Here, in 1130, was buried the body of San Isidro, afterwards transferred to the church bearing his name. There is a chapel here dedicated to San Isidro, begun by Philip IV. in 1G68, and which cost a million of ducats before it was completed. It is lined with splendid marbles, and adorned with pictures commemorating the miracles of the saint. In the Capella del Obispo, begun under Charles V., are some well-preserved fifteenth-century sculptures and the tomb of a Bishop of Plasencia, the finest specimen of Renaissance work in Madrid ; it is a wonderful combination of columns, bas-reliefs, and arabesques, with seventeen complete statues, besides about forty others of more or less relief. M. Mecovero says that ^*^the ensemble of this mausoleum, the work of the sculptor Giralte, is wanting in style and grandeur, but every part of it, taken separately, is perfect.'' The Church of San Isidro el Heal, in the Calle de Toledo, was originally a Jesuit college, founded in 1567. It was rebuilt in 1651, under the patronage of the Empress Maria of Austria. At the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1769, Charles III. transferred hither the ashes and relics of San Isidro and his wife, Santa Maria de Cabeza, According to the legend, San Isidro was a poor but pious ploughman in the service of the Oiiate family Madrid.] OUR LADY OF ATOCHA. 71 early in the twelfth century. One day as he was praying in the field, angels descended from heaven and took hold of his plough, and finished the furrow he had begun. He performed many miracles, and in 16'22. was canonised at the same time as SS. Ignatius Loyola, Philip Neri, Francis Xavier, and Teresa. A grand fete took place in Madrid in honour of the canonisation of its patron saint, and all the poets of Spain competed for prizes offered in connection with the event. Lope de Vega took the first prize for two antos sacramentales, in which the infancy and youth of San Isidro were dramatically set forth. The young King Philippe and all his court were present at the representation of these dramas in a theatre specially erected on the Plaza, and marvelled at the new mechanical contrivances by which flying angels were introduced. The second prize was taken by Zarate, and the third by Calderon de la Barca, then a young man. The church containing the remains of the sainted ploughman and his wife (who devoted themselves to holy celibacy directly after their nuptials) is a medley of gold and paint and marble and rococo ornament — a clief-d'ceuvre of bad taste. Some of Murat's victims lie buried here, removed from the Prado with great pomp in May, 1814. The populace attacked the convent in July, 1834, and murdered the monks, whom they accused of having introduced an epidemic of cholera into the city. The convent of Nuestra Seiiora de Atocha was founded in 1523 by De Mendoza, the confessor of Charles V. Various monarchs embellished and enriched it from time to time, but during the French occupation the whole building was plundered and devastated. It was, however, re-constructed and re-embellished by Ferdinand VII., on his return from captivity. The principal part of the edifice now forms the Cuartel de Invalidos, or Home for Spanish soldiers; the interior of the dome is adorned with banners won by the Spanish troops. But the chief interest of the building centres in the chapel, where stands the famous image of Our Lady of Atocha. The story goes that this little black image was manu- factured by St. Luke, that St. Peter consecrated it at Antioch, and brought it thence to Spain; and volumes have been written about the miracles it is alleged to have performed, some of which have been commemorated by Lope de Vega in his sonnets. It ranks third in holiness amongst the images of Spain, coming next after those of Saragossa and Guadaloupe, and is said to have healed the sick, made the dumb speak, expelled devils, and raised the dead; to have arrested in mid-air masons falling from the roofs of houses, and on more than one occasion to have condescended to speak to its votaries. No wonder that upon the shrine of so powerful a protectress the most Catholic Kings and Queens of Spain should lavish their treasures. The image often appears dressed as a' widow, but on great festivals it is decked in costly raiment, and adorned with gold and precious stones. The French are accused of having taken £100,000 in gems and plate from the Treasury. Since Alphonso VI. laid his banner at her feet on the re-conquest of Madrid, in 1083, Spanish monarchs have been accustomed to present themselves before Our Lady of Atocha on all great occasions. Royal weddings have usually taken place here, and it has been customary for Spanish queens to present their wedding-robes. Isabella II. was never tired of presenting her L'lothes to this image — amongst others, the dress cut by the knife of the Cura Merino. In • this building is buried the well-meaning Bartolome de las Casas, the zealous friend of the Indians, who accompanied Columbus in three voyages ; and afterwards, when he saw the native CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. races perishing- under Spanish cruelty^ made suggestions which led to the institution of the African slave trade. Here, too, was buried in November, 1867, Marshal O'Donnell, and a few months afterwards the corpse of his great rival. Marshal Narvaez, was also interred here. As we have said, the churches of Madrid are numerous, but it would not be interest- ing to describe them in detail; few people care to know how many columns adorn a church. NURSES ON THE PRADO. or how many feet it measures. It may be noticed, however, in passing, that in the convent La Latina, Beatrix Galindo taught Latin to Isabella the Catholic ; that in the Salesus Reales was a vast nunnery, built for Barbara, queen of Ferdinand VI., as a retreat, in which she could occasionally retire from the world, and where now she sleeps beside her royal husband beneath a sumptuous tomb ; and that the Church of St. Francesco el Grande — considered by many to be the finest in Madrid — has been decreed by the Cortes to be ke25t as a Pantheon for the burial of illustrious Spaniards. Madrid. 1 THE ROYAL PALACE. 78 The Palacio Real at Madrid is undoubtedly one o£ the tinest royal residences in Europe. It stands upon the site of the ancient Alcazar, which served for the defence of the city, and as the occasional residence of the Kings of Castile in the tenth and eleventh centuries. After the destruction of the Alcazar by an earthquake, Henry IV. rebuilt it as a royal palace ; Charles V. in 1557 greatly enlarged it, and Philip II. and Philip III. made important additions. The fa9ade was an acknowledged masterpiece of architecture ; the recep- tion-hall and the wonderful picture-gallery, the magnificent interior adornments, and lavish i lU'. AU.MUl H\ . wealth of gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds, made it famous throughout Europe. But on Christmas Eve, 1734, the palace and its contents were destroyed by fire. The palace so suddenly reduced to ashes had been, in 1526, the abode of an illustrious captive. Francis I., defeated at the battle of Pavia, was sent as a prisoner to Madrid, and was confined in the Alcazar, in a little room with barred windows high up in a tower. At the foot of the tower two battalions were on duty night and day, and every precaution was taken to prevent the escape of the prisoner. Francis, unusefl to such restraint, became ill, and at length his haughty rival came to his cell ; terms of peace were agreed upon, and the prisoner was allowed to return to his beloved France. How Francis, on regaining his liberty, 50 74 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. tbrew liis promises to the winds, and was absolved by the Pope for doing so, is matter of history. The present Royal Palace was commenced in 1737, under Philip V., and was comj)leted twenty-seven years later, under Charles III. This splendid edifice is built in the form of a vast parallelogram, 471 feet square. Upon a solid basis of granite rises a majestic structure of the Tuscan order, built of white stone resembling marble, and presenting, especially from the banks of the Manzanares, a truly imposing aspect, with its white walls and innumerable columns standing out in bold relief against the sky of cloudless blue. The whole building is 100 feet in height on the south and east, but the ground is uneven, and on the river side the walls rise to twice that height. In the centre of the palace a grand Cours d'honneur is surrounded by an open arched portico, with a gallery above, in which are statues of Trajan, Adrian, Honorius, and Theodosius, the four Roman Emperors bom in Spain. The grand staircase, with its steps of black and white marble, is magnificent, and justified the exclamation of Napoleon, on ascending it with his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, in 1808 : " My brother, you will be better lodged than me ! " Upon the first floor are thirty saloons, furnished on a scale of princely splendour. The finest is the Sala de los Embajadores, adorned with rich marbles and twelve large mirrors, and tapestries of velvet and gold embroideiy. The frescoed ceiling, by Tiepolo, represents the " Majesty of Spain,^^ but most of the pictures which once covered the walls of the saloons have gone to the Museo Real. The Chapel Royal is somewhat gaudy ; an interesting spectacle is beheld here when, on Holy Thursday, the King of Spain washes the feet o£ the poor. Outside the palace is a garden, occupying the site of a park, often spoken of by Calderon and Lope de Vega. The royal stables and coach-houses are justly classed among the interesting sights of Madrid. In the stables are upwards of 300 horses and 200 mules, some of them of immense value. In the coach-houses are vehicles of all sizes, dates, and uses. Spaniards have always loved carriages, and had them in plenty before there was a road in Spain fit to drive on. Here are cumbrous old coaches, modern broughams and chaises, trivimphal cars and royal hearses, state coaches that have cost £10,000 or £15,000, and the clumsy vehicle in which Jeanne le Fol (Crazy Jane) dragged about the body of her dead husband, insisting that he was only asleep. Close by the Royal Palace stands the Armeria Real, one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world. The general effect of the immense, well-lighted hall, adorned with banners and lances, and peopled with effigies of knights in armour, is very imposing : it seems like the realisation of a dream of Spain in the age of chivalry. There are 2,644 objects of interest exhibited in the collection ; among them, the suit of armour alleged to have belonged to el Ueij Chico, Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada ; SjDanish, German, Italian, and Flemish armour; an equestrian suit, weighing 189 lbs., worn by Charles V. on entering Tunis ; the armour of Captain Alonzo Cespides, called el Alcides Castellano, who slew a tiger with a poniard-stroke, and cut ofP a bulFs head with one wave of his sword ; of whom it is also recorded that, being too late one night to enter Toledo before gate-closing, he quietly unhinged the city gate, and walked in; and when at length he met his death in battle with the Moors, it was not until he had split down a hundred of his adversaries from shoulder to waist. Here, too, is the armour of Christopher Columbus ; the armour of Don John, worn at Lepanto ; Madrid.] THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF PAINTINGS. 75 the splendid helmets worn by Charles V., Francis I., and other kings and captains ; Turkish banners and Moorish arms, with old Damascus inlaid-work ; swords, daj^gers, and stilettos, richly ornamented and of great historic interest ; the sword of Pelayo, restorer of the Spanish monarchy ; the swords of Roland and his great rival Bernardo del Carpio ; the sword Colada, wielded by the Cid Campeador, and so celebrated in the ancient chronicles and romances of Spain ; the black leather field bed (or " large bassinette,"*' as Lady Herbert calls it) in which Charles V. slept when suffering from gout during his campaign — all these, and many other articles (more or less authenticated), make up one of the most interesting collections of the kind. East of the Royal Palace is the Plaza de Oriente, one of the oldest of the tree-planted squares of Madrid. In it stand statues of the Kings and Queens of Spain, removed from the balustrade of the palace on account of their great weight. A fine statue of Philip IV. on his war-charger stands in the centre; it is nineteen feet high, and weighs 180 cwt., and yet the horse is curvetting freely ; it is said that the balance is preserved by mechanical means which had been suggested, many years before, by the illustrious Galileo. Among the interesting National or Municipal buildings in Madrid may be mentioned the Casas Consistoriales, or Town Hall, from the balcony of which the Duke of Wellington acknowledged the acclamations of the people on entering the city as its deliverer. Close by, in the Plazuela de la Villa, is the house once belonging to the Duques de Infantado, where Ferdinand and Isabella dwelt, containing the balcony from which Cardinal Ximenes pointed to his soldiers and artillery below, when asked by what authority he usurped the regency. In another small square in this vicinity, the Plazuela de la Cruz Verde, a cross marks the spot on which was burnt the last victim of the Spanish Inquisition. All travellers agree in acknowledging that, whatever may have been their disappoint- ment at Madrid in other respects, the wonderful Real Museo de Pinturas atones for everything. As a collection of splendid paintings and masterpieces of art, it is without a parallel in the world; and a recent writer truly observes "it is the greatest that can ever be made until this is broken up.''' Of the 2,500 paintings enumerated in the catalogue, 46 are by Murillo, 65 by Velasquez, 58 by Spagnoletto, 10 by Raphael, 64 by Rubens, 60 by Teniers (of whose works the Louvre possesses only 14), 43 by Titian, 34 by Tintoretto, and 25 by Paul Veronese. The works comprised in this magnificent collection were taken from the cabinets of the royal palaces, and from various convents, especially the Escorial. During the reigns of Charles V. and Philip II., when Spanish dominion had reached its meridian splendour, Italian art had likewise reached its highest development, and Spanish art was just beginning its glorious career. From the New World, Spain was gathering inexhaustible wealth, which enabled its kings and nobles freely to indulge their luxurious tastes, and thus the palaces and convents became stocked with grand paintings tliat were kept in safety till Ferdinand collected them to form the Real Museo. Here are exhibited Ribera's (Spagnoletto's) martyrdoms and other pictures of terrible power, and Velasquez' wonderful life studies, including many splendid equestrian and other portraits — his Philip IV. on horseback seems to start from the canvas. "Velasquez," says an art critic in an able article on this great painter, "may be considered as the best type and the truest representative of the Spanish school. He is 76 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. the greatest and most original painter that Spain has produced. Although his style or 'manner^ was derived, either directly or indirectly, from the Italian schools of the end of the fifteenth century, it was even more ' national ' than that of Murillo. . . Velasquez is considered the head of the Madrid school, and Murillo that of Seville, although both painters were born and studied their art in the latter city. . . The earliest known picture of Velasquez is ' The Adomtion of the Magi ■* in the Gallery of Madrid, painted when in his twentieth year, and dated 1619. . . Velasquez can only be properly studied and understood in the Madrid Gallery, where sixty-five of his j)ietures are exhibited, many of them, however, much injured by re-painting. The whole of his works do not exceed one hundred. The grand religions and classic compositions of a Raphael or a Titian were as much out of the range of his genius as the sublime conceptions of Michael Angelo. He could deal with living- men, but not with gods, angels, or saints. In technical skill and in the use of his materials, however, Velasquez has perhaps not been surpassed by any painter." In the Museo are numerous fine specimens of the work of Mm'illo. " No one who has not been in Spain," says a lady writer, "can so much as imagine what Murillo is. In England he is looked upon as the clever painter of picturesque brown beggar-boys : there is not one of these subjects to be found in Spain. There one learns to know him as he is — i.e., the great mystical religious painter of the seventeenth century, embodying in his wonderful conceptions all that is most sublime and ecstatic in devotion, and in the representation of Divine love." ■ Nor must we omit to mention Roya (born 1746), the last representative of the old Spanish schools of painting, who filled his canvas with bull-fighters, smugglers, gipsies, robbers, and all the types of the old Spanish life that was passing away before his eyes. The Italian artists appear in these galleries in full force. There are ten fine paintings from the brush of Raphael. One of these is the Holy Family, known as " La Perla," because Philip IV. called it the pearl of all his pictures. He bought it of the Puritans for £2,000, after the execution of Charles I., to whom it previously belonged. It contains the most perfectly beautiful and one of the least spiritual faces of the Virgin extant. The Florentine school is represented by Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, and others. Then comes Titian, and in no other city, excepting Venice, is the Venetian school of art so well represented as at Madrid, not only by the master's works, but also by those of Tintoret, Veronese, and others. It has been justly said that nowhere out of Madrid can one so easily read the history of the genius of Titian from its rise, and through its mid-day splendour to its decline. Rome, Naples, Bologna, Parma, and other Italian cities, may see the work of their most gifted sons, long hidden in Spanish cloisters and scattered palaces, displayed upon these walls. The German and French pictures are choice, though scanty. A portrait of Albrecht Diirer, by himself, looks as if painted yesterday; four rich landscapes by Claude Lorraine are in his best style; while of Dutch and Flemish pictures there is a greater wealth in Madrid than in Antwerp, Dresden, or Paris, because when these pictures were painted Spain had the money which the Dutch and Flemings wanted. Except as regards the "Descent from the Cross" in Antwerp Cathedral, the fame of Rubens would perhaps not be lessened if all his pictures perished except those in the Madrid Museum. Madrid.] AMUSEMENTS OF THE M^UDRILEXOS. 77 There are in Madrid several minor picture galleries; a museum of antiquities, with in- teresting Moorish, Hispano-Mores(|ue, Visigoth, Arabic, and mediaeval curiosities; and several valuable libraries, the principal being the Nacional, with 250,000 volumes and a splendid, col lection of coins and medals. Of course, there are many other buildings and institutions besides those we have enumerated, such as are to be found in all great capitals ; but as our aim is to exhibit VELASQUEZ. Madrid in its picturesque and distinctive aspects, we will not describe these in detail, but pass at once to the amusements of the Madrilenos. Madrid, in the opinion of some travellers, is, in the matter of theatres and shows, the first city in the world. Besides the Italian Opera, the Teatro Espaiiol, the Zarzuela, and the Circo — all theatres of the first rank as regards size, elegance, and public appreciation — there are a large number of small theatres, with dramatic and equestrian troupes — theatres to suit all purses and all tastes, and always full every evening. There are numerous gardens after the fashion of the recently destroyed Jardin Mabille of Paris; some close at 2 a.m., others much later. Masked balls are frequent and largely attended. But your Spaniard likes his amusements best when 78 CITIES or THE WORLD. [Madrid. there is a dash of savagery in them. So the circus for cock-fighting is well patronised, and heavy are the bets as to whether some wretched fowl in its death-agony will move its head once more or not. But there is yet another barbaric sport to wliich Madrileilos rush with enthusiasm — we mean, of course, the famous bull -fights. Before we give any details of the spectacle, let us hasten to say that ladies are not now present so universally as was once the case, and the royal family of Spain scarcely ever attend. According to tradition, it was the Cid Campeador who first couched his lance against a bull in the arena. From that time forth the young nobility of Spain took up the sport with ardour j there were bull-fights at all great festivals in which only noble or royal champions took part. During the Middle Ages, Spaniards and Moors strove to outrival each other's exploits in the arena as on the field of battle. Isabella the Catholic was horrified at the bull-fights and wanted to suppress them, but public opinion was too strong for her. Charles V. himself slew a bull in the arena; Francisco Pizarro was a noted torero ; a long line of Spanish kings encouraged the sport and built circuses. But only noble toreros on their splendid chargers fought with the bull, and as a rule only the blood of the bull was shed. Towards the middle of last century the ''old order'' was changing; professional toreros took the place of noble knights and the sport became a national pastime. Charles III. forbade it in vain; Ferdinand YII. encouraged and promoted it; Isabella II. found it specially suited to her taste and disposition and enthusiastically encouraged it. Notwithstanding that many of the better class of Spaniards disapprove, condemn, and occasionally protest against it, the cherished institution still flourishes ; distinguished toreros and espadas live in luxury, and as they show themselves in the Prado or the Puerta del Sol, an admiring populace delights to point them out as heroes and to tell with pride the story of their marvellous adventures. The Madrid Bull-ring is outside the Puerta de Alcalk and is capable of accommodating 14,000 spectators. Once a week it is crowded and penniless thousands wait outside to hear, and if possible to get inside. Around the sanded arena on stone benches sit the spectators. With trumpet-blast the ring is cleared and a fierce bull enters. He is met by the ^^icodors on their wretched blindfolded nags. The bull rushes at the nearest and receives a spear in his shoulder. Perhaps he recoils and the torero escapes by wheeling his horse to the left. More often the bull, even though wounded, tumbles horse and rider into a heap, and the capadores, or cloak-bearers, rush in to divert the animal's attention. The picador is helped to re-mount. '' If a bull is energetic and rapid in execution," says Hay, "he will clear the arena in a few moments. He rushes at one horse after another, tears them open with his terrible 'spears' ('horns' is a word never used in the ring), and sends them madly galloping over the arena, trampling out their gushing bowels as they fly. The assistants watch their opportunity, from time to time, to take the wounded horses out of the ring, plug up their gaping rents with tow, and sew them roughly up for another sally." Of course some of the horses are killed outright at a blow, but it is marvellous how long the gored and patched-up steeds will carry their riders. Sometimes a picador is killed. After several horses have been killed the lianderiUeros come in to play their part. It is their place to insert little barbed darts with flags at the end in the bull's neck. These darts are often filled at the base with detonating powder which explodes in Madnd.] THE BULL-FIGHTS. 79 the neck of the bull. " He dances or skips like a kid or a colt in his agony, which is very diverting to the Spanish mind/^ This process is prolonged as much as possible, and accompanied by wonderful exhibitions of skill and address in evading the bulFs assault. There is always a priest in attendance with consecrated wafer, to send a torero, in extremis, straight to Paradise. The final act — the death of the bull — comes at last. The matador, or espada, comes forward, bowing to the audience, and, sword and cape in hand, confronts the bull. " It is always an impressive picture,^' says the author above quoted : *^ the tortured, maddened animal, whose thin flanks are palpitating with his hot breathing, his coat one shining mass of blood from the darts and the spear- thrusts, his massive neck still decked as in mockery with the fluttering flags, his fine head and muzzle seeming sharpened by the hour^s terrible experience, his formidable horns crimsoned with onset; in front of this fiery bulk of force and courage, the slight, sinewy form of the killer, whose only reliance is on his coolness and intellect.^^ At a favourable moment the sword is thrust to the hilt between the left shoulder and spine, and the bull reels and dies. The heavens are rent with thunderous applause, and in a few minutes another bull bounds into the arena, and the barbarous spectacle is again gone through until six bulls have been slain. About an hour and a half by railway journey from Madrid are the two adjacent villages of El Escorial, so named from the iron scoriae (the vestiges of ancient iron-mines) which abound there. The name Escorial has also been given to the neighbouring royal residence — combining in itself a palace, a church, and a monastery — which its builder, Philip II., in consequence of a vow at the Castle of St. Quentin, dedicated to San Lorenzo. The full name of this wonderful pile of buildings, looked upon by the Spaniards as the eighth wonder of the world, is "El Real Sitio de San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial.^* Against a background of mountain scenery, and with a blasted stony heath stretching for many a rood in front, the vast building stands in its impressive and gloomy grandeur. Mr. Sala compares it to '' Newgate magnified a hundred times, with the cupola of Bethlehem Hospital on the roof.^^ There has been much arguing pro and con as to whether the ground-plan is intended to suggest the gridiron on which St. Lawrence perished or not. Such an idea was likely enougb to have occurred to the morbid bigot who built it. According to this theory, the seventeen ranges of buildings crossing each other at right angles, and with their enclosed courts forming a parallelogram, measuring 740 feet by 580, represent the bars of the gridiron, whilst the upturned feet are indicated by the four square towers, 200 feet in height, at the comers, and the handle by the projecting north wing, 460 feet long, containing the royal apartments. The building is of grey granite ; its walls average 60 feet in height. It contains a royal palace, a church, a monastery with 200 cells, 2 colleges, 3 chapter-houses, 3 libraries, 5 great halls, 6 dormitories, 3 hospital halls, 27 other halls, 9 refectories, 5 infirmaries, a countless number of apartments for attendants, and 80 staircases. There are 1,100 windows looking outward, and 1,578 looking into the courts; if we include the outhouses, there are 4,000 windows in all. The gates number 14, the fountains 86. The Escorial is entered by the western portico, leading to the court called " El Patio de las Reyes,^^ from its statues of the Kings of Judah in mingled marble and granite, and with 80 CITIES OF THE WORLD, [Madrid. BNTEY OF THE BULL-FIGHTEES INTO THE AEENA. gilt crowns on their heads. A vestibule^ roofed with massive granite, conducts to the church. The choir has been placed above the vesti- bule, so that there is nothing: to interrupt the simple gran- deur and magnificent propor- tions of the interior. The general form is that of a Greek cross, above which towers the vast dome, 330 feet above the black marble pavement. Around the church, which measures 364 feet by 230 feet, are forty chapels. The chief of these is, of coui*se, the High Chapel, con- taining the high altar, and approached by a flight of veined mai-ble steps. Forty thousand poiuids were spent in this chapel in jasper, and onyx, and por- phyry, and sculptures, and paintings. The two gorgeously deco- rated pulpits of rich marble were presented by Ferdinand YII., at a cost of £15,000. To the right of the high altar is a won- derful reli- quary. Philip II. had a pas- sion for holy bones. He collected no less than l!adrid.] THE ESCORIAL. 81 7,421 genuine relics ; skeletons^ teeth, shin-bones, toe-nails, skulls — the smallest osseous con- tribution was gratefully received; occasionally he got duplicate skeletons of the same saint. One relic has an altar to itself : the consecrated wafer that bled when trodden under foot by the heretics at Gircum in 1525. We must only just mention the forty minor altars, with their pictures and ornaments ; the two fine organs ; the vaulted roof of the naves, frescoed by Giordano ; the low dark oratories, where Philip II. and other monarchs knelt during mass ; the statues of Spanish kings, by L. and P. Leoni ; the sacristy, with its carved oaken presses full of splendid vestments, rich with THE BULL-FIGHT : LEAPING THE BAREIEE. gold embroidery, one of the vestments alone being valued at £45,000 ; and the Camaria, where there is a custodia or ark for the Host, presented by Isabella II., and containing ten thousand precious stones. There are still many paintings here although the best have been removed to the Real Museo. In the choir, thirty feet above the floor-level, are the magnificently illuminated and colossal choral books, some of them two yards wide. The carved stalls are very elegant. Here is the stall where Philip II. was kneeling when news was brought him of the battle of Lepanto, without distracting him from his momentarily interrupted prayers. The gem of the choir is the beautiful crucifix of Carrara marble made by Cellini ; on this piece of work the great artist specially prided himself. Directly under the high altar is the mausoleum of the Spanish kings, called the Pantheon, an octagonal vault forty feet in diameter, wherein nearly all the sovereigns of Spain since 51 8:>- CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Madrid. Charles V. lie in niches one above another. In this gloomy crypt Isabella II. delighted to attend midnight masses. Only kings and mothers of kings are entombed here ; queens whose sons did not reign, and princes and princesses, are in an adjoining pantheon of their own. Of the convent, with its halls and cells and cloisters, little need be said. The library is a long beautiful room, with fine frescoes by Tibaldi and Carducho, and portraits of the Kings of Spain. The collection of books and MSS. is large and precious, and it is to be hoped will be in time made more useful than has yet been the case. Philip's own library of 4,000 volumes formed the nucleus of the collection, which, despite serious losses by theft and destruction, is still very extensive. The palace contains little worthy of special notice. There are two picture galleries, from which the best pictures have been removed to the Real Museo. The room of Philip II. is a plain cell, near enough to the high altar for him to hear and see the mass when in bed. His invalid chair and his secretary's stool still remain. " Philip worked very hard,'' says O'Shea, " went to bed late, and the monks' chants awoke him every morning at four, when he heard mass, and so devoutly and fervently did he pray that tears were often seen streaming down his cheeks. For two months previous to his death he endured excruciating pain with firmness and patience. On feeling his death approach, he was taken in a litter all over the building of his creation, to see for the last time and bid adieu to all those portions which were more especially his favourites; and on Sunday, the 13th September, 1598, he expired during the usual morning service, with his eyes turned towards the high altar and the Host, and grasp- ing in his hand the very crucifix which his father, Charles V., held when he died." THE PLAZA DE TOEOS. OLD CAIKO, FBOM THE ISLE OF llODA. CAIRO. The Capital of Arabdom— The "Victorious City"— Fostat— Improvements bj- Saladin— The Mameluke Sovereignty— Modem Cairo— The Ezbekeeych— Palaces of the Khedive— The Citadel— The Glory of the "After-glow "—A Marvellous View- Mosques in the Citadel— The Massacre of the Mamelukes— Bazaars— Oriental Customs— Religious Festivals— Legendary Sites— The Nile— Nilometer— Island of Roda— Boulak and its Museum— Heliopolis— The Virgin's Tree— The Pyramids — The Sphinx— Education in Egypt— A School Interior— Public Schools— The University— Population— Copts and their Worship— Fellaheen and their Cruel Bondage— Taxation. ^AIRO is the Queen o£ Eastern Cities. It is essentially Arab, and though in Africa, is the most Asiatic city in the world, except perhaps Damascus. The people do not call themselves Egyptians, but Arabs ; Arabic is the lan- guage spoken, and the religion is that of the Arabian prophet. It does not possess the historical interest or the commercial importance of Alexandria, but it is the centre of Arab civili- sation, and has more purely Oriental features than Con- stantinople or any other city of its size in Europe, Asia, or Africa. It is in Cairo rather than in Damascus or Bagdad that the scenes of the " Thousand and One Nights " can be realised ; it is in Cairo only that gorgeous Orientalism can be seen in contrast — startling but not always inhar- monious — with the latest results of modern civilisation. Its most interesting historical associations, dating back only as far as the days of the mighty Saladin, are but as yester- SPHINX FEOM THE 8EEAPETJM. 81^ CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. day compared with those of Alexandria ; its religious associations are of El-Islam only ; its great men were all Caliphs and Khedives. Yet " it is the true capital of Arabdom — not its holy city, but its Paris.^' Cairo, Kahira, Masr el-Kahira, or " The Victorious City," is situated on the right bank of the Nile, at the foot of a spur of the Mokattam or Arabian hills, and occupies " the place in Egypt which the heart does in the human body. Its sits is the natural centre of Egypt — the master of Cairo is the master of the whole country.^' It is the largest city in Africa, and the second city of the Turkish Empire. It is said that when Cambyses — B.C. 525 — conquered Egypt he founded New Babylon on the site where Old Cairo now stands. In A.D. 638 New Babylon was taken Ijy a general of the Caliph Omar, and a curious legend attaches to the event. After the siege, when he was about to have the tent he had occupied taken down, the time having come when he should pursue his victorious march to Alexandria, he found that a pigeon had built her nest upon his tent [fostdt), and with a tenderness not unknown to other warriors, he commanded that the tent should be left standing until the young birds should take wing. When he had cap- tured Alexandria he returned to his tent, and lo ! a city had sprung up around it, to which the name of Fostat was given. In the year a.d. 969, Gowher, a general of Moez, the first of the Fatimite sovereigns of Egypt, conquered Fostat, and founded Cairo, which henceforth became the capital of Egypt and the residence of the Caliphs. In proportion as Cairo increased Fostat decreased ; in the time of the Crusaders it was utterly destroyed, and at the present time huge mounds of rubbish alone mark the place where it once stood. Under Saladin (Yoosef Salaheddeen) Cairo was greatly improved, the citadel was built, and a wall of solid masonry erected to enclose the city, which, under his luxurious and extravagant successors, was from time to time enlarged and improved. In the course of its history many reverses and MASHEEBEEYEH OR LATTICE "WINDOW IN CAIEO. 86 CITIES OF THE WOKLD. [Cair-j. checks were met with ; at one time (1848) hundreds of thousands of persons were swept iiway by the plague ; under the regime of the Mameluke Sultans internal dissensions produced great havoc among the people, and retarded, the progress of the city; cruel perse- cutions of the Christians prevailed at times, during which the churches were demolished, and in order to save themselves from horrible forms of death they were forced to embrace the religion of Islam. In 1517 the Mameluke Sovereignty was overthrown by Sultan Selim, and Cairo became a mere Turkish province, sinking so rapidly that it 1ms no history whatever until 1798, when tjie Battle of the Pyramids was fought, and Cairo became the head-quarters of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French were forced by the Turks to capitulate in 1801 ; and in 1805 Mehemet Ali took possession as Pasha of Egypt. He treacherously gathered the remnant of the Mamelukes together, and massacred them in cold blood in the citadel. In his reign the city revived, vast improvements were made, and a new life was given to Cairo ; but the changes introduced by Mehemet Ali were as nothing compared with those carried out with reckless extravagance by the late Khedive, Ismail Pasha. The city is divided into ten quarters, each under the superintendence of a Sheikh, and each separated from the other by gates, which are closed at night, and cannot be passed unless the porter cares to open, and the wayfarer carries a lantern as prescribed, by an ancient law. In the old part of the city the houses are situated in an intricate labyrinth of narrow lanes and alleys, so narrow that in some parts it is difiicult for two- donkeys to pass, while in others the neighbours in the upper storeys of the houses are able to converse in a low whisper from opposite sides of the street, and on a stretch can even shake hands. In these streets of old Cairo, scenes are to be witnessed, and customs and habits to be traced, which carry the thought of the traveller back through hundreds of years of history ; Oriental observances. Oriental splendour, Oriental life in all its phases, may be seen and studied, as we shall hereafter show. In startling contrast to all this is the- Cairo of the Khedive. A short distance from the railway station — itself a modern innova- tion — after passing strings of camels and palm-trees, and an Eastern crowd flashing the- bright colours of their costumes under an Eastern sky, suddenly a new Paris bursts upon the sight. Here is a palace for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ; over there is the Opera House, there the French Theatre, there magnificent hotels and long ranges of handsome- shops ; while in the large open space in the centre, enclosed with iron railings, are the gardens of the Ezbekeeyeh, a kind of Pare Monceaux — the Champs Elysees of Egypt. Here are beds of exquisite flowers and the unprecedented luxury of grassy lawns literally lying under water to save them from the fierce sun ; there palm-trees, shrubberies, and exotics rich and rare. Then we find cascades and cafes, grottoes and kiosks, and a rustic bridge over a lake, where in the evening thousands of gas-jets in coloured glass globes illuminate the scene, while military bands play the latest European quadrilles, and men, women, and children of all nations, peoples, and tongues, and in all manner of costumes conceivable and inconceivable, meet together in the gay promenade which to the eye of a stranger looks like an exaggeration of a hal masque or fancy fair. Besides the Ezbekeeyeh, there are other new Quarters where handsome streets, boule- vards, and public buildings have sprung up in place of the crowded rookeries which only Cairo.] THE SUMMER P^VLACE. 87 a few years since were there. These are the Boulevard Meliemet Ali, the Moskee, the New Quarter of Ismailieh and Abdeen. At the last-named place is the palace which was the favourite of Ismail Pasha. Other palaces, far too numerous to mention, are scattered all round Cairo ; some are magnificent, some flimsy. There is the villa at Ghizeh, near the Pyramids, and another on the road thither, another facing the island of Koda, another at Gezireh, on the west bank of the river opposite Boulak, another, in the French style, near Old Cairo, and another in the citadel; while in the journey up the Nile, it is a standing joke to ask, whenever a house or garden or wall is seen, " Is that too a palace of the Khedive ? " One of the most attractive is the Summer Palace at Shoobra, once the favourite residence of Mehemet Ali. The road to it lies through a beautiful shady avenue of old sycamore and acacia trees, and at the fashionable hours crowds of pedestrians and a ceaseless tide of carriages pour up and down this " Drive " and Rotten Row of Cairo. Here may be found every style of carriage, from the elegant equipages of the Khedive and the ladies of his harem do\vn to the equivalent of a costermonger^s cart; and every style of person, from the Ministers of State to the poorest fellah ; and every description of '^ mount," from the pure blood Arab to the most jaded of sore-backed donkeys; and every variety of costume, from the costly embroideries of Damascus to the simple calico fold around the waist. The gardens of the Summer Palace are very pretty, abounding in orange, lemon, citron, and pepper trees, and flowers of intoxicating odour and dazzling colours, while fountains send forth the cool splash of their waters, and shady alcoves in courts of marble tempt the traveller to rest. Coming from the glare and heat of the afternoon sun into the midst of this paradise is like realising a fairy tale. There are several fine open spaces in Cairo besides the Ezbekeeyeh — the Birket-el-Fyl, which gives its name to one of the old central Quarters ; the Roumeyleh near the citadel, the scene of some of the great Mohammedan fetes and festivals ; and the Kara-meidan, the chief market-place for horses, donkeys, and camels, and a good place for studying some of the characteristics of the people. All these open spaces have been cleared of the filth and rubbish that fomerly encumbered them, and have been made creditable and serviceable. The Citadel — "El-Kaleh" — was built by Saladin in 1166, on the last rocky projection of the Mokattam range, from materials taken from the Pyramids of Gliizeh. It comprises, besides the barracks, the Ministry of War, the palace of Mehemet Ali, used for state cere- monials, the gigantic Mosque of Mehemet Ali, the Mint, a cannon foundry, and work- shops. There is no doubt the site of the Citadel was a mistake, for although it commands the city, the Mokattam hills command it — a weak point which was seen at a glance by. Mehemet Ali, in 1805, when he planted his cannon on the hills and com- pelled the Pasha to surrender the Citadel. There is an Arabian tradition to the effect that Saladin selected this spot because it was found that meat kept fresh twice as long here as anywhere else in Cairo. There is probably no view in the world to equal that from the Citadel ; it is splendid by daylight, but is surpassed by the incredible beauty of sunset and the " after-glow,'^ when the crimson haze of the short Egyptian twilight bathes the whole panorama in colours which would be deemed extravagantly improbable if attempted in a painting — colours 88 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. which neither Hildebrand nor Hohnan Hunt has been able to depict. Often as the " after-glow ''■' has been described there is probably no better short, graphic description than this, " With the drawing on of evening, a glory of colour comes out in the light of the setting sun; purple shadows are cast by the mountains; the reds and greys of sand- stone, granite, and limestone cliffs blend exquisitely with the tawny yellow of the desert, the rich green of the banks, and the blue of the river. The cold grey twilight follows immediately upon sunset — but in a few minutes there is a marvellous change. The earth and sky are suffused with a delicate pink tinge, knoAvn as the ' after-glow ' — fairy-like PLAX OF CAIEO. (Copied., by permission, from Murray's "Guide.") and magical. The peculiarity of Egyptian over all other sunsets is that light and colour return after an interval of ashy grey, like the coming back of life to a corpse.^' It seems sometimes as if the rich pink and gold colour flooding the landscape could be touched, or as an American said to the writer when standing together one night on the Citadel, " I believe if I were to wave a white towel through the air it would come do^vn like a seam of Joseph's coat.'' If the reader can imagine the " after-glow," let him now look out from the Citadel and take in this view. Immediately below is Cairo, with its wonderful buildings, its minarets, its squares, its splendour, and its feathery palm-clumps; close at our feet are the tombs of the Mamelukes, rounded mausoleums, picturesquely studding the plain. Stretching away till it is lost in the haze of distance is the valley of Egypt, through which winds the grand il m o a Cairo.] THE MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASSAN. 89 old Nile^ dotted with sails that flash in the sun and closed on either side by the irregular ranges of the Libyan and Arabian hills. Eight or nine miles beyond the river stand the Great Pyiamids of Ghizeh ; farther along the burning line of sand are the pyramids of Sakkara; and farther still, phantom-like in the red background of the Libyan desert, the pyramids of Abouseir. The city and the tombs, the river and the desert, imaging forth life and death in perpetual contrast; and over all the unchangeable blue of the sky, and in and through all is the dazzling glory of sunset ! On the terrace of the Citadel is the Mosque of Mehcmet Ali — the Alabaster Mosque — highly ornate, loaded with rich ornamentation, but in wretched taste and lacking any attempt at religious idealism. The minarets alone re- present any thought of the Infinite. Near the entrance to the mosque is the tomb of Mehcmet Ali. Immediately below this monstrous monument of Turkish taste is the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, the finest existing monument of Arabian architecture, full of sim- plicity and beauty. Incredible as it may appear, while fabulous sums have been expended upon the Mosque of Mehemet Ali — which has been likened to a French Alhambra — the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, contemporary with our Westminster Abbey, and in some respects com- parable with it, has been allowed to fall into hope- less decay ; its exquisite fretwork of precious inlays is dropping from the walls, the roof of the central kiosk is strijjped off in great patches, the beautiful Syrian lamps have all gone, and the whole is in neglect and dilapidation. The old and the new in Egyptian taste are well illustrated in these two monuments. Every- where are tinsel and veneer ; showy and bastard buildings taking the place of the simple, solid, and beautiful. There are other interesting buildings and sites on the Citadel, the Well of Joseph for example, which the dragomans always point out to visitors as the pit into which the patriarch Joseph was put by his brethren, but which is really named after Saladin (his name was Youssef or "Joseph^'), who discovered the pit or well when the Citadel was being built in the twelfth century. But the spot most interesting is the narrow lane leading from the gate, Bab el Azab, where the massacre of the Mamelukes took place by order of Mehemet Ali on the 1st of March, 1811. Soon after he had been confirmed by the Porte in the Viceroyalty of Egypt, " he summoned the Mameluke Beys to a consultation on the approaching war against the Wahabees in Arabia. As his son Toussoun had been invested with the dignity of Pasha of the second order, the occasion was one of festivity as well as business. The Beys came, mounted on their finest horses, in magnificent uniforms, forming the most superb cavalry in the world. After a very flattering reception from the Pasha, they were requested to parade in the court of the Citadel. They entered 52 PUBLIC DEINKINQ FOUNTAIN. 90 CITIES OV THE WORLD. (Cairo. the fortress unsuspectingly — the portcullis fell behind the last of the proud procession; a moment's glance revealed to them their doom ; they dashed forwards — in vain ! — before, behind, around them, nothing was visible but blank, pitiless walls and barred windows; the only opening was towards the bright blue sky ; even that was soon darkened by their funeral pile of smoke, as volley after volley flashed from a thousand muskets behind the ramparts upon their defenceless and devoted band. Startling and fearfully sudden as was their death, they met it as became their fearless character — some with arms crossed upon their mailed bosoms and turbaned heads devoutly bowed in prayer ; some with flashing swords and fierce curses, alike unavailing, against their dastard and ruthless foe. All that chivalrous and splendid throng, save one, sank rapidly beneath the deadly fire into a red and writhing mass — that one was Emim Bey. He sjDurred his charger over a heap of his slaughtered comrades and sprang upon the battlements. It was a dizzy height, but the next moment he was in the air — another, and he was disengaging himself from his crushed and dying horse amid a shower of bullets. He escaped, and found safety in the sanctuary of a mosque, and ultimately in the deserts of the Thebaid.'^ * The Bazaars of Cairo are thoroughly Oriental in character, and though inferior to those of either Constantinople or Damascus, are extremely interesting and a never-failing source of pleasure to the visitor. They are situated in a series of narrow lanes, with awnings high up, through which the bright light comes glittering down, while strips of azure sky may be seen between the coverings of richly-coloured carpets stretched across from the overhanging roofs. On market days — Mondays and Thursdays — the crowds are so great that it is extremely difficult to steer through the mazes and intricacies of these winding alleys, but it is well worth while to do so, for every step reveals some fresh phase of Oriental life and character. Every store displays its attractions in a specially fascinating manner, the articles on sale are so novel and curious in themselves, and are '' set off " with tinsel, embroidery, won- derful colouring, and intense light, so that many things appear valuable which are on closer examination found to be of the commonest material and the coarsest texture. As in most Eastern cities, the trades are grouped together, and each shop therefore vies with its neighbour in displaying all its most precious wares. There is the spice market redolent with rich odours, the spices of Araby and attar of roses ; the bazaar for wares from Tunis and Algiers, with drugs and woollen stuffs ; the pipe bazaar, with carved meerschaums and amber mouth-pieces, gorgeous chibouks, fantastic narghilies, and all the paraphernalia of the smoker ; the shoe-makers' bazaar, with slippers worked in all manner of gold and silver embroidery and morocco dyed in marvellous colours — each group combining to produce an effect never equalled in the fanciful arrangement of any pantomime scene. At one place may be had handkerchiefs, kefiiyehs, or shawls for the head, in many colours, with long rich fringes, and striped material of goat's wool or camel's hair ; at another, carpets from Bagdad and Broussa ; now rows of shops may be seen filled with gold and silver and precious stones, and now with saddlery or embroidery, or pottery ware, whose graceful designs have been disinterred from tombs of incredible antiquity. And everywhere are noise and bustle and merriment, and at every stall sits some stolid old Turk or keen-eyed Copt, cross-legged and impassive, sipping coffee or whiffing Latakia while the crowd surges around his divan. • Waiburlon, "The Crescent and the Cross. Cairo.] STREET SCENES. 91 More interesting to many than the wonderful Eastern wares exhibited in the bazaars are the people who crowd the streets and lanes. Bedouins in striped mantles, Jews in black turbans, blue-gowned women and brown-skinned boys, Copts in high-pointed hats, Nubians in jet, jostle one against the other, while in the roadway big Turks ride quietly along on highly-caparisoned donkeys, bullock-carts creak heavily past with their loads of treacle- jars ; running footmen in white shirts and short trousers, with crimson girdles round their waists, clear the way for fine ladies of the Khedive's harem ; or strings of camels, laden with enormous loads of green clover or long fagots of sugar-cane, pass with wide, deliberate, and noiseless stride, swaying their heads from side to side, and looking with contempt upon the bustle of the modern world, '^as if saying, 'We came of a stock which knew the Pharaohs and the patriarchs — who are you ? ' " Women, with babies astride their shoulders, or in baskets carefully balanced on their heads — the baby in either case having dozens of black flies clustering close around its eyes ; water-carriers, clanking their brazen cups, and bearing immense skins slung round their stooping shoulders ; money-changers seated at the threshold of the principal shops, constantly ringing their coins as a sort of challenge to passers-by — all invite attention. Beggars, most of them blind or suffering from ophthalmia, calling perpetually in stentorian tones upon Allah to aid them; vendors of sweetmeats, of cooked beans, of fish snacks, and of mysterious pies, vigorously calling for customers; citizens plying their trades — all these sounds, joined with the cries of the donkey-boys, the braying of asses, the neighing of horses, the tramp of feet, the buzz of voices, make a very Babel. Nor are these the only attractions for those who stroll the streets. There are curious Oriental customs to be studied, rights and ceremonies to be observed, which can only be hinted at here, but may be learnt in full in Lane's "Modern Egyptians'' or in Ebers' "Egypt." For instance, a sudden sound of music falls upon the ear, and presently a fantastic pro- cession passes along the street, headed by musicians playing hautboys and drums. It is a wedding ceremony; the bride, concealed by shawls thrown all around and over her, is being conducted to the house of her lord and master, followed by relatives and friends and a band of women, who utter the most extraordinary and indescribable sounds, called zagJidrU — ^hysterical screams in tremolo. For days while the wedding ceremonies are in progress, bands of mummers and musicians assemble round the house where the feast is held, making day and night hideous with their fiddling and screaming. Here, on a richly-caparisoned horse, comes a little boy, surrounded by friends and followers in holiday costume, himself attired in gorgeous female apparel, for the purpose of averting the evil eye. The rite of circumcision is about to be performed, and every well-to-do Moslem makes the occasion one of ostentatious pomp. Here comes a mournful procession. The dead body of a man wrapped in a winding- sheet, and laid on a kind of stretcher, is being carried to its resting-place. First come half a dozen blind men, walking slowly and chanting in mournful tones ; then follow the male relatives of the deceased, dervishes bearing the flags of their order, and a group of singing-boys. Then comes the bier, with the head of the deceased foremost ; the female relatives follow, uttering wild and pitiful cries of grief, their hair dishevelled, and clad in their meanest every-day clothes ; after these come the professional mourning- 92 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo, women, whose loud cries and simulated sorrow produce a most painful impression on the person who witnesses the scene for the first time. In less conspicuous scenes, manners and customs, as old and not less interesting, may be observed. In the bazaars you will have to go through the very same dialogue to-day which passed between Ephron and Abraham. If you object to the price of an article, the vendor will say, '' I give it thee, take it — I give it thee.^' By-and-by, however, the price will be agreed upon and he will take the money. It is a regular recognised form of bargaining, and for three thousand years at least has been in stereotype. Marriao-es are THE NILE AT OLD CAIRO. arranged now as they were in the time of Isaac and Rebecca, without the principals having seen each other. Women in the East to-day wear the veil just as they did in the time of the patriarchs. The shoes are still taken ofP on entering holy places. The wor- shipper, in praying, still turns his face in the direction of the great sanctuary of his religion. The very names are the same— Joseph, Jacob, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon being the most common. The modem Egyptian's idea of unclean things and persons, of the obligation of washing hands before meals, and the practice while eating of sitting round the dish and dipping into it, is much the same as it was among the ancient Hebrews. The serpent-charmer still charms the adder, as in the psalmist's day, with neither more nor less of wisdom. Hospi- tality, the treatment of women, the relation of the sexes, belief in dreams, the arbitrary char- acter of the Government, indifference to human suffering, absence of repugnance to take human life, is the same now in the East as it was in the earliest days of which we have any record. 94 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Caiio. There is no place better than Cairo for witnessing the rites, ceremonies, and religious festivals of Islam. In the holy days of Mohurrum, the first month of the Arabian year, there is a general giving and receiving of alms and amulets. At the end of the second month the Mecca caravan returns to Cairo; this is one of the greatest events of the year, and is accompanied by every kind of fanatical demonstration : it is fete, fair, and religious festival all in one. The birthday of the Prophet is another great festival, and falls in the third month — sometimes contemporaneously with the return of the caravan. The gaiety is prolonged for eight days; processions, illuminations, music, performances of howling and whirling dervishes, and all the fun of a fair are kept up with ceaseless activity ; while on the last day the Doseh, or Ti-ampling, takes place, a ceremony in which the dervishes and other devotees lie on the ground, closely packed, while the Sheikh rides over them on horseback. It is a repulsive exhibition, but in recent celebrations of the birthday of the Prophet has some- times been omitted. In the fourth month is a festival, lasting fourteen days, in honour of the Prophet's grandson, and another in the seventh month, lasting for the same period, in honour of his granddaughter. Jugglers, story-tellers, conjurers take part in the perform- ances, while a fanatical sect of dervishes go through the horrible performance of chewing and swallowing burning charcoal and broken glass. The Ascension of Mohammed; Beiram, the feast succeeding to Ramadan; the depar- ture of the caravan for Mecca; the commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham, besides many " saints' " days, are celebrated \vith festivals more or less picturesque. Ramadan, the month of fasting, is strictly observed in Cairo, and it is a gratifying thing to find that those who believe in it as a religious duty keep the fast religiously. There are no ^' in- dulgences " sold, or special " dispensations " granted. When the Moslems fast, they fast. The festivals at the rising of the Nile are old as Egypt itself. On a given night (the 17th of June) all Cairo assembles on the banks of the river to celebrate the commencement of the rising. In July the criers go about announcing the number of inches the water has risen, and in August the '' Cutting of the Dam " takes place amid great rejoicing. Cairo abounds in " sights " and places of legendary and historical interest. There are no fewer than five hundred and twenty-three mosques, many of them gems of Arabian architecture, but mostly in a state of great dilapidation. There are also thirty Christian churches and ten Jewish synagogues. The oldest mosque is that of Tooloon, said to be built on the plan of the Kaaba at Mecca; it was built in the year a.d. 870, and is stated to have cost £72,000. The largest mosque in Cairo is that of Mehemet AH, in the Citadel. Many of the legends connected wdth both the mosques and churches of Cairo are curious. For example, the Mosque of Tooloon is said to mark the spot where Abraham found the goat in the thicket which he was to sacrifice instead of his son, while the oldest Coptic church claims to have sheltered the Virgin and Child for a month in the crypt after their flight into Egypt. The tombs of the Caliphs, extending along the east side of the city, and the tombs of the Mamelukes, beyond the Citadel, are of vast extent, and although falling into ruin, are exceedingly interesting and picturesque. Public fountains are to be found everywhere, and exhibit curious specimens of luxuriant ornamentation. — a peculiarity of Oriental taste. At Boulak, the river harbour of the city, where all is life and bustle^ affording an ever- Cairo.] THE NILOMETER. 95 changing picture ot* Oriental life, the Nile may be crossed on a handsome modern iron bridge. It is a curious sight which meets the eye when standing on that bridge : on one hand the desert and the distant Pyramids, on the other the teeming city, while on the bosom of the river are dahabiehs and boats fitted for the voyage up the Nile. It is curious to stand on the bridge while the muddy waters roll at your feet, and to think that old Nile was once the sacred river, the god of the country, giving to the land its physical, and almost its religious, character; to think of the inflexible regularity of its swell- ing and flowing, to which may be attributed the strange immortality of ancient Egypt; to think that the Nile, unlike any other river on the globe, is not joined for the last thousand miles of its course through sandy wastes by one single affluent ; to think that for six thousand years and more the world has gazed upon those waters, won- dering where were the sources of the sti*ange and mighty river whose secrets have but so recently been divulged to Livingstone, Baker, Speke, Grant, and Stanley ; to think that upon the stream flowing at our feet were upborne, in an ark of bul- rushes, the destinies of the Hebrew people ; to think that its waters, rising from a mystic source^ and flowing into a boundless, unknown sea, were the emblem of life and destiny to myriads who lived and laboured on its banks, and passed away before our chronology commences : to think thus, standing face to face with old Nile, is to feel some of the influence which has made that river such a mighty power in the world. The annual inundation occurs in June and July. It commences, according to the Egyptian myth, by the falling of a tear of Isis ; for the first few days the river has a green tint, caused by the first rush of the waters carrying with them the weeds and coverings of stagnant pools ; then follows a reddish tint, the discoloration being produced by the red soil of the districts through which the flood passes ; and, finally, a bluish tint. The Nilometer, which measures the rise and fall of the waters, and from whence the signal is sent for the cutting of the embankment, is at the southern extremity of the Island of Roda — the traditional scene of the Finding of Moses. The museum at Boulak is not only one of the most interesting things in Egypt, but in the world. It is a museum altogether unique, consisting of a marvellous collection of curiosities proper to the country. Those who have examined Egyptian monuments in the British Museum, the Louvre, or elsewhere, will feel at once, on visiting the museum at Boulak, how much more interesting by a thousandfold is such a collection under the same sky, and in the midst of the same surroundings, in which they had their origin. It is THE NILOMETEE. 96 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. curious^ too, how a short distance produces a long difference. The collection of relics within the present walls of Pompeii, for example, has to the majority of people a keener interest than the fine collection at Naples — only nine miles off. Volumes have been written about the museum at Boulak, and volumes will still be written ; but all who THE ISLAND OF EODA. write in the future will probably base their information on the indefatigable labours of Mariette Bey, whose volumes, "The Monuments of Upper Egypt ^■' (translated into English), " Aper9u de PHistoire d'Egypt,^^ " Itineraire,"*^ and " Catalogue of the Collection in Boulak Museum,'^ are masterly works, the result of a life-long labour, and indispensable to the student of Egyptian history. A short distance from Cairo, and almost a continuation of it, is Old Cairo. A quarter of Cairo.] THE OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS. 97 the town is built on the ruins of Fostat, burnt in 1168; beyond are heaps of i-ubbish, marking the site of cities older by far than the huts which Amer pitched on the spot in 6'38. This was Babylon — of course, not Babylon the Great — but a town built by Cambyses, and from whence it is supposed the First Epistle of St. John was written. " The church that is at Baby- lon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus, my son ^' (1 Peter v. 13). It is a pleasant drive from Cairo to Heliopolis, a distance of about eight miles. On the road we pass many new buildings, occupying the site of former rubbish-heaps, and trace a line of lebbek-trees, which in course of time will afford shade along the road. At Abbasieh some handsome modern barracks occupy the place where the palace of Abbas Pasha once stood — that wretched bigot who shut himself up under the care of a strong §uard, and always had fleet dromedaries saddled and in readiness to besir him away to the •desert on the first alarm. Then a royal palace, an observatory, gardens, and vineyards <;laim our attention, and we pass over the plain whereon, in 1517, Sultan Selim fought the Battle of Heliopolis, which made him and the Turks masters of Egypt ; and where, on the 20th of March, 1800, the French, under Kleber, with 10,000 troops, succeeded in de- feating the Turks, and, for a short time only, regaining possession of Cairo. Near here is the village of Mataraeeh, where stands a magnificent old sycamore, known as " The Virgin's Tree,"*' from the tradition that here the Virgin, with the Holy Child, reposed in their flight into Egypt. The actual tree vinder which the Virgin reposed — and in a hollow of whose trunk she is said to have concealed herself, while a spider wove a web which served as a thick screen across the opening — died in 1665, when the present tree was planted. It is fortunately railed round, so that Vandal tourists cannot carry it off bodily, or wound it to any serious extent. It is a sin and shame that even in those •comparatively far-off places the abominable habit of picking and stealing and carving names is extensively in vogue. Less than a mile from here, through a shady acanthus grove, an open space is reached, where, in the midst of tilled fields and mounds marking the site of Heliopolis, the " On " of Scripture, stands the oldest monument in the world — a granite obelisk, with sharply-cut hieroglyphics. For more than four thousand years this solitary pillar has stood where it now stands. It was old when Abraham came into Egypt; Joseph and Moses, who were both " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,^' often saw it and read the inscriptions, which are as sharp and clear as if the workman had only just finished the task of cutting them ; the Israelitish bondsmen probably laboured within sight of it. This monument and some vestiges of walls are all that remain of the City of the Sun, in the family of whose high priest Potipherah, Joseph found his bride Asenath ; where Moses, the deliverer of the Hebrews, dwelt, and learned the wisdom of the Egyptians; where Jeremiah penned his Lamentations ; where Thales, Solon, Pythagoras, and Eudoxus studied, and where Plato thought out his sublime doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Wise Greeks and Jews and Romans came here to learn the mysteries of knowledge taught by the priests of the great Temple of the Sun in the most celebrated imiversity in the world for philosophy and science. The obelisk, which is of red granite of Syene, is sixty-six feet in height, with a diameter of six feet at the base ; but how it was quarried or how conveyed from Assouan, five hundred 53 .98 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo miles awcxy^ or how set in its position, modern engineers fail to tell. ^^What a halo of interest invests it ! " says Mr. Barham Zincke."^ " Who can be unmoved as he looks upon it? Fifty centuries of history and all the Avisdom of Egypt are buried in the dust under his feet. You shift your position, and then smile at yourself — a sort of feeling had come upon you that you were obstructing the view of Joseph or Herodotus — that you were standing in the way of Plato or of Moses.^' Not many years since an excursion from Cairo to the Pyramids of Ghizeli was rather a formidable affair, involving the crossing of the Nile by ferry, and then a tortuous ride on donkey-back for eight miles over rough ground and through patches of swamp. Now the Nile is crossed by a handsome iron bridge, and a good macadamised road runs in a straight line across the plain to the foot of the sandy slope on which the Pyramids stand. It is a pleasant road, too, shaded by lebbek-trees, and revealing glimpses of villages uninteresting in themselves, but picturesque as seen from a distance, surrounded as they are by tamarisks, acacias, fig-trees, and date-palms. As a rule, however, the attention of the visitor during the journey is for the most part concentrated on the Pyramids, which grow bigger and bigger every moment, until, when the carriage stops at the foot of the plateau on which they are built, he is overwhelmed with their stupendous magnitude, only to be realised when standing just under them. There are theories innumerable concerning the Pyramids. By some it is maintained that the country being flat, the Egyptians determined to go beyond Nature, and rear mountains — would enter into rivalry with Nature and outdo Nature, and place on that desert plain veritable mountains, as by these interpreters the word "pyramid'^ is supposed to mean. Others affirm that the Pyramids were connected with an astronomical object, and embodied a high degree of acquaintance with the heavenly bodies, and were, in fact, intended originally as observatories. They find that the sides of these Pyramids were adjusted with surprising cor- rectness to the meridian, in contrast with the Pyramids of Babylonia, in which the diagonals lK)inted to the pole. They find that the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid points sen- sibly in a polar direction, so that at a certain date it must have had the true pole in the line of its axis. Others maintain that it was a great national or world standard of weights and measures of every kind, founded on an exact knowledge of the axis of rotation of the globe; that in this big cairn are measures of length marked off, the unit of which is the British inch, or 500.000.0 00 °^ ^^^^ earth-'s axis of rotation; that the porphyry coffer in the centre of the Pyramid is a standard grain-measure, or chaldron, holding to a fraction four of our English quarters, or 70,98^ English cubic inches ; and that there are also sub-divisions of the year into months, weeks, and days '' checked off " in the grand gallery leading to the coffer.f Others affirm that there is no more reason for doubting that every Pyramid in Egypt was intended for a tomb and sej)ulchral monument than there is for doubting that the Coliseum was built for the spectacles of the amphitheatre, and London Bridge for enabling people to cross the Thames. * " Egypt of the Pharaohs and of the Khedive." t This theory was originated by the late Mr. John Taylor, and elaborated by Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, in " Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," and " Life and AYork at the Greai/ Pyramid." Oeiro.] THE PYRAMIDS. 99 That the Pyramids are the oldest and most wonderful monuments of human industry in the world, no one will question. That the three great Pyramids of Ghizeh were erected by Chufu, Schafra, and Menkeres — the Cheops, Chephron, and Mycerinus of Herodotus — is known with as much certainty as that the Pantheon was built by Agrippa, and the Coliseum by the Flavian Emperors. It is very difficult, however, to realise that they were built between five and six thousand years ago. " Great was the antiquity of Thebes before European history begins to dawn. It was declining before the foundations of Rome were laid. Its palmy days ante-dated that event by as long a period as separates us from the first Crusade ; but the building of the great Pyramids of Ghizeh preceded the earliest traditions of Thebes by a thousand years.^' The Great Pyramid is about 480 feet high, and its base covers about thirteen acres — a solid mass, built up of enormous blocks of stone, and having in the interior one or two small chambers, reached by passages, opening from one side, and widening to a more roomy corridor before reaching the centre, where the celebrated stone coffer lies. What must have been the state of prosperity of the country which at that remote period could maintain for thirty years 100,000 men in the unproductive labour of cutting and moving the stones employed in its construction, and 100,000 men for ten years previously in making the great causeway which crossed the western plain from the river to the site of the Pyramid, and over which all the materials for the Pyramid were brought? What country to-day could l^ear such an expense? Then consider the skill employed. Think of the cutting and dressing of the stones, the manufacture of the tools for the purpose, the transit of the stones from the Arabian range, their safe passage of the Nile, the mechanical appliances to raise them to their places — and the mind is bewildered, and one is tempted to question whether our boasted civilisation is not a myth, or, at all events, a poor advance upon the civilisation of Egypt six thousand years ago. It must be remembered, too, that these three Pyramids of Ghizeh and tSe smaller cairns near them are but a part of many groups of pyramids, extending from Abouroash, five miles north-west of Ghizeh, to Illahoup, in the Fayoum, and that some of these are older than the Pyramids of Ghizeh. The ascent of the Great Pyramid is easily accomplished in about half an hour, with the assistance of strong Arabs, who help the visitor to mount the huge blocks — four feet high or thereabouts — rising one above the other, at unequal distances, from base to sum- mit. There is a space about thirty feet square at the top, where the giddiness experienced by many in ascending soon passes away, and the view can be enjoyed without fear or unpleasant sensation. This space, as well as the series of ledges by which the ascent is made, was caused by the sacrilegious removal of the outer courses of the Pyramid by the Caliphs to provide materials for the construction of the Mosque of Hassan and other buildings at Cairo, by which means the height has been reduced about twenty feet. The view from the summit of the Pyramid is remarkable. All Lower Egypt lies at the foot of the spectator : Caii*o and its Citadel, the tapering minarets of the mosques, and the long carriage-road; the Nile, with its innumerable arms and canals, winding and glistening until it melts in the far horizon ; gardens and fields, and stately palm-trees standing like sentinels over the villages of. the fellaheen j and in startling contrast, the 100 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. desertj a howling sea of sand, with its innumerable downs — a boundless plain^ yellow and brown, and flooded with marvellous light ; while to the south, over the palms of Memphis, may be traced the line of Pyramids — those" of Sakkarah, Aboushier, and Dashour stretching along the western bank of the river, "^ weird vestiges of a past that was already remote before history began. ^^ The interior of the Great Pyramid is somewhat difficult of access, but most travellers penetrate into it assisted by the Arabs who swarm about this spot. It is entered from the north on the thirteenth tier of stones, and a narrow passage has to be followed partly on hands and knees. Halting-places are made in what is called the " Chamber of the Queens " and the " Great Hall,'^ where may be examined the jointing and polish of the fine-grained Mo- ^^=? -—- .- - - _ - — ; - -,- —- — = — ^ -^ _ kattam limestone "^ — an unsurpass- able marvel of skilful masonry — where neither a needle nor even a hair can be inserted into the joints of the stones. This hall is 28 feet high and 155 feet long^ and is the hand- somest of the- chambers in the Pyramid, while the " King's Chamber '' is the most interesting. It is lined and roofed with granite, and contains the empty and mutilated sarcophagus of granite, bearing no trace of an inscription, and ■with the lid missing. Neither the second nor the third Pyramid can be ascended or entered. A small portion of the external casing at the top of the second Pyramid is still uninjured ; it looks as if it were of polished white marble, but is insufficient to give any idea of how the group of Pyramids must have looked when entirely encased. In a sand-hollow, a short distance from the Great Pyramid, is the Sphinx, hewn out of the natural rock, and " gazing straight on with calm, eternal eyes " across the vista of seven thousand years, for, according to Mariette Be}*, it was '^already old before the stupendous gnomon of Cheops was built." Notwithstanding the fact that it has kept watch through millenniums, that the face was terribly mutilated by a fanatic sheikh, and was used as a target by the barbarous Mamelukes, there is still majesty and grandeur in this marvellous monument, and the well-worn words of Kinglake are true : — " Laugh and mock if you will at the w^orship of stone idols, but mark ye this, ye THE GEEAT PYEAMID AND THE SPHI.VX. Caii'o.] THE SPHINX. 101 breakers of images, that in one regard the stone idol bears awful semblance of deity — unchangeableness in the midst of change — the same seeing will and intent, for ever and for ever inexorable. Upon ancient dynasties of Ethiopian and Egyptian kings; upon Greek ' and Roman, upon Arab and Ottoman conquerors ; upon Napoleon dreaming of an Eastern empire; upon plague and pestilence; upon the ceaseless misery of the Egyptian race; upon keen-eyed travellers — Herodotus yesterday, Warburton to-day; upon all, and more,, this unworldly Sphinx has watched, and watched like a providence, with the same earnest THE SECOND AND THIBD PYRAMIDS. eyes and the same sad tranquil mien ; and we shall die, and Islam shall wither away, and still that sleepless rock will lie watching and watching the works of a new busy race with those same sad, earnest eyes, and the same tranquil mien everlasting. You dare not mock at the Sphinx.'^ We cannot tarry to visit the temple at the foot of the Sphinx, constructed of granite and alabaster, discovered by Mariette Bey in 1853, nor to visit " Campbell's ^^ Tomb, or the Tomb of Nimbus, or any of the other marvels of this marvellous necropolis. Many books have been written on the subject, and many more will yet be WTitten, for it is one of the most interesting spots in the world ; and it is curious, considering that Cairo is within so short a distance of European cities, and that the cost of reaching it is 102 . CITIES OF THE WORLD. ' [Cairo. SO smallj that comparatively few visit it, or care to derive their impressioiis from the cradle of civilisation. Every visitor to Egypt is struck by seeing swarms of children everywhere, and he may naturally wish to know what is being done for their education. Of course, it is a difficult thing' to get accurate statistics on the subject ; especially with regard to distant provinces, where a fakeeli, or schoolmaster, on being apprised that his school will be inspected on a certain day, calmly shuts up the establishment and walks off. Notwith- standing all the difficulties in the way, the Minister of Instruction issued in 1877 a statement which is approximately accurate, and contains many valuable statistics. From it we learn that there were at that time 140,977 pupils under instruction, of whom 111,803 were in primary Arab schools, 15,335 in those attached to mosques; 1,385 were being educated by Government, 8,961 by missions and religious communities, and 2,960 in the municipal schools. Of course all these pupils are boys, the education of girls being still considered of little importance. Two female schools, started by Ismail Paslia, were, however, included in the return, and it is satisfactory to know that in many Copt and mission schools a few girls may be found — few indeed, and only an infinitesimal pro- portion to the population, '' a mere drop in the ocean of ignorance/' In the primary Arab schools of Cairo, of which there are 220, 7,175 children are in attendance, while at Old Cairo there are 2'1 schools and 908 boys, and at Boulak 31 schools and 1,010 boys. The education given at these schools is notliing more than a parrot-like acquaintance with the text of the Koran. The schools are maintained by the private enterprise of the schoolmasters, who live upon the few piastres a week paid by each pupil. When, however, the school is attached to a public fountain — and there is hardly a public fountain in Egypt which has not a school attached — it is, as a rule, maintained by the same charitable founda- tion as the fountain. A recent writer, in an excellent article on " Education in Egypt,'' lias given the following description of one of these primary schools in Cairo : — '^ You open a door in the street, and find a room about ten feet square. It is below the level of the road, and lofty for its size. A grated window, high up, gives a dim light, but a flood of sunshine comes in at the open door, and strikes full on the bright crimson robe of the fakeeh as he sits on his cushion in the corner. At one end stands the only piece of furniture in the room. It looks like a large harmonium, done up in brown holland, but turns out to be a box, containing the bones of a saint. In front of this curious piece of school furniture squat four-and-twenty little black and brown boys. One or two are disguised as girls, to protect them from the evil eye. All have dirty faces, and several are suffering from ophthalmia. They sit in two rows, facing each other, and simultaneously rock their bodies violently backwards and forwards as they recite the alphabet, or that verse of the Koran which forms their day's task. The children shout at the top of their little cracked voices in a nasal tone far from musical. The noise they make is astounding, considering how small they are. If they cease their rocking and shrieking, even for a moment, the master brings down his long palm-cane upon their shaven skulls, and they re -commence with renewed energy, and an even more violent see-saw. The sentence repeated does not convey the Ca-ro.] SCHOOLS IN EGYPT. lOo slightest meaning to their minds, nor is any attempt made to explain it. Two or three older children are sitting beside the/a/cee/i, getting lessons in the formation of the Arabic characters. Their copy-book is a piece of bright tin, and they use a reed pen called a kalam. The ink-bottle is a box containing a sponge, saturated with some brown fluid. A long row of tiny slippers, of every form and colour, lie neatly arranged at the door ; for the place where the bones of a saint ai-e enshrined is holy ground, and no one may soil the clean matting of the floor with outside defilement. No register is kept of the pupils, or of their days of attendance. Indeed, although ihafaJceeh can repeat the whole of the Koran, off book, it is highly probable he would find some difficulty in counting up to the number of his scholars. His acquirements begin and end with a textual knowledge of the sacred book, and unfortunately the wishes of his pupils' parents with regard to the education of their children are bounded by the same narrow limits.'* This is a singularly accurate and photographic description of a primary school in the capital of Egypt, and it may be easily imagined how much in advance it is of the schools in remote districts, which are generally unhealthy, ill-managed, and conducted by persons of deplorable ignorance. Still, under the government of the late Khedive, huge steps were taken to advance the course of education, and it is to be hoped his successors will continue and extend the work he began. For, although the school may be situated in a mere excavation in the mud, although it is only the Koran that is taught, although one sharp boy may be selected to lead the chorus of the class, and the others simply follow his lead, although the memory of the fakeeh may have waxed faint as to the actual text of the Koi-an, it is a fact that children who once were utterly neglected, are now gathered together for the purpose of receiving instruction, and this in itself is a great advance upon the state of things prevalent in Egypt only a few years ago. The Government public schools were founded by Mohammed Ali, and were a failure until revived by the late Khedive ; the civil schools are primary, secondary, and special ; in the primary the three R's are taught, and also some foreign language — generally French. In the secondary, Turkish, French, English, mathematics, history, geography, and drawling are taught, and the pupils are then passed into higher schools for the study of some profession. In the military Government public schools, every branch of a mihtary education is included. The University, the most important at the present time in the whole Mohammedan territory, is in the building which was once the Mosque El-Azhar. It is attended by about 11,000 students, who are instructed by 330 professors. The education includes grammar, algebra, arithmetic, logic, j)hilosophy, theology, law, and everything connected with the proper understanding of the Koran. Students come to this University from every part of the world where the religion of Islam prevails. They are boarded according to the means at their disposal, but they pay no fees for their education, although those who can do so are expected to make presents to the professors, who are paid entirely by voluntary contribu- tions, and support themselves by private teaching or copying books. In Cairo, as in every Eastern city, there is a marked contrast betwen the schools of the Moslems and the Christians ; not merely in the education given, but in every other particular. The Moslems '' believe that in their sacred volume is contained all knowledge 104 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. -explicitly or implicitly; that it is an all-embracing and sufficient code/' It reg-ulates everything; and so '^the ignorance of the seventh century is made the rule by which everything^ in law, life, and thought, is to be measured for all time/' And this, of course, is an effectual bar to progress. In the Coptic schools at Cairo, boys of the same age as those in the Arab primary schools, who can only repeat, parrot-like, passages from the Koran, are able to speak and read with fluency in French and English, and to add up a sum with a speed and accuracy which would puzzle the fakeeh of a well-to-do school to check. Within a comparatively recent period a great change has been wrought in Egypt generally, and in Cairo especially, in respect of the education of girls. In many of the Coptic schools they are well cared for, and in addition to the ordinary rudimentary instruction are taught singing and needlework. There can be no doubt that, despite claims to the contrary in other directions, much of the merit of this change is due to the noble exertions of the Misses Whately, whose An- glican Mission School, as Avell as the schools of the American Mission, are in a most flourishing state, and have exercised a powerful influence for good. It is difficult to estimate the population of Cairo. By the latest official returns (1873-3) the number is given as 375,883, of whom 260,000 are native Mussulmans, 30,000 Copts, 20,000 Assyrians, Nubians, and other Souilanis, 5,000 Turks, 10,000 Jews, 30,000 Syrians and other Levan- tines, and 20,000 Europeans, of whom 7,000 are Italians, 4,200 Greeks, 4,000 French, 1,600 English, 1,600 Austrians, and 1,200 Germans. A later estimate, but not official, places the population at 400,000. The Copts are the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, and are found principally in the towns, engaging in handicrafts, while the fellaheen are the occupants and tillers of the soil. The Copts embraced Christianity at an early period, and took an important part in the religious conflicts of the sixth century. By guarding their faith in the hostile presence of Mohammedanism, they have doubtless preserved their race and name. In the ENTEAXCE TO THE PYEAMID OF CHEOPS. OBELISK OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN AT HELIOPOLIS, 54 106 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Cairo. Coptic Quarter, near Old Cairo, is an ancient church, in which the Coptic Christians now worship, dating-, it is said, from the sixth century, and which has served as the model of all the older Eg-yptian-Byzantine churches. It is interesting to visit a Coptic church ; there are plenty in Alexandria, Cairo, and other Eastern cities. The worshippers pay great homage to their sacred pictures of Virgin and saints, and commence their devotions by bowing before them ; they then take each a pair of crutches, for no seats are allowed, and standing in the proper place in the church, will remain for two or three hours, or as long as the service may last. The service consists of prayers, readings from the Gospel, and the burning of incense, when the priest passes among the people, and places his hand on the head of each while swaying the censer. Frequent celebrations of the Holy Eucharist take place in Coptic churches. The celebrant priest wears a richly-embroidered white gown, reaching to his feet, bearing the Coptic cross (»{<) on the breast and sleeves. ''^ After washing his hands, he directs a boy to bring him several small round loaves with the Coptic cross impressed upon them. He chooses the best of them, places it on a plate, and pronounces over it the blessing of the Triune God. He then carries it into the hekel or sanctuary, places it on the altar, covers it with white cloths, and makes the circuit of the altar several times, reciting prayers, and accompanied by the choristers carrying lighted candles. He next brings the plate with the bread out of the sanctuary, and holds it up before the people, whereupon the whole congregation kneels. Returning to the hekel, he breaks the bread into small pieces, puts it into a chalice, pours wine upon it, and eats it with a spoon, distributing a few pieces to the assistant clergy and the choristers. Lest any fragment of the consecrated elements should be profaned, he finally washes all the utensils and his own hands, and drinks the water in which he has washed them.^' Coptic churches are usually divided into three parts — a forecourt or vestibule, a section for the men, and a section for the women. In the vestibule are appliances for washing the feet, and other ablutions, practices which the Copts observe with great strictness. The fellaheen — that is, the tillers, peasant proprietors, or agricultural labourers — form the bulk of the population of Egypt, and their condition is, unhappily, one of the worst forms of slavery. Nearly the whole wealth of the country is derived from its agriculture, and to the fellaheen alone is committed the important task of tilling the soil. The fellah reaps and ploughs and toils, but can never with certainty regard his crops as his own, and even the hard-earned piastre is too frequently wrested from him. There are no laws to protect him ; he is the victim of the most cruel, merciless taxation ; his sons may be taken from him in the conscription, or drafted away with gangs of others to forced labour; his home is but a burrow in the mud ; his clothing consists of one coarse garment, and his food is composed almost entirely of beans or lentils. Within the past few years attempts have been made to ameliorate the condition of the fellaheen by the introduction of new laws, but in the unsettled state of the country these attempts have been practically useless. The fellaheen number four and a half millions out of a total of five and a half millions. They are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, with a slight admixture of Arab blood, and for the most part they own a little land. It is a common saying that the land in Egypt is gold, not mud. It requires no manure and little labour for ordinary crops, and the yield is enormous; two crops of corn, or even three, may be grown in a year. This Cairo] THE FELLAHEEN. 107 is one of the important peculfarities of Egypt, that it yields both a winter and a summer harvest. The overflow of the river and the warmtli of the winter sun suffice for the former, and artificial irrigation for the latter. Its variety of produce contributes largely to the wealth and well-being of the country now as it did in the Egypt of the Pharaohs ; but unfortunately the fellah, who should reap the benefit of his toil and some of the wealth derived from Nature^s lavish bounty, is so cruelly taxed that, although he may toil year in and year out, though he may bale up the water from the river mth his shadoof all the livelong day, with the sun scorching his naked limbs, all that will be left to him of the produce of his little plot of land will be barely enough to keep himself and his little ones in millet-bread and onions, the whole of the profits being pounced upon by the Govern- ment to enrich the collector, the governor, the pasha, the Khedive — anybody but the hard-working Egyptian — to build useless palaces, French theatres, gardens, and harems — anything rather than the improvement of the condition of the fellaheen. No wonder, therefore, that from this and other causes the fellah '' looks upon the Government as his natural enemy, and with good cause regards taxation as a border-farmer must have regarded black- mail. To him the Khedive is the lineal successor of the Bedouin freebooter who robbed his forefathers.^' No wonder that after years of toil he gets soured so that he will often suffer the most cruel blows in dogged silence rather than pay the taxes demanded. Heavy as the taxes are, they are made infinitely heavier by the mode of their collection, for the sheikh, the district officer, the provincial head of administration, all get comfortable sums which, under pretence of collecting the Government dues, they wring out of the fellah ; and as the taxes are mostly levied in kind, there is great room for petty extortion and fraud in collecting them, and local officials under bad Egyptian government have been brought up from infancy to look upon extortion as a legitimate part of their business. One of the most insane taxes is that which is levied upon palm-trees. " Of all the gifts of Nature to Egypt, the palm-tree is one of the most characteristic and of the. most useful ; its trunk supplies the people with beams ; its sap is made into a spirit ; its fruit is in some districts a most useful article of food, and everywhere a humble luxury ; baskets are made of the flag of its leaf, and from the stem of the leaf beds, chairs, and boxes ; its fibres supply material for ropes and cordage, nets and mats ; it has, too, its history in Egypt, for its shaft and crown first suggested to the dwellers on the banks of the Nile, in some remote age, the pillar and its capital/' And yet this tree, so soon as it can bear a bunch of fruit, is subject to a barbarous, impolitic, and death-dealing tax. Is it any wonder that palm-trees are growing scarce, that the oppressed villager does not care to go to the trouble and expense of rearing them ? Although it is often stated that the poorest is exempt from compulsory labour as soon as he is able to read and write, it is a fact that forced labour is a rule all through Egypt now as it was thirty centuries ago. By this means all the great works have been performed. At the sugar factories in Upper Egypt, at the canal works, at the railways, at the new roads and the new palaces, the labourers have been driven to their tasks, and paid or not paid, as their masters pleased. At the sugar factories forced labour is the rule under a thin disguise. The labourer is paid in treacle valued at the highest Cairo prices, but if he likes he can sell it back to the authorities at the factory; he must 108 CITIES or THE WORLD. [Cairo. do SO, however, at the lowest local price, and as the treacle is useless to him, and this is the only way open to him to dispose of it, he is thus robbed of a third or a fifth of his ridiculously small wages. A few years ago the writer was walking along the beautiful road leading from Cairo to the palace and gardens of Shoobra, when, above the hubbub of the traffic in that gay promenade, a confused sound was heard, resembling the distant hum of many voices. Mounting an embankment running parallel with the road, a marvellous scene presented itself. When the Nile overflows it leaves a thick deposit of mud in the canals, and this in process of time blocks up the channels. These have to be cleared, and the sight which then burst upon the view was the bed of a canal, in which from six to eight thousand people were busily at work. They were principally young people — boys and girls, youths and maidens — although amongst them were many of riper years; over every hundred persons — or gang — there was an overseer, in a white or blue robe and a highly-coloured turban, contrasting strangely with the more than half naked groups around him. Each overseer held in his hand a whip or rod, which he used freely when any one flagged, or appeared about to flag, in the work. The labour consisted in carrying the mud in small baskets from the bottom of the canal up a steep incline, and throwing it up on a bank in compact heaps. No tool or mechanical appliance of any kind was furnished to aid the workers; the mud had to be gathered in the hand and carried in a basket on the head. When emptied a handful of sand was thrown into the basket to prevent the next load of mud from adhering to it. Some of the workers chanted a sad and mournful ditty as they laboured through the hot hours of the day. It was a miserable and touching sight to see young girls and old men and women staggering under their earth- burdens, their feet, and sometimes their bare shoulders, bleeding. It was painful to know that in return for these labours a certain sum would be paid to each overseer, but there was only the faintest hope that the labourers would get anything more than the bag of beans served out to them as rations. Near to the canal a group of invalid workmen lay exhausted in the sun, and it was pitiful to think how many lives would be sacrificed over that work. Truly the lives of the fellaheen are " bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. ^^ In concluding our account of Cairo, it should be said that all the modern parts of the city are lit with gas introduced in 1870 ; the roads in the European and principal quarters are macadamised, paved, and kept well watered; trees are planted in many of the streets, forming boulevards. Water is pumped from the Nile by a French company, and distributed plentifully throughout the city. All that Cairo now wants, all that Egypt wants, is good government, and then it will be capable of becoming again what it was in the past — a land of plenty and one of the greatest of kingdoms.'^ * The majority of the engravings in this chapter have heen borrowed from Dr. Ebers's magnificent wor^< on. "Egj-pt: Historical, Descriptive, and Picturesque." TORONTO AND QUEBEC. THE AEMS OF TORONTO. Toronto :— The Site— The Harbour— Governor Simcoe— The Esplanade— The Railways— The Foundation of the City— The MacNab— Old Wine in New Bottles— The Streets -Imperial Highways— Yonge Street— The North— Osgoode Hall- Parliament House— The Great Province— The University— Trinity College— Knox College— Upper Canada College- Queen's Park— A Group of Veterans— St. James's— The American Attack— The Canadian Cities. Quebec :— Its Topography— The St. Lawrence River— Business of the Port— A Bric-ci-Brae City— The Citadel — A Cry of Wonder— The New Forts— The Walls of the City— The Queen's Gift— The Rampart— Dufferin Terrace— A View in Lower Canada —An Historic Sketch— The Name Quebec— The Discoverers— Champlain Founds the City— Cargoes of Demoiselles — Frontenac's Defiance— The Fruitless American Siege— Lord Dufferin's Plans— The Basilica— Champlain, Frontenac, and Laval- The Market Square— The Jesuits— The Seminary— Laval University— The Ursuline Convent— The H6tel Dieu— The Anglican Cathedral— A Hero and a Prince Suffer— Parliament House— The Lower Town— Notre Dame des Victoires— The Extra-mural Wards— The British Victory on the Plains of Abraham— The Environs— Lorctte— Falls of Montmorenci— Beauport- La Bonne Ste. Anne— The Isle of Orleans. fHE chief city of Upper Canada, the capital of the Province of Ontario, is busy, modern, hopeful Toronto, which stands on a sandy plain on the north-west shore of Lake Ontario, 50 miles from Niagara Falls, 333 miles from Montreal, 500 miles from New York, and 3,083 miles from Liverpool. Here, on the shores of the inland sea, at so great a journey from the mother- country, has arisen an Anglo-Saxon capital of the outlands — a fair sister of Capetown, Sydney, Melbovirne, Dunedin, Wellington, and the great chain of British cities which stretches around the world. A century ago its site was occupied only by a few wigwams of Indians, but now the population exceeds that of Oxford or Chester, Cork or Greenock, Havre or Toulon, Pisa or Padua, and is increasing by thousands every year. It is the chief port and largest city of Lake Ontario, the least of the five inland fresh-water lakes of North America, yet a sheet of water full 50 miles wide, and nearly 200 miles long, with a depth off-shore of 300 feet. The general aspect of the city, as seen from a distance, is flat and inconspicuous, but as the harbour is entered it becomes evident that the land rises as it recedes, and an imposing civic panorama opens before the eye. There are but few Anglo-Saxon cities of no greater size so affluent in domes, spires, and other striking architectural adornments, which attest at once the prosperity, the good taste, and the local pride of the residents. The harbour is safe and commodious, being protected by the long and narrow sandy promontory which terminates at Gibraltar Point, and having a diameter of a mile and a half, in which a great number of vessels can lie. Many wharves run out into the water, and are crowded with the steamers and sailing-vessels of the lake marine. There are three or four huge graDaries (or elevators) on the wharves, adequate to the stomge of several hundred thousand bushels of grain. The business done every year in the Board of Trade and the Corn Exchange attains very respectable dimensions. The Royal Mail steamers from Montreal and Niagara touch at this port daily; and several other lines of steamboats ply to other towns on the lake, braving the perils of the voyage to Hamilton or to 110 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Toronto. King-ston, or crossing to the American ports of New York State, where the descendants of the Puritans and of the Dutchmen dwell in peaceful and money-making union. The long peninsula,, or isthmus, which forms the harbour was in ancient times a favourite resort of the Mississaga Indians, especially for the sick and exhausted. One of the first-founded institutions of York was a long, straight, and level race-course on the isthmus, and here occurred the Upper Canada Derbys, the veritable Isthmian games of the pioneers. The peninsula is about two leagues long, being but a mere sand-bank, over- grown with wild grass, and tufted here and there with small trees. Gibraltar Point, on the west, nearly a mile wide, is partly occupied by fortifications for the defence of the entrance of the port, and by a lighthouse to guide mariners into the harbour. On the eastern side of the city is the river Don, a slow and meandering stream, with rugged and picturesque banks and a marshy delta. On the other side is the Humber river, coming down out of the northern forests at a break-neck pace, affording eligible opportunities alike for the scenery-hunter and the miller. St. James's Cemetery and the Toronto Necropolis are on the banks of the Don ; and the same locality also possesses a site already hallowed by history, which comes so slowly to crown these New- World colonies. Governor Simcoe, the founder of Toronto, built a log chateau, named Castle Frank, on a high bluff over the river Don, close to his nascent capital, and connected with it by a road, which the soldiers of the garrison constructed. The mansion was named in honour of its youthful heir, Francis Simcoe, whose mangled corpse, some years later, was left among the pile of British dead which closed up the breach at Badajoz. The governor received from the Iroquois Indians the name of Deyonynliohrawen, '^One whose door is always open;'*' and on his monument in the ancient Cathedral of Exeter it is recorded that "he served his king and his country with a zeal exceeded only by his piety towards God.'' Castle Frank has long since disappeared, but its peaceful sylvan surroundings are a favourite rambling-ground for the young men and maidens of eastern Toronto. The water-front of the city is formed by a broad strip of open ground, a simplified Thames Embankment, with some of the traits peculiar to the levees of the Mississippi river towns; and the huge and shapeless elevators suggest Chicago, which, by a courteous periphrasis, might be called the American Toronto. It was a dream of the pioneers that a broad promenade should always be kept open before the town, looking out upon the lake; and in 1818 the erection of the Mall was decreed by royal patent. But this sentimental scheme of the founders has given way to the Esplanade, which is, from a practical and nineteenth-century point of view, the chief glory of Toronto. It is an embankment faced with masonry, nearly a league in length, giving a new frontage to the town, and greatly improving its sanitary security. This magnificent marginal way is occupied by several parallel lines of railway — the grand routes between Upper and Lower Canada — with a long series of warehouses, factories, and other commercial buildings on one side, and the deep waters of the harbour on the other. The most conspicuous object in the approach to a European city is usually a castle, a cathedral, or a palace ; but the genius of the New World seeks the embodiment of power / in other forms, and allows its banners, mitres, and crowns to be obscured by the smoke of continent-crossing railway-trains. So it happens that the most conspicuous object seen on Toronto ] HISTORY OF THE CITY. ' lU entering the harbour of Toronto is the great Union Railway Station, with its handsome architecture and high towers, rising from the Esplanade. The Grand Trunk Railway, which connects the remote shores of Lake Huron with Montreal, Quebec, and the seaboard, passes through this station. The other lines terminating at Toronto are the Great Western, for Niagara, Hamilton, and Detroit ; the Northern, for Lake Simcoe and the ports on the great Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; the Credit Valley lines, through the rich countries to the west- ward ; the Toronto, Grey, and Bruce, running to the distant harbours on Georgian Bay and Lake Huron; the Nipissing line, now constructed for many miles to the north-east, and heading for the remote and unpeopled solitudes about Lake Nipissing, in the diocese of Algoma. To the westward of the meridian of Toronto extends a rich and populous country, devoted to the culture of grain, and worthy the nUme of Canada Felix. To the north-east- ward, extending over four degrees of longitude, as far as Ottawa, is a line of wilder counties, covered with valuable forests and strewn with myriads of crystalline lakes, among which are many settlements of hardy Canadian and Scottish backwoodsmen. This is a lake-country indeed, covering many thousands of square miles, and destined, in spite of its severe climate, to be the seat of a large and prosperous agricultural population. Lord Dufferin very happily expressed the main need of Canada in his celebrated Toronto speech : — " The only thing still wanted is to man the ship with a more numerous crew From the extraordinary number of babies which I have seen at every window and at every cottage door, native energy and talent appear to be rapidly supplying this defect ; still, it is a branch of industry in which the home manufacturer has no occasion to dread foreign competition, and Canadians can well afford to share their fair inheritance with the straitened sons of toil at home.'* Canada, with the adjacent British dominions of which she is heir, covers an area greatly exceeding that of the United States, and including the latitudes between those of North Cape, in Norway, and Tuscany. It is commonly supposed in Great Britain that this is a land hidden far in the frigid north, with a perpetual inclemency brooding over its dark forests. It is interesting to notice that all the inhabited part of Canada, the home of five million hard-working, happy, and prosperous people, is south of the parallel of 50*^ N. ; and that the whole of Great Britain (save about three miles of the Lizard Point, in Cornwall) is north of that parallel. On all sides of the harbour appear the evidences of high culture, commercial activity, and ancient foundations ; yet, less than a century has passed since the idle waters lapped against a lonely beach, whereon no signs of human life were visible. The name Toronto is of Indian origin, and appears frequently in the French-Canadian despatches of the seventeenth century, as applied to a locality of great importance north of Lake Ontario, where the trail to Lake Huron began. About the year 1749, the English trading-post at Oswego, on the southern shore of Ontario, enjoyed a thriving commerce with the natives ; and the French Governor of Canada, M. de la Galissoniere, resenting the prosperity of this remote bit of perfidious Albion, established a garrisoned post and trading-station at Toronto, on the opposite shore of the lake. For several years these two rival commercial ports, the Rome and Carthage of that midland sea, defied each other over the unsalted waves ; and then the Marquis de Montcalm, with 3,000 Frenchmen and allied Indians, besieged and captured Oswego, with its garrison of 1,800 men, 134 cannon, and the supporting fleet. The handful of French 112 ' CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Toronto. troops at Fort Rouille, on the site of Toronto, surrounded by the wigwams o£ the Mississaga. Indians^, held their lonely post for some years longer, but were removed when England conquered and occupied Canada, and the region was left desolate. In 1793, ten years after the American colonies on the south had become independent States, the British authorities founded at this point the capital of the new Province of Upper Canada, occupying the ground with troops drawn from Niagara and Queenstown, and causing royal salutes to be fired over the quiet and unvexed bay. When Governor Simcoe came to his new province, he found that there were but two villages, Newark (now Niagara) and Kingston, in the whole vast domain, besides a few straggling groups of log-cabins. He chose Newark as the capital, and assembled there the first Provincial Parliament. It was only a year later, however, that the British Government ceded to the United States a frontier fortress close to Newark ; and the Governor, exclaiming that " the chief town of a province must not be placed under the guns of an enemy's fort,'' set out to find a site for a new capital. He examined the Welland River and Burlington Bay, without satisfaction ; and at last joyfully discovered the good harbour of Toronto, separated from the dangerous American territory by a dozen leagues of sea, and surrounded by an eligible and fertile country. The name of Toronto, which had previously attached to this locality, was supplanted by that of York, bestowed by Governor Simcoe in honour of Frederick, Duke of York, the king's son, who had just won a victory over the French Revolutionary troops in Holland, A royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired, and the war-vessels in the harbour made appropriate answer. Earlier in the same year Colonel Bouchette had surveyed the bay, and thus described it : " Dense and trackless forests lined the margin of the lake, and reflected their inverted images in its glassy surface. The wandering savage had constructed his ephemeral habitation beneath their luxuriant foliage, and the bay and neighbouring marshes were the hitherto uninvaded haunts of immense coveys of wild-fowl ; indeed, they were so abundant as in some measure to annoy us during the night." Simcoe dispensed gracious hospitality from a canvas house which he had purchased in London and sent out for his home and head-quarters in the new city of the wilderness. This famous tent had formerly belonged to Captain Cook, the circumnavigator. Many quaint English terms and customs also entered Upper Canada at the same time. The record of grants of land was (and still is) known as Domesday Book ; the now obsolete offices of Lieutenants, of Counties were instituted ; the hop-gardens of Sussex found their counterparts in the Don valley ; the ?>>/?(?;• Canada Gazette was prepared by the " Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; " a pack of English fox-hounds was imported, to run down the great game of the Western woods ; and the criminals and law-breakers of the infant community were publicly whipjied, branded, exhibited in the pillory, or fastened in the stocks. A few negro slaves were owned by the first settlers, and such advertisements as the following occasionally appeared in the village newspaper: — " To be sold, a healthy strong negro woman, about thirty years of age ; understands cooking, laundry, and the taking care of poultry. N.B. She can dress ladies' liair." Farther back in the wilderness, in Kinnell Lodge, on the bold shores of the Lake of the Chats, dwelt the MacNab of the MacNabs, the head of the old Scottish clan, who strove to maintain the usages of the Highland feudahsm among his retainers, and often came down to Toronto, clad in blue bonnet and gay tartans. Once this picturesque old Scot visited Kingston, Toronto.] PLAN OF THE CITY. 113 and registered his name in the hotel-book as The MacNab; a young kinsman, attendino* him mischievously wrote beneath, T/ie Other MacNab. This youth afterwards became Sir Allan MacNab, one of the most gallant defenders and most sagacious statesmen of Canada. Among the pioneers were Peter Russell, of the Bedf ord-Russells ; James Baby, a French-Canadian patrician; Jordan Post, a tall Yankee clock-maker ; Franco Rossi, the Italian confectioner and importer of classical statuary ; the Jarvises, who had abandoned everything they owned in the American colonies, and came hither to be under royal and loyal rule ; Columbus, the French armourer and KEFf:RENCES. ''■Union Rail-way Station. f>. Metropulilaii Church. ii. Uffer Canada Collide. ■2.G'. IVestern Raihvay Depot. T. S' Andreiu's Church. ^■i- Post Office . J.Northern Passetijrer Depot, i. Holy Trinity Church. 13. Custom House . 4.S( yames's Cathedral. 9, Knox Collei:e. 14. City Hall . S.S^ Michael's Cathedral. ^o.Prov' Normal &• Model Sch^. i'i.Parliament Buitdinj^s. 16. Os);oode Hall . 17- Central Prison . . 18 Government House. Tg. Grand Opera House. 20. Hortiailtural Gardens. st.General Hospital. =2- S? Latvrenct Hall ^■^.^C^i^'ittiral Halt. 7.^ . F-Tnijrrant Sheds. 25. Masonic Temple . MAP OF TOEONTO. Tfpo-KtchintCt..»t. cutler; Quetton St. George, a French royalist emigre, of the ancient noblesse driven from their country in 1793; and many other soldiers of fortune, refugees for loyalty's sake, cosmopolitan wanderers, and members of the British squirearchy, by strange chances thrown together on the remotest shore of this savage mid-continental sea. About forty years ago, when the town had but 25,000 inhabitants, Mr. W. H. G. Kingston made bold to say that, " with regard to society, Toronto may vie with any of the larger country towns in England.^' Nearly ten years earlier, Charles Dickens reported the settlement as " full of life and motion, bustle, business, and improvement,'' and said that some of its shops '' would do no discredit to the metropolis [London] itself." If such was the case so many years ago, how much more is Toronto to be praised now, when her population has trebled, and her luxury has grown at even a greater rate ? In some degree she has united the 55 114 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Toronto. fearless enterprise of a Western American city to the social conservatism and dignity of an English community, and presents a strange and interesting combination of Cambridge and Chicago. The streets which run north from the harbour are broad and straight, with commodious openings towards the Esplanade, and apparent caj)abilities of being prolonged indefinitely into the country, even to parallel the ten-league length of Yonge Street. These, running towards the north star, are intersected at right angles by a score of east-and-west streets, giving to the ground-plan of the city a remarkable degree of regularity and commodiousness, which is increased by the level condition of the roadways, and their carefully-laid pavements. There are two lines of tramway running across the town from east to west, and two others running from the harbour to the northern suburbs. Yonge Street and Dundas Street were carved through the trackless wilderness of Western Canada, by order of its first Governor, as nearly as possible in right lines, the one running north and south, and the other east and west. They were primarily intended for military ways, and received the name of " streets " in allusion to the famous Roman roads, still to be found in England, and popularly called Watling Street, &c. These great highways were cut through the endless forests north of Lake Ontario, slowly and painfully, but with patient tenacity of purpose, until Lower Canada saw itself connected by land with the great vacant domains on the west. They crossed each other near the centre of Toronto. The original design of Yonge Street was the formation of a practicable route through British territory to the great lakes in the interior of the American continent. The natural route between Lake Ontario and the upper and greater lakes lies through Lake Erie, but the inlet of the latter is commanded by American batteries, and the outlet is so close to the republican territory that it could easily be seized by hostile forces. It was the design of Governor Simcoe (who greatly distrusted the Americans) to establish a new commercial and military route, safely secluded in the heart of his Province, and this he found by making a portage-road, thirty-three miles long, running north from Toronto to the navigable waters flowing into Lake Simcoe — from which practicable rivers flowed into the eastern bays of the great Lake Huron. The road was cut through by the Queen^s Rangers, a regiment which had been recniited among the mechanics of England, expressly for Canadian service. For many years the lower half-mile of Yonge Street was but an untravelled lane, because the principal landings of the town lay to the eastward, and were approached by irregular cart-tracks, diverging thitherward. Two villas, with extensive grounds, stood at the harbour-end of the street, and even these fronted on other thoroughfares. Now the street cuts its undeviating way from the harbour northward ; and on and about the lower part is the busy financial quarter. Within a space of a half- mile square there are more than a dozen banks, several railway offices, the head-quarters of the chief newspapers, the Post Office, Custom House, Cathedral, Court House, Opera House, City Hall, and other spacious and costly public buildings, most of them in modern American forms of architecture. Farther to the north is the suburb of Yorkville, which grew up around the famous old Red Lion Tavern ; and the estates of Rosedale, Chestnut Park, and Summer Hill lie beyond. Still more distant ai-e the neighbourhoods formerly settled by families from the West Indies, and by colonies from Germany. The German Mills (so-called) were at one time owned by Toronto.] YONGE STREET. 115 Captain Nolan, of the 70th Regiment, whose famous son fell in the charge of the Light Brigade ; and one of their managers was grandson of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's secretary and a personal friend of Sir Walter Scott. The next village on Yonge Street is Thoruhill, settled by Dorsetshire families ; and this is followed by the Oak Ridges, anciently the home of the McLeods of Skye and their Gaelic court, and of the Vicomte de Chains, the Comte de Puisaye, and many other unfortunate French emigres, who, as Burke said, " quitting that voluptuous climate and that seductive Circean liberty, have taken refuge in the frozen regions, and under the British despotism, of Canada/' Elsewhere, on and near Yonge Street, were colonies of banished American loyalists, Quakers from Pennsylvania, Mennonites, and other singular communities, hidden in this gloomy northern wilderness, and occasionally visiting Toronto to purchase supplies. It was a museum of strange types, through which Yonge Street stretched its unswerving lines, a collection of human oddities, merging now rapidly into the well-known and clearly-marked Anglo-Canadian race. During the Canadian rebellion of 1837, a strong force of insurgents marched from these forest- towns against Toronto, and advanced into its immediate suburbs. Eight hundred of them attempted to enter the city, but were repulsed by a handful of militia ; and soon afterwards Sir Allan MacNab, a gallant Scottish-Canadian chieftain, attacked their position with a thousand volunteers, and scattered the ragamuffin army, with severe loss. The intersection of Yonge Street and King Street, within a quarter of a mile of the harbour, is the heart of the town, and forms a very striking and attractive carrefour, with stately buildings and busy thoroughfares stretching away to the four points of the compass, and all the life and beauty of Young Canada moving along the side- walks, or in vehicles on the well-paved roadways. The Masonic Temple is in this vicinity ; and also the large and picturesque building of the United Empire Club. The Toronto Club and the National Club, in other parts of the city, are powerful and well-known organisations. One of Lord DufPerin's most famous speeches was made at a feast of the Toronto Club, in 1874. The commercial and financial district surrounds the lower part of Yonge Street, and attests its prosperity by the magnitude and costliness of the buildings occupied. There are fifteen banks, wherein a large part of the financial business of Ontario is transacted, and most of these occupy hand- some stone buildings, rich in architectural adornments. Here are the offices of the manu- facturing corporations, whose works supply a great part of Upper Canada. The journalistic enterprise of Toronto is exemplified by several thriving daily newspapers. The Glvbe is a powerful factor in Canadian politics; and the Mail owns and occupies one of the finest buildings in the city. There are excellent weekly papers, many of which are religious in character, and some monthlies. Grij), the Canadian Punch, is published here. The first locomotive railway engine made in the colonies of Great Britain was completed at Toronto, in 1852. The manufacturing interests are now large and important, and include iron and steel works, enormous breweries, tanneries, distilleries, and other profitable industries. Not far from the site of the railway-station stood the house of the Jamesons. Mr. Jameson, Vice-Chancellor of Upper Canada, was famous for his conversational powers, his high culture, and rare versatility ; and no English or American student of art and belles- lettres needs to be told who Mrs. Jameson was. In one of her charming books she gives a description of Canada as it appeared during her sojourn. 116 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [Toronto. The liead-quarters of the law courts of Upper Canada is in the noble building of Osgoode Hall^ whose name commemorates an ancient chief justice of the Province (who was said to have been, also, an illegitimate son of George III.). About twenty years ago the matter-of-fact legal buildings on this site were remodelled and richly adorned with a fa9ade of cut stone, and the wings received the addition of elaborate Ionic colonnades and pediments. The inner court is lined with bright Caen stone, and kept in immaculate order and neatness. The library, a noble hall, adorned with portraits of the foremost jurists of KlXCi STEEET. Canada, contains thousands of volumes, where the young lawyers of the Province find abundant material for legal study and research. One of the first duties of the British colonist is to establish the forms and laws of his native land; and the sanctuaries of justice and legislation are held as more important than walls of defence or the cloisters of religion. When the pioneers occupied the site of Toronto, Houses of Parliament were speedily erected — plain and commodious wooden buildings, near the mouth of the Don river — and the Court quarter of the backwoods Westminster, where the provincial magnates dwelt, arose among the adjacent primeval groves. Here, at the opening and closing of the annual sessions, the world-encircling British ceremonials were celebrated, as the representatives of the Sovereign — famous Canadian knights and gentlemen— passed to or from the assembled Estates of the people. Palace THE COLLEGES OF TORONTO. 118 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Toronto. Street was the main thorouglifare;, and the names of the other streets commemorated the devotion of the citizens to the Hanoverian dynasty. The present Parliament Buildings and Government House of the Province of Ontario are plain, spacious,, and homely structures of red brick, secluded from the streets, and not far from the Union Railway Station and the principal hotels. The legislators who assemble here administer the local affairs of Ontario, a Province covering 121,260 square miles, which is larger than Hungary, Norway, or Italy, and within two square miles of the combined areas of Great Britain and Ireland. Nor is this so far a solitude as to have nothing but territorial area to boast of, for within less than a century its population has grown from 2,000 to upwards of 2,000,000, and even now exceeds that of Greece or Denmark, Saxony or Switzerland. There are two or three unimportant newspapers in Canada which advocate annexation to the United States, but no sentiment of that kind prevails among the people. Enjoying the privileges of autonomy, without its dangers, the greatest of the British colonies has developed rapidly and securely into a semi-independent State, and in time will probably expand into a conservative llepublic, influenced by English traditions, and firmly allied to the mother-country by countless ties of duty and affection. Sixty years ago, it was thought that Upper Canada could not support a college, and a romantic and ingenious scheme came under consideration, by which twenty-five lads should be sent annually to Oxford and Cambridge, at the cost of the Province. It was thought that many others would follow them, and that the beneficiaries themselves would be stimulated to extraordinary exertions, returning to Canada finished scholars, to leaven the crudity of the new country with their wisdom. " What more especially invites the adoption of such a scheme is the amiable and affectionate connection which it would tend to establish between Canada and Britain." Planted in poverty and adversity, however, and nurtured in discouragement, the colleges of Ontario have grown into strength and respectability, and bid fair to become wealthy and renowned. Toronto is now a University town of no mean rank, visited by many hundreds of earnest students, who learn here the best-approved methods of caring for bodies or minds diseased, of repairing broken States, of enlightening^ remote wilderness places. University College stands in a beautiful and diversified park in the northern part of the city, and is approached by way of College Avenue, a grand thoroughfare nearly a mile long, and 100 feet wide, running due north from the business district. Double lines of trees border the avenue, and the park is adorned with many stately oaks. The building occupied by the college is the finest piece of Norman architecture in America, and forms three sides of a large quadrangle, the walls being of grey stone, trimmed with blocks from the quarries of Caen, charmingly irregular in outline, and mediaeval in effect. From one side it suggests Rugby or Warwick; from another. Bury St. Edmund's; and many another similitude is found by the English exiles of Toronto. From the centre of the southern front rises a tall square tower, sustaining the great bell which, "swinging low with solemn roar,'' repeats the old-time curfew every evening. The main portal and window beneath foim a perfect flower of Norman architecture; and the entrance hall, with its stunted columns and quaintly-carved capitals, is suggestive of the grey cathedral towns of England rather than of this new-born forest city. Under the pointed oaken roof of the Toronto.] UNIVERSITY, TRINITY, AND KNOX COLLEGES. 119 library fully 25,000 volumes are gathered, including collections in the Greek and Latin classics, epigraphy, and archaeology, unsur^iassed in America, and continually enlarged, by fresh accessions from abroad. The Museum occupies a hall similar to that of the library, ^nd possesses extensive collections in natural history. In the eastern range of buildings, and reached by a stone stairway ascending in a round tower, is the Convocation Hall, wainscoted, lighted from stained windows, and over-arched by a timber roof which rests on richly-carved corbels of Caen stone. Two spire-capped towers rise over this line, in one of which is a portal adorned, with exquisitely-carved. Norman chevrons. The western range of buildings is devoted to dormitories for the students, and terminates at the circular structure of the laboratory. The length of the three fronts is nearly 1,000 feet ; and the cost of the edifice exceeded £100,000. In 1827 King William IV. endowed this institution with 226,000 acres of land, from which a considerable revenue is now derived. The buildings of the Provincial Observatory, the School of Practical Science, and the School of Medicine are in the University park. Although an entirely modern structure, the college seems to have descended from the days of William of Wykeham, so perfectly has the sentiment of antique art been comprehended and adapted by its builder. Citizens who remember the time when the site of this great conventual pile was occuj^ied only by the primeval forest, can scarcely realise how so remarkable a change has been brought about in a single generation, replacing the savagery of Canadian thickets by such high finish and order, such genuiueness, grandeur, and long-settled repose. The Provincial Observatory was founded in 1810 by the British Crown, which for many years maintained here an officer and four men of the Royal Artillery. Three or four observers are now stationed there. Toronto is in longitude 79'^ 21' 5" W., and latitude 43" 39' 4" — nearly on the same parallel with Marseilles and Florence. Its average summer temperature is 67.8'^, or 3° higher than that of Paris, and 6" lower than that of Rome. The average winter temperature is 24.5*^, which is 6° warmer than that of St. Petersburg. The degrees of heat in summer and of cold in winter greatly exceed those of the equable climate of the British Islands, and the changes of temperature are much more rapid and radical. The charming elm-studded park in which Trinity College stands occupies twenty acres, and was formerly known as Gore Vale, the estate of the Camerons. Through it flow the placid waters of Garrison Creek, which, it has been prophesied, will hereafter "be regarded as the Cephissus of a Canadian Academus, the Cherwell of an infant Christ Church.^' On the bluff once stood a block-house, commanding the western approach to York, and connected with the garrison by a patrol-road. Trinity College was founded by Bishop Strachan in the interest of the Church of England, and occupies a long line of handsome stone buildings, embellished with the numerous gables and turrets of the Pointed architec- ture of the fifteenth century. From this point a broad view is aifforded over the harbour and lake. Knox College, a modern Presbyterian institution, with an efficient co?'j3S of instructors, is within a short distance of the University, and occupies a long and picturesque Gothic building, beautifully situated in a circular expansion of Spadina Avenue, and adorned with a conspicuous Victoria tower. Looking from the harbour up this grand avenue, 160 feet 120 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Toronto. wide, the fagade of tlie college closes the vista with imposing- effect. Dr. Baldwin, who laid out this thoroughfare (three miles long), and named it in honour of his adjacent mansion, came to Toronto ninety years ago, and, acquiring great wealth, resolved to found a family of distinction, enriched by the revenues of entailed estates. There should always be a Baldwin of Spadina ; but his son was the statesman who carried through the Canadian Legislature the bill abolishing the rights of primogeniture. Upper Canada College was founded in 1829 by Sir John Colborne, then Governor of the Province. He had previously been Governor of Guernsey (in the Channel Islands), where he re-established Elizabeth College. Sir John also gave the name of Sarnia, by which Guernsey was known in classic times, to a new hamlet near Lake St. Clair, which has since become a flourishing port. For his college he secured the services of five reverend gentlemen from Cambridge and Oxford, and an endowment of 66,000 acres of land. The institution occupies a group of antique and homely brick buildings, near the centre of the city, but somewhat secluded from the streets. It has about a dozen instructors. The Provincial Normal and Model Schools occupy a handsome Palladian building, with a large hall, and some smaller edifices, including the Educational Museum, with its Flemish and Italian paintings and casts from ancient statuary. The surrounding public gardens cover nearly eight acres ; and but a little way off are the Horticultural Gardens, famous throughout Upper Canada. In addition to the various colleges elsewhere spoken of, Toronto has three considerable schools of medicine, furnishing the disciples of the art of healing for all Western Canada. In the building of the College of Technology, near the cathedral, are the halls and reading-rooms of the Mechanics^ Institute, an association now more than half a century old. There are upwards of 8,000 volumes in its library. Queen^s Park adjoins the park of the University, and has been leased to the munici- pality for 999 years. It is a beautiful domain of fifty acres, adorned w4th a profusion of flowers and shrubbery, and but little more than a mile from the centre of the city. Near its entrance stands a bronze sta,tue of Queen Victoria (designed by Marshal Wood), at whose foot are two trophy cannon from Inkerman and Sebastopol. When Lord Dufferin bade farewell to Toronto, in 1878, 20,000 people assembled in Queen's Park to do him honour, and the entire domain was brilliantly illuminated at night, while the Tenth Royals, the Queen's Own, and the Artillery corps enlivened the scene with their uniforms and the music of their bands. Near the shore of a pretty lakelet stands a brown-stone monument, mth a colossal marble statue of Britannia on its summit, and four marble statues in niches, commemorating the volunteers who died during the Irish invasion of the Dominion. In the summer of 1866 larg-e bodies of armed Fenians threat- ened Canada from various points inside the American frontier, and at last a force of over 1,000 men crossed the Niagara river, and enti'enched itself on the heights of Lime-ridge. Canada had 40,000 volunteers in the field, covering her exposed borders, and two columns at once hastened against the invaders. The w^eaker of these, numbering but 900 men, and mainly composed of the Queen's Own Regiment, the flower of the youth of Toronto, came into collision with the Fenian forces, and, after a gallant skirmish, was thrown into confusion by the unskilful conduct of the commander, and broke into a panic-stricken Toronto.] BELLEVUE AND OTHER ESTATES. 121 retreat. On the same day the invading mob fell back to the Niagara, pursued by British infantry, and crossed into the United States by night. A little way westward of College Avenue is Beverley House, once the home of Sir John Robinson, and afterwards of Lord Sydenham, Governor-General of the Canadas in 1839-41. Opposite stood Caer-Howell, the estate of Chief Justice Powell. Near by is the mansion in which was bom Colonel Dunn, who received the Victoria Cross for gallant conduct at Balaclava, in the ill-fated but glorious cavalry charge, and who died in Abyssinia, during the campaign against King Theodore. The next estate was long the home of Colonel Fitzgibbon, who, after many campaigns, became one of the Military Knights at Windsor Castle. Farther westward was the Belle vue estate, originally the home of Major Littlehales, a distin- guished military officer and explorer, and afterwards pertaining to the martial family of Denison, one of whose members has written the best extant treatise on " Modern Cavalry,^' receiving for the same a great reward from the Czar of Russia, although in competition with many famous military writers of Europe. Nearly adjacent is Oakhill, formerly the mansion of Major-General Shaw, of Tordarroch in Strathnairn, and for a time the sojourning-place of the Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria's father. The next estate belonged to the illustrious French-Canadian, Colonel Bouchette, and passed from his possession to that of Colonel Givins, Superintendent of Indian affairs for many years. Go- vernor Gore was a frequent visitor at this hospitable house. Nearer the open country were the homes of Captain MacNab, a Canadian officer, who fell at Waterloo; Mr. B. Hallowell, father of Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell, K.C.B.; Colonel Walter O'Hara, who bore many wounds inflicted by the French in the Peninsular campaigns; and many another founder of the Western Empire and hero of Old-World wars. A part of the estate originally granted to Doctor Macaulay, Surgeon of the Queen's Rangers (and father of Sir James Macaulay, and Colonel Macaulay of the Engineers), 66 ST James's chubch. 12a CITIES OF THE WORLD. , [Toronto. is now occupied by the quiet close of Trinity Square^ a secluded bay near to the great currents of Yonge Street, recalling some of the London Inns of Court. The square is surrounded with buildings, in one of which Dr. Scadding wrote his charming and volu- minous recollections, . entitled " Toronto of Old ; " and in its centre stands Trinity Church, erected and endowed in 1846 from funds given for the purpose to Longley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Among the clergy who have officiated at Trinity were Scoresby, the celebrated Arctic navigator, and Selwyn, afterwards Bishop of New Zealand (and subsequently of Lichfield). Lord Elgin was one of its communicants, before he went to China and India. Another part of the Macaulay estate descended to Captain Elmsley, son of the chief justice of that name, who afterwards became a convert to the Church of Rome, and esta- blished thereon a convent and college of Basilian monks, still in successful operation. The first St. Jameses Church was a plain wooden building, standing in a grove of ancient forest trees, and dating from 1803. Here the troops of the garrison used to attend Divine service; and the pews were occupied by the little world of Toronto, headed by Sir Peregrine Maitland, commander of the 1st Foot Guards at Waterloo, and son-in-law (by elopement) of the Duke of Richmond. Maitland's successor in the stately canopied pew was Sir John Colborne, who was with Sir John Moore when he died — had his shoulder shattered by a cannon-ahot at Ciudad Rodrigo — led the 52nd at Waterloo — became Lord Seaton — was Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands — and is commemorated by a noble bronze statue at Plymouth. Mr. Jeune, who used to accompany Sir John^s sons to the pew at St. James's (he being their tutor), was afterwards famous as Master of Pembroke College (Oxford) and Bishop of Lincoln. Here the Miltonian face of Dr. Strachan, the first Bishop of Toronto, appeared for more than half a century, while below him the Old-Country village clerks mouthed the responses, or led the singing with their deep bassoons. The judges and professional men, and many of the wealthy merchants of Toronto, with the officers of the garrison and the elite of the town's society, made St. James's their spiritual shrine for many years. Several times the church was destroyed by fire, only to rise up again in greater beauty. The present edifice is a stately and spacious pile of English-Gothic architecture, in the busiest part of the city, but happily secluded among tall old trees. The spire is 316 feet in height, and contains a great illuminated clock (brought from the Vienna Exposition) and a peal of bells, whose melodies awaken the tenderest home memories. There are upwards of 70 churches in the city, of which 18 are Episcopalian, 17 Methodist, 11 Presbyterian, and 8 Roman Catholic. St. Andrew's is the favourite church of the Presbyterians, and the chief Methodist congregation meets in the high-towered and ornate Metropolitan Church. Near the latter is the Decorated-Gothic Cathedral of St. Michael, with a peculiarly graceful spire, 250 feet high. This is the church of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, under whose care are the House of Providence, the Loretto Abbey, the Convent of the Most Precious Blood, and other religious and charitable institutions. On the western side of the city are several notable public institutions — the great Provincial Lunatic Asylum, of white brick, surrounded by 200 acres of ornamental gardens Toronto, i THE FUTUKE OF TOKONTO. 123 and shrubbery; the Crystal Palace, in which the famous annual expositions are held; the frowning- walls of the Central Prison; and the Emigrant Sheds connected with the Grand Trunk Railway. On the shore of the harbour are the Old and New Forts, neither of which is (or needs to be) formidable from a military point of view. Among the British regiments which have been stationed at the Old Fort were the 1st, 15th, 32nd, 40th, 41st, 42nd, 68th, and 79th. The lines of white-stone barracks, the broad parade-ground, the grassy ramparts and crumbling walls still remain, but the natty infantrymen and aristocratic young officers of the Royal army are seen here no more. During the last war between Britain and the United States, an American fleet ap- peared off Toronto, and landed a body of troops on the beach. After a severe cannonade between the ships and the shore-batteries, the American infantry carried the outer line of works by storm, and were about to assault the main battery, when a burning slow- match exploded the outer magazine, and literally blew the head of the column to pieces. The whole district was shaken as if by an earthquake ; and 232 soldiers of the attacking- column, including General Pike, its commander, were killed or wounded. Barbarous though this act was, it did not prevent the Americans from occupying the fort and town, where they captured 293 militiamen. During the engagement, the garrison lost 149 men ; and 350 of the invaders were killed or wounded. The Parliament House was burned, and great quantities of supplies and artillery were placed on the ships ;\ and four days later the fleet sailed away to new scenes of conflict. Two months afterwards, the town was again captured, and eleven British transports and six cannon were seized. The days of invasions and rumours of war have happily passed away, and in this prosperous reign of peace and prosperity, the citizens take ample time for amusement, for which both the means and the inclination are always ready. For the evenings, they have the two opera-houses, the theatre, the concerts at the Horticultural Gardens ; and for pleasant days they have the cricket-ground, and the park where the three local clubs play Lacrosse, the national game of Canada. In winter, the Curling Club amuses itself on the firm ice of the harbour; in summer, the swift vessels of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club cruise up and down the lake. It will be remembered, also, that this city is the home of Hanlan, who, despite a few defeats, has so often vanquished his American, British, and colonial antagonists. Though not the greatest of the Canadian cities, Toronto is the most hopeful, the most enterprising, and feels the ambition of Western progress to the fullest degree. The convenience of its site, the beauty of its streets and public buildings, and the intelligent activity of its people, prefigure a great future for the capital of Ontario, when the broad domains to the north and west shall have been occupied by a dense and industrious population. Here are the waiting acres of virgin soil; the happy colonists of the future are raj^idly coming in from over-seas. Of the vast Canadian Dominion, larger than Australia, and nearly as large as Europe, the metropolis is Montreal and the capital is Ottawa. Three hundred miles to the west- ward of these is Toronto, the chief city of the Province of Ontario, whose people are of British origin; and nearly two hundred miles to the eastward is Quebec, the capital of the Province of Quebec, in which the French race far predominates. Toronto is 124 CITIES OF THE WORLD. tQuehec. ricli in enterprise, modern splendour, and hope ; its sister-city, five hundred miles to the eastward, is distinguished for its piety, picturesque antiquity, and history. One city, the Chicago of the East, builds railways and University halls ; the other, the Nuremberg of the West, repairs her mouldering convents and mediaeval towers. In all things, save their common loyalty to Britain, the two communities are antithetical. QUEBEC. Quebec, the Gibraltar of America, occupies a site nearly triangular in form, w^ith the St. Lawrence river on one side, the St. Charles on another, and a line of martello towers on the third, guarding the approaches from the Plains of Abraham. A high rocky promontory advances towards the confluence of the rivers, and supports on its crest the great churches and convents, public buildings and barracks, the fortress-walls and citadel of the Upper Town, perched on the heights like the nest of a sea-bird, proud, heroic, and renowned. On the narrow strands between the waters and the bases of the cliffs are the busy commercial streets of the Lower Town, with their dingy shops and warehouses, their markets and other civic institutions, and the practical activities which go to support the great piece of historic bric-a-brac, the shred of the Middle Ages, on the rocks overhead. The population of the city reaches about 78,000, mainly descendants of the ancient immigrants from the northern provinces of France, with newspapers, shop- signs, and a great body of literature in their own language. The adventurers who came hither were mainly Normans. The peasants of Poitou and Anjou sought the rich farming lands to the eastward; but the descendants of Rollo's sea-kings preferred to make their homes hard by the Great River of Canada, in comparison with which their own Seine was but a summer brook. For this St. Lawrence, over which Quebec stands guard, is one of the noblest rivers in the world. Pilots say that there are no soundings until 150 miles upward from its mouth. It rises in the greatest lake (Superior) in the world; thunders over the most majestic falls (Niagara) ; and drains a basin of a million square miles, containing half of the fresh water on the earth. Quebec is 180 miles below Montreal, and the average breadth of the stream between the two cities is two miles. Below Quebec it widens rapidly, being 11 miles across at Riviere du Sud, 25 miles at the Paps of Matane, and 96 miles at its mouth. The salt tides ascend for 432 miles. A single one of its tributaries, the Ottawa, contains more water than all the rivers in Great Britain, were they flowing in one. The chief business at Quebec is connected with timber, vast quantities of which are brought down the river every year, and exported on European vessels. Ship-building is carried on to some extent; and other manufactures exist, but rather feebly. A Govern- ment railway connects the city with Montreal ; and another line is being constructed towards Lake St. John, near the lonely head-waters of the Saguenay. Across the St. Lawrence is the terminal station of the Grand Trunk Railway, for Upper Canada and the West, and for the Maritime Provinces on the Atlantic, and the ports of New England. But, with all her advantages of position, Quebec may almost be called decadent. Real estate is declining in value, and the boundaries of the town encroach but slowly on the adjacent THK CITADKJ, AND liAMPARTS OF QUEBKC. 126 - CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. country. It would not be in the fitness of things if it were otherwise. There are more- than enough bustling, prosperous, and enterprising cities in America; and when the I'rench of Cardinal liichelieu^s time reproduced one of their grand old chivalric-monastic com- munities on this lone rock, high up towards the icy North (" as ii," in the words of an English visitor, "an ancient Norman fortress of two centuries ago had been encased. in amber, transported by magic to Canada, and placed on the summit of Cape Diamond"), it is well that prosy utilitarianism of the age of steam shall leave it in peace, like an edition, of Scott's novels bound in limestone and gun-metal, or a petrifaction of the illuminated pages of the Chronicles of the Cid. Among these rocks and towers, and convent-chimes,, America, the child of the new life which is throbbing in the world, can retire to consider the mediaeval era, the days of the Grand 31o7iarqtie, the customs and thoughts of Cluny :uid Caudebec. Quebec is therefore the show-city of the Western continent — the shrine of countless pilgrimages from remote regions. It bears the same relation to America that Chester does to England, Avignon to France, Nuremberg to Germany, Perugia to Italy. Every summer thousands of Americans journej^ northward to refresh their spirits, weary of commerce and utilitarianism, with the contemplation of strange forms of alien civilisation, romantic reminiscences of history, architecture which siiggests the era of the buccaneers, natural scenery of unsurpassed beauty, and a climate full of tonic and bracing life. The revenues of Quebec are materially increased by these annual influxes of dollars, and the increasing crowds of holiday Americans are welcomed by those considerable classes of the population who are connected with the hotels, shops, and public oarriages. The Citadel of Quebec, the cfown of this beautiful antique city, is an immense and powerful fortress, covering forty acres of ground, much higher than the Upper Town, and 345 feet above the St. Lawrence river. It is founded on the dark slaty rocks of Cape Diamond ; and the limpid quartz-crystals which give name to the locality may still be picked up in the vicinity. Since the evacuation of Canada by the Imperial troops, the works have been garrisoned by a company of Canadian artillerists, whose main duty it is to conduct wondering tourists about the strong walls, in the hope of receiving re- publican silver. The Citadel is separated from the Upper Town by a wide sloping glacis, broken by ravelins, and cut through by a winding road from near the DufPerin Gate. Just before this stone-encased road enters the great outer moat, it passes the curious Chain Gate, and then crosses a narrow triangular space under the frowning guns of the Dalhousie Bastion, and approaches the main portal. Within are barracks, magazines, bomb-proof hospitals, armouries, and other grim paraphernalia of a fortress. Standing on the northern bastion, near the great Armstrong gun which commands the river for leagues, one of the most magnificent views in the world is outspread before the visitor, including the broad expanse of the St. Lawrence, the spires and towers of Quebec, the white walls of Beauport, Lorette, and other distant French hamlets, the garden-plains of the Isle of Orleans, the Laurentian Mountains, and the remote blue peaks of Vermont. In the days of Froissart, it was said that '' everie fayre towne hath strong high walls ; " but this is the only town of America which possesses such a defence. Tourists from i the United States, whose fortresses are hidden away on remote promontories and islands, and whose army is but a nomadic frontier police, ramble along these walls as if they were Quebec] THE ANCIENT RAMPARTS. 1£7 rslovvly turning the pages of an ancient black-letter book, or a chronicle of the Crusades, and dream of the siege of Jerusalem or the Wars of the Roses. As one of their own writers (Thoreau) said : — " In the armoury of the Citadel they showed me a clumsy implement, long since useless, which they called a Lombard gun. I thought that their whole Citadel was such a Lombard gun — fit object for the museums of the curious. Silliman states that the cold is so intense in the winter nights on Cape Diamond, that the sentinels cannot stand it more than one hour. I shall never again wake up on a colder night than usual but I shall think how rapidly the sentinels are relieving one another on the walls of Quebec, their quicksilver being all frozen, as if apprehensive that some hostile Wolfe may •even then be scaling the Heights of Abraham, or some persevering Arnold about to emerge from the wilderness : some Malay or Japanese, perchance, coming round by the north-west ■coast, have chosen that moment to assault the Citadel. Why, I should as soon expect to see the sentinels still relieving one another on the walls of Nineveh, which have so long been buried to the world. What a troublesome thing a wall is ! I thought it was to defend me, and not I it. Of course, if they had no walls, they would not need to have any sentinels.^^ The requirements of modern warfare have rendered the local fortifications of little avail as a means of covering the city from destruction ; and the real defences are the three great detached forts on the distant heights of Point Levi, armed with British artillery of heavy •calibre. Surveys and plans have been made for another group of forts near Sillery, to protect the western approaches, as the Point Levi works command those on the south. With these lines fairly garrisoned, and a brace of ironclads from the Channel Fleet in the harbour, Quebec would be as impregnable as she was in 1775. Let us follow the circuit of the ancient ramparts, which still surround the Upper Town (with but few slight breaks), as if they were the rocky girdle of a Western Chester or Berwick-on-Tweed. For a long way from the Citadel they are high and beetling, frowning across their deep moats upon the Plains of Abraham, and with smooth grassy slopes toward the town. Then the very picturesque and many-towered Dufferin Gate appears, over-arching the aristocratic St. Louis Street, and occupying the site of the ancient St. Louis Gate, whose defences were removed in 1871. The clear-cut masonry of this portal attests how recent was the victory of sestheticism over the local Philistines. Beyond Dufferin Gate the wall is high and formidable, and the broad grassy space of the Esplanade, encumbered with old guns, separates it from the town. The curving line of bastions is broken by a street lately cut through, to allow the Frenchmen of the extra-mural Montcalm Ward to comfortably enter towards the Basilica and the Market Place. Here is the new Kent Gate, erected by Queen Victoria, as a memorial of her distinguished fathe^ the Duke of Kent, whose name was so closely connected with that of Quebec. It is a work of considerable architectural beauty, with picturesque Norman turrets and battle- ments of masonry, and deep-cut arrow-slits. The high embrasured wall may be followed from this point to the massive arches of St. John's Gate, through which the chief business street of the Upper Town passes out upon the plateau beyond towards St. Foy. This gate was built in 1869, on the site of the one before which Montcalm received his death- wound while rallying the defeated regiments of France. When the Americans attacked Quebec, one 128 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. of their corps, under Colonel Brown_, fruitlessly assaulted the walls in this vicinity. For a- considerable distance beyond St. John's Gate, the ramparts are closely bordered by the long buildings of the Artillery barracks, some of which were erected by the French garrison in 1750. They are now silent and deserted, and the rank Canadian grass rustles around cannon that once woke the echoes of the Rhineland, or thundered hotly over the waves at Aboukir. The ragged lawns and dusty dilapidation of the barracks extend to the opening of Palace Gate, through which a steep street descends to the Lower Town. The gate itself Ji lSFHRhNC P.S. \. Mar net Place. 2.y} rsenal &■ Barra(ks. j.Pflst Office. A.Prestott Gate. SSevii'Ktry of Quebec. d.Pitlnce .'ilreet. T. Rampart. 8.St. Joktii Church. 9. A ri hit shop's Pa/ace. lO.Champtaiu Halt &■ Market. I'jpo.LldtivgCo.tlel.v PLAN OF QUEBEC. was removed in 1873, to gratify the demon of modern progress. From this point the walls sweep along the edge of the crag on which Quebec is built — neither high nor thick, but as secure as the ramparts of Gibraltar. A street and promenade follow their course, with the Hotel Dieu and its enclosed gardens on one side, and on the other the loopholes and embrasures of the fortress. Here and there are little bastions, containing one or two long iron guns and sundiy benches — favourite resorts of the townsfolk, who from these airy look-outs can survey a fourth part of Lower Canada. This view has been thus characterised by Mr. Howells, the eminent American novelist : — '' Over the top of the wall it had such a stretch of landscape as I know not what European sti'eet can command : the St. Lawrence, blue and wide ; a bit of the white village of Beauport on its bank ; then a vast breadth of Q,uebec.J DUFFERIN TERRACE. 12S pale green upward-sloping meadows; then the purple heights; and the hazy heaven above them." From the side of the town narrow streets run out to the Rampart, their wooden footways and rugged stone pavings spotlessly clean, and the closely impinging houses of grey-stone wearing an air of mingled quaintness, sobriety, and pride. Anon the rambler reaches the unsightly gap occupying the place of the ancient Hope Gate, which stood until few years ago — a delicious bit of military architecture, its masonry blackened with age, and the timbers of the gate garnished with ponderous iron- work. The Street of the Holy Family runs thence inward to the cathedral-square, and another street zigzags down the cliff to the Lower Town. The next reach of the Ram- part promenade runs between the lofty buildings of Laval University and the cliff-crowning defences, and terminates at the Grand Battery, where a long line of venerable 32-pounders glower down over the harbour, as if watching for the upward sailing of a fleet of hostile three-deckers of France, still bearing the white flag of the Bourbons at their mast-heads, and with the lace- adorned nobles of the ancien regime on their quarter-decks. Beyond the Grand Battery, the buildings and gardens of the Parlia- ment House occupy an angle of the fortifications where the crag juts out towards the river, and close to the site of the Prescott Gate. The last reach of the wall runs nearly parallel with the St. Lawrence, and terminates at the glacis of the Citadel. It has been converted into a broad pro- menade, enrailed at the verge of the precipice, and dotted with pretty little pax il ions, under and about which are benches for the accommodation of visitors. This is the famous Dufferin Terrace, where the leisurely burghers gather to enjoy the cool summer breeze, and to see the sun set behind the purple mountains beyond Chateau Richer and St. Ferreol, over the rich meadows of the Cote de Beaupre. Toward the Upper Town are the Place d'Armes (which should now be called the Place des Fiacres), reaching to the English Cathedral; the old Chateau, which was erected in 1779 for the British Governors, and has found a successor in an immense modern hotel; and the umbrageous shades of the Governor's Garden, adorned by a lofty monument to the memory of the rival generals, Wolfe and Montcalm. This magnanimous shaft bears the following inscription, remarkable for its elegant Latinity : — Mortem. Vihtcs. Communem. Famam. Historia. monumentcm. p08terita8. Dedit. 67 OLD FRENCH HOUSE. 130 CITIES or THE WORLD. [Quelec The Duft'erin Terrace occupies in part the site of the ancient Chateau St. Louis^ erected by Champlain in 1620^ and sheltering, behind its ponderous stone walls, the appointments of a fortress, a prison, and a palace for the French Governors. This was the seat of a vast sovereignty, reaching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson^s Bay across the great western lakes and through the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf of Mexico and the frontiers of New Spain. Many a night wore away here in vigils and plottings, while the nobles and gentrj^ of France sought means to extend their power farther and farther into the unknown West, and to extirpate the feeble growths of British power which were fixing themselves along the rocky coasts of New England. The prospect afforded to the loungers on the Terrace is full of profound and varied interest. Far below are the sag-roofed and ancient houses of the Lower Town, with their quaint dormer-windows, labyrinths of clothes-lines, light wooden bridges from house-top to house-top, monumental chimneys and massy coigns, all huddled close against the moist rocks of the precipice, as if needing such sturdy support in their squalid old age. For it is squalid, although with the picturesque and indolent uncleanness of the Neapolitan streets, rather than the irredeemable frowsiuess of Anglo-American poverty. The space between the cliff and the river is so narrow that some of the streets are nothing more than the least of lanes, bordered by houses of great height, and evenly floored with timber. Beyond is the broad and rapid St. Lawrence, with great ships at anchor or beating up the stream; long ocean-steamships from Liverpool and Glasgow ; queer little coasting craft from the French ports toward Gaspe and the Saguenay ; Scandinavian ships, laden with the lumber which floats down hither in enormous rafts ; and the little ferry-boats running to and from the adjacent river-villages. It is a bird's-eye view, for the tallest mast-heads are below the feet of the gazer. Beyond the silvery levels of the St. Lawrence are the populous heights of Point Levi, and the alternating forests and fields of the Isle of Orleans, with its white hamlets — named after the saints — glittering in the sunlight. Eastward stretch the Beauport plains, crossed by an unbroken band of Norman farm-houses, knotting themselves together into little hamlets here and there, their high-spired churches clearly outlined in the crystal- line air, and bounded by the dark mountains, which are also the last frontiers of civilisation in that direction. Beyond are a few rude French settlements, and the vast wilds which extend to Hudson's Bay, and are traversed only by the tireless Indian hunters. And the wonder of the prospect is that it is gained, not from some lone mountain-top, but from the heart of a populous and ancient Christian city, and from the ramparts of a fortress of the first class. It has been likened to the views from Gibraltar, Edinburgh, Innspruck, and Cintra ; and if they are worthy of the comparison their sites must be very noble and airy. It is not too much, then, that Sir Charles Dilke has said : '' There is not in the world a nobler outlook than that from the Terrace at Quebec;'' that Eliot Warburton wrote: ^'Take mountain and jolain, sinuous river and broad tranquil waters, stately ship and tiny boat, gentle hill and shady valley, bold headland and rich fruitful fields, frowning battlement and cheerful villa, glittering dome and rural spire, flowery garden and sombre forest — group them all into the choicest picture of ideal beauty your fancy can create — you will then have seen Quebec;" that Thoreau says: ''Too much has not been said about t];o scenery of Quebec. The fortifications of Cape Diamond are omnipresent ; " that Marmirr Quebec.] ITS HISTORY. 131 expresses his belief that "few cities offer so many striking contrasts. A fortress and a commercial city together, built upon the summit of a rock like the nest of an eagle, while her vessels are everywhere wrinkling the surface of the ocean; an American city inhabited by French colonists, governed by England, and garrisoned by Scotch regiments ; a European city by its civilisation and its habits of refinement, and still close by the remnant of the Indian tribes and the barren mountains of the North.^' The history of Quebec is full of the profoundest fascination, but scant justice can be done to it in a brief outline, which must ignore hundreds of acts of devotion, of valour, and of romantic chivalry. Its very name is a mystery. Some believe that it is derived from the Indian word Kebec, signifying "a strait,^' and applied to the narrowing of the St. Lawrence off Cape Diamond. Others think that it was named in loving remembrance of Caudebec, on the Seine, to which its natural features bear a magnified resemblance; and show that William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk in the fifteenth century, bore on his seal the title of Lord of Quebec. Suffolk had large estates in France, and became the conqueror of Joan of Arc; but was impeached and put to death for causing the loss of the English provinces on the Continent (as related by Shakspere, in King Henri/ VI., Part II., Act iv.). The popular account, however, of the origin of the name of the Canadian Gibraltar tells of the astonished cry of the French explorers on first seeing Cape Diamond, '' Q^nel bee!" (What a beak!), which by an easy elision became Quebec. It was in May of the year 1535 that Jacques Cartier gathered his high-born officers and fearless sailors in the Cathedral of St. Malo, where, after attending mass, they received the bishop's blessing, and then departed over the unknown western seas. The largest vessel of the fleet was only 120 tons burden ; but they crossed the ocean safely, and ascended tV.e broad St. Lawrence, past the dark Saguenay gorges, and the vine-laden shores of the Isle of Orleans. The savages told Cartier of the river that "it goes so far that no man hath ever been to the end;'' and he reported it to be "the greatest river, without comparison, that is known to have ever been seen."" At Quebec he found an Indian village named Stadacone, governed by King Donnacona ; above which a vast lone promontory thrust its beetling front into the rushing river. Cartier sailed up to the site of Montreal, leaving at Quebec a colony of Frenchmen, many of whom died in their little fort during the long and bitter winter. When the spring time came again, and the icy bonds of the river were broken, Cartier abandoned the rude and melancholy cantonment by Cape Diamond and sailed away to France, bearing with him the barbarian king and several of his chiefs. A few months later, and Donnacona was baptised with great pomp, in the Cathedral of Rouen; and a few months more, he and his forest-lords were dead. After five years had ]iassed, Cartier reached Quebec once more, and built new forts, but the natives viewed the colonists with just suspicion, and the whole company soon returned to La Belle France. It was not until 1608 that the noble Champlain sailed up the river, and founded the city, at the base of the majestic cliffs which have since been so richly endowed with heroic memories. Soon the Franciscans came, and then the Jesuits ; and the consecrated priests entered upon their century's labour of Christianising the Hurons, while the men-at-arms were busy in fighting the Iroquois and the New England men. The little town had been founded only twenty years, when Sir David Kirke attacked it with an English fleet, and 133 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. was handsomely beaten off. Nevertheless he came yet again^ and with full success; and the town remained under English colours for three years^ after which it was restored to France. The second Governor was Charles de Montmagny^ a brave and devout Knight of Malta^ whom the hostile Iroquois entitled Onontio (The Great Mountain). The military and monastic colonies along the Great River of Canada still lacked an important element of increase and progress, and this the King of France supplied by sending over a thousand young women — une marchandise melee {" mixed goods ") the abbess maliciously styled them — including buxom peasant-girls for the average colonists, and Norman ladies {demoiselles bien choisies) for the officers and gentlemen. In order to dispose of these cargoes of beauty, handsome dowries were provided, and the colonial bachelors were excluded by law from trading, fishing, and hunting, and received distinguishing *^^ marks of infamy;^' while the French Crown offered bounties for large families of children. The governmental impulse thus given was effective ; and Sir Charles Dilke is within bounds when he says : " There has been no dying out of the race among the French Canadians. They number twenty times the thousands that they did a hundred years ago. The American soil has left their physical type, religion, language, and laws absolutely untouched. They herd together in their rambling villages, dance to the fiddle after mass on Sundays — as gaily as once did their Norman sires — and keep up the jlewr-de-lys and the memory of Montcalm. More French than the French are the Lower Canada habitans. The pulse-beat of the continent finds no echo here.^' There have been terrible echoes, however, thrown back from the scarped front of the mighty promontory of Quebec. It was in 1690 that Sir William Phipps ascended the St. Lawrence with a strong fleet, and summoned the town to surrender. But the fiery Count de Frontenac hurled back defiance, and opened upon the hostile ships with good, weighty, solid shot, so that the unhappy invaders lost several of their best vessels, and many a fair New England youth was buried in the deep river. Twenty years more of Belenda est (Quebec were heard in Old England and New England; and then Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker sailed away to take the Papist fortress, with fifteen ships of war, forty transports, and five thousand veteran soldiers. But while this armada was ascending towards the town, a mighty storm fell upon it, and many of the vessels were dashed to pieces upon the dreary Egg Islands, where nearly nine hundred gallant veterans of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde perished miserably. The disheartened admiral led his shattered expedition back, without even seeing the water-girt towers of Quebec. Nearly fift}^ years elapsed before Wolfe gallantly attacked and won the city and its provinces. By the Treaty of Paris, Canada was ceded to England; and the cynical Voltaire congratulated Louis XV. on being rid of "^^,500 leagues of frozen country.''^ These northern campaigns had cost England £80,000,000 ; and the indirect loss was still more formidable, since the revolt of the American colonies was provoked by the taxation imposed upon them to cover the deficit thus caused in the Treasury. An episode of this revolt brought Quebec once more before the attention of the world. In the winter of 1775-6 an American army laid siege to the town, which was then com- manded by General Guy Carleton (afterwards Lord Dorchester). Montreal had fallen; the river-ports were in hostile hands; and only the high walls of Quebec remained to uphold the power of Britain in Canada. They merited the trust. "Quebec ] THE DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. 133 The light artillery of the invaders could make no impression on the massive ramparts; and Montgomery, the American commander (who had been an officer in Wolfe's army), ordered an assault in force. During a furious snowstorm, at two o'clock on the last morning of the year, the troops left their camps on the Plains of Abraham in two columns, intending to carry the Lower Town from opposite sides, and then to unite and force Prescott Gate. Arnold's division, after terrible fighting, stormed two barricades, and was about to assail Hope Gate, when a powerful sortie of British troops burst out through Palace Gate, and fell upon its rear. The Virginians and New Englanders of this column had already suffered serious losses by a protracted and galling fire from the stone houses of Sault au Matelot, and the sortie of fresh troops completed their discomfiture. Many of THE ESPLANADE. them surrendered, and the rearward companies retreated in disorder. In the meantime, the other division, composed largely of men of New York, and led by General Montgomery in person, ad- vanced slowly over the great snow-drifts towards a barricade which stretched from Cape Diamond to the St. Law- rence. Here about fifty Canadian militia and British seamen awaited them, with lighted matches and guns charged with grape-shot, so silently that the a?sailants supposed the post tmdefended. When the great masses of the charging column became visible through the night and storm, the cannon of the barricade opened upon them at forty paces' distance. Montgomery and his two aides were instantly killed, and the head of the column was blown into the air. The remainder of the division fell back in panic, and left their forlorn hope to be buried by the fast-falling snow under the black crags of Cape Diamond. The Americans re-occupied their old camps, and blockaded the city for four months, giving it an occasional bom- MABZET-PLACE. 134 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. bardment; but General Burgojne came up the river in May, and drove them out oi Canada. During- the Governor-Generalship of Lord Dufferin, extensive improvements were made in the beauty and attractiveness of the Upper Town. The noble earl once spoke of Quebec as '' the one city on this continent which preserves the romantic characteristics of its early origin — a city the picturesqueness of whose architecture and war-scathed environments pre- sents a spectacle unlike any other which is to be found between Cape Horn and the North Pole.''^ Among the new works projected by Lord Dufferin were the bridging- of the open spaces, where streets j^assed through the walls, with light viaducts of stone or iron, to preserve the continuity of the fortifications; the erection of groups of Norman turrets, of medieval form, along the walls and at the gates ; the opening of a boulevard around and contiguous to the entire line of circumvallation ; and the construction of the Chfiteau St. Louis, a Norman and Elizabethan castle-palace, on the Citadel, to revive the ancient splen- dours of the capital of New France, and be an official residence of the Canadian Governors- (ieneral. The expenses of these constructions were to be borne by the municipality and the Dominion Government. Some parts of the scheme have already been carried out, and others will be undertaken at no distant day. The Upper Town — that part of Quebec which is on the summit of the cliffs, and within the walls — groups itself around a central Place, on one of whose sides stands the archi- episcopal church. The Basilica of Quebec is the most sacred (though not the largest) of the Roman Catholic churches of Canada ; and the sound of its bells at morning and evening- may be heard by a vast constituency of pious Ultramontane Christians. As a piece of architecture, it is conspicuously homely and shapeless, without and within ; nor is the heavy aspect of the interior greatly relieved by the notable pictures^ attributed to Van Dyck, Carlo Maratti, Plaraondon, and other eminent artists, which adorn the chapels. (It should be said, episodically, that these paintings, and many others of equal value now to be found in Canada, were bought in France, at the time when the Revolution had stripped the churches and convents of their choicest treasures of art.) Among the illustrious dead whose tombs honour the Basilica is Champlain, the French naval officer of gentle birth, who explored the American coasts and lakes for about thirty years, founded Quebec, and became Canada's first Governor. He it was who said that ''the salvation of one soul is of more importance than the founding of a new empire,^' and his life attested his belief in that principle. Another gallant noble whose bones now moulder under the cathedral was the Count de Frontenac, the Governor of Canada from 168S to 1698, known as one of the most famous of French courtiers, and a lover of the brilliant Madame de Montespan. Unhappily, he was also a married man; and his wife, the exquisitely beautiful Anne de la Grand-Trianon, whom men called '' The Divine,^' and whom Madame de Sevigne reckoned among her friends, took such serious umbrage at the affair with the Montespan, that even his ten years of exile in the Western mlderness failed to win her pity. When he died, his heart was enclosed in a leaden casket, and sent from Canada to her; but the proud countess refused to receive it, declaring that she would not have a dead heart which while living had not been hers. Another illustrious charge of the Basilica is the body of the noble Fran5ois de Montraorenci Quebsc] THE MAEKET SQUARE. 135 Laval, the first Roman Catholic Bishop o£ Canada^ in whose Veins ran the bluest blood of France; yet he found great joy in abandoning his country, and becoming an exile on these barbarian shores, for the love of the Church. In the year 1633 Champlain erected on this fine site the Church of Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, to commemorate the recovery of Canada by France. Thirty years later, the Pope sent out as a gift to the church the bones of two saints, Flavien and Felicite, which were borne into the building in great state, to the sound of martial music and the roaring of saluting batteries, escorted by the Marquis de Tracy, the valiant Courcelles, and the Intendant Talon, at the head of the royal guards. The main lines of the procession were formed by the Savoyard regiment of Carignan-Salieres, the famous veterans of the campaigns against Turkey. When the diocese of Quebec received its foundation, it was endowed with the revenues of the ancient abbeys of Maubec and Benevent, in order that it might the better carry on its important work of evangelising the savage tribes ; and in the same ship with Bishop Laval came the intrepid explorers of the great West, La Salle and Hennepin, who first made known to the world the beauties and capabilities of the distant valley of the Mississippi. In the eyes of the Puritan colonies to the south- east, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was a gloomy fortress of superstition and Papistry ; but the wandering Hurons of the north-west regarded it as a fountain of mysterious light. In 1759, Wolfe^s batteries, raining fire and iron upon the devoted city from the cliffs beyond the river, effected the destruction of the cathedrat. The 200th anniversary of the foundation of the diocese (the year 1874) was celebrated with splendid ceremonies. The streets were adorned with triumphal arches ; the houses received brilliant decorations of banners and festooned greenery; and many thousands of Catholics, from all parts of Canada, took part in the processions. At that time the Pope conferred upon Notre Dame the title of Basilica, a term of greater dignity and honour than that of cathedral. In the rear of this structure stands the spacious palace of the archbishop, surrounded by quiet gardens and shady shrubbery. The Market Square is the centre of life in the Upper Town, and stretches along the front of the Basilica, and across to the site of the ancient buildings of the Jesuits. On the upper side is a row of antiquated stone buildings, occupied in part by merchants; and on the lower side stand the smart modern shops of the Rue Fabrique, with their provincially brilliant windows, and a sluggish movement of small trade. Early in the morning, on a market-day, this antique square affords one of the most interesting and refreshing spectacles in America, when hundreds of peasants from the adjacent French seigniories bring in and, expose for sale the products of their farms, covering the open area with their baskets and booths. The methods of farming practised on some of the remoter seigniorial farms are not far advanced from those celebrated by Virgil in the Georgics ; and their peasantry afford models worthy the attention of a Western Millet. Starting before even the dawn oi summer has touched the dark east, these Gaulish farmers turn inward toward Quebec from the Tyrolese glens of the Laurentides, the delicious rich plains of the Isle of Orleans, the meadows of St. Joachim, the gardens of Cap Rouge, and at early morning are bandying arguments with the housekeepers and servants of the city as to the value and quality of their vegetables. 136 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. The Arcadian serenity of the Upper Town squares on a summer day is endangered by but one circumstance. Let that unmistakable individual, eager o£ eye and nervous in movement, the tourist from the United. States, enter upon the scene, and the charm of drowsy repose is broken ; a score of vociferous cabbies close around the intruder, the well-worn horses prick up their ears, and such a din arises as might be heard almost from Cap Rouge to Cap Tourmente. It seems that nothing less than murder can be the aim of that vehement throng, yet when the object of this wild rush emerges, he rides off in state, and the successful driver is pursued by a volley of inscrutable Franco- Celtic jokes. Up and down the steep and narrow streets dash the singular vehicles called caleches,. the Canadian variety of the hansom, wonderfully sliabby and rickety two- wheeled carriages, with the driver sitting on a narrow ledge in front of the pas- sengers, and urging forward his tough and homely little horse by frequent cries of " 3Iarche clone!" Opposite the Basilica stood the ex- tensive pile of buildings formerly occu- pied as the convent and college of the Jesuits. The disciples of Loyola founded their first schools in Quebec in 1637, and nine years later these buildings brighter pages than those which record Some of the choicest spirits of France CALECHE, OR CANADIA:^ HANSOM. were begun. The annals of religion have no the achievements of the Jesuits of this station. — many of her whitest saints — came hither on the great errand of mercy, and found the religious atmosphere of the place well-nigh celestial. Among their letters home such passages as these are frequent : — ^' In the climate of New France one learns perfectly to seek only God, to have no desire but God, no purpose but God.^^ "To live in New France is, in truth, to live in the bosom of God. ■'^ "If any one of those who die in this country goes to perdition, I think he will be doubly guilty.^' The delicate and sensitive scholars of the Sorbonne and the Propaganda plunged into the unexplored depths of the Canadian wilderness, to seek out and convert the bands of savages who roamed through those trackless deserts of forest. They were slain, tortured, martyred on every side, and yet, allured by beatific visions of the Virgin and the saints, crowns of glory, and garlands of immortal bliss, they advanced still deeper into the horrible wilds, and drew fresh and eager recruits from the banks of the Seine. When the bloodthirsty Iroquois swept over Canada, in 1647, the Superior of the Jesuits wrote : — "Do not imagine that the rage of the Iroquois, and the loss of many Christians and many catechumens, can bring to naught the mystery of the Cross of Jesus Christ and the efficacy of His blood. We shall die ; we shall be captured, burned, butchered : be it so. Those who die in their beds do not always die the best death.. Quebec.] LAVAL UNIVERSITY. 137 I see none of our company cast down/' This was the central principle o£ the life of early Canada, the spirit which founded and nurtured Quebec, the one sweet and pure thing in this misgoverned colony. The game was not worth the candle, doubtless, since a single Jean de Brebeuf or a Lalemant was worth a myriad of the red savages who slew these and scores of other missionaries. While the New England Puritans were destroying the Indians, root and branch, hip and thigh, the apostles of the North gathered the people of the same race into Christian villages, under the shadow of the Cross. The results were not commensurate with the endeavour; but, as the chief historian of French Canada says, the Indian, though a savage still, was not so often a devil. The centre of all this heroic era of evangelism, covering 2,000 miles of terri- tory, from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, was the great Latin couvent in the heart of Quebec, with its broad courts, high-arched portal, and yellow-stuccoed fa9ades, suggestive of the ancient religious houses of France or Italy. For over a century the Jesuits occupied it undisturbed; but General Murray turned them out in 1759, when Quebec was surrendered to the British ; and fifty years later, when the last survivor of the Jesuits was gathered to the company of his martyred brethren, the entire property reverted to the Crown. Until 1871, when Britain told Canada that she must walk alone, detachments of royal troops were quartered in the sequestrated buildings. A few years later the home of the Jesuits wa& levelled to the ground, and the site, with that of the connected gardens, now forms one of those singular and desolate empty spaces which are found so often in the Upper Town, like the broad fields within the walls of Rome, or the villas in Pisa. In 1881 new bands of Jesuits, expelled from France by order of the Government, reached Quebec, to carry on the work begun so long ago under the conditions of difficulty and discouragement to which allusion has been already made. At one corner of the great square, alongside the Cathedral, appear some of the buildings of the Seminary of Quebec, a far-extending group of such ecclesiastical edifices as old Norman and Tuscan towns possess, straggling picturesquely over several acres, with snug courtyards and immaculately neat halls, and controlled by grave and urbane priests. The chapel contains highly venerated relics of St. Clement and St. Modestus, and more than a dozen ancient religious pictures, by Philippe de Champagne, Parrocel d^ Avignon, and other famous French artists. In the first court is a great sun-dial, bearing the inscrip- tion : Lies Nostri Quasi Umbra. There are two divisions to this great school — Le Grand Seminaire, where young men are educated for the priesthood, and Le Petit Seminaire, de- voted to the instruction of boys. The peculiar scholastic uniforms of these lads form one oE the many diversities of the streets of Quebec. There are 400 students. The pious zeal of M. de Laval endowed the Seminary with great estates, more than 200 years ago; and among its early leaders were many wise and noble European scholars, from the cloisters of Paris and Rome, who came hither to pass their lives in serene and valiant self-denial and ceaseless toils. The consummate flower of culture in New France is Laval University, endowed by Pope Pius IX. with high privileges, and modelled on the processes of study at the University of Louvain, with Faculties of Law, Divinity, and Medicine. It occupies spacious buildings of cut stone, between the Seminary gardens and the ramparts which, crown, the edge of 58 138 CITIES OF THE WOELD. [Quebec. the cliffs^ conspicuous from the river for many leagues^ while the views from its windows include a vast panorama of bold and picturesque scenery. The wealth of the University is in its costly apparatus^ imported from Paris; the great mineral and crystal collections made by the Abbe Haiiy; the cabinets of Huron antiquities and Canadian zoology; the library^ with nearly 80^000 volumes; the picture gallery, containing many paintings by the old masters; and the great Hall of Convocation. It is but a few years since M. Rameau published, at Paris, his book entitled " La France aux Colonies/'' predicting that by the year 19£0 Lower Canada would be the home of five million French people, " the general and essential principle of whose material and intellectual power is in their religious faith, and in the simplicity of their manners,-*^ ameliorating the Anglo-American '^ impoverishment of intelligence and corruption of manners,^^ and enlightening the continent with Graeco-Latin science and art from the high walls of Laval University. This chosen race, if M. Rameau is not too sanguine, will be for ever illustrious for its culture '^ de Vesprit, la modestie des moew\i, la liberie, et la religion.'' Another of the strange old-world nooks of the Upper Town is the Ursuline Convent, founded in 1639 by Mother Marie de FIncarnation, '' the St. Teresa of her time,''^ who landed at Quebec amid salutes from the castle batteries, and immediately began her great mission of evangelising and educating the maidens of the Indian tribes. She mastered the languages of the Hurons and the Algonquins, and in her letters to France prepared one of the most valuable records of the early days of Canada. The buildings and their enclosed gardens now cover an area of seven acres, and are occupied by forty nuns, who teach the girls of Quebec, and also pro- duce choice works in embroidery and decorative painting, after the manner of nuns in general. The chapel of the convent contains a dozen or so of ancient religious paintings, from the studios of Restout, Philippe de Champagne, and other French masters ; and a collection of relics of the Christian martyrs, brought from the Roman catacombs. "When the British batteries were bombarding Quebec in 1759, a shell fell within the sacred enclosure of this chapel, and tore up the ground beneath ; and in this martial grave were laid the remains of the French commander- in-chief, "The High and Mighty Lord, Louis Joseph, Marquis of Montcalm.'-' There the bold soldier still rests, and over his tomb is the inscription : Honneur a Montcalm ! Le destin en liii derobant de la victoire I'a recompense par une mori glorieuse. Another great religious establishment of the Upper Town is the Hotel Dieu, occupying a wide area between Palace Street and the Rampart, with its spacious hospital buildings and gardens, and the convent in which two-score Hopitaliere nuns are cloistered. The chapel contains paintings by Le Sueur, Zurbaran, and other well-known painters. Here also is a life- size silver bust of Brebeuf, the Jesuit missionary and martyr, and in its pedestal his skull is preserved. It was in the year 1619 that the fierce Iroquois Indians stormed the village where Brebeuf had gathered his catechumens. He was bound to a stake, and scorched from head to foot ; they cut away his lower lip, and thrust a red-hot iron down his throat ; poured boiling water over his head and face, in demoniac mockery of baptism ; cut strips of flesh from his limbs, and ate them before his eyes ; tore the scalp from his head ; cut open his breast, and drank the living blood ; filled his eyes with live coals ; and after four hours of such bitter tor- ture, a chief tore out his heart and devoured it. '' Thus died Jean de Brebeuf, the founder of the Huron mission, its truest hero, and its greatest martyr. He came of a noble race — the same. Quebec.] THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL. 139 it is said, from which sprang the English Earls of Arundel ; but never had the mailed barons of his line confronted a fate so appalling with so prodigious a constancy. To the last ha refused to flinch, and his death was the astonishment of his murderers/' The bones of Lalemant, his colleague on the mission, who died after seventeen hours of unspeakable tortures, are also preserved in this convent. The Hotel Dieu was founded by the niece of Cardinal Richelieu, the celebrated Duchess d'Aguillon, as early as the year 1639 ; and some of its build- ings are of great antiquity. Tlie ancient site of the Recollets convent and gardens is now occupied by the great stone building of the Anglican Cathedral, erected by the British Government, and surmounted by a spire, from which the sweet music of a chime of bells floats over the Upper Town. Above the chancel hang the tattered old colours which the 69th Regiment carried in the Crimea ; and beneath the altar repose the remains of the Duke of Richmond, sometime Governor-General of Canada, who died in the year 1819. The communion-plate, altar- cloth, and books pertaining to the Cathedral were presented by King George III., who ap- pointed Dr. Mountain as first bishop of the new see of Quebec. The court-gossips say that this witty ecclesiastic once overheard the king expressing some doubts as to whom he had best appoint to the control of the diocese of Quebec. Up spake the reverend doctor, and said, " If your Majesty had faith, there would be no difficulty .'' " How so ? " queried the king. And the clergyman rejoined, " If you had faith, you would say to this Mountain, ' Be thou romoved into that see,' and it would be done.'' The story may be apocryphal, but at any rate Dr. Mountain was appointed Bishop of Quebec. The Post Office stands near the Prescott Gate, on the site of the Grand Place of the early French town, where the unfortunate Huron Indians encamped, to seek protection from the pitiless Iroquois under the guns of the fort. Exactly a hundred years ago, the beautiful Miss Prentice lived in this square, and here Nelson saw her, and became so desperately enamoured that it was found necessar\' to take him on shipboard by main force. If he had married this Canadian beauty, and left the British naval service, the record of Trafalgar might have been very different, and Napoleon, lord of the sea, might have possessed himself of all Europe. Near this historic square, where the hero-heart was made to suffer, even royal blood has been shed. When King William IV. was a young man, bearing the title of Duke of Clarence and the rank of a subaltern of the fleet, his ship was sent out to Quebec ; and the prince, rambling about on shore, became so bewitched with a fair Canadian girl that he followed her home. But her father was a man of spirit, and resented this insult so keenly that he gave- the young officer a sound horse-whipping. The very stones commemorate the remarkable incidents of this locality. A certain M. Philibert, who had suffered wrong from Bigot, the French Intendant, had an effigy of a dog carved on a large block of stone (which is now in the fa9ade of the Post Office), and under it a rhymed lampoon directed against the corrupt official. This block was inserted in the front of his house ; but soon afterwards the daring citizen was slain by an officer of the garrison. The assassin exchanged into the French East-Indian service, but was followed to Pondicherry by Philibert's brother,, who killed him there. The Parliament Building is a large but plain structure, in an angle of the ramparts, and on the site of Champlain's fort and the ancient Episcopal Palace. Within are the halls of 140 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, adorned with the royal arms, and often re-echoing with the loud debates of the Latin statesmen and legislators. A little way outside of the DufPerin Gate, on the Grande Allee, stands the new Palace of the Provincial Government, a handsome stone building, of great size, built around a quadrangular court, and occupying so lofty a site that it may be seen from the hamlets of the hill-country, many leagues away. The side of the quadrangle which faces towards the ramparts is not yet built. Here, in great beauty of architecture, will stand the Parliament House of the Province. At the corner of St. John Street and Palace Street is a quaint little statue of General Wolfe, now nearly a century old, and highly esteemed by the people. It has had many amusing adventures in its day, each one of which increases the estimation in which the citizens hold their patron hero. One night a party of naval officers, roys- tering about the town, secretly removed the statue, and bore it away, in one of his Majesty's ships, to Barbadoes, whence it was sent back, many months afterwards, enclosed in a coffin. The massive stone building of Morrin College, erected originally for use as a prison, and now occupied by a languishing Protestant school, is chiefly notable as containing the valu- able library and museum of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society, an or- ganisation which includes the foremost literati of Eastern Canada, and pub- lishes numerous volumes of records and researches in the annals and traditions of the old St. Lawrence provinces. A school of literature, too little known outside of Canada, has risen in this region, and achieved works of permanent merit. The names of Garneau, De Gaspe, Bedard, De Boucherville, and Le Moine are known and honoured throughout the Dominion ; and it is but a few years since Frechette, a brilliant young poet of New France, was crowned by the Academy of Paris. The aristocracy of Quebec is largely of the same race, the descendants of the lords of the noble fiefs which Louis XIV. founded along the St. Lawrence. Many of them are acquainted with the English language ; but the speech and customs of their ancestors are carefully retained in their homes, although Canada's crown of maple-leaves has supplanted ihe Jleur-de-l^s for ever. It is less than fifty years since the leading newspaper of Montreal said : " For a state of peace to be maintained, we must make a solitude ; the French-Canadians must be swept from the face of the earth.'' In 1837 there was a civil war between the two nationalities in the colony, and hundreds of the French-Canadians were killed or transported. But wise -concessions reconciled the insurgents ; their courts of law were conducted in their mother- on ^mplain STEPS. VIEWS IN QUEBEC. 1, Laval University and Grand Battery; 2, The Spot where Montgomery FeU; 3, Beauport Church; 4, Pdx-liament Building; 5, The Seminary; 6, Jesuit College, Fabrique Street (lately demolished). 142 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Quebec. toiJfyue ; their religion was left unshackled ; and the true Canadian race^ descendants of the- first colonists, became the national people. The Lower Town — the j)lace of commerce, the docks, the railway terminus, the banks, and the homes of thousands of labourers — is reached by several zigzag roads descending from- the walled city above. Near the Prescott Gate, also begin the Champlain Steps, or the Cote la Montague, a long and narrow stairway, bordered on either side by little shops, and remind- ing imaginative travellers of Trieste, or Naples, or Malta. It has more in common with Rag Fair, and between the tall houses which border it continuous crowds pass from the grave and decorous Upper Town to the long lines of steamboat piers which front the river wards. An easier route of communication between the two parts of the town is by an ingenious inclined railway, on which little cars are drawn up a steep ascent, enclosed to keep snow from the rails, and ending near the Dufferin Terrace. The main thoroughfares of the Lower Town are St. Peter Street, between the base of the cliff and the rushing St. Lawrence, and St. Paul Street, on the very narrow littoral strip under the Rampart, and facing the etnbouchure of the St. Charles. These streets are traversed by tramways, and bordered by plain and substantial buildings of grey stone, the seat of a large wholesale trade, and of the financial institutions of" the city. Near the great Champlain Market is the most interesting locality in this region of shops and docks — the Church of Notre Dame des Victoires, built in the year 1690, on the site of Champlain^s residence. Seventy years later it was destroyed by the bombardment from General Wolfe^s batteries, as if the distant gunners realised that its name was derived from the- French victories which sent two hostile British fleets flying down the river, crippled and dismayed (in 1690 and 1711). At Pointe a Garcy, the outermost point, at the confluence of the two rivers, stands the imposing classic building of the Custom House, nobly conspicuous- from the harbour. The new works of the Lome Embankment, sheltering the harbour, are in the stream. Beyond the Palace Market extends the Queen^s Fuel Yard, the site of a great range of buildings once occupied by M. Bigot, the last royal Intendant of New France, who maintained a princely state here, with the revenues which he extorted from the oppressed inhabitants of the colony. During the American siege, the palace was captured by the Virginia riflemen,, who annoyed the garrison so sorely that the batteries of the Upper Town were directed upon them, until the bursting shells set fire to the buildings, and caused their rapid destruc- tion. Beyond this locality extend the lowland wards of St. Roch and Jacques Cartier, with their convents and tall Roman churches, and many little streets paved with planks, and abounding in queer genre pictures of French onvrier life. Hereabouts is the great Marine Hospital, in its park beside the St. Charles, and also the General Hospital, founded by Bishop de Vallier in 1093, and conducted by Aiigustinian nuns of the Convent of Notre Dame des Anges. On the plateau, between the walls and the line of Martello towers, are the Montcalm and St. John Wards, densely populated by French people, and studded with convents and charities. This was the district destroyed by the great conflagration in 1881, when many hundreds of families were made houseless and poor, and even the massive walls of St. Johns's Church were unable to stay the devouring flames. The St. Foye road runs along the edge of the plain, and commands fine views of the Lorette and Charlesbourg meadows, and the great Quebec.] THE BATTLE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. 143 mountains of Bonhomme and Tonnonthuan, a sight of surpassing splendour when the sunset light transfigures its poetic outlines. The extra-mural wards are protected by four thick-walled round towers, isolated on the plain, and each pierced for seven cannon. These picturesque warders were built when this century was young. Still farther out is a spacious castellated prison, with its walls pierced for musketry. It is but a few steps thence to the tall column which bears the proud inscription : Here died Wolfe, victorious. Sept. 13, 1759. Let William Pitt tell (as he did before the House of Commons, so long ago) of " the horror of the night, the precipice scaled by Wolfe, the empire he with a handful of men added to England, and the glorious cata- strophe of contentedly terminating life where his fame began .... Ancient story may be ransacked, and ostentatious philosophy thrown into the account, before an episode can be found to rank with Wolfe^s.^' After more than a century of almost incessant colonial border wars, it became evident that either France or England must be sole master of the North American continent ; and Pitt, confiding in the valour and skill of Generals Amherst and Wolfe, ordered those ofiicers to attack Canada on different sides, and unite their forces in the heart of the country. Wolfe accordingly set sail from Louisburg with 8,000 fine troops and a fleet of nearly fifty vessels, twenty-two of which were ships of the line ; and effected a landing near Quebec, which was defended by the Marquis de Montcalm, a brave and accomplished French officer, with an army of 13,000 men. There were a few battalions of regulars in the garrison, but the larger part of the force was composed of Canadian militia and Indian bands. Wolfe's cannonade of the town from the opposite side of the river failed to damage its mighty ramparts ; and in an unavailing assault on the French lines near Beauport, the besiegers lost 800 men. The condition of the British forces was most discouraging, opposed, as they were, to the whole might o-f Canada ; and Wolfe, poignantly grieved at the apparent miscarriage of his great expedition, set about to discover some new point of attack. At last he found it. He determined to scale the great cliffs at the back of the city and to give battle to the French on the Plains of Abraham. The larger vessels of the fleet were left to cannonade the lines at Beauport, while the others ran up by Quebec, bearing the army. During the night the British forces were secretly landed at the base of the cliffs, and rapidly ascended, by narrow paths, preceded by a body of Highlanders, who drove away the French guards along the summit. At dawn the army stood in line of battle on the Plains; and Montcalm was warned of the new danger by the distant roll of musketry. Hurrying his troops back from Beauport he deployed them outside the ramparts, and hastened to attack the invaders. The British right rested on the edge of the precipice, and the line was formed by the 35th, 28th, 43rd, 58th, and 78th regiments, with the 15th and 60th in the second line, and the 48th in reserve. The left flank and rear were covered by the light infantry. It was Montcalm's purpose to crush the left wing, and drive it back to the river, and then to press upon the centre and right with his main force. He had nearly 8,000 men on the field, opposed to 5,000 British veterans. The battle thus begun (at ten in the morning) raged fiercely on the left, until the reserves were thrown in as supports, and the Canadians gave way. Then Montcalm advanced upon the British line, with his entire army, pouring destructive volleys into the waiting ranks. By great 144 CITIES OF THE WQELD. [Quebec. efforts Wolfe restrained his men from firing until the charging columns were within fort_>' paceSj and then there burst forth a volley which wellnigh annihilated the long line of French infantry, and caused the survivors to fly in confusion. Wolfe ordered his entire army to- advancCj with bayonets set, and the enemy had no chance to re-form. A few minutes of carnage ensued — Wolfe and Montcalm both fell, mortally wounded — the Canadian militia fled pell-mell, and the Highlanders, drawing their claymores, pursued the routed foe until checked by grape-shot from the walls of the city. The field was won, and with it Canada. 1,600 Frenchmen lay on the Plains, dead or wounded, and 656 of the British troops. "Now God be praised ! I die happy,^-* cried the leaier who had conquered a new empire for Britain, His gallant and chivalric opponent, borne within the walls, was informed that his wound was mortal, and that he could not survive a dozen hours. '' So much the better," said he^ " I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." After Montcalm's defeat on the Plains of Abraham, the batteries along the walls kept up a steady fire, although the garrison was in a starving condition. Nevertheless, the British troops established 118 cannon in ramparts on the Plains, and hotly bombarded the doomed city. On the 18th of September the keys were surrendered, and the veteran Louisburg Grenadiers marched through the dilapidated gates and occupied the place. When the final evacuation of Quebec took place, in 1871, the 60th Regiment marched out from the gates of the Citadel, yielding up this stronghold to its new Canadian defenders. One hundred and twelve years before, the 60th (Royal Americans)' was one of the regiments which fought on the Plains of Abraham, and helped to win this city for the British Empire. Beyond the martello towers, on the Plains of St. Foye, rises a tall monument, crowned by a statue of Bellona, presented by Prince Napoleon, and marking the centre of another battle-field. A few months after the British army under General Wolfe had captured Quebec, the Chevalier de Levis advanced against the city, at the head of an army of 4,500 French troops and 6,000 Canadians. De Levis was of the family of the Dukes of" Ventadour, who professed to possess documents attesting their direct lineal descent from the Hebrew patriarch Levi. General Murray commanded the British forces at Quebec, and indiscreetly advanced across the Plains of Abraham, with 3,500 soldiers, to give battle to the- enemy. He encountered the French host about three miles from the gates, and a short but desperate battle ensued, the British being hurled back into the town, with a loss of a thousand men and twenty pieces of artillery. A dreary siege followed, during which the little garrison of 2,200 men, aided by their wounded comrades, and by 500 soldiers' wives, held the works gallantly, and poured upon the French batteries a continuous rain of fire from 132 pieces of artillery, mounted upon the walls. Each party, British and French alike, expected a fleet up the river, whose arrival would decide the contest; and when an unknown frigate rounded the headland below and stood in towards the town, both the besiegers and the besieged were filled with intense anxiety. Suddenly the Union Jack was run up to her mast-head, and round after round of British cheers rolled over the battered walls. The remainder of the squadron soon arrived, and destroyed the French fleet in the St. Lawrence ; after which the Chevalier de Levis retreated hastily to Montreal. The environs of Quebec have been highly favoured by nature and by history. On one side the plateau stretches away up the St. Lawrence, past the Plains of Abraham Quebec.] THE LAST REMNANT OF THE HUEONS. 145 and the beautiful villas of Silleiy, to Cap Rouge, nine miles from the Citadel, and notable for its bold scenery, as well as for having been the site of the fortified colony of Roberval, the Viceroy of New France, in 15-42. In another direction, at an equal distance from Quebec, is Lorette, reached by a lonely road through the rye-fields of the St. Charles valley, and the home of some sixty families of half-breeds, the last remnant of the ancient Huron nation of aborigines, " Catholics and allies of France/^ There were thirty-two villages of this tribe when Canada was dis- covered ; but their hereditary enemies, the Iroquois, attacked them, some years later, and practically annihilated the na- tion, storming their towns, and sweeping ofE great numbers of the people into slavery. Ten thousand were slain in battle, or in the captured wigwams ; a fragment fled to the far West, and formed the Wyan- dotte tribe ; and the feeble remnant escaped to Quebec, where they encamped under protection of the fortress, for ten years, and then founded Lorette (in 1673). Here, as Parkman, the great historian of Canada, says, "The tourist finds the remnant of a lost people, harmless weavers of baskets and sewers of moc- casins, the Huron blood fast bleaching out of them, as, with every generation, they mingle and fade away in the French population around.'^ In this direction, also, is Charlesbourg, standing high on a far-viewing ridge, and grouped picturesquely about a venerable convent and church, as becomes the chef-lieu of the Seigniory of Notre Dame des Anges, A few miles beyond are the clear waters of Lake St. Charles, the home of countless red trout, and overlooked by the tall foot-hills of the Laurentian Mountainso In the lonely forest under La Montagne des Ormes stand the ruins of Chateau Bigot, once occupied by the last of the rapacious satraps who ruled this region under the French regime, and the locality of one of the most mournful legends of love and revenge. 59 THE FALLS OF MONTMOEEXCI. H6 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [QueLsc, The Falls of Montmorenci form one of the fairest attractions of the Province,, and,, indeed^ of the continent. They are about seven miles from Quebec^ where the Montmorenci river, just before its confluence with the St. Lawrence^ falls over a black cliff 251 feet hi(^h, in a clear and massive white fall, shading to amber tints in its deeper parts, fluttering out at its edges into gauzy clouds, and plunging with continuous roar into huge undulations of foam and prismatic mist. The great gulf of chocolate- coloured earth and rock, decorated with spray-moistened herbage, opens from the St. Lawrence like the chancel of a Titanic cathedral, where the solemn music of nature never ceases. '^ Instead of an artificial fountain in its square,^^ says Thoreau, " Quebec has this magnificent natural waterfall to adorn one side of its harbour.^^ The plains of Beauport lie between Montmorenci and Quebec, and are occupied by a long line of quaint and thick- walled cottages, the homes of a contented peasantry, tracing their descent from the colonists who came so long ago from the French province of La Perche. A tall twin-spired church rises from among these antique houses ; and here and there are wayside crosses and shrines, making manifest the primitive character of the people, who are shut out from the world by the Rock of Quebec. In all this great county there are but » few hundred English-speaking inhabitants; and as one fares on beyond the Montmorenci,. lie enters a region even more given over to the sixteenth century. As one of their own abbes has said : " In the inhabitant of the Cote de Beaupre you find the Norman peasant of the reign of Louis XIV., with his annals, his songs, and his superstitions.^'' Here the hamlet of Ange Gardien nestles in a sheltered glen, guarded at either end by roadside oratories, and grouped about an ancient church, on whose front is a sun-diaL The parish was founded in 1678; and eighty years later the gallant British battalions of the Louisburg Grenadiers captured it. Nor was it an easy conquest, for the people of Chateau Richer, the next village, had entrenched themselves in the Franciscan monastery which overlooked the plain, and made such a valiant defence, monks, priests, and peasants^ together, that General Wolfe was forced to send a section of artillery, and batter down the consecrated walls. The last village on the Cote de Beaupre is La Bonne Ste. Anne, whose church is the most highly-venerated shrine in America, visited by many thousands of ])ilgrims every year, and adorned with a painting of St. Anne, by Le Brun, which was presented by the Viceroy de Tracy, and other pictures by the Franciscan monk Lefrangois. There are also many rude ex voio paintings; and piles and sheaves of crutches, left here by those who have been healed. The legend of the translation of the body of the mother of the Virgin from Jerusalem to Marseilles, and thence to the Cathedral of Apt, where it was afterwards discovered by Charlemagne, is familiar. This Canadian church was erected (in 1658) in obedience to a command of the Virgin, given in a vision to a little child ; and the nobles of New France presented rich gifts to it, while Bishop Laval made St. Anne^s Day a feast of obligation. During the French domination, every ship which ascended the river fired a broadside when passing the church, in token of gratitude for the safe voyage and deliverance from the perils of the sea. In 1668 the Cathedral Chapter of Carcassonne sent over a bone of the hand of St. Anne ; this relic, guarded in a crystal globe, is exhibited at morning mass, and miraculous cures of bodily ailments are said to have been effected by it. Superstition and valour went Quebec.] LA NOUVELLE FRANCE. 147 iiand-in-hand. The villagers gave battle to the destroying Iroquois^ hereabouts, often and again; and when the British army advanced up the Cote de Beaupre, they beat off the Highlanders and Light Infantry, and would not give way until enveloped by the hostile 'is — queen, actress, sempstress, all are here. In the Banquet Hall are Bavarian battle-scenes. The Hall of Charlemagne displays twelve pictures of that monarches career. The Hall of Barbarossa and Hall of Rudolph of Hapsburg also indi- cate by their names the subjects chosen for the paintings. The Throne-room, 106 feet long and 73 wide, is a stately hall, containing gilt bronze statues of the princes, electors, a^d kings of Bavaria. There are two winter gardens filled with choicest exotics within the Palace enclosures, Munich contains two or three other palaces of no sjjecial interest. THE MAEIENPIATZ, WITH OLD AND NEW EATHHAXTS. Tlie Max-Josephs-Platz is one of the grandest squares on the Continent. In the cen1:re stands a bronze equestrian statue of Maximilian Joseph, erected by the citizens in 1835. On the south side stands the Post Office, beside which the Hofgraben leads down to the Marienplatz. In the Hofgraben are the curious old Mint erected in 1573, and the Alte Hof, the original residence of the Electors of Bavaria. On the north side of the Marien- platz stands the new Town Hall, a brick edifice with a pinnacled stone gable, in the old German style of architecture. In front is a bronze fountain, known as'the Fisch-brunnen, which commemorates the folloAving circumstances connected with the guild of butchers : — In 1633 the city of Munich was desolated by a great plague, and on its abatement it was ditlicult to restore public confidence ; so, in order to set at rest the minds of their fellow- 206 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Munich. citizens, the butchers assembled in their hall, and thence marched in procession to the market-place, where they plunged, one and all, into the cold water of the fountain basin, and returned dripping wet, without any ill effects or any fresh case of the terrible plague. In memor}' of the event the ceremony was kept up annually ; and now, when the butchers' apprentices take up their freedom, amidst the other festivities of the occasion the yoimg men have to take the Metzgersprung, or butcher's leap, into the fountain basin. The figure of a butcher's apprentice surmounts the fountain ; at the base are crouching figures, repre- senting plague and cholera. Close beside the Rathhaus is the house (now an omnibus office) in which the great Gustavus Adolphus took up his quarters in 1632. On the east of the square stands the old Rathhaus, with its frescoed tower and its zinc statues of Henry the Lion and Lewis the Bavarian. The column called the Mariensaule was erected in 1638 by Maximilian I., to commemorate his victory, in conjunction with the Emperor Ferdinand II., over the Protestant forces of the Elector Palatine at the White Mount, near Prague, in 1621. A statue of the Virgin adorns tlie summit, and at the corners are four angels destroying four monsters, typifying pestilence, famine, war, and heresy. Of the numerous edifices raised by King Lewis and his successor for various civic, artistic, educational, or other purposes, we can, of course, only name the principal. To the museums we shall refer presently. One of the most remarkable modern buildings is the Kriegs-Ministerium (Ministry of War), designed by Van Klenze. It is in the Florentine style, with fine arcades, of which the pilasters are decorated with armour and military trophies; the windows are adorned with sculptures, the work of various Bavarian masters. At the south end of the Ludwigs-Strasse stands another creation of the same monarch, the Feldherrnhalle, or Hall of the Marshals, copied from the Loggia de' Lanzi at Florence. It contains two bronze statues modelled by Schwanthaler : one of Count Tilly, who commanded the Bavarian armies in the Thirty Years' War, and one of Wrede, the Bavarian field-marshal during the wars of Napoleon. Before passing to the museums of sculpture and painting, which are the crowning glory of Munich, we must say a word or two more with respect to its out-door decorations. In addition to the numerous beautiful buildings, of which some have been mentioned, the city teems with statues and fountains. Near the Wittelsbach Palace, where King Lewis spent the remainder of his days from his abdication to his death, rises the stately form of the great Elector Maximilian I., the foe of the Protestants. In the broad Maximilian-Strasse are statues of Schelling the philosopher. Count Rumford, and other worthies. The Isar- thor, at the end of the Thai, is one of the ancient gates of mediaeval Munich. Three massive towers are connected by huge walls, pierced by eight gateways. The exterior of this restored monument of the past is covered by a great fresco, from cartoons by Cornelius, representing the triumphal entry into Munich of Lewis the Bavarian in 1322, after vanquishing his rival competitor for the imperial throne, Frederic the Handsome. On the circus called the Karolinenplatz stands a bronze obelisk, in memory of the 30,000 Bavarians who perished to oblige Napoleon in the Russian campaign. The inscription says — " These also died for the deliverance of their native land : " words which have been a standing enigma to all beholders with any knowledge of history. We cannot under- tako even to enumerate the statues of princes and waiTiors, poets, artists, musicians^ which Jlunich.l MUSEUMS OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. 207 adorn the streets of Munich. King Lewis delii^hted to honour the great men of his country, and he has made effective use of them for decorative purposes. Two of his grand arches must be mentioned. The Siegesthor, or Triumphal Arch, at the end of the Ludwigs-Strasse, is a copy of the Arch of Constantine, dedicated to the Bavarian army. On the summit is Bavaria in a triumphal car drawn by four lions. Eight winged Victories of Carrara marble rise before the pediment, four on each side of the gate. Two flying Victories with wreaths and palms appear above the central arch. The Propylaea is a copy of that at Athens, erected by King Lewis to commemorate the Greek struggles for freedom and the reign of King Otho. Curiously enough, Otho came home to Bavaria when his Greek subjects had had enough of him : on the day after, this monument was inaugurated —in October, 1867. The Glyptothek, or Gallery of Sculpture, is an Ionic building erected by Lewis I. whilst Crown Prince, to contain the valuable collection he had already got together. One room contains bas-reliefs from Nineveh ; a second is devoted to Egyptian, and a third to earliest Greek and Etruscan art. The fourth room in the series contains the celebrated marbles from -^gina, pronounced by Westmacott to be " among the most valuable remains of ancient art that have reached us.'^ In an archaeological point of view, they link the primitive art of Greece with the school of Phidias. Prince Lewis gave £6,000 for the marbles. The faces are wanting in expression, but the limbs are admirably proportioned and skilfully posed. They do not fascinate everybody; and a French writer speaks of them as all wearing ^'an imbecile smile.^^ The Hall of Apollo shows some splendid examples of the Phidian school, especially the Apollo Citharodos, said to be the work of Ageladas, the master of Phidias. In the Hall of Bacchus is the Sleeping or Barberini Faun — a colossal satyr, half reclining on a rock, attributed by some to Praxiteles. It was found in the ditch of the Castle of St. Angelo, and is supposed to have been thrown down on the heads of the Goths by the Greek defenders under Belisarius. The Hall of the Sons of Niobe contains the Ilioneus, a kneeling figure of the youngest son of Niobe, crouching in terror at the approach of Apollo's deadly arrow. It is a marvellously effective work. Amongst the other masterpieces in this hall is the Medusa, strangely impressive in its cold, haughty beauty. We need not enumerate the remaining halls ; they contain a rich collection of sculpture (chiefly classical), and a few examples of modern art by Canova, Thorwaldsen, Schadow, and others. The Alte Pinakothek (Old Picture Gallery) was commenced in 1826 by King Lewis. Fourteen hundred paintings, large and small, 9,000 drawings by old masters, 300,000 engravings and woodcuts, and 1,800 vases are here exhibited. The gallery is of an oblong shape, with a wing at each end, so that it presents four fa9ades ; the most ornamental being the south fa9ade, with its Ionic portico. Between the windows are statues of illustrious Bavarian artists. The interior is divided into ten principal halls of great height, and lighted from above for the display of large paintings, and twenty-three small cabinets for the exhibition of smaller pictures. The portico opens on a grand corridor, covered from end to end with rich frescoes, illustrating the history of art in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Of the wonderful collection of pictures in the halls and cabinets it would le folly to attempt any detailed description. Holbein, Cranach, Darer, and the other painters ^08 CITIES OF THE WORLD. IMunich. of the old German school,, killed by the Reformation, are well represented here ; here, too, are Van Eyck and Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Hobbema, and many other illustrious painters of the Low Countries. By Rubens alone there are ninety-five pictures, or as many as Paris, Antwerp, and Madrid possess when added together. France and Spain each fill one hall, and Italy three, but mostly with second-rate works. The Tveue Pinakothek (1846-53), built by King Lewis, contains fifty-two rooms, designed for nineteenth-century paintings. Here are numerous works by Kaulbach, Hess, and other modern artists. Wilkie's '' Reading of the WilP^ is in this collection. The exterior of the building is covered with frescoes — a style of decoration very common in Munich, as exemplified on the Isarthor, the Palace, the Bazaar, and several of the churches. The frescoes outside the Neue Pinakothek are allegorical and colossal, and have been said by some to remind them of the canvas tableaux exhibited outside the booths at country fairs. Some of them are very remarkable, and seem to suggest that contemporary art, with Bavarian art at the head of the movement, is to triumph over the art of all past generations. But the interior of the Neue Pinakothek does not prove this assumption at present. In the Maximilian-Strasse stands the Bavarian National Museum, a fine building, with very extensive and valuable collections of objects, chiefly relating to the antiquities and manufactures of Bavaria, Roman and mediaeval relics, arms, bijoux, costumes, ivory-work, jewellery, instruments of torture, and innumerable other curiosities illustrating the history of the arts of war and peace. Munich also possesses an Academy of Arts, which is specially devoted to a collection of coins and gems, and a Museum of Natural His- tory, particularly rich in objects brought from Brazil by Drs. Spix and Martins. The Academy of Science dates from 1789. The Public Library, built in the style of an Italian palace, is well adorned with statues, and, like many things in Munich, was built with an eye to future development. It would accommodate 2,000,000 volumes. It contains, however, 800,000 volumes and 22,000 MSS. The University in the Ludwigs-Strasse possesses a library of 160,000 volumes. About 1,700 students attend the classes and lectures, which are maintained by an army of 114 professors. The names of DoUinger the theologian and Liebig the chemist, both professors here, have attained a world-wide fame. The Ludwigs-Strasse widens at this point into an open space, with two fountains in the centre. "In the evening and twilight,^' says A. M. Hewitt, "how cool and refreshing and soothing is the splash of those two fountains ! . . . I should love, were I a youth, to study in the University — that pure, solemn, calm, beautiful building, white as of the purest marble, with its long rows of round-arched windows, its long band of medallions also : a medallion between each central window, and enclosing the head of a legislator, a philosopher, or a poet. And as the western sky is lit up by the setting sun, its light streams through painted windows, and the contrast between the cool building seen in the shadow and those gemmed, glowing windows is magical. There is a monastic calm about the buildings, which to a studious and poetical nature must be delicious.^' The well-supplied Observatory, the Polytechnic School with its 1,000 pupils, and various learned societies and institutions, must not detain us, nor the richly decorated and well-frequ-^nted theatres. Not onlv as a '' German Athens,'^ but also as a centre of Nuremberg.] EARLY HISTORY. •209 industry, Munich has in modem times been taking a high rank. There are numerous workshops for the manufacture of iron, bronze, and other metal goods. First-rate work- men are employed here in the fabrication or preparation of everything that is required by painters, mathematicians, and naturalists. A large number of newspapers are published here. Of the 235 Roman Catholic journals of Germany, fifty-four are published in Bavaria, and nearly all of these in Munich, which is in South Germany what Lyons is in Southern France, the head-quarters of the Roman Catholic faith. But of all the industries of Munich, the most important is, without doubt, the manufacture of beer. Bavarian beer is quaffed and highly extolled by thousands who care little for Bavarian art. The twenty breweries of Munich have their great halls crowded in the evenings by those who like to get their beer at the fountain-head. The amiual value of the beer produced in the town is £1,200,000. Beer-drinking is an institution, and there are numerous societies of drinkers with curious names in the city and environs. NUREMBERG. The second city of Bavaria is Nuremberg, with a population of 92,000, the " quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song,'^ that for 800 years and more has guarded, with its frowning ramparts, the valley of the Pegnitz. Since 1806 it THE CITY WALLS. has appertained to Bavaria; but anciently it was one of the Free Cities which, in spite of feudal barons, and often under the very walls of the strongholds of tyranny, fostered a spirit of independence, and learned to defy both Pope and Emperor. It is in the year 1050 that the name of Castrum Norenberc first appears in history, and the city obtained its charter in 1219. It developed rapidly into one of the great markets of Germany, thanks to its favourable position, where two lines of commerce crossed each other — namely, from the Danube to the Rhine, and from Italy to the countries of 67 210 CITIES OF THE WORLD. CJni-emherg . Germany and the North. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it reached tlie height of its wealth and prosperity. As a free city, it had sovereign rights over a territory measuring twenty-three German miles in extent. Its form of government was similar to that of Venice. At times the patrician families usurped all power; at other times the democratic element made its influence felt, and there were frequent struggles between the two parties. Its liistory is associated with Charlemagne, Henry the Saint, the fair Cunegonda, the Conrads, IJarbarossa, and Maximilian. When necessity required, it could send to the imperial armies 0,000 sturdy raen-at-arais. Its wealth was not only realised from commerce, for its manu- factures also won for it a wide renown. Europe knew no more cunning and skilful craftsmen than the artisans and artists of Nuremberg, especially the workers in metals — the smiths, armourers, cutlers, casters in bronze, and goldsmiths. Almost equally celebrated were its dyers and cloth- weavers. In the fourteenth century playing-cards were manufactured (some say invented) there. There also, about the same time, rose the first paper-mill in Germany. A century later, the fii'st watches, known as Nuremberg eggs, came from this town, whose citizens became renowned for their inventions. The first cast cannon, the first gunlock, the first wire-drawing machine, brass (as used by the moderns), the air-gun, the clarinet, certain descriptions of pottery and glass-painting: all were invented by citizens of Nutem- borg. Well might the city boast, "Niirnberg^s hand geht durch alle land^^ (Nuremberg's hand goes through every land). Only three or four generations back it was one of the richest and most famous towns in Europe. The well-known saying of Pope Pius II., that a Nuremberger citizen was better off than a Scottish king, is quite verified by the accounts that have come down to us of the town and its burghers. We hear, for instance, of a cutler and other tradesmen giving in charity as much as £1,-"5G0 — a truly enormous sum in those days. In respect of wealth and commercial importance, only Genoa, Venice, or Antwerp could vie with Nuremberg. But Nuremberg, besides being commercial and inventive, was also a city of artists and poets. In each of these departments a few chosen spirits rose to eminence, but the spirit of poetry and art seems to have been stirring in the whole community. The home, the church, the town, all felt its influence, and the result is a city of rich, quaint beauty : one of the most precious relics that the Middle Ages have bequeathed to our days. It still stands before our eyes a perfect picture of the old castle-crowned, walled, and moated city of the fourteenth century. Peaceful market-gardens now cover the bottom of the moat, a hundred feet broad and fifty deep, that surrounds the old city. Here and there tall trees rise amidst the luxuriant growth of beans, and peas, and beets, and even tobacco. Inside the moat stands a double wall, upon which 400 towers once raised their heads. About two-thirds of these have perished; but the steep red-tiled roofs of those that remain foi-m a striking and picturesque feature in the various views of the town. Some of them are of very early date, but most of them belong to the system of fortifications planned by the noted painter, sculptor, engraver, mathematician, and engineei-, Albrecht Diircr (born, 1471; died, 1528), who was one of the greatest in the galaxy of Nuremberg worthies. The Konigs-Strasse enters the city by the Konigsthor, under one of Diirer's massive watch-towers, and leads to the Konigs-briicke, the bridge across the Pognitz. This river Nuremberg.] THE HOUSE OF DORER. 211 divides the city into two portions, named respectively after St. Sebald and St. Lawrence. Tradition tells of a lurking rivalry between the shades of the two holy men, and of a preacher at St. Lawrence's who, having let fall some expressions depreciating St. Sebald, suffered a heavy visitation from the hand of the affronted saint, who refused to be pacified till the priest had publicly apologised for his indiscretion. From the bridge there is an exceedingly picturesque view of the city. On both sides the river is overhung by houses with carved wooden balconies, brown with age. The Pegnitz itself is onl}'^ a narrow sluggish stream. It used to fill the moat in time of siege, but this service is no longer required of it, and its principal business now is to assist in supplying the Ludwig's-Canal that unites the Rhine and Danube by way of the Main. Charlemagne, with his far-seeing genius, planned this canal a thousand years ago, but it is only a little over thirty years since it was completed by the art-loving King Ludwig, of whom so much has been said in our account of Munich. The canal has been of great use in reviving the trade of Nuremberg. The Konigs-Strasse was once the centre of the commercial wealth and prosperity of Nuremberg. Immense warehouses of ponderous stone, with high-pitched roofs, hold the vast chambers that were once crowded with the treasures of the world. The velvet of Genoa, the glass of Venice, the lace of Flanders, the products of the Levant and of the distant Indies were gathered here ; and here came the merchants of all nations to buy from the clever Nurembergers their armour, and guns, and paper, and printing-presses, and clocks, and watches. The best translation of the Bible before the time of Luther was printed and sold at Nuremberg. The lovers of Gothic domestic architecture find in the streets of Nuremberg a rich treat. Picturesque dormer windows, pointed oriels, and carved balconies are everywhere. Very wonderful are the roofs, singularly diverse in character and outline — some of antique simplicity, high-pitched piles of tile-work, with two or three rows of tiny windows ; others made elaborate with pinnacles, turrets, arcades, slender pillars, and arches. The grander mansions of the city are very picturesque — flamboyant tracery is lavished on the balconies and galleries; on the panels are carvings in deep relief, and fretted arches, and crockets, and statues adorn the gables. The sombre-hued stone-work is beautifully relieved by ivy and woodbine, and bright scarlet and purple flowers are trailed about the balconies and window-sills. In some of these mansions dwell families that can trace their direct ancestry up to the eleventh century. Nuremberg carefully marks the houses in which her great men have dwelt. Tablets point out the homes of Krafft and other artists, and of Palm the bookseller, dragged from his house in the Winkel-Strasse, and shot at Brunau for publishing a pamphlet against Napoleon I. ; but the two houses most worthy of notice for their associations are those in which dwelt the painter Albrecht Diirer and Hans Sachs, the cobbler-bard. The home of Albrecht Diirer is still sacred to art, as the studio of a society of Nurem- berg artists, who jealously guard it from any further alteration or injury. It is a plain stone house, cross-barred with timber, with a high projecting roof. Here worked the master whose paintings are seen in all the city churches ; but they are mostly second-rate produc- tions — his masterpieces must be sought elsewhere. "To tell the story of his life,'' pays Miss Martin, "is to repeat the oft-told tale of patient, obscure labour, working slowly 212 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nuremberg. towards the light, till crowned at last with the proudest laurels. The son of an obscure jeweller, the scorn and derision of his jealous companions, he struggled painfully through years of trial, till he won for himself not only imperial regard, but still prouder honour as the great master of art in Germany/' Diirer was the last and greatest of the Franco- nian school of painters. His death marks the period of the temporary decline of both THE HOUSE OE HANS SACH:<. poetry and art in Germany. The bards of the Niebelungenlied and the Minnesingers had given place to the guilds of the Master-singers, who, in the great Free Cities of South Germany, made poetry a civic institution. Their poetry was never worth much ; but it is a striking fact that when upper and lower classes were alike wallowing in a slough of sensuality and ignorance, the craftsmen and burghers were devoting themselves to poetry and song as congenial recreations. These guilds met in town halls and churches to recite or sing their compositions, and receive the rewards of merit. At Nuremberg Nui-cmbergf.] HANS SACHS. 21S the chief jewel (eorresjwnding to a ehampion^s belt in these days) was a heavy gold chain^ bearing an image of King David with his harp. The poetical compositions were fettered by elaborate and complicated rules as to rhyme and rhythm. If they did little more^ they developed artistic skilly and tended to improve the German language ; but it is a significant fact that in his collected poems worthy Hans Sachs has included none of hi* " master poems.'^ The Master-singers survived in Nuremberg till 1770. The house occupied by Hans Sachs, who was born in 1494 ^: — and died in 1576, is in the street that bears his name. There is a bronze statue of him by Kranse on the Spital- platz, erected in 1874. He wrote 6,000 poems, and his satirical verses on Roman Catholic superstitions and intolerance were in great favour with the common people at the beginning of the Reformation. Longfellow sings of the house of Hans Sachs thus : — " Here Hans Sachs, the cohhler-poet, laureate of the gentle craft, Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, in huge folios sang and laughed. " But his house is now an ale-house, with a nicely sanded floor. And a garland in the window, and his face ahove the door, " Painted hy some humble artist, as in Adam Puschman's song. As the ' old man grey and dove-like, with his great beard white and long.' " And at night the swart mechanic comes to drown his cark and care, Quaffing ale from pewter tankards in the master's antique chair. j^g bkauilful iouMAiA'. " Vanished is the ancient splendour, and before my dreamy eye Wave these mingling shapes and figures, like a faded tapestry. "Not thy Councils, not thy Kaisers, win for thee the world's regard; But thy painter Albrecht Diirer, and Hans Sachs thy cobbler-bard." There are many fountains adorned with statues in Nuremberg. Near the Lorenzo Kirche stands the beautiful bronze fountain cast by Wurzelbauer in 1580. In the Goose Market is a bronze figure of a peasant with a goose under each arm, from whose bills flow streams of pure water. This little smiling Ganse-miinnchen, as he is called, is a 214 CITIES OF THE WORLD. INuremberg. wreat favourite with the peasants. It was executed in 1577, and is the very clever work of an artist named Panerdz Labenwolf. But most renov/ned of all the Nuremberg fountains is the Sschone Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain), in the north-west angle of the Hauptmarkt, or market-place. It is an open- work Gothic spire, lifty-six feet in height, erected about the time of the Eleanor Crosses in England, and somewhat resembling them in general effect. It is adorned by twenty-four statues — the " neun starken Helden " (nine stout heroes), Charlemagne, Godfrey de Bouillon, Clovis, Judas Maceabaeus, Joshua, David, Caesar, Alexander, Hector. With these are grouped the Seven Electors. Above are Moses and the Seven Prophets. It will be noticed that a truly catholic spirit of toleration has been observed in the above assemblage. It is a great gossiping-place for the damsels who come of an evening to draw water, and the citizens are very proud of their Beautiful Fountain. Many a rumour can be traced no farther than " I was told it at the Fountain.^^ The llathhaus, or town hall, rebuilt in the Italian style in 1619, includes portions of an older edifice erected in 1322. The fa9ade is adorned with sculptured Doric jwrtals, conducting to a quadrangle, where portions of the older building may be seen. The walls of the great hall are decorated with paintings by Albrecht Diirer. " The Triumph of Maximilian " is the most noticeable. In one of the frescoes by Weyer (1521), a guillotine is represented, thus proving that instrument to be at least two centuries older than the French Revolution. The old llathhaus was the heart of the tmding republic of Nuremberg, ''whose pulsa- tions, deep and powerful, once made themselves felt throughout the whole Germanic Empire.'' The chief ruler of the city was the Burgrave, acting as vice-regent of the Emperor, and assisted or controlled by the Senate. We cannot stay to trace the steps by which the Government of Nuremberg developed into a tyrannical oligarchy, working for selfish ends, and destroying with heedless cruelty every one that opposed it, or whose conduct aroused its suspicions. Beneath the Rathhaus are dungeons, with secret passages, leading to the town moat and to the private houses of the councillors. The dungeons are deep and horrible ; in one chamber are rings and hooks and screws, and other remains of the frightful apparatus of torture. One of the passages that wind from these sub- terranean dens leads two miles beyond the town into the forest; another conducts to the Freithurm, near the Maxthor. Here is another " chamber of horrors,'' approached by a zig-zag passage with five or six doors, evidently intended to shut in the cries of the wretched victims. Here is the secret prison of the Senate, and the terrible Eiseme Jungfrau (iron virgin). This is a hollow figure, seven feet high, dressed like a Nuremberg girl of the seventeenth century. The victim who had been remorselessly doomed to the virgin's embrace was pushed towards it, when, by a secret spring, the front — consisting of two folding-doors, studded inside with spikes and blades — opened, and clasped the wretched man or woman in a deadly embrace. Presently the lacerated body was released, only to fall into an abyss below, in which an arrangement of vertical spear points and knife-armed wheels completed the horrible work of secret destniction. The great hall of the Rathhaus has other memories having happily nothing in common with the ruthless work of its despotic rulers. Here, in 1648, was held a grand banquet, given by the city for joy at the close of the Thirty Years' War, by the signing of the Nuremberg.] THE CASTLE. 215 Treaty of Westphalia. The Count Palatine and General Piceolomini (who had negotiated the treaty), with a crowd of gentlemen and officers, sat down to a banquet of four courses of 150 dishes each, whilst out of doors the people feasted in the streets, and wine flowed freely for all comers. At midnight the banqueters, with the Count Palatine at their head, marched together up to the Castle, and fired a feu-de-joie, and then returned to the ban- queting hall, and swore to maintain mutual peace and amity. That Thirty Years' War had been a terrible time for Nuremberg, as for other German cities. The city which in a previous age had injured itself by driving out the Jews, and refusing an asylum to the expelled Protestant weavers of France and Flanders, was, like its sister city Augsburg, one of the earliest to adopt the Reformed Faith of Luther and his associates. It consequently, when war broke out, aided the Protestant cause, and for the first and only time in its history saw an enemy near its walls, when Wallenstein was encamping on the heights of Fiirth, only five miles away, whilst Gustavus Adolphus was entrenched close to the city. Wallenstein's camp was seven miles round, and besides soldiers, contained 15,000 women, and nearly as many carters, suttlers, and servants. For thirty miles round the country was ravaged for food and forage. Gustavus, with his 15,000 Swedes and 30,000 Nurembergers, had exhausted all his resources after a few months of anxious watching. He tried to storm the camp at Fiirth; was, for once, repulsed with much slaughter, and led his army away. Five days afterwards, Wallenstein was compelled to take his great host to a new district, where there was a chance of getting supplies. For sixteen years longer the war went on, although it never again approached Nuremberg. But the city had crippled her resources to meet this emergency, and encumbered herself with a load of debt, that formed an oppressive burden for more than a hundred years. During the proximity of the two armies her citizens had died by thousands of disease and starvation, the surrounding country had been reduced to a desert, the neighbouring villages were heaps of ruins. In a word, the fortunes of Nuremberg did not recover till very recent times from the retrograde condition into which they had been plunged by the general prostration in which all Germany participated in consequence of the Thirty Years' War. Its commercial importance had also previously been declining owing to trade being diverted from its gates and passing through other cities. On a slight elevation to the north-west of the city stands the Castle, a grim and massive edifice. The oldest portion is the Heathen Tower, said by some to date from the eighth century. In the lower portion are some dilapidated carvings, stated to be heathen idols. Within this tower are the two chapels of St. Margaret and St. Ottmar. In the Castle-yard stands a linden-tree, alleged to be 700 years old. For a long period the Castle was a favourite residence of the German Emperors. The city was very conveniently located near the centre of their dominions, and their revenues were materially bene- fited by its prosperity. And they were mindful also of the great body of soldiers which it could send to help them at a pinch. To Nuremberg for three centuries they entrusted the imperial regalia subsequently removed to Vienna. Frederick Barbarossa, one of the most famous of the emperors, enlarged the Castle to its present dimensions, and resided there four years, after settling the troubles raised by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. Twenty-nii;e German Emperors in all resided in this Castle, for longer or -216 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nurembei-g. shorter periods. Various occupants enlarged or modified the great stronghold, but "it has/'' says Whitling, " been handed down to our times undefaced by any very i violent inconsistency of parts or character, and presents you with much that will recall the days of casque and corselet, when wardens paced its dark towers, and the flames of the great wood fires blazing in the wide chimneys of its hall were glinted back from axe, helmet, plate- jack, and the various other implements of war hung around its walls. ■'^ The THE hangman's passage. Castle was repaired in modern Gothic style for King Maximilian in 1858, and a few apart- ments fitted up for the royal family. Some ancient German pottery and paintings by early German masters adorn these rooms. In one of the towers is a collection of racks and other instruments of torture, from the city prisons. From the ramparts on the south side of the Castle there is a splendid view of the city — a panorama of quaint roofed houses and dark towers, broad masses of ancient masonry, glorious old churches, pinnacles, and spires. Judging from old pictures of the scene, the general aspect of the city has undergone but little change. On one of the walls beside the moat are shown the hoof-prints of a horse belonging to one Count Eppelein aiissfitti«iiii«iagi-fai!«^ 17 TOMB OF ST. SEBALD, NUREMBERG. Nuremberg.] ST. SEBALD'S CHURCH. ^17 ■von Garlingen, who once leaped hence across the Castle ditch — a feat of which these marks have long been held as conclusive proof. The count was evidently a bold rider; but then, he was also an erudite magician, on speaking terms with the powers of darkness, and, indeed, was said to be a near rela- tive of his Satanic Majesty, and to have received the above-men- tioned horse as a token of regard from his kinsman. The Church of St. Sebald, which gives its name to the portion of the city north of the Pegnitz, is an ancient edifice, partly dating from the tenth and partly from the four- teenth century. St. Peter's Chapel, at the west end, with its low round arches and short heavy columns, is the -oldest portion. The nave, of somewhat later date, shows the tran- sitional style between the Round and the Pointed architecture. The east choir, with its slender clustered pil- lars, is in the best style of German Gothic. Stained glass, designed by the celebrated Hirschvogel, fills the lofty windows, whose mullions are full forty feet in height. One window was presented by IVIaxi- milian I. ; another is a memorial to the house of Brandenburg. Curious carvings in wood and stone adorn the altars, and there are escutcheons perpetuating the history of Nurem- berg families for six centuries. Amongst the pictures is an "En- tombment," by Albrecht Diirer, and in one of the chapels an altar- piece by Lucas Cranach. In 1326 Bawn Tucker consecrated a lamp to bum perpetually before the Virgin's shrine. For 300 years the Virgin has not been worshipped in this church ; but Nuremberg reveres her ancient customs, although she has changed her faith ; the brazen lamp is still fed, and the flame burns steadily on. In the centre of the choir stands the " tomb of sainted Sebald." Above the coffer coptaining the relics, dtlicate pillars uphold three canopies of bronze. Reliefs, representing 68 ST. sebald's chubch. 2 18 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nurembei^. the charitable deeds and miracles of the saint, cover the cofPer. About the canopy are tigures of the twelve Apostles and the fathers of the Church. Above, an infant Christ holds in His hand a globe. Some seventy tiny figures, realistic and imaginary, are worked into the fretted borders and interlacings of the design. At the east end, in a niche facing the altar, is an admirable statue of the artist, Peter Vischer, who executed this wonderful and elaborate piece of workmanship. It represents him in his mason's apron, and with a chisel in his hand. He was miserably paid for his work, and the inscription records that he did it "for the praise of God Almighty alone, and the honour of St. Sebald, Prince of Heaven, by the aid of pious persons, paid by their voluntary contributions.^'' Twelve snails and four dolphins at the comers form the curiously fantastic base of the shrine, on which Peter Vischer and his five sons worked for fifteen years in the golden days of Nuremberg art. Legend affirms that Sebald was the son of a Danish king. He was educated at Pans, where he became deej)ly impressed with the uncertainty of all worldly things. He married the lovely daughter of Dagobert, the king; but left her, with her own consent, the day after their wedding, and withdrew to a wood, where he lived a hermit's life for fifteen years, and worked for his bread. One day he started off to Rome, obtained authority from the Pope to preach, wandered through the country, and at last settled down in a wood near Nuremberg, where he worked many miracles, some of which are recorded in the bronze carvings on his monument. Once at Christmas-time he came into a cart Wright's house, and besought him to light a fire; but wood was scarce, and the cartwright refused. *' Fetch me an icicle from the roof, and lay it on the hearth,'' he said to the wife. She did S3, and the icicle burst into a blaze. " Now go buy me fish at the market," he said to the astonished cartwright. " I obey," he answered, " for all that the lord of Nuremberg has proclaimed that any one caught in the act of buying or selling fish this day shall have his eyes put out." So he went, and being taken, had his eyes put out by the tyrant. "It is Heaven's visitation on you for your inhospitality," said Sebald when he returned; and then he healed him with a touch, and added, " Now go back to the market." He went accordingly; so the people saw and believed, and glorified God and St. Sebald. It is also recorded, among many other legends, that when Sebald's last hour drew nigh he commanded that, after his death, his body should be laid on a cart drawn by wild oxen, and buried on the spot where they should halt. They halted in front of a little wooden chapel, said to have been founded by St. Boniface. There St. Sebald was buried, and there, not long afterwards, when the chapel was burnt down, the great church was erected, and dedicated to him. Grotesque as these old stories are — and they are all favourite subjects with the old German artists — they clearly show that the man in whose honour such a meiporial as that glorious church was built, must surely have been a hero in his way. The parsonage of St. Sebald's Church contains the beautiful oriel \vindow alluded to in Longfellow's well-known poem. The panels below the window are carved with sacred scenes, and beautiful fretted arches surmount the mullions and trefoils. In this parsonage once dwelt Canon Melchior Pfinzing, who in 1517 published a poem on the subject of the Emperor Maximilian's marriage with Mary of Burgundy. The poet was secretary to the Emperor, and the latter is believed to have had a hand himself in the composition. Nurcsiberg.] THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE. 219 The Gothic Chapel of St. ^Maurice, adjoining St. Sebald's Church, built in 1354, is now a picture gallery, containing numerous early Flemish and German works. We may here r3mark that there is also a Public Picture Gallery in the Rathhaus, from which, however, many of the best pictures have been removed. Although not the oldest, the largest and finest of the churches of Nuremberg is the Gothic Church of St. Lawrence, on the south side of the river. It was commenced in 1275, in the reign of the Emperor Adolphus, but the choir was not completed till 1177. It accordingly dates from the best em of the Pointed style. The west front is exceed- ingly beautiful. All about the porch, scenes from the life of Christ are sculptured. In the upper part of the great archway the " Last Judgment^' is represented, including the vast array of angels and devils always associated with that event in mediaeval minds. Above a light stone balcony appears the beautiful rose window, " bordered " (says one visitor) " by a screen of stone so elaborately and daintily carved as to suggest not only the oft-re- peated simile of delicate lace, but, more aptly, the fairy work of the frost." Higher still, arch and quatrefoil, rising above each other to a slender pinnacle, adorn the pediment as it were with a veil of stone. On each side rises a tower, terminating in an elegant spire; the square portion of each tower in its highest storey shows wide openings divided by many mullions, intended to represent the gridiron upon which Valentinian martyred the saint to whom the church is dedicated. In the interior, eight lofty columns on each side support the roof. In the choir are some splendid painted glass windows, bearing the richly emblazoned coats-of-arms of old patrician families of Nuremberg. One of them, the Volkamer window, for brightness of colour and excellence of design is considered one of the finest specimens of glass- painting in Europe. Here also, as in St. Sebald's, nothing has been altered since the old Catholic days. Nuremberg went over unanimously to the Reforaied Church, and took over the sa^ired edifices as they were. The altars, the pictures of miracles and martyrdoms, the Christ on the Cross, the sculptured apostles, the very confessionals, stand as they were when the priests of Rome ministered here and little dreamed of the times of change that were fast coming. One of the principal ornaments of this church is the Ciborium, formerly the recep- tacle of the elements of the Eucharist previous to consecration. It is a piece of work so elaborate that it was at one time questioned whether the artist, Adam Krafft, who spent five years in its construction, had not moulded it by some secret process. The Ciborium rests upon a richly-carved base, supported by the kneeling figures of Adam Krafft and THE PAESONAGE OF ST. SEBALD S CHUBCII. 220 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nuremberg. his two assistants. Above rises the tall and graceful structure, over sixty feet in height . bending at the top to conform to the curve of the vaulted roof. The design is exceed- ingly elegant, and the execution marvellous. In the successive storeys are represented the scenes of the Passion, the Last Supper, the Agony, the Scourging, the Partino- from the Mother, the Crown of Thorns, the Supreme Sacrifice, the Resurrection, the Peace of Heaven. The artist who accomplished this wonderful piece of work, in friendly rivalry THE KAEOLINEN-STEASSE AND CHTJECH OF ST. LAWRENCE. of Vischer's master-piece in the Sebaldkirche already alluded to, died in deep distress at a great age, in a hospital in Schwalbach. The Frauenkirche belongs to the Roman Catholics. Forty years ago there were not 3,000 in the town, but amongst the poorer class it is said that of late years they have increased in a greater ratio than the Protestants. For centuries they were not allowed to hold property in the town. The Frauenkirche was built by the Emperor Charles IV. in 1361, on the site of an ancient Jewish synagogue. It abounds with relievos, pictures, tombs, altars, fine glass windows, and sculptured niches. Porch and vestibule are richly decorated, and in the interior are many monuments from old Nuremberg churches that have been destroyed. We must pass over St. Claire and St. Margaret, St. Martha and others. The Nurembergr ] ST. JOHN'S CEMETERY. 221 ^gidienkirche, or Church of St. Gilles, is an edifice in the Italian style, which took the place in 1718 of a very ancient chapel burnt down some years before, which had been originally founded in 1140 by the Emperor Conrad III., for some Scottish Benedic- tine monks. It is the most fashionable church in the town, but its Tuscan elevation, with its pilasters and cupolas, looks somewhat out of place in Nuremberg. The three side chapels escaped the fire in 1696, and are very ancient and interesting, especially that iH.Krti/ft's Mouse. "ZLGeiverbe Miiseii- igJ'tiTitriitft Museum. 'Z'z.HaU^^ebaude. 2u.yt/l>erl Diirer's ^^.ZeuffhiZUs, TypO!;riipliic EU: PLAN OP NUEEMBEEO. of St. Eucharius, with its slender pillars and pointed arches of the Transition period. The church contains many pictures, among them an altar-piece by Vandyck ; also some sculp- tured work by Peter Vischer and Adam Krafft. Close by the Church of St. .<^gidius is the important Gymnasium, or Grammar School, which is said to have been founded by Melancthon, whose statue rises in front of it. Having said so much of the churches, we must now say a few words of one of the churchyards. The old burial-ground of St. John, on the north-west of the city, has been a burial-place for six centuries. It is rich in quaint sculptures, and curious epitaphs in German and Latin. The gravestones, 3,500 in number, lie very close together; they are all regularly numbered, and mostly decorated with bronze plates, bearing the coats-of- arms and devices appertaining to the deceased. The grave in which the chief interest of 222 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nurembei^. the sDot centres is No. 649, the grave o£ Albreclit Diirer. The stone is a flat slal) on a moulded plinth, with the words pictvua and scvlptvu.^ engraved on the panels at the two sides; at the head, architec. ; at the foot, reno. a.d. 1681. At the head is a raised bronze tablet, with the famous inscription — ME. AL. DV. q,VICQVID ALBERTI DURERI MORTALE PVIT SVB HOC CONDITVR TVMULO EMIGRAVIT VIII IDVS APRILIS M. D. XXVIII. A: It is to this inscription that Longfellow refers, in the poem on Nuremberg already alluded to — " Umigravit is the inscription on the tomhstone where he lies. Dead he is not, hut departed— for the artist never dies." It has been found on examination that the great artist's remains are no longer under the tombstone, but have been replaced by those of othere. He died worn out with domestic sufferings, resulting from the outrageous conduct of the mediaeval Xantippe of whom he had the misfortune to be the husband. For reasons best known to himself, he had married in an evil hour Agnes Frey, the daughter of a celebrated ivory-carver. As her portrait shows, she was no great beauty; she was quarrelsome, ill-natured, and passionate, and succeeded in making her husband's life a purgatory, till death released him from her per- secutions. The graves of Hans Sachs and other noted Nurembergers are also to be found in this quiet burial-ground. The way to the burial-ground from the city gate, called the Thiergartner Thor, is along the Seilersgasse. Some four hundred years ago it struck the imagination of one Martin Kotzel that the route was similar to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, along which our Saviour is supposed to have passed in going from Pilate's House to Calvary. During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in 1477, Kotzel measured the distances between the spots alleged to have witnessed the closing scenes of the Passion. But on returning to Nurem- berg the worthy burgher found he had lost the measurements. Accordingly, in order to accomplish his purpose, he undertook a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the suite of Otho, Duke of Bavaria. This time he brought his measurements home safely, and em- ployed Adam Krafft to execute seven bas-reliefs, which were placed on pillars at the proper distances along the road to the cemetery. They commence with the house of Pilate, near the city gate, and terminate with a Calvary, with three crosses and stone figures, on a gentle eminence near the old Church of St. John. The bas-reliefs have been very much in- jured by time, neglect, and mischief, but the remains show something of the beauty of the ancient designs. In olden times Nuremberg possessed pious relics of immense celebrity and wonderful miracle-working power, so that from all parts of the Continent crowds of pilgrims used to flock hither, " to the great honour '' (as one of the old monks says) " of God and St. Dominic." There was the spear that pierced the Saviour's side, a piece of the true cross, a strip of the Nurembei^.J THE CITY LIBRARY. 223 towel wheremth Christ was girded when He washed His disciples* feet, a portion of the table-cloth used at the Last Supper, a tooth of John the Baptist (this was of portentous size), the arm-')one of St. Anna, three links of St. PauFs chain, and so forth. At the present day the city contains several collections of genuine curiosities. The Germanic Museum is a justly celebrated storehouse of national antiquities and historic relics of Germany, in- cluding paintings, sculptures, arms, coins, furniture, books, MSS., etc. The painted glass, carving, and noted goldsmith's work of Nuremberg are illustrated by very fine specimens. Amongst the choicest treasures must be mentioned a painting by Albrecht Diirer of un- doubted authority, and the only specimen of his best work now to be found in Nuremberg. It is a portrait of a friend of Diirer, the Burgomaster Hieronymus Holzschuter, and has remained as an heir-loom in the possession of Holzschuter's descendants ever since it was painted in 1526. The City Library is located in an ancient Dominican monastery, on the eastern side of the Burgstrasse. Both within and without, the edifice is somewhat dark and gloomy; the life of the '' blessed Saint Dominic " is seen duly set forth in coloured glass and distemper. The library was founded at the time of the Reformation by Jerome Pamgaertner, the friend of Luther and Melancthon, and was placed in the old monastery in 1538. It con- tains more than 40^000 volumes, amongst which are finely illuminated MSS. of the Gospels of the tenth, twelfth, and fifteenth centuries, and several specimens of the rare books which bibliographers call Incunabula — that is to say, books produced when the art of printing was, as it were, in its cradle, before the year 1500. Among the MSS. is half of the auto- graph copy of Albrecht Diirer's work on the proportions of the human figure; the other half is in the Royal Library at Dresden. A beautifully illuminated Latin breviary, executed between 1300 and 1300, bears the following inscription: "La Liver du Roy du France, Charles Dorie a Madame la Roigne Dengleterre." This Queen of England must have been either Isabella, wife of Edward IL, or Katherine, wife of Henry V. Another interesting MS. is a satirical poem by Hans Sachs, referring to a certain pugnacious knight, the Markgraf Albrecht von Ansbach, who gave Nuremberg much trouble. Whilst the burghers were fighting against him, Hans Sachs wrote lampoons on the enemy, although the worthy cobbler well knew that it was by no means unlikely that at some time or other he would fall into the hands of this terrible Markgraf. The poem referred to is a fanciful description of a dream, in which the poet sees the Markgraf dragged to the infernal regions, amidst the execrations of thousands whom he has ruined. But the interesting contents of this library are far too numerous and varied to be particularised liere; autographs of Gustavus Adolphus, Luther, Melancthon, the celebrated Ritter, Ulrich von Hutten, and others; drawings, portraits, and curiosities; Luther's silk cap, and his drinking-cup, given him by Dr. Jonas ; an ancient globe, showing a channel through the Isthmus of Panama : all these, together with many more remai'kable things, are exhi- bited here. Although the chief attractions of Nuremberg are associated with the past, it is by no means a dead city. At the beginning of the present century it had sunk to a dull provincial town, but during the last forty years commercial enterprise has again raised Nuremberg to a prominent position among Gennan cities. It must be confessed that the ■zu CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Nuremberg. city is to some extent being modernised, but not as yet to such a degree as to spoil its quaint mediaeval aspect. Outside the walls, beautiful suburbs, with handsome houses and shady garden>=, have sprung up, and in the older parts, amidst the ancient mansions and towers, are abundant signs of home comfort and luxury. A stream of busy life perpetually ebbs and flows around the Beautiful Fountain and over the adjacent bridge; brown-cheeked women of portly figiu-e, whose heads are surmounted by black satin helmet-like bonnets, garrulously offer their wares ; and country people from the outside villages, with scarlet kerchiefs for head-dresses, nod and chatter over their baskets of fruit and vegetables. The manufactures of Nuremberg are, again, very considerable. One establishment employs 4,000 men in making railway carriages ; and here we may remark, in passing, that the first railway in Germany was opened in 1836, between Nuremberg and Fiirth, 3| miles distant. Amongst other manufactures are ultra- marine mirrors, children's toys, lead- pencils, brass, bronze wares, etc. The wood and ivory carving is good, and of moderate cost. Nuremberg gingerbread 1, as everybody knows, is the nonpareil of gingerbread. The toys of Nuremberg, mostly produced by the peasants of the Thuringian Forest, are sold under the misnomer of " Dutch toys " through- out the world. Faber and the other lead-pencil makers produce 220,000,000 of lead-pencils per annum, worth £240,000; so that again, as in its ancient days, " Nuremberg's hand goes through every land.'' Although the distance between Munich and Nuremberg is only 120 miles, many hundreds of years may be said to lie between the two cities. Munich is the least poetical town in the map of Europe. " Munich the spick and span, the clean, the bare, the white, the bran-new. No mystery, no romance is here; few local relics or antiquities, nothing to give fancy the spur. A roomy city of stone, plaster, respectability, regularity, glare, and space." Nuremberg is not only old as the hills it stands upon, but having been built by fits and starts, is quite wanting in fashionable uniformity of architecture. The rising, falling, winding streets are everywhere as crooked, irregular, broken, and angular as possible, and it is easy for fancy to re-people them with wealthy burghers, foreign merchants, and quaintly-clad peasants : to call back the pompous burgomaster, the sedate senators, turbulent robbers, and other figures in the masque of bygone days. Everywhere there is a pervading pieturesque- ness almost unique : the superb churches, the ancient impregnable Castle ; the dry tangled PORCH OF THE FEAXJENKIRCHE. Nuremberg.] THE VENICE OF GERMANY. 225 inoat, with its seventy-five remaining Gothic towers; the narrow serpentine river and curious bridges — these would kindle the sleepiest imagination ; while the beauty of the common houses is in its way nearly as striking. Nuremberg has been called the Venice of Germany — as famous a centre of commerce in the past^ as original and picturesque to-day, ;as the Queen of the Adriatic herself. " But there/' says Am- brose Heath, " the likeness ends. Venice is a fairy tale, Nurem- berg a romance; Venice a lovely faded bride, Nuremberg a patriarch knight, hoary, stern, and vener- able. And well are these two characters embodied in the works of their two native artists, who arose both at the same time — both men to immortalise their city. All Venice lies in Titian; all Nuremberg in Albrecht Diirer.^' '^ When the traveller enters the free cities of Augsburg, Ratisbon, and above all Nuremberg,^' says a modern art-critic, '^despoiled though they now are of wealth and of commerce, and denuded of art, . he naturally strives to master the historic and geographic, not to say the geological, situation. He is placed in the midst of hills guarded by castles, and at his feet run rapid rivulets which drive the clattering mill; he is at the half-way house where commerce halted on its road from the East ; a high path among the mountains leads to Venice, and the stream of the Danube conducts to Vienna and Constantinople. Such a region, not lovely like the South, but rugged and austere as the Northern arts of which it was the cradle — such a hill-girt country, dear as other hill-countries to its people, where freedom had to endure a hard fight, when the Reformation first asserted liberty of thought — was the fitting birth-place of Albrecht Diirer and his contemporaries.^' TU£ HENAaEBIE TOWKB. 69 ST. PETERSBURG. THK AKMS or ST. PETEESBURG. Peter the Great and his New Capital— The Building of tlie City— Inundations— Streets and Street Scenes— Cathedral of St.. Isaac— The Fortress— Church of St. Peter and St. Paul— Story of Prince Alexis— Peter's Boat— Our Lady of Kazan - Churches and Monasteries— Russian Heroes and their Tombs— Royal Palaces, and Stories concerning them— The Czar Nicholas— The Police and the Actor— A Curious Code of Etiquette— Picture-Hunting— The Hermitage— The Cottage of Peter the Great — Monuments— Government Departments and Civic Institutions— Curiosities of the Museum— Libraries- — Feasting and Fasting— Scenes on the Neva— The Future. OMPARED with the greater number of the cities whose historic monuments are described in the present work, the metropolis of Russia is but a creation of yesterday. At the bej^^inning of the last century a few scattered Finnish fishermen were almost the only inhabitants of the district called Ingria, on the- eastern shores of the Gulf of Finland. For nearly a century the territory, though formerly Russian, had belonged to Sweden, when, in 1702, Peter the Greats after a siege of several days, took the Swedish fort of Nyenschanz, which guarded the passage by the Neva to Lake Ladoga. Peter had resolved iipon reorganising his country, and winning for it a place among the Powers of the West. He had been longing for a " window by which the Russians might look into civilised Europe,^^ and accordingly determined io erect a new capital upon the desolate marshes and low swampy islands among which the Neva flowed on to the Gulf of Finland. Accordingly, a vast number of peasants — Tartars, Calmucks, Cossacks, Ingrians, Finns, and Russians — were collected and set to work, and employed constantly in deepening the river channels, raising the islands, and driving innumerable piles into the pestilential swamps. Peter 2:)ersonally superintended operations, dwelling in a cottage which is still in existence, anel pushing forward operations with the indomitable energy of an iron will armed with absolute power. But for the enormous masses of workmen congregated together there no supplies could be obtained from the surrounding elistrict, which had l^een devastated by long years of war, and the convoys that brought provisions across Lake Ladoga were often detained by contrary winds. Toiling on in cold and wet, badly fed, and almost without shelter in inclement weather, it is little to be wondered at that the foundations of the new city were laid at the cost of at least a lumdred thousand lives. But the Czar had willed that a great city should rise and be inhabited, and with him, to will was to perform. Year after year forty thousand peasants from every part of his dominions were sent there to labour. Foreign workmen were hired to build and embellish the city, and also to teach the natives. Nobles and merchants received impera- tive commands to come and build dwellings. The erection of stone mansions in any St. Petersburg.] FOUNDATION OF THE CITY. 227 other part of the empire was forbidden whilst the new capital was in progress. To assist in keeping up the supply of building materials, no vessel, large or small, was permitted to sail up the Neva, and no peasant's cart to enter the city, without bringing a specified quantity of building stones. After Peter's death, Catherine I. continued the work, though less vigorously. Peter II. preferred Moscow, and resided there till his death. The Empress Ann did much to adorn St. Petersburg, which henceforth became the settled residence of the Court. Various edifices and monuments have been since erected by successive monarchs. The Empress Catherine lined the left bank of the Neva with a granite quay, which has not, however, prevented several serious inundations since that time. As the result of so much imperial energy, and so much toil and suffering on the part of the wretched labourers, a vast and beautiful city has replaced the dreary marshes amidst which Peter dwelt and planned his future capital. But its maintenance, like its foundation, is a constant struggle with nature. It rests upon a substructure of piles, without which it would sink deep into the marshes below. All large buildings, the granite quays, the very foot-pavements, rest on piles. The district produces nothing except lish from the Neva, and for six months in the year the harbour is inaccessible. The winter is so severe that it is only by the assiduous labour of a host of workmen that the city eople, do them no wrong.' AVhen he had finished writing these sentences, he took his own girdle and strangled himself." And thus ended the dynasty of Ming, which from 1308 to IGil had • occupied the Imjwrial throne. Of the foundation of the Manchoorian dynasty in its place we have already spoken. According to some accounts the unfortunate Emperor hanged himself from a tree, which is still pointed out in the Imperial Park — a tree which was loaded with chains by the iii*st of the ^lanchoo Emperors, as having been guilty as an accessory in the suicide of an Emj)eror. The Pei-thasse, ei*ected in memory of the monarch, lifts its golden cupola higli above the surrounding mass of veixlure and tlie tranquil waters of the lake. There is a pagoda on an island in the most northerly of the two lakes, and around it are handsome temples, terraces, and pavilions. In the largest temple are 10,(fOO small images of Buddha in gilt bronze, ranged in cells round the walls of a vast three- storeyed building. One temple has its front wall covered with porcelain slabs, with large dragons in high relief. Another contains an image of Buddha seventy feet high, with a thousand arms arranged in semi-circular rows, also a thousand feet, and a great number of small heads disposed in pyramid fashion. A mass of figures of men and animals forms a throne for the idol, which grasps in one hand a capacious umbrella. Between the two portions of the lake — which, by the way, seldom eontiiins nuuh water — stretches a beautiful marble bridge of very elaborate workmanship. At the north- western angle of the wall of the Red City stands one of the best-preserved and most curious of the ten thousiuid pagodas of Pekin. It is the building in which the members of the Imixjrial family pass their literary examinations. Above the yellow roof of the principal kiosk is an immense five-clawed dragon — the Imj^erial symbol — with green scales, protruding red tongue, and eyes of black and white ]X)rcelain, Around the building a crowd of fabulous animals rear and struggle on every coign of vantage. Walls of red brick surmounted by a capital of yellow tiles stretch round the inmost enclosure of Pekin, the Rod or Prohibited City. Four gates, each surmounted by a tower, give access to it, but no one is admitted except those esj^ecially privileged to attend the Imperial Court. Walls running from north to south divide the interior into three i)or- tions, and the whole space is filled with beautiful palaces, with lakes, gardens, and pagodas. In the Imi>erial Palace there are nine large courts connected by marble i)ortals. A marble stau'case leads to the spacious entrance-court, in which are five ornamental bridges rekia.] THE RED OR PROHIBITED CITY. 203 crossing a small stream. From the enclosure, three doors, two for mandarins and a central one for the Emperor alone, conduct to the largest of the j^alace courts, surrounded by maga- zines, containing the Imperial treasures, precious stones, robes, arms, etc. The Imperial Hall, or Hall of the Great Union, stands in this court — a square edifice a])()ut 150 feet in each direction, adorned with sculptured panels and golden dragons, and paved with marble. The throne occupies the centre of the hall. Two adjoining halls on the same i-aised foundation are used as a saloon and robing-room. From the court of the Imperial Hall a marble staircase leads to the Gate of the Kien-tsing-tung, or Tranquil Place of Heaven. Very special iiermission is needed even for courtiers to enter here. It is iised as a council-chamber. Beyond it is the special domain of the Empress, and beyond this lies the Imperial Garden, with its flower-beds and pavilions, its hanging gardens, lake, and fountains. The eastern division of the Prohibited City contains the offices of the Privy Council and Treasury, also the Library, and the Temple of Intense Thought, in which offerings^ are made to Confucius and other sages of old time. Here, also, are the temple in which the Emperor adores his ancestoi*s, and numerous palaces inhabited by princes of the blood and their retainers. The Hall of Distinguished Sovereigns, the printing office, and other State buildings occupy the western division. The Prohibited City also contains barracks and stables, capable of containing 15,000 men and 5,000 horses, so that it is in itself a fortress, defended by the two outer cities, which are fortresses also. A broad avenue leads from the southern gate of the palace enclosures to the Ta- tsing Gate of the Yellow City. Ou each side are large parks, enclosing ancient and abandoned bronzeries. Close to the Ta-tsing Gate are vast caves for the storage of wood and other fuel. We must briefly allude to a few other objects of interest in the Tartar City, without attempting to localise them, before proceeding to speak of its Chinese neighbour. The Temple of the Tower is a famous one, with a large Buddhist convent of great renown attached to it. The Grand Place is remarkable for little but its extent and regularity. In the centre a fountain springs from a marble basin, and on each side of its octagonal area rise symmetrical palaces. The Imperial Pagoda of Kwang-min-tien stands in a pleasant park, and is one of the most beautiful in Pekin. The body of the edifice is of polished red bricks, the roof of brilliant blue tiles, and at the various projecting corners hang flags and lanterns, and little bells that tinkle to every passing breeze. In the interior are gilded idols, and pictures of gods and genii. The once famous elephant stables are now only ruins. The Ming Emperors kept thirty elephants as a part of their royal state. The Manchoo Em])erors despised these symbols of Asiatic despotism, and graduall}- suffered the establishment to decline. At the time of the Allied Expedition of 1860 there was but one elephant in the stable — a feeble veteran more than a century old, white with age and powerless for offence or defence, and blind of one eye. The Peh-tang and Nam-tang are the two most important of the four Roman Catholic mission stations of Pekin. The former is in the Yellow City, and consists of a series of pavilions and large courtyards, and an ancient chapel with a tower, from which there is a splendid view. Many of the photograpliic views of Pekin sold in Europe have been taken from this point. The surrounding park is so large that the Chinese call it a forest. •Z64< CITIES OF THE WORLD. rrekin. The chapel shows marks o£ the popular fury at the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits. The Nam-tang, an ancient Portuguese establishment ceded to France, contains the Roman Catholic Cathedral, an edifice of the time of Louis XV., with two square towers. It was in a state of complete dilapidation, but was repaired in 1861. The mention of these edifices naturally leads us to refer to the Jesuits who played so MUSbULSIAN MOSQTTE (nOW DISUSEDJ IN THE RED CITY. important a part at the Court of China in the seventeenth century. The earliest attempt to establish a Roman Catholic mission at Pekin was in 1293, when John of Mount Corvin went there, and was subsequently made archbishop. Bishops and priests were sent to aid in this effort, which was not a very successful one, and terminated in complete failure at the fall of the Mongol Empire. But in the year 1580 Father Ricci, full of the zeal which was at that time so fervent amongst the members of the still youthful Society of Jesus, penetrated to Pekin. He appeared at first as a literary gentleman, and acquired great influence amongst the literary and governing classes. His intellectual gifts were varied, -and his learning extensive and profound, and to unbounded energy he united unflagging Pekin.] THE JESUIT MISSIONS. 265 perseverance and great prudence. He conciliated the Emperor by teaching astronomy and Western sciences. In teaching Christianity he tried to make things pleasant all round. " The Emperor found in him/' says a French writer, '' a man full of complaisance ; the pagans, a minister who accommodated himself to their superstitions; the mandarins, a polite courtier, skilled in all the trickery of courts j and the devil, a faithful servant, who, far from destroy- ENTBANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF THE MOON. ing, established his reign among the heathen, and even extended it to the Christians. He preached in China the religion of Christ according to his own fancy, adopting the sacrifices offered to Confucius and his ancestors, and teaching the Christians to assist at the worship of idols, provided they only addressed their devotions to a cross covered with flowers, or secretly attached to one of the candles which were lighted in the temples of the false gods.'' This style of teaching was much reprobated by European Catholics, and great controversies arose ; but the Chinese Emperors decreed that Christianity as taught by the Jesuits should be taught there. For over a century the Jesuit missions flourished. Numerous bishoprics were established 74 ^Q^ CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Pekin. in China, and the converts were numbered by hundreds of thousands. The successors of Ilieci were well-informed and cultivated men, and to them Eurojie was lono- indebted for its chief authentic information as to China. They were well acquainted with mathematical and mechanical science, and made themselves so useful that they rose in hio-h favour at the Court. They diversified their employments by teaching and superintendin» the casting of cannon, and by constructing water-clocks and fountains. Sehall and Yerbiest both cast cannon for the Emperor. The latter cast 130 pieces for Kanghi on ov.e occasion, and afterwards 320 more, solemnly blessing them, and bestowing on every piece the name of a saint. The Jesuits were also possessed of considerable medical skill. They cured the Emperor of an ague with cinchona bark, and in his gratitude he gave them the ground occupied by the Pey-tang. But the next Emperor, Yung-chung, was jealous of the influence of the Jesuits in China, and gave as his ostensible reasons for expelling them that their doctrines were bad, leading to the disturbance of the relations of social life, to the congregating of men and women together, and to the reception of the latter in dark places by priests for purposes of confession. Some of the fathers managed to secrete them- selves, while others found means of getting back to their flocks, but for over a hundred years the Christians experienced alternating seasons of favour and persecution, and many native Christians and some foreign teachers suffered martyrdom. During the latter half of the eighteenth century the celebrated Father Amiot was resident here from 1750 till his death in 1794, at the age of seventy-seven. His works on Chinese history and literature are numerous and profound ; he was also a mathematician, which procured him the warm favour of the Emperor, a lover of science. In 18*2 6 there was one solitary Jesuit dwelling at the Pey-tang, from whom the Chinese Government bought the estate for 5,000 taels. In 1860 the French made the restoration of the Jesuit buildings an article in the treaty, but the Chinese pleaded that they had paid for the premises ; whereupon the French offered to rejiay the money if the Chinese would restore the church and other buildings. This was, of course, impossible ; so under military pressure the ground was yielded back without payment. A great many more temples, palaces of the nobility, and other buildings might be enumerated, but the mere names would be uninteresting, and the details would be very monotonous. But let the reader guard against illusions. Whilst Pekin is certainly one of those incomparable cities which, like Yenice and Constantinople and Ispahan, resemble no other city upon earth, yet it is by no means all grandeur and beauty. The ordinary houses are never more than one storey in height. " In walking about tlie city,'^ says Mrs. Collins, " objects betokening decay meet the eye on ever}^ side : massive arch- ways of wood, finely carved, more or less out of the perpendicular, threaten you with destruction as you j)ass under them, notwithstanding the huge props by which they are supported. There are magnificent temples, the courtyards paved with marble, but overgrown with weeds, and fine gateways, the entrances to large palaces, with their once gorgeous painting unrenewed for years, and covered with dust. The streets in many jjlaces are filled with water, or intersected with what are intended for drains, deep enough to engulf a horse and its rider. A house in process of building is a thing iinkno\%ii in Pekin ; repairs, also, are very uncommon, and decay is the rule." rekin.] STREET SCENES IN THE CHINESE CITY. 267 Turning now to the Chinese City, we find it much more populous than that already described. It is oi" an oblong form, surrounded by walls, and approached by nine gates, of which three connect it with the Tartar City, as already mentioned. It contains no palaces or official residences; the great street of the centre is about a hundred feet broad, and a few others of the principal streets are of a respectable width ; but excepting the extensive parks attached to the Temples of Heaven and of Agriculture, and a broad cultivated tract close by (all in the south of the city), the remainder is a mass of winding, narrow, stifling lanes and alleys, filthy in the extreme, smelling most vilely, and yet presenting intensely interesting scenes of Chinese life. The street leading from the North-eastern Gate to the Central Avenue is of considerable width and fairly built, and is lined both sides of the way with the shops of the merchants dealing in silks and porcelain and other wares. In front of each shop is a board ten or twelve feet high, carefully varnished and gilded, upon which are inscribed in large characters the names of the articles sold at that establishment. The long rows of these gaudy sign- boards, ornamented at the top with a profusion of gay banners and streamers, give a very theatrical appearance to the streets. Some of these boards are very diffuse in their information, including even the genealogy of the proprietor, and often display phrases intended to invite public confidence, such as " They don^fc cheat here,'' and the like. At the junction of the above street with the Central Avenue is an open space, frequented by crowds of country people selling different sorts of food, especially game and vegetables. Here are enormous piles of onions and cabbages, as high as the shop-fronts. The peasants, male and female, squat on mats or low stools, peacefully smoking, whilst their asses and mules wander round helping themselves to unprotected provender. Citizens, guarding themselves demurely with their fans from the sultr}'- sun, mingle with the robust, brown-skinned countrymen in their sandals and huge straw hats. The Central Street of the Chinese City of Pekin presents one of the most animated spectacles in the world. The long lines of huts and booths, of every size and form and colour, give the street all the aspect of a fair. Everywhere surges the dense, ever- movino- crowd — carriagres and mules and horses and sedan-chairs and hand-barrows mixed in inextricable confusion. Itinerant dealers of all sorts swarm everywhere, some, displaying their stock in hampers slung from their necks ; others selling the fool which is cooking before them in public on portable stoves ; the blacksmith sets up his establishment in a suitable corner, and blows his bellows and wields his hammer without interruption; the barber rings his little bell, and sees customers sit down on his little stool to have their heads shaved, eyebrows painted, '' tails " adjusted, and garments brushed, all for a small fee ; story-tellers, singers, conjurers, quack doctors, hold forth to eager crowds, that ever and anon break up suddenly as some grandee is borne past in triumph, or as processions pass bearing, with lamentable cries, corpses to the graves, or, with squalling music, brides to their husbands. It must be remembered that the various street vendors by no means offer their wares in silence ; on the contrary, they all loudly proclaim the quality of their goods and their low prices in shrill tones of the most ear-piercing description, and the noise of buying and selling, bawling and wrangling, mirth aud laughter, makes up a very Babel of sound. The Central Street is crossed by a substantial 268 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Pekim bridge of stone and M^ood, from which a very fine view of this remarkable thoroughfare is obtained. Amongst the side-streets are some that are specially devoted to particular trades. Thus, there is one street chiefly given up to booksellers. The centre is as crowded as else- where, and in the shops are seen piles of books, paintings, maps, caricatures, and placards. Here the Pek'm Gazette or other journals are sold or lent to read. In some shops the place of honour is occupied by old coloured books, or paintings on leaves of trees ; in the latter, which are very high-priced, the pulpy portion of the leaf has been removed, and replaced by a preparation of powdered talc, upon which, when dry, designs in bright colours- are painted very skilfully. Some of the covered passages are very curious — narrow lanes covered with ill-fitting planks, impaved, and badly lit in the day-time with smoky lamps. Some of these passages are famous for dealers in bric-a-hrac, or koutoung, as the Chinese call it, and upon rough stalls are heaped up vases, porcelain cups, bronzes, arms, pipes, and all sorts of old relics. The dealers are very clever at making new crockery into old; and by using a particular kind of reddish clay, and by burying the object for a few months, they manage to produce splendid counterfeits of the old porcelains of by-gone days, so sought after by amateurs. The passages we are describing are very foul, the floor a mass of mud and nameless debris^ the wood-work of the shops seems perspiring with nauseous moisture, and the smell of the smoky lamps seems positively agreeable in contrast with the foetid air in which they struggle. The Cabbage-market at the cross-roads just now described is the common execution- ground of Pekin. When executions are to take place, some of the stalls are cleared away, and on a pile of rubbish in the street the criminals are beheaded ; then, on short poles stuck in the earth, small wooden cages are slung, in which the heads are exhibited. As soon as the executioner has done his work, market goes on as usual, and it is not at all uncommon to see a dozen fresh heads in the cages among the vegetable stalls, and the buying and selling going on, and nobody apparently taking any notice of these ghastly trophies. Here in autumn the great execution takes place, to clear the gaols before the Emperor makes his annual sacrifice to Heaven at the winter solstice. This spot is the usual scene of political executions, for it is customary to put to death ex-ministers when they have not succeeded in carrying out the plans of the Government satisfactorily. In December, 1861, the ex-Regent of the Empire, Su-shun, was beheaded here. He had abused the Imperial confidence, and, as proprietor of several banks in the city, had issued vast numbers of bank-notes, which he afterwards refused to redeem. Contractors and shopkeepers and bankers who had lost heavily by these notes stood in the streets and jeered at him as he passed to execution at the Cabbage-market. Here also was executed, one morning before sunrise, the governor who unsuccessfully defended Soo-Chow against the Taeping rebels. The Tien-tan, or Altar of Heaven, is situated in the south-eastern part of the Chinese City, and is surrounded by a wall twenty feet high and three miles in extent, within which is a large park, with broad avenues of trees, and in the middle another enclosure in which steps and terraces with marble balustrades form two large circular altars. Upon the centre of the Pekin.] THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN. 269 northern altar or platform rises the beautiful Pagoda of the Vault of Heaven, with three l)rojeeting roofs of a deep blue colour, and ninety-nine feet in height. All the liost of heaven are represented on tablets in this pagoda, and are hrere worshipped to secure favourable seasons. CHINAMAN SELLING THE " PEKIN GAZETTE. The southern altar, approached from the first by a stone causeway, is the Altar of Heaven. It also is large and circular, and its broad surface is level and open to the heavens, no pavilion or building rising from it. Near by is a huge furnace, for consuming a whole bullock; there are also magnificent copper censers. Here, once a year, on the night 270 CITIES OF THE WORLD. iPekin. preceding the winter solstice, after spending some hours in humiliation in the Palaee of Penitence, in another part of the park, the Emperor comes to offer adoration to Shang-Ti, the Pearly Emperor Supreme Ruler, who has been thus worshipped by Emperors of China from time immemorial. The present altar was built in 1430 by Yung-lo, of the Ming dynasty, on the removal of the Court from Nankin to Pekin. It was much beautified by Kin-lung. In the worship that is carried on here the Emperor acts as high priest; he alone worships, and no subject, however high may be his mnk, can join in his adoration. On the lower terraces of the altar stand his officers, and while oxen are bui*nt ujDon the furnace-altar close by, the Emperor kneels and offei-s incense. Certain prayers are recited by an official, and a song of praise goes up from a large band of musicians and singers. Of Shang-Ti there is no idol, picture, or other representation, and many Europeans who have studied the subject assert that in this worship we see the remains of a traditional monotheism, derived from Jewish sources in remote ages. Shang-Ti would thus be the true God, or Jehovah, although the Chinese idea of him may be a very low one. Not far from the Tien-tan is the Altar of Sheng-neng, the founder of agriculture, with its extensive park. In the centre are three square altars, dedicated respectively to Sheng-neng, the Fruits of the Earth, and the Seasons. In one part of the park is a piece of ground enclosed, which is nominally ploughed and sown by the Emperor. A gilt plough and sacred harrow are carefully kept for this occasion, and the Emperor dresses for the ceremony in a country garb of yellow hue and a broad hat a yard wide. But his labour is a mere sham ; he just touches the plough and scatters a little grain, and then sits on a raised terrace and watches while the work is properly done. The harvest reaped from this Imperial field is kept for sacrifices. Near at hand there is a handsome stable-yard, where the beasts live which are reserved for the annual ploughing, besides a small model granary for storing the Imperial grain. Chinese agriculturists are thus made to feel that the Emperor is one of themselves, and that by joining in the labour of the field he has propitiated Heaven and done honour to their calling. Having now glanced at the various quarters of Pekin and the principal monuments, we will, before turning to the environs, speak of two or three subjects concerning Pekin as a whole. The population is about 2,000,000 Manchoos and Chinese. The descendants of the Manchoo officers have mostly lost by dissipation and extravagance the fortiines they acquired at the conquest, and are now generally tenants in the houses they once owned. The Chinese have repossessed themselves of the estates in the Tartar City once given to the conquerors. The Manchoo officers are nominally members of the civil courts, but their clever Chinese secretaries do all the work for them. Beggars swarm in Pekin. There is an official who may be called King of the Beggars, who looks after them, and is supposed to be responsible for their good behaviour. They roam about the city, and may clamour at a house or shop door until relief is given them, but they must move on as soon as they get a copper coin. The coin in ordinary use — the caslt — is of very small value, so that five beggars can be relieved for the worth of an English farthing. During summer the beggars pass the nights in the streets and in doorways, but in winter they herd together in ranges of huts set up foi* them. No public provision is made for the destitute, but the shop-keepers acknowledge Pekin.l POLICE ARRANGEMENTS. 271 their claims to relief, and in the cold weather subscriptions are raised to open kitchens ior the g-ratuitous supply of gruel or porridge to the poor at the city gates and some of the temples. Between the two cities is the noted Bridge of Beggars, a magnificent marble structure, of which the central space between the two roadways is given up to the beggars. Here the most miserable of this class in Pekin assemble — half naked, leprous, diseased, and blind. The Marquis de Beauvoir says tliat "they are in such a state of starvation tliat they take the decomposing heads from the wicker cages at the execution- ground, salt them, and eat them ! " He says he would not liave believed it if he " had not seen it himself three several times.'' We are afraid some of our readers will scarcely believe it still. It might readily be supposed by any one surveying the teeming population in the main streets thiit amidst such a people disorders must be rife, but the fact is that in the capital, as in every town and city in China, the efficiency of the police is proverbial. In all the principal thoroughfares there are guards of soldiers, who are inider rigid instructions to use their whij^s, without distinction of persons, upon any who are inclined to be quarrelsome or disorderly. Again, every ten houses are under the surveillance of one of the inhabitants as representative of the authorities. As soon as night falls every householder, rich or poor, has a lighted lantern before his door. Although the city has no public lights, the fact is almost compensated by the universal passion for lanterns, even on a bright moonlight night these are seen everywhere ; the palanquin bearers, the police, even the beggars, carry lights about, and children are seen with little lanterns, proportioned to the size of the diminutive bearers. A night patrol may be seen making tlie rounds, the commanding officer on horseback having borne before him an enormous lantern, inscribed with his names and titles, and every man in the force bearing a small lantern of the shape of a fish, a bird, or a stag. After a certain hour every side-street is closed with a barrier at each end, and the guards posted there on duty allow no one to pass unless carrying a lantern and able to assign a good cause for being out. It is said, however, that a little money judiciously bestowed will always procure a passage for the benighted wayfarer. During the whole night the streets are patrolled by watchmen, who prove themselves on the alert by striking a bamboo tube every few minutes. Europeans find this dull monotonous sound very irksome at first. The Chinese seem to like all these and other minute regulations for their safety and good conduct — a paternal government suits them. Of the manners and customs and social life of the Chinese we cannot say much in a sketch of Pekin, but to marriages and funerals we must just briefly refer, as the processions connected with these events so often form prominent features in the street scenes of the city. As regards marriage, to describe in full the preliminaries, formalities, and supersti- tions connected with it would fill a volume. Previous to the wedding-day the bride is deprived of her eyebrows by the painful process of pulling out the hairs, that she may henceforth be recognised as a married woman. On the morning of the " lucky day,'' which has been selected with great care for the auspicious event, she is carried from her home to the home of her future spouse in a highly decorated bridal chair, sparkling with crystal ornaments. The procession is accompanied by musicians playing noisy tunes. Pekin.] CHINESE FUNERALS. 273 by buffoons, and torch-bearers, and a motley crowd of friends and acquaintances. The religious ceremony consists in the bride and bridegroom worshipping together before the spirit-tablets of the bridegroom's ancestors. After a day spent in feasting, complimenting the bride, and general merriment, at the last moment the bride's veil is removed, and the two contracting parties see each other's face for the first time. Funerals of adult Chinese, and especially of parents, are made the occasion of many extravagant and expensive ceremonies. Great care is taken as to coffins, and they are even treasured by the living, in readiness for the fatal event. For a son to present a handsome coffin to his father is by no means an unpleasant hint, but is looked upon as a very commendable proof of filial regard. When a Chinaman* is deposited in his coffin, clad in rich robes, amidst the chanting of priests, the lighting of candles, and offering of incense, his friends must all come and pay their respects, and are legally liable to penalties if they neglect this duty. For weeks, sometimes for months, the coffin, in which cotton and quick- lime have also been placed, is kept in the house ; then, on a multiple of seven days from the death, a procession of men and women, clad in coarse white garments, follow, and the men-mourners have to wear a white badge on their queues for months. The massive coffin is borne along by some twelve, or even twenty men. The mourning is something terrible ; generally the near relatives have to be supported by friends on each side, and now and again some one is overcome with convulsive grief, and a carpet is spread on the ground, on which the mourner may roll for a few minutes, and get over his violent agitation. Those who can afford it procure hired mourners, in addition to doing the utmost they can themselves. Ever and anon persons connected with the procession burn paper imitations of money, which, according to some authorities, is intended to purchase for the departed immunity from molestation by evil spirits who may happen to be passing. By the lavish display and extravagance of their funeral ceremonies families often embarrass themselves considerably, and, indeed, have been known to reduce themselves to poverty rather than that a parent should be consigned to the grave without due honour. The environs of Pekin contain many objects of interest. The department of Pekin is not naturally fertile, consisting for the most part of broad sandy plains ; but in some portions near the capital, by building terraces and transporting vegetable earth, and by constant irrigation, smiling landscapes have been created. The European cemeteries, without the walls, naturally possess great interest for the foreign visitor to Pekin. The Jesuit burial-ground, near one of the western gates, contains, in large white marble tombs, the bodies of many of the Roman Catholic missionaries who took such a conspicuous position at Pekin in bygone times. The stones are about ninety in number, bearing inscriptions in Latin, Chinese, or Manchoo. Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, are among the historic names recorded on these monuments. There is also a large monument of white marble in honour of Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the East, and another in honour of Joseph, the husband of Mary. The Russian burial-ground, to the north of the city, derives a melancholy interest from the small plain monument '' sacred to the memory " of Captain Brabazon, Lieu- tenant Anderson, and eleven others, all victims to Chinese treachery. There is also a French cemetery, containing a monument to the memory of the officers and soldiers who died during the campaign in China in 1860. 75 274 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Pekin. There are several temples outside the walls. The spacious Altar to Earth is near one of the northern gates, where, surrounded by groves of trees and a moat, is the double-terraced altar on which the Emperor annually sacrifices. The Altar to the Sun and the Altar to the Moon show similar arrangements : the latter is approached by a broad avenue a quarter of a mile in length. There is also a Lama Temple of great celebrity outside the An-ting Gate, containing a colossal monument of white marble, entirely covered with candngs forming a pictorial epitome of the birth, life, and death of the founder of Buddhism. The principal object of interest in the environs of Pekin has been for centuries the Summer Palace of the Emperors, enclosed by a wall six miles in length, situated ten miles to the north-west of the capital, and approached by a road paved with slabs of granite. It has long been the principal residence of the Emperor and his Court, the palace at Pekin only being used occasionally. Within the enclosure were no less than thirty-six palaces and a large number of pagodas, kiosks, and temples, which in 1860 were pillaged, and to a large extent destroyed, by the Allied Forces. The invaders were amazed at the interminable succession of pagodas, temples, white marble palaces, and fantastic towers, containing treasures and curiosities of untold value. Some of the principal objects were taken possession of by the generals in the names of France and England respectively ; the officers and soldiers loaded themselves with as much as they could lay hands on ; and finally the whole place was set on fire, as a retributive measure in consequence of the murder of the thirteen prisoners above referred to. It was considered that the Chinese Government would be thus taught that they could not with impunity treacherously seize and cruelly torture persons who put faith in their professions of peace. It seems probable that in this very royal residence the tortured victims had been exhibited for the amusement of the residents, as the clothes of the victims, soiled and stained with blood, were found in the palace. To reach the Great Wall of China from Pekin is a journey of about forty miles. In the year 24;0 b.c, Che-wang-te, the first Emperor of the Tsin dynasty, began this stupendous work. It is fifteen hundred miles in length, but is not uniform in strength for the whole distance. The task was evidently performed in a much more perfunctory manner at a distance from the capital than in its immediate neighbourhood, where the work could be readily inspected by the Emperor. In some j)arts it is a mere terrace of earth, that can be crossed and re-crossed on horseback. Near Pekin it consists of two walls of brick or masonry, several feet apart, with the intervening space filled in with earth. Square towers forty feet in height rise at frequent intervals, and at every important pass there is a strong fortress. The great canal system of China has been justly extolled by travellers. The noblest work in the series is the Grand Canal, starting near Pekin, of which Barrow writes : — ''I may safely say that, in point of magnitude, our most extensive inland navigation of England can no more be compared to the grand trunk that intersects China than a garden fish-pond to the great lake of Windermere." This canal is 1,000 miles in length, and occupied 200,000 men for j^ears in its construction. It is now greatly out of repair, and m some parts almost completely filled up. THE ABM8 OP LYONS. In Roman Times— Successes and Reverses— The City of To-day— The Place Bellccour— Principal Districts and Streets— The Fortress of St. Jolin— Legend of the Tour de la Belle- Allemande— Rousseau in Lyons— The Quays— The River and its Bridges— Clerical Influence— Religious History of the City— Churches, their Vicissitudes and Associations— The Cathedral— Pilgrim Church of Xotre Dame de Fourvicres— View from the Terrace— Hotel de Ville— Bourse and other Public Buildings— Industries— Silk-weaving and Weavers. fULIUS CAESAR, in the course of his victorious eampaij^ns in Gaul, encamped for a time in close proximity to the present site of the city of Lyons. He does not mention any town in the neighbourhood, yefc some authorities assert that long before a colony had been founded there by some fugitive Rhodians, driven out of Provence by the imperious Phocajans LYONS. of Marseilles. Be that as it may, we know that about 49 e.g. certain in- habitants of Vienne (not the city on the Danube, but the city on the Rhone), being driven out during the wars of Caesar and Pompey, went and settled there. After the Dictator's death, the Senate directed the governor of the province, Lucius Munatius Plancus, the friend of Cicero and Horace, to build a city for these refugees. There was probably a village of some kind — Celtic, Greek, or otherwise — close by, from which the new colony took its name — Lugdunum . It was not long before Lugdunum grew into a place of importance. Successive Roman governors vied with each other in embellishing the city, which speedily became rich and powerful. It was the principal mart for the Western provinces of the Empire. Agrippa made it the starting-point of the four great military roads that traversed Gaul. Temples, aqueducts, baths, theatres, and all the adjuncts of a splendid Roman city, adorned the hill-slopes. From the vast theatre, the spectators turning eastward could gaze over the plains of the Allobroges to the distant Alps. Close by was the immense palace of the Roman governors, in which Augustus, surrounded by a brilliant Court, spent three years organising the administration of the Western provinces. Lyons was made the capital of Gaul, and Drusus, Caligula, and Claudius, each in turn, honoured and adorned the city. But in 59 A.D. the city was marvellously destroyed. " Una nox fuit inter urbem maximam et nullum " is the testimony of Seneca concerning the event — " There was but one night betv/een a great city and nothing.'' It is believed by some writers that a subsidence took place in the hill on which the city was built, that conflagrations broke out among the falling houses, and then the city disappeared. Thanks to the prompt aid afforded by the capricious Nero, Lyons speedily rose from its ashes. In ten years it had again become a populous and splendid city, upon which Vitellius, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, and other Emperors successively lavished gifts and privileges. In 197 a.d., when the courageous Albinus fell before his rival Severus, the city of Lyons, for having sided with Albinus, was sacked by the soldiers of the conqueror, and i^'-l 'i!k 1 L I, 'I 1 I li lllij .: lid 1 1,' II. 1ml! 1 'V; I u i- ' M eu. )se from then education ; Leydrade al<|t^l He opened public scli' and nobles of France ' know how to read, cal' After some furthc'i' under the dominion ol- j t of the German Empirej rulers the city revoltec^ Philip le Bel annexe ; liijt I Nl {,:! tt: •vm m\ htm\ \ iji'M' liAiii I ' IMI, III tm I rill I m m Lyons.] SITUATION OF THE CITY. 277 government by two consuls, who continued to exercise a respected judicial power till the eighteenth century. Having briefly traced the history of Lyons from its first colonisation to the period of its final incorporation into the French kingdom, we need only add such further details as may suggest themselves in connection with the various sites and monuments. To the early introduction of Christianity into the city and the heroic sufferings of its martyrs — to the religious wars of the sixteenth century and the revolutionary struggle and massacres of the eighteenth — and to some other events of importance, we shall have occasion to refer in the course of our survey. The Lyons of to-day is a stately city, splendidly situated at the junction of the Rh6ne and Saone. It occupies the tongue of land about three miles long and three-quarters of a mile broad between those rivers, and also a portion of the opposite banks. Seen for the first time, from one of the neighbouring heights, it presents an imposing spectacle. Upon the peninsula between the two rivers are the districts of Perrache, Bellecour, St. Clair, and 278 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. La Croix-Rousse. Upon the west bank o£ the Saone are Fourvieres, St. Irenee, and Vaise; and upon the east bank of the Saone^ Les Brotteaux and La Guillotiere. These •districts present distinguishing characteristics^ and claim separate notices. The southern extremity of the central peninsula is the district of Perrache — named after the celebrated sculptor, a native of Lyons, by whom the junction of the rivers was removed from near the church of Ainay to its present confluence. Upon this recovered land, solid and substantial buildings of utility are chiefly conspicuous — railway stations, dock warehouses, arsenal, custom-house, abattoir, prison, barracks ; and beyond these are factories and smoky chimneys, and the dyke which enables the two rivers to merge their waters without undue disturbance. The Cours du Midi, a grand promenade and review ground, stretching from the Rhone to the Saone, separates Perrache from Bellecour. The Place Perrache was formerly the scene of public executions, and a local writer suggests this as the reason why, during the second Empire, a bronze statue of Napoleon 1. was erected on the spot. The statue was hurled down from its pedestal in the stormy days of the Commune, in LS70. Northward, from the Place Perrache runs the Rue de Bourbon, which, with its adjacent streets, forms the decidedly aristocratic quarter of Lyons. Here, in unpretentious roomy mansions, dwell the representatives of the old noblesse; here, also, are found the retired military heroes and successful lawyers, and of late years a good sprinkling of successful merchants have worked their way into the charmed precincts. The Lyonnais think the Place Bellecour the finest square in Europe. It is planted with trees, and ornamented with basins and fountiiins and two elegant pavilions, and is a very favourite promenade of the people of Lyons, especially when the military band plays. According to some, the name is derived from hella curia , and denotes the site of a Roman tribunal. In the Middle Ages the Place was a muddy swamp, often covered by the waters of the Rhone ; it was gradually drained and improved by the Consulate, and surrounded with fine buildings. After the Peace of Utrecht, a bronze statue of Louis le Grand — the King, who, by revoking the Edict of Nantes, nearly ruined Lyons to please the Maintenon and her Jesuit friends — was set up in the centre. At the Revolution of 1792 the statue was pulled down and broken up ; some proposed simply to replace the King^s head with a head, of Brutus, but the multitude would not hear of it. On this spot perished some of the first victims of the fusillade in the terrible siege by the Republican army in the following year. When the siege was over, Couthon set his troop of demolmeuvs to work, and the beautiful fa9ades of the Place Bellecour were soon irretrievably ruined, and the subsequent erections have not reproduced the monumental character of the original buildings. The Place was still covered with debris when, in April, 1805, the populace of the city upon their knees received the blessing of Pope Pius VII., who was then in France as the half-guest, half-prisoner, of Napoleon. On the 11th of ]March, 1815, the Orleans princes hastened from the town as the advanced guard of Napoleon, returning from Elba, was crossing the Pont de la Guillotiere. On the morrow, the Emperor reviewed 15,000 soldiers in the Place Bellecour, amidst the acclamations of the populace. But the Empire passed away, and in 1825 the restored King placed a second statue of Louis XIV. in the centre of the Place. Lyons] LES BROTTEAUX. 279 Northward of the Place Bellecour run three of the principal streets of the city — the Rue Centrale, Rue de FHotel de Ville, and Rue de Lyon. The two latter are grand avenues con- structed under the third Empire, and known for a time as Rue Imperiale and Rue de Tlmpera- trice. They mark the region of the theatres and grand cafes, and the best shops frequented by the ladies of Lyons. Of the historic memories of the Place des Terreaux we shall speak presently, in connection with the Hotel de Ville. The Place des Terreaux, and the neighbouring Place de la Comedie, present one of the most animated business scenes in the world. Thread- needle Street in London, or St. George's Place in Liverpool, may give some idea of the concourse ; but the crowd instead of "moving on " is composed of noisy groups transacting business in the open air, all vociferating and gesticulating till a passer-by might be excused for thinking that, instead of every-day business, a political revolution was in progress. In the district of St. Clair, Parisian Lyons gives place to commercial Lyons. Here, the great silk firms, with their warehouses and oihces, are numerous. Steep streets lead upward to the Mont Aventine of Lyons, La Croix- Rousse, with its teeming population of silk- weavers. Here, in the tall houses, whose large windows seem jealously watching the city below, every storey is a hive of busy bees. Here throbs the great industrial heart of Lyons, and the authorities need to be on the alert when La Croix-Rousse grows sullen and discontented — for its discontent has an awkward tendency to break out in sanguinary violence. But the fortress of St. Jean, with its frowning bastions, keeps ceaseless watch and ward, and the improvements in the city have rendered it easier to quell emetites than was once the case. Mercantile Lyons, having transacted its daily affairs in St. Clair or La Crolx-Rousse, to a very large extent retires across the Pont Morand, or Pont St. Clair, to the genteel quarter of Les Brotteaux for the night. This district was formerly a marshy plain, but has been built on since the beginning of the present century, and now presents an assemblage of fine streets and promenades, lined with handsome houses, as well as a large number of intersecting streets inhabited by workmen. It has suffered terribly from floods, especially in 1S4.0, but is now protected by a substantial dyke. The Monument des Victimes commemorates the horrors that followed the taking of Lyons by the Army of the Convention. The monument is a compound of a chapel and a pyramidal Egyptian tomb, and marks the spot where 209 citizens were shot on December 4th, 1 793. South of Les Brotteaux lies the quarter of La Guillotiere — the gathering-place of the poverty and misery and crime of Lyons. Here the crowded-out poor from the rebuilt portions of the city have huddled together in streets already crowded, and the condition of the district and its inhabitants is such as to reflect disgrace on the city, and threaten serious mischief in the future. Three or four fortresses and extensive artillery barracks hem in this abode of wretchedness, and enforce a seeming tranquillity. On the west bank of the river Saone are the districts of ^'"aise, Fourvieres, and St. Irenee. Vaise is an industrial and commercial faubourg of no special character. To the south of it, and commanding the whole city, is Fourvieres, the sacred hill from which the archbishops ruled the city, and the site of Roman Lugdunum. Of this district, with its interesting monuments and characteristic streets and houses, we shall have occasion to say more presently. St. Irenee, close behind the Hill of Fourvieres, is also replete with cherished memories of the past. :280 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. With so large an extent of river frontage, the quays, as we might naturally expect, form a conspicuous feature of the city. They are indeed very beautiful^ planted with magnificent trees and lined with elegant houses. The Quai de Vaise, on the Saone, is one of the finest in the city. Next adjoining it is the Quai de Pierre-Seize, cgmmanded by rocks, through which Agrippa cut a passage for one of his military roads. Here stands the celebrated statue known as L^ Homme de la Roche, representing Jean Cleberg, a wealthy merchant of Lyons in the fifteenth century, who by charity and benevolence won universal regard. He was especially noted for the liberality with which he gave wedding dowries to the poor girls of Vaise. The present stone statue dates from 18tt9; previous to that a wooden effigy, many times renewed, had occupied the picturesque position in a sort of grotto which gave the monument its popular name. Close by is the rock that Agrippa cut, upon which, in the Middle Ages, stood the fortified castle from which the archbishops exercised their temporal sovereignty. It was converted by Louis XL into a state prison, and subsequently a crowd of more or less celebrated prisoners occupied its cells. Jacques d^Armagnac, the Due de Nemours, afterwards beheaded at Paris ; Louis Sforza, Duke of Milan ; his cousin. Cardinal Ascanio ; the philosopher and alchemist, Henry Corneille Agrippa ; the Baron des Adrets, who led the Protestants in this district in the religious wars ; De Thou and Cinq-mars, who only came forth to die in front of the Hotel de Ville ; the Due de Bouillon, so conspicuous in the stormy days of the Fronde ; the Marshal de la Mothe-Houdancourt, renowned in Dutch, Italian, and Spanish campaigns ; Mirabeau, the most eloquent man of his age — all these and many others were prisoners in the gloomy fortress that was destroyed by the Republicans, and of which there only remains one square buttress fast crumbling away. In enlai-ging the adjacent public way, the once celebrated " Tomb of the Two Lovers " was destroyed. It was alleged to cover the remains of Herod Antipas, who was exiled to Lyons by Caligula, and the faithful Herodias, who followed him here and died with him. There were other traditions connected with the tomb, one of which Sterne has fancifully decked out. The reader may remember how, on his arrival at Lyons, in the " Sentimental Journey,^^ he rushed to the spot. " ' Tender and faithful shades,^ I cried, ' long, very long, have I desired to drop this tear upon your tomb . I come, I come ' . . . Alas ! when I came, I found the tomb existed no longer.^' Opposite Pierre-Seize, on the left bank of the river, stood, and still stands, the fortress of St. John. The two forts, on their bold rocks, break suddenly on the view of the traveller entering Lyons by the river after leaving the smiling landscapes of the Saone for a narrow gorge, hemmed in with bastions and entrenchments. This strait was the scene of the entrees solennelles on which Lyons prided itself when, with magnificent water proces- sions and thunder of artillery and clangour of bells, the Lyonnais used to hail the amval of kings and princes. The Quai Seize with its vast wine stores, is overlooked by the Tour de la Belle- Allemande, a structure respecting which various traditions and legends are extant. According to some accounts it was built by Cleberg, the philanthropic German above-mentioned, and named in honour of his beautiful wife. But the more popular legend has it that a young and beautiful German lady was shut up here whilst her lover was imprisoned in the castle of Pierre-Seize, on the opposite shore. They communicated by signals, and at length the lover succeeded in escaping from his prison, swam across the Saone, and was approaching the castle, when he Lyons.] THE QUAYS. 281 was discovered by the guards. The young knight made a gallant defence, but was slain under the very eyes of La Belle- Allemande. This alleged incident has been the theme of a romance, a drama, and two or three poems. Lower down the Saone, on the left bank, stretches the long and delightfully planted quay known as the Cours Rambaud, a justly favourite promenade, with splendid views across the river of the Hill of Fourvieres and its churches. The opposite Quai de la THE PLACE PEREACHE. Muletiere, otherwise known as Les Etroits, is also a charming promenade. It is associated with the memory of Jean Jacques Rousseau in the days of his youthful poverty. The quays on the Rhone, in consequence of the more direct course and greater breadth of the river, display a vaster extent to the eye at one time, although with less vaiiety than on the sister river. The Quai de St. Clair is the finest in Lyons, and was formerly the rendezvous of merchants and foreigners, and the centre of Lyonnese trade. To this succeeds the Quai de Retz, and then the Quai de I'Hopital, with its second-hand book- sellers spreading their treasures on the pavement, and its bird merchants vending splendid paroquets and bright-hued canaries and humming-birds. The Quai de la Charite, planted 76 282 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. with trees, conducts to the Chaussee de Perrache, which stretches down to the southern extremity of the city, where the waters of the Saone unite with those of the Hhone. The Saone is spanned by thirteen bridges, of which the finest is the Pont de Tilsit, a very handsome stone structure, leading from the Place Bellecour to the cathedral. The Rhone has nine bridges; one of them, the Pont de la Guillotiere, is the oldest bridge in the city. It was founded by Pope Innocent IV. in 1251, though no part of the present structure dates from that period. A bridge of wood, called the Pont du Rhone, had existed at this spot long before. In 111)0 Lyons had been chosen as the rendezvous for the knights and soldiers about to accompany Richard Coeur de Lion and Philip Augustus of France in the Third Crusade. The united armies crossed the Rhone by the bridge just named, and the two kings followed. Then came the train of baggage waggons; but the overstrained bridge suddenly broke down, and many persons were drowned. There are many other open spaces, bright promenades, and so forth, among the out-door attractions of Lyons, but we must only stay to mention the beautiful Pave de la Tete- d^Or, beside the Rhone. Previous to 1857, this spot was a wood, in which it was said a treasure was concealed, of which a head of our Saviour in gold formed part. Hence the name. It is divided into two parts: the picturesque and the scientific; the former is peopled by the world of fashion every day, and by all classes of society on Sundays ; its beautiful lake, with its islets and swans, bridges and gondolas, is perhaps its principal charm, while in the scientific portion are zoological and botanical collections. Lyons, in spite of its frequent turbulence, its free-thought, and its democracy, has always been a very religious city. It has long been the most important centre of Jesuit intrigue, and the head-quarters of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In no other city of France are the upper classes so completely dominated by clerical influence. After the Restoration the priests grew rampant, and threw into the mud the hats of those who passed without saluting them. Under Louis Philippe they were compelled to plot secretly, but during the Second Empire, under the protection of Marshal Castellane, priestcraft rose to its height of proud insolence. The convents, seminaries, and religious houses of all sorts became innumerable. The city was the first to receive with enthusiasm the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and in honour thereof made the 8th of December its grandest festival. The churches of Lyons are very numerous, and their associations carry us back to the very first introduction of Christianity into Gaul. Greek Christians from Asia were the first teachers of the Gospel in ancient France ; and in the second century there were a considerable number of the faithful in Lyons, when a terrible persecution broke out under Marcus Aurelius, in 177. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, a discij)le of the Apostle John, sent Pothinus to be the apostle and pastor of the church at Lugdunum. In an underground crypt, afterwards the Church of St. Nizier, the good Pothinus celebrated divine service. The time of persecution began; the Christians were subjected to various humiliations; whenever they appeared in public they were pursued by angry crowds, and beaten and stoned. On being brought before magistrates, they boldly confessed their faith, and torture and imprisonment were alike powerless to move them. Many died in their dungeons; and at the annual gathering of people from all neighbouring nations to trade with each other in the great Forum, it was resolved to Lyons.] THE CHURCH OF AINAY, 283 make a public example of those who refused to abjure the Christian religion. Eusebius has preserved a pathetic " Epistle of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons to the brethren which are in Asia and Phrygia/^ in which the sufferings of the Lyonnese martyrs are detailed. Blandina was tortured from morning till evening, till the executioners sank with fatigue. Many were tortured and then strangled. The Deacon Sanctus was burned with hot irons, lacerated with scourges, and thrown to the wild beasts. Maturus and Attala experienced a similar fate. The venerable Bishop Pothinus, more than ninety years of age, was so cruelly beaten that he died in his dungeon two days afterwards. Blandina was suspended from a cross amongst the wild beasts, but none of them touched her. Ultimately, however, she succumbed under the most brutal torture. Such were the fiery conflicts through which the infant Church of Lyons had to pass. Above the crypt where St. Pothinus used to assemble the brethren, rose the church now known as that of St. Nizier, in memory of the bishop of that name, who was buried there. It was one of the churches destroyed by the Saracens, and subsequently restored by Leydrade. It has been rebuilt at various times; the present construction offers a fine example of fifteenth-century Gothic. The fine Renaissance portal is the work of the celebrated architect Philibert Delorme, a native of Lyons. Some beautiful marble statues of the Virgin, St. Pothinus, etc., and some fine paintings, adorn the majestic interior. The crypt has been restored, and connected with it is a mortuary hall, where pyramids of bones in triple range display the accumulations of centuries. From the ancient tower the Pro- testants, in 1562, fired on the Hotel de A'^ille, and forced the guards to capitulate. In the emeute of 1834< several hundred insurgents were killed in this church. St. Nizier is not only interesting as the cradle of Christianity in Lyons : it was also the cradle of civic liberty. Here the growing Commune met in the days of its resistance to the bishops, and the bell in the ancient tower used to call the citizens together to elect their magistrates. The Church of Ainay is a very remarkable monument, linked as it is with both Pagan and Christian associations. As we have already said, close by this spot the Rhone and Saone met, until Perrache removed the place of confluence. Here was the earliest Forum, where, overlooked by the Roman city on the Hill of Fourvieres, Greeks, Orientals, Africans, Gauls, and Spaniards met to exchange the products of their various countries. Here the Gauls, reconciled by Augustus to the loss of their liberty, and proud of their new civilisa- tion and polytheism, erected an altar, which they dedicated to the Emperor and to Rome. The altar, twenty feet in height, stood in the midst of the open Forum. The approach was flanked by two colossal columns of Egyptian granite, each surmounted by a statue of Victor}'. Near the altar was the Temple of Augustus, bright with brilliant mosaics, and adorned with sixty statues, representing the sixty Gallic nations who had shared in the construction of the edifice. Close by were the grand houses of the priests and pontiffs, w^ho were chosen from the highest citizens of the State. Grand was the spectacle when Drusus, after his victories beyond the Rhine, solemnly inaugurated the Altar of Augustus; but far gmnder in its moral significance was the moment when Pothinus and Blandina, and their fellow- martyrs, were dragged before this altar to forswear their faith, and met all remonstrance with the simple answer, " I am a Christian ! " The fate of these noble champions of the truth has already been told. 284 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. At the Altar of Augustus the worship of Pallas Athene was solemnised, and the name of this goddess became corrupted into Ainay, which name the church still bears. In the reign of Constantine the Christians built at Ainay, above the dungeons where the martyrs were immured, a church sacred to St. Blandina. Badulj^h and other hermits came to dwell close by, and hence arose a monastery, of considerable fame in its day. The church was destroyed by Huns, and Vandals and Lombards, and Saracens, but always rose again THE PLACE BELLECOUE. from its ruins. After its destruction by the Lombards, it w^as rebuilt on a scale of royal magnificence by Queen Brunehaut, the terrible lady whose beauty and cruelty are celebrated in the " Niebelungen Lied.^^ It was again rebuilt in Byzantine style in the twelfth century, and consecrated by Pope Paschal II. ; the pontiff at the same time specially blessed a side- chapel, said to contain some hair of the Virgin Mary and part of the cradle and swaddling- clothes of our Saviour. It w^as in this church, in 1493, that the young Chevalier Bayard, at the age of seventeen, came to receive a blessing on his arms, previous to winning his first triumph in a tournament before Charles A^III. and a grand assemblage of ladies and nobles. The monastery was destroyed by the Protestants in 1562, again rebuilt, but finally razed in 1793, and new streets were formed on the site. Amongst the celebrities Lyons.] ANCIENT CHURCHES. 285 who had temporarily resided in it we may mention Francis I., Henry II., Louis XIII., Christine of France, Marie de Medicis, and Anne of Austria. The church is to all intents and purposes the same that Paschal consecrated in the twelfth century; the west tower is Carlovingian, and the crypt dates from the ninth cen- tury. But in re-constructing the church before that date, there is no doubt that the same materials were used over again, as for the most part they are evidently remains of earlier Roman edifices. The four columns supporting the cupola were procured by cutting in Typo^raphii. hU hin^ Ca.,sc. PLAN OF LYONS. two each of the two columns previously mentioned as flanking the Altar of Augustus. Some admirable sculptures and mosaics adorn the building. The sacristy is formed of the ancient Chapel of St. Blandina. In the crypt, which has been restored, there are distinct traces of Roman work. Adjoining it are the alleged prisons of Pothinus and Blandina — gloomy cells below the level of the river, only to be approached by creeping on the hands and knees through low apertures. Until towards the middle of the eighteenth century the ramparts of Ainay, planted with trees, formed a magnificent promenade, washed by the waters of the two rivers, and commanded by the abbey-palace and the church, with its pyramidal tower. In the western portion of the city, beyond the Saone, are found some very interesting ancient churches. St. Irenee was built by the Bishop St. Patient in the fifth century. 286 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. above a crypt in which the early Christians were wont to assemble round the tombs of the martyrs under St. Irenaeus, the successor of St. Pothinus in the see of Lyons. The crypt, although, like the church above, sadly undermined, is very antique and primitive in its character. In the midst of it is a well, into which, according to tradition, the bodies of 19,000 Christians were thrown when the Emperor Severus revenged himself on Lyons for its adherence to the cause of Albinus. The church built by St. Patient was destroyed by the barbarians in the ninth century, and rebuilt shortly afterwards. It was again sacked and pulled down by the Baron des Adrets, in 156^. The Protestant general caused the bones and debris of animals to be thrown down the well in the crypt, but a careful separation was subsequently effected; and it is alleged that the bones now shown behind a triple iron grating at the entrance of the crypt are the bones of the martyrs, and nothing else. When Des Adrets sacked the church, the head of St, Irenseus was set up as a laughing-stock for the soldiers ; but a medical man contrived to obtain possession of it, and preserved it till the disturbances were over. The present edifice consists of a single nave, the choir being crowned by a double cupola. It has been rebuilt at various epochs, and its present modern style does not harmonise with its historical associations. Nearer to the river than St. Irenee stands the Church of St. Just. Early in the third century a crypt was formed here, in memory of all the first native martyrs, then called the Macchabees. Above the crypt soon rose a church, which, like all other Christian edifices in the district, was destroyed by the barbarians. St. Patient rebuilt it on a grand scale, devoting to it his immense fortune ; and when the body of St. Just, the third bishop of Lyons, was brought back from its solitary grave in Egypt, it was deposited here, and the church received his name. In connection with the church was a vast monastic castle with massive walls and towers. Many sovereigns made these cloisters a temporary abode. In 1245 Innocent IV., fleeing before the German Emperor Frederick II., found a refuge here, and remained in safety for seven years, till his enemy^s death. To this strong fastness the canon-barons retreated when the citizens were rising against their authority, and sustained more than one siege from the bourgeois army. Here dwelt the Regent Louisa of Savoy whilst her son Francis I., the first of French monarchs to cross the Alps with artillery, was campaigning in Italy, and here she received the famous letter after the battle of Pavia, "All is lost except honour!^'' In 1562, when the Protestants were ravaging Lyons, it was at St. Just that their zealous fury seemed to culminate. The golden shrine that enclosed the body of St. Just, raised upon four marble columns ten feet in height, the Rose d^Or, and other priceless gifts of popes and princes, and all the vast wealth in the treasury of the church, were pillaged and dispersed ; the relics and tombs were'^ profaned, and all the historic title-deeds and monuments destroyed. The present structure was in building from 1661 to 1747. Still nearer to the river, at the end of the Quai de TArcheveche, stands the primatial Church of St. Jean Baptiste, the Cathedral of Lyons. The primitive cathedral was the Church of St. Nizier, already described, but St. Jean belongs to the epoch when the pastors of the Church had become powerful barons, wielding temporal as well as spiritual power. Lyons.] THE CATHEDRAL. 287 Two other churches once abutted on that of St. Jean, forming an architectural symbol of the Trinity. The present structure was in building from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, though successive earlier erections occupied the same site since the sixth. In its architecture, the Gothic, the Transitional, and the Renaissance are all exemplified. Its grand western faQade, flanked by two towers, is an imposing spectacle. The triple portal is profusely decorated with well-executed sculpture, but a great deal of it remains in the mutilated condition in which it was left by Des Adrets and his Protestant soldiers in 1562. The second stage of the facade is not lavishly adorned ; a magnificent rose window formed the centre of the most elevated portion. The apse, which is also dominated by two towers, is the most picturesque portion of the cathedral. It is certainly the most ancient, and is said to combine some of the work of the great church restorer, Leydrade. The northern tower contains the bells, one of which weighs 18,000 kilogrammes. It was founded in 1308, and re-founded in 1622; on the first occasion its godmother was Anne of Brittany, and on the second Anne of Austria. The interior of the cathedral is divided by pillars into three naves; an elegant and noble simplicity is its chief characteristic. The apse, however, is adorned with sculptures ; beautiful and well-preserved glass windows admit the light. Amongst the other special features of the interior are the high altar of coloured marble, the fourteenth-century organ, and an immense carved wainscot from the Abbey of Cluny. Of the chapels, one displays some wood of the true cross ; another enshrines the heart of St. Vincent de Paul ; a third, and the most interesting, is the Chapel of St. Louis, erected by the Cardinal Charles de Bourbon and his brother, the Due Pierre de Bourbon, and splendid with sculpture, stained glass, and other ornaments. Due Pierre had married the King's daughter, and in allusion to this cher don, the thistle {chardon) is sculptured in great profusion. The hammers of Des Adrets' enthusiastic followers have been busy at work here also. In another chapel is a remarkable astronomical clock, manufactured by Lippius of Bale, in 1598. It records all divisions of time, from centuries to seconds, and various astronomical phenomena. It is also furnished with a crowd of automata, representing the three Persons of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, angels, etc., who at appointed times are worked by mechanism, and perform various functions. Popular tradition asserts that the Counts of St. Jean put out the eyes of the inventor, lest he should furnish any one else with the counterpart of their wonderful toy. The Chapter of the Cathedral of Lyons was the most important body of clergy in France ; they were thirty-two in number, all Counts of Lyons, the rank of Premier Canon being held by the reigning King of France. Amongst the remarkable events that have occurred here was the Council-General of 1245, when Innocent IV. hurled the thunders of the Church against Frederick II., and where for the first time the cardinals wore the red dress, to distinguish them from other prelates. In 1274 a Council-General held here consummated a very short-lived union of the Latin and Greek Churches. Two crosses borne at that council, and still displayed beside the high altar, commemorate the event. In this church Henry II., the Emperor of Germany, performed mass, in one of his periodical efforts to desert his throne and take to holy orders; and here, in 1600. Henry of Navarre renewed his marriage with Marie de Medicis. %SH CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. Close by the cathedral stands the archiepiscopal palace, a sombre-looking building, built in the eleventh century and restored in the fifteenth. It contains magnificent apartments, which have accommodated many popes, and kings and queens, and other great personages. Napoleon I. passed a night here on his return from Elba. On the terrible day of St. Bartholomew three hundred Protestants, who had taken refuge in the palace, were murdered in the courtyard. Steep and narrow streets and lanes lead up from the cathedral to the Church of Notre Dame, on the summit of the Hill of Fourvieres. The whole quarter wears a sacerdotal aspect. Near the palace are the houses of canons, homes of sisters of charity, chapels, and numerous shops for the sale of ecclesiastical millinery, and the like. Higher up are the merchants who deal in rosaries, devotional pictures, medals, and wax models of different parts of the body, for ex voto offerings in the church : for Notre Dame de Fourvieres stands only second to Notre Dame de Loretto as a place of Catholic pilgrimage. The church is the most conspicuous object in any general view of the city. Until the fifth century, the Hill of Fourvieres was Lugdunum, which then began to spread into the plain. At its summit was the Forum Vetis, a grand monumental market-place, constructed by Trajan, which was several times sacked by the barbarians. From the last attack upon it by the Saracens it never recovered, and in 840 its ruins fell, and overwhelmed the side of the hill like an avalanche. A portion of the debris was used in constructing upon the summit of the hill a modest oratory, dedicated to Notre Dame de Bon Conseil. Four walls and a simple altar sufficed for three centuries. Thomas k Becket spent part of his exile at Lyons, and suggested the erection of a church on this spot. In 1190 the oratory was enlarged, and a collegiate church founded, dedicated jointly to the Virgin and St. Thomas of Canterbury. Since tliat time the church has become more and more famous, and kings and princes and countless pilgrims have lavished upon it gifts and pious offerings. Innocent IV., whilst staying in Lyons, often visited this shrine, and from its portals blessed the city below before leaving for Italy. Louis XI. visited it in 1476. In a charter still preserved he declares that he was taught from tenderest infancy to honour Notre Dame de Fourvieres ; and in consideration of a daily mass, he gave the canons twenty-five villages. In 1562 Baron des Adrets and his formidable band of zealots left only the bare walls. By 1586 the church had been restored. In 1630, Anne of Austria came hither on pilgrimage, when she was so anxiously making vows in countless churches, by way of expediting the advent of the infant Louis XIV., who, however, did not arrive till 1638. In 1643, Lyons was ravaged by a terrible pest, and the Consulate, with a solemn ceremonial, vowed Lyons to Notre Dame in perpetuity; and until the Revolution of 1789 the whole city celebrated on the Feast of the Nativity the anniversary of its vow. Pope Pius VIL, in 1805, superin- tended the re-dedication of the building to divine worship, and, amidst a grand display of flags, discharge of cannon and ringing of bells, from the summit of the hill he blessed the city of Lyons, as Innocent had done nearly six centuries before. In December, 1852, Lyons was en fete with processions by day and illuminations at night, on the occasion of placing a new colossal statue of the Virgin on the top of the tower. The present church is for the most part of modern construction. Of the interior. Lyons.] NOTRE DAME DE FOURVIfiRES. 289- the most striking feature is the immense number of ex votos, about ^,000 in all, presented by pilgrims. These gifts are constantly being refused for want of space. There are two large pictures, one of a local flood and another of Lyons ravaged by cholera, with the Virgin Mary appearing as the deliverer in each case. The tower of the church is o£ NOTEE DAME DE FOUEVIEEES. enormous proportions, 179 feet in height, harmonising badly with the rest of the edifice. On its summit is the gilt bronze statue of the Virgin. It is said that about a million and a half of pilgrims visit this shrine annually, and obtain the same privileges and favours as at Loretto. At the grand festivals, bishops, priests, missionaries, and members of religious orders from all nations, meet before its seven altars. According to Roman Catholic authorities, conversions are countless and miracles frequent, especially at the two annual 77 290 CITIES OF THE WORLD. ILyons. retreats : at the festivals of the Ascension and Assumption and in the month of Marv. From 120,000 to 150,000 francs are spent every year amongst the vendors of crosses, chanlets, and ex votos, whose shops line the approaches to the church. From the terrace beside the church, or still better, from the summit of the tower, there is a magnificent view of Lyons and the vicinity. Just below, the city displays a magnificent panorama, with its two noble rivers and bridges and quays, and with the various quarters of the town distinctly discernible. Beyond are the fields and plains, and hills sprinkled with country houses. The plains of Dauphiny and Lyonnais lie outspread, watered by the two rivers, one of which — the Rhone — can be traced for twenty leagues. Eastward, the view extends to the Alps ; on clear days, Mont Blanc (a hundred miles distant) is seen. More to the south are seen the Alps of Dauphiny, the mountains of the Grand Chartreuse, Mont Pilat, and Mont Ventoux. To the west rise the mountains of Lyonnais, and the peaks of Mont d^Or on the north. There are many other churches in Lyons, but our space forbids us to enlarge further on this topic. St. George's, with its very pretty clock-tower ; St. Etienne, attributed to St. Patient, and once the chapel of the Kings of Burgundy ; St. Polycarp, richly adorned, and possessing the finest organ in the city ; and the vast church of L'Immaeulee Conception, in the quarter of Les Brotteaux : in all of these, and numerous others, the rites of the Roman Catholic religion are performed, amidst all the usual accompaniments of pomp and splendour. St. Bonaventure, beside the Place des Cordeliers, claims a passing notice. It was at first the little church of an obscure convent, but afterwards rose to great renown. The present edifice dates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but it has been restored in costly style, and is lavishly adorned with sculptures and stained glass. Its history presents many points of interest. It has always been a popular church, for the fathers of the attached convent cultivated very familiar relations with the people. In 1425 an Assembly of citizens met in the church, to demand a diminution of the taxes imposed on the city. In 1468 the church was rebuilt, and took the name of Bonaventure, whose body was enshrined under one of the altars. In 1529 there was a corn famine ; the poor people gathered here, and broke into rebellion. But the authorities erected a gallows before the church, and kept it hard at work for four days, when tranquillity was re- stored. Assemblies of notables and merchants often met here, and in this place was formed the ancient "Charity Organisation Society'' of Lyons, the "Aumone Generale." In 1562, Baron des Adrets broke down the gates, overthrew statues, destroyed pictures, burnt the corpse of Bonaventure, and threw the ashes into the Rhone, but church and convent soon flourished again. A dreadful massacre of Protestants, who had fled here for refuge, took place on St. Bartholomew's Day. The shrewd Cordeliers tried to meet all needs; in their thirty chapels (many of them built by trades -guilds) were altars and saints for all conditions : St. Catherine for young girls, St. Anne for widows, St. Joseph for husbands, Notre Dame de Delivrance for expectant mothers, and so forth. At the time of the Revolution the Provincial Assembly met here. The Church of which Pothinus and Blandina were martyrs, and which Irona?us watched over, had suffered many important changes when Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons in the twelfth century, found himself in its communion. He was noted for Lyons.] h6tel de ville. 291 his charity and religious zeal, but he refused to believe the doctrine o£ transubstantiation which Rome was then enforcing, denounced the prevalent abuses and superstitions, and the vices of the clergy, and sought to bring back religion to the simplicity of the early Church. He gathered the poor about him, and taught them, and for their sakes trans- lated (or caused to be ti-anslated) the four Gospels into French. To him Europe is indebted for the first version of part of the Bible in a modern tongue. The Archbishop of Lyons saw that these things tended to undermine ecclesiastical authority. The Pope was informed of what was taking place, and Waldo was excommunicated. He and all his adherents were expelled the city. They were known as Leonists, or Poor People of Lyons, and became amalgamated with the pre-existent Waldenses, whose name is not derived from Waldo, as is often erroneously supposed, for authentic documents speak of the Waldenses many years before his time. Three hundred years passed on, and found Europe awakening to the trumpet-tones of the Reformers of the sixteenth century. France shared in the religious movement of the period, but the rulers in Church and State determined to crush out the new heresy. In 1552 five students were burnt in the corn-market at Lyons, and many other martyrs soon perished in the same manner. In 1559, Viret, the friend of Calvin, came to preside over the Reformed Church of Lyons, but was banished by the decree which forbade any but the natives of France to preach in French cities. Religion now got mixed up with politics, and the so-called Religious Wars broke out. Baron des Adrets, with his motley host of religious zealots and mercenary troops, who lived by war and pillage, held the city for several months, and committed frightful ravages, to some of 'which we have referred. Four or five Pacifications, of a very hollow kind, lasted for a time. In 1572 came the horroi-s of St. Bartholomew; the Protestants were massacred in the convents and other buildings in which they had been invited to take refuge ; and the Rhone and Saone (like the Seine) carried many hundreds of dead bodies down to the sea. Lyons shared with all France the subsequent troubles from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and, indeed, was long in recovering from the blow which that disastrous event inflicted on her commerce. The Hotel de Ville faces the Place des Terreaux, which has been already alluded to. This place was the scene of a memorable event in the reign of Louis XIIL, when Cinq-Mars and his friend De Thou perished on the scaffold to satisfy the vengeance of Richelieu. In 1792 the Place des Terreaux Avas the scene of an attack on the Hotel de Ville by the Sections in order to dislodge Chalier, the imitator of Marat, who was pre- siding over a revolutionary tribunal in the name of the Convention. The Conven- tional troops were beaten, the tribunal broken up, and Chalier was beheaded. It was for this that Lyons sustained that memorable siege by the troops of the Convention, to the number of 60,000. For sixty-three days the city maintained a heroic resistance, till the incessant cannonading from without, and famine and sickness within the walls, had rendered success hopeless; 30,000 citizens perished, and then, on October 9th, 1793, the town yielded to the victorious besiegers. During the siege 11,000 red-hot shot and 27,000 shells had been poured into the city, and it was now decreed by the National Convention that, in order to humble the pride of the citizens, all the principal buildings. 292 CITIES OF THE WOULD. ILyona. public and private, should be destroyed. Thousands of pounds were spent in wilful destruction, till the town was little more than a heap of ruins. It was decreed that Lyons should bear the name of " La commune affranchie.'^ The guillotine was set up in the Place des Terreaux_, and ceaselessly supplied with victims; but the guillotine was too slow in its operation to satisfy the cruelty of a Couthon, a Fouche, and a Collot d''Herbois, and prisoners were taken out by fifty and sixty at a time, to be shot on the plain of Brot- teaux. Eighteen hundred victims were killed (not reckoning those who died in the siege) before the reaction set in, and Lyons resumed its ancient name, and by degrees rebuilt its ■devastated streets. The Hotel de Ville, after that of Amsterdam, is the finest municipal edifice in Europe. It was constructed in 1674, repaired by Mansard in 170:^, and restored at a later date. It consists of two fa9ades and two wings. An equestrian statue of Henry IV., by a native sculptor, and a stone balustrade, with statues of Hercules and Pallas, adorn the facade fronting the Place des Terreaux. The clock-tower, surmounted by a cupola, is 160 feet in height. In the lofty vaulted vestibule of the grand gateway are groups in bronze, representing the Saone and the Rhone, by the brothers Coustou. The fa9ade facing the Place de la Comedie consists of several arcades, surmounted by a gallery with a stone balustrade. The most noticeable features of the interior are the reception saloons and apartments of the Prefect ; the Salle des Archives, with its rich collection of archives and historical museum; the Hill of the Municipal Council, adorned with portraits of Jacquard by M. Bonnefond, and of the celebrated Abbe Rozier by Genod ; and the ceiling of the grand staircase, painted in fresco by Blanchet. The Palais des Beaux Arts, facing the Place des Terreaux, is a noble building. In the museums are very curious Roman mosaics, hundreds of inscriptions, altars, sculptures, vases, and in a vestibule decorated with mosaics are displayed the famous bronze tables upon which is inscribed a speech made by the Emperor Claudius, in 48 a.d., advocating the admission of the Gallic communities to the privileges of Roman citizenship. In addition to this collection of rare antiquities, there are a great variety of objects connected with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; a museum of sculptures and paintings, where are found several pictures of the first rank, especially of the Italian school; and a com- plete collection of busts of celebrated citizens, amongst them Ballanche, Bernard de Jussieu, Coustou, Philibert Delorme, Hippolyte Flandrin, etc. The Palais des Arts also possesses a very rich museum of natural history, as well as a library of over 70,000 volumes specially devoted to art, science, and industry. The edifice containing these varied treasures was formerly the Convent of St. Pierre, inhabited by (or, more strictly, belonging to) a celebrated confraternity of ladies. The Abbaye de St. Pierre was first founded in the fourth century, in the reign of Constantine. The Saracens destroyed it, and good Leydrade rebuilt it. Kings dowered it with wealth, and its members added their private fortunes. The community grew in wealth and power. During 690 years and more, this band of ladies, who admitted none amongst their number except on proof of noble blood, and several of whom belonged to the royal families of France, Savoy, Lorraine, etc., grew more and more insolent. The abbess, who, amongst other pretensions, claimed suzerainty over the Counts of Savoy, styled herself " Abbess by the Grace of God,'' Lyons.] THE ABBAYE DE ST. PIERRE. 293 and a cross was borhe before her in all processions. The community was notorious for the taxation and tyranny to which it subjected its vassals, and it often struggled successfully against the archbishop and his canon-counts, the municipality of Lyons, and even the King of France. In their private lives, these ladies, who were only resident at the <3onvent when it suited them, and invited to the building what company they pleased, were frightfully dissolute. The convent was luxuriously furnished; the community had THE HOTKL DE VT T.t.w , an eye to business, and enriched itself by lending money at high interest to other religious houses, and by buying up their furniture and treasures when they were in straits. In order to profit more by their own vineyards, the sisters set up a public cabaret in the abbey. The archbishop bade them close it. They appealed to the Pope, who decided in their favour, and bade the archbishop cease from meddling. Things got so bad at one period, that the abbess herself had to eject several ladies for open scandals ; but the general tone of the sisterhood was not afEected. Archbishop Rohan interfered in the cause of order. Again the ladies appealed to the Pope, and the archbishop was excom- municated. But the King of France insisted on the excommunication being taken off, and sent adrift the most notorious evil-doers. In 1562, Baron des Adrets pillaged and destroyed 294 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Lyons. the convent, but it was re-constructed, and inhabited by the Dames de St. Pierre till the Eevolution, when it became national property, and has since been devoted to its j)resent uses. The Library, one of the finest in France, the mint, arsenal, barracks, and numerous other buildings common to all great cities, call for no special notice. There are several hospitals, some of which are of considerable interest. The grand Hotel-Dieu is probably the oldest in France ; it was founded by Queen Ultrogotha, the wife of Childebert, thirteen centuries ago. The present erection dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the garden is the tombstone of Young's step-daughter, whom he has immortalised in the " Night Thoughts " under the name of Narcissa. The Hospice de la Charite was founded after a famine in 1531 ; the Hospice de FAntiquaille, from the numerous Roman antiquities found on the site. Here once stood the palace inhabited by Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Domitian, Severus, Caracalla, and Germanicus, and in which the Emperor Claudius was born. Lyons takes a high rank amongst the industrial cities of the world. Its workshops for the construction of machinery, its manufactories of chemical products and coloured pajiers, are justly celebrated; but it is from the production of its silk fabrics that Lyons derives its chief fame. This industry, in which Lyons has no rival, was first brought from Italy. Florentines, Genoese, and others, driven away by revolutions, did for France what in after-times expatriated Frenchmen did for other countries to which they were com- pelled to flee by reason of tyranny at home. By decree of Louis XI., expei'ienced workmen settling at Lyons were exempt from taxes levied on other inhabitants. Twelve thousand si Ik- weavers were busy at work in Lyons by the middle of the sixteenth century. At the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, it seemed as if the silk industry was about to bo annihilated. More than three-fourths of the looms were silenced ; but in the course of a couple of generations the industry resumed its former proportions, and steadily increased, till Lyons became 7;a>" excellence the city of beautiful silks. Inventions and improvements of various kinds have been introduced into the process of manufacture, and Jaequard, a native of Lyons, by the invention of the loom that bears his name, revolutionised the silk- weaving industry. The Lyounese silk-weavers mostly work in their own dwellings. A man with his family will keep from two to six or eight looms going, often employing journeymen. The silk merchants of Lyons, about 600 in number, supply the patterns and the silk ; there are about 40,000 looms at work in the city and in the vicinity. Formerly, the weavers were nearly all grouped together in the northern part of the city ; but the employers, in order to lessen the influence of the close trade organisations, have succeeded in distributing the industry throughout the neighbouring villages, though La Croix-Rousse still holds the lion's share. The commerce of Lyons is very considerable. It is the central station for dissemi- nating through France the Oriental and other products imported at Marseilles. It expends 200,000,000 francs yearly in silk, produced in France, Italy, Japan, India, and China. It exports its silk fabrics chiefly to America, England, and Russia, to the value of about 450,000,000 francs annually. CHICAGO. The Red Men of the Prairies— The Pioneers of France— The Fur Traders— The Massacre of the Garrison— The Ang^o- Saxon Advance— A Mournful Exodus— The Rising Tide of Population— The Great Fire of 1871— The March of the Flames -Anarchy and Panic— Driven into Lake Michigan— The Loss -The Civic Phoenix— Commerce— The River and its Fleet— The Main Streets— Public Buildings— Lake Park— The Refinements of Civilisation—Newspapers— The Churches— The Residence Quarters— The Schools— Douglas— The Urban Parks— The Granaries— A City of Cattle —The Trade in Timber— The Water- works— Problems in Drainage— The Great Western Railway System -The Parks and Boiilevards— Suburban Towns— The Prairie. CHICAGO EIVER, FEOM EUSH-STEEET BEIDGE. BOUT one-tbird of the way across the American conti- nent (fi-om east to west), midway between Hudson's ^f Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and between Manitoba ; and New York, stands the modern city of Chicago, near the head of Lake Michigan, a vast fresh-water sea, 350 miles long, and united with the distant ocean by other great lakes and navigable channels. The rapid rise of this city, from the humble position of an Indian trading post to metropolitan wealth and splendour ; the unparalleled and still-expanding volume of its commerce; the magnitude of the disaster which, but a few years ago, destroyed it ; and the foremost place which it now occupies among the granaries of the world : all these bear witness to the intense energies which have been concentrated here, and have made the civic name famous throughout a large part of Christendom. If there is romance in the history of commerce (and the records of the East India Company and the Hudson's Bay Company sliow that there is), surely the annals which describe the development of the Indian camp and the log-fort into the fourth American city must be full of the deepest interest. The great State of Illinois, of which Chicago is the metropolis, was originally the domain of a nation of Indians who called themselves the Illini, or the " manly men.'' The first Euroj^ean explorers in this unknown region were Marquette and Joliet, two Frenchmen, who travelled hitheiward from Canada in 1673; and, adding a French termination to the tribal name, described it as the land of the Illinois. Missionaries and soldiers of France, from Canada and Louisiana, afterwards estal)lished stations and settlements here and there upon the prairies, in execution of the plans of the Bourbon kings, which contemplated the erection of a vast Latin empire, reaching from the Mexican Gulf to the hyperborean regions. "When Wolfe defeated the Marquis de Montcalm, before Quebec, Canada and the more distant and little-known prairies were annexed to the possessions of Great Britain, and her garrisons occupied the chief points in Illinois. But in 1778 Colonel George Rogers Clarke led a small army of several hundred frontiersmen across the Alleghanies from Virginia, and took possession of this vast 296 CITIES OF THE WOKLD. [Chicago. western domain, overcoming the weak and detached royalist posts, and formally annexino* the country to Virginia. Sixteen years later, Virginia ceded it to the United States; and in 1809 the territory of Illinois was formed. In 1818 it passed from the subordinate and dependent condition of a territory to that of a sovereign State. The population then was 30,000. At that time, within the memory of citizens now living, the area of 2,000 miles from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean was a wilderness, inhabited only by bands of savages, with military posts and the log-forts of traders scattered at wide intervals, and a few feeble French hamlets along the Mississippi River. From the rude stations of the American Fur Company, a thriving commerce was carried on with the disdainful aborigines ; and occasional detachments of soldiers marched cautiously (and not without disastrous fighting) over long solitary regions, now as densely peopled as Devon or Warwickshire. Less than fifty years ago, the popula- tion of Chicago consisted of a dozen families, exclusive of two companies of United States infantry in garrison at the fort. The first Europeans who saw the Chicago River were the French explorers, Joliet and Pere Marquette, who descended its course in 167'3, returning northward from the Mississippi Valley ; and Marquette wintered there the following year. The aboriginal name of the locality was derived from the chikagou, or wild onion, which grew abundantly on the banks of the river, and perfumed the air for a great distance. The primary meaning of the word was "strong; '' and its secondary application, referring to the quality of the onion's flavour, is easily com- prehensible. There are old hunters who confidently assert that the name Chicago is applied by the Indians to that very uncomfortable little beast, the Mephitis americana j but the local archaeologists and philologists hotly dispute that statement. About thirty years after the dreary winter encampment of Pere Marquette had broken up, the French maps marked this site with the words Fort ChecagoUi as if to indicate its destination as a station in the great trans-continental line of Bourbon fortresses. It was not until the year 1796, however, that the first settler, Jean Baptiste Pointe au Sable, a San Domingo negro, built a hut by the lonely stream. But he soon moved on, touched with the Western nomadism ; and an adventurous Frenchman, Le Mai, succeeded to his improvements. The unrest which abides in the air of this locality seized him also, and he made haste to sell out his place to the first substantial Saxon settler, John Kinzie, an agent of the American Fur Company, who came hither to trade with the Indians, and thus became the founder of the city. The local historians have likened this honest trader, ambitious only for the acquisition of beaver-skins, to Romulus. But his foundation is not to be compared with Rome, fortunately, for her fortresses are the lofty granaries — her gladiators are the butchers who kill cattle at ihe Stock-yards for the English markets — and in place of the old Latin legions, marching out to devastate the nations, Chicago continually sends abroad from her gates bread for millions upon millions of far-away peoples. So Kinzie's work was, on the whole, better than that of Romulus. The first commerce of Chicago consisted in the exchange of European wares and trinkets for the furs and peltries which the Indians brought in their canoes along the Mississippi and up the Illinois. From the upper navigable waters of the latter stream, the canoes and their cargoes were carried over a short portage, and then dropped down the Chicago River. In 1794 the Indians had ceded to the United States (among other tracts) " a piece of land six Chicago.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 297 miles square, at the mouth o£ the Chiekago River ;'^ and in the year 1804< the Government established a fortified post on this remote verge of its dominions. The vast territory of Louisiana, extending up the Mississippi Valley almost to this parallel of latitude, had been purchased from Napoleon the year before, for fifteen million dollars ; and the stations of the T^foirraf/iu EUhins Ce.^C 5 Mllei PLAN OF CHICAGO. army were advanced farther into the unknown West. About the Chicago River were the wigwams and hunting-grounds of the valiant Pottawatomie Indians, with whom the little garrison — a company of infantry — dwelt on terms of amity and fraternity. The fort was only a frontier block-house or palisade, without artillery, and there were five houses outside it. A subterranean way ran from the stockade to the river, which could be used to procure water for 78 298 CITIES OF THE WORLD. ■ [Chicago. the garrison, or as a sally-port in ease of siege. The entire commerce of the place was clone by a small schooner, sent out by the United States once a year from Buffalo, to carry supplies to the garrison. Occasionally a few Canadian bateaux, filled with merry voyageurs and half- breeds, descended from the north, from the distant fortress-rock of Mackinaw, or the remoter towns toward the outflow of the St. Lawrence. More often the birch-bark canoes of the Indians lightly skimmed the surface of Lake Michigan, silent, bird-like, fleet, bearing the proud chiefs of the forest-clans to hunting, or festival, or battle. Powerful as the tribes were, and weak as the attacking van-guard of civilisation apjieared, the red hunters kept peace with their invaders, as if remembering the prophecy of Hiawatha. When war broke out between Great Britain and the United States in 1812, as a result of the arbitrary conduct of the former Power in impressing British seamen found on Ameiican ships, the contest, begun on the high seas, spread to the innermost recesses of the continent, and along the course of the Great Lakes. The chiefs of the Indian tribes, who had suffered in various ways at the hands of the Americans, and had been kindly treated and plied with presents by the British officers, in many cases declared in favour of the latter, and ranged their red warriors under the royal standard. Among these were the traculent Pottawatomies, one of the most valiant and pitiless of the prairie clans. The hostility of the Indians, and the danger that the wretched stockade of Fort Dearborn might be attacked by British armed vessels on the lake, caused the commander of the army to send orders that Chicago should be evacuated. The suj^plies were to be distributed as a peace-offering to the Indians, and the troops received orders to retreat eastward to Fort Wayne. Captain Heald, the commander of the post, was urged by his officers, who dreaded the treachery of the natives, to hold the works until reinforcements came up, or at least imtil the hostile British fleet arrived, when they might surrender to Christians and gentlemen. On the other hand, Winnimcg, a friendly Indian, advised him to march out as soon as possible, and reach a secure distance while the warlike tribe should be plundering the fort. But the captain — a little sentimental, withal, and sadly irresolute — finally decided to trust the good faith and mercy of the savages, and held a solemn council with them, agreeing to surrender the ammunition and supplies in Fort Dearborn if they would escort his company in safety to Fort Wayne. After this bargain was concluded, the captain destroyed all the gunpowder and spirits in his chai-ge, and, by thus breaking faith with the enemy, invited their vengeance. The retreating garrison marched along the shore of Lake Michigan, with twelve friendly Miami warriors in advance, the soldiers in the centre, and the wagon-train, containing the baggage, the sick, and the women and children, in the rear. As they emerged from the works, the gai-rison band played the Dead March in " Saul.^^ When the doomed procession had reached a point a mile and a half from the fort, the Miami scouts discovered an ambush, and were jiut to flight by sudden volleys of musketry. The soldiers were formed into line, and charged over the sand-hills into the midst of ten times their number of Pottawatomies, where they fought with desperate valour until two-thirds of them were slain. The wife of Lieu- tenant Helm was the heroine of the scene, urging on the soldiers and moving about in the thickest of the battle. While vigorously wrestling with one of the savages, and trying to get his seal ping-knife, another Indian seized her and bore her into the lake, where Chicago.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 299 he plunged into the deep water, but held her head above the waves. This was the friendly Black Partridge, who thus preserved her life by feigning to destroy it. One of the wagons in the rear contained twelve children, and these were all slaughtered by a single savage. When but twenty-six soldiers were left to confront five hundred warriors, the com- mander surrendered, stipulating that the women and children should be spared. Fifty-six whities had been killed ; and the Indians destroyed the fort and barracks by fire. In 1816 white men once more sought the site of Chicago, and Fort Dearborn was rebuilt and garrisoned. In 1823 the civilian population was augmented by the arrival of Cly bourne, who rode thither on horseback, a thousand miles, from Virginia. In 1827 there were two other families living outside the fort — the indomitable John Kinzie and his competitor, the French trader Oulimette. The fortifications were inconsiderable, and c*onsisted mainly of a block-house near the mouth of the river. As late as the year 1857 this venerable defence was still standing, weather-beaten and ruinous, but worthy to have been preserved as an eloquent historical relic. On several occasions it had served as a, city of refuge during the terrors of the border- wars ; and the Government agency con- tinued in its walls for many years. From 1832 until 1836 it was garrisoned by two companies of infantry under Winfield Scott, afterwards the conqueror of Mexico and commander-in-chief of the American armies. The Agency building proper — a grotesque group of log-buildings, with many angles and wings — was entitled Cohceh Castle by the imaginative pioneers. At that time the North Side was covered with a vigorous forest, while the South Side lay partly under water and morasses. An active and prominent citizen, Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard, found but two families living here when his first visit was made (he then being a lad of sixteen) in the year 1818. He was an employe of the American Fur Company, sent out from Montreal, and detailed to service in the Illinois brigade of traders, over whom the Canadian voyageur, Antoiue Dechamps, held command. Cautiously and slowly the little flotilla of Mackinaw boats coasted the shores of the Great Lakes, as the early merchants were wont to do, passing hundreds of leagues of desolate and uninhabited lands. They found a few whites at Mackinaw and Chicago, but nowhere any others, from Lake Ontario to the Mississippi River. By the year 1830 Chicago had made no advance, and was still composed of a military post and a fur-station — the former a log-fort, garrisoned by two companies of regulars, the latter composed of two shops, filled with trinkets for barbarian traders ; — three taverns, where the Indians who brought furs spent their earnings in drunkenness; a blacksmith's shop, where rude work was done ; a house for the interpreter ; and a shanty for the chiefs of the visiting tribes. John Jacob Aster's little schooner made a yearly voyage to the post to carry away the accumulated furs. The fort was menaced by the Winnebago Indians in 1828, and reinforcements were hurried in from the eastward. But four years later the garrison evacuated the works, and their baiTacks were occupied by immigrant families. At one time, more than four thousand Indians gathered here to receive their annuities ; and soon afterwards, during the disastrous war waged by the chief Black Hawk against the frontier settlements, Fort Dearborn was crowded with many hundreds of refugees from the devastated country beyond. The powerful .300 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Chicago. tribe of Indians who had always lived near the fort assumed a menacing attitude, and it was only by the most skilful diplomacy that the Government agent held them under control. A year or two later, when there were still but twenty-eight men living in the hamlet, seven thousand Pottawatomie Indians, of the tribe which from time immemorial ;had owned and dwelt on these j)lains, were convened here, and executed a treaty with the agent of the United States, ceding to the National Government all their domains in Illinois and Wisconsin, amounting to twenty million acres. But the red men did not yield up their birthright quite willingly, and several chiefs, notably the brilliant young Metenay, made eloquent speeches against the proposed cession, evidently foreseeing that this advancing tide of traders and farmers, unless checked, would drive them for ever from the prairies. Great quantities of merchan- dise were distributed among the tribes, in such rude fashion that the strongest braves got all the presents, and the others were left without anything : and at night the usual scene ensued — a wild and bloody debauch, which left the unfortunate Indians poorer than before. It was in the autumn .of 1835 that the great exodus began, and the wretched remnant of the Pottawatomies left their ancient hunting-grounds for ever. Forty wagons, each drawn by four oxen, carried the children and the scanty effects of the tribe, and the men and women marched on foot beside them. Thus the sad and solemn march went on — for twenty days across the prairies to the Mississippi River, and then for twenty days more into the wild and unknown regions beyond, until the weary clan settled on the reservation which the Great Father at Washington had appointed as their home. When the garrison was withdrawn, in 1831, the twelve resident families deserted their rude shebeens on the prairie and spent the winter in the fort, making a right merry time, with their debating society and dancing parties. The next year the first public building was erected — a pound for stray cattle, which cost £2 8s., one-twelfth of the entire annual tax-levy. The woods and swamps about the little hamlet abounded in game, deer, wolves, bears, foxes, lynxes, and wild-cats ; and in a single day in 1834 a party of hunters killed a bear and forty prairie wolves on the present site of the city. Several years later, the long howl of the wolf was often heard by night within the municipal limits. The United States Government, which is so economical as regards its army and navy, has always been ready to spend vast sums on internal improvements, and far in advance of its LAKE-SHORE DRIVE. Chicago.] GROWTH OF THE CITY. 801 THE ASUS OF CHICAGO. probable needs. In 1834, therefore, a corps of engineers was sent to Chicago, the muddy little lake-village in the far West, and dredged out the river, which had hitherto been blockaded by a sand-bar, so that vessels of above fifty tons could enter. A curiously timely freshet came the next season, and scoured out the bed of the stream to a much greater depth, changing the boggy fissure into a snug and commodious harbour. Soon afterwards, the great Western exodus from the Atlantic States began, a march of civilisation which bids fair to continue far into the twentieth century. The proximity of Fort Dearborn, and the fine harbour now afforded by the mouth of the Chicago River, attracted many settlers to this locality; and in the year 1837 Chicago was declared a city. So meagre was the local productiveness at this time, and so carefully did the agri- oultural classes shun this marshy flat, which during the rainy season was sometimes stirrup-deep in water, that the provisions necessary to supply the incoming population had to be brought from distant points in Michigan. The metropolitan position of Chicago, already foreshadowed by its command of the navigation of the great lakes, was assured by the year 1852, when the Lake-Shore and Michigan Central Railways were finished, connecting it with the teeming States on the Atlantic slope. Henceforward, the primacy of the West became an affair of railway construction ; and the locomotives, crossing the broad prairies in every direction, with their tracks converging here, rapidly made the commerce of the rising empire of the new States tributary to Chicago. This interest has always been held paramount, until now twelve thousand miles of railways, penetrating the remotest valleys of the north-west and south-west, bring their vast freights hither, where they may be carried to the seaboard by the great trunk-lines to the eastward, or shipped on the white-winged fleets which patrol the lakes. The Great Lakes are to America what the Mediterranean is to Europe, and their united area is almost as large as that of the classic sea. At the head of this long system of navigation, like Smyrna or Alexandria in the Levant, is the harbour of Chicago, a system of water-lanes, among which miles of masts are grouped, and scores of steamships. Venice and Genoa united, with all their poetry of history and antique splendour, have not the population of this encami)ment of the nomads of yesterday ; have not its energy and commercial activity ; have not its comfort and happiness for the people at large. In 1840, Chicago was a village of a few hundred inhabitants, and ten years later her population was 30,000. Another decade passed, and the census showed 112,172 inhabitants, a gain of 373 per cent. In 1870, although the devastating civil war had been weakening the Republic for years, the population numbered 298,977. The last decade was disastrous in many ways ; it was a period of great commercial depression, and the city sank down at one time under a conflagration which destroyed all its best and richest precincts. Yet the tide of immigration and increase continued to rise without interruption. In the year 1866 alone the number of houses erected in the city was nine thousand, for which, besides the timber 30i CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Chicago. of vast forests,, and mountains of stone, there were used sixty-two millions of bricks, made from the clay strata underlying the prairie. The growth of the poiDulation of Chicago may best be illustrated by the following census enumerations : — 1835 18i0 184.5 18.30 1853 1855 1858 3,265 1860 4,479 1865 12,088 1870 28,269 1872 60,652 1875 83,509 1880 90,000 112,172 175,900 29S,977 3'.4,'J77 410,000 503,C00 Some idea may be gained of the vast increase and volume of business here from a statement of the sales made by the wholesale dealers and manufacturers. The amounts of such sales were as follows : — In 1850 ,, 1860 £4,000,000 £19,400,000 In 1870 „ 1879 ... £71,400,000 ... £152,800,000 The great fire of October, 1871, was one of the mos'. terrible visitations which any Christian city ever endured. Late on Sunday evening (October 8), as the citizens were going home from their churches, a fire broke out in a cow-stable, in a squalid quarter of the city, probably resulting- from some unrevealed act in a drunken frolic which was going on in an adjacent Irish hut. For many weeks a drought had afflicted all this region, and for thirty-six hours a strong south-west wind had been blowing, which drove tlie flames direct forward to and through the very heart of the city. This lane of death, not more than eighty feet wide, cleft its way with startling rapidity, and the eddies caused by the intense heat spread new disasters on every side. Showers of burning brands were borne onward by the stormy wind, and fell among the buildings beyond the river ; and the contest was transferred from a region of wooden houses and lumber-yards to the splendid hotels, shops, and offices of the central section. It was no longer an affair of a single fire — a score of blocks, widely separated, were in flames at once. The destruction was aided by the wooden side-walks, then in common use, along which the fire ran from street to street, levelling everything in its course. The mastery gained by the baleful element was absolute; its manifestations were unspeakably temble. The roaring red columns shot high into the night air, and then bent forward to strike buildings far in advance, while showers of sparks fell everywhere. The firemen were provided with powerful steam-engines, and faced their work without blenching, but so rapid was the advance of the enemy that they were driven back from point to point, and several of the engines were destroyed before they could be withdrawn. The great alarm-bell in the Court-House dome tolled heavily, until that building sank under the red waves. The prisoners who had been confined in the cells below were released, and trooped through the streets in dangerous freedom. Feeling that the city was doomed, thousands of men were working to save furniture and goods, but these also were melted down on the streets and squares where they had been piled. At last it became a question of saving their own lives, of preserving their wives and children. The streets were massed with flying myriads — Chioago.] THE GREAT FIRE. 3(i3 women and children bewailed their lost estate, while swept along they knew not whither, — the ponderous engines rushed through the crowds to take up new positions, and the roar and crackle of the advancing flames were overborne, from time to time, by the booming of gun- powder, where houses were being blown up in the hope of staying the fire by offering it a worse desolation. At three in the morning the destroyer leaped across the main stream of the Chicago River, and took possession of that extensive district known as the North Division, which had been considered secure from its advance. Then the terror of midnight deepened into a wild panic, a pitiless debamlade. The bridges were choked with wagons and passengers entangled in hopeless masses, and scores of people were precipitated into the dark stream below. Othei-s were beaten down by the flying brands, or were smothered under clouds of dense hot smoke. There was a belief in the minds of many that the Day of Wrath itself had come. The better classes were stupefied with terror and grief — the dregs of society, the depraved and criminal classes, maudlin with liquor, and wild with excitement, attacked what the fiery sea had sj)ared. Robbery and ribaldry were in full carnival. Fireproof buildings, entirely of stone and iron, crumbled and fell in chaotic heaps under a surrounding heat like that of a blast-furnace ; the great gas-works exploded ; 98,000 homeless people were scattered on the prairie ; and finally the water- works themselves, the only means by which the fire might be stayed, were swept away, and left Chicago entirely defenceless. Thousands of people on the North Side fled far out on the prairie, but other thousands, less fortunate, were hemmed in before they could reach the country, and were driven to the Sands, a group of beach-hillocks fronting on Lake Michigan. These had been covered with rescued merchandise and furniture. The flames fell fiercely upon the heaps of goods, and the miserable refugees were driven into the black waves, where they stood neck-deep in chilling water, scourged by sheets of sparks and blowing sand. A great number of horses had been collected here, and they too dashed into the sea, where scores of them were drowned. Toward evening the Mayor sent a fleet of tow-boats, wdiich took oft' the fugitives at the Sands. When the next day dawned, the prairie was covered with the calcined ruins of more than ] 7,000 buildings, including seventy-five churches and ecclesiastical buildings, valued at £600,000; nearly all the newspaper offices ; nine theatres ; the Academy of Design, with 300 paintings ; the priceless collections of the Academy of Sciences ; much of the shipping in the river; seventeen breweries, valued at £4^00,000; seventeen hotels; six great railwry termini; 1,634,000 bushels of grain; 80,000 tons of coal; 50,000,000 feet of lumber; and vast quantities of other stores ; and nearly all the public buildings pertaining to the city and the nation. On the ruins of Booksellers' Row, where more than a million books were held in stock, but one fragment of literature was found — a charred leaf of a Bible, on which were the words (Lamentations i. 1,2) : — " IIoiv doth the city sit solitarj/, that icas full of people ! hoto h she become as a widow ! '^ " She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks." This was the greatest and most disastrous conflagmtion on record. The burning of Moscow, in 1813, caused a loss amounting to £30,000,000 ;. but the loss at Chicago was in excess of this amount. The Great Fire of London, in 1666, devastated a tract of -l^G acres, and destroyed 13,000 buildings; but that of Chicago swept over 1,900 acres, and burned mor(. 304 ' CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Chicago. than 17,000 buildings. The loss of property amounted to £39,000,000; and 250 human beings were destroyed in the flames. But there was no folding of the hands in grief, no waiting for languid tears, on the part of the men of Chicago. The danger of distress from hunger and nakedness was averted by the generous charities of American, Canadian, British, and German cities, which flowed in with a deep and rapid current, until over £1,400,000 had reached the stricken community. New York gave £200,000 ; Boston, £88,000 ; London, more than £60,000 ; and even Canton, in China, sent her relief contribution. Meantime, ten thousand busy workers were planning and beginning the re-construction ; and the bricks from the fallen walls were not allowed to cool before they were piled in new foundations and fa9ades. The amount of insurance on the ruined district was £19,000,000, but the strain was so sharp and sudden that many companies were forced to fail, and only £7,600,000 were paid over to the sufferers by fire. One year after the Great Fire, there had been rebuilt, in the South Division alone, 637 structures, valued at more than £8,000,000. Meantime architects swarmed at every corner, and labourers poured into the city so rapidly that its population was perceptibly increased. The buildings then erected constitute the external figure of New Chicago, and worthily shelter the great industries and commerce of the city. In the beginning brick was universally used, as a better defence against fire ; and all the constructions in the first four months were of this durable but plain material. Afterwards, more ornamental materials were used — the marble of Joliet and Athens, the fine sandstones of Ohio, and stone from the quarries of Lake Superior. The commerce of this port exceeds that of any other city on the Great Lakes, although Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto also are very large and important shipping points. The number of vessels arriving here annually is nearly 12,000, with a tonnage of 4,000,000 ; and the clearances are of equal magnitude. The Chicago River is about forty miles long. At one mile from its mouth the stream divides into two forks, each almost at right angles with the part flowing into the lake, and the navigable chan- nels of these, deepened and widened at considerable cost, form a great ditch, six miles long, 150 feet wide, and ten to fifteen feet deep, and nearly parallel with Lake Michigan. The mile-length of the main stream, flowing eastward into the lake, divides the easterly part of the city into the two great divisions known as the North Side and the South Side ; and the remaining wards lying to the westward, across the two forks, are called the West Side. The thirty-six bridges which cross the river within the city limits are so constructed as to swing on pivotal piers built in the centre of the channel, in order that vessels can pass them easily. But so nearly unbroken is the current of commerce flowing along these narrow waters, that communication between the different parts of the city was often cut off for long periods, and the streets leading to the bridges w^ere blockaded by lines of delayed carriages and people. This great and growing evil was happily relieved by the excavation of two tunnels under the river, the one connecting the South Side and the West Side (in 1869), the other from the North Side to the South Side (in 1871). Each of these contains double roadways for vehicles, and a broad side-walk for pedestrians, and is kept well lighted. The length of these tunnels is something less than a third of a mile each. In earlier times, the only conveyances across the river were the bark-canoes of the Indians. Afterwards, floating bridges were built, but these excited the ire of the sailors. VIEWS IN CHICAGO. 1, Court-House; 2, State Street N., from Madison Street; 3, Interior of Cliamber of Commerce; 4, Chamber of Commerce ; 5, Custom-House and Post-Office. 79 306 CITIES OF THE WORLD. [Chicago. and sometimes were deliberately cut in two by vessels running before a free wind. Tiie present system of swinging bridges is unsatisfactory, mainly because they are so often open for the passage of vessels that communication between the trans-fluvial districts is impeded for long periods. Sometimes, after long adverse winds on Lake Michigan, hundreds of vessels pass into the river in a single day, making an almost unbroken procession. The citizens look forward hopefully to the day when the last of the bridges shall have been removed, and when a series of tunnels shall underlie the harbour-stream. The straight lake-front of the city is devoid of docks and piers, and all the shipping is obliged to load and discharge in the narrow river. There is, however, a capacious outer harbour, or roadstead, formed by a Government breakwater, more than a mile long, parallel with the shore. This structure breaks the main force of the heavy gales which sweep over the lake, and protects the anchorage off the mouth of the river. At the harbour-mouth stands a tall iron lighthouse, to guide in belated vessels on the lake. The immense fleets which sail back and forth upon these inland seas are manned by a hardy and vigorous race of mariners, for the frequency of strong gales makes navigation often difficult and dangerous, and there is always a lee-shore not far away. Many of the vessels which navigate these blue seas are known as " canallers,'' being so constructed as to carry the largest possible amount of freight with which they can pass through the Wei land Canal. These awkward arks labour heavily in' a rough sea, and sometimes founder in the open lake. State Street, which runs parallel with Lake Michigan, is the chief thoroughfare of the city — the Western Rue de Rivoli, or, as the New Yorkers, with a fine mingling of modesty and ])atronage, say, " The Broadway of Chicago." Here are the chief commercial buildings and hotels, and the most brilliant shops for retail trade. The sombre brownstone and granite, the dark-red bricks of the Eastern cities, are replaced here by the golden, or cream-coloured, marble, which is quarried about fourteen miles from the city — so soft when first opened as to be easily cut with a hatchet or chisel, yet hardening rapidly on exposure to the air. The bricks, too, are of a rich straw-colour, insomuch that another city of the North-west (Milwaukee), which is mainly built of this material, is widely known by the sohriquet of *'The Cream City.^^ The Chamber of Commerce is a large and stately stone building near the centre of the city, and on the site of an earlier building of a similar character, destroyed in the Great Fire. The main hall (145 feet long) is adorned with a series of brilliant frescoes, representing the trade of the city, its destruction in the fire, and the triumphant rebuilding. Here the Board of Trade holds its sessions, from eleven until one o'clock daily, and the scene presents the appearance (and the sound) of a pitched battle, between walls and without cavalry. Terrible as is the uproar of the New York Stock Exchange, it is as the placidity of a Quaker meeting when compared with the maniacal struggles seen in this hall, where hundreds of eager capitalists are gambling with the bread of a continent. Here New York and Boston, London and Liverpool are bidding by the. sharp rat-tat-tat of the telegraph ; local speculators are endeavouring to elevate or depress the market-rates ; all manner of combinations are formed, and fortunes are won and lost in a few hours. It is the focus of the main primary grain-market of the world, and the transactions of a day here may affect the price of a loaf of bread a thousand leagues away. The grain is Chicaga] MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 307 stored in the elevators, in distant parts of the tf)wn, its