If you believe its maligners, Calais is no better than a sort of Alsatia to
England, a kind of extension of the rules of the King's Bench. The same
persons would persuade you that America is something between a morass and a
desert, and that its inhabitants are a cross between swindlers and
barbarians; merely because its laws do not take upon them to punish those
who have not offended against them! If America were to send home to their
respective countries, in irons, all who arrive on her shores under
suspicion of not being endowed with a Utopian degree of honesty--or, if
(still better) she were to hang them outright, she would be looked upon as
the most pious, moral, and refined nation under the sun, and her climate
would rival that of Paradise. And if Calais did not happen to be so
situated, that it affords a pleasant refuge to some of those who have the
wit to prefer free limbs and fresh air to a prison, it would be all that is
agreeable and genteel. It seems to be thought, that a certain ci-devant
leader of fashion has chosen Calais as his place of voluntary exile, out of
a spirit of contradiction. But the truth is, he had the good sense to see
that he might "go farther and fare worse;" and that, at any rate, he would
thus secure himself from the intrusions of that "good company," which had
been his bane. By-the-by, his last "good thing" appertains to his residence
here. Some one asked him how he could think of residing in "such a place as
Calais?" "I suppose," said he, "it is possible for a gentleman to _live_
between London and Paris."

The interior of Calais I need not describe further, except to say that
round three-fourths of it are elevated ramparts, overlooking the
surrounding country to a great extent, and in several parts planted with
trees, which afford most pleasant and refreshing walks, after pacing the
somewhat perplexing pavements of the streets, and being dazzled by the
brilliant whiteness which reflects from that, and from the houses. The