such a panorama was perfectly unrivalled!"

We descended Mont Ste. Catharine on the side facing the _Hospice Général_:
a building of a very handsome form, and considerable dimensions. It is a
noble establishment for foundlings, and the aged and infirm of both sexes.
I was told that not fewer than twenty-five hundred human beings were
sheltered in this asylum; a number, which equally astonished and delighted
me. The descent, on this side the hill, is exceedingly pleasing; being
composed of serpentine little walks, through occasional alleys of trees and
shrubs, to the very base of the hill, not many hundred yards from the
hospital. The architecture of this extensive building is more mixed than
that of its neighbour the _Hospice d'Humanité_, on account of the different
times in which portions of it were added: but, upon the whole, you are
rather struck with its approach to what may be called magnificence of
style. I was indeed pleased with the good order and even good breeding of
its motley inhabitants. Some were strolling quietly, with their arms behind
them, between rows of trees:--others were tranquilly sitting upon benches:
a third group would be in motion within the squares of the building: a
fourth appeared in deep consultation whether the _potage_ of to day were
not inferior to that of the preceding day?--"Que cherchez vous, Monsieur?"
said a fine looking old man, touching, and half taking off, his cocked hat;
"I wish to see the Abbé Turquier,"--rejoined I. "Ah, il vient de
sortir--par ici, Monsieur." "Thank you." "Monsieur je vous souhaite le bon
jour--au plaisir de vous revoir!" And thus I paced through the squares of
this vast building. The "Portier" had a countenance which our Wilkie would
have seized with avidity, and copied with inimitable spirit and fidelity.


[67] Bourgueville describes this river, in the sixteenth century, as being
"aucune fois iaulne, autrefois rouge, verte, bleüe, violée & autres