CHAPTER II.


A soon as the bustle of encamping was over, and my time
absolutely at my own disposal, I took advantage of an offered
passport, and proceeded into Bayonne. It will be readily believed
that I entered this city with feelings very different from those
of a common traveller. Having lain before it as a besieger for
upwards of two months, its shops, its trade, its public buildings
and places of amusement were to me objects of, comparatively
speaking, little interest or curiosity. Its fortifications and
means of defence were, in truth, what I was principally anxious
to examine. Hitherto I could judge of them only from outward
appearances and vague reports; and now that an opportunity offered
of so doing with greater accuracy, I confess that my inclination
prompted me to embrace that opportunity, rather than to hunt for
pictures which I could not value, or fatigue my imagination by
endeavouring to discover fine specimens of architecture amidst
heavy and ill-built churches.

It is not my intention to attempt any scientific or technical
review of the works which a very natural curiosity tempted me to
examine; partly because I confess myself little competent to the
task and partly because, were the contrary the case, I am
inclined to believe that such a review would not prove very
interesting to the public in general. Enough is done if I
endeavour to impress my reader with as many of the feelings which
I then experienced, as may be done by detailing them; and, at
the same time, enable him to form some general idea of a place