the canopy over the Bon Dieu, I cannot say much for the grandeur of
the spectacle. If my eyes were not greatly regaled by the Saint's
magnificence, my ears were greatly affected in the evening by the
music which sang forth his praises. The cathedral was crowded with
devotees and perfumed with incense. Several of its marble altars
gleamed with the reflection of lamps, and, altogether, the spectacle
was new and imposing. I knelt very piously in one of the aisles
while a symphony in the best style of Corelli, performed with taste
and feeling, transported me to Italian climates, and I was quite
vexed, when a cessation dissolved the charm, to think that I had
still so many tramontane regions to pass, before I could in effect
reach that classic country, where my spirit had so long taken up its
abode. Finding it was in vain to wish or expect any preternatural
interposition, and perceiving no conscious angel, or Loretto-vehicle,
waiting in some dark consecrated corner to bear me away, I humbly
returned to my hotel in the Place de Mer, and soothed myself with
some terrestrial harmony; till, my eyes growing heavy, I fell fast
asleep, and entered the empire of dreams, according to custom, by its
ivory portal. What passed in those shadowy realms is too thin and
unsubstantial to be committed to paper. The very breath of waking
mortals would dissipate all the train, and drive them eternally away;
give me leave, therefore, to omit the relation of my visionary
travels, and have the patience to pursue a sketch of my real ones
from Antwerp to the Hague.

Monday, June 26th, we were again upon the pave, rattling and jumbling
along between clipped hedges and blighted avenues. The plagues of
Egypt have been renewed, one might almost imagine, in this country,
by the appearance of the oak-trees: not a leaf have the insects
spared. After having had the displeasure of seeing no other objects