In spite of neglect and degradations, the aspect of
the mansion is still such that, as my friend observed, one would expect
to see a fair and stately matron standing in the porch, attired in
velvet, waiting to receive her lord.--In the adjoining house, once,
probably, a part of the same, but now an inn, bearing the sign of _la
Pucelle_, is shewn a circular room, much ornamented, with a handsome
oriel conspicuous on the outside. In this apartment, the Maid is said to
have been tried; but it is quite certain that not a stone of the
building was then put of the quarry.
Hence I must take you, and still under the auspices of Millin[112], to
the great town-clock, or, as it is here called, _la Tour de la Grosse
Horloge_; and I cannot help wishing on the occasion, that I had half the
powers of instructing and amusing which he possessed. Like the writers
in our most popular Reviews, he uses the subjects which he places at the
head of his articles as little more than a peg, whereon to hang whatever
he knows connected with the matter; and the result is, that he is never
read without pleasure or information.
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