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was extreme. I received no letters from John till I reached
Paris for we had sailed for Ostend before the return of Post
from London. After a delay of one day arising
from the violence of the Wind we disembarked at this Port
which being little more than the outlet of a canal scarcely
deserves that name – The Town is very like one of our
own, with this difference only that the houses appear to
stand most compactly from their ends being presented
to the streets – I never beheld a Country, the first appearance
of which was so unprepossessing, the steeples of the churches
from the extreme flat roofs of the Coast, are espied by the
mariner some time before the shores themselves – And
which when they are descried they present nothing but a sandy
barren aspect – In the Evening we were embarked on
board barges in which we proceeded by a canal to
Ghent – We were set in motion at day light, and the heavy
barges, crowded with Soldiers were made to glide with
facility through the water by the power only of a single
horse to each – I never beheld any thing more delightful
a canal of great width, shaded on either side by rows
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of all the illustrious personages there heaped together. The Church is now under
-going a thorough repair – such parts as were broken down, have been rebuilt
and that which remained entire has been rechiselled, so that the whole pre-
-sents an entire new surface – It was undertaken by that extraordinary man
Buonaparte. Far from wishing to eradicate from the minds of his subjects
the memory of their former Kings, he seems to have taken great pains to direct
their thoughts to that ancient channel. In the nave of the Church there is
[a] chapel to each of the several dynasties of France, marked by the windows,
which are painted in vivid colours representing the armorial bearings of
each particular race – Charlemagne – the Bourbons – and lastly the imperial
Arms of his own family – or rather of himself – The ancient vaults have
been rebuilt – they are in a circular corridor below – and opposite to each
tomb is a statue of the prince there supposed to be interred together with a
small chapel – But that which above all strikes the imagination of
the stranger is the spacious vault which he intended for himself and
family – We had the curiosity to visit it twice. You enter it by two brazen
portals exquisitely worked – To these doors there were three kees [keys], each appertaining
to a separarate lock, the holes of which represent the numbers 1-2-3 and they
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