p. 17

with a saloon for dancing, & a Belvidere, from whence the promen-
-naders may enjoy the fine landscape. The French Engineer in
1814, when measuring the country, took the summit of this hill,
for one of their trigonometrical summits. The place has been
marked by a pretty pyramid of carved stone, with many in-
-scriptions designating the heights &c [etcetera]. Some of the Allied troops
threw the Pyramid down at the time of their occupying their town,
but the Government has since restored it. The Town of Aix la Cha-
-pelle [[Aachen]] possesses about, or more, than 2100 houses & a population of
2600, the greater part of whom are Catholics. Their language ap-
-pears to be an abominable Jargon, a compound of wretched ger-
-man, flemish,, french & Dutch. The best street in the whole place
is that of Compresboth [Couvenstraße?]. The Marketplace is busy, lively & bustling,
adorned by a beautiful fountain, & a bronze Statue of [[Charlemagne]]
on two pedestals, on either side the fountain are two large black
eagles, looking, as well as the king towards the Hotel de Ville, the
ancient palace of that Emperor, now decorated by the eagle of [[Prussia]].
The hotel de ville is founded upon the ruins of an ancient Chateau
of the Romans, where the Franc Kings built the palace in which
[[Charlemagne]] was born. That palace was laid waste, as well as
the town, by the Normans in 882. [[Otto the 3rd]] rebuilt it in 993,
& the last repairs were made in the 14.th Century, when it became
the hotel de Ville. The tower on the left hand appears [older?] than
the rest of the building, & probably of Roman construction. The an-
-cient form of this magnificent Mansion, & the important reflections
that it gives one to in one's mind, makes it an object of peculiar
[illegible]. After getting my passport countersigned I mounted up
with my loquacious conductor into the grand Saloon. On the
staircase was a very ancient painting of the Hotel de Ville, when
the palace of Charlemagne, with this inscription upon it,

"Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis, regni,"
"Sedes principalis, prima Requm Curia." and in the

same painting, on the left portal, at the foot of the stone steps leading
up to the Hotel, "Victo Victori veniat victoria, vivat"
"Turca perpetuo^ Gloria, cantet Io!" -

In the entrance hall was a painting, by Vandyke [[van Dyck]], over the door,
of Charlemagne, seated on his throne, presenting the act of privilege to
the Magistrate of the town. In the grand saloon, at the upper end,
I found a fine full length Portrait of the Prussian King by [[W. Hemsby?]]
1815. taken from the Place Louis [illegible], at the preview?] of the Prussian
troops. It is very much like the style & coloring of the portrait, pre-
-sented last year by the King to the theatre in the University of