These, However, Are All Merchants, Or Bourgeoise, For The
Noblesse Or Gentry Live All Together In The Upper Town, And Never
Mix With The Others.
The harbour of Boulogne is at the mouth of
the small river, or rather rivulet Liane, which is so shallow,
that the children wade through it at low water.
As the tide
makes, the sea flows in, and forms a pretty extensive harbour,
which, however, admits nothing but small vessels. It is
contracted at the mouth by two stone jetties or piers, which seem
to have been constructed by some engineer, very little acquainted
with this branch of his profession; for they are carried out in
such a manner, as to collect a bank of sand just at the entrance
of the harbour. The road is very open and unsafe, and the surf
very high when the wind blows from the sea. There is no
fortification near the harbour, except a paltry fort mounting
about twenty guns, built in the last war by the prince de Cruy,
upon a rock about a league to the eastward of Boulogne. It
appears to be situated in such a manner, that it can neither
offend, nor be offended. If the depth of water would admit a
forty or fifty gun ship to lie within cannon-shot of it, I
apprehend it might be silenced in half an hour; but, in all
probability, there will be no vestiges of it at the next rupture
between the two crowns. It is surrounded every day by the sea, at
high water; and when it blows a fresh gale towards the shore, the
waves break over the top of it, to the terror and astonishment of
the garrison, who have been often heard crying piteously for
assistance.
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