I Remained Two Whole Hours On This
Height To Contemplate The Beauties Of The Expanse Below.
The banks of the
river, which meanders much in these parts, and the numerous maisons de
campagne with the
Public promenades and allees lined with trees,
exhilarate the scene of the environs, for the city itself is dull enough.
Several pretty villas are situated also on the heights, and were I to dwell
here I should choose one of them and seldom descend into the valley and
city below,
Where narrow cares and strife and envy dwell.
Liege, however sombre in its appearance, is a place of much opulence and
commerce. A Belgian garrison does duty here. At the inn, after dinner, I
fell into conversation with a Belgian priest, and as I was dressed in black
he fancied I was one of the cloth, and he asked me if I were a Belgian, for
that I spoke French with a Belgian accent; "Apparemment Monsieur est
ecclesiastique? - Monsieur, je suis ne Anglais et protestant." He then began
to talk about and declaim against the French Revolution, for that is the
doctrine now constantly dinned into the ears of all those who take orders;
and he concluded by saying that things would never go on well in Europe
until they restored to God the things they had taken from Him. I told him
that I differed from him very much, for that the sale of the Church domains
and of the lands and funds belonging to the suppressed ecclesiastical
establishments had contributed much to the improvement of agriculture and
to the comfort of the peasantry, whose situation was thereby much
ameliorated; and that they were now in a state of affluence compared with
what they were before the French Revolution.
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