492 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



season there is generally a com- 

 pany of German players at Aix- 

 la-Chapelle, and the company 

 hastily return from the Louisberg 

 to the theatre. The building is 

 small, and by no means handsome. 

 An opera was given the night I 

 was there, the music of which was 

 agreeable, but the actors by no 

 means extraordinary. 



The Cathedral of Aix is inter- 

 esting for its histor3% and its rude 

 specimens of early Saxon archi- 

 tecture : but has neither beauty 

 nor grandeur to recommend it. 

 The quaint old dome, which com- 

 prehends the whole edifice, except 

 the light Gothic choir of a later 

 date, is a venerable relic of the 

 old minster with which Charle- 

 magne adorned his native city. 

 It was consecrated by Pope Leo 

 III. in 804, with a ceremony 

 worthy of its splendor. Three 

 hundred andsixty-five archbishops 

 and bishops were to be present at 

 the solemnity ; but unluckily two 

 were missing, and there is no 

 knowing what might have resulted 

 if two reverend prelates of Ton- 

 gres, long ago dead and buried at 

 Maestricht, had not been so kind 

 as to walk out of their graves and 

 supply the vacant seats at the 

 ceremony. Some of the varie- 

 gated marble pillars which adorn- 

 ed the old edifice are now returned 

 from their temporary visit to 

 Paris, and are shown with the 

 curiosities of the church. Under 

 the centre of the dome repose the 

 ashes of the great Charles, with 

 the simple but impressive inscrip- 

 tion on the pavement — Carolo 

 Magno. Immediately above hangs 

 an immense circular sort of chan- 

 delier in the shape of a crown, 

 composed of silver and brass — a 



present to the church from I'le- 

 deric the Great, called Charle- 

 magne's crown. 



Narrative of my Captivitij in 

 Japan, during the years \^\\, 

 1812, and 1813. By Captain 

 Goloivnin, R. N, 



In the year 1811, Capt. Golow- 

 nin had the command of the 

 imperial sloop of war, Diana, 

 lying in the month of April at 

 Kamtschatka, where he received 

 an order from the Russian minis- 

 ter of marine, directing him to 

 survey the Southern Kurile and 

 Shanter islands, from lat. 53° 38' 

 north to Okotsk. Before this ex- 

 pedition took place, one Lieut. 

 Chwostoff, a commander in one of 

 the American Company's ships, 

 had made a predatory expedition, 

 in which, without any notice 

 given, he attacked the Japanese 

 villages on the Kurile islands. 



On the 17th of June, 1811, 

 Capt. Golownin found himself 

 near the western coast of the 

 northern extremity of the island 

 Eetoorpoo ; and sending a boat 

 with an officer of descry, he 

 learned that some Kuriles who 

 had been detained by the Japanese, 

 were still kept in a kind of im- 

 prisonment on the island. After 

 some delay from fogs and adverse 

 winds, the Russian sloop at length 

 reached the straits between Mats- 

 mai and Kunashier, and on the 

 5th of July, anchored in a harbour 

 in the latter place. 



As we advanced, guns were 

 twice fired at us from the castle ; 

 the shot, however, fell into the 

 water without reaching our vessel. 

 From this circumstance, we con- 

 cluded 



