THE RHONE AND SAONE. 259 



noble streams. This splendid city, with its environs, 

 forms one of the very finest panoramas in Europe. The 

 cathedral the churches generally the public library 

 the museum, full of fine old paintings, by the best 

 masters the botanical garden with numerous imposing 

 edifices, public and private, demand from the passing 

 stranger, a close and attentive inspection. Lyons is 

 famous both in political and ecclesiastical history; and it 

 is impossible to tread its populous streets without many 

 striking events in the records of European progress, 

 rushing into the mind, and fixing it with intense earnest- 

 ness upon this most interesting locality. 



After the Rhone, swelled by the waters of the Saone, 

 leaves the walls of Lyons, it receives the river Isere, 

 which rises in Italy, and enters the French territory some 

 distance below Chamberry. A little lower down than 

 Grenoble, the Isere is joined by the waters of the Droc, 

 which takes its rise in the department of the Upper Alps, 

 and runs a distance of forty or fifty miles from its source. 

 A short distance from Vixille, the Romanche empties 

 itself into the Droc, and it has also its source in the 

 department of the Upper Alps. These three rivers are 

 all most excellent fishing-streams. The waters of the 

 Isere are particularly rapid; and, like all rivers of this 

 description, its streams sometimes become suddenly 

 flooded, and as speedily run themselves bright again. 



The city of Grenoble is a fine old place, in a most 

 romantic situation, surrounded by high mountains, and 

 well shaded with wood. It was a town of great strength 

 and importance long before the subjugation of Gaul by 

 the Romans. That quarter of the city which occupies 

 the left bank of the Isere, is very beautifully built, and 

 the streets are spacious and agreeable. The public 



