France fplit info two feparate and hoftile ftates; and 
either revolution would have given a new turn to the af¬ 
fairs of Europe. From the fate of Lyons nations may 
learn this falutary leffon—as one of the greateft fcourges 
with which mankind can poflibly be afflicted, is a civil 
svar-, fo it is the duty of thofe who are placed at the helm 
of the ftate fo to govern, that the people fliould have no 
grounds far ieeking a.redrefs of grievances in a revolu¬ 
tion ; and the people fhould on the other hand be con¬ 
vinced, that there can fcarcely exift a grievance, which 
would not appear trivial when compared to that kind of 
revolution which changes all the elements of the govern¬ 
ment of a country, deitroys all land-marks, and places 
the citizens under no other guidance than that of the 
effervefcence of the human paffions. May our rulers and 
our fellow-fubjefts bear this deeply in their minds; and 
then we may hope that they will both meet in the wifti 
to effect, peaceably and coolly, fuch a reformation in our 
conltitution,as may bring it as near to perfeftion in prac¬ 
tice as it is in theory; and render it at once the liappi- 
nefs of Englilhmen, the pride of reafon, and the admira¬ 
tion of all Europe.” Monthly Rev. for Feb. 1795. 
Of the prefent ftate of Lyons (1804), there is an ample 
account in the Monthly Magazine for that year, from 
which we ftiall make a few extracts. 
Lyons is no French leagues (or 306 Englifli miles) 
from Paris, 36 from Dijon, 44 from Avignon, 70 from 
Toulon, and 63 from Marfeilles. It is in lat. 45. 46. N. 
Ion. 4. 59. E. and is fituated at the bottom of a ridge 
of bills on the confluence of the Saone and Rhone, not 
very improperly denominated, by Polybius and Livy, an 
ifiand, of a triangular figure, the bafe of which is a chain 
of mountains and highlands tolerably pifturefque. The 
numerous and pompous deferiptions of this city, with 
which the French have augmented the volume of their 
literature, would.make the ftranger, who had read them 
before his arrival there, doubt that he was in Lyons. Its 
prefent and former ftate are, no doubt, very different; 
yet ftill enough remains to fliow what it could have been 
before the revolution and the deftrudlion made by Collot 
d’Herbois. True, great numbers of houfes have been 
levelled to the ground, and even almoft entire ftreets at 
entering the town on the road from Paris; yet thefe in 
general were old houfes, the natural ruin of which was 
only a little haftened, and which might add to the mag- 
nitude, but mod affuredly not to the beauty, of the city. 
Few public buildings, except the convents, have been 
totally dilapidated, and ftill fewer have efcaped 1'ome kind 
of mutilation. In general, all churches, chapels, and other 
public edifices, have been diiinnntled of their ffatues, buffs, 
and other ornaments, not only in Lyons, but throughout 
all France. The inferiptions too are moftly defaced ; and 
in many inftances, where the hardnefs of the ftone or the 
imperfetdnefs of the inftruments rendered it difficult to 
erafe totally all the characters, every fecond letter has 
been moft carefully deftroyed. This fpecies- of malig¬ 
nity has even been extended to inferiptions which Am¬ 
ply announced the date of the foundation or improve¬ 
ment of the building; luch was the ignorant and impo¬ 
tent frenzy of thefe dilapidators. Great efforts, however, 
have been made to reftore this city to its ancient fplendour; 
feveral houfes have been built in the Fauxbourg de Veyfe, 
and two or three very lofty ones in the city, on the banks 
of the Rhone. On this road the view is animated by the 
profpeft of fome country feats, which, although of no 
great beauty or excellence, are fo rare in France, that one 
iiiuft feel pleafed with the profpeft of any rural retreat, 
however rude and tafteleis it may be. Approaching the 
town, and along the banks of the Saone, the views be¬ 
come more interefting, and even fublime. On the one 
hand is the river, with extenfive profpeCts of houfes, gar¬ 
dens, trees, &c. (battered over the declivities of its lofty 
banks; on the other, are huge and awful arching rocks, 
part of Mont d’Or, which in fome places are fufpended 
sLmoft acrofs the road; before you, are diftant views of 
N Si 
the town and of one of its fuburbs. Entering, you crofs 
the Saone by a very old and (trait ftone bridge of four 
arches, very high in the middle, and of very disagreeable 
paffage. There are two other bridges on this river, one 
of ftone and the other of wood, but which are nothing 
remarkable. Nor is the famous bridge on the Rhone, io 
celebrated for its length, of any great notoriety in. modern 
times. It has fourteen large circular arches through which 
the water runs, and four or five more over a marfti, for¬ 
merly the bed of the river, in which is fituated the Faux¬ 
bourg de la Guillotiere, on the road to Avignon ; a fixa¬ 
tion extremely unwholefome, and fufficiently adverfe to 
manufactures. The original foundation of this bridge, 
however, does great^honour to the good fenfe of pope 
Innocent IV. who, during his long refidence at Lyons, 
fold indulgences to eat meat on Fridays, and with the 
amount caufed this bridge to be ereCted ; and thus at once 
adminiftered to the health and the accommodation of the 
public. Near the end of the bridge is the Culiom-houfe, 
a large plain fquare building, which has no doubt more 
of utility than elegance. Adjoining is the large fquare 
called La Place de Louis le Grand, formerly Belle-cour. 
It has been moft erroneoufly called, for its extent and 
decoration, the moft beautiful fquare in Europe. It is 
but about 900 feet long, and irregularly 600 broad ; its 
principal and indeed only beauty, is natural, and confifts 
in its commanding a view of the junction of the Rhone 
and Saone. The furrounding buildings are neither uni¬ 
form nor elegant ; and the ftatue of Louis XIV. and other 
decorations are now no more. At the corner o f the fame 
fquare is the General Hofpital of Charity. In-1531 there 
was a great fterility and famine, fo that the furround¬ 
ing peafants embarked in little boats on the Rhone, ra¬ 
ther to be drowned than die with hunger. When they 
arrived at Lyons, the people took compaflion on them, 
and nearly 8000 were humanely received and fuccoured 
by voluntary contributions. Shortly after the harveft 
came, and drew' all thefe unfortunate people to the coun¬ 
try; when there remained a fufficient fum to be employed 
in nourilhing the poor of the city, and to furnifli them in 
future with the fame fuccour. For this it was neceflarjr 
to eredt an edifice; and in 1613 the building of this hof¬ 
pital and houfe of induftry was commenced. It contains 
nine courts, one of which is larger in the middle, and 
was defigned to anfw'er every convenience; but the pro¬ 
portions and divilions are neither pretty nor advantageous. 
The poor are feparated according to their age and fex, 
and thofe who are capable of working are occupied in 
the filk-manufafture, from which the houfe fometimes 
draws a confiderable produdh Its prefent ftate, however, 
is much more honourable to the architect than to the 
adminiftrators and doftors, vvhofe negligence and igno¬ 
rance cannot be too feverely reprehended. This hofpital, 
whether confidered as a public edifice or a civil inftitu- 
tion, mult ftill be eftimated much inferior to that of Sa- 
ragoffa or Grenada in Spain, or even that of Bourdeaux. 
Before'the revolution, the adminiftrators of this hofpital, 
as well as the Hotel-Dieu, enjoyed the prerogative of 
adopting infants, and of having the fame rights as the 
true fathers; this is perhaps the„only remain of the an¬ 
cient adoption, which was pradtifed in the earlier ages of 
the world, by the ceremony of pafting the perfon adopted 
through his affumed mother’s (hift. The hofpital called 
Hotel-Dieu is a very ancient building, faid to have been 
ereCled by Childebert and Ultrogotha his queen, about 
the year 540 ; but was greatly alteiW and repaired, in 
1708, by Delamonce. The interior confifts of a largejn- 
firmary, built on the defign of that at Milan, and dilpofed 
in the form of a Greek crofs, of nearly 56orfeet long, in 
which the patients are placed according to their fex, and 
the nature of their difeafes. The middle of this great 
crofs is covered with a (hapelefs and difproportionate 
dome. There are befides, a quarter for the children ex- 
pofed, another for thofe adopted, and a fpacious airy build¬ 
ing on the fide of the Rhone for convalelcents. The con- 
1 vents 
