The price
of our journey from Liege to Maastricht in the water-diligence was 2-1/2
franks, and from Maastricht to Aix-la-Chapelle by land was 7 franks the
person. The road from Maastricht to this place is not very good, but the
country at a short distance from Maastricht becomes picturesque, much
diversified by hill and dale and well wooded. As the Meuse forms the
boundary between the Belgic and Prussian territory, we enter the latter
sooner after leaving Maastricht. I find my friend L. a most agreeable
travelling companion; travelling seems to be his passion, as it is mine;
and fortune has so far favoured me in this particular, that my professional
duties and private affairs have led me to visit the four quarters of the
globe. After dinner, on the first day of our arrival here, we went to visit
the _Hotel de Ville_, before which stands on a pedestal in a bason an
ancient bronze statue of Charlemagne. It has nothing to recommend it but
its antiquity. The _Hotel de Ville_ is similar to other Gothic buildings
used for the same purpose. In the great hall thereof there is a large
picture representing the ambassadors of all the powers who assisted at the
signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1742; and a full length
portrait of the present King of Prussia, as master of the city, occupies
the place where once stood that of Napoleon, its late lord.
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