eBooks Base 2000

On this point I
shall decide when the time comes. As I left the office the vice-consul
informed me that there was a charge of five francs and some sous for the
consul's vise, a tax which surprised me,--the whole business of passports
having been taken from consuls before I quitted office, and the consular
fee having been annulled even earlier. However, no doubt Mr. ------ had
a fair claim to my five francs; but, really, it is not half so pleasant
to pay a consular fee as it used to be to receive it.
Afterwards I walked to Notre Dame, the rich front of which I viewed with
more attention than yesterday. There are whole histories, carved in
stone figures, within the vaulted arches of the three entrances in this
west front, and twelve apostles in a row above, and as much other
sculpture as would take a month to see. We then walked quite round it,
but I had no sense of immensity from it, not even that of great height,
as from many of the cathedrals in England. It stands very near the
Seine; indeed, if I mistake not, it is on an island formed by two
branches of the river.


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