Belgium, Volume II by James Emerson Tennent

Change in the aspect of the country in crossing the frontier from / Belgium into Prussia -- Passports no real inconvenience -- Anecdote / of a Jamaica planter -- First view of AIX-LA-CHAPELLE -- Its / population and employments -- _Insurrection of the patriots in / 1830_ -- Its absurd termination -- The Cathedral of Charlemagne -- Its / architecture -- Donation of Mary, Queen of Scots -- THE TOMB / OF CHARLEMAGNE -- His singular mode of interment -- The relics / in the treasury -- The Redoute -- Gaming discountenanced in / Prussia -- _The Hotel de Ville_ -- Statue and fountain of / Charlemagne -- Environs of Aix agreeable -- Political condition / of the Trans-Rhenan provinces of Prussia -- _Excellent posting / arrangements_ -- Improvement suggested in England -- Aspect of the / country to Juliers -- JULIERS -- _Neuss_ -- Trade in crushing oil / might be advantageously introduced in Ireland -- The church of St. / Quirinus -- The Rhine.

WITHOUT any material change in the general aspect of the country, a hundred little incidental matters quickly apprize the stranger who has crossed the Belgian frontier, that he has passed into Prussia. The jolting of the pavé is changed, in an instant, for the smooth roll of macadamization: instantaneously, instead of the French he has been accustomed to, he is saluted in German by the douaniers: every stake and wooden bar about the custom-house is accurately ring-streaked, like a barber's pole, only with white and black instead of crimson -- and the lumbering post boy of Belgium, with a half Hibernian license of costume, is replaced by the trim postilion, in his military uniform, and trumpet slung across his shoulder, with a profusion of worsted lace and tassels. The aspect of the country, too, is different, and the broad, French-like, sweeps of hill and valley, which extend through Limbourg, became broken up into wide inclosures, diversified with abundance of woods and luxuriant plantings.