STRASBURG, a city of France, and capital of the department of the lower Rhine, is situated at the junc tion of the Brusche and the Ille, about half a mile from the Rhine. The town occupies a space of a semi circular form, and is intersected by canals crossed with bridges. The houses, built in the German fashion are high, massy, and consist of a soft red stone. The great street, and a few others, are regular and spacious, but the rest are exceedingly narrow: The number of streets are said to be 200. The Place IY.Irmes, a square, surrounded with trees, contains some good buildings. The town is defended by a regular Pentagon, composed of five bastions and five half-moons. Its citadel lies towards the east, and its outworks reach almost to the Rhine. There arc six bridges across the 11le, two of stone, and four of wood, and a wooden one 3900 feet long, across the Rhine, supported in the middle by an island on which is a strong castle.
The principal public building is the Gothic ca thedral, founded in 1015, and finished in 1275. Its
steeple terminating in a pyramid, is 4.70 feet high; it ascended by a stair of 635 steps, and is the highest in the world, excepting the great pyramid, which ex ceeds it by about 30 feet. The tower has the open ness of lacework. During the revolution many of the ornaments together with its statues were destroy ed. The clock which exhibits the movements of the planets, was made in 1571. The church of St.Thomas contains the mausoleum of Marshall Saxe. The other public buildings are the town hall, the episcopal palace, the arsenal, the foundling hospital, the town hospital, the public granaries, the theatre, the ob servatory, and the monument to General Dessaix.
Strasburg possesses several small manufactories of common cloths, lace, skins, pens, hats, candles, hair powder, artificial flowers, cutlery, paper hang ings, vermilion, &c. The articles of export are corn, beef, flax, wine and spirits, likewise linen, blankets, carpets, and hardware, leather, cotton, and tobacco.