There is a building close to the cathedral called the Hotel de Chevrière, supposed to be of the same date as the church at Aynai. It is ornamented like that edifice, with red tiles inserted in the masonry, and resembles it in some other peculiarities of its architecture. It has been much cut up by modern alterations, but the original disposition was not perfectly regular. The principal decoration arises from a row of little semi-circular arches, some of which rest on Corinthian-like columns, and others on small and unornamented corbels, under each of which was a square recess containing a statue. There is a large arched doorway, but all the present windows are modern, and I doubt if there were originally any windows towards the street. Tradition asserts that this building was once inhabited by St. Thomas à Becket.
Besides these antiquities, Lyon boasts some remains of Roman magnificence, which however, in their present condition, are more interesting to the antiquary than to the architect. The principal is an aqueduct, a considerable fragment of which I visited, but it is so surrounded by high stone walls, that it was impossible to obtain a good view. This aqueduct is the more curious, as according to M. Millin, it is conducted across three of the deeper valleys, in leaden pipes, like syphons reversed, descending the hill on one side, and ascending on the other. I believe we have no other example of such a disposition in the Roman aqueducts, and it has even been asserted that the ancients did not know that water would always rise to its level.
There is an ancient crypt under the church of St. Irene, which is attributed, perhaps on no solid foundation, to the Romans. It is a continued vault supported on columns and arches. There is not sufficient character in its architecture to enable me to pronounce on the time of its erection, but I should doubt its being prior to the eleventh century.
Let me now conduct you to modern objects; a fine old convent has been converted into a museum; the suite of rooms being disposed round a quadrangle. These large convents have been very convenient for public purposes. I wish we had preserved some of them for that use in England. This at Lyon has twenty-one windows in a range towards the Place des Terreaux. Fragments of architecture and sculpture, altars and inscriptions, principally found in the neighbourhood, form a very respectable collection of antiquities. The building includes also a gallery of paintings, which, if it cannot boast any of the masterpieces of art, yet contains many paintings worth attention. The catalogue enumerates Rubens and Guido among the artists, but I saw no production of either. M. Frère Jean, a merchant of this city, conducted me there, in company with an artist of the name of Epinat, and introduced me to M. Hurtault, the director, who is a very able antiquary. I afterwards dined with M. Frère Jean, who is a very pleasant, friendly man, at his country house, if one may apply the expression to a habitation within the city. It has a nice garden, and commands a noble view, extending to the distant Alps. I endeavoured to persuade him and M. Epinat, that Napoleon was really at St. Helena, but I believe I left them incredulous. They did not seem, however, very confident, that it was the English who helped him back from Elba. This is the first time I have met any Frenchman willing to entertain a doubt on that subject.