said it was all well, wrote with a pencil the article "les" before the name Biron, to which he added an s, and immediately beheaded both!!!

When we entered the chapel, my surprise and abhorrence were equally excited. The windows were beaten through, the hangings were flapping in the wind, the altar was shattered in pieces and prostrate, the pavement was every where torn up, and the caves of the dead were still yawning upon us. From their solemn and hallowed depths, the mouldering relics of the departed had been raised, by torchlight, and heaped in frightful piles of unfinished decay against the walls, for the purpose of converting the lead, that contained these wretched fragments of mortality, into balls for the musketry of the Revolution. The gardens behind the chapel must have been once very pleasant, but they then had the appearance of a wil derness. Buonaparte, it is said, intends to confirm to these nuns their present residence, by an act of government.

3

The second national library contains a valuable collec tion of books. In one apartment is a very large and ingenious model of Rome in a glass case, and another of a frigate. Upon leaving the library I proceeded to the fabric of the Gobelins, so called from one Gobel, a noted dyer at Rheims, who settled here in the reign of Francis I. which beautiful manufactory has a crowd of visitors every day. Upon the walls of the galleries the tapestry is suspended, exhibiting very exquisite copies of various historical paintings, of which there are some very costly and beautiful specimens. The artists work behind the frame, where the original, from which they copy is placed. The whole is a very expensive national establishment: much of its production is preserved for presents to foreign princes, and some of it is disposed of by pub. lic sale.

Upon the comparison between the works of the Gobelins and the beautiful works of Miss Linwood,

I could not help feeling a degree of pride to observe that my ingenious country woman did not appear to suffer by it. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the tasteful paintings of her exquisite needle. This elegant-minded woman has manifested by her charming exhibition, that great genius is not always separated from great labour, and unwearied perse

verance.

From the Gobelins the garden of plants attracted my steps, which is considered to be the largest and most valuable botanical collection in Europe, and was founded by the celebrated Buffon. The garden is laid out into noble walks, and beds containing the rarest plants from all parts of the world, each of which is neatly labelled for the use of the students. On the right of the entrance is a park containing all sorts of deer, and on the left are vast hothouses and greenhouses; in the centre, inclosed in iron lattice work, is a large pond for the reception of foreign aquatic animals, very near which is a large octagon experimental beehive, about ten feet high, and at the end, near the banks of the Seine, is a fine menagerie, in which, amongst other beasts, there are some noble lions.

Many of the animals have separate houses, and gardens to range in. Adjoining is the park of the elephant, which stupendous animal, from the ample space in which he moves, is seen to great advantage, and is considered to be the largest of his species in Europe. Near the entrance, on the right, is the museum of natural curiosities, the collection of which is very valuable, and admirably arranged. There is also a fine giraffe, or cameleopard, of an amazing height, stuffed. This surprising animal is a native of Ethiopia, and some other parts of Africa, and has scarcely ever been seen in Europe.

From the garden of plants, I made all possible dispatch to Madame C's, in the Boulevard Italien, where I was engaged to dinner.

1

Upon crossing the Pont Neuf, where there are a number of little stalls erected, the owners of which advertise upon little boards, which are raised upon poles, that they possess extraordinary talents for shearing dogs and cats; I could not help stopping and laughing most heartily to observe the following address to the public from one of these canine and grimalkin functionaries :

"Monin tondit et coupe
les chiens la chatte,

et sa femme---

vat en ville."

Which runs in this ridiculous manner in English: "Monin shears and cuts

dogs and cats, and his wife

goes on errands."

As I had no time to return to my hotel to dress, I was initiated into a mode of expeditiously equipping myself, by a young friend who was with ine, to which I was before a stranger, and which shows, in the most trifling matters, that the French are good adepts in expedition and accommodation. In passing through the Palais Royal, we entered the little shop of a boot cleaner, where in a moment I was mounted upon a dirty sofa, ascended to by steps, and from which I had a complete commanding view of the concourse of gay people, who are always passing and repassing in this idle place; the paper of the day, stretched upon a little wooden frame, was placed in my hand, each foot was fixed upon an iron anvil, one man brushed off the dirt, and another put on a shining blacking, a third brushed my clothes, and a fourth presented a bason of water and towel to me. The whole of this comfortable operation lasted about four minutes. My dirty valets made me a low bow for four sols, which, poor as the recompense was, exceeded their expectations by three times the

sum.

One morning as I was entering the grand court of the hall of the Legislative Assembly, I was stopped

by a sentry; upon my telling him I was an Englishman, he politely begged my pardon, and requested me to pass, and called one of the housekeepers to show me the apartments.

This magnificent pile is in the Fauxbourg St. Ger- & main, and was formerly the palace of the Bourbons. After passing through a suite of splendid apartments, I entered, through lofty folding doors, into the hall, where the legislators assemble, a very spacious semicircular room, and much resembling, in its arrange. ments, the appearance of a splendid theatre before the stage. The ascent to the seat of the president is by a flight of light marble steps; the facing of his bureau is composed of the most costly marble, richly carved; on each side of the president's chair are seats for the secretaries; and immediately below them is the tribune, into which the orator ascends to address' the house. On each side of the seat of the president are antique statues of eminent patriots and orators,' placed in niches in the wall; under the tribune, upon the centre of the floor, is the altar of the country,* upon which, in marble, is represented the book of the laws, resting upon branches of olive, and behind it, upon simicircular seats, the legislators sit, at the back of whom are the boxes of the ambassadors and officers of state, and immediately above them, within a colonnade of corinthian pillars, the public are admitted. Round the upper part of the cornice, a beautiful festoon of lilac-coloured cloth, looped up with rich tassels, is suspended, for the purpose of correcting the vibration of the voice. The whole is very superb, and has cost the nation an immense sum of money. The principal housekeeper asked me "whether our speakers had such a place to declaim in;" I told him "that we had very great orators in England, but that they were content to speak in very little places." He laughed, and observed, "that Frenchmen never talked to so much advantage as when their eye was pleased."

This man, I found, had been formerly one of the door-keepers of the national assembly, and was present when, after having been impeached by Billaud, Panis, and their colleagues, Tallien, discharged his pistol at Robespierre, whom he helped to support, until the monster was finally dispatched by the guillotine, on the memorable 9th of Thermidor,

I did not fail to visit the Temple, so celebrated in the gloomy history of the Revolution, which stands in the Rue de Temple, in the Fauxbourg of that name: the entrance is handsome, and does not much impress the idea of the approach to a place of such confinement. Over the gates was a pole, supporting a dirty and tattered bonnet rouge, of which species of republican decoration there are very few now to be seen in Paris. The door was opened to me by the principal gaoler, whose predecessor had been dismissed on account of his imputed connivance in the escape of sir Sidney Smith. His appearance seemed fully to qualify him for his savage office, and to insure his superiors against all future apprehension of a remission of duty by any act of humanity, feeling, or commiseration. He told me, that he could not permit me to advance beyond the lodge, on account of a peremptory order just received from government. From this place I had a full command of the walk and prison, the latter of which is situated in the centre of the walls. He pointed out to me the window of the room in which the royal sufferers languished. As the story of sir Sidney Smith's escape from this prison has been involved in some ambiguity, a short recital of it will, perhaps, not prove uninteresting.

After several months had rolled away, since the gates of his prison had first closed upon the British hero, he observed that a lady who lived in an upper apartment on the opposite side of the street, seemed frequently to look towards that part of the prison in which he was confined. As often as he observed her, he played some tender air upon his flute, by which,