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upon a throne of glass, and was charged with that electric fluid which not a little resembles the subtile spirit of his nature. The youngest daughter of Madame S, who accompanied us, was requested touch it. In a moment it discharged its penetrat→ ing spark-"Oh! how that little god has alarmed me!" said the recoiling fair one, whose youthful countenance surprise had covered with new beauties;

but yet," said she, recovering herself, "he does not hurt me." This little sally may be considered as a specimen of that playful sprightliness which is so much the characteristic of the French female.

In the centre of another room, dedicated to optics, as we entered, we saw a beautiful nosegay in a vase, which appeared to be composed of the rarest flowers, I approached it with an intention of inhaling its fragrance: but when I attempted to touch it, my hand passed through it. It was an exquisite optical illusion. "Ah!" said my elegant and moralising companion, Madame S, smiling, "of such flowers has Happiness composed her wreath: it is thus she gladdens with it the eye of Hope; but the hand of Expectation can never grasp it."

In the other rooms are all sorts of apparatus for trying experiments in the various branches of that department of science, over which Monsieur C so ably presides.

From Monsieur Charles we went to the church of St. Rocque, in the Rue St. Honoré. As we entered, the effect of a fine painting of our Saviour crucified, upon which the sun was shining with great glory, placed at the extremity of the church, and seen through several lessening_arches of faint, increasing shade, was very grand. This church has been more than once the scene of revolutionary carnage. Its elegant front is much disfigured, and the doors are perforated, in a great number of places, by the ball of cannon and the shot of musketry. Mass was performing in the church; but we saw only few

worshippers, and those were chiefly old women and little girls.

From St. Rocque we proceeded to the Hôtel des Invalides, the chapel and dome of which are so justly celebrated. The front is inferior to the military hospital at Chelsea, to which it bears some resemblance. The chapel is converted into the Hall of Victory, in which, with great taste, are suspended, under descriptive medallions, the banners of the enemies of the republic, which have been taken dur ing the late war, the numbers of which are immense, The same decoration adorns the pilasters and gallery of the vast magnificent dome at the end of the hall.

My eye was naturally occupied, immediately after we had entered, in searching amongst the most battered of the banners, for the British colours; at last I discovered the jack and ensign of an English man of war, pierced with shot-holes, and blackened with smoke, looking very sulky, and indignantly amongst the finery, and tawdry tatters of Italian and Turkish standards.

It is a matter not unworthy of observation, that although the Revolution, with a keen and savage eye, explored, too successfully, almost every vestige of a royal tendency, the beautiful pavement under the dome of the Invalides has escaped destruction. The fleur de lis, surmounted by the crown of France, still retains its original place in this elegant and costly marble flooring. The statues of the saints have been removed; and their places are supplied by the new order of revolutionary deities; but the names of the ancient figures have not been erased from the pedestals of the new ones: to which omission the spectator is indebted for a smile when, contemplating the statue of Equality, he reads, immediately below his feet, "St. Louis."

There is here a costly monument erected to the memory of the brave marshal Turenne, who was killed by a cannon-ball in 1675. In my humble opi

nion, it is too much in the false taste of French statuary. A group of weeping angels surrounds the recumbent hero, in the attitudes of operatic figurantes, in whose faces and forms, the artist has attempted, too laboriously and artificially, to delineate the expressions of graceful grief. On each side of the vast arch which divides the dome from the chapel, are raised the tablets of military honour, on which, in characters of gold, the names of those soldiers are re corded who have distinguished themselves for their achievements in the late war.

When we were just leaving the chapel, we overheard a sun-browned soldier, who had lost both his legs, observe to his companion, to whom he was explaining the colours, pointing to the banners of the Turkish cavalry, the tops of whose staffs were sur mounted with horses' tails, " Look at those ribbands, they are not worthy of being worn when won.". This military hospital is capable of accommodating 3,000 soldiers. The bed-rooms, kitchens, refectory, and put-offices, are very capacious, and, what is rather unusual in France, clean and comfortable. The day before we were there, the first consul paid a visit to its veteran inhabitants. Amongst them he recog nized an old and very brave soldier, whose exploits were the frequent theme of his aged comrades. The young general told him that he should die a captain, took him in his carriage to dine with him at Mal Maíson, presented him with a medallion of honour, and conferred upon him the rank of a captain, in one of the most distinguished regiments.

From this place we went to the military school adjoining, in which Buonaparte received the rudiments of that education which was destined to form the foundation of his future glory. The building is large and handsome, and is, from a very natural sentiment, in high favour with the first consul. There is nothing in it particular to describe. The grounds and gardens are very spacious and fine. In the front of the

military school is the celebrated champ de Mars, which is an immense flat space of ground. On each side are rising terraces of earth, and double rows of trees; and at the further end, the river Seine flows, On days of great national celebrations, this vast plain is surrounded with Gobelins tapestry, statues, and triumphal arches.

After dining with Madame S―, we drove to the beautiful garden of Mousseau, formerly the property of the Duc d' Orleans. It is laid out with great taste, and delights the eye with the most romantic specimens of improved rural beauty. It was originally designed by its detestable owner for other purposes than those of affording to a vast and crowded city the innocent delights and recreations of retired and tasteful scenery. In the gloom of its groves, all sorts of horrible profanations were practised by this monster and his midnight crew, at the head of whom was Legendre the butcher. Every rank recess of pollution in Paris was ransacked to furnish materials for the celebration of their impure and impious orgies. The ode to Atheism, and the song of Blasphemy, were succeeded by the applauding yells of Drunkenness and Obscenity.

At the time we visited this garden, it belonged to the nation, and was open, on certain days, to welldressed people. A few days afterwards, it was presented, as a mark of national esteem, to Cambaceres, the second consul.

The people of Paris, who keep horses in stables at the back of their houses, have a singular mode of keeping their hay in the lofts of their dwellinghouses. At the top of a spacious and elegant hotel, is to be seen a projecting crane in the act of raising loads of winter provision for the stable. When I first saw this strange process, my surprise would scarcely have been increased, had I beheld the horse ascend. ing after the hay.

I must not forget to offer some little description of the opera, to which, during my stay, through the po

liteness of Madame H, I had free access in a private box.

This spacious and splendid theatre is lighted from above by an immense circular lustre of patent lamps. The form of this brilliant light is in the antique taste, and it is said to have cost two thousand pounds sterling. The effect which it produces in the body of the theatre, and upon the scenery, is admirable. It prevents the sight from being divided, and distracted by a profuse distribution of light. This establishment is upon so vast a scale, that government, which is the proprietor, is always a loser upon balancing the receipts and disbursements of each night. The stage and its machinery have for many years occupied à great number of the subordinate classes of people, who, if not employed in this manner, would in all probability become burdensome and unpleasant to government. To this circumstance is attributable the superiority of the machinery and scenery over every other theatre which I ever saw. In the EngJish theatres, my eye has often been offended at the representations of the internal parts of houses, in which not a chair or table is introduced, for the purpose of carrying on the ingenious deception. Upon the stage of the French opera, every scene has its appropriate furniture, and distinctive appendages, which are always produced as soon as the scene drops, by numerous attendants. From this attention to the minute circumstances of the drama, the illusion becomes enchanting. The orchestra is very fine, and is com posed of ninety eminent musicians. The corps de ballet consists of between eighty and ninety fine dancers, of whom Monsieur Deshayes is the principal. His movements are more graceful, his agility more surprising, and his step more light, firm, and elastic, than those of any dancer whom I have ever seen. He is very justly considered to be the first in Europe. The first consul has a private box here, on one side of which a lofty, hollow, decorative column rises, the

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