be vomited out of the mouth of some sea-fish, wild beast, or monster; and this is what they emphatically term bien-joli. Their shrubbery and trees are disposed in no better way; they are generally planted in straight lines, with mathematical precision; and you will often see a formal row of orange-trees, set in tubs, reach from one end of the garden to the other, without the least variation.---Now, for the pleasure of the contrast, and to expose the false taste prevailing through France in this respect, I will here quote Milton's beautiful description of the Garden of Eden:

-Thus was this place

A happy rural seat of various view;

Groves, whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others, whose fruit, burnish'd with golden rind,

Hung amiable :-Hesperian fables true,

If true here only-and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interpos'd;
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap

Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; meanwhile, murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, disperst, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.-

The gardens of this palace are open to the public, and present a fashionable promenade in the evenings.

Close to the Tuilleries is La Place du Carousel, or place for military parade; remarkable for the

four celebrated brazen horses, that stood, till lately, on the outside of the church of St. Mark at Venice. They are said to be the work of Lysippus, and were brought from Greece to Rome upon the conquest of that country. Afterwards they were removed from the Arch of Septimius Severus to Constantinople, with the seat of government; and there they became a trophy of war to the Venetians. From that time they remained as ornaments to the city of Venice; till the French Revolution, making an excursion through the Italian states both for pleasure and profit, singled them out as very suit→ able subjects to decorate the new-built gates of the Tuilleries.

It has often been observed by artists, that the ancients rarely formed their animals so well as they were accustomed to do the human figure; and these brazen horses I thought some corroboration of the truth of this remark: beside which, some parts bespeak motion, and others rest;--the head, the tail, and the fore-legs, denote them to be trotting in a playful attitude; while both the hind legs remain on the ground, and nearly in the same position as if the horses were standing still. In all probability, this error was originally committed by the ancients for the purpose of better supporting the weight of the statue, which they could not do so well on two legs.--But in the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, at Rome, the hind leg that moves forward in unison with the opposite foreleg, is placed on a stone, or rising part; and which I think a smaller blemish than when, to avoid one evil, a greater is committed by the sacrifice of na

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ture and truth.---Stating these objections to a Frenchman who was with me, he replied, "Sir, all the world admire them, because the horses are of brass." True, they are of brass, but that is not sufficient to make them perfect. Let us hope, for the honour of the arts in England, that the time may never come when a brazen horse, a silver Venus, or a golden Apollo, without being able to boast the more precious properties of true taste, natural form and beauty, should in the smallest degree engage the study or claim the admiration of the members of the Royal Academy of London, merely because it is made of a valuable material.

**

The same may be said of architecture.---Look at the works of Palladio at Venice and Vicenza, and the principal part of them will appear to be composed of nothing more than brick, stone, and plaster; notwithstanding which, I should pity the judgment of any man who could not contemplate these simple, classical, and beautiful designs, with much greater delight than all the corrupt and meretricious compositions of modern Rome, though they be executed in the richest and most variegated marbles.

With sorrow, the sculptor perceives no more the fine colossal statue of Lewis XIV. which stood in La Place de Victoire. It was 30 feet in height, cast in brass; and at the time of the Revolution was probably melted down for coin. The equestrian statue of Henry IV, which stood on the Pont Neuf, and the equestrian statue of Lewis XV. in La Place de la Concorde, with other similar works, shared the same fate.

The manufactory of the Gobelins tapestry well deserves the attention of the traveller. It is so called from two dyers of that name, who invented it in the reign of Francis I. The elaborate productions of this manufactory, which hang in the different store-rooms, are equal, in effect, to the oil-paintings the workmen imitate; and the fine historical pieces they execute are so slow in their progress on the looms, that one alone requires several years to be brought to perfection. They are the sole property of the government; and, when finished, are either sent as presents to foreign, courts, or placed by way of decoration in their own palaces and public buildings.

Towering above other buildings, the Pantheon, or Temple of Fame, appears a noble and stately edifice. On the plan it forms a Greek cross, 340 feet in length, and 250 in width; and its superstructure is of the prostylos kind, that is, having a portico in the front only, which is of the Corinthian order. The interior forms four naves, decorated with fluted Corinthian columns; and over the centre of the cross is a majestic dome, adorned with columns, and windows in the intercolumniations. At the time I saw this building, the interior was not quite finished. From the character and shape of the dome, or cupola, and other parts on the outside, it is pretty evident that when Soufflot was designing this structure he had more or less in contemplation the exterior of our magnificent cathedral of St. Paul, which it very much resembles in its upper parts.

In the history of this architect's life, it is re

lated that his days were shortened by the opposition he experienced from his enemies respecting the practicability of executing the outer and inner domes as he had designed them. However, by perseverance and fortitude, he triumphed over all those obstacles in the end, and has bequeathed to posterity this proud testimony of his talents. The domes, and every part of the Pantheon whatever, are of stone, well chained together with iron. The vault, or mausoleum, underneath, contains the recent tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau; and here the ashes of these two famous men have been removed since the Revolution. It is said that this edifice is destined to be the future sepulchre of all those who hereafter become eminently distinguished for their talents, or for services rendered to their country. On the front appears this inscription:

"Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnoissante.” The gallery around the dome affords a commanding view of Paris.

While I was inspecting the Pantheon, a conversation accidentally arose between myself and a superintendant of the works, respecting the columns used in the periptere of the dome, which I perceived to have the inflated shafts: and upon my informing him it was a practice not sanctioned by the architects of England, he entered into a defence of its propriety, alleging that Vitruvius had mentioned it, and that in his third book he had promised to give some positive and detailed instructions for the swelling of columns. Whether Vitruvius meant that shafts of columns should be thickest in the middle,