ecimens of the feudal _chateau fort_ of that epoch; and the
subterranean portion of it still attests its former strength and
magnitude.

It is surrounded by a moat, not of stagnant water, but supplied by the
river Ivette, which flows at the base of the hill on which the chateau
stands. The water is clear and brisk and the chateau looks as if it
stood in a pellucid river. The view from the windows is very extensive,
commanding a rich and well-wooded country.

The chapel escaped not the ravages of the sacrilegious band, who
committed such havoc on the chateau; for the beautiful altar, and some
very interesting monuments, were barbarously mutilated, and the tomb of
the Princesse de Croy, the mother of General Count d'Orsay, on which a
vast sum had been expended, was nearly razed to the ground.

If aught was required to increase my horror of revolutions, and of the
baleful consequences to which they lead, the sight of this once
splendid chateau, and, above all, of its half-ruined chapel, in which
even the honoured dead were insulted, would have accomplished it.

An heiress of one of the most ancient houses in the _Pays-Bas_, the
Princesse de Croy brought a noble dowry to her husband, himself a man
of princely fortune. Young and beautiful, her munificence soon rendered
her an object of almost, adoration to the dependents of her lord; and
when soon after having given birth to a son and heir, the present
General Comte d'Orsay, she was called to another world, her remains
were followed to her untimely grave by a long train of weeping poor,
whose hearts her bounty had often cheered, and whose descendants were
subsequently horror-struck to see the sanctity of her last earthly
resting-place invaded.

We passed through the hamlet of Palaiseau, on our return to Paris; and
saw in it the steeple where the magpie concealed the silver spoons he
had stolen, and which occasioned the event from which the drama of _La
Pie Voleuse_, known in so many languages, has had its origin.

The real story ended not so happily as the opera, for the poor girl was
executed--the spoons not having been discovered until after her death.
This tragedy in humble life has attached great interest to the steeple
at Palaiseau, and has drawn many persons to the secluded hamlet in
which it stands.

The Duc and Duchesse de Quiche returned from Luneville yesterday; and
we spent last evening with them. The good Duke de Gramont was there,
and was in great joy at