tone
houses, the gay looking shops, the broad road with the equipages rolling
along all contribute to heighten the animation of the scene. We are now
at the _Rue de la Paix_; it is certainly a noble street, and we will
turn down it to look at the statue of Napoleon on the column in the
_Place Vendome_; the pillar, which was cast from the cannon taken from
the enemies of France, is decidedly a work of extraordinary merit and
beauty, and requires a good deal of study to appreciate the exquisite
workmanship displayed in its execution. But if it were not for the
reminiscences associated with the character of Napoleon, who could ever
admire his statue on the top of the column, in a costume so contrary to
all that is graceful and dignified; a little cocked hat with its horrid
stiff angles, a great coat with another angle sticking out, the _tout
ensemble_ presenting a deformity rather than an ornament: however there
he stands on the pinnacle of what he and men in general would call the
monument of his glory, a memento of blood, of tears of widows and
orphans. Could the names of those ruined and heart broken beings be
inscribed upon it, whose misery was wrought by his triumphs, it would
indeed tell a tale of woe. The _Place Vendome_, in which the column
stands, has a very noble appearance, being a fine specimen of the style
of building of Louis the Fourteenth, in whose reign it was erected; and
he too fed his ambition with wholesale flow of blood, and with treasure
wreaked from the hard earned labour of his subjects, and the abridgments
of their comforts, but both were ultimately destined to chew the bitter
cud of mortification, and however bright the sun by which they rose to
imaginary glory, they were doomed to set in a starless night. But let us
turn from these lugubrious images of war, and regain the _Boulevards_
and enjoy the pleasure of beholding a peaceful people. Do not let us
fail to observe that beautiful mansion at the corner of the _rue
Lafitte_; it is called the _Cite Italienne_, and can only be compared to
a palace, the richness of the carve-work surpassing any thing of the
description throughout the whole capital; although it has recently
become so much the mode to adorn their houses with sculpture, yet none
have arrived at the same degree of perfection displayed in the _Maison
d'or_: carved out on the solid stone is a boar hunt, which is really
executed with considerable talent; to give an accurate description of