ssing upon me, I shall be very guilty.

The scenery of this journey has set me thinking; and so I have written
rather sentimentally, but truly.

At St. Laurent we came to the French custom-house, and a pretty thorough
overhauling they made. I believe the fellows hooked some of our
engravings, which they carried out of the room.

Still up, till we reached Morez, the Jura's greatest elevation. The last
half was travelled in the night; so I cannot give you the line of march.
We got to Dijon about eight in the morning, and only had time to get a
hasty breakfast at the railroad station; but we had quite a look at the
city before entering the cars for Paris.

Dijon is the capital town of the old Burgundy, and is a fine old place,
with nearly thirty thousand inhabitants. Here is a great show of
churches, and they seem built for all ages. The Cathedral is a
noble-looking edifice. We had no time to see the old ducal palace, which
has so many historical events connected with it. We saw some beautiful
promenades, but only glanced at them. Bossuet was born here, and St.
Bernard only a mile outside the walls, in a castle yet standing.

The new railroad had just been opened to Paris, and is one hundred and
ninety-six miles and a half of most capital track. We went through
Verrey, Montbard, Nuits, Tonnerre, La Roche, Joigny, Sens, Montereau,
Fontainebleau, Melun, to Paris. Montbard gave birth to Buffon, the
naturalist. Nuits is famous for the vintage of its own name, Romanee,
and other choice wines of Burgundy. Near Tonnerre is the chateau of
Coligny d'Audelot, brother to the admiral massacred on St. Bartholomew's
night. Sens is famous for its Cathedral, which is apparently very
splendid; and here are the vestments of Thomas a Becket, and the very
altar at which he knelt, all of which I wanted to see. Fontainebleau is
beautifully placed in the midst of a forest. Here is a palace, and at
this place Napoleon bade farewell to the Old Guard, in 1814. This place
is celebrated for its grapes, raised in the vicinity. Melun was known
in Caesar's time, and in 1520 was taken by Henry V., of England, and held
ten years. We reached Paris on the evening of Saturday, and again
occupied our old quarters at the Hotel Windsor. I went off to my
favorite bathing-house at the Seine, and felt wondrously refreshed after
the heat and dust of more than three hundred miles and two days'
journeying.

Yours affectionately,

JAMES.

Letter 48.