he
victorious arms of England dictated the terms of surrender to his
conquered capital.

When we visited St Cloud, it was the head-quarters of Prince
Schwartzenberg; and the Austrian grenadiers mounted guard at the gates
of the Imperial Palace. The banks of the Seine, below the Palace, were
covered by an immense bivouack of Austrian troops, and the fires of
their encampment twinkled in the obscurity of twilight amidst the low
brushwood with which the sides of the river were clothed. The
appearance of this bivouack, dimly discerned through the rugged stems of
lofty trees, or half-hid by the luxuriant branches which obscured the
view;--the picturesque and varied aspect of the plain covered with
waggons, and all the accompaniments of military service;--the columns of
smoke rising from the fires with which it was interspersed, and the
innumerable horses crowded amidst the confused multitude of men and
carriages, or resting in more sequestered spots on the sides of the
river, with their forms finely reflected in its unruffled
waters--presented a spectacle which exhibited war in its most striking
aspect, and gave a character to the scene which would have suited the
romantic strain of Salvator's mind.

St Germain, though less picturesquely situated than St Cloud, presents
features, nevertheless, of more than ordinary magnificence. The Palace,
now converted into a school of military education by Napoleon, is a mean
irregular building, though it possesses a certain interest, by having
been long the residence of the exiled house of Stuart. The situation,
however, is truly fitted for an imperial dwelling; it stands on the edge
of a high bank overhanging the Seine, at the end a magnificent terrace,
a mile and a half long, built on the projecting heights which edge the
river. The walk along this terrace is the finest spectacle which the
vicinity of Paris has to present. It is backed along its whole extent by
the extensive forest of St Germain, the foliage of which overhangs the
road, and in the recesses of which you can occasionally discern those
beautiful peeps which form the peculiar characteristic of forest
scenery. The steep bank which descends to the river is clothed with
orchards and vineyards in all the luxuriance of a southern climate; and
in front, there is spread beneath your feet the wide plain in which the
Seine wanders, whose waters are descried at intervals through the woods
and gardens with which its banks are adorn