ed; while, in the farthest
distance, the towers of St Denis, and the heights of Paris, form an
irregular outline on the verge of the horizon. It is a scene exhibiting
the most beautiful aspect of cultivated nature, and would have been the
fit residence for a Monarch who loved to survey his subjects' happiness:
but it was deserted by the miserable weakness of Louis XIV., because the
view terminated in the cemetery of the Kings of France, and his
enjoyment of it would have been destroyed by the thoughts of mortal
decay.

Versailles, which that monarch chose as the ordinary abode of his
splendid Court, is less favourably situate for a royal dwelling, though
the view from the great front of the palace is beautifully clothed with
luxuriant woods. The palace itself is a magnificent building of great
extent, loaded with the riches of architectural beauty, but destitute of
that fine proportion and lightness of ornament, which spread so
indescribable a charm over the Palace of the Louvre. The interior is in
a state of lamentable decay, having been pillaged at the commencement of
the revolutionary fury, and formed into a barrack for the republican
soldiers, the marks of whose violence are still visible in the faded
splendour of its magnificent apartments. They still shew, however, the
favourite rooms of Marie Antoinette, the walls of which are covered with
the finest mirrors, and some remains of the furniture are still
preserved, which even the licentious fury of the French army seems to
have been afraid to violate. The gardens on which all the riches of
France, and all the efforts of art, were so long lavished, present a
painful monument of the depravity of taste: but the _Petit Trianon_,
which is a little palace built of marble, and surrounded by shrubberies
in the English style, exhibits the genuine beauty of which the
imitation of nature is susceptible. This palace contains a suite of
splendid apartments, fitted up with singular taste, and adorned with a
number of charming pictures; it was the favourite residence of Maria
Louisa, and we were there shewn the drawing materials which she used,
and some unfinished sketches which she left, in which, we were informed,
she much delighted, and which bore the marks of a cultivated taste.

We frequently enquired concerning the character and occupations of this
Empress, at all the palaces where she usually dwelt, and uniformly
received the same answer:--She was everywhere represented a