n, whose crimes and whose ambition have spread misery
through every country of Europe: Rising through all the gradations of
rank through which he passed, she everywhere commanded the esteem and
regard of all those who had access to admire her private virtues; and
when at length she was raised to the rank of Empress, she graced the
imperial throne with all the charities and virtues of a humbler station.
She bore, with unexampled magnanimity, the sacrifice of power and of
influence which she was compelled to make: She carried into the
obscurity of humble life all the dignity of mind which befitted the
character of an Empress of France; and exercised, in the delightful
occupations of country life, or in the alleviation of the severity of
individual distress, that firmness of mind and gentleness of
disposition, with which she had lightened the weight of imperial
dominion, and softened the rigour of despotic power.

The Forest of Fontainbleau exhibits scenery of a more picturesque and
striking character than is to be met with in any other part of the north
of France. It is situated 40 miles from Paris, on the great road to
Rome, and the appearance of the country through which this road runs, is
for the most part flat and uninteresting. It runs through a continued
plain, in a straight line between tall rows of elm trees, whose lower
branches are uniformly cut off for firewood to the peasantry; and
exhibits, for the most part, no other feature than the continued riches
of agricultural produce. At the distance of seven miles from the town of
Fontainbleau, you first discern the forest, covering a vast ridge of
rocks, stretching as far as the eye can reach, from right to left, and
presenting a dark irregular outline on the surface of the horizon. The
cultivation continues, with all its uniformity, to the very foot of the
ridge; but the moment you pass the boundaries of the forest, you find
yourself surrounded at once with all the wildness and luxuriance of
natural scenery. The surface of the ground is broken and irregular,
rising at times into vast piles of shapeless rocks, and enclosing at
others small vallies, in which the wood grows in endless beauty,
unblighted by the chilling blasts of northern climates. In these
vallies, the oak, the ash, and the beech, exhibit the peculiar
magnificence of forest scenery, while, on the neighbouring hills, the
birch waves its airy foliage round the dark masses of rock which
terminate the vie