e memories of the dead preserved
by the scenes they habited while in life, than by the tombs and epitaphs
that cover their ashes! How do the lessons of one speak home to
the heart, calling up again, before the mind's eye, the very images
themselves! not investing them with attributes our reason coldly
rejects.

I know not the reason that this villa has been suffered thus to lapse
into utter ruin, in the richest quarter of so splendid a city. I believe
some long-contested litigation had its share in the causes. My present
business is rather with its past fortunes; and to them I will now
return.

It was on a cold dark morning of November, in the year 1799, that the
street we have just mentioned, then called the Rue de la Victoire,
became crowded with equipages and horsemen; cavalcades of generals and
their staffs, in full uniform, arrived and were admitted within the
massive gateway, before which, now, groups of curious and inquiring
gazers were assembled, questioning and guessing as to the unusual
spectacle. The number of led horses that paraded the street, the long
lines of carriages on either side, nearly filled the way; still there
reigned a strange, unaccountable stillness, among the crowd, who, as
if appalled by the very mystery of the scene, repressed their ordinary
tumult, and waited anxiously to watch the result.

Among the most interested spectators were the inhabitants of the
neighbouring houses, who saw, for the first time in their lives, their
quiet quarter the scene of such excitement. Every window was filled with
faces, all turned towards that portal which so seldom was seen to open
in general; for they who dwelt there had been more remarkable for the
retirement and privacy of their habits than for aught else.

At each arrival the crowd separated to permit the equipage to approach
the gate; and then might be heard the low murmur--for it was no
louder--of "Ha! that's Lasalle. See the mark of the sabre wound on
his cheek!" Or, "Here comes Angereau! You'd never think that handsome
fellow, with the soft eye, could be such a tiger." "Place there! place
for Colonel Savary!" "Ah, dark Savary! we all know him."

Stirring as was the scene without, it was far inferior to the excitement
that prevailed within the walls. There, every path and avenue that
led to the villa were thronged with military men, walking or standing
together in groups, conversing eagerly, and with anxious looks, but
cautiously withal, and a