AISE--CASTLE OF VINCENNES--AND CHATEAU OF
ST. GERMAIN--ITS FOREST AND VICINITY.

Prior to the revolution, the French, like most other European nations,
were in the practice of depositing their dead in churches and
cemeteries within the most populous towns, in compliance with those
precepts of evangelical doctrine which recommend us unceasingly to
reflect on death; and hence originated a custom which cannot but be
attended with most pernicious consequences to health, when we reflect
that the decomposition of human bodies is productive of putrid
exhalations, and consequently pregnant with the causes of contagious
disorders. It is indeed surprising that some regulations have not
hitherto been adopted in England regarding the interment of the dead,
from the example of other countries.

In the year 1793, a decree was passed by the National Assembly, to
prevent burying in churches, or in church-yards, within the city of
Paris. Since which period, there have been three places selected in
its immediate neighbourhood for that purpose--Montmartre, called "Le
Champ du Repos"--Vaugirard, and Pere La Chaise.

Quitting the Boulevards, at the extremity of the Boulevards Neufs,
eastward of the city, and passing through the Barriere d'Aulnay, I
arrived at the Pere La Chaise. At the entrance, through large folding
gates, is a spacious court-yard, having at one angle the dwelling
of the Concierge, or Keeper. The enclosure contains one hundred and
twenty acres, on a gently rising ground, in the centre of which stands
the ancient mansion constructed by Louis XIV. for his confessor, Pere
la Chaise, the celebrated Jesuit, who, with Madame de Maintenon,
governed France. Rising above the thousands of tombs which surround
it, it displays itself a wrecked and mouldering monument of ancient
splendour, and the mutability of human affairs! This spot became
afterwards a place of public promenade and great resort, from the
beauty of its position overlooking all Paris; and though so often
the scene of festivity and pleasure, now presents to the eye of the
beholder a mournfully interesting sight of tombs and sarcophagi,
intermixed with various fruit trees, cypress groves, the choicest
flowers, and rarest shrubs.

From the rising ground, above the building of Pere La Chaise, a most
delightful view displays itself. The city of Paris appears to stand
in the centre of a vast amphitheatre. The heights of Belleville,
Montmartre, and Menilmontant, in th