A happy rural seat of various view.

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm;
Others, whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable; Hesperion fables true,—
If true, here only, and of delicious taste.
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant. Meanwhile, murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves."

We walked through long avenues of majestic forest trees, trimmed with such care for many years, that, from the ground to the height of fifteen feet, they presented a wall of compact foliage! And then, parterres of beautiful flowers, lanes and sparkling fountains, altogether formed such a scene as my eyes will never see again. You make no turn but an exquisite specimen of statuary meets your eye. Heroes, and sages, and scholars, gods and goddesses, and satyrs, grave and gay, are met with every where. What taste, what art, what luxury, what extravagance,

what sin!

We came to the grand fountain, which cost over three hundred thousand dollars; and the expense of playing it

on the Sabbath, when the grounds are filled with people, is nearly two thousand dollars!

a centre and

Look yonder, in the south-west corner of the park ; another palace! It is Le grand Trianon, two wings, the front composed of fine marble columns. Few buildings among us are so large as this little palace. What was it? A plaything for one of the mistresses of Louis XIV., Madame or Mademoiselle Maintenon. And then there is still another Petit Trianon, about half the size of the former, and built for the same purpose. Can we wonder that the people of the old countries are poor and ignorant, when we consider what vast sums have been, and still are, drawn from them to support royalty! The French people have become weary of the burden, and have dismissed it for a little season, until they can take breath; but it will return again. Their more patient neighbors over the channel, are still " Issachar,

couching down

between two burdens," church and state. One child of Victoria and Albert, under ten years of age, draws a revenue of three hundred thousand dollars from the Duchy of Cornwall. The wonder is, not that the patience of the people is sometimes exhausted, but that they submit to it a moment. My pleasure, in walking among these beauties of nature and art, was constantly marred by the reflection that it cost the people so much, and has entailed upon this nation such an amount of ignorance and misery.

If I had time and means, I would stay here and study

20*

and write the history of Versailles. From its foundation to this time, events which have had an influence upon the world have transpired here. From the planting of the first French colony in Canada, about the time of the building of this palace, to the flight of Louis Philippe, history turns to this scene for illustrations. What plans, what intrigues, what plots have been here devised! And what is most humiliating, (not that I will reflect upon the ladies at all,) is, that miserable courtezans for ages controlled the destiny of the world. Wars have been waged, crowns given away, and countless treasures wasted, to please them. O, when will men learn to rule themselves, and construct governments with only so much machinery as will secure the stability of the state.

The shadows were falling around us as we slowly and reluctantly turned our faces towards Paris. I was never more weary. I had been on my feet all day. My brain seemed on fire, and I sank into my seat in the cars with such a feeling of exhaustion as I had never before experienced.

I should mention one thing for the benefit of any of your readers who may chance to come to Paris. We ventured to dine at Versailles, against the advice of our little handbook; but O, ye, my successors in this pilgrimage, venture not to attempt it. You will get nothing to eat, and be charged four times as much as a good dinner will cost you in Paris. We entered a restaurant and called for milk for one, and meat for one. I had a task to make the waiter

understand that my companion wanted a spoon, and she brought a large soup ladle, that would contain a pint! I asked for a glass, to drink from, and was brought a plate of dirty ice, cut up into bits, for which I was charged two francs! I called for strawberries, and they were brought, poor things, and on the stems. Our dinner cost only five francs apiece!

O, ye tourists, dine not at Versailles !

LETTER XXII.

FRIEND S

PARIS, AUGUST, 1850.

I SHALL see no more of Paris, at least for the present; and I have given you but an imperfect sketch of what I have seen, and more imperfect still of what I have felt. The flying visitor can see but little of a city like this; and his knowledge of its condition, its wants and ways, its sins and sufferings, must, if drawn from observation merely, be very imperfect. But an American goes into Paris with different feelings from one of any other nation. He remembers 1775, the dark period in his country's history, the assistance received from her, the struggles she herself has passed through for constitutional liberty, the defeats she has suffered, and the wrongs endured, both from her own unprincipled Bourbons and the combined powers of Europe; and he pities her. That her people are so poor, is not because her soil is sterile and her skies unpropitious, nor because her people are naturally indolent; but because