A vast curtain of black clouds, spread over one part of the sky, made a striking contrast with the brilliancies of those dazzling sheaves of fire. To enjoy the splendid scene, I had seated myself on the railing of the bridge, resting my back against a lamp post. The silence which surrounded me was only interrupted by distant clamours, wafted on the wings of the wind, and by the waves of the Seine under my feet. The atmosphere was soon spread with a net of fire, whose shining meshes gave a yellowish hue to the surrounding trees. At this instant, as if the sun had restored its presence to blind mortals, the great city, through streams of light, presented itself to my view. On the two banks, bordered with lanterns, I beheld again the hotels and palaces with their sumptuous colonnades, their regular frontispieces, the temples and monuments, with their angular roofs, and their spherical domes, and through the yellow tufts of trees, rich peristyles, proud carvings, and those inhospitable hives, which conceal the efforts of indefatigable industry.

I had just turned my attention to the sinuosities of the current of the Seine, on which I discovered a few

tranquil crafts, the boats employed in the daytime by the washerwomen, and the long galley of the baths, when the torch, which illumed this interesting scene, disappeared on a sudden, and plunged me again in the darkest obscurity. It seemed like the dropping of the curtain at the close of a play; thus, thought I, heroes and men in elevated stations shine with a borrowed lustre; from the summit of their glory they shed abroad rays of light on surrounding crowds; the obscure man tremblingly approaches them, ceases soon to be so, and borrows lustre from their brilliancy. But let death level them, or adversity try them, they are soon eclipsed and buried in oblivion; all disappears, all is annihilated around them; therefore, even glory is a mere bonfire!

Meanwhile the new moon, piercing through the fleccy clouds with the points of her horns, enabled me to discern the numerous crowds pressing forward in every direction from the Elysian fields. The place of the revolution was soon filled with a noisy and busy people pouring like the waves on all sides. With the hollow noise of this medley, were mixed the shrill voices of

pamphlet criers, the neighing of horses, the rattling of carriages, the humming of petits maitres, the curses of carmen, the peals of laughter of thoughtless young girls, and the pitiful accents of the beggars. How many interesting groups in one single frame! But this strange assemblage cannot form part of the picture, which I delineate. Immortal Young! the deep tints of thy pencil alone could do justice to my subject, as the softer shades of Sterne would fall short of the description.

This confusion of sounds and of individuals vanished by degrees; motion stood, and noise became silent! Stillness hovered again over my head, I heard nothing but the monotonous dashing of the waves, and the footsteps of the sentinel. Should he be possessed of a lively imagination and a feeling heart, how much he is to be pitied. Were I on his post, I should fancy myself wandering on the brink of a bloody lake, from which irritated shades arise incessantly. My sentinel had no such thoughts, he was whistling carelessly.

The clock of the Palais royal struck eleven! I started, and desirous to enjoy the calm and pleasure of a

sentimental night, I walked towards the Boulevards. As I passed near the statue of liberty, I could not stifle a sigh. Alas! when Europe lay at the feet of my country, the statue of liberty was made of plaster; to whose hands is reserved the immortal honour of casting it in bronze?

The moon, emerging from the clouds which concealed it, cast her faint rays on one side of the street of the republic, whose fine avenue is closed by the yet unfinished church of the Magdalen. Round the shafts of columns without chapiters, and peristyles without entablatures, a doubtful glimmering blended itself softly with the shade, and produced the most picturesque effects. The sight of those beautiful accidents of light involuntarily recal to mind the name of the immortal Vernet, who has expressed them so skilfully with his inimitable pencil; my lips already whispered it, when the fatal reflection, that this monument was consecrated to devastation and Vandalism, darted across my imagination. This double enclosure of half destroyed walls, of broken columns, surrounds, said I to myself, the abyss in which revolutionary death

ingulphed its victims. There lie in uninterrupted rest, the bones of the virtuous, of the powerful, of criminals, and of men of talents! There the victims and the executioners mingle their silent dust! Vergniaud,. become dumb, seems to have forgotten Robespiere, and an insignificant insect devours the heart of a king of France!

These sorrowful and shocking reflections distressed my whole frame, and a secret horror made me shudder; such are the powerful effects of an affrighted imagination. From the gaping apertures of the monument, my disordered mind beheld a group of bloody and hideous spectres; they hovered round the colonnade, sought each other eagerly, assailed each other. furiously, and retreated with indignation. All of a sudden, they rent the air with a horrid yell, and the vision disappeared.

Having recovered from this illusion, I endeavoured to continue my walk, after paying to those mournful shades the just tribute of grief and pity when some lengthened and plaintive sounds attracted my atten-tion, I listened, and feared a new delusion from my