along the Rue de Castiglione I observed a man as he passed a shop take off his hat to a print of Napoleon. On reaching the column on the Place de Vandôme, before which a onearmed sentinel was proudly pacing, I found a little girl sitting in the rain selling round circular garlands of yellow flowers. An old gentleman, with a riband at his breast, purchased one, -walked up to the rails-hung it on one of them,-and then, taking off his hat to it, turned on his heel and slowly walked away. The two little soldiers I had passed merrily threw theirs over the rails and then walked on. At eight o'clock in the evening I met a boy of about eight years old going to deposit one-he was probably the son or grandson of some "vieux soldat de l'Empereur."

In the time of Louis-Philippe this practice was discour aged; few wreaths were deposited, and those were removed at night. This year there were, I was informed, more than usual, and yet, out of the population of Paris-among whom were 60,000 troops, besides the Garde Nationale-there were only deposited 163 yellow wreaths and one blue one! So much for military glory based upon unjust and insatiable ambition.

MILITARY MODELS.

THE day before I left England I had been promised that a letter would be written in my favour to Colonel Augoyat, commanding engineer in charge of the military models in the Hô tel des Invalides; and accordingly, at about five o'clock in the evening, after having wound my way up a sort of interminable square well-staircase in the northwestern angle of "Les Invalides," I came to a door and a bell. On pulling the latter, there appeared before me a servant, who told me the Colonel was not at home. I therefore left my card; and as the man had explained to me that his master usually went out at eight in the morning, I said I would call to-morrow a few minutes before that hour, and accordingly on the following morning, at

* Old soldier of the Emperor.

five minutes before the time I had named, I walked up the very same stairs, and, stretching out the same arm, pulled the very same bell again.

Colonel Augoyat received me with the kindest and most polite attention; and as of his own accord he at once proposed to show me the models-which for many months had been closed to the public--I considered I was evidently reaping the benefit of the introduction that had been promised to me; and therefore, without referring to it, I accompanied him to the apartments over which he presides.

The models were almost all covered over with paper pasted together, which, he informed me, kept out the dust better than linen sheets. With considerable trouble these coverings were removed. To describe the magnificent works which, one after another, and with great difficulty, Colonel Augoyat was so good as to show me, would be utterly impracticable. I will therefore briefly enumerate those which happened to interest me the most.

1. A model of Mont Cenis, 3850 yards high; showing the new and old roads, and giving a view of the difficulties which opposed their formation.

2. The city of Bayonne, showing the fortified position the French army under Soult had occupied during three

months.

3. Perpignan, in the Pyrenees, showing the surrounding mountains, which rise so abruptly that, from their summit, it appears as if stones might be chucked into the town beneath. 4. A magnificent model of Grenoble.

5. A most interesting model of Brest; showing its port, harbour, ships lying in the sea, roads, and ten leagues of surrounding country.

6. Cherbourg; showing the artificial breakwater, a narrow spit a league long, composed of immense stones,-the various harbours, and stupendous works by which they are defended.

7. Toulon, with its harbour and surrounding country. 8. The town of Strasbourg, and a portion of the Rhine. 9. The town of Metz.

10. One of the new forts round Paris.

Although either by writing or by drawing it is impossible to give a description as vivid as the reality, yet-strange as it

may sound—the magnificent military models of the Invalides evidently impart an idea of the surface of the world in general, and of the important places which they represent in particular, infinitely more instructive than it is possible for any one even visiting the various localities to obtain.

For instance, in reconnoitring a regular fortification from the exterior, little is to be seen but a series of green slopes, running one into another, and terminating in the guns of the citadel; and even in inspecting it from the interior, all that an experienced officer can do is, visiting one front at a time, to look towards works the revêtements of which have been purposely constructed to be concealed from the line of fire, and consequently from the line of sight. He must thus visit them in detail, and, having gone through this tedious process with respect to every front, he has then, by dint of memory and power of mind, to connect all the tesselated data he has obtained into one mosaic picture.

Again, in surveying a river or a series of harbours, a naval officer may, in his boat, visit, seriatim, the various sinuosities of each, which he has then mentally to add up, to form the general idea that is required.

In like manner, an intelligent man, by riding about a country, may view it from various points, from no one of which can he see either the opposite sides of the various hills that present themselves, or the features of the ground lying immediately behind them; all, therefore, that he can do is, to connect, as skilfully and as faithfully as his memory will allow, the details he has seen into one idea, or, as it is called, general knowledge of the country.

Even from a balloon, in order to inspect thirty or forty square miles of country, it is necessary to rise to a height which, practically speaking, mystifies almost to obliteration the picture beneath.

In the models, however, of the Invalides, not only are the features of the country, with its various agricultural produce, accurately represented, both as to form and colour; not only is every portion of a fortification accurately represented, but the whole, including rivers, harbours, and roads, are, by the reduction of scale, concentrated within so small a space, that the super-inspecting eyes of the most inexperienced visitor can at once obtain a knowledge of the country, and even a perception

of the general strength and purposes of the various military works represented, which the actual localities would fail to afford him.

From these valuable representations we proceeded to the workshops in which they had been constructed, and in which I found a most interesting model, in embryo, of the siege and city of Rome, which, by means of tools of various sorts, had been neatly constructed out of large blocks of wood. After "le modelage" is finished, it is supplied with what are termed "ses décorations," composed of powdered silk, of various hues, for agricultural crops; little trees of various descriptions; tiny houses of different sorts; slabs of looking-glass for water; filaments of the finest white silk for smoke from artillery, &c. &c. &c.

Not satisfied with having obligingly afforded me, at so early and so unusual an hour, the gratification of witnessing the models of the principal fortresses and naval arsenals of France, Colonel Augoyat requested me to accompany him into his office, where he wrote, and presented me with, an order to visit "le Musée d'Artillerie;" and as I felt that these repeated attentions were conferred on my friend in England rather than on myself, in taking leave of him I ventured to thank him in his name, as well as my own. To my utter astonishment, Colonel Augoyat informed me that he had not received any letter from our mutual friend respecting me, but, he added, with a slight bow, which I shall never forget, and which it is my pleasing duty to record, that he had had pleasure in complying with the wishes of an Englishman and a stranger!

In crossing the suspension-bridge," le Pont des Invalides,” I observed that, instead of a sentinel, there was written on each of the piers,

'Les Ponts sont placés sous la sauve-garde de la Répulique.—Proclamation du Gouvernement du 27 Février, 1848."S

"What a blessing it would be," thought I to myself, "if the Nations of Europe, instead of exhausting their finances by maintaining in time of peace such enormous military forces, would from the same noble sentiment-join with England in

* The modelling.

The Museum of Artillery.

+ Its decoration.

The bridges are placed under the protection of the Republic.—By order of Government of the 27th February, 1848.

committing the peace of the World to the 'sauve-garde'-to the good sense and good feelings of the whole family of mankind!"

MUSÉE DE L'ARTILLERIE.

ON turning to the right, I saw pass close before me in the street along which I had to proceed, a party of six people, two in uniform and one without his hat, carrying very fast a black tressel, on which, wrapped in a blanket, and with a white circular wreath of immortelles on it, there lay a small coffin.

As I did not feel disposed to hurry along with it—and indeed as I had occasion to go into a shop where I remained some little time-I thought no more of the little coffin, until, having arrived at the Musée de l'Artillerie five minutes before 12, the hour at which it was to be open to the public, on entering the large church of St. Thomas d'Aquin, within fifty yards of me, there it was, resting on two tressels. Nobody appeared to take the slightest notice of it; the six followers in waiting were gaping about them in any direction but towards it; and as I also looked about me, I observed written on the wall of the church the following notice:—

"AVIS.

"Vous êtes instamment priés, par respect pour le lieu saint, de ne pas cracher par terre."

As soon as the clock began to strike, the little crowd of visiters who for some minutes had been assembled around the gate of the Museum evinced a slight nervous movement, of short duration, for, simultaneous with the last stroke of the twelve, the doors were slowly thrown open, and, as if rejoicing at our freedom, we all for a moment hurried into a passage, in which the first object that arrested my attention was an immense chain, 643 feet (about one-eighth of a mile) long, and

* NOTICE.

You are earnestly requested, in respect for this holy place, not to spit on the ground.