into the avenue, I got into a 'bus that was just starting, and, stopping close to the column on the Place de Vendôme, I got out, without any headache, within twenty yards of my home.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

WHILE I was walking across the Pont de la Concorde, and, indeed, long before I had approached it, I saw at a distance, immediately before me, the magnificent façade of the National Assembly, consisting of a triangular pediment, 100 feet long, supported by twelve Corinthian columns, resting on a broad pavement, approached from the bridge by twenty-nine steps of the whole length of the façade.

The bas-relief is composed of a figure 14 feet high, representing France holding in her right hand the Constitution. Beside her are Force and Justice, with groups of figures, allegorically personifying Peace, Eloquence, Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, the River Seine, the River Marne, the Navy, and the Army. At the foot of the whole is a strong, tall, iron railing, to protect the members of the Assembly from being suddenly, as they were on the 15th May, 1848, ousted from their seats by the mob. As the gates in these railings were closed, and as the long steps and the exalted broad stone platform beneath the pediment were swarming alive with armed soldiers, who, lolling in various attitudes, or moving slowly one among another, presented a confused mixture of greyish-blue and scarlet cloth, glittering brass ornaments, walnut-wood and cold steel, on reaching the Assembly I inquired for the gate of entrance, and, according to the instructions I received, turning to the left, I walked round the building till I came to a lofty gateway on my right, which conducted me into a large court, where I wandered about, till again, finding myself surrounded by soldiers, I was directed by one of them to rather a small door, on entering which I was requested to leave my little stick, in lieu of which I received a ticket. Ascending a small staircase, I found a doorkeeper, who not only conducted me into the "Tribune du Corps Diplomatique," for which I had a ticket, but who within

it sold to me, for a franc, a most valuable plan of the Assembly, showing the particular desk and the name of every one of its members. On taking my seat, I observed to him that he and I were the only persons in the house, which, he explained to me, was from my having come half an hour too soon. I, however, did not regret my mistake, as it gave me an opportunity of quietly looking around me.

The construction and interior arrangements of the building are so simple and so sensibly adapted for its object, that at a single glance it is easily understood. The house is in the horseshoe form. At the heel end, surrounded, in front, by a small empty space, and on each side by two others called the "côté gauche" and "côté droit," is the platform of the President, on which, elevated about six feet above the floor of the house, appear his desk, an ordinary library writing-table, supported in front by four brass legs, and his elbow chair, a size larger than that usual in a library. Behind, on the same platform, but about a foot lower, stand, with their backs against the wall, six common, English-looking mahogany dining-room chairs, with black horse-hair seats; and on the right and left, and about three feet below, a line of eight chairs and desks for secretaries. Beneath, and immediately in front of the President's chair, is the "tribune" or pulpit, from which every member may be required to speak, composed of a very small platform, about three feet above the floor of the house, bounded in front only by a low narrow table, about eight feet long, and about a foot broad, covered with red velvet, which screens and conceals about the lower half of the speaker's person. The remainder of the house, excepting its narrow floor, is composed of eleven tiers of seats, rising, like those of an ancient amphitheatre, one above another, and intersected at right angles by twelve narrow passages, radiating, by twenty steps, upwards from the floor to the hexagonal walls of that portion of the house occupied by members. Each tier, which is two steps higher than that beneath, is subdivided into separate desks, behind each of which is a seat with iron elbows, covered with green cloth, by which arrangement 750 members, whose faces more or less converge upon the tribune, are completely separatcd one from the other.

The interior of the house, which has plenty of light and air, is exceedingly plain. On the wall, at the back of the President's chair, is inscribed. in gold letters,

"RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE,

LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ,
FRATERNITÉ."

Round the walls, which have been painted of a dingy light grey, appear arranged, in various ways, sixty-two tricolor flags. The members' desks are, in front, painted oak-colour; behind, covered with green cloth. The ceiling is very coarsely whitewashed; the floor of the house and the President's platform are covered with crimson carpet. The prevailing colours of the whole therefore are oak, green, and crimson.

The upper surface of each of the members' desks, which are about the breadth of an ordinary dining-room chair, and pretty closely packed, are as like those of schoolboys as can well be imagined; that is to say, they are of common wood, well spotted with ink, with a little lid that opens. The stock in trade of each consists of a tiny round inkstand, about an inch and a half in diameter, let into the desk; a steel pen; half a quire of note paper; an upright slit for holding envelopes, and a hole for wafers. On some of the desks were lying quite naturally blue books," in quarto.

The ventilation of the house appears to have been very carefully attended to. In the ceiling are nine large circular ventilators; and in a sort of entresol, between the upper and lower galleries, which, divided into various compart ments for different descriptions of strangers, extend round the walls nearly the whole of the house, there are eighty more. In the upper windows, occupying a space where there exist only one set of galleries, are twenty panes of glass that can be opened; and in the floor of the house I counted six large air-holes. Lastly, in the walls directly opposite to the speaker, as also in the walls on his right and left, are three large clocks constantly ticking to each other.

Before any member had made his appearance there entered at the door on the right of the President's platform six or eight well-dressed, closely-shaved persons,-in white neck cloths, black coats, black waistcoats, black trousers, black gaiters, shiny shoes, and swords with glittering silver hilts, who, traversing the chamber in all directions, kept dropping on the tables of the members a pamphlet-copy of the bill for debate. Three of these persons had on the left breasts of their black coats a long piece of bright scarlet ribbon, to which was appended a silver medal.

At five minutes before two, three or four members strolled in, with their hats on; then came in two, then three, then seven or eight; until in a very short time the floor of the house was completely covered; besides which, several members, who had taken possession of their seats, were already opening their desks, and ferreting within them. Most of the legislators were well dressed, in dark coats and waistcoats, with grey trousers. A very few had waistcoats of dark cheque, but none at all fine. Their countenances, generally speaking, were highly intelligent and intellectual.

Of the two tiers of galleries on the right and left, behind the speaker's platform, the front seats were entirely occupied by ladies; among the remaining benches, principally occupied by the softer sex, were here and there a sprinkling of rougher faces. On the left of the clock, in front of the speaker, the galleries were crammed full of soldiers. Immediately on my right was the "Tribune du Président de la République." Before me were the "tribunes" or galleries for the press. On the whole, the coup d'oeil of the well-ventilated house was exceedingly plain, grave, compact, and on a plan admirably adapted for its object.

All of a sudden, three or four of the gentlemen in black clothes, scarlet ribbons, medals, and straight swords, entering with hurried pomp, cried out, "Chapeaux bas! s'il vous plait and after a short pause, there walked in, beardless and closely shaved, the President or Speaker-it was not M. Dupin-dressed in a black stock, black coat, with a small piece of red ribbon peeping out of a button-hole, French-grey trousers, and boots. With the perfect ease of a gentleman, he sat down, smiled, looked up behind, first over his right shoulder, and then over his left, at the gallery full of ladies, rubbed his hands together, and, after a minute or two's most agreeable rumination, he made a little bell with a horizontal handle before him doubly strike its clapper three times. A clerk below him instantly read the head of some paper, which nobody seemed to care about. He then, just as if the work of the day was all over, relapsed into easy enjoyment, and for some time talked to a member, who, with an elbow on his desk, rested his head on his hand. Throughout the chamber was a general goodhumoured buzz of conversation.

* Hats off, if you please!

The house was now very full; and I was surprised to per ceive that, excepting in the upper rows of benches on the left, occupied by the party Rouge, or radicals, there were fewer beards than, on an average, I had been in the habit of meeting in the streets. In a button-hole in the coats of a great many was a slight appearance, about as broad as a piece of bobbin, of a red ribbon.

Behind the President, on his right and left, on the platform on which he himself sat, and immediately beneath the inscription, Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité, were two tables, occupied by six clerks, one of whom, in black clothes and a long beard, I repeatedly observed intently mending a long white goose-quill pen; another, also in black, wore a bright scarlet ribbon; another a long scarlet one, and also a long yellow one. In front of the President, on his right and left, but below him appeared also dressed in black, and seated in chairs, eight secretaries undecorated.

The buzz of conversation lasted nearly half an hour; the floor of the house was covered with members in groups; and I was admiring the scene, and inwardly wishing its simplicity and sensible arrangements could be copied by the British House of Commons, when three consecutive double rings of the President's little bell were followed by a call, by the black-coated gentlemen with silver-hilted swords, of " En place! en place !"*

The President, totally unsupported by any distinction of dress, struck the table with a ruler, and then rang again. At this moment a man in black, ascending the steps of his platform, brought him, in a white soup-plate, a tumbler full of yel low-looking water, apparently weak lemonade. "En place! en place!" resounded from all parts of the house. The President rang again, struck the table again with his ruler, waved it at an unruly member, shook his head violently in disapprobation, and, to my utter astonishment, all of a sudden, and in one single instant, just as if a wasp had stung him, he addressed the house in a state of extraordinary excitement.

As soon as order was obtained, a member rose from his seat, and said a few words which elicited loud sounds of objection. He instantly fell into an astonishing passion: shaking his right hand at the Rouge party on the upper benches, who answered him furiously, he became most violently excited, until, suddenly stopping, he sat down in a regular rage.

The second speaker, who, from the tribune below the Pre* Take your seats!