single story, projecting with an impressive depth of shade, and magnificence of columns; while the transepts behind it give a breadth and solidity to the whole edifice, which preserve its proportions with the superstructure. The dome is light and graceful, but it can scarcely be said to approach sublimity; against which, nothing in architecture seems more to militate than minute gradations and divisions, of which there are four in this dome: namely, the lower story with its gallery, the upper story, the cupola, and the lantern, which itself has a bad effect, from being very like a miniature temple. Viewing the Pantheon angularly, there is a plainness in the sides and transepts, when contrasted with the magnificent portico, which gives the body of the edifice an appearance of unfinished poverty. The basso-relievoes of the pediment are political allegories. The foregoing cut represents the principal front of the edifice.

The interior of the Pantheon is eminently graceful in its effect, notwithstanding the four massive buttresses, which have been substituted in the place of columns for the support of the dome. The style of decoration is rich; the pillars are Corinthian, and the vaulted roof finished with basso-relievoes. The vaults and galleries beneath the Pantheon were, some years back, arranged as places of sepulture. Each vault was fitted up to contain several rows of stone coffins, or sarcophagi, in which many dignitaries of the empire were installed.

The most splendid of the modern erections in Paris, however, is decidedly the Madeleine church. The erection of this church, like that of many other of the public buildings in Paris, has been affected by the vicissitudes which public events have from time to time occasioned in France, during the last fifty years. The popu lation of the village of Ville l'Evêque, now annexed to Paris, having, toward the middle of the last century, increased to such an extent as to require additional church accommodation, the construction of a new parochial church was commenced by direction of Louis XV. The first stone was laid on the 3d of April, 1764. In 1777 the architect died, and the revolution of 1789 led to the suspension of the works. It was not likely that they should be resumed under the rule of Robespierre, and several years elapsed before the country was in a condition, either morally or financially, to enable the government to pay much attention to the erection of ecclesiastical edifices. After a delay of eighteen years, the Emperor Napoleon, under whom the military rather than the ecclesiastical power, was predominant, proposed to convert the building into a Temple of Glory, dedicated to his armies. The present structure was in consequence commenced in 1808. Again the works were suspended on account of political events, and from 1813, when the allies invaded France, up to 1816, no progress was made toward the completion of the building. In 1816 the clergy exercised greater influence than any other class in the state. A large portion of the nation was sick of the incense which had been perpetually offered to the military, and Louis XVIII. directed that the building should be completed as a church, and that it should contain monuments to the memory of Louis XVI. and his queen, Marie Antoinette, their young son Louis XVII., and Madame Elizabeth. This intention is not likely to be carried into effect, but the edifice is on the point of completion, and will be used as a church. The Pantheon is already dedicated to the celebrated men whom France has produced, and that building is the depository of their remains. Napoleon, however, reversed the decree of the national assembly, and religious worship was, in consequence, again conducted within its walls. Under the restoration, the remains of Voltaire and Rousseau, which had been deposited in the building when it was intended to serve as the burial place of remarkable men, were removed to an obscure vault. Since the revolution of 1830, the Pantheon has again reverted to the purposes for which it was decreed by the national assembly.

The form of the Madeleine is a parallelogram, surmounted by a portico formed of columns of the Corinthian order, which rest upon an elevated basement, and are surmounted by an entablature. Each front is supported by eight columns, and an emblematic design, on a large scale, fills the angles of the pediment. The height of the basement is seven feet and a half, and of the columns, seventy-two feet. Eight Corinthian columns, fifty-four feet in height, divide the nave from the aisles. The architecture of La Madeleine forms a highly-striking contrast to that of Notre Dame. Each edifice represents an epoch, and the architecture of the middle ages is less in character with the present times, and the existing national spirit, than the fine specimen of an earlier style of architecture which the Madeleine presents.

The position of the Madeleine is extremely well calculated to give effect to its

magnificent and well-proportioned dimensions. In proceeding from the Boulevard des Italiens it catches the eye, and as the numerous Corinthian columns on which it rests, come successively into view, it can not fail to excite admiration, even in those who are ignorant of the rules of architectural elegance and beauty. Seen from the middle of the Place Louis XVI., though it enters into competition with other commanding objects, it produces a fine effect. From the latter position are seen the Chamber of Deputies and the Bridge of Louis XVI., adorned with fine marble stat ues; and opposite to these objects is the Madeleine. In a northern direction, at the end of the vista formed by the avenue of the Champs Elysées, is the Arc de Triomphe; and opposite to that fine monument is the palace of the Tuilleries and its pleasant gardens.

Paris has five cemeteries: Père-la-Chaise, Montmartre, Vaugirard, St. Catherine, and Mt. Parnasse. All these are ornamented, but the first more than any other, and, doubtless, gave an impetus to the Mount Auburn, Greenwood, and Laurel Hill, of America.

The site of Père-la-Chaise is a commanding eminence, called Mont-Louis, to the north of the city, being a prolongation of the heights of Montmartre. It covers a considerable extent of ground, the surface of which is irregular and undulating, and shaded in places with clumps of trees, very much in the manner of an English pleasureground. Winding gravel-walks divide it into plots of graves and tombstones; each of these is the cherished property of a family, and each stone gleams over a bed of flowers, surrounded by a light hedge, or trellis-work. "At the period of my visit," says a modern traveller, "the soil was literally glowing, and the air perfumed, with these numberless patches of flowers. Pots, containing rare and delicate plants, were set round many of the tombs; garlands and votive offerings were suspended on others, by the hands of parental sorrow, filial affection, or youthful companionship. It may be that in many cases this was but the affectation of feeling-a parade of sentiment-got up to look like sorrow. Our baser nature is but too apt to believe this; yet of all affectations, that surely is the most pardonable, which comes upon us in the guise of a mourner, watering flowers round the tomb. It is difficult, moreover, to imitate feelings of so sacred a character, without becoming, in a certain degree, susceptible of their influence; it is difficult to plant a rosebush on the grave of a parent, child, friend, or mistress, and see its blossoms expand in a returning summer-sun, without directing a thought toward that mortal wreck upon which no sun shall shine again. It is difficult to have thoughts occasionally so bestowed, without somewhat disdaining our everyday selfishness, and feeling convinced to what a pitiful end we urge the toilsome march of vanity and passion. Thou art sleepless, O avarice! careworn, and hast no man's blessing; yet it were well done if thy ingots could redeem one friend from this cold obstruction! As it is, what profits it to have made life a torment ?" In the early ages of the French monarchy, it was distinguished by the name of " Bishop's Field" (Champ de l'Evêque), and doubtless belonged to the Bishop of Paris. It subsequently passed through several hands, and was at length purchased, for about $35,000, by the prefect of the department of the Seine, to be converted into a cemetery. It then consisted of forty-two acres. M. Brongiart was the person appointed to adapt this spot to its new destination; and in drawing his plan he took care to preserve whatever could be rendered subservient to the use or embellishment of the new establishment. To render access easy to different points, winding paths were formed, a wide paved road was opened to the spot where the mansion of Père-la-Chaise formerly stood, and cypresses and willows were intermingled with the shrubs and the fruit-trees. The cemetery, thus prepared, was consecrated early in 1804, and on the 21st of May in the same year the first corpse was interred.

The advantageous situation of this spot, upon the slope of a hill, surrounded by luxuriant valleys and rising grounds, with the fine and picturesque view it commands, occasioned such a demand for its graves, that it has been enlarged, until it now comprehends an extent of nearly one hundred acres. Properly, the cemetery of Père-la-Chaise is the burial-place of only the inhabitants of the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth wards of the city; but when a perpetual right in the ground for a grave is purchased, remains may be brought from any part of the city, or even of the kingdom. This privilege has been so extensively used, that the burial-ground, which, by its regular destination, would have been principally occupied by the sober citizens of Paris, now contains the names of most of the illustrious dead of modern

France. Hence no Parisian cemetery can be compared to this for the number and beauty of its monuments. Some of them, of large dimensions and elegant architecture, are in the form of temples, sepulchral chapels, funeral vaults, pyramids, and obelisks; while others present piers, columns, altars, urns, and tombs, variously formed and ornamented. Many are surrounded by enclosures of wood or iron, within which are planted flowers and shrubs, and near some of them benches are placed for the accommodation of the friends of the deceased and other visiters. A subterranean canal, which formerly conveyed water to Mont-Louis House, still exists, and furnishes a sufficient supply to keep the plants and herbage in perpetual verdure. Some families pay an annual sum to the gardener for cultivating the shrubs and flowers which have been planted upon the graves of their departed friends.

It is impossible in this article to give even the most brief description of the numerous interesting monuments which Père-la-Chaise exhibits. That of Abelard and Heloisa attracts the most attention, from its dimensions and beauty. Among the names commemorated by monuments are those of Laplace, Cuvier, Denon, Volney, and Monge; Fourcroy, the chymist; Bocage and Mentelle, the geographers; Langles, the orientalist; Molière; La Fontaine, the fabulist; St. Pierre, author of "Paul and Virginia ;" Talma, the actor; Haüy, who taught the blind to read by means of characters in wood; Sicard the distinguished instructor of the deaf and dumb; Parmentier, to whom France is chiefly indebted for the general cultivation of the potato. Among military names may be mentioned those of Ney, Massena, Davoust, Caulincourt, Lauriston, Foy, Labedoyère. Among political names, Tallien, who for a time swayed the destinies of republican France, and Manuel, the parliamentary orator. And, among women, Madame Dufresnoy, the "Tenth Muse;" Madame Cottin, authoress of the "Exiles of Siberia ;" the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Cuvier; Madame Blanchard, who perished in 1819 by her balloon taking fire; and Mademoiselle Raucourt, the actress, to whose interment in consecrated ground the clergy offered so much opposition as nearly to occasion a popular tumult.

It was stated in 1830, that upward of 100,000 bodies had been interred in the cemetery of Père-la-Chaise. Of this number, the friends and families of 15,000 had erected monuments over their remains, of which 1,500 were rendered objects of more than ordinary attention by some striking peculiarity-by their neatness or magnificence, or from the interest connected with the names they commemorate.

The cemetery is entirely surrounded by walls. The gate of the proper cemetery is in the centre of a semi-circular recess, decorated on each side with piers and funeral ornaments. On the gate is a Latin inscription from the book of Job, xix. 25; on the right is another, from John, x. 25; and on the left, one from the Apocrypha, Wisdom, iii. 5. The chapel of the cemetery, for funeral ceremonies, is plain and neat, and receives light by a window in the centre of the roof; it is fifty-six feet in length by twenty-eight in breadth, and its elevation is about fifty-six feet. It is surmounted by a white cross, and stands at the extremity of the iwo principal alleys leading from the gate.

In the cemetery there are three kinds of graves. First, the fosses communes, or "common trenches," four feet and a half deep, in which the poor are gratuitously interred in coffins placed close to each other, without any intervening space, but not upon each other. These trenches are reopened every five years, that time being considered sufficient for the decomposition of bodies in this clayey soil; but the ground of each grave may be purchased for a term of six years, or for ever, by families, at the time the trenches are about to be reopened, unless it should happen to be in the line of any contemplated road. It is not to be concealed that these immense common graves are very unpleasant features in the Parisian cemeteries. Their existence was forbidden by the law of 1804, which prescribed the depth and distance of the separate graves in which all bodies were to be interred. We cannot learn whether they continue by connivance, or whether the law has been repealed. They have, however, in their present form, probably resulted from the wish of the proprietors to perform, with the least possible expense, that condition for the gratuitous interment of the poor, in consideration of which they were allowed to receive the payments of the wealthy.

The second class of graves are the separate temporary ones, which, upon the payment of ten dollars, are held for six years, but then revert to the establishment,