autiful_ and gay than Paris--or more
splendid than all the Palaces. Our reception is _most_ gratifying--for
it is enthusiastic and really kind in the highest degree; and Marechal
Magnan[74] (whom you know well) says that such a reception as I have
received _every day here_ is much greater and much more enthusiastic
even than Napoleon on his return from his victories had received! Our
entrance into Paris was a scene which was _quite feenhaft_, and
which could hardly be seen anywhere else; was quite _overpowering_--
splendidly decorated--illuminated--immensely
crowded--and 60,000 troops out--from the Gare de Strasbourg to St
Cloud, of which 20,000 Gardes Nationales, who had come great distances
to see me.

The Emperor has done wonders for Paris, and for the Bois de Boulogne.
Everything is beautifully _monte_ at Court--_very_ quiet, and
in excellent order; I must say we are both much struck with the
difference between this and the poor King's time, when the noise,
confusion, and bustle were great. We have been to the Exposition,
to Versailles--which is most splendid and magnificent--to the Grand
Opera, where the reception and the way in which "God save the Queen"
was sung were _most magnificent_. Yesterday we went to the Tuileries;
in the evening _Theatre ici_; to-night an immense ball at the Hotel de
Ville. They have asked to call a new street, which we opened, _after
me!_

The heat is very great, but the weather splendid, and though the sun
may be hotter, the air is certainly _lighter_ than ours--and I have no
headache.

The _Zouaves_ are on guard here, and you can't see finer men; the Cent
Gardes are splendid too.

We drove to look at poor Neuilly on Sunday, the Emperor and Empress
proposing it themselves; and it was a most _melancholy sight_, all in
ruins. At _le grand Trianon_ we saw the pretty chapel in which poor
Marie was married; at the Tuileries the Cabinet where the poor King
signed his fatal abdication. I wish _you_ would take an opportunity of
telling the poor Queen that we had thought much of her and the family
here, had visited those spots which were connected with them in
particular, and that we had greatly admired the King's great works at
Versailles, which have been left _quite intact_. Indeed, the Emperor
(as in everything) has shown _great_ tact and good feeling about all
this, and spoke without any bitterness of the King.

I still mean to visit (and this was _his_ proposition) the Chapelle de
S