ents
to illustrious characters who have been buried here, amongst the rest,
Corneille; painting as well as sculpture has lent its aid in decorating
this church, as it contains some fine pictures. The Royal Family attend
here, and the music is very fine, but generally there are such crowds
that it is difficult to enter. At No. 13 in the Rue d'Argenteuil, behind
St. Roch, in 1684, Corneille died. A black slab in the court-yard bears
an inscription and the bust of the poet.

Returning to the Rue St. Honore, we proceed westward, and pass by the
Rue Marche St. Honore on our right, in which is a most commodious
market. Pursuing our course we look down the Rue Castiglione, which
communicates with the Rue Rivoli, and the Place Vendome; it is
remarkably handsome, and has a fine colonnade, at the corner is a
fountain, which is plainer than they usually are, and a little farther
to the west, at No. 369, is the Assomption (vide page 96). This church
formerly belonged to a convent of nuns, styled Les Dames de
l'Assomption, the remains may be perceived in the Rue Neuve du
Luxembourg, and are now occupied as barracks. It was completed in 1676.
It contains some interesting pictures. A chapel is contiguous, dedicated
to St. Hyacinthe, which was erected in 1822. Continuing to follow the
Rue St. Honore, we cross the Rue Royale, displaying the fountains of the
Place de la Concorde to our left, and the Madeleine on our right, we
enter the Rue Faubourg St. Honore, in which are many most superb hotels,
amongst the rest, the British Ambassador's, formerly the Hotel Borghese,
occupied by the Princess Pauline, sister of Bonaparte; the next hotel is
that of the Baroness Pontalba, and is one of the most splendid in Paris,
which the visiter must not fail to remark. We next come to the Palais de
l'Elysee Bourbon, erected in 1718, and afterwards purchased and occupied
by Madame de Pompadour, since when it has had many masters, amongst the
rest, Murat, Napoleon, the Emperor of Russia, the Duke of Wellington,
and the Duke de Berri, but it now belongs to the crown, and combines an
appearance of splendid desolation, with a variety of associations, that
cause us to muse on the fall of the great. The library which is over the
council chamber was fitted up by Madame Murat, in the most exquisite
style, as a surprise for her husband after his return from one of his
campaigns; it next became the bed-room of Maria Louisa, and the
birthplace of the daughter of t