spent in pleasant
intercourse with her guests. Sunday is given up to a public theatrical
representation for the people. Such is a specimen of the life of this
woman.

CHAPTER X.

PURE LA CHAISE--PRISONS--FOUNDLINGS--CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS--LA
MORGUE--NAPOLEON AND EUGENIA--THE BAPTISM.

PERE LA CHAISE.

Pere la Chaise is not a cemetery which suits my taste, but it is
unquestionably the grandest in all France, and I ought not to pass it by
without a few remarks upon it. I visited it but once, and then came away
displeased with its magnificence. It seems to me that a cemetery should
not be so much a repository of art, as a place of great natural beauty
and quiet, where one would long to rest after "life's fitful fever."

The cemetery is beyond the eastern limits of the city, upon the side of
a hill which commands a very fine view of the country, and is surrounded
by beautiful hills and valleys. It was much celebrated in the fourteenth
century, and during the reign of Louis XIV. Pere la Chaise resided upon
the spot, and for a century and a half it was the country-seat of the
Jesuits. Hence its name. It was purchased by the prefect of the Seine
for one hundred and sixty thousand francs, for a cemetery, it then
containing forty-two acres of ground. It was put into competent hands,
and was very much improved by the planting of trees, laying out of
roads, etc. etc. In 1804 it was consecrated, and in May of that year the
first grave was made in it. It is now filled with the graves of some of
the most distinguished men of Paris and France, and is by far the most
fashionable cemetery in France. It is distinguished for the size,
costliness, and grandeur of its monuments. There are temples, sepulchral
chapels, mausoleums, pyramids, altars, and urns. Within the railings
which surround many of the graves, are the choicest of flowers, which
are kept flourishing in dry seasons by artificial supplies of water. A
canal conducts water from a distance to the cemetery.

The day was fine, the sky cloudless when I visited the spot, and though
I could not but contrast it with Mount Auburn near Boston, or Greenwood
near New York, yet I was much impressed with the natural beauty of the
situation. Art is, however, too profusely displayed upon the spot, and
the original beauty is covered up to a certain extent. The gateway
struck me as being rather pretentious. Passing through it and by the
guardian's lodge, which is at its side, on