Paris, in which EUGENE SUE laid some of the most exciting
scenes of his "Wandering Jew," has lately been advertised for sale, and
has been visited by crowds of curious loungers. It is known as the Hotel
Serilly, and is situated at No. 5 Rue Neuve Saint Francois, in the
quarter called the Marais. At the time the "Wandering Jew" was
published, the street was often filled by groups of gazers at the
strange old edifice, which had been so exactly described by the
romancer, that no one could mistake it. Some even ventured to knock at
the door and seek further information. They were received by a
mysterious and taciturn old Hebrew, who looked as if he himself had
charge of the great Rennepeal treasure, and three-quarters of the
visitors went away convinced that they had seen the veritable Samuel
himself. Now that the whole house has been thrown open to the public,
there have been found under it vast sub-cellars extending under the
large garden in the rear, and in these cellars are seven wells,
partially filled up, but with walls of careful masonry, and other
indications that they were of great depth and great utility. The opinion
was at once set on foot by the explorers, that the millions of the
treasure had been concealed in one of these wells. The fact is, that the
house formerly belonged to a Protestant family which suffered extreme
persecution after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and which
doubtless found the subterranean passages extremely convenient. In the
year 1791, it was inhabited by the revolutionist Carnot.

* * * * *

The COUNT DE TOCQUEVILLE, a relative of the author of "Democracy in
America," has just published a historical work on the Reign of Louis
XVI. The writer, an old man almost sinking into the grave, enjoys the
advantage of having himself witnessed and even shared in a part of the
events he describes. He was intimate with Malasherbes, and personally
devoted to the unfortunate Louis. Of his ability as a writer, a former
work on the Reign of Louis XV. furnished proofs which are repeated in
the present volume. Of course he does full justice to the amiable
personal qualities of Marie Antoinette and her husband, without doing
injustice to their faults. But he shows that after all what was charged
upon them as political crime, was but the consequence of long-standing
causes, over which they had no control, or even of measures of reform to
which with the best intentions,