,
according to the season. When it is required to clear them, a party of
troops marches, by beat of drum, from the chateau, through the great
_allee_, to the lower end of the garden. This is always taken as the
signal to disperse, and the world begins to go out, at the different
gates. It is understood that the place is frequently used as a
promenade, by the royal family, after this hour, especially in the fine
season; but, as it would be quite easy for any one, evilly disposed, to
conceal himself among the trees, statues, and shrubs, the troops are
extended in very open order, and march slowly back to the palace, of
course driving every one before them. Each gate is locked, as the line
passes it.

The only parts of the garden, which appear, on the exterior, to be on a
level with the street, though such is actually the fact with the whole
of the interior, are the great gate opposite the palace, and a side gate
near its southern end; the latter being the way by which one passes out,
to cross the Pont Royal.

In attempting to pass in at this gate the other morning, for the first
time, at that hour, I found it closed. A party of ladies and gentlemen
were walking on the low terrace, beneath the palace windows, and a
hundred people might have been looking at them from without. A second
glance showed me, that among some children, were the heir presumptive,
and his sister Mademoiselle d'Artois. The exhibition could merely be an
attempt to feel the public pulse, for the country-house of La Bagatelle,
to which the children go two or three times a week, is much better
suited to taking the air. I could not believe in the indifference that
was manifested, had I not seen it. The children are both engaging,
particularly the daughter, and yet these innocent and perfectly
inoffensive beings were evidently regarded more with aversion than with
affection.

The display of the opening of the session produced no more effect on the
public mind, than the appearance on the terrace of _les Enfans de
France_. The Parisians are the least loyal of Charles's subjects, and
though the troops, and a portion of the crowd, cried "Vive le Roi!" it
was easy to see that the disaffected were more numerous than the
well-affected.

I have attended some of the sittings since the opening, and shall now
say a word on the subject of the French Parliamentary proceedings. The
hall is an amphitheatre, like our own; the disposition of the seats and
speaker's ch