Foreign Correspondence

Paris. Jane 4. 187:. The Jardín des Plantes was quite near to our lodgings, and we sevcral times took strolls through its various, extensivo and well arranged departments. Though not properly a park or garden, it does in fact combine all the attractions of these, with those collections from the animal, botanical, geological and mineral worlds whieh both gratify and instruct. The zoological department is aranged about the grounds in such manner as give large space to the specimens confitied in their respective rustic or more substantiul tenements, and though doubtless the bears would much prefor to rovo about some taiigltd wood, rather than amuse specta tors by c'imbing the knotty pole or fishing for cruinbs of bread thrown upon their bathing basins, yet there is plenty of room for exerci&e aud a snug cave to sleep in, and they aio much botter off than in a traveling caravan. So, also, with othor caged animáis, each is furnished with plenty of air and light and somo convenienee for natural exereise. Tqe varioty is quito largo and all uppeared in good condition. There is also a good collection of birds and they seeni altogether contented with thpir lot, ftying from one perch to another or dozing upon their mimic crags or stalking about in all the glory of long-legged superiority. The most unique collection was that of the reptiles. We had occasionally seen single specimens of the boa and some other varieties, but here wero many we had never seen before and which we would not care to see often, especially those monstrous lizzards, vipers, rattlesnakes and their kindred. The day was somowhat cool and the great boa constrictors lay snugly coiled upon their woolen blaukets as if dreaming of torrid climes. About the monkey cagos a profound interest seems to lie for all the iuveniles and some others, and cunning white rats and raice really looked as if they might be desirable iniuatos about our households. The botanioiil gardeu is very ampio and all the varieties are carefully Aaced in their respective classes and in j uxtaposition so that cotnparison was easy. The labels wero legible in e very case, in addition to which the applicatiou to various purposes was iudicated by different colors: one color represented a plant suitable for food, one tor medical uses, anotbor meant poisonous, and still another for dying or coloring properties, &c. All varioties of forest trees that can be grown here are represeuted by specimens, ainong which we recognized many from our own country. A magniflcent cedar of Lebanon is growing here, brought trom Palestine a mere twig about 150 years ago. It is now about three feet in diameter and its peculiar growth resembled so many layers of wide spteading branches with a brilliant fiesh green upper surface to each, and each so cempact and level as to look like a floor upon which one could aluiost walk. ïho magnolias were in blossom, but though the flowers are very fine the trees themselves do not attain a height of more than ten or twelve feet. In Hilan we saw thera thirty ïeet in height. ïho hot-houses are also quite interesting and the palms are extremely fine. Not less extensivo are the colloctions in the buildings attached to each department. In the botanical rooms are the 4,500 plants presented by Humbolt in 1805 af ter his visit to our hemisphere, and everything of plant kind would seem to be found in these rooms. Huge skeletons of whales of the fossiliferous as well as recent periods, and of other sfrange boings of the fish kind occupy immense sheds near the Museum of Comparative Anatomy. In short, there seems to be scarcely anything wanting to make this oue of the best and most extensivo museums for the instruction and study of tain branches of Natural Science in existence. And a wholo range of studies connectetl with these sciences is also exemplifled by lectures from some of the most eminent of living naturalists and a long Hst of the most noted names in the world of Natural Science is numbered among those who at va.iious fimes have been connected with this institution. The celebrutud naturalist Buffon was director of the garden in 1732 and was the originator of the collections that have become so famous. The space occupied is about 400 by 700 yards and the whole is daily thrown open to the public and thu museums and hot-houses aro made accessible ou two or three days each week by oards oia ned without fees. The public are also admitted without charge to the lectures delivered in French (of course). We are much amused as we sit on our balccny by many of the street scènes of Paris which differ in many respects from any we have met with elsewhere. From the earliest dawn the musical cries of the vendors of vegetables, flsh, and hundreds of articles tbr use or ornament, as also o' the buyers of old clothes, &c, begin to be htard, and though we cannot catch the words they utter, we can vouch for tho real harinony with which most o theru are intoned in their long-drawi notes. Then among the early sights of the morning are the long troops of straggling rag piokers, returning from their work with great baskets strapped upon their backs and generally well filltd, and their skill in handling the small wire hook to piek up and deposit over their shoulders without looking up, such bits of rags or paper as they find, is quite wonderful. Men, women, and children follow this business, and it raust be done beforo the poople begin to throng the streets. About the same time, ora little later, the youthful dealers of music on the harp or violin, go trudging by with harps larger than themselves, by twoa or 1 threes to their regular beats in various i portions of the city, then thete are the i street cleaners in regular employment i who meet at a certain corner and receive 1 keys to the hydrants and wilh broonis of small twiga proceed to wash out the gutters, an operation of great iraportance in 3ueh a city and well attended to. But you will scarcely expeot me to enumérate all those singular and novel sighta which serve to fiU uj the intervals not otherwise employed. Our impressions of this groat city are, of courae, baaed upon a very singular medley of general observations made in in every precinct and under many disadvantages, but they are, notwithstanding all this, of a very decided charactcr. Thero is a thoroughness in the management of all that pertains to the city wolfare and its varied interests which seems to attain very nearly to profection : its street eleaning, its cab and omnibus management, its parks, its public buildings, and, public institutions, all seem to move as if by clock-work and without noise or confusión, and all that the stranger notices is that nothing scems to be overlooked or neglected, - everything is clean i and orderly. Of its parks and noble streets enough has been said to show that no other city can equal it in this respect, and on the whole wo vote Paris the finest of European cities. Of its great public buildings wt will rofer to but one other. There is no object rising above the general level of the umin city which more rfiadily eugages the attention and catches the eye than the splendid dome of the Churcü of the Invalides, lt is not a smooth, globular domo or unbrokon inass of gilding, bat is so constructed as to give a sort of exterior framowork or setting prominently raised above the general surface, and all this work in relief is gilded, thus surrounding the dome with a net work of gilt and presenting a very beautiful effect Thp institution and edifices are the work of Louis XIV., with the exception of the dome which was conatructed in 1706. It is here that disabled soldiers and those who have served for thirty yoars find a home not merely ooratortawe, but really one that is snrrounded by very many attractions : fine shady walks, arcades, parterres of flowers, paintings and statuary, and uiany of the assooiatiuns of this stirring lifo - military music and parades, captured flags and oannon, and all that make up " tho pomp and circumstance of glorious war." Over 2,000 inmate8 here fiud their homes, and many of them are always to be seeu walking about with nalting step and bound with years or 8itting together telling thé tule of other days. The mass of buildings is very exteusive, surrounding a spacious Court of Honor in which stands the church, and where, after the regular military mass upon Sundays, a parade takes place. Between the river and the Invalides is a very extensivo parade ground, bordered by fine avenues of trees, where all forms of military practico is constantly going on witli the raw and the veteran troops. Though not partioularly beautiful in style, the architecture of tho buildings is massive and substantial, and ornamented with several groups in bronze emblematic of various conquered nations, and upon the tyinpanium over the maiu entrance is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. Of course everything in tho wny of decoration, inscriptions, &c, is subordinnted to the military character of tho plaoe. It is, however, less with all tliis than with the fact thut it is here that the great Emperor at jast realized his dying wish " to lie upon the bank of the Seine " which draw hither the raajority ot travelers. The tomb of Napoleon is in an open, circiilar crypt, directly beneath the great dome, 20 feet deep, 38 feet in diameter, with walls of polished marble, nearly white, - the lower portion surrounding the central sarcophagus being a recessed arcade containing ten reliëfs emblematic of several of the important civil changes made by tho Emperor. Colossal figures symbolizing Victory stand between these reliëfs, and alternately with theso figures are arranged six trophies froni flags captured during the first om'piro. The grand saroophagus of reddish brown sundstono, lighly polished, from Finland, . over 60 ;ons in weight, occupies the center cf the crypt and rises perhaps eight or ten feet in height, plain and massive and very well suited to the great figure whieh History has given to the warrior hero enshrined within. It is not permitted to enter within the crypt] itself, but the spectator looks over the rich uiarble balustrade down upon the whole, from the navfi of the church, which is almost wholly devoted to the circular opening beforo referred to. Upon the niossic pavement and encircling the pedestal we read of the great victorieR with which we have been ever so familiar: Rivoli, Pyramids. Marengo, Austerlitz, Jeno, Friedland, Wagraia and Mosco w, but the latter it seeined almost a burlesque to cali a victory, 'so sadly was it turned to his ultímate and thorough discomfiture. We could not avoid being soinewhat in sympathy with the place and its associatlons, for everything spoko of the one great man whose dust was so near and occupied so small a space while his fame filled the world. We descended the staircase behind the grand altar, in a space where is sitúate tho bronze door leading into the vault, and very appropriatoly here, on either hand, stood the sarcophagi of Duroc and Bertrand, the Emperor's devoted fiiends- the latter having been his companion at St. Helena and ia 1840 accoinpanied his mortal remains to their present resting place amid the grandes funeral cortage which History has placed on record. Vauban and Turenne also repose near the grent general, und in separate chapéis of tue church above are the respective tombs of Jeromo.King of Westphalia, and of Joseph, King of Spain, the former surmounted by a bronze statue of the prince. This portion thus occupied by the tombs of these illustrious personages constitutes what is called the new church and is quite dÍ9tinct froia the other and somewhat older churches, the one used tot the Sunday services consisting of a longer naveand aisles and decorated with bannors acquired during, the siege of Louis Phillippe. In the time of Napoleon lst, it is said 3,000 captured flags hung in the nave of this church, but upon the approaching of the Allies in 1814 thoy were destroyed topreventtheirfallinginto thoir hands. A short distancp from the Invalide is tho fanious Chnmp de Mars, a space over 1,000 yards in length by 700 in width, ontirely free from tree and lawn except upon its boundary. It is here that tho groat reviews take place ; hero the grand ceromonial of swearing allegiance to the new Constitution in 1790 took place - an antidote applied in vain ior therostoration of order ; here Napoleon I., held his last grand convocation and reoicing with the people in 1815, the famous Champ de Mai ; and here, too, Louis Phillippo and Napoleon III, distributed oolorg and oagles to the ariny. But it is time to resumo our travels elaowhere, yet we doubt not Paris will for us continue to be the Queon of Enropean capitols in spite of all the mischief perpetrated by its comuiuno, and in spito of the inoubus of the Gennan debt and]occupntion. As has been the case with other places, we nocessarily leave many things scarcely noticed which at the time were deeply interesting to us, but we find this unavoidable in the exigencies of travel. We had expected to take a trip through the great sewers from the Madeline to the Chatelet, about a mile, but at the time of our application the permission could not be given on account of work then being done ia the same. This singular journey under ground and in such a place would naturally bü supposed to bu anythiug but agreeable, but we were told that it was exceedingly intoresting and not in auy aense unpleasant - and it is made in a boat or on toot upon a line sidewalk constructed throughout the entire passage. Again good-bv. Ever voiirs.