splendour of the morning sun; and many an edifice, with whose form I had become somewhat familiar, was seen rising in sober majesty above the inferior buildings, as if to receive our last farewell. To me there is something affecting in the last look, on whatever object it is cast-for the last of every thing reminds us of the last of life, the last day we shall spend on earth-the last look we shall fix upon terrestrial scenes when we must turn from the beloved objects, whose society and sympathy have sweetened our cup of woe, and filled our span of time, to the loneliness of death and the realities of eternity.

The ride to Fontainebleau is extremely pleasant. On leaving the capital, the road quickly enters a highly cultivated country, and occasionally affords extensive and beautiful prospects, in which the windings of the Seine are no inconsiderable feature. To the right, is a rich and extensive plain, stretching from the immediate vicinity of Paris to Orleans, a distance of thirty-six leagues. This plain may be denominated the granary of Paris; it yields the finest corn in France, and from it the Parisians are abundantly supplied with bread.

France is not yet intersected with canals to that extent that England is; but there is one in this direction which unites the Loire with the Seine. It traverses the forest of Orleans and the adjacent

plain. It was began so long ago as 1682, by Philip, Duke of Orleans. It is a stupendous work, carried by a tunnel under ground for an immense distance, and having in some places valleys as well as hills above it. In the whole of this excavation there is no masonry, but the tunnel is hewn entirely out of the solid rock of chalk. The distance under ground is computed at nine miles. We passed through many small towns and pleasant villages between Paris and Fontainebleau, and observed one or two chateaux, in a style of magnificence which we had not previously witnessed in this class of residences. At the small town of Charenton we passed the Marne, which, a little above that place, empties itself into the Seine. The prospect here was very pleasing and extensive; and from the stillness, serenity, and sylvan beauty which prevades them, you may suppose such views would be extremely refreshing to us, after the heat and bustle of the capital. The city of Melun is worthy of notice, for its pleasant situation and extreme antiquity. It is one of the most ancient cities of France, and is mentioned by Julias Cæsar in his commentaries. The citizens say it was the model after which Paris was built. Certain it is, that the situations of the two places are very similar: Melun stands upon the Seine, which, as in Paris, divides the city into three parts. It is the principal place of the Department of the Seine and Marne.

Leaving Melun, and passing a beautiful chateau on the left, we soon entered the forest of Fontainebleau, at the distance of about thirty miles from the capital. The road now became extremely interesting. The bright foliage that lined it was refreshing to the eye; while the occasional vistas which it passed, and the gentle eminences that it traversed, afforded now and then, hasty glances of woodland perspective, and extensive prospects, approaching to the sublime. Here and there the hills presented a bold outline; enormous masses of dark grey stone lay scattered, as by accident, along their sides, and, mingled with the firs that clothed them, presented a thousand fantastic forms and combinations to the eye, while the imagination, without much effort, suggested a thousand more. This forest contains about twenty-five thousand English acres, and there are several others of prodigious extent in France. Those of Ardennes and Orleans may especially be named. We have Mr. Arthur Young's agricultural travels with us, and I perceive that he estimates the annual revenue of the forests at twelve millions sterling, the rent being taken at twelve shillings per acre.

At the time of the revolution, all the forests belonging to corporate bodies, and such as fled their country, were declared the property of the state. To these were added the forests of Belgium, and those on the left bank of the Rhine. But the arbi

trary regulations under which the private proprietors of woodlands groaned were not abolished. Persons appointed by the government examined the woods, and marked every tree which they judged proper for the service of the navy, after which the owner could no longer say that it was his, or touch it with his axe; while every man who intended to cut his timber, was obliged to give six months notice to the overseers of the forests, who had the power to permit, or to forbid the execution of his purpose, at their pleasure. How much the strength of a country, and the independence of a people must be weakened, by such arbitrary laws, such vestiges of feudal tyranny, I need not attempt to prove. Happy is that land, where the property, as well as the person of the inhabitant is sacred, and the right of every man's inheritance, and the produce of every man's labour, is as much respected by the state, as by the private individual.

The town of Fontainebleau is embosomed in the forest. Its situation is not much unlike that of Lyndhurst, in Hampshire, which is also dignified with a royal hunting seat; but the town of Fontainebleau is large and populous, and its palace of immense extent, while Lyndhurst is small and unassuming in its appearance, and has long been deserted by that royalty, to whose dignity its palace could never have been equal, and of whose residence it now possesses but a few memorials. But while,

in her palace and her population, Lyndhurst yields to Fontainebleau, in her forest, she far surpasses it. We saw no extensive avenues or stately vistas, vast in their breadth, and extending mile after mile before the wearied and astonished eye, till they were lost in the indistinctness of more distant foliage, that seemed, amid the brightness of a summer noon, to mingle with the blue ether of the heavens. We saw no stately, well-proportioned, and majestic beech, that spread their ample shade across the sylvan road, beneath which a marching army might obtain a shelter from the scorching sun. But the new forest in Hampshire abounds with such characters of grandeur; and pressing closely upon the little town, its capital, throws a deep shadow into its streets, and gives it an air of retirement, such as I have never witnessed in any other place, and such as, although in the midst of the forest, Fontainebleau does not possess.

But its palace is interesting on many accounts, and cannot be approached without deep emotion, by a mind that embraces the events of high antiquity with which it is connected, and the still more momentous deeds of modern times, which would amply suffice to rescue it from oblivion were it but a building of yesterday, and to place it amongst those memorable spots, whose names the page of history will preserve, and whose scenes and transactions future ages will incessantly revolve.