Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/110

84 What a splendid view it was,—what a regular and fine-built town Paris is! The Seine is a beautiful river, and unlike the Thames which is dirty near London, is perfectly limpid. We went down the Seine by steamer to the magnificent church of Notre Dame, which for elaborate carvings and workmanship beats all other churches in France. This church is the subject of a celebrated novel of Victor Hugo. There is another splendid edifice in Paris which has also escaped the ravages of war and which every Frenchman looks on with feelings of pride and veneration. It is the "Hotel des Invalides" which contains the tomb of the Great Napoleon, his body having been brought Irom St. Helena and deposited here. Near this tomb are inscribed his own words which in English would run thus:—'I desire that when I die, my ashes be deposited by the banks of the Seine, among the French people whom I have loved so well.' The tomb is in the centre of a marble hall surrounded by marble pillars and marble statues, and under a magnificent dome, whose glittering gilded outside is seen from miles afar. At one time this tomb was surrounded by, I think, 190 standards which he had brought from various countries and various fields of battle as trophies of his victories. These have now been removed.

From Paris we went to St. Cloud, a favourite resort of the emperors of France. On our way we saw the Enciente, i.e., the wall round Paris with marks of shot and shell everywhere.