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CHAP.  IV.

The Royal Hotel of the Invalids, is one of the principal establishments in Paris, which claims the attention of the stranger, and I accordingly went to view it with a party of friends.  The principal court has just resumed the title of Royal, but we could easily distinguish that it had been a few months since dignified by that of Imperial.  Indeed, all over Paris, this change is very perceptible.  The last letters are often in the old gilding, and the first part of the style only altered, as the French do not, in general, like to do more than is necessary, and but seldom condemn a house, but continue to patch it up in some manner, so as to make it last a little longer, which accounts for the appearance of antiquity which generally distinguishes their towns.

But to return to the Invalids.  The establishment is said to be calculated to accommodate 5000 men; but we found upon inquiry, that the number then actually maintained did not exceed 3600.  As it was their dinner hour, we went into their refectory; each man has a pint of the vin ordinaire, (the general price of which is from ten to twenty sous the bottle;) but I doubt whether it would be received as a substitute for malt liquor either at Chelsea or Kilmainham.  The church of this establishment, is one of the most splendid in the capital.  The ex-Emperor caused monuments to be erected here to Vauban and Turenne.  The latter, by a special mark of the favour of Lewis XIV. had been interred in the royal vault at St. Denis; but his remains now rest here; and the monument is worthy of so distinguished a general.  That to Vauban, on the opposite side, is by no means equally elegant.

The elevation of the dome of this church, exceeds that of any other building in Paris; and the French boast, that it rises to a greater height than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London; but this I do not think is the case, although the point is of little moment.  M. Dutens gives us the following scale of the comparative elevation of some of the highest buildings in the world.

Toisei.

    The highest Pyramid 771/2

    Strasburg Cathedral to the top of the
      vane 713/4

    St. Peter’s at Rome, to the summit
      of the cross 68

    Church of the Invalids at Paris to
      the vane 54

    St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, to
      the top of the Cross 53