Chamber of Deputies for the residence of the President, but will soon become the property of the country by a negociation at present pending.  The entrance of the Palais Bourbon is by the Rue de l’Universite, and being approached by a long avenue of trees has the air of a country seat; formerly the apartments were gorgeously furnished, now simple beauty and utility alone prevail; there are a few good pictures, and one room decorated with bucks’ horns, and different emblems of the chase; there is a large garden laid out in the English style.  The grand front of the portion styled the Chamber of Deputies is exactly opposite the handsome bridge called the Pont de la Concorde, and is from thence seen to the best advantage; it is a noble massive building with colossal statues of Sully, Colbert, l’Hopital, and d’Aguesseau, there are besides several allegorical figures, and 12 noble corinthian columns, supporting a fine bas-relief recently completed, approached by a flight of 29 steps; for so much weight as there appears in this building, I should say there was not sufficient height, and the breadth is immense, still the effect is dignified and imposing.

The Chamber itself is a semi-circular hall with 24 white marble ionic columns and bronze capitals gilt.  The president’s chair and the tribune form the centre of the axis of the semi-circle, from whence the seats rise of the 459 deputies, in the shape of an amphitheatre.  A spacious double gallery capable of containing 700 persons surrounds the semi-circular part of the Chamber, arranged with tribunes for the royal family, the corps diplomatique, officers of state and the public.  There are a number of very fine statues, as well as some extremely clever pictures by the first French artists, and there, is a library of 50,000 volumes.  Anyone with a passport may visit the Chamber, but for the debates a letter post-paid must be addressed to M. le Questeur de la Chambre des Deputes, who will send a ticket of admission.  A short distance to the east is the Palace of the Legion of Honour, erected in 1786 after designs by Rousseau for the Prince de Salm, after whom it was called.  The entrance is by a triumphal arch, and a colonnade of the ionic order with two pavillions.  At the end of a court yard is the principal front consisting of a fine portico, adorned with large corinthian pillars.  The side which fronts the Seine is particularly light and graceful, having a circular projection adorned with columns supporting a balustrade with six statues.  When the Prince de Salm was beheaded in 1793, the hotel was put up to lottery, and won by a journey man hairdresser, and in 1803 it was appropriated to its present object; strangers are admitted without any difficulty.