The gardens present a most agreeable aspect, although too stiff and formal to be in good taste, yet the melange of noble high trees, wide gravel walks, marble basins, beautiful fountains, the most classic statues, beds of flowers, ornamental vases, and the commanding view to the Triumphal Arch, certainly form an ensemble which produces the most delightful sensation; in fact, I never enter them, such is the cheering effect upon me, without having but one unpleasant feeling, and that is, to think that I have not time to go there oftener, and pass hours amongst such charming scenes.  To view the number of sweet merry looking children, with their clean and neat bonnes (nursery maids), all playing so happily together, enlivens the heart, then the retired walks between the dense foliage in the heat of summer invites the mind to meditation.  The exquisitely beautiful statues are also most interesting objects of study, and I recommend them particularly to the attention of the visiter.  On the northern side of the gardens, extends the handsome Rue Rivoli, with its noble colonnade; at No. 48, is the Hotel des Finances, a spacious building covering a large extent of ground, containing several courts, with offices, and splendid apartments for the Minister.  We shall now cross the Rue Rivoli, and take the Rue des Pyramides, also having an arcade all through the Rue St. Honore, and facing us rises the noble church of St. Roch (vide page 97).  The entrance is approached by a flight of steps, which have witnessed some sanguinary scenes, when Napoleon poured forth the iron hail of his artillery upon the opposing force which was there posted; again, in 1830, on the same spot, the people made a firm resistance against the gendarmerie of Charles X. The portal has two ranges of columns of corinthian and doric orders, the interior, although plain, has a fine appearance, heightened by the effect produced by many handsome monuments to illustrious characters who have been buried here, amongst the rest, Corneille; painting as well as sculpture has lent its aid in decorating this church, as it contains some fine pictures.  The Royal Family attend here, and the music is very fine, but generally there are such crowds that it is difficult to enter.  At No. 13 in the Rue d’Argenteuil, behind St. Roch, in 1684, Corneille died.  A black slab in the court-yard bears an inscription and the bust of the poet.

Returning to the Rue St. Honore, we proceed westward, and pass by the Rue Marche St. Honore on our right, in which is a most commodious market.  Pursuing our course we look down the Rue Castiglione, which communicates with the Rue Rivoli, and the Place Vendome; it is remarkably handsome, and has a fine colonnade, at the corner is a fountain, which is plainer than they usually are, and a little farther to the west, at No. 369, is the Assomption (vide page 96).  This church formerly belonged to a convent of nuns, styled Les Dames de l’Assomption, the remains