A SUNDAY IN PARIS.

of objects which is any thing but reverend ;-can such a sight raise the thoughts from earth to heaven?

A Sunday in Paris, (December 15) with the sight of open shops, and hundreds of busy tradesmen, did not help to satisfy my mind as to the efficacy of what the Romanists consider the external helps and adjuncts of religion. Processions of priests, and an ostentatious display of popisli emblems, are again to be seen in the metropolis of France; but the spirit of devotion does not seem to be much moved by these outward signs of it. Considering, however, what this country was a few years back, we have cause to congratulate her even upon the slightest symptoms of religious observances. There is a tale in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where it is told, that the holy word, Alla, God, accidentally pronounced, broke the enchantment over a whole city of idolaters, and restored its inhabitants, who had been changed into stone, to their human form. The transformation of hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, may not be far distant even in France.

It was delightful to turn out of streets, where the Sabbath presents no appearance of being a day of rest or holiness, into the court-yard of the British Ambassador, and to find our way into his chapel; for there, at least, there was some evidence, that a reverential esteem of things sacred was not quite effaced from every heart in this gay and noisy capital. The congregation consisted of about six hundred and a devout air prevailed among all present. It is not easy to believe, that when persons are in a strange land, they can go into a place of worship, where the language of prayer and praise is heard in the well-known terms of our beautiful Liturgy, without being seriously affected. Many of those who were assembled upon this occasion were absentees from their native soil, whom illness, or afflicting events, had sent abroad in search of health, or composure of mind. Others had left behind them objects most dear to their affections, and had brought away re

grets, which neither amusements, nor society, nor change of scene, nor time itself, could soften. To each of these the formulary of our Church spoke something so applicable to their immediate condition, that many of the passages might almost appear to have been composed for their particular cases, and could not have been heard with indifference.

Our stay in Paris was but very short, and, during the greater part of the time, I was confined to my room with a cold upon my lungs. The weather was intolerable. Fortunately, on the first day of our departure for the South, (the 21st of December) we had a clear bright sky to add to the interest of a journey perfectly new to us. The sun shone brilliantly for several hours, and the glittering of his rays on the frozen waters of the streams and canals, imparted a degree of cheerfulness to the landscape, which scarcely allowed us to regret that we were travelling in the winter. We entered the forest of Fontainbleau at twilight, and the increasing shades of the evening fell timely enough to throw a sombre colouring over every object, which accorded well with the gloomy character of the scenery. The forest of Fontainbleau possesses all the romantic and poetical features of a forest: the picturesque, the dreary, the solitary, and the magnificent. Its dismal thickets, masses of rock and stunted shrubs, intermixed with venerable and branching timber trees, present a scene altogether of uncommon grandeur.

Without making any stop in the town, we journeyed through the night; and just as we left Nemours, the moon shone forth in all her splendour, and upon a scene that cannot be described without losing some portion of its beauty. A broad stream runs for several miles to the right of the road, and a ridge of hills enclose it on the left, whose fantastically-shaped rocks and crags assumed a variety of forms, as the moon-beams played among them. The châteaus, which we passed, looked as if they had been standing.

A SABBATH IN ENGLAND.

for centuries; and as we gazed at some of their antiquated roofs and gables, we amused ourselves with the idea, that the flower of the ages that are gone, the Chevalier Bayard, or Henri le Grand himself, might have taken up his abode in these habitations of olden times.

Early in the morning of the 22d, we descended the steep declivity that leads to Briare; and here what Reichard calls" a new soil, and a new sky," really burst upon our sight. A boldly expanding country, abounding in vineyards, was spread before us, while the Loire rolled along with a magnificence that it can have in the wintry season only, and carried with it huge masses of ice, that reflected a thousand colours under the rising sun. In summer, the volume of its waters is considerably diminished, and in many places it is then a mere current, bordered by a bed of sand.

At Pouilly, a town which is said to have 2500 inhabitants, though it is no easy matter to determine how the few houses which it contains can find room for them, we had an opportunity of observing the influence of the Sabbath upon the rustics of France. They appeared to be absolutely indifferent to the holiness of the day: they were buying and selling, treating and exchanging, and pursuing their several occupations. Strings of carts, herds of swine, and droves of cattle, were passing and repassing as if it were a market day. Even the few females, whom we saw directing their steps to Church, had none of that decent appearance, and Sabbath-day preparation, which we observe in England. How the inseparable connexion between revealed religion and human happiness, displays itself at every view! We are commanded to sanctify the Sabbath; but "the Sabbath was made for man ;" that is, it is subordinate to, and intended for his good. Its proper observance imparts enjoyment and gladness of heart, as well as seriousness to the disposition: and there can be no doubt that the solemnity, the decency, the cheerfulness, and the independent

leisure of an English Sabbath, contribute largely to form the steady and manly character of the nation. When we neglect this day as much as our Roman Catholic neighbours do, we shall probably become like some of them, degraded in condition, as well as debased in sentiment and principle: and those who would make the Tiber or the Seine to flow into the Thames, and introduce continental usages and amusements, to the interruption of our present quiet mode of spending the Sunday, are either inimical or indifferent to that spirit of rational independence, which prevails among the middling and lower orders of the community; or they do not know upon what the national character depends.

In our way through Nevers we met with a much more striking instance of what has been called "interesting confidence," and "affecting sensibility," than that of throwing fruit or flowers into a travelling carriage as it rolls along the road: an experiment in which there may be as much policy as simplicity, for it is almost sure of making a purchaser. It was dusk when we entered Nevers, but girls of all ages followed our vehicle; and when it stopped, they thrust into it baskets of bead necklaces and bracelets, beautifully worked. Handsome features do not distinguish the females of the Nivernois, but there was light enough to perceive that one of these girls had the sweetest expression in her face that can be imagined. It was one of those lovely countenances, so exquisitely indicative of amiability and goodness, as to rivet the attention, and to force you to become a convert to Lavater. We read the character of the wearer at a glance; and a little incident gave manifest proof that the favourable impression was not raised without reason. One of her companions, whilst importuning us to buy her trinkets, spoke of a sick and infirm mother, upon which this interesting girl withdrew her own basket, and intimated that the claims of the other were more urgent. Who could refuse to purchase a few articles of both under such an appeal?

We stopped at Moulins for one day. In the church of Nôtre Dame there is a tomb which attracted our attention. It represents a body in a state of corruption, sculptured with hideous fidelity. Under it is the following inscription, dated 1557.

Olim. formoso. fueram. qui. corpore. putri.

Nunc. sum. Tu. simili. corpore. Lector. eris.

My body, which was once beautiful, is now in a state of putrefaction. Reader, yours will be the same."

woman.

One person only was in the Church, and that a middle-aged She was reading her missal before a shrine with such earnestness, as not to be disturbed by, or take the slightest notice of the strangers, whose curiosity had drawn them to the scene of her devotion.

It was here, for the first time, I noticed a vestige of the old Pagan custom of hanging up a votive tablet in a temple, after some signal preservation. The little side chapels and shrines were decorated with small images of saints, wreaths and chaplets of flowers, and tinsel hearts. There were also several painted representations of cures and deliverances ascribed to the Virgin, or to the interposition of patron saints. Some were such as might excite a smile, either by their performance or superstitious tendency; but one was extremely affecting. It was a small picture, not badly executed, representing an infant in its cradle, and at the point of death; its parents kneeling by it, and praying for its recovery. The child was restored, and this was the memorial of their gratitude. We could have wished that the praise had been given where alone it was due; but even though it was the votive offering of a superstitious adoration of saints, it was superstition too pious and amiable to be sneered at.

e "Me tabulâ sacer

Votivâ paries indicat uvida

Suspendisse potenti

Vestimenta maris Deo." Hor. Od. Lib. i. Od. 5.