ROUTE 20.

Maisons-Alfort (1 mile), is noted for its Government Veterinary College, founded 1766, by Bour

Nice, and Corsica.

By rail, 316 miles to Lyons, or 534 miles to Marscilles. Seven trains daily to Lyons, in 14 to 16 hours for ordinary trains, and 10 hours express, of which there are four. Through trains to Marseilles in about 18 hours express.

Embarcadère in Boulevard Mazas, near Rue de Bercy and Pont d'Austerlitz, opposite Mazas prison. Omnibuses to all the trains from various points. Central office, 21, Rue de Bouloi.

The station is a large pile, of stone, 720 feet by 262, with a hangar or starting-place, 138 feet wide.

Leaving this, outside the barrière de Bercy, is La Grande Pinte, among wine, spirit, and oil warehouses, which continue to Bercy, where a suspension-bridge crosses the Seine. The railway passes through the gardens (laid out by Le Nôtre), belonging to the decayed château de Bercy, of the time of Louis XIV. At the first station,

Charenton-le-Pont (31 miles), near the new fort, it crosses the Marne by an iron five-arched viaduct (three arches are 230 feet span, the others 276 feet) resting on an island, and not far from the old ten-arch bridge to Alfort; (four are of wood). Charenton is in a pleasant, healthy spot, and has a country-seat which belonged to Henry IV.'s mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées, with a large and excellent lunatic asylum for four hundred persons, founded as far back as 1642, and lately rebuilt in the Italian style. Pop. 4,000.

At Conflans, at the junction of the Marne and Seine, was a palace of the Archbishop of Paris, pillaged by the mob, 1831, and now a religious house.

Coaches to Port-de-Créteil, Bonneuil, Créteil; and frequent trains to Paris.

[VINCENNES, to the east (6 miles from Paris), in a forest, where nine roads meet, is remarkable for an ancient Château, now strengthened and repaired, and made a depót of artillery for the capital. It was built in 1337, by Philippe of Valois, on the site of Louis le Jeune's countryseat, (as old as 1137). Henry V. of England died in it, in 1422. Louis XI. lived here, and, as usual, made it a state prison. Charles IX, died in it, as did Cardinal Mazarin (1661); and here the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien was brought from across the frontier, tried, and shot by Napoleon's order, 20th March, 1804. A marble pillar in the ditch marks the spot-"Hic cecidit," (here he fell). Louis XV. lived here when young; Mirabeau was a prisoner here; the ministers of Charles X. were also sent here; and, lately, it was the residence of the Duke of Montpensier. Here Thiers, Changarnier, Cavaignac, &c., were confined on the memorable 2nd December, 1851, It is a moated space, 4,115 feet by 656, with remains of towers on the wells; and, besides three or four courts, includes the tall square Donjon, with round towers and turrets at the corner, (now a powder magazine); and la Sainte Chapelle, a later pointed building of the 16th cent. (begun 1379 by Charles V.), having three spires, the Duc d'Enghien's torib, good traceried windows, stained by J. Cousin, in which you see the devices of Henry II, (an H.), and Diane de

Poictiers (a crescent). The beautiful armoury is worth seeing; admission, by ticket, on Saturday. A great fête is held in the woods, on August 15th. Under its trees the excellent St. Louis used frequently to administer justice to his people. To the south of it is St. Maur-le-Pont, on the right bank of the Marne, near a canal of 3,640 feet, tunnelled through the rock, for the purpose of cutting off a bend of the river.] The line runs close to the Seine, to

Lieusaint (3 miles), near Rougeau forest, seen on the south.

Cesson (4) miles). Coach to Seine-Port, on the Seine. At 4 miles further, an iron viaduct, 72 feet high, on three arches, each 131 feet span, leads over the river to

MELUN, 28 miles from Paris.

HOTEL.-De France.

called the Pont--aux-Moulins (Windmill Bridge), on several irregular arches, join this part to the quarters on the right and left banks; the latter being the best

[BOISSY (5 kil. east), is on a hill covered with vineyards and country houses. Grosbois château is near it.]

Cross the Yères, by a three-arch viaduct, to Montgeron (12 miles), in Sénart forest, which

has two châteaux.

Coaches to Crosne and l'Abbaye d' Yères-the latter having (at a factory) traces of an old Benedictine house; and Crosne, being the birthplace of Boileau. at a house in Rue Simon. A large viaduct crosses the valley of the Yères, 130 yards long, on 9 arches, to

Brunoy (2 miles), which is in a forest, and has a château of Louis XVIII., who gave the estate, with the title of Duc de Brunoy, to our great Wellington; one of his many well-earned rewards, though scarcely

heard of till his death. Rochefoucauld was at one

time the owner. It stands on the site of a favourite seat of Philippe de Valois. There is a spire church of the 13th cent. Talma had a house here. Coaches to Guignes, Chaumes, and to

Brie-Comte-Robert, (9 kil. east-south-east), the old capital of Brie, in a marshy but fertile spot, founded in the 12th cent. by Robert de Dreux (brother of Louis VII.), who built the old ruined castle, or Tour-de-Brie. Robert II. built St. Etienne's Gothic church, which has some old tombs. The Hôtel Dieu is nearly as old. Charles VII. took it from the English, 1440. Brie cheese, pens, tiles, &c., are made, and there is a good trade in grain. Pop. 2,800.

Cross the Yères again by a viaduct of 410 yards, on 28 arches, 33 yards high in some parts.

Combs-la-Ville (2 miles), a pretty place on

the Yères.

looking Gothic church of the 15th or 16th cent., which has some excellent stained windows and slender columns down the aisles, It stands on Grande Place, near the Préfecture, which, with the ancient clock tower, was part of St. Pierre's Benedictine abbey, of very early date (when Clovis took the town 494, it had several convents, &c.), but damaged by the Normans in their invasion, and finally ruined by Henry IV. in the wars of the League. The Préfecture gardens run down to the river, and it stands opposite the château of Vaux-le-Peny, whence there is a good prospect. The Hotel-de-Ville was built, 1847-8, in the Renaissance style, with a new tower, matching an ancient one, which it includes.

and four other departments, an enormous square pile, On the Island you see the House of Detention for this with two towers, &c., and a church of the 10th cent., now in course of restoration. It is the site (built on, since 1740) of the château or palace of the early French kings, where Philippe I. and Robert died, and Blanche, mother of St. Louis, kept her court; Isabella of

Bavaria fled to it when driven out of Paris.

There are in the town, a palais de justice, in an old convent, a library of 10,000 volumes at the préfecture, a theatre, large barracks, &c.

The English held possession of Melun between 1420-30. Bishop Amyot, grand almoner of France, and the translater of Plutarch, was born here, 1513. Trade in grain, wine, cattle, Brie cheese, &c. Conveyances: by steamer to Paris, Montereau, &c.; by coach to Barbison, Milly, &c.

[At 6 kil. north-east, on the Meaux road, is VauxPraslin, or Vaux-le-Vicomte, a fine château, in the Renaissance style, built by Le Vau, for Louis XIV.'s comptroller of the finances, Vicomte de

HOTEL.-De Londres;

Omnibuses wait on all the trains. Pop., 10,400. This place, remarkable for its Château, where Napoleon abdicated, 1814, is a sous-préfecture, in department Seine-et-Marne, in a hollow of the Forest. It is well built, and has an Hôtel de Ville; a church, built 1624; the Palais de Justice, in Place du Marché, with the bibliothèque of 28,000 vols.; two hospices, founded by Anne of Austria and Madame de Montespan; a château d'eau, or reservoir, in Rue Baver, for supplying the fountains; statue of Gen, Damesme, erected 1851; and the obelisk to the south, built 1770, when Louis XVI. was married.

The Château, or Palace, is an irregular pile, composed of five or six courts, of different ages and styles, chiefly of brick, and high-roofed; joined together by galleries, and adorned with wall paintings, Gobelins tapestry, china, &c. It originated, 1162-9, in a hunting seat of Louis VII., called Fontaine de Belle eau, after a spring here; though some explain it FontaineBleaud, from a dog of that name. Philippe-le-Bel died in it; Francis I. greatly improved it; it was the favourite seat of Henry IV.; Louis XIII. was born here, as was Henry III.; the great Condé died here, 1686, the year after Louis XIV. had signed here the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; Louis XV. was married here, 1734. Napoleon, too, here married Marie Louise, 1810, and signed the concordat with Pius VII. (who was here a prisoner,) in 1812, and abdicated, 30th March, 1814; and here the late Duke of Orleans was married, 1837, since which the château has been in part restored. E

A gate, called the Entrée d'Honneur, in Place Ferrare (from which a railing of 340 feet divides it), leads into the first court, or Cour du Cheval Blanc, so called from the plaster cast of M. Aurelian's horse at Rome. It is the largest court, and since Napoleon took leave of his guard in it, 20th April, 1814, is commonly styled Cour des Adieux.

The second, or Cour de la Fontaine, opens out to the gardens, and has, on one side, the Salle de la Belle Cheminée. Here Charles V. was lodged with his suite, 1539. It contains the apartments of the Queen-Mother, and of the Duke of Orleans.

The third court, or Cour Ovale, or du Donjon, the most ancient of all, is long and narrow, and entered by the Porte Dorée (with its frescoes), from the Allée Maintenon. Another gate is called Porte Dauphin, in memory of the birth of Louis XIII. It includes a balcony on 45 pillars, with several rooms or salles, as the Salle de Bal, or Gallery of Henry II., with pictures; the Salles du Trône and du Conseil; a library of 30,000 vols. in Francis I.'s chapel, whose gallery of frescoes, by Rossi, is here, and the windows of which are stained from designs by the late Princess Marie d'Orleans; a small plain cabinet, remarkable as that in which Napoleon signed his abdication; the gallery of Diana, 1600, and its pictures, by Pujol, &c. In the Fourth Court, or Cour de l'Orangerie, was the Gallerie des Cerfs (so called from being ornamented with stag heads, but since divided off into separate apartments), where Christina of Sweden put her servant, Monaldeschi, to death, 1657. She lived in the next or fifth court, Cour des Princes, the smallest of all.

The last, styled Cour des Cuisines, with the kitchens, &c., was built 1609, and contains a fountain with bronze mascarons or grotesque masques on it.

The Chapel was built 1529, by Henry IV, on the site of St. Louis's, and is richly decorated.

Statues, besides jets d'eau, are dispersed over the gardens especially a Telemachus, by Canova, which was Napoleon's favourite. The parterre du Tibre is the oldest; the new one, on the south side, has a large pond, or étang, full of carp, and some waterfalls at the end, from which the canal goes off through the park, towards the old Church of Avon (where a stone records that "Ci-git MONADELXI"). The park contains a Jardin Anglais, a labyrinth, &c., and the royal or treille vine, famous for its abundant supply of Chasselas grapes.

You walk from the town directly into the Forest, which is spread over an extent of 35,000 acres, or 550 square miles, on a white sandstone rock, with a very irregular surface. It is pierced by scores of sentiers, or paths; and is full of strikingly picturesque sites, some parts being green and well wooded,