JOHN LEDYARD. 305 



and even had glimpses of the royal family, that 

 ill-fated family whose terrible misfortunes were soon 

 to begin, and were to end so ignominiously on the 

 scaffold. The distant and subdued mutterings of 

 that fearful revolution which shook every throne in 

 Europe w j ere already faintly heard. The contem- 

 porary observations of this astute traveller on the 

 existing state of things in France, as recorded in 

 his journal, are worthy of note. We make an extract 

 from it as illustrative of his views and opinions : 



" Paris is situated in an extended plain, rising on 

 all sides into gradual elevations, and some little hills 

 happily interspersed in the borders of its horizon. 

 Its extent, viewed from the tower of j^otre Dame, 

 appeared to me less than London, though it must 

 be larger. The public buildings are numerous, and 

 some of them magnificent. Paris is the centre of 

 France, and its centre is the Palais Royal, the resort 

 of the greatest virtues and the greatest vices of 

 such a kingdom. It is France in miniature, and no 

 friend to France should ever see it. The Tuileries 

 afford a consummate display of artificial elegance 

 and grandeur ; the gardens of. the Luxembourg are 

 much inferior. The Boulevards were originally 

 fortifications, and they now form a broad way that 

 surrounds the city, separating it from the suburbs. 

 It is \vell lined with fine umbrageous elms on each 



W 26* 



