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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Starting point, we should find ourselves in the Bois de Vincennes, another 

 of the great external parks of Paris. Within the eastern ramparts of the 

 city lies the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, with its streets of tombs in the 

 older part, but in the newer a park, so shaded and ornamented and beau- 

 tiful that one almost forgets the tombs in the beauty of the scenery. Not 

 far away to the north lies another of the parks of Paris, the Buttes 

 Chaumont, formerly an old quarry, where the filth and rubbish of one of 

 the worst quarters of Paris were thrown, but to-day one of the most 

 remarkable pieces of landscape gardening on the continent. 



But let me not consume time with inadequate description of so many 

 parks; let us return to the western extremity of the city, to the Bois de 

 Boulogne, just outside the ramparts. This park of twenty-five hundred 

 acres was formerly a sandy waste, the rendezvous of thieves and highway 

 robbers. In 1815 Wellington's array encamped here and cut away nearly 

 all its trees. When the Bourbons returned to power, new trees were 

 planted, but little was done to improve its condition till Napoleon III. 

 came into power. France owes more to the two Bonapartes than to all 

 the Bourbons that ever sat upon its throne. Napoleon III., in his exile, 

 had seen the English parks, and, quitting the stiff geometrical style of 

 the old French landscape gardens, he chose a more natural and pleasing 

 arrangement. At least the men whom he employed were men of better 

 taste. 



Near the center of the Bois two beautiful lakelets were arranged, 

 with islands crowned with cottages, and the shores lined with groves of 

 pines, or with grassy slopes dotted with great trees, under which the 

 people of Paris come to picnic with their children, and maidens dance on 

 the green sward. These lakes are filled with water brought there by arti- 

 ficial means. And even grottoes, and cascades, with beautiful sheets of 

 water falling like a curtain into the basins below, are arranged with an 

 art that surpasses nature. In passing outward from these lakes you find 

 shaded walks and avenues, valleys and open places, with every variety of 

 scenery. 



In one corner of the Bois de Boulogne is situated thtjardin d' Accli- 

 mation, a garden devoted to experiments, with a view .to acclimatizing 

 foreign plants, animals and birds. This garden costs annually fifty 

 thousand francs, but the results reached thus far have been but a poor 

 return for the expense. As a botanical and zoological garden, it is a 

 place of much interest, and is constantly visited by crowds of people, 

 although it is one of the few places in Paris in which a fee is charged. 



Let us return now from the Bois de Boulogne to the Arc de Trioinphe, 

 through the splendid avenue of the Empress, newly named by the repub- 

 lican officials the avenue of the Bois de Boulogne. This avenue, about 

 four hundred and fifty feet in breadth and three-quarters of a mile in 

 length, forms a fitting continuation and link between the Champs Elysees 

 and the Bois de Boulogne ; and in the afternoon, when the rich and gay 

 equipages fill its entire length with riders taking their customary drive to 

 the great park, it is especially brilliant. Its groves and grass-plots make 

 it appear more like a park than a street. 



