38 



Europe. It was immediately purchased for the sum of 160,000 

 francs, under the authority of the administration of Paris. It then 

 contained but lifty-two acres, but has since been extended to 

 seventy-two. 



The pompous denomination of Mont Louis was abolished, and 

 it was called, by the administration of the department, Cimetiere 

 de L' Est ; but the public, unchangeable in its old customs, 

 imposed upon it the name of the Cimetiere du Pcre La Chaise, 

 to perpetuate the astonishing metamorphosis of the garden of a 

 Jesuit, and the confessor of Louis XIV. being converted into a 

 burial-place. 



Heretofore all was confusion, disorder, and irreverence towards 

 the ashes of the dead, in the burial-places of Paris. Causes, ad- 

 verse to the indulgence of a recollection of our predecessors, 

 seemed to have combined in the accumulation of every thing 

 which was capable of exciting terror and disgust ; confined, 

 fcBtid, and horrible situations, where the rays of the sun scarcely 

 appeared — broad and deep pits into which the dead bodies of the 

 poor were thrown by hundreds, and generally without being even 

 inclosed in the meanest coffin ; — surrounded by high walls, 

 against which were piled up thousands of bones that had been 

 removed from the earth before decomposition, to make room for 

 the remains of other unfortunate beings ; no monuments, or 

 scarcely any other indication of friendly recollection : such were 

 the revolting places to which Paris gave the name of cemeteries. 

 The terror of the poor, who scarcely dare to enter them, even at 

 the interment of a dear relative ; hideous to the rich, who could 

 not even look at them without a shudder. But order, decency, 

 and respect for the ashes of the dead were induced by the perfect 

 regulation, order, and manairement of the new cemetery, under 

 the judicious and constant superintendence of Count Chabral de 

 Volvic, the present prefect of the Department of the Seine. 



Having selected for the principal funeral asylum of the inhab- 

 itants, an incomparable site, M. Broguiart considered it incum- 

 bent upon him, to avail of those natural advantages which it pre- 

 sented, to produce tlie most imposing effect, without giving to the 

 whole a too sombre and lonely appearance. This he successfully 

 accomplished, by an appropriate distribution of the grounds, to 

 the various objects for which they were destined ; and in the 

 judicious and tasteful arrangement of the public edifices, ave- 

 nues, paths, and the infinitely various and superb monuments. 



The grounds are inclosed by a vast and elegant wall, 2,400 

 toises in circuit. The principal entrance is from the Boulevard 

 d'Arlnay. On each side of the great gate are lodges for the 

 officers of the cemetery. On the left pilaster is the following 

 sentence from St. John the Evangelist, xi. 35. 



" He that hclicvcth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 

 live." 



