41 



repulsed far from them all melancholy reflections ; every thing 

 which might induce them to tiiink of the fragility of human hap- 

 piness;. The dead are immediately forgotten, when our days glide 

 on in the midst of prosperity ; consequently there were erected 

 but three moiuimenls in this cemetery during the year 1804 — 

 their number, in 18Uo, was but fourteen, in 180G, nineteen, in 18U7, 

 twenty-six, in 181)"?, fifty-one, in 1809, seventy, in 1810, seventy- 

 six, iu 1811, ninety-six, and in 1812, one hundred and six. Pri- 

 vate sepulchres were but little frequented, and purchases of per- 

 petual sites for tombs very rare. Still there was nothing wanting 

 in this establishment which could materially encourage a pious 

 discharge of the duties of affection towards deceased^ friends. 

 The location possessed the most important advantages — an able 

 manufacturer of all kinds of funereal monuments, had an exten- 

 sive establishment within the inclosure, which |Was supplied with 

 marble, granite, freestone, and other appropriate materials — the 

 most perfect models, and workmen of the first talents, to execute 

 with promptness all orders in the best manner ; the superintend- 

 ent kept for sale iron palings, of various patterns, for protecting 

 the tombs from outrage ; the porter prepared wreaths and crowns, 

 for relatives to embellish the sepulchres of their deceased friends, 

 and undertook to decorate them with fresh flowers daily ; never- 

 theless, every thing languished in an inclosure destined to receive 

 the ashes of mortals in their last asylum ; a few families only hon- 

 ored them in secret — a generous public spirit had not yet inspired 

 the whole people with the fire of an ardent zeal to venerate their 

 relatives, in the night of the tomb. Its influence^ began to be 

 perceived in 1818, when the monuments amounted to two hun- 

 dred and forty ; it augmented in 18 J 4, when five hundred and 

 nine were to be seen, and it increased in 1815, when six hundred 

 and thirty-five appeared. During these last two years, aflluence 

 had introduced marble for the construction of the monuments of 

 Madame Guyot, M. Lenoir, Dufresne, and M. Lefebvre; the pyr- 

 amid of Clary was erected ; excavated in the side of the hill was 

 the tomb of the family of Delespine; the mortuary edifice of the 

 family of Poreet was constructed, and the tomb of the Abbe De- 

 lille consecrated his grave. Still, on the 31st of December, there 

 were only one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven tombs 

 or sepulchral monuments in the cemetery of Pere La Chaise ; but 

 in 1827, there was three thousand, whose erection cost between 

 three and four millions of francs ; and the whole number of bodies 

 interred was 160,800, not including those buried in the compart- 

 ment of the Jews. The average number of inhumations, annu- 

 ally, from 1820 to 1824, was 74-5 in perpetual sepulchres, 1546 in 

 temporary graves, and 7,885 in the compartment for the poor. 

 The receipts during the year 1828, for the sale of sites, for tempo- 

 rary and perpetual sepulchres, amounted to 247,951 francs, and 

 they have annually increased since. 



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