288 Notes and Recollections of a Tour. 



September, and lasts three weeks, bringing together an irri- 

 mense concourse of people. The water- works are set in op- 

 eration every other Sunday during the season, and the grand 

 jet d'eau^ so called, throws up a single column of water to 

 the height of one hundred and forty feet, at the rate of five 

 thousand gallons a minute. This was a most splendid sight 

 and with the cascade and smaller jets is well worth a visit. 



The Gardens of the Tuilleries, and the Palais Royal are 

 interesting places. The former was the work of Le Notre, 

 and is said to remain at the present day just as originally 

 laid out. The whole enclosure contains upwards of sixty 

 acres ; bounded on the north and south by two terraces which 

 run from the extreme pavilions of the palace. A broad ter- 

 race also extends in front of the palace; beyond this is the 

 flower garden, divided by the central walk, and ornamented 

 with statues, orange trees, &c. The beds on the borders of 

 the walks contain masses of German asters, dahlias, &c., 

 which were one blaze of flowers. Beyond this is the garden, 

 filled with trees, interspersed with basins, statues, &c. A 

 broad central avenue leads from the palace to the Place de la 

 Concorde, and the view from the terrace, at the west entrance, 

 of the Champs Elysees, terminating with the Triumphal 

 Arch, is strikingly grand and beautiful. 



The Gardens of the Palais Royal consist only of a grass 

 enclosure, in the centre of a court formed by the buildings on 

 all sides, ornamented with beds of asters, dahlias, mignonette, 

 roses, &c., which have a brilliant appearance, and perfume 

 the air with their odor. 



The Champs Elysees is a kind of wood or park, different 

 from either of the gardens we have noticed, and somewhat of 

 the character, — though much more thickly wooded, — of Bos- 

 ton Common, or the Battery in New York. It is a place of 

 great resort for the Parisians, where, under the shade of the 

 lofty trees, they can lounge upon one or more chairs, — which 

 are always to let at a sous each, — and read the papers, or 

 otherwise amuse themselves. In different parts of the grounds 

 are tea gardens and other public places, fitted up with dancing 

 rooms, and often with bowers cut in the trees, and surround- 

 ed with neat plantations of pelargoniums, petunias, balsams, 

 asters, &c. The taste in which these are arranged is pecu- 



