Ermenomille, Bagatelle. 133 



23 



wine, we were told, the benevolent proprietor placed every 

 morning in the cellar below, which Rousseau entered by a 

 trap-door in the floor (c). The house in the village in which 

 Rousseau lived, and the room in which he died, used to be 

 shown to strangers: the room, we were told (in 1828), was 

 become the sleeping-room of one of the Prince de Conde's 

 gamekeepers. Ermenonville, having little or no natural beauty, 

 and being now neglected by art, has ceased to be interesting 

 otherwise than by historical associations. 



The Grounds of Bagatelle^ as laid out by Mr. Blaikie, are 

 maintained in nearly their original state, and they form one 

 of the most agreeable and successful imitations of the English 

 manner in the neighbourhood of Paris. Through the kind- 

 ness of M. la Pie, the geographer, at Paris, we obtained a 

 correct plan {Jig. 24.), which will give the reader a very good 

 idea of the disposition of the principal masses. The only 

 view beyond the boundary is obtained from the house and the 

 other buildings ; and this view is chiefly the Seine, and, beyond 

 it, the hill Mount Valerian. The most un-English parts of 

 Bagatelle are the house and offices : and, indeed, it may be 

 observed, generally, that, with the exception of some recent 

 buildings erected by the very first French architects, such as 

 Durand and Percier, a French house is almost as easily dis- 

 tinguished from an English house, as a French garden is from 

 an English one. In general, the faults of Bagatelle are those 

 of most other English parks or gardens in France; viz. too 

 much bustle and display, too many walks, too few trees and 

 shrubs, and too many statues and seats, for the extent of sur- 

 face. The result of all this is a want of shade, quiet, and 

 repose. There is scarcely such a thing as a solitary, umbra» 



K 3 



