382 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



Sept. 22. — On our former visit to the Jardin des Plantcs 

 we had seen little more than the hot-houses, arid the great 

 winter-repository for greenhouse plants, with the exotic* 

 belonging to these houses. We wished speedily to avail 

 ourselves of the invitation kindly given to us by Professor 

 Thouin, to examine the whole establishment in detail ; and 

 accordingly dedicated the greater part of this day to that 

 purpose. 



Having procured a fiacre, we desired to be driven to the 

 site of the famous Bastille, which is on the banks of the 

 Seine, nearly opposite to the main gate of the Garden of 

 Plants. 



The Bastille. 

 This ancient prison had been most effectually razed to 

 the ground in 1789, it being now scarcely possible to trace 

 even its foundations. About one-half of the fosse still re- 

 mains, however, and is partly covered with water. It was 

 intended by Buonaparte to have had this fosse converted 

 into a canal or dock, connecting with the Seine ; but this 

 plan seems now to be abandoned. On another part of the 

 Bastille grounds extensive depots for grain were built bv 

 the Emperor. The site of the building itself is now occu- 

 pied by a vast wooden house, inclosing the model, in plas- 

 ter of Paris, of a fountain projected by the same astonish- 

 ing man ; and if this ever be executed in marble or even 

 in sandstone, it will certainly form one of the greatest won- 

 ders of Paris, and a signal ornament to the square or Place 

 de la Bastille, which is in progress, as well as a fine termi- 

 nation to the Boulevard St Antoine. The fountain is in 

 the shape of a gigantic elephant, with a castle (the cistern) 

 on its back, it being intended that the water should issue 

 from the proboscis. Of its dimensions some idea may be 



