198 AN OCTOBER ABROAD, 



ians recognize a tutelar deity in the Goddess Urea, 

 who should have an appropriate monument somewhere 

 in the Place de la Concorde / 



One of the loveliest features of Paris is the Seine. 

 I was never tired of walking along its course. Its 

 granite embankments ; its numberless, superb bridges, 

 throwing their graceful spans across it ; its clear, lim- 

 pid water ; its paved bed ; the women washing ; the 

 lively little boats ; and the many noble buildings that 

 look down upon it — make it the most charming citi- 

 zen-river I ever beheld. Rivers generally get badly 

 soiled when they come to the city, like some other 

 rural travellers ; but the Seine is as pure as a meadow- 

 brook wherever I saw it, though I dare say it does not 

 escape without some contamination. I believe it re- 

 ceives the sewerage discharges farther down, and is, no 

 doubt, turbid and pitchy enough there, like its brother, 

 the Thames, which comes into London with the sky 

 and the clouds in its bosom, and leaves it reeking with 

 filth and slime. 



After I had tired of the city, I took a day to visit St. 

 Cloud, and refresh myself by a glimpse of the impe- 

 rial park there, and a little of Nature's privacy, if such 

 could be had, which proved to be the case, for a more 

 agreeable day I have rarely passed. The park, toward 

 which I at once made my way, is an immense natural 

 forest, sweeping up over gentle hills from the banks of 

 the Seine, and brought into order and perspective by a 

 system of carriage-ways and avenues, which radiate 



