476 
PARIS. 
by the fplendour which accompanied the removal of the 
tombs of the moft diftinguifhed perfonages; by the fune¬ 
ral cars and cenotaphs ; by the hearfes filled with bones, 
and flowly proceeding at the clofe of day towards the new 
catacombs prepared for their reception ; by the appear¬ 
ance of thefe vaft excavations, and the folid arches which 
feemed to cut off the abode of the living from the dead ; 
by the difmal light of the place ; the frightful crafhing of 
dry bones, which, as they were thrown in, rolled along 
with a terrific noife that was re-echoed through the long 
feries of arches ; every thing, in fliort, concurred to place 
before the eyes the image of death, and to infpire the 
mod folemn recollefticns of man’s univerfal doom and 
final cafaHrophe. 
All the crcfl'es, tombdones, and monuments, which 
were not reclaimed by the families of the dead to whom 
they belonged, were carefully removed, and placed in the 
field belonging to La Tombe Ifoire : fome among them 
were very curious. Many leaden coffins were buried in 
this field : one of them contained the remains of Mad. 
de Pomdadour, who, by her own defire, had been interred 
at the foot of what was called the crofs of the Holy 
Innocents. Thus far things had been conducted with 
the greatefl decorum; but, as the revolution proceeded, 
La Tombe Ifoire was fold as a national domain, the leaden 
coffins were melted, and all their monuments deftroyed ; 
thofe which could not be fold, orapplied toanypurpofe of 
ufe, were demolifhed; a J'alle de danje was then opened on 
the fpot 
Fortunately there was nothing in the Catacombs which 
could provoke the wretches whom the Revolution had 
let loofe upon fociety ; but they were fo much neglefiled, 
that in many places the foil had fallen in, and choaked 
the communications; water came in by filtration, the roof 
was cracked in many places, and threatened freffi down¬ 
falls; and the bones themfelves lay in immenfe heaps, 
mingled with the rubbifh, and blocking up the way. It 
was not till the year 1810 that M. de Thury was enabled 
to purfue his plans ; and the workmen then had to make 
galleries through the bones themfelves, which in fome 
places lay above thirty yards thick. It was neceffary alfo 
to provide for a circulation of air, the atmofphere not 
Laving been improved by the quantity of animal remains 
which had been introduced. The manner in which this 
was effefifed is fingularly eafy. The wells which fupplied 
the houfes above with water were funk below the quarries, 
and formed in thofe excavations fo many round towers. 
M. de Thury merely opened the mafonry of thefe wells, 
and luted into the opening the upper half of a broken 
bottle, with the neck outwards : it is only neceffary to 
aincork two, three, or more, of thefe bottles, when freffi 
airis wanted. Channels were made to carry off the water; 
fteps conftrufted from the lower to the upper excavation ; 
pillars built in good tafte to fupport the dangerous parts 
of the roof, and the fkulls and bones built up along the 
walls. I11 ffiorf, by a feries of long-continued labours, 
they have fo admirably difpofed the folid works in thefe 
excavations, that each fubterranean Hreet correfponds 
with thellreet above, and the numbers of the houfes under 
ground alfo correfpond with thofe on the furface of the 
earth: hence, if the ground ffiould fink in any part of 
Paris, a fuitable remedy may inifantly be applied. Thefe 
excavations reach beneath the extenfive plain of the Fau¬ 
bourg St. Germain, forming nearly the whole of the fouth- 
ern half of Paris, and under a fmall part of the depart¬ 
ment of the Seine in the northern divilion. 
Three flaircafes form the channels of communication 
between the Cacacombs and the furface of the earth ; but 
that of the Barriere d’Orleans or d'Evfer, (Hell Gate,) 
is the ftaircafe by which vifitors generally defcend into 
thefe dreary yet interefling caverns. A narrow ltaircafe 
of eighty fteps, winding down a circular well, leads to a 
gallery, or avenue, hewn out of the folid rock, and vary¬ 
ing from three to four feet in width, and from fix to feven 
in height. The Itone is clean, white, and dry, and 
thickly ftudded with Hi el Is., and various marine antedilu¬ 
vian remains. Numerous paffages branch off on either 
fide, fome of which are faid to extend more than three 
miles; but many of thefe avenues were prudently Hopped 
when they became the refort of banditti. 
The (tranger is accompanied by a guide, who condufits 
him in fafety through this immenfe labyrinth, and who 
is himfelf direfted by a black line traced on the ceiling 
through the whole of the courfe which he is to purfue. 
The guides generally commence their tafk about twelve 
o’clock. Every ftranger, on entering the Catacombs, 
will find it neceffary to have a wax taper in his hand 
which may be purcbafed on the fpot, and never to lofe 
fight of the guide. After the traveller has proceeded a ! 
quarter of a mile, he fhould inquire for the Gallery of 
Port-Mahon. A foldier, who had accompanied marfhal 
Richelieu in the expedition againft Minorca, was, on his 
return, compelled by neceffity to work in thefe quarries. 
During the hours of refrefhment, he employed himfelf in 
modelling in relief a plan of Port-Mahon. The execu¬ 
tion is, as might be expefted, fufficiently rude ; but the 
accuracy of the reprefentation is acknowledged by every 
competent judge, and the whole is highly creditable to 
the ingenuity, the memory, and the patience, of the fol¬ 
dier, who, ignorant of architedlure, completely without 
affidance, and almoft without inftruments, nearly accom- 
plifiied the lingular and arduous undertaking. It is pain¬ 
ful to add, that he was crulhed by a mafs of rocks, and 
perifhed the vifitim of his ingenious enterprile. 
At a little diftance is another curiolity, which proba¬ 
bly will not be fliown unlefs the traveller inquires for it. 
Some enormous fragments of Hone are fo nicely balanced 
on abafe, hardly exceeding a point, that they rock with 
every blaH of wind, and threaten to overwhelm the cu¬ 
rious obferver; yet in this equilibrium they have hung 
for more than two centuries, and it would probably re¬ 
quire a gigantic force to remove them from their pofition. 
After proceeding more than half a mile, the firanger 
arrives at another low-roofed hall, in which is a black 
door, fupported by two Tufcan pilaHers, with this in- 
fcription : Has ultra metas requiefcunt, beatam J'pein ex'pec- 
tantcs ; “ Beyond thefe bounds reft the dead, awaiting the 
joyful hope of immortality.” This is the entrance to the 
Catacombs. On the lintel of the gate the following verfe 
of Delille is cut in the rock : Arrete ! deji ici VEmpire de 
la Mort. 
On entering the Catacombs, the mind is awfully im- 
preffed with the long galleries and numerous apartments, 
all furnilhed, or (if we may be allowed the expreffion) 
ornamented, with bones. The largeH fkulls and thigh¬ 
bones are fymmetrically difpofed in compartments, and 
form as it were the facing of thefe mournful walls, be¬ 
hind which are placed the fmaller bones. “ What fright¬ 
ful decorations ! (exclaims a recent traveller;) walls, ar¬ 
cades, and pillars, of bones, adorned, not with garlands of 
rofes and myrtles, but with arabel'ques of arm and leg 
bones, and, inflead of heads of genii and cornucopias, 
with ghaflly ikulls ! Altars of death’s heads in fymme- 
trical order gradually growing fmaller towards the top, 
and crowned with eroded bones: a mnfaic work, which, 
by its regularity and harffi contraH of the white lime- 
wafli with the dark brown colour of the bones, that never 
blanch in thefe humid vaults, heightens the gravity, the 
muling melancholy and awe, that penetrate the inmoH re-' 
cefles of the foul in thefe repofitaries of mortality.” A 
few of thefe altars are of an antiq-ue form, and compofed 
of the folid rock. They Hood here before thefe caverns 
were appropriated to their prefent deftination. One of 
them has certainly occupied its prefent fituation from time 
immemorial, and has given rife to the not-improbable 
conjefture, that thefe fecret and deep recedes were ufed as 
places of worlhip, either by the Gauls or by the early 
ChriHians, during the perfecution which followed the firH 
preaching of the Gofpel in thefe parts. 
Thefe chapels contain numerous inferiptions 5 fome 
of . 
