47 7 
PARIS. 
of them fi hi ply indicating ' the cemetery whence each 
mouldering pile of bones was removed ; others too ftrong- 
)y reminding the reader of the atheiftical era of the Re¬ 
volution ; and a very few difplaying cor.fiderable feeling 
and good tafte. The following are the principal objects 
of attention. 
1. The Crypt of St. Laurence is an ancient and very 
fpacious excavation, the great depth of which recom¬ 
mended it as a repofitoryof the bodies removed from the 
cemetery of St. Laurence, at the time of its fuppreffion in 
November 1804, and when the ftreet of the fame name 
was opened. All the dry bones taken out of that ceme¬ 
tery have been collefted and arranged fo as to form a lh- 
parate crypt, the entrance to which is fupported by two 
columns of the Doric order of Poeftum. At its extremity 
is a pedeftal conftruftedof bones, the mouldings of which 
are formed of tibiae, or leg-bones, of the larged fize ; and 
the dado or fquare trunk of the pedeftal is lurmounted 
with a head in a fine ftate of prefervation. 
2. The Altar of the Obelifks. —The northern part of the 
Catacombs having funk down in feveral places, there 
was reafon to apprehend a general falling-in of the fuper- 
incumbent earth. To prevent this difafter, M. Guillau- 
mot, the infpeftor-general in 1810, directed pillars, w'alls, 
and counter-walls, to be built wherever there was any ap¬ 
pearance of danger. The high altar and obelifks which 
decorate this crypt are therefore nothing but works of 
confolidation concealed under the ornamental form of 
thefe monuments. The altar is copied from a magnificent 
ancient marble tomb, difcovered a few years fince between 
Vienne and Valence, on the banks of the Rhone ; the 
obelifks aie reductions of ancient obelifks; and the two 
pedeftals on the right and left of the altar are conftrufted 
of bones in a firnilar manner to that in the crypt of St. 
Laurence. This chapel or crypt of the obelifks contains 
feveral appropriate infcriptions, chiefly taken from the 
Scriptures. 
3. The Sarcophagus of the Lachrymatory is likewife one 
of the great works of confolidation to which a fepulchral 
form has been given : it is alfo known under the name of 
the Tomb of Gilbert. 
4. The Pedeftal of the Sepulchral Lamp. —The neceflity 
of obtaining a more free circulation of air in the Cata¬ 
combs induced the workmen to place a large vefiel of fire 
on a block of ftone ; and the appearance of this fuggefted 
the idea of fubftituting a fepulchral lamp in its place. 
The lamp is in the form of an antique cup, and was the 
firft monument erefted in the Catacombs. Oppofite to it 
is the Pillar of the Memento , a large and maflive cruci¬ 
form column, or triangular crofs, which has received its 
name from the following fentence, extrafted from the 
mafs for Afli-Wednefday j Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, 
st in pulverem reverteris. And behind the latter column 
is the Pillar of the Imitation, fo called becaufe the four 
infcriptions that ornament it have been taken from the 
celebrated work of Thomas a Kempis De Imitatione Jefu 
Chrifti. 
5. The Fountain of the Samaritan Woman. —This appel¬ 
lation has been given to a fpring that was difcovered in 
the foil of the Catacombs by the workmen, who eftabliih- 
ed a refervoir here to collect the water for their ufe. As 
the waters gufhed out of this bafon into the works, it be¬ 
came necellary to take their level; and advantage was 
taken of the difference of levels to. conftruft over this 
fpring a ftaircafe, a bafon, and a fubterraneous aqueduft: 
and, the roof or top being interfered in different direc¬ 
tions by fiffures and cracks, the workmen were obliged 
to ereft pillars and contreforts, the monumental forms of 
which have greatly contributed to the embellifhment of 
this fountain. 
On the 25th of November, 1813, four gold fifh were 
thrown into the bafon of this fountain, where they have 
become perfeftly domefticated. They anfwer to the figns 
and calls of the keeper, and appear to have grown in this 
unnatural fituation, but they have not fpawned. Three 
VOL. XVIII. No. I2jg. 
of them have retained their brilliant colours, but fome 
fpots have appeared on the fourth ; and it feems probable 
that exclufion from light may produce, though more 
flowly, the fame efteft upon them that it does upon ve¬ 
getables. 
6. Tombs of the Revolution. —This appellation has been 
given to the fpacious crypt which contains the tombs of 
thofe who were the earlieft viftims of the French Revolution. 
The place of interment, and the period when the remains 
of thefe unhappy perfons were committed to the Cata¬ 
combs, are refpeftively marked by the following infcrip¬ 
tions. I. Combats de la Place de Greve, de l’Hotel de 
Brienne, et de la rue Meflee chez le commandant du Guet, 
le 28 et 29 Aout, 1788. II. Combat de la Manufafture 
de Papiers peints (Paper-hanging Manufaftory) de M. 
Reveillon, Faubourg St. Antoine, le 28 Avril, 1789. 
III. Combat du Chateau des Tuileries, le 10 Aout, 1792. 
7. The Tombs of the Vi&ims of the Maf'aeres on the 2 d 
and 3 d of September, 1792.—Under the diredlion of M. 
Guillaumot, Infpedtor General of Quarries, M. Laplace, 
keeper of the Tomb of Ifoire, protedfed by the filence of 
the night, caufed the remains of thofe who had perifhed 
on thefe different days to be interred in the Catacombs, 
with as much decency as circumftances would permit. 
Their bones are concealed from view behind a wall paint¬ 
ed black, which foralong time prefented only the follow¬ 
ing briefnotice: D.M. II. etm.SEPTEMBR. MDCCXCII. 
During thofe days of terror, no expiatory altar could be 
raifed ; but two marble tablets now commemorate the 
names of the moll illuftrious of thefe viftims. 
We fliall copy but one more infcription. It is very cu¬ 
rious, but certainly very revolting: Ici font inhumes 
LXXXVII metres cubes d'ofemens, recueillis duns le ceme- 
trie des Innocens, du 1 9 Janvier ait 19 Blurs, 1811. “ Here 
aredepofited 90 cubic yards of bones, collefted from the 
cemetery of the Innocents, between the 19th January and 
the 19th March, 1811.” 
The calculations of different vilitors and authors vary 
as to the number of bones collected in this vaft charnel- 
houfe. It is certain that there are more than three mil¬ 
lions of human fkulls : fome writers have aflerted that the 
Catacombs contain fix millions. 
A faint mouldering fmell pervades thefe gloomy ca¬ 
verns, but not to any unpleafant or deleterious degree. 
Before he quits the Catacombs, two Mufeums are 
fliown to the ftraeger. The firft is a colleftion of all the 
fofiil remains, mineral produdtions, (pars. See. which thefe 
quarries afford: fome of the fpecimens are curious and 
beautiful. The other, which is principally interefting to 
the medical traveller, are fpecimens of the various difeafes 
of the bones, felefted from this immenfe repolitory, and 
fcientifically arranged. 
Having quitted the Catacombs by a portal bearing 
this beautiful and appropriate quotation, 
Felix qui potuit rerum cognofcere caufas, 
Atque metus otnnes, et irrevocabile fatum 
Subjecit pedibus, llrepitumque Acherontis avari ! 
the traveller again follows a black line traced on the roof, 
which cond ufts him to another ftaircafe; afeending this, 
he finds himfeif on the eaft of the road to Orleans, which 
he had crofted under ground, and more than half a mile 
from the place at which he defeended. 
Cemeteries. —In the year 1790, the National Afiem- 
bly palled a frelh law prohibiting interment within the 
churches, and commanding all towns and villages to 
difufe their old burial-places and form new ones at a cer¬ 
tain diftance from the dwellings. During the revolution 
which foon enfued, when it was proclaimed that there is 
no God, and that death is eternal lleep, men were buried 
any where and any how, without any ceremony or me¬ 
morial to mark the {pot where they lay. But in the 
fpring of 1800, an arreti was publiihed by the prefeft of 
the department of the Seine, which is curioully charafter- 
iftic in all refpefts. The prefeft begins by announcing, 
6 F that 
