At the end of each form, the following is used: "Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them."
After I had left the place where the people were praying, I walked through the king's physical gardens, where there are about seven thousand different kinds of vegetables, consisting of trees, plants and herbs, collected from the four quarters of the globe, that can possibly be made to grow in Paris. I have been informed, that this botanical garden, and a museum of natural curiosities, which may be seen every Wednesday and Friday in the afternoon, costs the king 72,000 livres _per annum_.
In these gardens there is a mount, which I ascended by a path that runs round it, in a spiratic course. At the top of this hill I had a fine prospect, not only of the gardens, but of the city.
I observed as I passed through the gardens, that the vegetables were distinguished from one another by Latin inscriptions, as _calamus_ _aromaticus_, _sambucus_, _rhabarbarum_, &c.
_A Description of_ Paris.--_Of the River_ Seine.--_Of the Climate.--Dress,--Anecdote of a Frenchman.--French Courtship, and the Fondness of the Ladies_, &c.
Paris, the capital of France, is situated in lat. 48 deg. 50 min. north; and long. 2 deg. 10 min. east of the royal observatory at Greenwich; and is called one of the grandest and most beautiful cities in Europe. It is built in a circular form, and was about eighteen miles in circumference, 'till of late it has been made much larger by the augmentation of their buildings, and the erection of a new wall, which encompasses the old one at a great distance. The city is walled in to prevent smuggling, sentries being placed at the gates, where duties are paid, &c. The houses in this city are from six to eight stories high in general, built chiefly of hewn stone, which are of a lightish colour. These stories are much higher than ours in London. The buildings are very magnificent; and the city is amazingly populous.
It contains upwards of 22,000 houses,--979 streets,--52 parishes,--130 convents,--28 hospitals,--and about 800,000 people.
The streets of this city are narrow; and being paved to the sides of the houses, with stones much like those in the middle of the streets in London, makes the walking inconvenient, and exposes travellers to the danger of being hurt by the carriages.