“The troops encamped in the plains of Zeyst, making part of the French and Batavian army, commanded by the General in Chief Marmont, and under his orders, by the Generals of division, Grouchy, Boudet, Vignolle, the Batavian Lieutenant, General Dumonceau, the Generals of Brigade, Soyez, &c. [here follows a long list of the names of the other officers, too tedious to enumerate; also a very long list of the different divisions of the regiments to which the above officers belonged,] have erected this monument to the glory of the emperor of the French, Napoleon the First, at the epoch of his ascending the throne, and as a token of admiration and love, generals, officers, and soldiers, have all co-operated with equal ardour: it was commenced the _24th Fructidor_, 12 ann, and finished in _thirty-two days_.” The whole was designed by the chief of the battalion of engineers. The total height of this stupendous monument is about 36 metres, or 110 French feet; that of the obelisk, exclusive of the _socle_, is about 13 metres, or 42 French feet. One end of the base of the pyramid is 48 metres, or 148 feet. From the summit of the obelisk the eye ranges over a vast extent of country, Utrecht, Amersfort, Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, Dordrecht, Leyden, Gorcum, Breda, Arnheim, Nimeguen, Bois le Duc, Cleves, Zutphen, Dewenter, Swol, and a great part of the Zuyder Zee, may be distinctly seen on a fine clear day. Upon this spot it is in contemplation immediately to erect a new city, the building of which, and the cutting of a canal to be connected with the adjoining navigation, have already commenced. Zeyst is a very handsome town, or rather an assemblage of country-houses, it abounds with agreeable plantations and pleasant woods, and is much frequented in the summer by the middling classes of wealthy merchants from Amsterdam, who sit under the trees and smoke with profound gravity, occasionally looking at those who pass, without feeling any inclination to move themselves: what an enviable state of indifference to all the bustle and broil of this world! upon which they seem to gaze as if they were sent into it to be spectators and not actors. Who, upon reflection and sober comparison, would not prefer this “even tenour” to the peril of the chace and the fever of dog-day balls!