I inquired for the celebrated breed of merino sheep, and was told the whole flock had been removed to Rambouillet. We then retired to the traiteur’s, where we were provided with an excellent dinner; and after eating it, while the horses were harnessing, entered into conversation with an old man who had formerly received a pension from the late Duke, and who now, with so many others, was quite destitute. [Sidenote: THE PANTHEON] Most bitterly did he deplore the Revolution and curse its abettors. We were surprised to find nearly all the people at Rincy speak of the late Duke in terms of deep regret. On our return to Paris we were serenaded in every village, and twice alighted to watch the diversions of the peasants. At one place they were dancing by moonlight on a green, and at another in a large room lighted for the purpose. They were neatly dressed in their Sunday clothes, and seemed to enjoy their sports. We did not pass a single village where there was not a rural ball; and on the left of the high road a great number of rooms were lighted in which suppers were preparing for the dancers. These rooms were interspersed among the trees and gave a pleasing and lively appearance. Such innocent diversions reminded us of the old days of France, when the country people were remarkable for their innocent gaiety and good-natured mirth; as the sweet poet sings: “Gay sprightly land of mirth and social ease, Pleased with itself, whom all the world can please, Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gay grandsire, skilled in jestic lore, Has frisked beneath the burden of fourscore.” GOLDSMITH’S _Traveller_. XXIII THE PANTHEON AND ITS LIBRARY. HALLE AU BLED. THE SORBONNE. OBSERVATIONS In 1793 a visit to the Pantheon in the Rue St. Jacques was considered a duty for every patriot, who thus made a pilgrimage to the shrines of the departed saints of Liberty. It was an affecting sight to behold the regenerated children of freedom besmeared with blood and their feverish heads covered with _bonnets rouges_, descending into the vaults where the remains of their Satanic hierarchs reposed, and invoking, by the glimmering light of funeral torches, the shades of Marat and le Pelletier,[1] St. Fargeon.