7 P.M.--I have already got some little confusion in my notes from not writing them at once, therefore must jot down to-day whilst daylight enough yet remains to do so. _Imprimis_, then: This has been a completely idle day; very fine, very hot, and very dusty. Having nothing else to do, I have amused myself with rambling about the place, smoking a cigar here and a cigar there, &c. &c. Bull was more fortunate than we were last night--he stumbled upon a most excellent bivouac, which I paid my first visit to this morning, as it is not far up the street. The place is said to belong to the Prince of Eckmuhl (Davoust), and must have been a delightful residence; it is now _tout à fait abimé_. The pleasure-grounds and gardens, laid out in the English style, are quite delicious, not only from the lovely shady walks and prettily-disposed shrubberies, but also from the splendid terraces, and the views they command of Paris and the neighbourhood. Bull’s guns, &c., are packed amongst parterres of the choicest and rarest flowers: the _berceaux_ and shady walks form excellent stables, and there his horses are picketed. The officers occupy a charming _kiosk_, partly embosomed in wood, but open to the extensive view over the country toward Paris. Here I found some of them sleeping on the floor, whilst the vacant blankets of others marked the spot they had chosen as their own. The house itself, large and magnificent, had already been completely pillaged. The doors and windows, where not torn from their frames, were all flying open; furniture of every kind, broken to pieces, and partly thrown out into the garden or courts, and partly littering the rooms; pier-glasses of immense size shivered to atoms; the very walls defaced and smeared with every species of filth. A few of the rooms had escaped this species of pollution, and, except the destruction of their furniture, remained in pretty good order. One of these (which I wondered at) was very handsome, of fine proportions, well lighted, and the walls exquisitely painted (_not stamped_), to represent an Oriental landscape through the open sides of the room, the roof being supported on pillars, which stood so strongly forward that, at the first _coup d’œil_, the illusion was complete. Unless this were saved by the interposition of some officer--a man of taste--I much marvel at the barbarians leaving it untouched; perhaps whilst I write the destruction is accomplished, for I left numbers of Dutch, Nassau, and Belgian gentry wandering about on the hunt for plunder.[9] A large room adjoining was hung round with very fine prints from Vernet’s paintings of the French ports, all in rich frames. These, by some miracle, had all escaped destruction, though not one article of furniture was left. My friend Hitchins, an amateur, thought it a pity they should be left for destruction, and appropriated the whole of them, and not only them, but some fine paintings which he