yesterday a remarkably nice dinner; and the gardener brought a fine fresh bouquet this morning for my vases, which he promises to do daily, also fruit for my dessert. My larder seems well stocked, and so does my cellar, for I had a bottle of excellent wine yesterday; therefore I have every reason to be satisfied with my good fortune. The houses in which my officers lodge are all either entirely or nearly deserted; so that, having the only convenience for the purpose, I have acceded to their request, and allowed our mess to be established here, though it is hardly fair upon the proprietor, on whose resources we shall draw largely; however, I have given orders for the dinner to be prepared to-day, and M. Ferdinand has made no scruples. _July 10th._--Splendid morning, but heat excessive. Sorry to say that at the parade this morning I found we had no less than thirty horses with sore backs. This is terrible! but I know others are worse. Yesterday we dined together, and a capital dinner and excellent wine we had. After dinner, the evening being so fine, Hitchins, Breton, and I, mounted our horses for an exploration. We first crossed the meadows to the river, and rode a little way along the banks; at the ferry we found the ferryman asleep in his boat, and I could not prevent Breton from launching him into the stream--how far he went down we have not yet heard. This was childish, certainly. Quitting the river-bank we made for a high hill, whence we expected a view of Paris. _Chemin faisant_, we stumbled on some singular quarries, immense caverns cut in the soft calcareous stone, and going farther in than we thought it prudent to follow. These were in the middle of the fields, in the low ground between Colombes and Nanterre. As we enjoy the privilege of travelling over fields, &c., and are therefore quite independent of roads, we made straight for the hill, and gained its summit just as the sun was setting in all the glory of a fine summer’s evening. We had judged rightly, for Mont Valerien (so it is called in my map) commands a most lovely view. Before us all Paris lay extended as in a plan; we could see every part of it, and even the far-away country beyond. Here was no dingy, orange-coloured smoke, like that which obscures the London atmosphere, and blackens the country for miles round. _Au contraire_, the clearness of the Parisian atmosphere was scarcely deteriorated by the very light transparent vapour floating over the city, which rather increased the interest and beauty of the scene by the softened outlines, and by the rich purply tint communicated to all parts of the landscape seen through it. The country immediately around, and the slopes of the hill itself on which we stood, had the appearance of one vast and productive garden, being divided into rectangular patches planted with rose-bushes, cherry-trees, vines, fig-trees, artichokes and several other sorts of culinary vegetables, all growing in the