It seems that ever since the trials began, the chief duty of the gendarmes--(I beg pardon, I should say, of _la Garde de Paris_)--has been to prevent any assembling together of the people in knots for conversation and gossipings in the courts and gardens of the Luxembourg. No sooner are two or three persons observed standing together, than a policeman approaches, and with a tone of command pronounces, "Circulez, messieurs!--circulez, s'il vous plaît." The reason for this precaution is, that nightly at the Porte St. Martin a few score of _jeunes gens_ assemble to make a very idle and unmeaning noise, the echo of which regularly runs from street to street till the reiterated report amounts to the announcement of an _émeute_. We are all now so used to these harmless little _émeutes_ at the Porte St. Martin, that we mind them no more than General Lobau himself: nevertheless, it is deemed proper, trumpery as the cause may be, to prevent anything like a gathering together of the mob in the vicinity of the Luxembourg, lest the same hundred-tongued lady who constantly magnifies the hootings of a few idle mechanics into an _émeute_ should spread a report throughout France that the Luxembourg was besieged by the people. The noise which had disturbed us was occasioned by the gathering together of about a dozen persons; but a policeman was in the midst of the group, and we heard rumours of an _arrestation_. In less than five minutes, however, everything was quiet again: but we marked two figures so picturesque in their republicanism, that we resumed our seats while a sketch was made from them, and amused ourselves the while in fancying what the ominous words could be that were so cautiously exchanged between them. M. de L---- said that there could be no doubt that they ran thus: "Ce soir, à la Porte St. Martin!" _Answer._--"J'y serai." [Illustration: Drawn & Etched by A. Hervieu. "CE SOIR À LA PORTE ST. MARTIN!" "J'Y SERAI." London, Published by Richard Bentley, 1836.] LETTER XXV. Chapelle Expiatoire.--Devotees seen there.--Tri-coloured flag out of place there.--Flower Market of the Madeleine.--Petites Maîtresses. Of all the edifices finished in Paris since my last visit, there is not one which altogether pleases me better than the little "Chapelle Expiatoire" erected in memory of Louis the Sixteenth, and his beautiful but ill-starred queen. This monument was planned and in part executed by Louis the Eighteenth, and finished by Charles the Tenth. It stands upon the spot where many butchered victims of the tyrant mob were thrown in 1793. The story of the royal bodies having been destroyed by quicklime is said to have been fabricated and circulated for the purpose of preventing any search after them, which might, it was thought, have produced a dangerous reaction of feeling among the whim-governed populace.