midst of an eliptical plateau, paved with asphaltum. Two magnificent fountains throw up their silver waters, which fall with a pleasant sound into vast circular basins encrusted with marble; while Tritons and Nereids, attended by swans and dolphins, hasten to welcome the wonderful guest. Colossal statues stand around in their majesty, to do it honor; hoary Ocean, the classic Mediterranean, Agriculture solicitiug the gifts of earth, Commerce gathering riches from the sea, and Astronomy with her soul among the stars. Personifications of the Rhine and the Rhone, with the Genii of Flowers and Fruits, of Vintage, and of the Harvest, express the hospitalities of France. Old Egypt rests among them and is satisfied.
The Place de la Concorde, where this stranger Obelisk is domesticated, was originally the Place Louis Fifteenth, and known in the time of terror as the Place de la Revolution. Fearful baptisms of blood has that spot known, from the trampling down of thousands, in the fatal rush at the marriage festival of Louis Sixteenth, to the sad spectacle of his own decapitation, and that of the throngs who night and day fed the guillotine. In the two years that succeeded his death, more than 2000 persons of both sexes were executed here, until it was said, that the soil, pampered with its terrible aliment, rose up, and burst open, and refused to be trodden down like other earth.
