opera often furnished sweet sounds to the lamentations of Jeremiah. Good and holy Isabella, was it to this end that you founded l'Humilité de Notre Dame !

All things, however, pass away, sometimes by the almost insensible consumption of time, at others with a sudden crash, as if destroyed by lightning. The stormy outbreak of the French Revolution in 1790 razed the Royal Abbey of Longchamps to its foundation. The promenade once so celebrated and so much frequented, remained silent and deserted by the votaries of fashion or the minions of folly; the far-famed gaiety of the French nation was for a time eclipsed; but that which never dies in France is the love of pleasure, and no sooner had a little calm succeeded the storm, than the road to Longchamps on the Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of Passion Week, was again covered with superb equipages, rich dresses, and magnificent horses. What did they go there to see? it was no longer the convent, nor to hear the sacred melodies, it was not the court with all its pomp and vanity, nor the minister, banker, merchant or citizen's proud display of wealth, all was swallowed up; it was to see the personages whom a general ebullition had raised from the bottom to the surface of society; it was to behold men sprung from the dregs of the people, enriched at the expense of their masters, conducting females as low as themselves, draped in Grecian costume ;—their red and naked arms decorated with gems; their heads surmounted with jewelled diadems; their persons covered with diamonds and necklaces of Orient pearl, forming a strange contrast to their harsh voices and coarse manners. In this crowd, however, some of truly elegant appearance might yet be seen, who, in the midst of beauty, were always the most distinguished for grace and good taste; but the number was few. Nevertheless, the coup d'œil was said to have been very brilliant.

The imperial reign was not favourable to the Longchamps promenade; Bonaparte loved magnificence, but he was not fond of reckless mirth, and the fatal result of war had stamped a certain gravity on the French character, hitherto unknown. Scarcely a family but had to mourn some dear tie, who fell covering himself with glory, but leaving a blank in hearts, whose sorrow such bloody honours could not heal. The custom of going to Longchamps was not, however, altogether abandoned, but it was principally pedestrians, and some few gentlemens' carriages, with a great number of hired coaches, that then gave activity to the scene. Since that time it has often been merely thus. If you have a pretty bonnet, a new-fashioned dress to MAY, 1840.

H H

sport, an elegant carriage to exhibit, or the wish to enjoy the fine weather and welcome the sun's return, go to Longchamps, pass the Champs Elysées, do not stop at the wood, continue the road, you will see a village, and then a farm-house; enter there, an April sun may have caused an inclination to take some refreshment after your promenade, and you will meet with a delicious cup of milk for one halfpenny; you may then behold within the enclosure of the Court yard some ruins, some scattered stones, and the fragments of a gateway ;-This is all that remains of the ROYAL ABBEY OF LONGCHAMPS. Sic transit gloria mundi. D.

THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH.

ACCORDING to some travellers, the Holy City appears to have extended for near a mile to the northward of the present walls of Jerusalem; and that near the extremity of this mile, are numerous ancient sepulchral excavations, which seem to have been placed on the outskirts of the ancient town. After passing several of these, you descend by a narrow pathway into a hollow, excavated in the rock, at the upper end of which is a long subterranean portico adorned with some ancient architectural decorations. This portico opens on a series of subterranean chambers, which, from their elegance, magnitude, and extent, have been called "the sepulchres of the Kings," and are supposed to be the royal caves mentioned by Josephus. In visiting these solemn and silent chambers, guides with lighted wax candles conduct you over stones and sand. At length you reach the first chamber, which is about seven yards square, and most exactly proportioned. Beyond this first room are six others, to some of which you descend by several steps. In most of these rooms are sepulchral niches, and in the niches are fragments of the stone sarcophagi, which once contained the bodies. Among them may be observed some pieces of white marble, sculptured with leaves and flowers. These sepulchral characters 'were originally closed with stone doors, similar to those seen in the baths and in the court of the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra. They are of one solid block of stone cut into wainstcot compartments, and turn on stone pivots grooved in the rock. The last of these sepulchral chambers is the handsomest of all; the corners of the room are adorned with pilasters, and the walls are sculptured with the leaves and branches of the vine, as are also the stone sarcophagi contained within it.

In the absence of any authentic account concerning these sepulchres, they have been dubbed by antiquity hunters, the sepulchres of the kings," so often alluded to in the Old Testament.

"Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings."

"So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers, in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings."

"And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel.”

"And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David."

As these are the most extensive and the most richly adorned of all the countless sepulchral excavations about Jerusalem, there is good reason for giving them the appellation they have received; and if that appellation be correct, the last room, which contains so great a number of receptacles for dead bodies, and is adorned with so many elegantly carved decorations, is undoubtedly "the chiefest of the sepulchres," and the one in which Hezekiah was buried.

It may be said, that according to this account, much of which has been taken from "Sketches of Jerusalem" by C. G. Addison, the sepulchral excavations were not within the city of David. But while there is every reason to believe that the Jews did not generally bury within the walls,-an excellent practice, especially in hot countries, where it is always adopted, there is no necessity for taking the words "in the city of David" otherwise than as meaning at Jerusalem.

The localities of Jerusalem, even the minutest spots are now pointed out by the monks as identical with many of the most remarkable occurrences recorded in Scripture; no doubt very often most erroneously. Time, the ravages of war, the judgments of Heaven have swept away, buried, broken, or obliterated the work of men's hands, which once rendered Jerusalem the wonder of the world. The tombs cut out of the rock, have, however, in many cases, naturally withstood the action of the climate, the levellings of ages, and of enemies. There are also other remains, but not the work of man, that bring the senses, as well as the imagination and the soul of the traveller, into close contact with the great and awful days of Jerusalem's history.

Go to the summit of Mount Olives! There you may legitimately indulge in the varied associations and recollections which