trophies of war are placed, and there are beds of flowers interspersed among them.  On the southern front there is a fine statue of Napoleon.  The library of the hospital contains fourteen thousand volumes, and is of course open to all the inmates.  The church is a very important part of the great pile of buildings, and is filled with statues of great military men, trophies of different campaigns, etc. etc.  The dome of this church is one of the finest in Paris, and is decorated in the interior in a gorgeous style.

Beneath the dome lies the tomb of Napoleon, the great attraction of the place.  It is, for a wonder, simple and massive in its style, and upon it are laid Napoleon’s hat, sword, imperial crown, etc. etc.  To this tomb thousands of admirers have come and will come to the latest generations, for whatever were the faults of the great military hero, he had the faculty of making passionate admirers.  The old soldiers in the institution seem to regard the tomb as an object of adoration, and guard it as carefully as they would the living body of the hero.

Across the Seine from the Hotel des Invalides, on the avenue des Champs Elysees, is the fashionable Jardin d’Hiver, a roofed garden of hot-houses, and which is open in winter as a flower-garden.  The admittance is not free, but costs a franc.  It often contains very fine collections of the costliest and rarest of plants and flowers.  The French exquisites in the cold and chilly weather are fond of frequenting its exhibitions, and to the stranger who would like to see the higher classes of Paris, in a public garden, it is an interesting place.

[Illustration:  Jardin d’Hiver.]

CHAPTER IX.

GUIZOT—­DUMAS—­SUE—­THIERS—­SAND.

[Illustration:  M. GUIZOT.]

M. GUIZOT

Pierre Francois Guillaume Guizot, was born at Nismes in 1787.  At the age of seven years he saw his own father guillotined during the reign of terror, and without doubt this fact made a deep impression upon his heart, and led him ever after instinctively to dislike the people and a popular government.  His mother took refuge in Switzerland.  She was a strong Calvinist, and from her the son imbibed his rigid Calvinistic sentiments.  He had no youth, properly speaking, for he was apparently devoid of youthful feeling and passions.  He was educated in the strict and formal school of Geneva, and his education, together with his nature, made him a stoic, a man with no sympathies for the people, lacking heart, possessing a great intellect, and rigidly honest.