seem to enjoy themselves very much. They are in the midst of places of
recreation of all kinds, such as guinguettes, tennis-courts, dancing salons
and cafés, and besides these (places of Elysium for English soldiers), wine
and brandy shops innumerable; our soldiers seem to agree very well with the
inhabitants. In the Bois de Boulogne are Hanoverian troops as well as
English. At Passy I stopped at the house occupied by my friend, Major C. of
the 33rd Regt.,[38] who was to accompany me to St Cloud. St Cloud is an
exceedingly neat pretty town, well and solidly built, and tolerably large.
There are a great many good restaurants and cafes, as St Cloud with its
Palace, promenades and gardens forms one of the most favourite resorts of
the Parisians on Sundays and _jours de fête_. Diners _de société_ and
_noces et festins_ are often made here; and there is both land and water
conveyance during the whole day. There are two roads by land from Paris:
the one on the Quai the whole way; the other through the Bois de Boulogne
and Champs Elysées. The gardens of St Cloud are laid out something in the
style of a _jardin anglais_, but mixed with the regular old fashioned
garden; it abounds in lofty trees, beautiful sites and well arranged vistas
commanding extensive views of Paris and the country environing. St Cloud
was the favourite residence of Napoleon; and the furniture in the palace
here shows him to be a man of the most refined taste. All is elegant and
classic; there is nothing superfluous; the furniture is modern, but in
strict imitation of the furniture of the ancients and chiefly in bronze.
There are superb vases and candelabras in marble, magnificent clocks of
various kinds, marble busts, and busts in bronze of great men, and bronze
statues large as life holding lamps. The chairs and sofas too are in a
classic taste, as are the beds and baths. We were informed here that
Blucher, who passed one night here, tore with his spur the satin covering
of one of the sofas and that he did it wilfully; but I never can believe
that the old man would be so silly, and I rather think that this story is
an invention of the keeper of the Palace, or that if it was done, it was