the dwellings of the dead; but in one they repose in green alleys and
beneath the open sky--in the other their resting-place is in the shadowy
aisle, and beneath the dim arches of an ancient abbey. One is a temple of
nature; the other a temple of art. In one, the soft melancholy of the
scene is rendered still more touching by the warble of birds and the shade
of trees, and the grave receives the gentle visit of the sunshine and the
shower; in the other, no sound but the passing footfall breaks the silence
of the place; the twilight steals in through high and dusky windows; and
the damps of the gloomy vault lie heavy on the heart, and leave their
stain upon the moldering tracery of the tomb.

Pere la Chaise stands just beyond the Barriere d'Aulney, on a hill-side,
looking toward the city. Numerous gravel-walks, winding through shady
avenues and between marble monuments, lead up from the principal entrance
to a chapel on the summit. There is hardly a grave that has not its little
inclosure planted with shrubbery; and a thick mass of foliage half
conceals each funeral stone. The sighing of the wind, as the branches rise
and fall upon it,--the occasional note of a bird among the trees, and the
shifting of light and shade upon the tombs beneath, have a soothing effect
upon the mind; and I doubt whether any one can enter that inclosure, where
repose the dust and ashes of so many great and good men, without feeling
the religion of the place steal over him, and seeing something of the dark
and gloomy expression pass off from the stern countenance of death.

It was near the close of a bright summer afternoon that I visited this
celebrated spot for the first time. The object that arrested my attention,
on entering, was a monument in the form of a small Gothic chapel, which
stands near the entrance, in the avenue leading to the right hand. On the
marble couch within are stretched two figures, carved in stone and drest
in the antique garb of the Middle Ages. It is the tomb of Abelard and