40

PARIS .

apart for this melancholy purpose, the firstthing you encounter over an altar of skullsis this inscription; on one side,

“ Vaines-grandeurs, silence, eternite:”

on the other, <

>

“ Neant, silence etres mortels.”

Over the door is engraved

“ Has ultra metas requiescunt beatain spem expec-tantes.”

The bones being ranged in regular orderagainst the walls, in some places they formlittle cells and chapels, over one of whichis written,

“ Hie in somno pacis requiescunt majores,"

and

“ Qui dormiunt in terrae pulvere evigilabuut, alii invitara aeternam, et alii in opprobrium.”

I could gain no information respecting theorigin of these excavations. They are evi-dently artificial, probably a Roman work.The cemetery is nearly in the centre, to