The Royal Hotel of the Invalids, is one of the principal establishments
in Paris, which claims the attention of the stranger, and I accordingly
went to view it with a party of friends. The principal court has just
resumed the title of _Royal_, but we could easily distinguish that it
had been a few months since dignified by that of _Imperial_. Indeed, all
over Paris, this change is very perceptible. The last letters are often
in the old gilding, and the first part of the style only altered, as the
French do not, in general, like to do _more than is necessary_, and but
seldom _condemn_ a house, but continue to patch it up in some manner, so
as to make it last a little longer, which accounts for the appearance of
antiquity which generally distinguishes their towns.
But to return to the Invalids. The establishment is said to be
calculated to accommodate 5000 men; but we found upon inquiry, that the
number then actually maintained did not exceed 3600. As it was their
dinner hour, we went into their refectory; each man has a pint of the
_vin ordinaire_, (the general price of which is from ten to twenty sous
the bottle;) but I doubt whether it would be received as a substitute
for malt liquor either at Chelsea or Kilmainham. The church of this
establishment, is one of the most splendid in the capital. The
ex-Emperor caused monuments to be erected here to Vauban and Turenne.
The latter, by a special mark of the favour of Lewis XIV. had been
interred in the royal vault at St. Denis; but his remains now rest here;
and the monument is worthy of so distinguished a general. That to
Vauban, on the opposite side, is by no means equally elegant.
The elevation of the dome of this church, exceeds that of any other
building in Paris; and the French boast, that it rises to a greater
height than St. Paul's Cathedral in London; but this I do not think is
the case, although the point is of little moment. M. Dutens gives us
the following scale of the comparative elevation of some of the highest
buildings in the world.
Toisei.