and which only recoil, like the Engineer's Petar' on himself. I shall now, my dear Sir, detain you no longer from your severer studies; but, as we are on our favourite topics, and have the old books of gardeners open before us, I may as well add, that you have heard me mention in conversation to you, that some people, among others particularly Mr. Johnson, the knoтúpavvos, or learned head gardener of HamptonCourt, is still obstinately incredulous as to the existence of the misseltoe on the oak, notwithstanding the positive declaration of the Poet Laureate, who himself beheld it, (see Mrs. Bray's Letters on the Tamar,) perhaps you will agree with me in thinking it good to remind this gentleman of a passage in Sir H. Platte's Garden of Eden, 1675, p. 56, on this subject, "By sitting upon a hill late in the evening, near a wood, in a few nights a fine duck will appear: mark where it lighteth, and then you shall find an oak with a misseltoe thereon, at the root wherof there is a Misle-Childe, whereof many strange things are conceved.” The same author gives notice in another page (63), how to water pentagons, pyramids, and beasts made of wood and lead; but, as all the statues at Hampton Court have been stolen and taken to Windsor, this prescription will not be necessary at present I will not, however, detain you longer, as you are probably now sowing your " aniseeds and fenigreek," while the weather is open. I am, &c. B——ll. J. M. HOTEL DE SENS, AT PARIS. AT the corner of the Rue du Figuier, in the part of Paris which is rendered peculiarly interesting to the antiquary by the remains of the ancient and splendid Monastery of the Celestins in its vicinity, and not far from the present Arsenal, stands the old Hôtel of the Archbishops of Sens, one of the most interesting specimens of the domestic architecture of the middle ages which has been preserved to the present day. We can fix very nearly the date of the first erection of this building. In 1292, when was drawn up the "Livre de la Taille de Paris," recently published by the French Historical Commission, the site and immediate neighbourhood appears to have been occupied entirely by bourgeois. In 1309, Etienne Regnaud, Archbishop of Sens, who had built it for his own residence, left his hotel by will to the Archbishops his successors, to be their residence in Paris. During the time that King John, taken at the disastrous battle of Cresy, was prisoner in England, the dauphin (afterwards Charles V.) began the foundation of the famous Hôtel St. Paul. Between 1360 and 1365, Charles bought of different persons and at different times, the various hôtels, houses, gardens, &c. which covered the extensive site reaching from the Rue St. Antoine to the Seine, and from the Rue St. Paul to the fossés of the Arsenal and the Bastile. The Hôtel de Sens was sold to the King by the Archbishop William de Melun in 1365, * Among other things, your sage Reviewer in the Quarterly, (p. 345), laments that the White Mulberry is not more grown in England, for the silk-worm; not reflecting, that the white mulberry is among the latest of trees in putting forth its foliage, and that the worm would have burst the egg before there were auy leaves for them to eat. This reason, and the tenderness of the tree, are quite sufficient to put an end to this speculation, unless he proposes to force vegetation, (as Sir Hugh Platt advises, v. Garden of Eden, P. ii. p. 50.) by manuring "with shavings of horn, and powdered beefe-broth such as Mr. Flower useth by Bednal-Green, in forwarding of outlandish seedes. The shavings of horn will in time grow to a jelly, when you may apply the same, without discovery of the secret." Still we do not wish to discourage the Reviewer from his experiments, for, as the Eastern Proverb says, "Wait, and the mulberry leaf will become satin." GENT. MAG. VOL. XI. U for the sum of eleven thousand five hundred francs. Charles V. united it to the domain of the crown." Charles does not seem to have altered in any great degree the face of the mass of buildings thus joined together, when he gave to the united assemblage the name of the Hôtel St. Paul, from the name of the adjoining church. On the contrary, the whole seems to have been a vast and confused mass of houses, and courts, and gardens; and we find each of the older hôtels still spoken of by their former names. Charles himself occupied the Hôtel de Sens, which we may therefore suppose to have been by far the most magnificent and capacious. An official document used by the different historians of Paris gives us a list of the rooms which he occupied therethey were, one or two halls, an antechamber, a wardrobe, a room of parade, another room where he slept (la chambre où gît le roi), and the "chambre des nappes." There were also a chapel, one or two galleries, the "grand chambre du retrait," the "chambre de l'estude," a "chambre des estuves," and one or two chambers called chauffe-doux, from the stoves with which they were warmed in winter. There were also a garden, a park, places for exercise, an aviary, a dove-cote, and a menagerie where were kept not only boars, but lions. The Hôtel St. Paul became from this time a favourite residence of the kings of France, until, by degrees, its inconvenient and unhealthy position in the vicinity of the great ditches caused it to be neglected, and by the end of the fifteenth century it was already fallen into ruins. In 1516 Francis the First began to sell it in portions, particularly that part whose site is now occupied by the Arsenal, and by degrees the whole was thus disposed of. Of the vicissitudes through which from this time the Hôtel de Sens passed, very little is known. At present it is let to poor families, and part of it is used as a waggon office. The structure is still in a good state of preservation, and is a perfect model of a noble mansion of the fifteenth century, to which period its architecture shows that the present erection belongs. Its strong outside is characteristic of the period when people sought security as well as comfort in their houses, and over the gateway, at the point of the arch, is a very sin. gular opening, intended, no doubt, as a means of annoying those who might attempt to force the door from the outside. This gateway, flanked by two round overhanging turrets, is represented in our engraving. There are indications of some niches near the corner, which evidently were formerly the receptacles of a Rood with the Virgin and St. John. There was fighting in the street before this house at the revolution of 1830, and the masonry around the gateway showed some marks of injury. Within, the Hôtel de Sens has a finely groined roof. The windows are very remarkable, and at the southwestern corner of the court there is a curious turret with a machicolated projection. We understand that there are strong hopes the French Government will be shortly induced to buy this interesting relic, with the Hôtel de Cluny, described in a recent number of our Magazine, and that of La Tremouille, of which we intend to give an account on an early occasion-and that they will be preserved and restored as so many national monuments of the first importance, and as studies for the architect and the antiquary. CHURCH OF ST. MARY ABBAT'S, KENSINGTON. MR. URBAN, MR. FAULKNER, in his History of Kensington, published in 1820, has described all the monuments and epitaphs which he found in the church. Since the publication of that work, however, many others have been erected, and it may not be useless to garner in your pages an account of parcels which he When his father, Charles laid a tax upon the city of Paris to buy the different thus joined together, and to pay the expenses connected with it. King John, returned out of captivity, he seized upon this tax and applied it to other purposes, and raised another in its place; so that the Parisians paid twice for the purchase of the Hôtel St. Paul, which was the cause of no little heartburnings afterwards. such amongst them as appertain to notable individuals, or are likely to excite any degree of general interest. The most prominent addition is a marble tablet affixed to a pillar on the north side of the east end of the centre aile (or nave), surmounted by a beautifully executed bust from the studio of Chantrey. The tablet bears this inscription : In memory of THOMAS RENNELL, B. D. late Vicar of this parish, the respect and affection of the inhabitants of Kensington have erected this bust. The son of Thomas Rennell, D. D. Dean of Winchester, and Sarah, daughter of Sir W. Blackstone, his talents, acquirements, and virtues were not unworthy such progenitors. He was born in 1786, educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, ordained in 1810, collated to this vicarage in 1816. He deceased June 30th, 1824. A subscription having been set on foot amongst the parishioners, for the purpose of raising some testimony of respect for Mr. Rennell, Chantrey was applied to for assistance as a personal friend of the Vicar, and he ultimately undertook the task of working a bust, and consented to receive for his labours whatever might happen to be subscribed. The bust, although chiefly from memory, is deemed an excellent likeness. Against the second pillar from the west, on the south side of the church, is a small plain tablet inscribed, To the memory of 44 History of British India," Mr. Mill resided in a house in Vicarage Row, Kensington, at present occupied by Sir David Wilkie. Against the west wall, on the same side of the church, there is a tablet to Francis Colman, the inscription on which is recorded by Faulkner. Over this an urn, with drapery, and two shields at the foot of it have been added. Upon the urn is the following : To the memory of GEORGE COLMAN, son of Francis Colman, patentee of the Royal Theatre, Haymarket, Translator of Terence, Author of the Jealous Wife, and of various other works of literary eminence. Died 14th of August, 1794, aged 62. The southernmost shield is thus inscribed: To the memory of GEORGE COLMAN the Younger, who succeeded his father as patentee of the Haymarket Theatre. He was pre-eminent as a dramatist, admired as a poet, and beloved as a man. Colman, the Muse's child, the Drama's pride, Died October 26th, 1836. At the time of his death, Mr. Colman resided in Brompton-square. It is somewhat singular that more accomplished verses were not provided for the poet's monument. The second shield is blank. The most recently erected tablet in the church is a memorial of the kindheartedness of our present amiable and accomplished Sovereign. It is affixed to the reveal of a window at the east end of the south aile, and presents these lines: Sacred to the memory of Mr. WILLIAM MASON, late coachman to her Majesty Queen Victoria, who died April 12th, 1838, aged 65, having served 48 years in the royal establishment. This tablet is erected by her Majesty's command, as a token of regard for the memory of an old and faithful servant. In the churchyard lies John Charles Canning, son of the Right Hon. George Canning. He died on the 31st of March, 1820. The Church has been recently repaired and decorated under the direction of the Messrs. Godwin, architects, at a total expense of 3791. 88. 3d. which included relaying the roof with lead, and some alterations in the vestry-room. The church was closed for the purpose on Monday, the 3rd of September, and was opened again on the 7th of October, 1838; on which occasion the present Rector, the Venerable Archdeacon Pott, preached an appropriate sermon in aid of the |