The great names of Pere la Chaise impress one, too, but differently.

There the suggestion brought constantly to his mind is, that this place

is sacred to a nobler royalty--the royalty of heart and brain. Every

faculty of mind, every noble trait of human nature, every high occupation

which men engage in, seems represented by a famous name. The effect is a

curious medley. Davoust and Massena, who wrought in many a battle

tragedy, are here, and so also is Rachel, of equal renown in mimic

tragedy on the stage. The Abbe Sicard sleeps here--the first great

teacher of the deaf and dumb--a man whose heart went out to every

unfortunate, and whose life was given to kindly offices in their service;

and not far off, in repose and peace at last, lies Marshal Ney, whose

stormy spirit knew no music like the bugle call to arms. The man who

originated public gas-lighting, and that other benefactor who introduced

the cultivation of the potato and thus blessed millions of his starving

countrymen, lie with the Prince of Masserano, and with exiled queens and

princes of Further India. Gay-Lussac the chemist, Laplace the

astronomer, Larrey the surgeon, de Suze the advocate, are here, and with

them are Talma, Bellini, Rubini; de Balzac, Beaumarchais, Beranger;

Moliere and Lafontaine, and scores of other men whose names and whose

worthy labors are as familiar in the remote by-places of civilization as

are the historic deeds of the kings and princes that sleep in the marble

vaults of St. Denis.

But among the thousands and thousands of tombs in Pere la Chaise, there

is one that no man, no woman, no youth of either sex, ever passes by

without stopping to examine. Every visitor has a sort of indistinct idea

158

The Innocents Abroad