The New Hampshire Gazette

Malmaison; or Le Chateau De Malmaison.

The magnificent old castle, now occupied by General Bonaparte, is pleasantly seated on the river Seine, nine miles from Paris, and three from St. Germain's; it was erected by Francis Mansart for Mons. De Longueil, President of Parliament, and Superintendant of the Finances; and at the revolution belonged to the Comte d'Artois. The noble avenues, disposed in the form of a cross; and having each two pavilions, decorated with different styles of architecture and separated by a moat, conduct you to the castle. The principal avenue, intersected with roads in the forest of St. Germain, has in perspective two pavilions, with rustic columns, supporting groupes of children, bearing baskets of flowers. On entering the second avenue, on the left, are placed on lofty pedestals, statues of Mars and Minerva, with children and their attributes. A noble building, appropriated for stables, to which belong a riding school, with the same on each side. The front of the castle on the court side is decorated, in the antique style, with two orders of architecture, namely Doric and the ancient Ionic, ornamented with four vases, surmounted by an attic of Corinthian pilasters--On this side of the court are two plantations, most beautifully formed; that on the left is terminated by an orangery.

The castle is surrounded by a dry fosse and bordered by a terrace, which continues round the principal court. The vestibule, after the state of that of the Tuileries is beautified by columns and Doric pilasters of one solid piece.--In the hall the tapestry is after Jordaens; and on the staircase on the landing are Ionic pilasters, between which are large cornices, with groupes of figures, representing Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Cupid and Hymen, and above all, the art of war. On the right is what were termed the apartments of the Queen. The King's apartments are on the other side of the hall, with the corps de Garde, hung with tapestry, presented to Mons. de Maisons, when he was Chancellor of the Queen Mother, and communicate with another chamber, supported by cariatides, in an attic raised out of the ceiling.--On the side is a beautiful round cabinet; the periphery of the walls is embellished with some pilasters, intermixed with looking glass; and the ceiling forms a lofty dome. On the roof of the castle is an extensive terrace, bordered with an iron balcony; a handsome terrace, stretches the whole length of the building, from which is a descent to a pasture, terminated by the river Seine; at the foot of the terrace on the left, between the flights of the steps, which form the figure of a horse shoe, is a little cascade with five pipes, making as many sheets of water. Orange trees are placed in the walks in front and in a half moon at the foot of the staircase.