Chapter II: Letter XXIV

_Museum of French Monuments_--Steps taken by the Constituent Assembly to arrest the progress of Vandalism--Many master-pieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture, destroyed in various parts of France --_Grégoire_, ex-bishop of Blois, publishes three reports, to expose the madness of irreligious barbarism, which claim particular distinction.--They saved from destruction many articles of value in the provinces--Antique monuments found in 1711, in digging among the foundation of the ancient church of Paris--Indefatigable exertions of _Lenoir_, the conservator of this museum--The halls of this museum fitted up according to the precise character peculiar to each century, and the monuments arranged in them in historical and chronological order--Tombs of _Clovis_, _Childebert_, and _Chilperic_--Statues of _Charlemagne_, _Lewis IX_, and of _Charles_, his brother, together with those of the kings that successively appeared in this age down to king _John_--Tombs of _Charles V_, _Du Gueselin_, and _Sancerre_--Mausolea of _Louis d'Orléans_ and of _Valentine de Milan_--Statues of _Charles VI_, _Rénée d'Orléans_, _Philippe de Commines_, _Lewis XI_, _Charles VII_, _Joan_ of _Arc_, _Isabeau de Bavière_--Tomb of _Lewis XII_--Tragical death of _Charles_ the _Bad_.

LETTER XXV. _Museum of French Monuments_ continued--Tombs of _Francis I_, of the _Valois_, and of _Diane de Poitiers_--Character of that celebrated woman--Statues of _Turenne_, _Condé_, _Colbert_, _La Fontaine_, _Racine_, and _Lewis XIV_--Mausolea of Cardinals _Richelieu_ and _Mazarin_--Statues of _Montesquieu_, _Fontenelle_, _Voltaire_, _Rousseau_, _Helvetius_, _Crébillon_, and _Piron_--Tombs of _Maupertuis_, _Caylus_, and Marshal _d'Harcourt_--This museum contains a chronology of monuments, both antique and modern, from 2500 years before our era down to the present time, beginning with those of ancient Greece, and following all the gradations of the art from its cradle to its decrepitude--Sepulchre of _Héloïse_ and _Abélard_.

LETTER XXVI. Dinner at General _A----y's_--Difference in the duration of such a repast now and before the revolution--The General's ancestor, _François A----y_, planned and completed the famous canal of Languedoc--_Dépôt de la guerre_--Such an establishment much wanted in England--Its acknowledged utility has induced Austria, Spain, and Portugal, to form others of a similar nature--Geographical and topographical riches of this _dépôt_.

LETTER XXVII. _Boulevards_--Their extent--Amusements they present--_Porte St. Denis_--Anecdote of Charles VI--_Porte St. Martin_--_La Magdeleine_ --Ambulating conjurers--Means they employ to captivate curiosity.

LETTER XXVIII. French funds and national debt--Supposed liquidation of an annuity held by a foreigner before the war, and yet unliquidated--Value of a franc.

LETTER XXIX. Grand monthly parade--Etiquette observed on this occasion, in the apartments of the palace of the _Tuileries_--_Bonaparte_--His person --His public character in Paris--Obstruction which the First Consul met with in returning from the parade--_Champs Elysées_--Sports and diversions there practised--Horses, brought from Marly to this spot, the master-pieces of the two celebrated sculptors, _Costou_ --Comparison they afford to politicians.

LETTER XXX. _Madonna de Foligno_--Description of the method employed by the French artists to transfer from pannel to canvass this celebrated master-piece of _Raphael_.

LETTER XXXI. _Pont Neuf_--Henry IV--His popularity--Historical fact concerning the cause of his assassination brought to light--The Seine swollen by the rains--It presents a dull scene in comparison to the Thames--Great number of washerwomen--_La Samaritaine_--Shoe-blacks on the _Pont Neuf_--Their trade decreased--Recruiting Officers--The allurements they formerly employed are now become unnecessary in consequence of the conscription--Anecdote of a British officer on whom a French recruiter had cast his eye--Disappointment that ensued.

LETTER XXXII. Balls now very numerous every evening in Paris--_Bal du Salon des Étrangers_--Description of the women--Comparison between the French and English ladies--Character of Madame _Tallien_--Generosity, fortitude, and greatness of soul displayed by women during the most calamitous periods of the revolution--Anecdote of a young Frenchman smitten by a widow--An attachment, founded on somewhat similar circumstances, recorded by historians of Henry III of France --Sympathy, and its effects.

LETTER XXXIII. _Pont National_, formerly called the _Pont Royal_--Anecdote of Henry IV and a waterman--_Coup d'oeil_ from this bridge--Quays of Paris --Galiot of St. Cloud--_Pont de la Concorde_--Paris besieged by the Swedes, Danes, and Normans, in 885--The Seine covered with their vessels for the space of two leagues--A vessel ascends the Seine from Rouen to Paris in four days--Engineers have ever judged it practicable to render the Seine navigable, from its mouth to the capital, for vessels of a certain burden--Riches accruing from commerce pave the way to the ruin of States, as well as the extension of their conquests.

LETTER XXXIV. French literature--Effects produced on it by the revolution--The sciences preferred to literature, and for what reason--The French government has flattered the literati and artists; but the solid distinctions have been reserved for men of science--Epic Poetry --Tragedy--Comedy--Novels--Moral Fable--Madrigal and Epigram--Romance --Lyric Poetry--Song--Journals.