forth peals of laughter from the audience. In point of manipulation, it appeared to me that the French lecturers are not more expert or skilful, than our own; but students, who attend the amphitheatres daily, think otherwise. TIES-PALACE LETTER XL. OF PARIS CONTINUED-ROYAL LIBRARY-CABINET OF ANTIQUI- January, 1826.-Among the noblest institutions that enrich and adorn the metropolis of France, are the public libraries, which in number and extent far exceed any thing of the kind to be found in our country, or in Great Britain. Almost every civil, ecclesiastical, and even military establishment, possesses a valuable collection of books and manuscripts, which are accessible to the public, and diffuse useful information through all classes of the community. The most extensive of these is the Royal Library, which was commenced as early as the 12th century, and has been gradually increasing, till it at present contains four or five hundred thousand volumes, together with eighty thousand manuscripts. A series of halls 500 feet in length are appropriated to this invaluable collection. Tables and seats are provided for visiters, who may sit and peruse the rarest works in every language. Many persons appear to avail themselves of this privilege; for on the day of our visit, cold as it was, the tables were crowded with guests at the literary feast; and among the rest, one of our own countrymen was here found poring over Dutch folios. The books are neatly arranged, and bear the marks of being kept more for use than show. It would be an endless task to specify even the rarest productions, which crowd the shelves. In the centre of one of the halls is a pretty ornament, representing Mount Parnassus, its rocky sides being shaded with shrubbery and mantled with ivy. The top is surmounted by a Pegasus; and near the winged steed is a figure of Apollo, intended to personify Louis XIV. encircled by the sister hood of the Muses. Bronze statues of eminent poets, occupy stations along the cliffs, at an altitude corresponding with an estimate of their respective merits. Some of them have nearly reached the summit, and are basking in the smiles of Phoebus; while others have just commenced climbing the crags, and see hill rise over hill above them.* The same hall contains a model of the Egyptian Pyramids, preserving the relative proportions of their altitudes, the formation of the surface of the ground in the vicinity, and the most striking objects in the scenery. In a contiguous room are two globes, a celestial, and terrestrial, thirteen feet in diameter. Although the delineations are said to be accurate, the apparatus appeared to be unwieldy, and an object of curiosity rather than utility. A large orrery standing near by, illustrating all the movements and phenomena of the solar system, with the orbits of several comets, is entitled to more praise. A fine bust of Voltaire is also among the ornaments of the gallery. We examined the cabinet of antiquities, the articles of which are so numerous as to distract the attention, and to leave the visiter in doubt which to select as the most curious. A description of them fills a volume, which is kept for sale by the superintendent. The museum contains 80,000 medals; 5000 portfolios, tracing the genealogies of the French nobility; the same number of volumes of engravings, comprising among other things 50,000 portraits of celebrated characters in all countries for the last six hundred years; and the costumes, manners, and amusements of every nation upon the globe. Fortunately for the visiter, some of these cabinets of curiosity are not open to the public. A person might pass his whole life in this establishment, without exhausting the sources of instruction and amusement it contains. On the evening of the first of January, I went to witness a novel and farcical spectacle, which was nothing less than to see the king and royal family dine in public, at the palace of the Tuilleries! A report had gone forth, that whosoever would put on small-clothes, with the usual accompaniments of a full dress, might be admitted into the presence of his majesty, and attend the regal banquet. It was the unanimous opinion of our republican circle, that we would not subject *The design of this Mount is not an original idea, but was doubtless borrowed from a fresco in the Chambers of Raphael at the Vatican. ourselves to the expense and humiliation of such a metamorphosis, for the sake of seeing an assemblage of all the crowned heads in Europe. This first impression was strengthened perhaps by the laughable account, which one of our friends gave of his own adventures, on an occasion somewhat similar. He took it into his head, that he would go to court, and by way of preparation mounted a cocked hat, a sword, and epaulettes, and military boots reaching considerably above the knee-all which equipments were hired for the night at a trifling expense. In this guise he was ushered into the room among marshals, generals, admirals, nobles, kings, and princes; but as this was his first appearance in a martial attitude, and his dress was a world too wide for his slender frame, he was obliged to use both hands, to keep the articles ́of his uniform in place. After marching up to the king with as fierce a look as possible, and receiving the salutation of "how do you do, sir? I hope to see you very well"-he made a hasty retreat, blundering out of the room, with his sword dangling between his legs, and clattering against his French boots. Having no curiosity to repeat such adventures, we had given up all idea of witnessing this unique raree-show, when a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, who is a native of the same town, and was once a school-fellow with me, was so kind as to present a ticket of admission, with assurances that no change in dress would be requisite. Upon such conditions the favour was accepted, and at 5 o'clock we set out for the Tuilleries, in company with a lady and gentleman from Philadelphia. None but the carriages of the nobility were permitted to drive into the court, and the whole plebeian multitude of both sexes were compelled to dash through mud and water, in the same shoes which were destined to trample on royal carpets. On arriving at the door, we found the arcades thronged with ladies and gentlemen from all nations,and jabbering in all languages. There were men without females, and females without men, all huddled together like so many sheep in a fold, exposed to the inclemency of the night, with nothing but ranges of Corinthian columns to shelter them from the piercing winds. The gates on either side were closed, and there was neither ingress nor egress; otherwise a hasty retreat would have been effected. In this condition the crowd remained for an hour or more, when the doors were thrown open, and the long procession marched up the grand stair-case, guarded by a line of soldiers, into the chambers of the Tuilleries. At the portal, an officer sung out, 66 a bas chapeau !"-off hats! The ladies were dismantled of their shawls, and directed to drop the arms of their companions, to walk single-file into the presence of his majesty. They found themselves subjected for perhaps the first time to military discipline; and although a degree of insubordination prevailed among the raw recruits at the outset, they eventually became good soldiers, treading the floor with martial pomp, and pushing their conquest with great gallantry. The slowness of our march toward head-quarters afforded us a favourable opportunity for examining the king's apartments at the Tuilleries, which were brilliantly illuminated by a full blaze of chandeliers, exhibiting the lofty fresco ceilings, spacious saloons, Gobelin tapestry, Savonniere carpets, silken couches, and other splendid furniture up to the throne itself, to the best possible advantage. Our entrée was through the large room denominated Salle des Marechaux, from the circumstance of its containing portraits of the Marshals of France, and busts of other distinguished officers, who have fallen in battle. The next in order are the Saloon of the Nobles, and the Saloon of Peace, the ceilings of which are splendidly adorned with allegorical paintings. In the latter is a fine emblematic statue of massive silver, holding a cornucopiæ. Before reaching these rooms, the echoes of music from an excellent band stationed in the banqueting hall, stole at first faintly upon the ear, but grew louder and louder at every stage of our progress. The fourth in the long succession of apartments is called the Salle du Trone, where the throne of the Bourbons burst upon our republican eyes in all its splendour. It is canopied with crimson velvet, bordered with gold, and embossed with fleurs-de-lis, the curtains being suspended from a crown of laurel and wreaths of oak, surmounted by a plumed helmet. The ascent to the seat is by three steps; and the whole apparatus, as well as the room itself, is gorgeously decorated with the costliest ornaments, to which many a citizen, now perhaps suffering the hardships of penury, has contributed. We at length reached the dining-room, which is spacious, but was filled to overflowing, even to the windows, with ladies and gentlemen who had been presented at court, and were therefore privileged to remain during the whole banquet-a prerogative which I felt little anxiety to enjoy. Temporary boxes had been erected round the hall, overlooking the table. These were filled with ladies in full dresses, who sat the whole evening, patiently watching all the important movements at the festive board. A little incident occurred, showing to what extent a taste for such scenes is carried by fashionable people in Europe. A general in the British army, who had behaved with great gallantry in several battles, and received one or two wounds in the service of his country, tamely suffered himself to be pushed about from place to place by the waiters of his majesty, all for the sake of seeing a man, of probably not half the talent or worth with himself, munch his bread and take his soup. The table was in a semi-circular form, on the outer side of which, near the centre, the King was seated, with the Duke d'Angouleme on his right, the Dutchess d'Angouleme on his left, and the Dutchess de Berry on the extreme right. They all sat at respectable distances, looking cold and unsocial enough, staring at the crowd, and the crowd staring at them. His majesty is a genteel man in his appearance, with rather a thin face, and a gray head, with no marks of decrepitude, though now at the age of sixty-nine. There was nothing peIculiar in his dress. He seemed less embarrassed by his awkward situation, than the rest of the royal group, who sat like statues over their plates, while he handled his knife and fork with a good deal of ease and dexterity. His whole appearance is so like the Philadelphian, who accompanied us, that the latter has several times been taken for the king while walking the streets of Paris. The Duke and Dutchess d'Angouleme are both coarse in their features, particularly the latter, who has a bold masculine face, and looks as if she might be a Catherine of Russia in character. She is said to be a woman of talents, and to have an ascendency in the cabinet, whence originate all the ultra measures of the government.* The king has not half the ability of Louis XVIII. Aware of his weakness, it is said he is inclined to relax the cords of government, and to pursue a popular course; but his authority is overruled by others. His son, the Dauphin, is now at the age of about fifty, and looks as old as his father. On his shoulders, and * Napoleon used to say, that the Dutchess d'Angouleme is the only man among the Bourbons! |