the Gobelins may again have its day. Gilles Gobelin, of Rheims, a celebrated dyer, erected the manufactory during the reign of Francis I. There is a statue in imitation of the Belvidere Apollo, fixed at the extremity of one of the apartments, admirably executed, and which I have heard some persons compare to the original.

The Hotel de Ville, or Municipal Hall, is worthy of a traveller's attention, on account of its antiquity, and its having been the focus of many extraordinary events. It was built in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and contains a very extensive range of apartments. After the

10th of August, 1792, all the inscriptions and ancient ornaments were taken down, and others more conformable with the spirit of the times, substituted in their room. When the king was brought from Versailles to Paris, by the mob appointed for that purpose, he was exhibited at one of the windows of this hall to the populace, and M. Bailly, the astronomer, and mayor of the city, told him it was a fine day, and presented him with a National cockade as a bouquet. This was the place where Robespierre retreated after he had been outlawed, and in front of it is the lamp iron which enriched the French language with a new word. Here the red flag, with the inscription, Citoyens, la patrie est en danger, was first unfurled, and served as the signal of septemberizations and

massa

massacre; and here the Guillotine is preserved for the inspection of the curious.

Twelve years ago, the Garde Meuble was one of the principal curiosities which attracted the attention of foreigners. The apartments were filled with ancient armoury, national and foreign, rare tapestries, after the cartoons and designs of Durer, Lucas of Leyden, Julius Romano, Raphael, Le Brun and Coypel; precious vases; presents from ambassadors; jewels, pearls, diamonds, and a multitude of other rich and valuable articles. In the month of September, 1792, a band of thieves broke into the halls, and carried off a great quantity of their riches, among other things, the Pitt diamond, the largest belonging to the crown. However, there are still some precious antiques remaining, such as the sword of Henry IV. the spontoon of Paul V. and the polished armour worn by Francis I. at the battle of Pavia, with which on the day of the capture of the Bastille, a cobler of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, then on guard, completely caparisoned himself, to the utter astonishment of the spectators. The exterior of this vast edifice has not suffered by the blows of the Revolution. I have not yet learnt to what purpose government intend to convert it.

LETTER

LETTER XXVIII.

The Conservatory of Arts and Machines.

THE

ravages of the Revolution had completely laid waste the whole of France, and no encouragement being afforded to inventive genius, excepting as far as it related to the arts of war and desolation, the labours of the most eminent artists were either suspended or transferred to foreign countries. It was not to be expected that the murderers of Lavoisier would become the patrons of arts and useful sciences; much less that the ingenious mechanic should answer with the artist of antiquity," the noise of arms has not interrupted my labours, for Demetrius wages war on the Rhodians, and not against the arts."

In ancient times, the boldest warriors were disarmed by the voice of philosophy, and the triumphant general never disdained to pay homage to the retreats of science and literature. When Pompey, the conqueror of Mithridates, of Africa, and of Asia, who disputed with Cæsar the empire of the world, approached the threshold of Posidonius, he laid down his fasces, the emblem of his power, his ambition, and his laurels, at the gate of the philosopher, with whom he was going to converse, leaving it a doubt amongst sages,

which was the greatest of the two, the philosopher or the conqueror. Such was the politeness of ancient times. But, if Rome possessed only one Memmius, France has produced her hundreds. In the short space of ten years, they have done more injuries to the useful arts than all the Alarics and the Omars of antiquity.

However, they had not proceeded very far in the route of devastation, when a few enlightened men, who perceived the alarming extent of the mischief threatened to be entailed upon posterity, courageously opposed their further progress, aud though they could not prevent the evil, they adopted the most provident precautions to stop its fury.

Accordingly, through the indefatigable exertions of Bishop Grégoire, the National Convention, on the 11th of October, 1794, decreed the establishment of a Conservatory of arts, whose object was to collect machines, utensils, designs, descriptions, and experiments relative to the improvement of industry, and to diffuse the knowledge of them throughout the republic. But it was one thing to decree, and another to execute. By an inconceivable remissness, the execution of that law was suspended for three years. National edifices were often granted by dint of favour to useless projectors, while the Conservatory of Arts could not obtain a place wherein to display its riches and means of instruction. Grégoire has repeat

edly

edly told me, that a crowd of respectable artizans, supposing that as he was the reporter in the business, he could accelerate the establishment of the institution, have often applied to him with the bitterest complaints, that every thing was done for the agreeable arts, but nothing for those which are useful.

On the 16th of December, 1795, the Executive Directory sent a message to the Council of Five Hundred, desiring that a portion of the former Abbey of St. Martin should be appropriated to this object. Almost a year after this message, the Council resolved that no other expence should be incurred for the Conservatory than what was necessary to prevent the instruments from going to decay. This magnanimous, economical, politic, and philosophical decree, by which a few pounds were saved, by suffering what had cost thousands go to ruin, was soon called in question; because, for want of a proper depot, the immense and invaluable quantity of objects which had been accumulated, could not be preserved; and the funds necessary to set the institution in motion, would prove to be laid out to the greatest interest from the influence which it would have over national industry.

to

At length a decree passed on the 7th of May, 1797, by which the three depots where the instruments had been distributed; namely, at the Louvre, in the Rue Charonne, and in the Rue de l'Université,