Part 46

The department of prints and engraved plates, formed of the celebrated cabinets of MAHOLLES, BERINGHEN, GAIGNIÈRES, UXELLES, BEGON, GAYLUS, FONTETTE, MARIETTE, &c. contained, before the revolution the most ample, rich, and valuable collection in Europe. It is placed in the _entresol_, and is divided into twelve classes.

The first class comprehends sculptors, architectural engineers, and engravers, from the origin of the French nation to the present day, arranged in schools.

The second, prints, emblems, and devices of piety.

The third, every thing relative to fables and Greek and Roman antiquities.

The fourth, medals, coins, and heraldry.

The fifth, public festivals, cavalcades, and tournaments.

The sixth, arts and mathematics.

The seventh, prints relating to novels and books of entertainment.

The eighth, natural history in all its branches.

The ninth, geography.

The tenth, plans and elevations of ancient and modern buildings.

The eleventh, portraits of all professions, to the number of upwards of fifty thousand.

The twelfth, a collection of the fashions and dresses of almost every country in the world.

Since 1789, the augmentations made to it are considerable. Among these must be distinguished four hundred and thirty-five volumes brought from the library of Versailles, and fifty-two others, infinitely valuable, respecting China, found at the residence of M. BERTIN, Minister, about eight thousand prints brought from Holland, the greater part of them, very fine impressions; and about twelve thousand collected by different emigrants, almost all modern, indeed, but one half of which are select, and remarkable for their fine preservation.

Among five hundred volumes, obtained from the suppressed religious corporations, are to be remarked one hundred and nine port-folios from the abbey of _St. Victor_, in Paris, containing a beautiful series of mythological, historical, and typographical subjects. This forms a valuable addition to the collection of the same kind of which the department of prints was already in possession.

In one hundred and forty-four volumes brought from Cologne, there are several scarce and singular engravings.

As for sixty articles sent from Italy, they are, with the exception of the _Museum Pio-Clementinum_, in such a state of degradation that they are scarcely fit for any thing but to mark the place which each composition has to occupy.

Since 1789, the department of prints has made several acquisitions deserving of notice, such as the works of LEBAS, MARCENAY, and RODE, all extremely difficult to find complete, and three hundred and seventeen plates sent from Germany by FHAUENHOTZ; most of them executed by foreign engravers, and some are very capital.

A few well-known distinguished artists and amateurs, among whom I must not omit to name DENON, ST. AUBIN, and LAMOTTE, a merchant at Havre, have generously enriched the department of prints with a great number of very valuable ones.

The library is open every day, Sundays, and days of national fêtes excepted, from ten o'clock till two, to persons who wish to read, study, or take notes; and for whom every accommodation is provided; but to such as are attracted by curiosity alone, on the Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, at the same hours. On those days, you may perambulate in the different rooms of this magnificent establishment; on the other days, walking is here prohibited, in order that students may not be interrupted. However, JOHN BULL seems to pay little regard to this prohibition. Englishmen are frequently seen stalking about the rooms at the forbidden time, as if they meant to shew that they disdained the rules of propriety and decorum.[1]

Under the government which succeeded the monarchy, was established, within the precincts of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, a

SCHOOL FOR ORIENTAL LIVING LANGUAGES.

The design of this school, _which is of acknowledged utility in politics and commerce_, is to qualify persons to supply the place of the French droguemans in the East, who, at the beginning of the troubles which distracted France, abandoned the interests of their country, and deserted their stations.

LANGLÈS, president of this school, here teaches the Persian and Malay languages.

SILVESTRE DE SACY, literal and vulgar Arabic.

JAUBERT, Turkish and the Tartarian of the Crimea.

DANSE DE VILLOISON, modern Greek.

In general, very few pupils are instructed here, and the greater part of those who begin the courses of lectures, do not follow them three months. This fact I gathered from the professors themselves. When FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU was Minister, he had attached to this school an Armenian, named CIREIED, who gave lessons in his native language, which are now discontinued.

A course of archæology is also delivered here by the learned MILLIN. The object of this course is to explain antique monuments, and compare them with passages of the classics. The professor indicates respecting each monument the opinions of the different learned men who have spoken of it: he also discusses those opinions, and endeavours to establish that which deserves to be adopted. Every year he treats on different subjects. The courses which he has already delivered, related to the study of medals, and that of engraved stones; the explanation of the ancient monuments still existing in Spain, France, and England; the history of ancient and modern Egypt; sacred and heroic mythology, under which head he introduced an explanation of almost every monument of literature and art deserving to be known.

[Footnote 1: It is the intention of the government to remove the _Bibliothèque Nationale_ to the _Louvre_, or _Palais National des Sciences & des Arts_, as soon as apartments can be prepared for its reception.]

LETTER LXIV.

_Paris, February 8, 1803._

Having complied with your desire in regard to the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, I shall confine myself to a hasty sketch of the other principal public libraries, beginning with the

BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE.

By his will, dated the 6th of March 1662, Cardinal MAZARIN bequeathed this library for the convenience of the literati. It was formed by GABRIEL NAUDÉ of every thing that could be found most rare and curious, as well in France as in foreign countries. It occupies one of the pavilions and other apartments of the _ci-devant Collège Mazarin ou des Quatre Nations_, at present called _Palais des Beaux Arts_.

No valuable additions have been made to this library since the revolution; but it is kept in excellent order. The Conservators, LE BLOND, COQUILLE, and PALISSOT, whose complaisance is never tired, are well known in the Republic of Letters. It is open to the public every day, from ten o'clock to two, Sundays, Thursdays, and the days of national fêtes excepted.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU PANTHÉON.

Next to the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, this library is said to contain the most printed books and manuscripts, which are valuable on account of their antiquity, scarceness, and preservation. It formerly bore the title of _Bibliothèque de St. Geneviève_, and belonged to the Canons of that order, who had enriched it in a particular manner. The acquisitions it has made since the revolution are not sufficiently important to deserve to be mentioned. With the exception of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, not one of the public libraries in Paris has enjoyed the advantage of making improvements and additions. The library of the _Pantheon_ is open to the public on the same days as the _Bibliothèque Mazarine_.

The present Conservators are DAUNOU, VENTENAT, and VIALLON. The first two are members of the National Institute.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ARSENAL.

This library, one of the richest in Paris, formerly belonged to the

Count d'Artois. It is destined for the _Conservative Senate_, in whose palace a place is preparing for its reception. However, it is thought that this removal cannot take place in less than a year and a half or two years. It has acquired little since the revolution, and is frequented less than the other libraries, because it is rather remote from the fashionable quarters of the town. There are few inquisitive persons in the vicinity of the Arsenal; and indeed, this library is open only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of every week from ten o'clock till two. AMEILHON, of the Institute, is Administrator; and SAUGRAIN, Conservator.

Before I quit this library, you will, doubtless expect me to say something of the place from which it derives its appellation; namely,

THE ARSENAL.

It is a pile of building, forming several courts between the _Quai des Célestins_ and the _Place de la Liberté_, formerly the _Place de la Bastille_. Charles V had here erected some storehouses for artillery, which were lent very unwillingly by the Provost of Paris to Francis I, who wanted them for the purpose of casting cannon. As was foreseen, the king kept possession of them, and converted them into a royal residence. On the 28th of January 1562, lightning fell on one of the towers, then used as a magazine, and set fire to fifteen or twenty thousand barrels of powder. Several lives were lost, and another effect of this explosion was that it killed all the fishes in the river. Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV rebuilt the Arsenal, and augmented it considerably. Before the revolution, the founderies served for casting bronze figures for the embellishment of the royal gardens. The Arsenal then contained only a few rusty muskets and some mortars unfit for service, notwithstanding the energetic inscription which decorated the gate on the _Quai des Célestins_:

"Ætnæ hæc Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat, Tela gigantæos debellatura furores."

NICOLAS BOURBON was the author of these harmonious lines, which so much excited the jealousy of the famous poet, SANTEUIL, that he exclaimed in his enthusiasm, "I would have wished to have made them, and been hanged."

During the course of the revolution, the buildings of the Arsenal have been appropriated to various purposes: at present even they seem to have no fixed destination. Here is a garden, advantageously situated, which affords to the inhabitants of this quarter an agreeable promenade.

The before-mentioned libraries are the most considerable in Paris; but the _National Institute_, the _Conservative Senate_, the _Legislative Body_, and the _Tribunate_, have each their respective library, as well as the _Polytechnic School_, the _Council of the School of Mines_, the _Tribunal of Cassation_, the _Conservatory of Music_, the _Museum of Natural History_, &c.

Independently of these libraries, here are also three literary _dépôts_ or repositories, which were destined to supply the public libraries already formed or to be formed, particularly those appropriated to public instruction. When the Constituent Assembly decreed the possessions of the clergy to be national property, the _Committee of Alienation_ fixed on the monasteries of the _Capucins_, _Grands Jésuites_, and _Cordeliers_, in Paris, as _dépôts_, for the books and manuscripts, which they were desirous to save from revolutionary destruction.

LETTER LXV.

_Paris, February 9, 1802._

_Vive la danse!_ _Vive la danse!_ seems now to prevail here universally over _"Vive l'amour!_ _Vive la bagatelle!_" which was the rage in the time of LA FLEUR. I have already informed you that, in moments the most eventful, the inhabitants of this capital spent the greater part of their time in

DANCING.

However extraordinary the fact may appear, it is no less true. When the Prussians were at Châlons, the Austrians at Valenciennes, and Robespierre in the Convention, they danced. When the young conscripts were in momentary expectation of quitting their parents, their friends, and their mistresses to join the armies, they danced. Can we then wonder that, at the present hour, when the din of arms is no longer heard, and the toils of war are on the point of being succeeded by the mercantile speculations of peace, dancing should still be the favourite pursuit of the Parisians?

This is so much the case, that the walls of the metropolis are constantly covered by advertisements in various colours, blue, red, green, and yellow, announcing balls of different descriptions. The silence of streets the least frequented is interrupted by the shrill scraping of the itinerant fiddler; while by-corners, which might vie with Erebus itself in darkness, are lighted by transparencies, exhibiting, in large characters, the words "_Bal de Société_." --"Happy people!" says Sterne, "who can lay down all your cares together, and dance and sing and sport away the weights of grievance, which bow down the spirit of other nations to the earth!"

In summer, people dance here in rural gardens, or delightful bowers, or under marquees, or in temporary buildings, representing picturesque cottages, constructed within the limits of the capital: these establishments, which are rather of recent date, are open only in that gay season.

In winter, the upper classes assemble in magnificent apartments, where subscription-balls are given; and taste and luxury conspire to produce elegant entertainments.

However, it is not to the upper circles alone that this amusement is confined; it is here pursued, and with truer ardour too, by citizens of every class and description. An Englishman might probably be at a loss to conceive this truth; I shall therefore enumerate the different gradations of the scale from the report of an impartial eye-witness, partly corroborated by my own observation.

Tradesmen dance with their neighbours, at the residence of those who have the best apartments: and the expense of catgut, rosin, &c. is paid by the profits of the card-table.

Young clerks in office and others, go to public balls, where the _cavalier_ pays thirty _sous_ for admission; thither they escort milliners and mantua-makers of the elegant class, and, in general, the first-rate order of those engaging belles, known here by the generic name of _grisettes_.

Jewellers' apprentices, ladies' hair-dressers, journeymen tailors and upholsterers dance, at twenty _sous_ a head, with sempstresses and ladies' maids.

Journeymen shoemakers, cabinet-makers, and workmen of other trades, not very laborious, assemble in _guingettes_, where they dance French country-dances at three _sous_ a ticket, with _grisettes_ of an inferior order.

Locksmiths, carpenters, and joiners dance at two _sous_ a ticket, with women who constantly frequent the _guinguettes_, a species of dancing-girls, whom the tavern-keepers hire for the day, as they do the fiddlers.

Water-carriers, porters, and, in general, the Swiss and Auvergnats have their private balls, where they execute the dances peculiar to their country, with fruit-girls, stocking-menders, &c.

The porters of the corn-market form assemblies in their own neighbourhood; but the youngest only go thither, with a few _bons vivans_, whose profession it would be no easy matter to determine.

Bucksome damsels, proof against every thing, keep them in countenance, either in drinking brandy or in fighting, and not unfrequently at the same _bal de société_, all this goes on at the same time, and, as it were, in unison.

Those among the porters of the corn-market and charcoal carriers, who have a little _manners_, assemble on holidays, in public-houses of a more decent description, with good, plain-spoken market-women, and nosegay-girls. They drink unmixed liquor, and the conversation is somewhat more than _free_; but, in public, they get tipsy, and nothing farther!

Masons, paviours in wooden shoes, tipped with iron, and other hard-working men, in short, repair to _guingettes_, and make the very earth tremble with their heavy, but picturesque capers, forming groups worthy of the pencil of Teniers.

Lastly, one more link completes the chain of this nomenclature of caperers. Beggars, sturdy, or decrepit, dance, as well as their credulous betters: they not only dance, but drink to excess; and their orgies are more noisy, more prolonged, and even more expensive. The mendicant, who was apparently lame in the day, at night lays aside his crutch, and resumes his natural activity; the idle vagabond, who concealed one arm, now produces both; while the wretch whose wound excited both horror and pity, covers for a tune the large blister by which he makes a very comfortable living.

LETTER LXVI.

_Paris, February 11, 1802._

In order to confer handsome pensions on the men of science who had benefited mankind by their labours, and who, under the old _régime_, were poorly rewarded, in 1795, LAKANAL solicited and obtained the establishment of the

BUREAU DES LONGITUDES.

As members of this Board of Longitude, the first institution of the kind in France, LAGRANGE, LAPLACE, LALANDE, CASSINI,[1] MÉCHAIN, BORDA,[1] BOUGAINVILLE, FLEURIEU, MESSIER, BUACHE, and CARROCHÉ, the optician, had each 8,000 francs (_circa_ £. 330 sterling) a year, and the assistant astronomers, 4,000. Indeed, the professors of that science were in want of pecuniary assistance for the purpose of forming pupils.

The _Bureau des Longitudes_ is on a more extensive scale, and possesses greater authority than the Board of Longitude in England. It is charged with the administration of all the Observatories belonging to the Republic, as well as with the correspondence with the astronomers of foreign countries. The government refers to it the examination of memoirs relative to navigation. Such of its members as more specially cultivate practical astronomy in the National Observatories of the capital, are charged to make all Observations which may contribute to the progress of that science, and procure new means for rectifying the tables of the Sun, as well as those which make known the position of the stars, and particularly the tables of the Moon, the improvement of which so essentially concerns the safety of navigation.

The great importance of the last-mentioned tables induced this Board, about three years ago, to propose a premium of 6,000 francs (_circa_ £. 250 sterling) for tables of the Moon. LALANDE recommended to BONAPARTE to double it. The First Consul took his advice: and the French now have tables that greatly surpass those which are used in England.[2] A copy of these have, I understand, been sent to Mr. MASKELYNE, our Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich.

The Board of Longitude of France, like that of England, calculates for every year Tables or _Ephemerides_, known in Europe under the title of _Connaissance des Tems_. The French having at length procured able calculators, are now able to dispense with the English _Ephemeris_. Their observations follow each other in such a manner as to render it unnecessary for them to recur to those of Greenwich, of which they have hitherto made continual use. Since the year 1795, the _Connaissance des Tems_ has been compiled by JÉROME LALANDE. At the end of the tables and their explanation, it contains a collection of observations, memoirs, and important calculations. The French astronomers are not a little surprised that we publish no similar work in London; while Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Gotha, and Milan set us the example. It is in the last volumes of the _Connaissance des Tems_ that JÉROME LALANDE gives the history of astronomy, where you will find every thing that has been done in this science.

The _Bureau des Longitudes_ also publishes for every year, in advance, the _Annuaire de la République_, which serves as a rule for all the almanacks compiled in France. The meetings of the Board are held at the

NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.

This edifice, which is situated at the farther end of the _Faubourg St. Jacques_, was constructed in 1664, by order of COLBERT, and under the direction of PERRAULT, the medical architect, who planned the celebrated façade of the _Louvre_.

The form of the building is rectangular. Neither wood nor iron have been employed in its construction. It is arched throughout, and its four sides stand exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points of the horizon. Although its elevation is eighty-five feet, it comprises but two stories, terminated by a flat roof, whence you command a fine view of Paris. You ascend thither by a winding staircase which has a hollow newel. This staircase, consisting of three hundred and sixty steps, extends downward to a similar depth of eighty-five feet, and forms a sort of well, at the bottom of which you can perceive the light. From this well have been observed the different degrees of acceleration in the descent of bodies.

The subterraneous vaults have served for meteorological experiments. In one of them water is seen to petrify on filtering through the rock above. They lead to near fifty streets or passages, formed by quarries excavated in procuring the stones with which great part of the city of Paris is constructed.

Previously to the year 1777, churches, palaces, whole streets of houses, and the public highway of several quarters of Paris and its environs, were on the point of being swallowed up in gulfs no less vast in depth than in extent. Since then, considerable works have been undertaken to consolidate these subterraneous caverns, and fill up the void, equally dangerous, occasioned by the working of the plaster-quarries.

An accident of a very alarming nature, which happened in the _Rue d'Enfer_ in the year 1774; and another, at Montmenil, in 1778, shewed the necessity of expediting these operations, which were followed up with great activity from 1777 to 1789, when their progress was relaxed from the circumstances of the times. These quarries are far more extensive than is commonly imagined. In the department of the Seine alone, they extend under all the south part of Paris, and the roads, plains, and _communes_, to the distance of several leagues round the circumference of this city. Their roof, with the edifices standing on the soil that covers it, is either supported by walls recently built under the foundation of those edifices, or by pillars constructed at different periods in several places. The government is at the expense of providing for the safety of the streets, highways, and public buildings, but that of propping under-ground all private habitations must be defrayed by the proprietor. These ancient quarries had been much neglected, and the means of visiting them was equally dangerous and inconvenient. At present, every precaution is taken to insure the safety of the persons employed in them, as well as the stability of their roof; and for the better superintendance of all the subterraneous constructions of Paris, galleries of communication have been formed of sufficient width to admit the free passage of materials necessary for keeping them in repair.

Let us now find our way out of these labyrinths, and reascending to the surface of the soil, pursue our examination of the Observatory.

In a large room on the first floor is traced the meridian line, which divides this building into two parts. Thence, being extended to the south and north, it crosses France from Colieure to Dunkirk.

On the pavement of one of the rooms is engraved a universal circular map, by CHAZELLES and SÉDILLAN. Another room is called the _Salle aux secrets_, because on applying the mouth to the groove of a pilaster, and whispering, a person placed at the opposite pilaster hears what is said, while those in the middle of the room, hear nothing. This phenomenon, the cause of which has been so often explained, must be common to all buildings constructed in this manner.

In speaking of the _Champ de Mars_, I mentioned that LALANDE obtained the construction of an Observatory at the _ci-devant École Militaire_. Since 1789, he and his nephew have discovered fifty thousand stars; an immense labour, the greater part of them being telescopic and invisible to the naked eye. Of this number, he has already classed thirty thousand.

The CASSINIS had neglected the Observatory in Paris; but when LALANDE was director of this establishment, he obtained from BONAPARTE good instruments of every description and of the largest dimensions. These have been executed by the first artists, who, with the greatest intelligence, have put in practice all the means of improvement which we owe to the fortunate discoveries of the eighteenth century. Of course, it is now as well provided as that of Greenwich. MÉCHAIN, the present director, and BOUVARD, his associate, are extremely assiduous in their astronomical labours.