91 



acquainted with it ; though at the same time it must 

 be confessed that in many points it has experienced 

 a change much for the worse. The churches, 

 stript of their pictures, their fine altars, and rich 

 marbles, — which have, since the last Revolution has 

 restored tranquillity to France, been replaced in a 

 manner calculated only to make the loss of the 

 originals more conspicuous. The church of the 

 Invalideshas suffered nothing, and is now converted 

 into a temple of Mars, and filled with the trophies 

 of the present war. The body and tomb of Tu- 

 renne have been brought there. St. Genevieve, 

 now the Pantheon, intended as a burial-place for 

 illustrious characters, is getting very forward under 

 the original design, and will, when completed, be 

 a magnificent national monument. Voltaire and 

 Rousseau are already removed there. 



The Museum of Ancient Monuments is wonder- 

 fully curious and interesting : they are placed in 

 the late convent of the Petits Augustins, which is 

 somewhat too small for their reception ; it is at 

 present unfinished. All the monuments from St. 

 Denis, and indeed throughout France, have been 

 brought to enrich the collection : those of Riche- 

 lieu, of Mazarine, of Abelard and Heloise from the 

 Paraclete, Anne de Montmorency, Diane de Poi- 

 tiers, &c, most of which are arranged in large halls 

 appropriated to each century, beginning with the 

 eleventh. The catalogue is rather too large to send 

 you. 



The library, which the Government proposes to 

 transport to the Louvre (at present inhabited by 



