Museums. 169 



IV. which were prevented from being carried into execu- 

 tion by the untimely and tragical death of the great prince 

 was the following. 



' " There was to be," says Sully, " a Cabinet of State, in 

 the Louvre, destined to receive whatever could tend to 

 the knowledge of Finance, of Science, and of Art." 



' After enumerating several of these, particularly relating 

 to the army, such as lists, plans, charts, etc. etc., he adds : 

 " I conceived a scheme, of appointing a large room, as a 

 magazine, of models of whatever is most curious in 

 machinery, relating to war, arts, trade, etc., and all sorts of 

 exercises, noble, liberal, and mechanical ; that all those 

 who aspired to perfection might, without trouble, improve 

 themselves in this silent school. The lower apartments 

 were to hold the heavy pieces of workmanship ; and the 

 higher were to contain the lighter. An exact inventory of 

 both was to be one of the pieces of the great cabinet." ] 



' What a pity it is that this whole plan was not carried 

 into execution. It would not have been the least of the 

 embellishments of the reign of Henry. It would have 

 done honour to the prince and to the age. I mean not to 

 disparage the utility of our modern collections of fossils, 

 shells, mosses, and insects. They are the works of God ; 

 and therefore worthy of our highest admiration. But I 

 can easily conceive that a scheme like this, upon a smaller 

 scale, might possibly be applied to better use than many 

 of those collections actually serve. In a town like this the 

 opulence, and even the very existence of which depends 

 upon manufactures, and these again upon arts, machinery, 

 and inventions, a PUBLIC CABINET, devoted to this pur- 

 pose, would be a source of great ornament and utility.' 



1 Sully's Memoirs, vol. v. 



