Paris. 439 



admirable. Descriptive volumes have been published, and 

 are accessible to every one. We could only walk through 

 the apartments, glancing at the objects as we passed : to exa- 

 mine the statues and inscriptions alone, in a proper manner, 

 would require weeks ; for although the noblest pieces of 

 ancient sculpture are removed, enough still remains to ex- 

 cite high interest. They occupy the ground floor of the 

 Louvre, which is divided into eight halls, the entrance to 

 each being adorned with symbols and inscriptions, making 

 classical allusions to the precious contents before 1815. In 

 many cases, casts of these are substituted for the originals. 

 The paintings are up stairs, arranged in two saloons, and 

 in the grand gallery. The vast length of this gallery and 

 the magnificent coup d'oeil certainly excited our admira- 

 tion ; but we could not help feeling that it is not well 

 adapted to its purpose, owing chiefly to the way in which 

 the light is admitted, producing in many places all the ill 

 effects of cross-lights. 



Jar din Beaujon. — Theatre Francois. 



In the evening Mr Hay and Mr Macdonald visited the 

 Montagnes Francaises, near the upper extremty of the 

 Champs Elysees. This is the garden of Beaujon, now ce- 

 lebrated for giving courses en chars, — a sort of violent 

 and rather hazardous exercise to which the English seem 

 partial, and which it is surprising has not yet been intro- 

 duced in the neighbourhood of London. It happened not 

 to be a gala night ; and my friends, I found, thought little 

 of the place. 



Meantime I went alone to the Theatre Francais at the 

 foot of Rue Richlieu, and had the good fortune to see the 

 CEdipe of Voltaire admirably performed; Talma being 

 (Edipe, and Mademoiselle George representing Jocaste. I 

 was prepared to expect one uniform action throughout the 



