THE LOVVRE. 021 
'lie diameter at the base is 15 feet ; the height of the co- 
'lniii 120 feet; and the cone at the top, with its urn, 42 
1 5t. The height of the massy pedestd is 40 feet. Within 
.lie column is a flight of 345 steps ; and from the irots 
“alcony at the top is a most fascinating prospect of the 
'Metropolis and the adjacent country. It is impossible not 
lament the obscure situation of this beautiful monument, 
''’hich, in a proper place, would form one of the most 
®'fiking objects of the kind that architecture is capable of 
I’l'oducing. 
1'he incription had better be erased, for no rational being 
entertain the notion, that the Catholics, or any religious 
®®^t, could wilfully have perpetrated so horrible a deed as 
'M's pillar was intended to impute to them, nor can .so much 
^'edit be given to human foresight, as for it to be con- 
Mijided that a fire, which broke out in a single house, could, 
^‘Ptin this, rather than upon other occasions, have extended 
ravages in so extraordinary a manner. 
THE I.OUVRE. 
splendid palace, which was planned in the reign of 
. tancis I. at the commencement ot the sixteenth century, 
f ® quadrangular edifice, having a coirrt in the centre, and 
grilling a square of 05 French tdises, or 410 English feet, 
■'ue front was built in the reign of Louis XIV. and is one 
' the most beautiful monuments of his reign. A spacious 
^MUery, 227 toises, or 1450 English feet, in length, connects 
I palace with that of the Thuilleries. Here was dis- 
r fyed, under the title of the Musee Napoleon, that 
.Mt^stituable collection of painting.s, one thousand and tliirty 
M Humber, consisting of the chef s-d' oeuvres of the great 
tasters of antiquity, and constituting a treasury of human 
“"t and genius, far .surpassing every other similar institution. 
fhe anti-room leading to the gallery contained several 
'^quisite paintings, the fruits of the triumphs of Bonaparte, 
tvluch had been preseuicd to him by the sovereigns who 
^"d Cultivated his alliance. This apartment wa.s styled by 
Parisians the Nosegax of Bonaparte : its most costly 
P'Mttires were from the gallery of the Grand Duke ot Tus- 
; and to these were added a selection from those pro- 
'M'ed at Venice, Naples, Turin, and Bologna. 
