453 
PARIS. 
fummer, one walk which runs the whole length of the 
garden is decorated with a range of large orange-trees, 
in cafes on each fide of it. Numbers of orange-trees and 
oleanders (role-bay) are belides difperfed over different 
parts of the garden. When the palace and walks are 
illuminated, as is the cafe on fete-nights, they prefent a 
fuperb fpe&acle. 
The Louvre —adjoins the Tuileries on the eaft by a 
gallery 1365 feet long. Much uncertainty exifts refpeCt- 
ing the derivation of the name of this magnificent palace. 
Some have derived it from louve, a Ihe-wolf, becaufe 
it was formerly furrounded by a thick foreft, much in- 
fefted by wolves. Others have derived it from the Saxon 
word lowep, a caftle; and others with more probability, 
from the ancient Gaulic word onvre, now written oeuvre, 
fignifying the beauty of its architecture, and equivalent 
to the modern exprefiion chef-d'oeuvre. It is the moft 
ancient of the royal palaces. It exifted in tire time of 
Dagobert, when it was without the walls, and ufed as a 
country-houfe by the kings of France. Having been de- 
ftroyed by the Normans, it was rebuilt by Louis the 
Young, and afterwards repaired by Philip Auguftus, who 
furrounded it with towers and a moat. 
It formerly contained an immenfe infulated tower in 
the centre of one of its courts, much celebrated in French 
hiltory. In this tower all the feudatories of the crown 
were compelled to afl'emble at Hated times, to pay homage 
to their liege lord, and to renew their oaths of fidelity; 
and the dungeons of this tower were their prifon in cafe 
of difobedience or rebellion. This ftrange building gave 
to the whole of the palace fo fombre an appearance, and 
fo many fad and frightful hiflories were attached to it, 
and related of it, that many of the kings refufed to make 
the Louvre their refidence. Charles V. endeavoured to 
enliven it, and made it commodious for thofe times. 
Several foreign monarchs fuccefiively lodged in it, fuch 
as Manuel emperor of Conftantinople, Sigifmund em¬ 
peror of Germany, and the emperor Charles V. The 
large tower, which, at different periods, had fervechas a 
palace to the kings of France, as a prifon to the great 
lords, and as a treafury to the ftate, was at length taken 
down in 1528. 
The part of the palace which at prefent is denominated 
the Old Louvre, was begun under Francis I. but was 
fir It inhabited by Charles IX. under whom it became 
the bloody theatre of treacheries and maffacres, on 
the infamous St. Bartholomew’s day, which time will 
never, and ought never, to efface from the memory of 
mankind, and which, till the mercilefs reign of Robef- 
pierre, was unexampled in the hiltory of that country. 
In after-times this palace became the quiet and happy 
cradle of the arts and fciences, the fchool for talents, the 
arena for genius, and the afylum of artilts and literati. 
The centre pavilion, over the principal gate of the Old 
Louvre, was ere&ed under the reign of Louis XIII. from 
the defigns of Mercier, as well as the angle of the left part 
of the building, parallel to that built by Henry II. The 
eight gigantic Cariatides, which are to be feen there, were 
fculptured by Sarrafin. The fides prefent three projecting 
buildings, adorned with beautiful fculptures : on the left 
are Mercury, Plenty, and two Genii; on the right, Hif- 
tory writing, accompanied by the bulls of Herodotus and 
Thucydides, and the ftat ues of Peace, Victory, and Fame; 
between the pilalters are many Egyptian divinities, the 
ltatues of Numa and of Mofes, and the reprefentation of 
the principal events of the reign of Napoleon. 
The part of the Louvre which, with two fides of the 
old building, forms the perfeCt fquare, about four hundred 
feet in extent, called the New Louvre, confilts of two 
double fagades, which are Hill unfinilhed. The front 
which it prefents to the river is plain and noble. The 
ealtern front is the famous colonnade, the nobleft monu¬ 
ment of the era of Louis XIV. An Italian artift named 
Bernini, and fuppofed to be the moft Ikilful architect of 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1256. 
the age, w r as fent for at a confiderable expenfe to ereCt it. 
He foon pretended that the climate of France difagreed 
with him : it was whifpered that he found himfelf unequal 
to the talk ; and a phyfician of the name of Perrault under¬ 
took and completed it. If is compofed of two periftyles, 
and three projecting buildings on the ground-floor, which 
form one continued bafernent. The lateral projecting 
buildings are adorned by fix pilafters, and two columns 
of the Corinthian order, while that in the centre is com¬ 
pofed of eight columns, and crowned with a pediment, on 
which is a bas-relief reprefenting Victory in a car dillri- 
buting crowns. Above is a triangular pediment, beauti¬ 
fully executed. The bull of Louis XIV. occupies the 
liigheft part: Minerva is placing it on a pedeftal, and 
Hiltory is writing underneath Ludovico Magno. Well- 
executed figures of the Mufes fill the remainder of the 
compofition ; and on one of the gates is the following in- 
feription, Diim to turn impleat orbem, “ May it laft till the 
owner hath extended his fway over the whole world.” 
The general appearance of the whole is indifputably 
grand and majeftic. It is, however, open to much cri- 
ticifin. The fubftruCtion on which it (lands is too high in 
proportion to the elevation of the colonnade. The pil¬ 
lars are coupled, which deftroys the proportion between 
them and the intercolumniations. The (hafts are too 
thin for tlveir length; and the heavy maffes at the ends 
and in the centre, throw an air of gloominefs over the 
whole fabric. The architecture of the celebrated Gallery 
which conneCls the Louvre with the Tuileries is the fame 
as that of the pavilions of the Tuileries, without the attic, 
but disfigured by numberlefs pediments, alternately tri¬ 
angular and curvilinear. Towards the middle the ftyle 
changes; and, inftead of the fingle Corinthian, three dif¬ 
ferent and whimfical Compofite forms are.introduced, to 
the great detriment of the architectural appearance. Bo¬ 
naparte, wifhing to complete the fquare, began the com¬ 
munication on the oppofite fide, and had ereCted more 
than a third of it at the period of his dethronement. The 
work is (till carried on. Up to the year 1813, 22,400,000 
franks had been expended in improvements which it will 
require more than the fame fum to complete. 
The Royal Mufeum. —The wdiole of the Louvre forms 
a grand mufeum of art, and is the repofitory of numerous 
pictures and fculptures formerly fcattered in various de¬ 
partments of France, and of Come lately brought from 
different palaces, chateaus, &c. The performances of 
living artifts and their pupils are exhibited every two 
years in a large gallery of the Louvre ; and feveral learned 
men and eminent artifts have apartments affigned to them 
in this palace. 
This mufeum was lately the boaft of Paris, and the 
wonder of the world. It contained almoft every cele¬ 
brated work of art that the continent of Europe poffefi'ed ; 
and might beconlidered as a magnificent temple, to which 
every votary of tafte wrnuld refort, and offer his adora¬ 
tions. But the eftablilhment has been (horn of its prin¬ 
cipal glory. The imperifhable remains of the genius of 
former ages, which it contained, have been rdlored to 
their former owners ; the halls of fculpture, which were 
thronged to confufion with the chef-d’ceuvres of Rome 
and of Greece, are nearly deferred ; and the twelve hun¬ 
dred inimitable paintings of the great gallery were re¬ 
duced to little more than tw r o hundred and fifty. A lift 
of all the curiofities, as they ftood before the year 1814, 
may be feen in Troncbet’s Guide to Paris, 3d edit. It 
cannot be perufed by any Frenchman without emotion. 
Let it not, however, be fuppofed, that the Louvre is 
defpoiled of every objeCl of attraClion. Many of the 
treafures of foreign dates, indeed, of which they ohee 
boalted, are feen no more; but the paintings which 
adorned the numerous churches that were profaned by 
revolutionary barbarifm, have found an afylum here ; and 
every department of France has lately contributed forne- 
thing to render the gallery of the Louvre an interelling 
5 Z and 
