ae 
the building out for ruin, fuch as the 
monfter himfelf once threatened to bring 
down on univerfal France.” 
Thofe innumerable bafio-rilievos, loaded 
with fubje&ts from the Old Teitament, 
and from legendary ftory, have been re- 
moved from the'tribunes * and the vaults : 
butino diminution has taken place in the 
redundant profufion of thole decorations ; 
they have only been difcarded to make 
room for allegories and fymbols of patri- 
otifm, philofophy, the {ciences, arts, and 
commerce, and for apotheoles of the heroie 
and focial virtues. 
At the bottom of the temple, where 
generally ftands the great altar, is to be 
placed ona throne a ftatue of The Country, 
embracing Liberty and Equality, the 
proftituted goddeffes of the republic: and 
in the vacant {pace beneath the cupola, is 
to be erected an altar furrounded by alle- 
gorical figures, and anumber of leffer for 
the burning of incenfe. The French ar- 
tilts have been invited to lay before the 
dire&tory their plans for that principal de- 
coration. The floor, which is ftill naked, 
will be paved with marble of various kinds. 
Criticifm, which ftill continues to exer- 
cife its wonted freedom in Paris, is heard 
in general to reproach the directors of the 
_ works that all the changes and decorations 
which they have undertaken, are not con- 
fonant to the charaéter of a burial-place 
for great men. But that reproach is ill 
founded, fince the edifice is to be con. 
fidered as the monument of thofe great men 
whote athes repofe in its vaults: it is 
moreover unjuft, becaufe no allowance is 
made for the difficulties which the direc- 
tors have to furmount before they can ac- 
eomplifh thole aiterations, and becaufe 
people do not wait to fee the work finifhed 
before they pronounce their opinion of it. 
Tt is not fo eafy to give a fatisfatory 
anfwer to another queltion, viz. Whether 
this judicioufly-deviled and excellent mo- 
nument in honour ef thofe men who fhall 
be found to have deferved well of their 
country, —equally with fome other repub- 
Hcan inttitutions founded with fuch hafty 
precipitation,—comes up to the greatnef{s. 
of the ideas that prefent themfelves in the 
patriotic dreams of an incipient republic, 
which are yet unfamiliar to the impreffions 
of the prefent race of Frenchmen. The 
rifing generation will be able to decide this 
queftion ; but the decifion cxnnot fairly 
be expected, until the population is en- 
tirely changed, and the tuture race is, by 
—_———__——— 

= B.sTho 4 a PABA 
slpits and elevated ftalls, under the old 
Defeription of the French Pautheon. 
Luly 
an education fuitable to the greatnefs of ~ 
thofe ideas, prepared to feel in their full 
force the impreffions which fuch a monu- 
ment is capable of producing. 
QUATREMERE, who has the chief di- 
rection of this building, feems to augur 
that happy effeét, in the report which he | 
has prefented to the directory refpe&ting 
the works already completed at the Pan- 
theon, as well as thofe thet were. further 
projected. In that piece he an{wers to the 
charge of incongruity in the alterations. 
«<The Pantheon,” fays he, ‘noble, at 
leaft, as a poetic conception, is in faét 
lefs the abode of death than of immertality. 
It isnot fo much a hypogeum*, whofe 
grave. and ferious forms fhould announce 
the filence of the grave, as a temple open 
for the worfhip of great men. In fhort, 
although no individual be admitted to the 
honours of the place. till after his death, 
he-receives them rather under the form of 
apotheolis and philofophic confecration, — 
than under the emblems of mortality.” 
The catacombs of the pantheon, on 
becoming the repofitory of the afhes of 
Voltaire and Rouffeau, have been confe- 
crated as a place of repofe for the inani- 
mate remains of greatmen. The afflictive 
idea that thofe peaceful cells have been 
fullied by the corpfe of Marat, fills the 
foul with difguft andhorror. We ftill fee 
there the broken farcophagus that inclofed 
his vile carcafe, which, loaded with the 
maledictions of the people, was tranfported 
to a church-yard, where his detefted re- 
mains were confumed with guick-lime. 
The bones of Mirabeau yielded their 
ftation to Marat, and have been placed in 
a {poton which a mark has been fet. In 
another corner of the fame recefs, appears 
an empty farcophagus, which had been 
deftined for general Dampierre: but the 
decree which granted him the honours of 
the Pantheon, has been revoked. ~ 
The two farcophagi which contain the 
mortal remains of Rouffeau and Voltaire, 
are placed oppofite to each other in the 
middle of the vault. They are of wood, 
and covered with indifferent baflo-rilievos, 
but are to be hereafter iucceeded by others 
in black marble. On the tombof Rouffeau, 
is engraved the fimple and beautiful epi- 
taph, taken from the tomb in ** The Ifle 
ot Poplars,’ by Ermenonville: ‘* Here 
refts the man of nature and of truth.” 
On each of the two narrow fides of the 
farcophagus, appears a hand of Death 
holding a torch, and as it were iffuing 


* Un 
building. 
bypogeey a vault, or fubterraneous 
Ss Oars 
from 
