1802. J 
nual benedigtion, immediately after the 
vintage. The prayer, recited by the fu- 
perior on this occation, is printed in the 
Greek ritual, it is as follows.;—Lord 
God, who loveft mankind, look on this 
wine, and on thofe that fhall drink it; 
blefs thefe veflels, as thou hatt bleffed the 
wells of Jacob, the fifh-vool of Siloe, 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
O44 
and the beverage of thy holy Apoftles. 
Lord, who didft condeicend to be pre- 
fent at the marriage of Cana, where thou 
dift manifett thy glory to thy difciples, by 
changing water into wine, fend thy holy 
{pirit on this wine, and blets it in thy 
name. Amen! 
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
FRANCE. 
NorTicr of the LaBOURS of tive CLASS 
of LLTERATURE and FINE ARTS, at 
the PUBLIC SITTING of the 15th MES- 
SIDOR, YEAR 9, Jy CITIZEN VILLAR, 
SECRETARY. 
(Continued from our laff.) 
K E_ believe we thal) gratify the with 
of the artifis, by communicating 
to them the labours of Citizen PEYRE, 
during the courfe of the year 8. 
On the 29th Nivote, of the fame year, 
the Confuls had paffed the’ following de- 
cree: ; 
<¢ A National Column fhall be erected 
in the centre of the Place de la Concorde ; 
the names of the military men that have 
died, after having rendered fervices of fu- 
perior importance to the Republic, fhall 
be infcribed on this column.” 
A monument fo worthy of the French 
nation ought to be executed in white mar- 
ble. It was m contemplation to lay the 
firt ftone, on the 14th of July, or the 
25th Meffidor. 
Our Colleague thought, that a cclumn 
erected to the meinory of the military men 
who have died ujier having rendered fer- 
wices of fupericr importance to the Repub- 
lic, fhouid be a peculiar charagter ; that 
it fhoul neither be confidered as a trium- 
phal, nor as a funereal, monument, but 
asa monument railed to immortalife great 
names, and to give great examples to fu- 
_ture generations. 
The column of which he had conceived 
the project, was to be ereéted in the cen- 
tre of the Place de la Concorde, as the de- 
cree of Government preieribed,on a 
fquare bafe of a metre and a half, at 
the-angles of which were to be elevated, 
on pedeftals, four trophies, compofed of 
arms conquered from different nations ; 
each trophy was to be accompanied with 
allegorical figures, reprefenting the con- 
3 . 
a 
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EARNED SOCIETIES. 
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etna ed | 
quett of thofe arms: on each of the pe- 
defials, the principal fats were to be en- 
evaved in fmall letters. 
About the column, which was to be 
fluted from the fummit of the bafe, were 
to be infcribed the names of the heroes, in 
large characters, on a bandeau which was 
to occupy about one-third of the fhait. 
A bas-relief farrounding the pedeftal, was 
.to record the principal aétions in which 
our brave warriors had fignalized their 
courage, and on the focle or foot was to 
be engraved, in twenty columns of writ- 
ing, the hiftory of thofe wars and of thofe 
immortal aétions, in which the defenders 
of liberty had merited the honour of in- 
{cription. Ap ta 
The column was to be furmounted with 
a ftylobate, which would have formed its 
apex or coping. 
The bill of expence of our Colleague 
would have amounted to 1,020,700 francs. 
He had propofed to make ufe of French 
granite, having oblerved’ that the coafts 
of the departments of the North and of 
Calvados were impregnated with rocks of 
granite, and that beds were to be found. 
there in whicly an entire obelifk might be 
cut. Perfuaded that an obelifk was more 
fuitable perhaps to the fubje& than a 
column, he had traced the model of it on 
the fame pedeftal, accompanying it with 
the fame attributes and the fame alle- 
gories. The obelifk was to be divided, 
in refpect of its height, into three parts ; 
on the lower part were to be inferibed the 
names of the warriors ; and in the middle, 
on two faces only, was to be placed a 
Fame, holding up crowns of laurel and of 
oak. ‘The upper part was to have borne 
this infcription in very large charatters : 
‘TO IMMORTALITY.”’ 
In the begginning of Mefllidor, the 
Minifter of Interior caufed it to be an- 
nounced publicly, that the column “ fhould 
be conftruéted of the granite of France; 
—and that he invited the artifts to fend. 
him, 
