310 
tombed in this facred cemetery, but that 
Mifs Williams, in her «*Sketchesof the State 
of Manners in the French Republic,”” has 
devoted acomplete chapter tothis fubje&: 1 
' refer you to her for whatever further infor- 
mation you are defirous of, contenting my- 
felf with once more repeating, that the ef- 
fect produced by perambulating thefe 
chambers of the dead, where kings are 
mingled with the duf@t they fprang from, 
is ftrikingly folemn, and brings to one’s 
remembrance thofe beautiful lines of Ho- 
race— 
Pallida Mors equo pede pulfat pauperum ta- 
bernas 
Regumque turres, &c. ; 
Here, with the broken infignia of ancient 
and departed royalty around us, one 1s 
dilpofed, in the language of unhappy R1- 
chard, 
———— To fit upon the ground 
And tell fad ftories of the death of kings: 
How fome have been depofed, fome flain in 
War, A 
Some haunted by the ghofts they have de- 
pofed; 1 
Some poifoned by their wives, fome fleeping 
killed, 
All murdered '— 
Le Pantheon :—-This unfinifhed edifice 
is alfo defigned for the reception of ho= 
nourable afhes, and bears on its entrance 
this infcription, fignificant of its appro- 
priation :—Aux Grands Hommes La Pa- 
trie Reconnoiffante. Wiil yeu believe, that 
ore of the ‘* great men’? whofe bones 
were depofited in the vaults of this proud 
temple by his “ grateful country’? was 
he whofe name is not to be mentioned, 
avithout a mingled emotion of horror, de- 
teftation, and contempt—the bloody Ma- 
rat! France would now gladly blot from 
its remembrance this mfamous apotiro- 
fis : it is to be hoped that the difgrace’ of 
it will produce for the future niore feru- 
tiny and difcrimination in the choice of 
objects for its public gratitude. Theonly 
atonement that could be made, was made:. 
the farcophacus was broken open, and 
the bones.of this mercilefs man were 
removed to a churchyard and deftroyed by 
quick-lime. ; 
Voltaire is admitted to the 
the Pantheon: his remains are inclofed in 
a monument over-run with inicriptions. 
This is all very well: Gut fhat the athes 
of Ronflean—L’ Homme dela Nature, de 
le Verité—as he is well denominated on 
his tomb, fhould have been traniperted 
irem the ifle of Poplars, in the gardens 
. ~ 
+ 
. * . 3 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva? 
[May 1y 
of Ermonville, whither he had retired to 
end his laft melancholy days, and under 
whofe turf, in a fequeftered fpot, he had 
xpreffly defired that his remaics might 
reit in. peace—that his afhes fhould, by a 
facrilegious fiat, have been tranfported to 
this temple, made with hands, to the cen- 
tre of a populous city, where the bufy 
hum .of men unceafingly agitates the 
troubjJed air! how is his offended fhade ‘to 
be appeafed ? ; 
The Pantheom's an edifice of very mags 
nificent firuGure, well tituated at the top 
of la rue St. Facques3 it was intended Tor 
a church, dedica‘ed to St. Genevitve, but 
its original defination was, during the 
fir years of the revolution, changed for 
that which it is now fulfilling: I will col- © 
le& from my little Manua!—which T fhall 
occafionally confult, poor and infufficient 
as it is—fuch particulars of the archi-= 
tecture of this building as may give 
you fome idea of its majeity and extent. 
It has a very noble periftyle, compofed of 
twenty-ttvo Corinthian columns, of which 
18 are fifty-eight feet three inches highs 
‘The'dome prefents to view a fort of cir 
cular temple, formed of fifty-two pillars, 
each fifty-four feet high, fupported by a 
circular itylebate, refting on an oftagon 
bafe 3. a terrace furrounds it, bordered 
with an iron baluftrade. On the top of 
the cupola, which is encompafled by a ia- 
lient celonnade, is a pedefal, on which is 
to be placed a coloffal figure of Fame, 
twenty-eight feet high, appropriate te the 
purpefe of the building, caft in bronze. 
The pedettal is furrounded by a fecond 
gallery, at the height of a huudred and 
fixty-fix feet above the level of the ground : 
it contains an apartment which ferves as am » 
obfervatory. 
The interior of this noble building con- 
fifis of four riaves, in the centre of which is 
the dome; they. are decorated with a huns 
dred and tiirty fluted columns of the Co= 
rinthian order, twenty-feven feet eight 
inches high: they fepport an entablature 
which ferves 4s a bale for the lofty falls 
or pulpits (iridunes) berdered by ftone 
balufirades. “Fhe interior of the dome 
prefents fixteen columns (with windows 
in tse intercohimmiatiéns) fupporting ‘a 
foherical roof, in the centre of which rifes 
a fecond and more elevated vault. 2 
A library belongs to this Temple of 
Fame, which contains about twenty-four 
thoufand printed volumes, and two thou. 
fand manvfcripts: it is open every day, 
from ten till two, except on the Secddet 
This library contains a celeorated 7) 
; o. 
e —— 
] 
