1802.] 
of Rome, executed by Grimani in the 
_ year i776. a 
_ Paris abounds with public libraries, of 
which you thall have a litt by-and-bye: 
there are no fewer than feventeen of them: 
but the moft celebrated is La Bibliotheque 
Nationale, rue de Richelieu, which it is 
now in ‘contemplation to remove, Aonaris 
caujd, into its antient habitation, within 
-the walls of the Louvre. 
This Library traces its origin to a very 
remote era: Charles V. added about nine 
hundred volumes to the little bookery— 
it I may coin fuch a word-for your edifi- 
cation—-of his father Johy, which confifted 
of about half a dozen volumes of hiftory or 
fcience, and three or four of devotion. 
This colle&tion was placed in a tower of 
the Louvre, which was called da Tour de 
la Libraivie, and which was lighted every 
night by thirty little chandeliers, anda 
filver lamp; fo that.the learned fudents 
were accommodated here at every hour. 
The library wa's afterwards difperfed ; for 
when, in the year #429, Paris was in the 
hands of the Englifh, under the command 
of the Duke of Bedtord, that nobleman 
bought the hundred and fifty volumes, of 
which it then confifled, for 1200 livres. 
Louis XI. colle&ted the fcattered remnants 
of this library, and profited by the re- 
fources with which the invention of print- 
ing prefented him. Charles VIII. added 
to it what the conqueft of Italy allowed 
him to colleét; Louis XII. added the 
library of Petrarch: Francis I. enriched 
it with Greek MSS. and Henry II. aug- 
mented it, in confequence of the decree 
of 1556, which enjoined bookfellers to 
furnifh the royal libraries with a copy, 
on vellum, .of every book publifhed by 
the king’s licence ! , 
This immenfe library, the pride of 
Paris, is reputed to contain more than 
three hundred thoufand yolumes: the 
printed books alone occupy the firft floors 
of-three fides of the prefent building, 
which is a large quadrangle including a 
court. The Gallery of Manu(cripts, 
called La Galerie Mazarine, , contains 
thirty thoufand on the Hittory of France, 
chiefly relating to events fince the reign 
of Louis XI. of which number twenty-five _ 
thoufand are either in learned, or in 
foreign languages. Five large rooms on 
the fecond ftory, contain titles and genea- 
logies, and include five thoufand cafes or 
port-fohos. 
The Cabinet of Medals is decorated 
with various paintings, &c. ; in the Ca. 
_ Binet of Antiques, are bufts, vafes, in- 
{criptions, initruments of facrifice, dc. 
An Excurfion through France to Geneva 
311 
The Cabinet of Engravings conifts of 
five thoufand volumes, divided into iwelve. 
claffes :—the firft comprehends, {culptors, 
architectural engineers and engravers, 
(architeéles ingénieurs et graveurs) di- 
vided according to their refpective fchools ¢ 
—ihe fecand, prints, emblems, and devia 
ces of piety :—-the third, fables and antis 
quities, Greek and Roman :-=the fourth, 
medals, coins, and heraldry :—the fifth, ~ 
public feftivals, cavalcades, and tourna- 
ments :—the fixth, arts and mathematics : 
—the feventh, engravings from romances 
and getts:—the eighth, natural hiftory :— 
the ninth, geography :—the tenth, plans 
and elevations of ancient and modern edi- 
fices :—the eleventh, portraits of every 
defcription to the number of fifty thou- 
fand :—the twelfth divifion of this Cabi- 
net is the celebrated port-folio of Gaig- 
niéres, exhibiting a collection of fafhions 
and coftumes from almoft every country. 
in the world. It contains the mof exten- 
five collection exifting of engravings illuf- 
trative of French drefies, from the time of 
Clovis to the prefent day; the greater 
art are coloured, fome are on vellum, 
copied from painted glafs, tapeitries, and 
tombs ; the portrait of King John, one 
of the firit foecimens of painting in France, 
is in this collection, and in tolerable pres 
fervation. 
A. pair of immenfe globes are depofited 
in this library, conftructed in the year 
1683 by the Jefuit Coronelli, for the Car- 
dinal d’ Eftrées: what the diameter of 
thefe globes is, I know not ; but you may 
form fome idea of it, by learning that 
they occupy two rooms, part of them 
being let through the cieling of the lower 
one, which thus ferves asa fort of horizon, - 
The ** Confervateurs de la Biblistheque 
Nationale’? are men of celebrity in the 
Republic of Letters: fome prefide over 
the manufcripts, fome over the printed 
books, and others over the engravings : 
the collection of the former, numerous 
and valuable as it was, has been greatly in- 
creafed both in number and in value, by 
the fpoils of Venice, Floreiice, and of 
Rome; five hundred Greek and Latin - 
MSS. were feleSted from the Vatican, and ~ 
three hundred from the Library of St. 
Marc, at Venice, feventy of which latter, 
however, were exchanged for the beauti- 
ful gem of Jupiter Aigifchus. — 
This Library is open to the public from 
ten in the morning till two im the afver- 
noon, on the third, fixth, and ninth day ef. 
the decade: ftudents who take notes have 
free admiffion between the fame hours on 
every day. A fchool is annexed to this 
Sf2 library 
