312 
library for the living Oriental languages. 
On entering thefe {pacious rooms the ima- 
gination repofes with pleafure on the ac- 
commodation which is prepared for per- 
fons of every defcription, who are de- 
firous of profiting by the rich literary 
treafury which furrounds him. A range 
of tables forms a central line along the 
apartments, on which are fcattered pens, 
ink, and paper. The many random 
chairs which ftand about them iuficiently 
indicate that they have not long been left. 
The librarians feem to be attentive: a 
confiderable number of ftudents were em- 
ployed, fome in reading, ethers in taking 
notes, when we perambulated thefe rooms : 
though perfect ftrangers, we had the cu- 
riefty, or afflurance, to requeft that two 
or three port folios of engravings might 
be taken down tor our infpeCtion :—the 
requeft was inftantly complied with. 
The Englifh have. to learn a Ieffon of 
liberality from the French: in England 
every place of public infpeétion is befet 
with a horde of hungry fee-beggars; in 
Paris the doors of every national mufeum 
are thrown open, and none of thefe pick- 
pockets are licenced or fuffered to moleft 
you. A man who would fee the Annual 
Exhibition atSomerfet-henfe, of our Englifh 
Artifis, mult pay a paltry and difgraceful 
fhillng for admiibon: he may walk over 
the lofty hails at the Louvre, examine the 
Apollo Belvidere, the Laocoon, and the 
Capitoline Venus—the works of Raphael, 
of Guido, and of Titian, as often as he 
pieafes, without being folicited for a fingle 
fous. This part of the republican fyfem 
is noble, and well worthy the imitation of 
royalty.  .! 
I have given you fo particular an ac- 
count of the National Library, that you 
muit be satisfied if I merely enumerate, 
currente calamo, the many others which 
remain to be neticed. La Bibliotheque de 
Ja Ville is rich in herbals and drawings of 
piants, &c.: one of the Central Schools is 
held here under the direction of nine Pro- 
fefiors, who deliver, fome daily, others 
on every other.day, a lecture, each in his 
own department of {cience ;_ the following 
is the order of the courfe :—Cit. Le Blanc, 
the Ancient Laneuages—Valmont de Bo= 
mare, Natural Hiftory—Reguault, Deign 
-—Cofiaz, Wlatnematics—Libes, Phyfics 
and Chemiftry—Thiebault, the Principles 
of General Grammar—WMilhinz, Hiftory—— 
St. Aubin, the Science of Legiflation—St. 
Ange, the Belles-Lettres. This library 
is open to the public every other day, ex- 
cept on the Decade, from nine o’clock till 
three. ii wae 
An Exeurfion through France to Geneva. 
[May 1, 
Bibliotheque de St. Viétor.—This library 
contains a great many very curious ma- 
nulcripts, and among them is a collection 
of the proceedings againft the unfortunate. 
Maid of Orieans: here are alfo fome 
waxen tablets, on which are recorded the 
expences of Philippe-le- Bel, 
Bibliotheque, St. Germain-des-Prés.—In 
the year 1794 this library was deftroyed | 
by fire; itis faid that about 900 MSS. 
were faved,and added to thofe of the Bibhio- 
theque ci. devant Royale: a curious Pialter, 
is preferved here, written with filver let- 
ters, on a purple vellum. Allo a fmall 
folio, written in the feventh century, on 
Egyptian papyrus, containing letters of 
St. Auguttin. 
Bibliotheque Mazarine, ou des Quatres 
Nations, contains about fixty thoutand vo- 
Jumes: a Central School belongs to it, in 
which courfes of leétures are delivered, 
precifely fimilar to thofe which are read in 
the Bibliotheque de la Vilie. 
Bibliotheque de I Arfenal.—This im- 
menfe library, containing about 75,000 
printed books, and 6000 manuicripts, for- 
merly belonged to the Count d’Artois; it 
now forms a part of the Library of the’ 
Confervative Senate, at the Luxembourg, 
and contains many MSS. beautifully il- 
luminated on vellum, On the porch of 
this arfenal, built in the year 1584, were 
placed the following two lines, appropri- 
ate to the edifice, written by Nicalas 
Bourbon :— 
fétna hic Henrico Vulcania tela miniftrat, 
Tela gigantzos debellatura furores. 
Bibliotheque de I’ Inftitut National.—Ta 
a fitting of this celebrated Society I have 
not made the flighteft attempt to gain ad- 
miffion. ‘* What a ftrange unaccount- 
able want of curiofity!’? I hear yon ex- | 
claim, in one of your grave fits of philo- 
lofophy. If the Inftirute were to fend a 
deputation of its members te invite me, 
I might, perhaps, do them the honour to 
accept the invitation. ‘The honeft truth 
of the matter is, my good Friend—and a 
very mortifying truth it is, at the fame 
time—that if I went I fhould not under- 
ftand one half that was faid, and I do 
not feel difpefed to ftand there the mere 
fymbol of wide-ftaring wonder: now is 
there any thing fo very ftrange and un- 
accountable in this? ; 
- The proceedings of this Society, freely~ 
curtailed indeed, have been related in 
many Englifh publications: if you are 
not fatisfied with them, you may have the 
whole of their Memoirs, by fending to 
Paris for them. You kaow that the pee 
° 
