416 
propriety in behaviour. Boards are hung 
up nstwo or three public places, ‘* Citi- 
zens, touch nothing, but refpeé& the Na- 
tronal property ;°’ this neat and neceflar 
admoniticn is not always very ftri¢tly at- 
tended to: a gentleman of your acquaint- 
ance (I tear it was myfelf) was thought- , 
lefs enough to feel of the full veins in the 
Dying Gladiator’s foot ; furely one could 
not fancy they would yield to the preffure 
of the finger. Some one, whom we con- 
jetured to be 2 fort of guard, gently re- 
buked me :—‘* Ne touchez rien, Monfieur, 
szl vous plait. ‘The entrance into the 
Grand Gallery of Paintings prefents one 
of the moft enchanting per{peétives I ever 
beheld: the length of the room is 1360 
feet! on the walls of which are fulpended 
950 pictures, many of them of very large 
dimenfions, the workmanfhip of Raphael, 
of Rubens, of Guido, of Titian, of the 
Carracci, of Leonardo da Vinci, of Cor- 
regio, Albano, Domenichino, &c. &c. &c. 
The firft effe& of this fplendid and multi- 
tudinous aflemblage is extremely impref- 
five: but furely the piétures might be 
ftudied to better advantage, were the col- 
letion lefs numerous—were it feparated 
and arranged into half a dozen different 
apartments. The Adminiffration, how- 
ever, has very judicioufly arranged the 
painters, particularly thofe of hiftory, fol- 
lowing the chronological order of their 
birth, and the piftures of each mafter are, 
as much as poffible, cullecied together ; 
by this method the comparifon of f{chool 
with fchool, of mafter with mafter, and 
of the fame mafter with himfelf, is cer- 
tainly very much facilitated. 
This mott noble room, however, is, after 
all, I think, in its prefent flate, very ill- 
calculated for the exhibition of piétures: 
it is narrow, although undoubtedly much 
more fo in appearance than reality, and 
the large windows on one fide alternate 
thofe on the cther, fo that it is the moft 
difficult thing in the world to throw an 
even light on any painting which you may 
with to examine: having found one good 
fituation, you muft keep it, for the chances 
are againft your being able to find a fe- 
cond. But we muft take leave of this 
gallery: perhaps you will like to be in- 
formed, however, that Maria Cofway has 
it in contemplation to make and publifh 
etchings of all the pictures contained in 
it!—-What a formidable undertaking! 
Le Citoyen David is, you know, the 
mot celebrated painter in Paris: his pic- 
ture of Bonaparte’s Paffage over Mount 
St. Bernard we had frequently heard of 
before we left England, and. of courle 
Letter from Mr. W. Belfham. 
[June I, 
were curious to fee this far-famed pro- 
duction of art. Alas! itis gone! The 
Firft Conful, to whom it belongs, took it 
away about fix weeks fince: this is a 
great difappointment, but we have been 
fortunate encugh to have an cpportunity 
of examining a performance of rival cele- 
brity, by the fame artit—‘ Le Tableau 
des Sabines.” his picture is publicly 
exhibited at the Louvre for the private 
emolument of David, the firft profeffional 
man in France who has expofed the pro- 
ductions of his pencil for profit; the cir- 
cumftance will probably effect a material 
and favourable change in the fituation of 
the French painters, and poffibly of the 
art itfelf: the public will now become 
judges of the performance, and the volun- 
tury remunerators of artifts, who will 
then, as in England, become indepen- 
dent, and receive the juft tribute of their 
induftry and their genius. The fingula- 
rity, or perhaps the uniqueneis (if you 
will allow me the word), of the circum- 
ftance has, however, made David unpopu-, 
lar here; fo much fo, that he has thought 
proper to prefix to his ‘* Expofition du 
Tableau” a vindication of his conduct! 
It is very dexteroufly managed, and, al- 
though fuch a vindication would be 
thought fuperfluous in London, it is worth 
preferving, as a curious evidence of the 
different opinion which is entertained on 
this fubject at Paris. 
(To be continued in our next.) 
—=— 
To the Editor of the Menihly Magazine. 
SIR, 
) EING only an occafional reader of 
your entertaining Mifcellany, the 
Letter of Mr. Thelwall, contained in your 
Jaft Number, would, but by an accident 
which I regard as fortunate, have efcaped 
my notice. 
However incautious may have been the 
expreflions to which Mr. Thelwall al- 
judes, I do affure -him and the public, 
that I meant no reflection on his moral 
character, refpecting which I, at the time, © 
knew little or nothing, but which I have 
fince heard very favourably fpoken of: 
and it would give me great concern, that 
he fhould receive any ferious injury from 
what I have faid of him in his political 
character. 
I acknowledge that the proceedings of 
the popular focieties excited in my mind 
the utmoft diflike and difapprobation, and 
that I confidered the leading characters in 
thofe affociations as, in. their public and 
political capacity, but little entitled to 
refpect, though individually they might be, 
2 and, 
