press, of word, of thought. We cannot
resist the impulse to point out, in concluding this note, some of
the acts of vandalism which are every day planned, debated, begun,
continued, and successfully completed under the eyes of the artistic
public of Paris, face to face with criticism, which is disconcerted by
so much audacity. An archbishop's palace has just been demolished, an
edifice in poor taste, no great harm is done; but in a block with the
archiepiscopal palace a bishop's palace has been demolished, a rare
fragment of the fourteenth century, which the demolishing architect
could not distinguish from the rest. He has torn up the wheat with
the tares; 'tis all the same. They are talking of razing the
admirable chapel of Vincennes, in order to make, with its stones, some
fortification, which Daumesnil did not need, however. While the Palais
Bourbon, that wretched edifice, is being repaired at great expense,
gusts of wind and equinoctial storms are allowed to destroy the
magnificent painted windows of the Sainte-Chapelle. For the last few
days there has been a scaffolding on the tower of Saint Jacques de la
Boucherie; and one of these mornings the pick will be laid to it. A
mason has been found to build a little white house between the venerable
towers of the Palais de-Justice. Another has been found willing to prune
away Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the feudal abbey with three bell towers.
Another will be found, no doubt, capable of pulling down Saint-Germain
l'Auxerrois. All these masons claim to be architects, are paid by the
prefecture or from the petty budget, and wear green coats. All the harm
which false taste can inflict on good taste, they accomplish. While
we write, deplorable spectacle! one of them holds possession of the
Tuileries, one of them is giving Philibert Delorme a scar across the
middle of his face; and it is not, assuredly, one of the least of the
scandals of our time to see with what effrontery the heavy architecture
of this gentleman is being flattened over one of the most delicate
facades of the Renaissance!

PARIS, October 20, 1832.

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