the further improvement of this palace were on
the most extensive scale imaginable, as he intended to remove all the
buildings situated between the Louvre and the Tuilleries; and some idea
of the extent of the proposed area may be formed, when it is considered
that, in its present state, the place _du Carousel_ is sufficiently
capacious to admit of 15,000 men being drawn up there in battle array.
Whilst I remained at Paris, a considerable number of workmen were
engaged in carrying on these improvements, but it is probable, from the
exhausted state in which the projector of these undertakings has left
the finances of France, that it will be many years before it will be
possible to complete them.

* * * * *

CHAP. III.

If the stranger at Paris is struck by the magnificent appearance which
the exterior of the Louvre presents, he cannot fail of being delighted
with an inspection of the contents of its invaluable Museum. This, like
nearly all the museums and libraries in Paris, is open to _every
individual_, except on the days appropriated for study, when only
_artists_ are admitted; but even then, a stranger, whose stay is
limited, may be admitted on producing his _passport_, a regulation which
is highly commendable for its liberality; and at none of these
repositories are the attendants permitted to lay any contributions on
the visitants. The gallery of the Louvre was built by Henry IV. to join
that palace with the Tuilleries, from which it was formerly separated,
by the walls which surrounded Paris. This vast gallery is _two hundred
toises_ in length (not a great deal short of a quarter of an English
mile); the collection of works of art here in without any parallel, as
in this place are assembled most of the finest paintings and statues in
the world, which the most indifferent must survey with admiration. But
at the same time, it is impossible not to feel a portion of regret at
the causes which have robbed Italy of those monuments, which its
inhabitants so well knew how to appreciate, and for many of which they
entertained a religious veneration, as the ornaments of their churches.

The French, as far as I am able to judge, do not (in general) possess
any such feeling of sensibility, and merely value these _chefs d'oeuvre_
because their merit is allowed to be _incontestable_, and because their
vanity is flattered, in seeing them thus collected by their victories as
an additional