tings or architecture, I only give the impressions of a
man who loves both when they seem beautiful to him. I am no such art
enthusiast that I love to wander through galleries of naked and sensual
pictures, though they do show great genius. Nor can the glitter and
grandeur of a thousand public buildings hide from my eyes the squalor
and wretchedness of the common people.

I will not give a precise description of the Louvre, but record the
things which struck me most forcibly.

The foreigner by showing his passport is admitted any day into the
Louvre, though certain days are specified for the public to enter, and
upon others the artists of Paris are busy in studying and copying the
works of the masters.

[Illustration: THE LOUVRE.]

It was one of those days, when the Louvre was occupied by the artists,
that I presented my American passport at one of the entrances, and was
politely invited to pass in. My companion was a French artist, who
had kindly offered to guide me over the renowned collection of
paintings. The visit was much pleasanter to me from the fact that no
crowd of visitors was present, and it was a novel sight to behold the
young artists of Paris engaged in their work. I have mentioned in
another part of this book that no pictures of living artists are allowed
a place in the Louvre. The Luxembourg Gallery is the place for all such,
and the Louvre collection is therefore made up of paintings from the
hands of all the old masters. It is for this reason that the Parisian
artists fill the rooms of the Louvre so constantly--either to copy some
gem in the vast collection, or by practice, to catch some of the genius
of the master-hand.

The first picture-room we entered is represented to be the finest for
the exhibition of pictures in the world. Its splendor was really very
great. The pictures in it are of immense size, and they require a strong
and clear light. It is called the Grand Saloon, and is divided by
projecting arcades which are supported by fine marble columns. The
length is one thousand three hundred and twenty-two feet, and the
breadth forty-two feet. The ceilings and the walls are completely
covered by pictures, the number of them being one thousand four hundred.
Those by French masters number three hundred and eighty, by the Flemish
and German five hundred and forty, and by the Italian four hundred and
eighty. The greater part of the collection was made by Napoleon, and
though many of the finest