the Abbe Sieyes
constituted himself the Isaac Newton of political science.

There is a goodly show, too, of historical portraits of interest, one of
the Admiral de Coligny, which was exhibited at Paris in 1878, another of
Fenelon, which came here from the pillage of the Chapterhouse of
Cambray, another of Prince Maurice of Nassau, another of Hortense
Mancini. A good full-length portrait of Bardo Bardi Magalotti, colonel
of the 'Royal Italian' regiment under Louis XIV., is set in a very
remarkable frame of superbly carved oak, part of the woodwork of the
demolished church of St.-Gery. Of historical interest, too, is a large
Van der Meulen, representing the defeat of Turenne before Valenciennes
in 1656, by the Spanish army under Conde. From a bird's-eye view of
Valenciennes in the background of this large canvas, we may see how much
the city has lost by the gradual destruction of its finest architectural
features.

Within the last few years the Museum of Valenciennes has been endowed,
through the munificence chiefly of a Wallachian nobleman, Prince George
Stirbey, well known in Paris, with a unique collection of the works of
Carpeaux, the sculptor of the famous groups which adorn the facade of
the grand Opera House at Paris.

Carpeaux was born at Valenciennes, and the fine statue of Watteau which
stands now in the city was both suggested and executed by him. So long
ago as 1860, when he began to recognise his own place in contemporary
art, he expressed his wish to have his memory perpetuated in his native
place by as complete a collection of his works as could be made; and in
his will, drawn up in 1874, he left to Valenciennes all his models in
plaster, and all the drawings for his works, together with all the
sketch-books he had filled during his artistic life, and which were then
in the keeping of his relations at Auteuil.

In process of time Carpeaux found it necessary to part with a great many
of his drawings, and Prince George Stirbey, who had bought most of them,
after the death of the artist, divided them into three lots, one of
which he gave to the Louvre, another to the School of Fine Arts at
Paris, and the third and richest to Valenciennes. To this princely
liberality, Valenciennes is indebted for the singular fulness and value
of the Carpeaux collection which it now possesses.

Among the portraits in the Museum proper, is one which ought to be sent
to the Musee de la Revolution in Paris. It is a pastel of