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the topography of Paris . They will see among others a copy of the celebrated plan executed in the early part of the sixteenth century in tapestry , the ongmal ofwhich , . after many vicissitudes , was used as a carpet at a ball given by the Hotel de Vule in 1786 , and ultimately disappeared . The Louvre -was quitted by Charles VI . for the Toumelles , -where also lived when at Paris Charles VIL , Louis XI ., Charles VIII ., Louis XII ., Francois I ., and Henri II . The widow of the last-mentioned king , after his supposed accidental death , exhibited her grief by ordering the Toumelles to be rased to the ground ; but instead of building an expiatory chapel , according to more artful modern custom , sold the ground for building purposes , and so made a good profit by the transaction . Catherine had the thrift , as well as the craft , of an Italian of those days .
During five reigns the Louvre was utterly neglected . But at length Francois L , struck by the beauty of the site , * ordered the great tower of Philippe-Auguste to be destroyed , —a task performed with some difficulty and at considerable expense—2500 Kvres of those days—in £ 527 . Twelve years afterwards , when Charles Quint was expected , the hero of Marignan—always accustomed to squander the greatest means to produce the smallest results—determined to resuscitate the Louvre for the occasion . Thousands of workmen were collected : artists and artisans were employed to decorate the walls with paintings and tapestry ; the windows were enlarged , and supplied with new panes ; the arms of France were sculptured in profusion ; the weathercocks were regilded , and various ugly old walls were thrown down : but the result of all this industry was evidently not satisfactory , and when that time of breathless suspense had passed—during which the fear of public opinion , perhaps , alone gave the victory to public faith—Francois I ., still in astonishment at his own chivalry , determined to distinguish himself by architectural achievements .
The Renaissance— " an event , " savs Mr . St . John , which successive -writers are endeavouring to characterise in a series of conflicting epigrams " —had already far advanced , when the royally demonstrative personage ¦ whom ordinary Englishmen are more accustomed to call " Francis the First " than " Francois I ., " took to building-improvements , for a change of occupation . The conflict of taste at that time has left records which prove that the Gothic style and the modern expression of ancient styles had each an advocacy , very much as in time present . Mr . St . John says well of the school of Fontainebleau— the men who could only think of the horizontal balustrades of the south , and their regular beauty , set off by a clear blue sky , and who looked on a building capped by a kind of slate pyramid as a mere barbarism—that " they forgot the snow , the rain , the winds , the fogs of the north—as all these circumstances ere forgotten by our modern architects , for -whose incapacity and subjection to routine we are compelled to pay annual penalties in the shape of quarrels with landlords , and visits from tilers and plumbers . "
Francois I . did not , after alL contribute greatly to the renaissance of the Louvre . His principal architect , Lescot , delayed active measures until another kin g was on the throne of France . The work of alteration was carried on throughout the reign of Henri II ., and , after his death , was hastened by Catherine , who soon saw two symmetrical wings opposed to the old cluster of towers , turrets , pinnacles , and weathercouks , which formed the east and north portions of the building . Under Charles IX . and Henri III . the works were continued by Androuet , Du Cerceau , and others , Jean Goujon being employed on decorative parts . Henry IV " . built the Pavilion de Flore , ' at the corner of the Tuileries , and began the Long Gallery . abandoned
Under the Kegency succeeding Henri IV ., the Louvre was , and the works remained suspended until Richelieu came into power , when Lemercier ' s designs for the completion of the building were accepted , and the first stone was laid with great pomp . The progress of the renewed ¦ works , however , was not rapid under Louis XIII ., and had again ceased entirely when Louis XIV . gave Levau commands to carry out the plans of Lemercier . But Levau was set aside when Colbert came into power . Now followed the reign of the celebrated Charles and Claude Perrault . The completion of the Louvre became an affair of State . Colbert ' s coterie exhibited wonderful mastery , in intrigue . At first the mighty reputation of ' ll Cayaliere Bernini , the Autocrat of Roman Art , interfered with their designs . Some of his admirers suggested that he should be sent for by the king ; but it was » not easy to prevail upon him at an advanced age to undertake so long a journey . At length an autograph
letter from his majesty , Louis XIV ., and a state visit of the French Ambassador , produced their effect . The Cavaliere ' s progress through Italy and France was quite royal 4 n its magnificence . All municipalities hastened to prostrate themselves at the feet of a man who was going to build a palace for the Great King . He was well received at St . Germain ; and royal condescension even withstood the somewhat independent manners which he affected , and which much greater painters have not always preserved . Bernini , the prince of mediocrity , must have felt himself a match for the king , who was already surrounded by unmerited honours , and who waa destined to prove during his long life that the capacity which would scarcely enable a common man . to shine in a village , is quite sufficient to overawe the world , when concealed behind a flowing wig , a solemn face , a gorgeous robe , a crowded court , and a splendid palace .
Bernini was very soon drawn into-tin entanglement of court squabbles , in which he was ludicrously unable to support that aspect of dignified serenity so lopg habitual **> him , and so inseparable , in fact , from his character . Jffts p ,. " though , ' ? in the words of Mr . St . John , " it contained many sensible features , was violently criticised ; and not long after ( the solemn in 7 augjuration of his labours ) , his absence was bought with a present and a pension . ' r T / he brothers Perrault were now permitted to curry out their own depigna , and they began by destroying all that Bernini had done , which was qjftremely little . They built the celebrated colonnade , and worked so industriously , that it waa thought they would have the honour of completing ih , e Louvre ; but their work received a sudden check . Lot Mr . St . John tell , us why : —
In . truth , there was no national reason why the work should be continued . Royalty h « & resolved definitely to keep out of the reach of popular indignation beyond the ^ a ]^ sj and retire to distant and rural situations . Versailles liad begun entirely to occupy the mind of Louis . The Perraulta were ejected from their architectural mrane And retired into private life , to spend their time in making fanciful sketches of what th ^ y would have done ; and Manyart reigned in their stead . For uovonty-fivo year * toe Louvre was almost utterly abandoned , and externally became covered with tnoM . and grass , and plants , and woll-flowers , like an old village church . There e ^ &Wrf old ' plan of Paris on a large scale , drawn up in 1789 , from which some hints may be obtained of the state of this palace at that timo . It reminds one of an
ss ^ gifs ^ ssi B&SBmff l hkbitatte ' room ? most of the great halls were divided horizontally and perpend 1 C ularly ^^ h ^^ h ^^ - ^ »^ s ^ a ^ aSmstThe ' co ? onnade , along which were ranged lines of mangers ; wooden sheds grahouses . ^ * * *
^^ IT ^ tr ^ erTorS in the quadrangle , thinking they had at fcngh oh ^ VriI a nrescrintive right , began to rebuild them in solid stone . This at length Stated thepSa ^ pu 1 , which had always , more or less , felt interest in the fate of the Lou ^ -e Even i * tL 664-when the great project of completion was under considerate-there had been a perfect rush of pamphlets , memoirs , projects , and co ^ ter-proiects In the middle of the eighteenth century , literature had become ^ accustomed to deal authoritatively with the topics of the day . The « aZettes were bSS g to show their power . Articles , essajs , epigrams , followed in rapid s ^ ccessionTand at length M . de Marigny , whose department was concerned determined Aot only to clear out the Augean stable , but to resume the work of building . . ., . , . , ,. , the establish
The houses in the quadrangle , the court painters , postal - ment , the crown sinecurists , the queen ' s stables , and the noble pensioners were actually lemoved somehow , and new works were begun , in 175 a , under the architect Gahriel ; but had he been the angel instead , he could scarcely have made way in spite of royal caprice . In a short time the favourites , the sinecurists , the queen ' s horses and painters , the pensioners , and ior anything we can . tell , the post-office , were back again in their old quarters —the Louvre—which was abandoned to them and the weather . The Revolution not only drove out , in a more effectual manner , the heterogeneous population of this equally heterogeneous locality , but it nobly helped to restore the " old Palace of the Kings ; " for Mr . St . John succeeds in controverting the statement of M . Vitet that the Consulate first " restored order to the Louvre and to France . " The famed artist David , who gave the death-blow to the old Academy , may be said to have called into young and vigorous life a national collection . The " Museum of the Republic was opened on the 10 th of August , 1793 , in the gallery which connects the
Louvre with the Tuileries . Here is the description of a scene taken from the account ot an eyewitness , and worthy a page in the history of a great nation : — A singular ceremony took place on the ninth of Thermidor , in the sixth year of the Republic—namely , the triumphal entry into Paris of the objects of art and materials of science—books , statues , manuscripts , and pictures—conquered in Italy during the early Italian wars . These treasures were landed at Charenton ; and during the ten days that preceded the ceremony , from morning until evening , prodigious crowds streamed up along the banks of the Seine to see the innumerable cases containing them . Enormous cars , drawn by richly-caparisoned horses , were prepared , and early on the morning t > f the appointed day the procession began . It was divided into four sections . First came trunks filled with books and manuscripts taken from the Vatican , from Padua , Verona , and other cities , and including the " Antiquities " of Josephus on papyrus , with works in the handwriting of Galileo , Leonardo da Vinci , and Petrarch . Then followed collections of mineral products , with the celebrated fossils of Verona . For the occasion were added waggons , laden with iron
cages containing lions , tigers , and panthers , over which waved enormous palmbranches and all kinds of exotic shrubs . Afterwards rolled along a file of chariots bearing pictures carefully packed , but with the names of the most important inscribed in large letters outside ; as , the " Transfiguration" of Raphael , and the " Christ" of Titian . The ¦ number of paintings , principally included in this lot , brought from Italy to France wafl great , and the value was still greater . Fifteen important works by Raphael , seventeen by Perugino , twenty-eight by Guercino , four by Correggio , nine by Guido , five by Titian , and a vast quantity of others by the best masters , are mentioned in the lists of General Pommereul . When these trophies had passed
amidst the applause of the excited crowd , a heavy rumlrting announced the approach of still more woighty treasures : of massive carts , bearing statues and marble groups , the Apollo of the Belvedere , the Nine Muses , the Antinous , the Laocoon , the Gladiator , the Melpomene of the Capitol . All these vehicles were numbered and decked out with laurel-boughs , bouquets , crowna of flowers , ilags taken from the enemy , and French , Italian , and Greek inscriptions . Detachments of cavalry and infantry , colours flying , drums beating , music playing , marched at various intervals : the members of the nowly-eatablished Institute fell into the lino : bo did the artists and the savans ; and the singers of the lyrical theatres preceded or followed , making the air ring with national hymns . This prodigious procession—probably not unlike a Roman triumph in its general outline—marched along the quays amidst the nhouts of the assembled population , traversed all Paris , and reaching the Champ do Mars , defiled before the Five Members of the Directory , who were placed near the altar of the country , surrounded by their ministers , by the great civil functionaries , the generals , and the whole garrison of the capital .
This is the hist extract ; which wo will give our readers , who have already , wo hope , made up their minds to turn to tho book itself . It is a book so laboriously compiled , so conscientiously finished , and , on the whole , so pleasantly written , that its affectations ought rather to bo regretted on the reader ' account than visited as high Crimea and misdemeanours up . n the author .
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LOKD BROUGHAM'S UTEHATUUE . [ Avea of Men vf Letter * of the Timo of Qeorge III . By Henry L < jrd Brougham , K . K . S . Griulu and Co . It is matter of very common observation that members of the " privileged classes , " who , either from wnnt of work or want of ability to do their proper work , find their time hang rather heavily on their hands , try to get rid of it by employments which , ifnot aelf-imposed , they would think rather pitiable .
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tffio TeEi lEADEil . [ No . 276 ^ A . rtrRi > At , * ' ¦ - —¦ ¦—¦ ¦—¦ ^—^ ^—^^^ i ^^^ M ^*^*—^^^*^^^^ " ^^ " *—^^^^^^^^ MM ^ M ^^^^ BBWI ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *« j » .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/16/
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