f the
population. An evil direction still survived; and men were not happy, not
because they could not, but because they would not rouse themselves to
vanquish self-raised obstacles. Raymond was to inspire them with his
beneficial will, and the mechanism of society, once systematised according
to faultless rules, would never again swerve into disorder. For these hopes
he abandoned his long-cherished ambition of being enregistered in the
annals of nations as a successful warrior; laying aside his sword, peace
and its enduring glories became his aim--the title he coveted was that of
the benefactor of his country.

Among other works of art in which he was engaged, he had projected the
erection of a national gallery for statues and pictures. He possessed many
himself, which he designed to present to the Republic; and, as the edifice
was to be the great ornament of his Protectorship, he was very fastidious
in his choice of the plan on which it would be built. Hundreds were brought
to him and rejected. He sent even to Italy and Greece for drawings; but, as
the design was to be characterized by originality as well as by perfect
beauty, his endeavours were for a time without avail. At length a drawing
came, with an address where communications might be sent, and no artist's
name affixed. The design was new and elegant, but faulty; so faulty, that
although drawn with the hand and eye of taste, it was evidently the work of
one who was not an architect. Raymond contemplated it with delight; the
more he gazed, the more pleased he was; and yet the errors multiplied under
inspection. He wrote to the address given, desiring to see the draughtsman,
that such alterations might be made, as should be suggested in a
consultation between him and the original conceiver.

A Greek came. A middle-aged man, with some intelligence of manner, but with
so common-place a physiognomy, that Raymond could scarcely believe that he
was the designer. He acknowledged that he was not an architect; but the
idea of the building had struck him, though he had sent it without the
smallest hope of its being accepted. He was a man of few words. Raymond
questioned him; but his reserved answers soon made him turn from the man to
the drawing. He pointed out the errors, and the alterations that he wished
to be made; he offered the Greek a pencil that he might correct the sketch
on the spot; this was refused by his visitor, who said that he perfectly
understood, and wo