h which I at first took for the Roman Eagle,
borne before their Consuls, resembling it in every other respect. These
Gates are shut every night and also on every Review day. Paris, like all
the Country, swarms with Soldiers; in Every Street there is a Barrack.
In Paris alone there are upwards of 15 thousand men. I must say nothing
of the Government. It is highly necessary in France for every person,
particularly Strangers, to be careful in delivering their opinions; I
can only say that the _Slavery_ of it is infinitely more to my taste
than the _Freedom_ of France. The public Exhibitions (and indeed almost
Every thing is public) are on a scale of Liberality which should put
England to the blush. Everything is open without money. The finest
library I ever saw is open Daily to Every person. You have but to ask
for any book, & you are furnished with it, and accommodated with table,
pens, ink, & paper. The Louvre, the finest Collection of pictures and
Statues in the world, is likewise open, & not merely open to view. It is
filled, excepting on the public days, with artists who are at liberty to
copy anything they please. Where in England can we boast of anything
like this? Our British Museum is only to be seen by interest, & then
shewn in a very cursory manner. Our Public Libraries at the Universities
are equally difficult of access. It is the most politic thing the
Government could have done. The Arts are here encouraged in a most
liberal manner. Authors, Painters, Sculptors, and, in short, all persons
in France, have opportunities of improving themselves which can not be
found in any other Country in the World, not even in Britain. You may
easily conceive that I who am fond of painting was most highly
Entertained in viewing the Great Gallery of the Louvre, & yet you will,
I am sure, think my taste very deficient when I tell you that I do not
admire the finest pictures of Raphael, Titian, Guido, and Paul Veronese,
so much as I do those of Rubens, Vandyck, & le Brun, nor the landscapes
of Claude and Poussin so much as Vernet's. Rembrandt, Gerard Dow & his
pupils Mieris and Metsu please me more than any other artists. In the
whole Collection they have but one of Salvator's, but that one, I think,
is preferable to all Raphael's. I have not yet seen statues enough to be
judge of their beauties. The Apollo of Belvidere & the celebrated
Laocoon lose, therefore, much of their Excellence when seen by me. There
is still a fine Collec