it, as it appeared in the XVIth century, represent it
nearly surrounded by a wall and a moat. It takes its name as having
been originally situated _in the fields_.
[10] [Two years ago was placed, upon the top of this small lantern, a gilt
cross, thirty-eight feet high: 41 of English measurement: and the
church has been consecrated to the Catholic service. CRAPELET. Thus,
the criticism of an English traveller, in 1818, was not entirely void
of foundation.]
[11] [Our public buildings, which have continued long in an unfinished
state, strike the eyes of foreigners more vividly than they do our
own: but it is impossible to face the front of St. Sulpice without
partaking of the sentiment of the author. CRAPELET.]
[12] [Louis XVIII.]
[13] [_read and understand_ GRAHAME.]--Mr. Grahame is both a very readable
and understandable author. He has reason to be proud of his poem
called the SABBATH: for it is one of the sweetest and one of the
purest of modern times. His _scene_ however is laid in the country,
and not in the metropolis. The very opening of this poem refreshes the
heart--and prepares us for the more edifying portions of it, connected
with the performance of the religious offices of our country. This
beautiful work will LIVE as long as sensibility, and taste, and a
virtuous feeling, shall possess the bosoms of a British Public.
[14] See the note p. 20, ante.
[15] It is now completed.
_LETTER II._
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE DU ROI. THE LIBRARIANS.
_Hotel des Colonies, Rue de Richelieu_.
The moment is at length arrived when you are to receive from me an account
of some of the principal treasures contained in the ROYAL LIBRARY of Paris.
I say "_some_":--because, in an epistolary communication, consistently with
my time, and general objects of research--it must be considered only as a
slight selection, compared with what a longer residence, and a more general
examination of the contents of such a collection, might furnish. Yet,
limited as my view may have been, the objects of that view are at once rich
and rare, and likely to afford all true sons of BIBLIOMANIA and VIRTU the
most lively gratification. This is a bold avowal: but I fear not to make
it, and: the sequel shall be the test of its modesty and truth.
You observe, I have dated my letter from a different quarter. In fact, the
distance of my former residenc
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