. It is three hundred
feet above the floor of the church; and the painting, by Gros, is very
fine. I think we have seen nothing of the kind that is so beautiful. It
is principally historical; and among the figures are Clovis, Clotilda,
Charlemagne, St. Louis, Louis XVIII., and the Duchess d'Angouleme, with
the infant Duke of Bourdeaux; and above all these, as in heaven, are
Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII., and Madame Elizabeth.

We were all thankful enough to find that the Louvre is at last open. We
walked there, looking with interest at the Tuileries, which I cannot
help admiring, although some think it devoid of architectural merit. Its
wide-spread pavilions of one thousand feet, looming up with
time-darkened walls, always please me. The palace of the Louvre is an
older edifice than the Tuileries; the newer portion was the work of the
reign of Louis XIV. The quadrangle is very fine, and the proportions of
the entire building admirable. Our business was with that part called
the Musee Royal, and here are the paintings and statues which have
given such a renown to Paris. You must recollect, my dear fellow, that
we cannot tell you all about these pictures, for the gallery is nearly
one third of a mile in length, and each side is filled up with canvas,
and the rooms are lofty. There was a time when almost all that
continental Europe thought exquisite in art was to be found here.
Bonaparte levied contributions on all the capitals he conquered, and
here he deposited his ill-gotten spoils. Once were seen in this place
the great masterpieces of Raphael, Guido, Titian, Domenichino, Murillo,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Potter, and a host of other artists who created
beauty; but when right overcame might, these pictures were returned to
their original owners. The catalogue we bought was a volume of five
hundred pages, and was only of statuary; and what could we do but walk,
wonder, and admire? To examine would be a task and pleasure for three
months. The department of statuary is very large; and here we saw
surprising fragments of the Grecian and Roman schools. The paintings by
Rubens here are numerous, but by no means as fine as those we saw at
Antwerp and in the museums of Holland. All the great masters are here,
and their works are finely arranged. We saw some of Claude Lorraine's
that were beautiful; and some pictures that I missed, since I was here
in 1836, have been transferred, I learn, by Louis Philippe, to
Versailles a