The exterior of this edifice was formerly
surrounded by cannon captured by the armies of France at different
periods: and ten thousand standards, the trophies of victory during the
wars of two centuries, waved under its splendid dome, and enveloped the
sword of Frederic the Great, which hung from the centre, until the 31st
of March 1814, when, as already observed, they were all burnt by order
of Maria Louisa, to prevent their falling into the victorious hands of
the allied powers.

If the character of the architecture of the Hotel des Invalides accords
well with the object to which that building is destined, the character
of the Louvre is not less in unison with the spirit of the fine arts, to
which it is consecrated. It is impossible for language to convey any
adequate idea of the impression which this exquisite building awakens in
the mind of a stranger. The beautiful proportions, and the fine symmetry
of the great facade, give an air of simplicity to the distant view of
this edifice, which is not diminished, on nearer approach, by the
unrivalled beauty of its ornaments and detail; but when you cross the
threshold of the portico, and pass under its noble archway into the
inner-court, all considerations are absorbed in the throb of admiration
which is excited by the sudden display of all that is lovely and
harmonious in Grecian architecture. You find yourself in the midst of
the noblest and yet chastest display of architectural beauty, where
every ornament possesses the character by which the whole is
distinguished, and where the whole possesses the grace and elegance
which every ornament presents:--You find yourself on the spot where all
the monuments of ancient art are deposited;--where the greatest
exertions of mortal genius are preserved--and where a palace has at last
been raised worthy of being the depository of the collected genius of
the human race.--It bears a higher character than that of being the
residence of imperial power; it seems destined to loftier purposes than
to be the abode of earthly greatness; and the only forms by which its
halls would not be degraded, are those models of ideal perfection which
the genius of ancient Greece created to exalt the character of a heathen
world.

Placed in a more elevated spot, and destined to a still higher object,
the Pantheon bears in its front the traces of the noble purpose for
which it was intended.--It was intended to be the cemetery of all the
great men who