superb
gallery: the floor was covered with empty frames: a Frenchman, in the
midst of his sorrow, had his joke, in saying, 'Well, we should not have
left to _them_ even these!' In walking down this exhausted place, I
observed a person, wearing the insignia of the legion of honor, suddenly
stop short, and heard him exclaim, '_Ah, my God--and the Paul Potter,
too!_' This referred to the famous painting of a bull by that master,
which is the largest of his pictures, and is very highly valued. It
belonged to the Netherlands, and has been returned to them. It was said
that the emperor Alexander offered fifteen thousand pounds for it.

"The removal of the statues was later in commencing, and took up more
time; they were still packing these up when I quitted Paris. I saw the
Venus, the Apollo, and the Laocooen removed: these may be deemed the
presiding deities of the collection. The solemn antique look of these
halls fled forever, when the workmen came in with their straw and
Plaster of Paris, to pack up. The French could not, for some time, allow
themselves to believe that their enemies would dare to deprive them of
these sacred works; it appeared to them impossible that they should be
separated from France--from _la France_--the country of the Louvre and
the Institute; it seemed a contingency beyond the limits of human
reverses. But it happened, nevertheless: they were all removed. One
afternoon, before quitting the place, I accidentally stopped longer than
usual, to gaze on the Venus, and I never saw so clearly her superiority
over the Apollo, the impositions of whose style, even more than the
great beauties with which they are mingled, have gained for it an
inordinate and indiscriminating admiration. On this day, very few, if
any of the statues had been taken away--and many said that France would
retain them, although she was losing the pictures. On the following
morning I returned, and the pedestal on which the Venus had stood for so
many years, the pride of Paris, and the delight of every observer, was
vacant! It seemed as if a soul had taken its flight from a body."

REMOVAL OF THE VENETIAN HORSES FROM PARIS.

"The removal of the well known horses taken from the church of St. Mark
in Venice, was a bitter mortification to the people of Paris. These had
been peculiarly the objects of popular pride and admiration. Being
exposed to the public view, in one of the most frequented situations of
Paris, this was esteem