The National Register. — London, England, 1814-09-18 00:00:00

T SEPT. 18. • , TIM NATIONAL REGISTER. _.„-r.:--r - • , l(`‘. • REVIEIV OF LITERATURE. EUSTACE'S LETTER FROM PARIS. Mr. Eustace (now the Rev. Mr. Eustace,) the elegant and distinguished author of the Classical Tour through Italy, has just added to our stock of information on present France, by " A Letter from Paris to George Petre, Esq." It may almost appear unfair to make any extracts from so small a work, as on a very liberal computation, founded on the generality of the publications of the present day, it might he supposed easy to select in quotations of a hundred lines all that a pamphlet of not quite a hundred pages could contain of new o valuable : but such is not the case in the present instance: In Mr. Eustace's little hook, all is so good or so enteraining, that extracting one part rather than another, is to be atti ibuted much more to accident, or our own particular taste, than to any superiority over the rest. Mr. Eustace appears to. have followed the ordinary route from Calais to Paris, at which he arrives .by "roads, wide, straight, generally paved in the Middle, and always-excellent," intersecting a country-in the highest state of cultivation. The remarks be makes on his journey are necessa' ily few, but they are always important. The mast striking are those suggested by the crowds qf beggars found' iti every town and village,—the destruction of t•he .Chateaux and.Abbies, and the scarcely credible depopulation of the country; which is stated to offer the monstrous disproportion of " twelve wo.: _ . men to one effective man." He lingers at the Abbey_of St. Denis, (the last post before: . Pat is) which he visited in 1790,-atittas,tin in 1 SO2 ; what he' says of this Mausoleuni of the Kin-4s 'of •F -ranee, (what it 'was in its glory, and whet in its dtsolatinn) is writt . eii,l6 w strain of eloquence we may seldom look for in a Tourist, and pel haps the severity of En fish prose would' condetnn:its. author, did not the atrecting, the inspiring nature of the subject amply justify any flight of the itnagioation, or any Ebullition of the heart. . Although of the zeneral appearance of Paris and its build ing Mr. liustace speaks as a man master of his subject, and who had formed his al chitectural taste in the pure scho: , l of Italy, we shall pas, over his remarks on these points, as of minor interest, and commence our extracts with the folkwin,; observations ou the Louvi a..d tine t. easures of which it has become the deoositorv. " The colle;:tiote., 41c,!apy part of the ground floor of the oil!: Louvre, and the whole of the new Louvre, or Gallery of (:ifin znoilicatiou het , .seeti the ie., and the to; - nwr Pa!ace. ni,• lower are euirseet;tted to the Statue', alit! are seven in the vt•stit)o:e .ouie are pavedlbltlt marble, atid tae veil i , 4; , ‘ o r a l! aria p. l►til t `tlthci, - tide 15 trot %%Atli e • ception of the Hall ‘...hich was o l .eited and turni6::ed toe: latest, called the .k.i'ulte des Fleures. " The , ,c triore than three lit:mired statnes, ahno,t. all ancient, 13!1y3t ...x.s_bellent ti,ei,r.Ll . ,ol, anti some e. , nsv.kieci as t 714. tna-terriece.s tite art, 1:1).1 the .gre•ate , t ttithis ut Gr:.etan It. 1) as-;e:14!3!1.::e is, wiii.out scion:A, At ziking, 411( i I'XCite 1. 1i greateAt stti,l);ra,lon anti (It:tight. Yet, Ed()) i3re eteunistanet'zi, %hie!), it I Ina:, jutli;e ... T... 1 7 .0 . 593 my own feelind,4 and the fceling4 of u .y forsign, :and ev::11 s:•ifte French spectators, dimmiso both on r plem , nrk. and astoo.shructit at such an extriiordinary exhibition. In tile , Cust the 11.111 s a'e not embellished in such a style of magnificence as :,VCO:11e• the cote bination wonlers which they contain ; the next place, they are too gloomy ; anti in the third, the arrangrinent is extremely de fective. • Soulpture and Architecture are sister arts ; to I ry ougl;t to 1:o inseparable;' the living forms of the former are in OW tograee awl endven the palaces and temples of the latter. Besides, the E.eper rs of Rome and tree lt! 1\C...e8 of Greece sat enthroned under cent:lms, or stood eashrined in the midst of marble porticoes ; a fl .od (if light burst from the domes over their heads, aid all the colours tif tinir ble gleamed from the pavement, and plAyell around their pedestals. Thus encircled with light, and glory, and Lcauty, they alipearcd iu ancient Athens and in modern Rome, each, accordieg to its tligety, in its niche of honor, or in its separate temple, high above toe crowd, and distinguished as much by its site as by it:. sleellenee. " How degraded are the captive Gods and Emperors of the Lou vre? The floors are (often) flagged, the walls are pl.tsivred, ihe ceilings arched, the windows rate ; a few scant,/ bea'ns just !:Lfi'e (nt the lifeless forms. as if to show the palemr.:s of the marble. a;td the confusion in which gods and animals, heroes and vases, historical beings and mythological fables crowd around. " The Laocoon anti the Apollo of Belvidere, it is true , occupy the most distingnished place, each in its particular Hall; but the wav to the Lattr is obstruete ! by a whole line of minor forms ; and in Ms haste to contemplate the matchless groupe of the . the spc e. total stumbles upon the Venus de Medicis ! ! After some more obsvrvations, tending to censure the ar. rangement of the rich specimens in the branch of sculliture ct)ntained in the Louvre, the author proc;xds to sp,:ak of the co'!ltclion of paintings. " From the Halls of Statues a most magnificent flight of atone steps, ad.woed by motile pill:errs, leads to the gallery of pit:ll:Hi. The spectator hseeteis with a pleasure that increases as he passes the indite saloon, servinv, a• an antiehatwier to toe Nia-eam; but when he stands at its entrance. and beholds a gi!lery of I(J:tilt-en hundred feet extending in immeastir,ible perspective tt,..fore tint', he starts with surpri.e and admiration. variety of tiot• 'lei: in.. the sides, tee splendid glow of the 2;i.ti•34 above, the bllze that breaks throttelt the lateen! windows, aid the te.npe.eil lights di it fall from the roof, mingle. together in tht' perspective, an.: f.•; iii most singular. and fascinating comhin.ition of splendour and obscurity." Ent in the Gallery of Pictures, as in tlir /1 . 3115 or Sta ' Pcs, Mr Eus'ace discovers, wlth,,:nici, to delight, some:hint; still .to condeain. It offends his eve, and even his serv=e jos- Lice, to see " the glare and contortion of David's tignies staring on the yery walk that disHriv the caliniless and tLe t.e;)ose of Poussin's sceocry." Ije also finds a want of o r&i . methA in the distrioution of the paihtiot ; and 6E)- serves that many splendid' objects, when united, c lipse ear h othcr; and that masterpiece!:, placed in eontrAct, !mist lie ce.sa;-i y dazzle the eve and divide tin!. littentiini. , herefo , e, which are emife , sed the .pecimens Of illy art, ought to be placed seoarate, each in ;tf, a!). 1, U 1- der the intl.,ence of a light peculiai and with ;ll its anpropriale accottL'.animet)t-: Here, for ‘v;int I r:ioin, we fin(' .:•41.se1ve5 compe!le(l to cloise our extra , _ ts for the present ; Nv:! .11:;11, however, coti• t nue thtin next week, at;d :,••:11re our re tilers Euscact-'s picture of the mo dern French. - - r . -y •-. _, ~~.. *- •