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

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;,‘ oral! ariap.l►tilt`tlthci,- tide 15 trot %%Atli e
• ception of the Hall ‘...hich was ol.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