The Sun.
London, England, 1814-10-06 00:00:00

JOURNAL A TRIP TO PARIS.

(No. XXXIV.)

In my last I intimated my intention of noticing
the Luxemburgh,, 'containing the Senate House
in one wing, and a fine gallery 'of pictures in
Of the Palace itself it is unnecessary'
to .say much 5 built three hundred years ago, it
has passed in review under the pen of too many
.Tourists to possess either novelty or interest in .1
our day. • Perhaps the same observation applies
to most Of the pictures which it contains. In 4
the Senate House, however, there'lis a great deal
new—for the French RevolntiOn -was a sore de-
stroyer of antiquity. The grand stair-case is one
of the noblest I ever sate-broad, massy, and ht-
posing. Statues of Generals Bieber, Hoche,
Dessaix, Joubert, Caffarell4 Mareeau, and Du-
goinmier; and of 'Mirabeau, Coudorcet, Beau-
.
harnois) Thouret, Chapelier, Barnave, and Vert-
niatrx, who have distinguished themselves in civil
and political affairs, are placed on a projection
from the 'wall, on each side of this stair-case, •
and have a shetvy effect, ~ Aftcr'passing through
several-elegant anti-chambers, you arrive at the
Hall in which. the late Senate met, and in which
the present Peers hold their sittings:. This is a
noble apartment, but much more theatrical than
the .British Upper House. Indeed; almost every ,
public place (except the Musses) in Paris, has the
aspect bf 'a,theatre—all is laid out to catch the
eye-and ensnare the mind, and nothing is left, as
with us, to the unaided effect of innate dignity,
or the resistless energy of simple truth. Thom-
son's-line—

the other.

" Anti is, when unadorned, adorned the most,"

would be perfectly unintelligible in France.—
Buonaparte's statue, and son►c of his pictures,
have been removed from their stations in this build-

ing ; such as remain are imperviously covered
with, green baize. The view over the gardens
from 'the back chambers is beautiful ; but the gar-
dens themselves, though fine, want variety—

" Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother,
" And half the platform just reflects the other."
Some fine statues, however, are here offered to
the gaze of the Critic, which, were the Louvre
shut, would be .worth more than a transient, in-
spection : they are, to be sure, mostly copies,
but many of them are fine ones,

Having satisfied my curiosity with the Parlia-
mentary wing, I sojourned to that of the Pictures,
which is, or at least was, styled the .Gallery of
-the Palace of the Senate. In a sMall anti-room
an admirable Holy Family, by Raphael ; a
Panae, by Titian ; several Holy Subjects-, by
Philippe de Champagne ; and two of the sweetest
little Marine Sketches that ever flowed from the
pencil of Vandeveide. The palm, however, is
contested with these by asimilar. work of Vligers,
certainly the finest of this- master which , I have
met with. A Landscape, with figures, by Herman
•Swanveldt, is remarkable for a delicious perspec-
tive-=-a Concert, by Brekelen Kamp, for charming
colouring ; and above all the Pilgrims of Emmaus,
a Cabinet Picture, by Rembrandt, distinguished
for that indiscribable force and beauty, that ex-
quisite management of light and 'Shadow for
which he stands without a parallel in the art.
With the exception of the 'Woman taken in
Adultery, this is the most captivating picture of
the kind front. the hand of the celebrated Hollander.

E.ntering the principal Gallery, you are daziled
lvith.a glorious light shed from the walls by that
splendid series of the Life of Mary.de Medicis,
which has been called the Poem of Rubens, and
was paintell for the Queen by that Artist. It is
imposible for some time to examine these pictures,
to inOire into their subject, or notice any defects

'which may belong to them : 'they are so tran-
.scendantly brilliant, so riclr in the glow of the
brightest tints, that it is literally beyond the en-
iluranee of the eye to.serutinite them closely and
steadily. One perceives, indeed, that purity of de-
. •
sign camenot.within the atm of Rubenil but the
Jiving freshness of lkis colouring., the exquisite na-
ture of his flesh, the.mastery and rapidity of his
tench, fills the soul with such astonishment, that
all imperfections are forgotten, and you doubt
whether these were..e.vesr the production of mortal
It would be an idle tagk to repeat the
stories.of these well known tablets but I could
not resist the entilusiastic,.linpulse -which I felt to
say something of the general effect of this blaze
_ .
of magnificence. The education of Mary deMe-
dicis in. the C;astaliau rotto strikes me as the
most resplendent piece of colonr taken altOgether-;
awl the birth of 146u1s XIII. as posseising not
only mote grace a!id expre-ssion than any of the
,other s, but as surPassing in these respects any
picture. of .the SIMI:, illustrious painter. In Time
discovering Troth, there is a female figure nbs).:.
luEcv a cilef-d'ou'vre of flesh-colour, and beywid

genius.

jiguginationettchaiiting.
• IL the gallery of flubens, as if, to 'l,llc. them to

nothing by:the COlitt3SV, are placed two of thy-
largest anal finest productions of David—the Oath
of the Horatii, and Brutus at his Heaith after the
cemillunnatibn of his• Sons, ;David is a marlted. ex-
ample of the detects of lic G l is Scho'ol. Aiming at
the simplicity of the an'tigne, at anatdnical display,
and the most rigid unity of action, this school has
forgotten that there are chasms in colouring, in
variety, in life and nature, which surpass all others,
and i'vithout Which. the best &Mtn burnan figure
is a mere uninteresting outline, , and the deepest
tragis tale an tmaffucting shadow. Such are these
pictures; and their stiff composition, .their chalky
line, their inanimate stillness are _more than ut-
terly destroyed by the,' contiguous flowing ease,
lustrous tints, and joyous spirit, which breath on
the canvas of the immortal Rubeni.

Of the Gallery of Lesueur we have little to say ;
and the less that is said of it the better ; fur the
works of this Raphael of France (so pronounced
by the vanity of that Nation, as if unconscious that
he was not fit to be the Raphael of any other) arc
poor, monotonous, and tiresome. Never was
learning so misapplied as in the; twenty-four pic-
tures which tell the history of St. Bruno, and are all
of the same dingy brown, we suppose in honour of
his name. They are not Worth a remat4 were it not
that in the second of the series, representing. the
Death 'of the 'Canon Raymond, there is an Imp
seated on the Doctor's pillow, froM which un-
seemly and tasteless circumstance it is probable
that Sir Joshua Reynolds-borrowed, the idea which
disfigures his noble picture of the Death of Beau-
fort.

A third Gallery contains the Parts of France,
by Hue and Vernet—the former of 'whom is, we
believe, still living, at the age of 64—Vernet
died in 1789. There is a good deal of similarity'
between these artists ; and though some of their
productions fail in effect, there are others of ex-
traordinary merit—displaybig at once fidelity and,
genius of the first order. The whole number of
pictures in. these Galleries amount to 100. The
roofs, &c. are finely painted by Barthelemy,
Jordaens, and Callet.

VIATOR.

FRENCH. PAPERS.
[Further ExtrUcts7]

PARIS, OCT. 2.—lt is most assuredly not with-
out the. most painful feelings that our readers
will have perused the details we have given them,
respecting the capture and desOui:tion of the capi-
tal of the United States of America. Thus, then,
the war is prosecuted in the New World with the
same character of furyas for so long a period spread
desolation over the Old. It there exhibits the
same spectacle of devastation and horror, at the
moment when we flattered ourselves with the
prospect of beholding the revival, even in the
midst of battles, of those principles of humanity
and the law of nations., which a poliShed and civi-
lised people ought never to violate. Was it in-
tended to furnish him with an excuse, who was.
justly charged with trampling under foot all
those principles, by imitating his barbarOns ex-
ample ?—Whaf the Englii, who reproached
hint with such force and justice, with spreading
'pillage and conflagration wherever he went, with
ruining and destroying the towns that submitted
to his• armies, now make ,themselves masters of
Washington,
,plunder, and lay it waste, blow
up all its public'establishments and public edifices,
and carry off in their' ships all that they do not
chooie to destroy by fire
.and sword ! 'kis not
an absolutely foreign city, and to which no tie,
none of those ancient relations which doubly
claim the rights of humanity, might have to en_
sure a.less.severe fate, that they have thus treat-
ed ; it is a city, which may be called English,
which speaks the same language, which has the
same manners, arid is composed of inhabitants
whose fathers were English !
In' this last war, which. has divided. England.
from the United States, our wishes and our feel-
ings have been constantly in favour of the English
arms. The English combated the general enemy
of Europe—the enemy of France in particular.—
The• American Government seemed to have espous-
ed the odious cause of our Tyrant : it thwarted
the active War made upon him, by declaring itself
against England, whom we considered as the soul
of the Coalesced Powers, and whom we heartily.
wished to see performing a part at once so bril,
liant and so honourable. We, moreover, be-
held in Mr. Madison and his party, adherents
to those democratic principles, which had brought
upon us such calamities : we wished, therefore,
that this party might fall. But bow much was it.
to be wished that hostilities had ceased in Ame-
rica, as in Europe, on the fall of him who had
given the signal for them in all parts oldie world ?
Why, at least, has not war itself experienced the
good effects of that fall ? Why is it conducted in
the manner of pirates, who land upon a coast to
ravage it, and then precipitately embark again,
not
,feeling themselves sufficiently strong to oc-
cupy it and maintain their
,position ? Was 'it not
in this wanner that the English landed, to the
number of five thousand, as it is said, at Wash-
ington, and Then tied, after having ruined, and as
it were, swept from the face of the earth, one of
the finest. capitals in the world, which most for-
cible struck, by its magnificence and its establish-
ments, one of the most celebrated travellers of the
'present day, 'At de l(lumboldt ? Is it thus that
the hero whom they bold forth with 31st pride to
the admit'ation of Europe made war in Portugal,
in Spain, in Franee.?.
The English have Offen preached up excellent
principles of 'morals and humanity ; they have
often' and justly 'reproached their enemies' with
violE!ting.those:principles :.but let them beware—
their edifying sermons. and. their severe reproaches

We received French Papers to the 4th, at so
late an hour this afternoon, that to 'make room
for them we are compelled to postpone the inser-
tion of some observations on the Expose of the
views of the American Government 'in our last
page ; as well as on the article respecting the di-
lapidation of Washington from the Journal des
Debats. The former will however, of itself, fur-
nish the answer to all but the misrepresentations
'of the latter. The following are our Extracts from
the Paris Journals :

" COPENHAGEN, SEPT.I6.—An Edict ofthe K ing
of DnimAnx, dated Fredericsberg, 26th Anzust,
absolves the inhabitants of Heligoland from their
Oaths of Allegiance, in consequence of the cession
of the -Island to the Crown of Great Britain by
the Treaty of 14th ianyary.

" VIENNA, SEPT. 22.--The decorations of the
Order, of the Garter were yesterday presented to
the Emperor with great ceremony. The Deputies
of the King of England; the SecretarY of State for
Foreign Affairs Lord CASTLEREAGH, Sir I. HEARD
Herald, King at Arms, and Sir T. TYRWHITT, re-
paired at an appointed hour to theEmp;ror's Palace,
accompanied by several persoils who carried the
deCorations and habit of. the Order on cushions
into the Hall of Audience. The Deputies were
received at the door of the Hall by the Officers of
tll Emperor. After the customary compliments,
the King at Arms gave his letters of credence to
LONI CASTLEREAGH, 'who presented them to the
EMPEItOR. His Majesty handed them to Prince
-INIETT.taNien, in his quality of Chancellor of the
Household; of the Court, and of State. The Prince
read. the -Diploma with an. aeidibie rOke ; the