Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-03-25
Extract from q Letter from Rev. w
III. Lord,

private letter written ny rev. MT, LOrd TO
his family here. The letter is dated Paris,
March 5. He reached that city the third of
March. His health was very good, although
he had Loot considerable flesh. We are
kindly permitted to copy such portions of
the letter as are of general interest.
But what of Paris? l walked miles upon
miles yesterday. First l went to the Place
Vendome. ornamented by an enormous monu-
ment and statue built out of the cannon
which Napoleon took in his campaigns
Then to the Tuileries. The garden is a
beautiful park and lawn and drive of no
very great extent. Then to the Louvre, the
French nations Gallery of Art. 1t sur
passes all my dreams. There are miles of
paintings, (all by the old masters) Rubens,
Titan, Murillo, Guido, Salvador Rosa, &C.,
&c. The paintings are of course incompara-
BILE in style, color, idea, expression. No
language can describe the effect of them on
the mind. We go through galleries, them
selves trescoed and painted with marvellous
beauty, lighted from the roof, and adorned
on either hand with such pictures as have
made the best masters of antiquity famous
for ages. The galleries are filled with
students, male and female, copying the works
of art. At first, as you enter the gallery,
you would be both entranced and shocked
New England taste is not yet educated to
continental abandon. And yet here are
crowds of ladies and gentlemen, evidently of
high breeding and culture, looking by the
hour upon pictures whose glory is not in
the apparel of the matchless figures But
you soon lose all sense of incongruty and all
squeamishness, for no one else seems to feel
it. Beautiful female artists are copying the
paintings which one could hardly help blush
ing to look at. For one, however, l cannot
be reconciled to undraped figures. Apparel
is most beautiful and most natural But
aside from this there are gems of art here that
Will always command the world s admiration
The immaculate Conception by Murillo is
enhancing. Endymion, by Poussin, is mar
vicious for its color. \ series of paintings
by Titan, symbolical of the history of
Marie De Medicis, vast in conception and
magnificent in execution. | was obliged to
say that | had never looked upon picture
before.
Then we went through the museums of
euriosities of Pompeii, of Egypt, of Napo-
leon, saw the camp stool, trappings, habili-
ments and furniture of the 8 First Consul. y
Then we visited the gallery of Grecian an
tlquites. Here We found the - Venus of
Milo" more noble by far than the Venus
De Medicis, or the Venus of Canoya, noble
in its defacement beyond all expression.
This museum is filled with the collections of
ancient Grecian soul pture, made, doubtless
many of them, long before Christ one
certainly by Agasias of Ephesus, two hun
dred years before our Saviour. We have no
modern sculptures that can compare with the
ancient. The Grecians worshpped beauty,
/ and this collection of Grecian statuarv most
plainly shows that they had it's clearest con
ception and most perfect ideal.
From the Louvre | went to the Hotel De
Cluny, the ancient Roman baths, and the
palace of the widowed queens of France.
!; The baths were built two hundred years
before Christ, and occupied by the Roman
r Emperors, and in the adjacent palace Julian
, the Apostate crowned The baths are
covered with ivy and are falling into ruins.
The antiquities that are preserved are very
curious They consist principally of vases
OF porcelain ware, weapons, armor and fur
niture of centuries ago. Here were the
state carriages of the French Emperors.
visited the St. Chappelle, built by Louis
ID, for the preservation of the original crown
Of thorns. 1t is the most beautiful chapel
in the world, small, and it's stained Windows
covered with incidents of sacred history The
colors are all wrought into the windows. like
mosaic, in separate pieces of glass. Leaving
: the attendant franc, hurried to t NotrC
, Dame, vast editice with SIX rows of col
unns extending through the whole length OF
the church, supporting elaborate, intermin-
glcd arches, and lifting up the ceiling into al
: amazing height. There religious service
going on, and the organ was pouring forth
! Its sweet nuoiN | was conducted to the
: treasure room of the church, where | was
shown the host of gold and diamonds that
cost seven millions of francs, and other eccle
sastical furniture of immense value, but fol-
, which | had very little interest Fastening
from the church / looked, in passing, int
, the Morgue, but saw nothing, and then tool
I
kets were filled with cheese against which
, held my nose, with butter that was really
good. with fish of all sorts, young Holsters
| snails. muscles, frogs, shrimps, &c, Will
, fine meats and game, and with all varieties
1 of food of human manufacture. Women
waited upon all the stalls. In fact, in Paris
and in France, it seems to me the women Dc
t everything. They make all the money. The,
tend the railway gates and crossings along
the line. They SOW, and dig, and hoe. The1
: are the chiefs at all the hotel Offices, offic
keepers, book keepers everything but wait
e ers. They serve in the stores and shops
G In going into a shop gentleman takes OF
= his hat, and bows gracefully when he leave
! it The French women. among the peasant
ry are stout short, masculine and homelv
: The French women of Paris. are the mos
G elegant in style and carriage, and most beau
: tiful IN person and dress | have ever seen.
o You can have no idea of the wondrous en-
| chantment of the Boulevards They ar
G streets from two hundred to three hundre
feet wide, with sidewalks from fifty to sixt
: feet wide. lined with trees on one side, an
V with cafes, shops, &c, on the other. On tn
G sidewalks are placed tables and chairs Her
: the people walk, and sit, and drink ale an
c wine, and play dominoes, and chat. Tn
Y Rouyelard Italiennes, last eve, was the mos
Q brilliant sight | ever witnessed, or ever con
d ceived The carriages in the streets, an
A passing crowds on the pavements, and table
$ all occupied, and shops and cafes bl illiantl
s Illuminated the supreme brilliancy and elt
e gance of the whole scene have no parallel i
i the world. In that gay crowd | wake
alone. my eye resting on all its gayety an
S splendor, and my heart traversing the sea
n and abiding in the quiet home that nestes
J., under the hills, and with the dear parish
l. and all the scenes there, which | have love
e SO long and SO truly
|, Mr.. Lord relates the following amusin
1t experience in talking French
r The first night | wanted hot water. and tn
maid could not understand my French, unit
Of in humorous despair, L exclaimed, OF
re Pshaw " when she at once laughed and sale
r &c eau chaud, monsieur?'' - Oui, oui'
W replied, and in minute had my hot water
> Our Washington Correspondence.