As connected with this subject, the Ilfusee des Illonu mens Francais may with propriety be mentioned. This is a collection (begun in 1790, when the property of the church was confiscated for. the use of the nation) of the finest sepulchral monuments from different parts of the kingdom, particularly from the cathedral of St. Denis, in the near vicinity of Paris, which, front the earliest ages, had been the mausoleum of the French sovereigns. These monuments are arranged according to their respective dates to illustrate the progress of the art to which they refer. The monumental relics of the most illustrious characters ; of philosophers, of statesmen, and poets, are here collected under one roof, and cannot fail to excite within us the most interesting, though probably the most humiliating emotions. There is, however, we think, an evident im propriety in thus transferring those sepulchral remains from the several graves they were meant to designate and adorn. It was an act of injustice to the places which have been distinguished by the birth or the burial of eminent men ; and whatever be the effect on the mind, which, in their present collected state, they produce, that individual and local interest is completely destroyed, which in their original situation they were calculated to excite and to The hospitals and charitable institutions of Paris are more numerous than in any city of the same population : VT the annual expense of them, which is defrayed by govern ment, being upwards of 300.0001. They have not as in England, each its independent board of management; they are all under the control of a general board, appointed by government, and responsible to it, The situation of those established at a remote period, is found to be now nearly in the centre of the city, badly ventilated, and offensive to the neighbouring inhabitants. The most celebrated of these institutions, and that on which, in time of war at least, the Parisians set the highest value, is the Hotel Invalides, which may be termed the Chelsea Hospital of France, instituted by Louis XIV. for the reception and maintenance of disabled and superannuated soldiers. The characteristics of this edifice are chasteness and simpli city, well suited to the objects to which it is devoted. The front is distinguished by a plain manly portico ; and a dome and cupola of the finest proportions, rising from its centre, form one of the most prominent objects in Paris. These buildings are very extensive; and with the adjoin ing grounds, which are adorned with long alleys of trees, and otherwise elegantly distributed, occupy no less a space than seventeen acres. The interior was embellish ed by cannon, taken at various periods by the armies of France—and innumerable standards, the trophies of many a victory, waved under its splendid dome, until 1814, when, on the approach of the allied armies. the French invalids burned and destroyed them, that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy. The HOtel Dieu, or Hospice d'Hunianite, which is the oldest hospital in Paris, is next to the one just described in point of importance. It is appropriated to the sick and infirm poor, of whom it contains at some periods not less than 8000. There are about twenty other institutions of this nature in Paris, ac commodated to the circumstances of patients of every description, and all conducted on the most soothing and liberal principles.
Paris, amid the great variety of its institutions and pub lic edifices, is not deficient in triumphal monuments. Of these, the column erected by Bonaparte in the centre of the Place Vendome, to commemorate his victories in Ger many, deserves to be particularly mentioned. It is built in imitation of Trajan's pillar at Rome. its diameter is 12 feet, and its height 140. But the most striking parts of it, are the numerous brazen figures in bas-relief, with which it is decorated, and the materials of which were ob tained by melting the cannon taken at Ulnis and Auster litz. These figures, each three feet in height, occupy the whole pillar, proceeding in a spiral direction from the base to the entablature The name of Ms mojr8ty leen was sculptured out in a conspicuous part of the build-. ing, on the summit of which was a statue of this illustri ous man grasping the imperial sceptre. But after the re turn of the present royal family, this inscription and effigy were destroyed,and the pillar now terminates in a gallery and dome There is another triumphal monument, erect ed by Bonaparte in the Place du Carousel, originally sur mounted by the figures of Venetian horses and the car of Victory ; but these ornaments, and the various bas-reliefs illustrative of his victories over the Prussians, were care fully defaced or removed by the allied powers when they obtained possession of Paris. The Arc de Triomphe. be
gun by the same monarch, is yet unfinished. There are a few other monuments of an older date than those we have been describing. Of these, the porte or gate of St. Denis, and that of St. Martin, are the most conspicuous, and may both be regarded rather as triumphal arches than as gates of the city. The porte of St. Denis is a piece of massy architecture, seventy-two feet respectively in height and in width ; and the figures in bas-relief, commemorat ive of the success of the armies of Louis XIV. by whom it was erected, and the various other decorations sculp tured on it, add much to the beauty and majesty of its ap pearance.
The country of which Paris is the capital, stands de servedly high in some departments of manufactures, such as those of wine, brandy, plate-glass, porcelain, &c.; but it is doubtful if Paris itself has attained to that degree of 'eminence in this respect, which its size, population, and advantages, would lead us to expect. In silks, it is greatly inferior to Lyons, and in cottons, to Rouen, and made from the grapes which grow in the neighbourhood of the city is so extremely bad, that it is used only for ser vants: and yin de Surenne, so called from a village of that name, three miles from Paris, is a general expression for wine of the meanest quality. The staple manufactures of the French capita], indeed, consist chiefly of articles of taste, and all kinds of fancy works, such as jewellery of every description, watches, artificial flowers, toys, &c. But notwithstanding of this general inferiority, there are some species of manufactures in which Paris has acquir ed great, if not unrivalled distinction. It will at once be conjectured, that the Gobelins is here particularly alluded to,—a manufactory of the richest tapestry, so called from a person named Gobelin, who instituted it in the middle of the 16th century. These tapestries, the ground-work of which are webs of the finest silk or worsted, either com memorate some remarkable incident in history, or exhi bit imitations of flowers or pictures, however brilliant or intricate. " The glow of colouring, fidelity of outline, and delicacy of truth," says Lady Morgan, " rival the most masterly touches of the pencil." The value of the ma te' ials of which this manufacture is made, and the tedi ousness of the workmanship, (not less than two years be ing necessary to finish a single piece,) are such, that few even of the wealthiest families can afford to purchase it. It is indeed far from being a lucrative concern, and were it not a national establishment, and conducted at thc expense, it would long ere this period have been dis continued; for the chief, if not the only consumption, con sists in the government itself; the walls of the various royal palaces of France heing decorated with it, and rich and numerous presents of it made to the allied sovereigns of the nation, and to foreigners of distinction. There are also manufactories of porcelain, glass, carpets, &c. con ducted at the expense of government. These articles are all of the most exquisite workmanship ; but so high pric ed, that they have never met with any thing like general sale ; and, indeed, in a pecuniary point of view, are utterly unprofitable. Paris, besides, monopolizes almost the whole bookselling and printing business of France. The royal printing-office alone contains no fewer than 250 presses ; and Mr. Pinkerton asserts that there are 400 re spectable booksellers in the French capital, and that the total number of those who actually acquire a livelihood by this profession, though some of them in a very inferior capacity, cannot be estimated at much below 3000. The distance of Paris from the sea has always rendered it a place of no importance for foreign trade : Havre de Grace, situated above a hundred miles from it, may be regarded as its harbour; its exports consist of manufactured com modities, and its imports, neither of which is very consi derable, of articles required for the consumption of the inhabitants.