the intrepid traveller, and celebrated illustrator of the arts and splendors of Egypt. Though distinguished from his early youth by the then monarchs of France, and holding the appointment of a Gentilhomme ordinaire du Roi, both to Louis XV and Louis XVI, yet it was during the reign of Bonaparte, and from his marked personal and particular regard for this artist, that he was raised to the post of Director General of the French Museum, being also an officer of the Legion of Honour, a member of the Institute, and a Baron of the Empire. In the stormy period of the French Revolution, the knowledge of those arts which had been his amusement, became his resource; the maturity and perfection of those talents gave to the world his work on Egypt, of which France may justly boast, and all who love the arts will ever reverence. This production, it may be remembered, was executed during the famous expedition of the French army into Egypt, whither Mons. Denon accompanied Napoleon at the emperor's express request. Grown old in the service of the arts, his collection may now rank as perhaps the most valuable private one in France. His pictures present some specimens of painting, through its various gradations, from the crude and laboured efforts of Giotto, to the finish of the present day. His medals comprise Grecian, Roman, and French: the latter, many of which

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Mons. Denon's Collection.

were designed by himself, that splendid and memorable series illustrative of Bonaparte and his achievements. China of the oldest date, and antique value; with the exquisite specimens of modern Seve, and Dresden,-Portfolios of original designs, and drawings by the eminent masters, including Raphael, Guercino, Julio Romano, and Parmeggiano,-Bronzes, Sculpture, Egyptian Idols, Papyri, and Mummies. In modern sculpture, I was much struck with a head of Bonaparte, of Canova's execution; an admirable likeness still preserved, though not an immediate copy of the features, it being a head of ideal beauty, and god-like attributes. In the class of Egyptian antiquities is a female figure of about fifteen years of age, with the flesh still preserved; black, imperfect, and discoloured, but after a lapse of more than 3000 years; and there is also a female foot, found in the royal tombs of Egypt, and still in perfect preservation. This specimen of Egyptian beauty is thus described by Mons. Denon himself: "Le pied d'une jeune femme, d'une princesse, d'un être charmant, dont la chaussure n'avait jamais altéré les formes, et dont les formes étaient parfaites."

Tuesday was devoted to the Palais Luxembourg, whose galleries are now consecrated solely to the exhibition of the French school of painting.

Paintings in the Luxembourg.

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To speak unpretendingly, and of my own judgment, I was not pleased. I know of no maxim in art so fine as

Ars est celare artem.*

But the French painters, at the head of whom is David, seem to exhaust every effort in displaying the brightest colours of every hue; the most glaring contrasts of light and shade; `with the most strained and extravagant attitudes. Hence the eye, or at least mine, involuntarily attracted by the artifices of the painter, keeps the mind too much distracted to receive the serious impressions which Historical Painting, to be grand, must naturally inspire; and this also appears to me as the grand distinction of the ancient masters, viz. the production of the finest and most solemn effects, without attention to glitter of colour, and representation of every prettiness, and minutia, of dress, or so forth. Nevertheless the pictures of Poussin in the Louvre owe their unrivalled merit to no such meretricious charms; and though I thus venture to give my opinion, in opposition to a present fashion, yet I think that the highest praise is due to many I there saw. Witness David's Belisarius, "Date obolum Belisario," Peter Gucrin's Eneas reciting his adventures to Dido. In

*The greatest art is to conceal art.

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Sculpture in the Luxembourg.

this picture nothing can exceed the tenderness, the love-expression, of the devoted queen, as she so fondly gazes on the hero

How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues,
Like softest music to attending ears;

nor the archness of Cupid disguised in the form of Ascanius; and the beautiful allegory of his slily drawing her former wedding ring from her unconscious hand. The landscape, the temple of Neptune, and the view of Carthage, are all in the same style of excellence.

Add to these, the equally beautiful representation of Atala by Girodet, and also his Endymion.

That sculpture by Julien, placed in the rotunda, must also be noticed,-La Baigneuse, or nymph about to bathe. At the moment of advancing her delicate foot to the brink of the water, suddenly alarmed with the apprehension of being seen, she starts back with the involuntary impulse of a modesty which essays to conceal her charms, yet heightens them.

We also saw the former bed-chamber of the illustrious Maria de' Medici, consort of Henri Quatre, which is worthy of exhibition from the profusion of gold about the room, and from the paintings by Rubens, adorning the ceiling and compartments, and painted under the Queen's immediate orders and inspection. This room now con

tains the genealogies of all the peers of France, and of the Royal Family. A further department of the palace is appropriated as the Chamber of Peers.

Wednesday was as pleasing a day as any yet; the Jardin du Roi. The Botanic Garden contains about 7000 plants, divided into classes; also exotics contained in conservatories, and is of the length of 330 fathoms by 110 in breadth; and hence the other botanical gardens and schools are supplied with trees and seeds. In one of the courts is the skeleton of a fish, so enormous as almost to realise the supposition of the "Leviathan of the deep." In the Gallery of Natural History, up stairs, is the finest collection of preserved birds and beasts in Europe. The hippopotamus, the crocodile, elephant, cameleopard, or giraffe, rhinoceros, buffalo, the bison, and the lama of Peru, lions, hyenas, every animal from the largest to the smallest, and of every genus, seem to mock one with imitative, mimic rage, or life.

The Birds are, if possible, still more pleasing. The plumage of some, as of the bird of paradise, is the most vivid and exquisite conceivable. They are scientifically arranged in glass cases placed round the room; and the astonishing number of them, and the value of this collection, may be inferred from the varieties here shown of that exquisite little production, the Humming bird, of which kind, the genus Trochilus, there are, accord