and a body such as that now admitted to the honour of addreffing you, may, and perhaps ought, to confider the fciences. To lead the human mind to its noble deftination-the knowledge of truth; to diffuse found ideas amongst the lowest Claffes of the people, to withdraw men from the empire of prejudice and paffions; to constitute reafon as the fovereign arbiter and guide of public opinion; fuch is the.r effential object; thus it is that they concur most powerfully in the ad ancement of civilization; this is what ought to fecure to them the pro. tection of governments, who with to render their power. immoveable, by founding t on the common welfare. Our wish is to have worthily def cribed the great mafs of the efforts and fucceffes of the of the learned men of our age; to have reprefented to the fupreme authority, in their true light, thefe refpectable men, conftantly occupied in enlightening their fellow-men, and in multiplying for them thofe general truths, which from the patrimony of our fpecies, and from which fo many ufeful applications flow. This hope alone has fupported Es through the long and laborious career, in which we have been engaged by the orders of your Majesty, and the confidence of the clafs which has chosen us to be its organs. Your Imperial Majetty has ordered this clafs to propofe to you, the most effectual means of keeping up, in thofe who cultivate the fcieuces, that emulation which animates them, of conftantly directing their labours to the moft ufetul ends, and of affuring to them fucceffors worthy of them felves. Without wishing to anticipate the measures which the wifdom of your Majelly is preparing for the public education, we have taken the liberty 11 of fubmitting to you some ideas for regulating the first instruction in the natural fciences and for diffufing more widely through the country, technological, and agricultural knowledge. We have alfo propofed to: you to order the arrangement of a new fyltem of the natural beings; the requires this labour; our country is : that, in which it may be executed with the greatelt facility; and it would be grand to fee the name of Napoleon, already placed at the head of fo many great monuments, of fo many wife laws, of fo many useful inftitutions, decorating likewife the frontispiece of a fundamental work. Of all the establishments, of all the labours ordered by Alexander, the history of animals, by Aristotle, is the only one fufifting, as an eternal teftimony of the love of this great prince for the natural fciences. word from your Majefty, may create a work, which would furpass, in extent, that of Ariftotle, as much as your actions furpafs, in fplendor, thofe of the Macedonian couqueror. A But of all the excitements to emu lation, the principal will always be, Sire, the honourable benevolence which you condefcend to manifeft in favour of our exertions; and the hope, that fome of our labours may be quoted in the hiftory of your reign, amongst the number o prodigies with which your genius has furrounded you. uch is for the future the only with that can be formed by those who have the happiness of being your contemporaries The establishments which you have either founded or restored, infure to them an honourable fubfiftence; your munificence from them every folicitude refpecting their old age; it offers to them, on all fides, means for labour and experiments, what inducement could be wanting to them under a prince, who defigns to intereft him removes felf man mind to retrograde, feem to have for their end the extinction of it. I wished to know what remained for me to do, in order to encourage your labours, and to confole myself, for not having it in my power any longer to contribute otherwife to their fuccefs. he good of my people, and the glory of my throne, are eventually interested in the profperity of the fciences. My minilter of the home department, will report to me on your demands: you may rely conftantly on the effects of my protection. -000000 Account of the State of of the Napoleon Museum, in the Louvre, at Paris, in July, 1809. 1 The Louvre was originally a roy al castle, surrounded with wood, and derived its name, according to fome, from the Saxon word, louvear, which fignifies a caftle; and according to others from the Latin tupa ra. Philip Augustus made it a kind of citadel, with broad ditches and towers. The keep was situated in the middle of the court. Three counts of Flanders, John de Montfort, and Charles of Navarre, were here confined. Francis I. ordered it to be demolished; and in in 1528, erected the facade with the clock, after the defigns of Pierre ifcot. The fculptures are by Jean Goujon. Here the Emperor Charles V was lodged. The Louvre was finished by Henry II. and the first monarch who refided in it, was Charles IX. In this edifice, the maffacre of St. Bartho lomew was planned and decreed. Louis XIII. conftructed the angle on the left, parallel to that of Henry II. as well as the great pavillion over the principal entrance are defigns of Jacques Lemercier, the Caryatides are by Sarrazin. Measures have recently been adopted for completing this ftructure,' which had been fo long abandonedThe prefent government intends to reftore it to the obfect for which it was defigned, by devoting it to the arts and sciences. The museum of paintings will remain in the gallery, that of latues is to be enlarged, and lengthened to rez-de-chauffee, facing the river. The imperial library, the cabinet of medals and engravings, will occupy the upper ftories, The wardrobe will be in the apartments of the great gallery, in fhort, this edifice will be the fanctuary, as it were, of the mufes, and the mat fplendid monument of its kind, that can poffibly be prefented to the admiration of Europe. THE NAPOLEON MUSEUM As far back as the year 1778, the French government projected the formation of a Mufeum, and made various arrangements for that purpose, but it was not till the time of the directory, that this measure was carried into effect. The victories of the French then enabled them to bring bring together the richest collection that now ex fts. It was thrown open to the public in 1793. It is It is impofible to fee the whole of it, even at feveral visits; but after having admired the principal objects, and fatisfied his curiofity, the stranger, furnished with his paffport, is at literty to repair thither every day, (Friday excepted,) from ten o'clock till four. The Museum is compofed of 1. the Gallery of intiquities: 2. that of Paintings: 3. that of Drawings 4. the Cabinet of Engravings... GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES. This part of the Louvre, former. ly ferved for the apartments of Mary de Medicis: it was embellished by Louis XIV, The paintings are by Romanelli, and the flucco,, by Gir. ardon. It received its prefert arrangement, after the defigns of Huber, the architect, who was fucceeded by M. Raymond. This gallery was opened, for the first time, in 1801, As the enumeration of all the statues which it contains, wonld lead me into too great lengths, I thall merely notice fome of the princi pal objects to which the ftranger's curiolicy is first directed. At the Mufcum, may be procured a detailed catalogue of its contents. Veftibule.-Over the door is a balo relievo, reprefentiug Minerva, by Moite. The dome, painted by Barthelemy, exhibits man, formed by Prometheus, aud animated by Minerva. Four medallions reprefent the four schools of fculpture: the Egyptian and Greek, by Lange; the Italian and French, by Lorta. The Genius of the Arts, and the Union of the Three Arts of defign, are by Chaudet. Ae here diftingurth the Hermaphrodite, (No 291); the Pallas of Velletri, (16); and a Dianna, (2; which i confidered the fact of all the exifting reprefea tations of that goddefs. Many ar tifts are of opi uon, that it is by the f me hand as the Apollo, t is of Parian marble, and was repaired with great ill by Lange. We are alike incrant, whence it came, andwhen and how it found its way to France. So much, however, is certain, that it has been in that country ever fince the reign of Henry IV. and that it was in the gallery of V、r« failles. It is intended to be placed in the hall of Diana. Hall of the Emperors-The ceil ing is by Memier, as well as the two baffo relievo, in imitation of bronze. The four rivers are the Fridanus, by Gois; the Tiber, by Blaife; the Nile, by Bridan; and the Rhine, byLe Sueur. Above the arcade, is a baffo relievo, by Roland In this ball we remark Julian the Apoftate, (20); and Melpomene. Hall of the Seasons—In the middle, is a reprefentation of Apollo and Diana, by Romanelli; and around are four pictures. relative to thofe deities. Facing is Parnaffus, with the Mufes and Apollo; on the oppofite fide, Diana and Actæon; oa the left, the punishment of Marfyas; on the right, Diana and Endymion; in the angles, the four Seafons This hall is completely painted the fubjects are handled with much grace and expreffion: Here are feen Venus coming out of the Bath, (52); Gapid, 54); and Ariadne diftinguished by the addition of Cleopatra, · Hall of Illuftrious Men.-On the vaulted ceiling are Mars, Mercury, and Minerva, with the Olive branch; in front, Peace; and a figure writing the words: De bello pax: and at the farther end, Ceres and Neptune, Here we find Demofthenes, (72); Phocion, (75); and Alcibiades, (79). Hall of the Romans - In the cen tre is the triumph of Minerva, fur• rounded rounded by Apollo, and feveral other by Hennequin: The reft are by deities. On the fide next to the Lancoon, ftands utius Scævola; on the oppofite fide, Cincinnatus, with meffengers bringing the infigna of the dictatorship. Ou the third fide is the Continence of Scipio; and on the fourth, the Rape of the Sabines. Hall of Laocoon. Above the groupe is Efther, and on the oppofite fide, Judith, by Romanelli on the Jeft, a Picture by Perron, reprefen ting the Study of Glory; above, two Genii, by Prud'hon; on the right, the Arts, confecrating themfelses to the glory of the armies by Letiers; above. two Genii, by Guerin; in the middle, a picture reprefenting the French Hercules, -000000· Romanelli, viz, the three theological Virtues, with Immortality; and the four Cardinal Virtues, Jultice, Fortitude Prudence, and Temperance, with appropriate Genii. Pliny informs us, that the Laocoon is the work of three ftatuaries of Rhodes. named Agefander, Polydorus, and Athenodes. This groupe was found at Rome, in the ruins of Titus's palace, in 1533. What a fublime expreffion of grief! It is difplayed even in the fmallest, fibres, the writing of which depicts the moral and phyfical agony of this unfortunate father (To be continued.) A Biographical Sketch of the Rev. Paul O'Rrian, Profeffor of the Irish Language at Maynooth. To the Editor of the rish Magazine. SIR, There feems to be an odd fatatality attending upon fome of the first characters in the republic of letters, that the very celebrity they had defervedly acquired among their cotemporaries, had prevented an accurate knowledge of their lives from defcending to pofterity. A writer diftinguished by uncommon abilities, more efpecially if that writer has acted a bufy part on the stage of life, is fo frequently the fubject of converfation, that for fome years after his re moval, the memories of thofe who knew him are thought to be fufficiently fecure repofitories of his fame, till by degrees the fading materials on which his actions are written moulder away, and curiofity begins precifely at the point of time when the means of gratifying it are loft. Ireland, (to this our adverfaries must unquestionably give their affent,) has been always productive of eminent and diftinguished characters, numbers of whom the opprefive blast of intolerance has long fince driven into unmerited oblivion. Any efforts however, which may be made for tranfmitting to pollerity an account of any truly eminent and worthy Irishman, mult, iu the eyes of the unprejudiced be deemed truly meritorious. Some memoirs, therefore, of the Rev. Paul O'Brian, Profeffor of the Irish language at Maynooth, &c. mult, Sir, I prefume, be highly ac ceptable to an Irish reader. of the county of Clare; his grand father married Carolan. the Irish bard's filter, Catharine Carolan, hence he is grand nephew to this ceJebrated bard. In his youth he emiBently difplayed fome of thofe fparks of poetical genius, which had after. wards entitled him to a place among men of the first clafs for learning and abi ities. He had at an early period of life, deeply imbibed thofe moral and political principles, which length of time had ripened into a still richer fate of refinement; and even then bad experienced the ftrongeft impulfe for the ecclefiaftical flate. After ac quiring a complete knowledge of the caffics and other useful literary acquifitions, his genuine thirst for the Irish language had induced him to roam beyond the limits of his native country, accordingly he visited, in, company with a Mr. Plunket, Scotland and the adjacent ifles, and afterwards took a tour to the Ifle of Man, in order to get acquainted with the Manx language, of which he has many copies tranflated into Irish and Latin. He applied himself at his eighteenth year to the study of the Irish language, his natural and genuine favourite, got acquainted with the different dialects of the kingdom, and tranflated into Irish verfe the mot approved and difficult claffical works. The north of Ireland, once famed for its numerous and learned feminaries, and frequented by Eng. lifh and Continental students, was at this period totally bereft of all thefe literary advantages without the fole confolation of a single college to keep up its credit, or revive its decayed literature. Such are the vain efforts of perfecution, intolerace. and oppreffon in confequence of this national difadvantage, the Irish ftudents were generally obliged to retire to the Continent, in quell of that information and learning, which their hortly after Mr. O'Brian's arrival on the Continent, the feeds of fe dition and intolerance which for fome tune before had taken deep root in France, had unhappily vegetated into open rebellion. The authors of this revolution had unhappily refol. ed to fubvert, not only political, but even ecclefiaflical administration; the ftudents therefore, of the different colleges being the fubfequent fupport of the latter, mutt confequently fuffer no inconfiderable portion of the general calamaties of the times. The blaft of perfecution not ceafing, the colleges were obliged to be proken up, and the students to difperfe, many were taken and put to death, numbers were obliged to take refuge in France, and a still greater portion had escaped and retired to their native country. Mr. O'Brian was among the number of thofe who had happily effected their efcape and re. turned to Ireland, after a fhort but perilous abfence, without completing his delign, or adding to his literary flock, fave that of a more perfect acquaintance with mankind, and an experimental knowledge of the evils attendant on human life After his return to Ireland, he could not fuffer himself to be lulled into a itate of torpid inactivity, the completion of his ftudies, and the exalted ftate of his vocation, muít neceffily preponderate and take place of every inferior confideration. No time was therefore loft in putting thofe defigns into execution-Maynooth, at that period, may be faid to be in its meridian fplendour; the celebrated Flood was its prefident, Clinch graced the chair of rhetoric, and the great, the learned Ferris was: its dean Under such able conduct ors, Maynooth, it may reafonably be fuppofed, muft rival in point of ex cellence |