LETTER XXX.

General account of literary establishments at Paris.—National library.—Manuscripts.—Memoirs of his own times, by Lewis XIV.—_Fac simile_ of a love letter of Henry IV.—Cabinet of medals.—Cabinet of engravings, &c.—Library of the Pantheon.—Mazarine library.—Library of the Institute. Libraries of the senate, the legislative body, and tribunate.—The _Lycées_, now called _les Athénées_.—Admirable lectures given at one of them.—Professors _Fourcroy_, _Cuvier_, and _la Harpe_.—L’Institute national.—_Jardin national des Plantes._—Collection of birds, plants, fossils, and insects, in the house attached to the _Jardin des Plantes_.—Cabinet de l’École des Mines, _à l’Hôtel des Monnoies_.—Great opportunities afforded at Paris of cultivating science and literature in all their various branches. p. 249.