LETTER LXIV.

_Paris, February 8, 1803._

Having complied with your desire in regard to the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, I shall confine myself to a hasty sketch of the other principal public libraries, beginning with the

BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE.

By his will, dated the 6th of March 1662, Cardinal MAZARIN bequeathed this library for the convenience of the literati. It was formed by GABRIEL NAUDÉ of every thing that could be found most rare and curious, as well in France as in foreign countries. It occupies one of the pavilions and other apartments of the _ci-devant Collège Mazarin ou des Quatre Nations_, at present called _Palais des Beaux Arts_.

No valuable additions have been made to this library since the revolution; but it is kept in excellent order. The Conservators, LE BLOND, COQUILLE, and PALISSOT, whose complaisance is never tired, are well known in the Republic of Letters. It is open to the public every day, from ten o'clock to two, Sundays, Thursdays, and the days of national fêtes excepted.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU PANTHÉON.

Next to the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, this library is said to contain the most printed books and manuscripts, which are valuable on account of their antiquity, scarceness, and preservation. It formerly bore the title of _Bibliothèque de St. Geneviève_, and belonged to the Canons of that order, who had enriched it in a particular manner. The acquisitions it has made since the revolution are not sufficiently important to deserve to be mentioned. With the exception of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, not one of the public libraries in Paris has enjoyed the advantage of making improvements and additions. The library of the _Pantheon_ is open to the public on the same days as the _Bibliothèque Mazarine_.

The present Conservators are DAUNOU, VENTENAT, and VIALLON. The first two are members of the National Institute.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ARSENAL.

This library, one of the richest in Paris, formerly belonged to the

Count d'Artois. It is destined for the _Conservative Senate_, in whose palace a place is preparing for its reception. However, it is thought that this removal cannot take place in less than a year and a half or two years. It has acquired little since the revolution, and is frequented less than the other libraries, because it is rather remote from the fashionable quarters of the town. There are few inquisitive persons in the vicinity of the Arsenal; and indeed, this library is open only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of every week from ten o'clock till two. AMEILHON, of the Institute, is Administrator; and SAUGRAIN, Conservator.

Before I quit this library, you will, doubtless expect me to say something of the place from which it derives its appellation; namely,

THE ARSENAL.

It is a pile of building, forming several courts between the _Quai des Célestins_ and the _Place de la Liberté_, formerly the _Place de la Bastille_. Charles V had here erected some storehouses for artillery, which were lent very unwillingly by the Provost of Paris to Francis I, who wanted them for the purpose of casting cannon. As was foreseen, the king kept possession of them, and converted them into a royal residence. On the 28th of January 1562, lightning fell on one of the towers, then used as a magazine, and set fire to fifteen or twenty thousand barrels of powder. Several lives were lost, and another effect of this explosion was that it killed all the fishes in the river. Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV rebuilt the Arsenal, and augmented it considerably. Before the revolution, the founderies served for casting bronze figures for the embellishment of the royal gardens. The Arsenal then contained only a few rusty muskets and some mortars unfit for service, notwithstanding the energetic inscription which decorated the gate on the _Quai des Célestins_:

"Ætnæ hæc Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat, Tela gigantæos debellatura furores."

NICOLAS BOURBON was the author of these harmonious lines, which so much excited the jealousy of the famous poet, SANTEUIL, that he exclaimed in his enthusiasm, "I would have wished to have made them, and been hanged."

During the course of the revolution, the buildings of the Arsenal have been appropriated to various purposes: at present even they seem to have no fixed destination. Here is a garden, advantageously situated, which affords to the inhabitants of this quarter an agreeable promenade.

The before-mentioned libraries are the most considerable in Paris; but the _National Institute_, the _Conservative Senate_, the _Legislative Body_, and the _Tribunate_, have each their respective library, as well as the _Polytechnic School_, the _Council of the School of Mines_, the _Tribunal of Cassation_, the _Conservatory of Music_, the _Museum of Natural History_, &c.

Independently of these libraries, here are also three literary _dépôts_ or repositories, which were destined to supply the public libraries already formed or to be formed, particularly those appropriated to public instruction. When the Constituent Assembly decreed the possessions of the clergy to be national property, the _Committee of Alienation_ fixed on the monasteries of the _Capucins_, _Grands Jésuites_, and _Cordeliers_, in Paris, as _dépôts_, for the books and manuscripts, which they were desirous to save from revolutionary destruction.