“On ignore entierement le nom de l’auteur de cet inimitable chef-d’œuvre. L’avant-bras droit et la main gauche qui manquaient out été restaurés par Giovanni Angelo da Montorsoli, sculpteur élève de Michael Ange.” _TRANSLATION._ “THE PYTHIAN APOLLO. CALLED “THE APOLLO BELVIDERE. “This statue, the most sublime of those which time has preserved, was found, towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, at _Capo d’Anzo_, twelve leagues from Rome, on the sea shore, near the ruins of the ancient Antium, a city no less celebrated for its temple of Fortune, than for the elegant seats, which the different emperors, emulous of each other, had built there, and ornamented with all the rarest works of art. Julius II, while yet but a cardinal, bought this statue, and placed it first in the palace where he resided, near the church of the Holy Apostles. When he became sovereign pontiff, he ordered it to be conveyed to the Belvidere of the Vatican, where for three centuries it excited the admiration of the universe. A hero, guided by victory, drew it from the Vatican; and, transporting it to the banks of the Seine, has fixed it there for ever.... “The name of the artist, who made this inimitable chef-d’œuvre, is unknown. The right arm, and the left hand, which were wanting, were restored by the sculptor, _Giovanni Angelo da Montorsoli_, pupil of Michael Angelo.” I hope, my friend, you admire the modesty with which it is declared, that the Apollo is for ever fixed on the banks of the Seine!—After the singular fate which this statue has experienced, it required all that happy confidence, with which the french determine the most difficult questions in their own favour, to make so bold an assertion. The Apollo lay two thousand years under the ruins of Antium, and yet preserved its beauty. It was drawn thence, placed in the Vatican, and after receiving there, for three centuries, the applauses of mankind, is carried over the Alps, and seen at Paris in all its original symmetry. If it be the destiny of this matchless figure to follow the tide of fortune, and to change its residence with the changes of empire, and the casualties of human affairs, who shall decide where it may next be found? If Julius II, when he placed the Apollo in the Vatican, had been told, that, three hundred years afterward, a french warrior would attach it to his car of victory, in entering the city of Paris, would even the pope himself have had faith enough to believe such a prophecy? After this, no conjecture becomes improbable. Who knows, that this celebrated statue may not, some centuries hence, be discovered on the frozen plains of Siberia, or in the burning sands of Egypt?