From the opera I went to a supper and concert, given in honour of the prince of Orange, at the celebrated madame de St—l’s. Her house is one of the most agreeable in Paris, and one of the few at which foreigners are received with kindness and hospitality. I have not been fortunate enough to form part of her dinner societies; but I am told, that they well deserve the credit of affording “the feast of reason, and the flow of wit.” Her evening assemblies, at several of which I have been present, are the liveliest and best conducted which I have seen in this town. The most distinguished public characters, all the foreigners of eminence, and most of the reigning _belles_ of Paris, are always met with at her house. Her parties, too, are so admirably managed, that every one does precisely what he wishes; and a stranger is sure to be amused either with excellent music, cards, or, what is better than either, the conversation of the lady of the house. Adieu. This letter is already so very long that I shall make no apology for an abrupt conclusion. LETTER XX. The antichamber of the _Musée Central_, now filled with an additional collection of fine pictures.—Account of the wonderful recovery of some chefs-d’œuvre.—List of pictures in this room. Paris, march the 20th, 1802 (29 ventose.) MY DEAR SIR, I went this morning to the picture gallery, (or _Musée Central des Arts_), and was very agreeably surprised at finding that the antichamber, which, on my first, arrival at Paris, was filled with a miserable modern exhibition, now contains some of the _chefs-d’œuvre_ of the first masters. These pictures, taken from Venice, Florence, Turin, and Foligno, have lately been arranged and deposited in this room. The advertisement to the additional catalogue, published on the occasion, acquaints us, that the persons entrusted with the management of the _Musée_, anxious to increase the pleasure of the public, and the improvement of the arts, had regularly exhibited, as they received them, the pictures collected at Bologna, Cento, Modena, Parma, Placenza, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Turin. But among the number, there were some in such a state of decay, that it was impossible to place them in the _Louvre_, without incurring the almost certain danger of their destruction. The administrators, therefore, very wisely determined to take every possible means of rescuing these sublime efforts of the art of painting from that entire ruin, into which they were rapidly falling. Their zeal and their perseverance have been crowned with success, infinitely greater than they could possibly have expected.