I went yesterday to see the palace of the Luxembourg, now appropriated to the use of the conservative senate, originally the residence of _monsieur_, the king’s brother; and afterwards that of the executive directory. The building is now undergoing a thorough repair. It is therefore impossible to judge of it properly, in its present state. The grand _façade_, or front, remains unaltered, and is strikingly magnificent. I viewed it with particular pleasure; as the college at Oxford, where I passed some of the happiest days of my life, and to which I have still the honour of belonging, was built after the model of this celebrated palace. This circumstance recalled so many interesting remembrances, that I with difficulty tore myself from the gates of the Luxembourg. I am told, that the proposed alterations are to be made on a great and extended scale; and that every member of the senate, is to have here, a distinct house, or spacious apartment. The gardens are also to receive every possible improvement. Several workmen were already employed in carrying this design into execution; but the whole is still too imperfect to give any idea of what it may ultimately become. I saw nothing but half formed gravel walks, formal avenues of trees, and preparations for a round basin of standing water. The ground is indeed too much surrounded with houses, ever to make what we should call in England, a fine garden. The magnificent theatre, called, “le théâtre français de l’Odéon,” which formerly stood near the Luxembourg, and which was one of the most magnificent buildings of the kind in Europe, was, a few years ago, entirely burnt down, in the course of eight and forty hours. Nothing remains but the stone front, which the fire could not destroy, and which still serves to ornament this part of the town. Being in the neighbourhood of _St. Généviève_, now called, “the Pantheon,” I ordered my coachman to drive there.