into a square court surrounded by the building, and having in its centre a naked statue of Diana in bronze, of fine execution, but in my opinion misplaced here. The library occupies two entire and part of a third side of the quadrangle (about 300,000 volumes), and is on the most liberal footing. Any well-dressed person is freely admitted, and may range about unobstructed; but he must touch nothing. Chairs, tables, pens, and ink, are there for those who wish to write, and servants, in rich liveries of blue and silver lace, are in attendance to furnish the books required. These people are positively forbidden to accept anything from the visitors; and yet no one can be more obligingly attentive. In the Cabinet des Medailles are many curiosities; amongst the most interesting, I thought, were the iron chair of King Dagobert, and a silver disc found in the Rhone, and supposed to have been the shield of Scipio--I don’t know why. Two enormous globes, more than 12 feet in diameter, are mounted on the ground-floor, and circular apertures have been opened in the floor above to admit part of their circumference through it. The fourth side of the quadrangle is a most delightful lounge; it is the Cabinet des Gravures. In this are preserved specimens of the works of every artist of every nation--from the most ancient period down to the present. The collection is immense, and is the constant resort of all the artists of the capital, and a crowd of picture-loving people. I could pass whole days there, so interesting is the collection, and so great the facility of using it. This place occupied my morning so completely that I had barely time to get my _potage à la julienne_, &c., and come home before dark.