I am reminded that it is time to prepare for going out to dinner. I must therefore not leave this letter, like the _Louvre_, unfinished. Fortunately, my good friend, the prevailing fashion here is to dine very late, which leaves me a long morning; but for this, I know not when I should have an opportunity of writing long letters. Restrain then your impatience, and I promise that you shall very shortly be ushered into the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES, "Where the smooth chisel all its force has shewn, And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone." [Footnote 1: _Essais historiques sur Paris_.] [Footnote 2: It may be necessary to observe that, throughout these letters, we always speak of French feet. The English foot is to the French as 12 to 12.789, or as 4 to 4.263.] LETTER VII. _Paris, October 28, 1801._ Having, in my last letter, described to you the outside of the _Louvre_, (with the exception of the Great Gallery, of which I shall speak more at length in another place), I shall now proceed to give you an account of some of the principal national establishments contained within its walls. Before the revolution, the _Louvre_ was, as I have said, the seat of different academies, such as the _French Academy_, the _Academy of Sciences_, the _Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres_, the _Academy of Painting and Sculpture_, and the _Academy of Architecture_. All these are replaced by the _National Institute of Arts and Sciences_, of which, however, I shall postpone further mention till I conduct you to one of its public sittings. At the period to which I revert, there existed in the _Louvre_ a hall, called the _Salle des Antiques_, where, besides, some original statues by French artists, were assembled models in plaster of the most celebrated master-pieces of sculpture in Italy, together with a small number of antiques. In another apartment, forming part of those assigned to the Academy of Painting, and called the _Galérie d'Apollon_, were seen several pictures, chiefly of the French school; and it was intended that the Great Gallery should be formed into a Museum, containing a collection of the finest pictures and statues at the disposal of the crown. This plan, which had partly been carried into execution under the old _régime_, is now completed, but in a manner infinitely more magnificent than could possibly have been effected without the advantages of conquest. The _Great Gallery_ and _Saloon_ of the _Louvre_ are solely appropriated to the exhibition of pictures of the old masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools; and the _Gallery of Apollo_ to that of their drawings; while a suite of lofty apartments has been purposely fitted up in this palace for the reception of original antiques, in lieu of those copies of them before-mentioned. In other rooms, adjoining to the Great Gallery, are exhibited, as formerly, that is during one month every year, the productions of living painters, sculptors, architects, and draughtsmen.