I AM almost sorry that I have met with our mutual friend, Dr. Kläden; I would otherwise have escaped writing to you. Now, do not mistake me. I feel the greatest possible pleasure in resuming our correspondence, but your questions are embarrassing to me at the present moment. You ask me to give you a description of Paris, and to tell you the impressions which my intercourse with the French produced upon my mind "respecting the education of the various classes of this immensely great city." You also wish to know what "I think of the Libraries, Museums, Monuments, &c., &c., existing" here. All these queries might have been more efficiently answered by yourself. You spent a whole summer here, VOL. I. B and you are the most fit person to give an opinion on such subjects as you ask mine. I have no predilection for exposing myself to the severe rubs of hard iron.* Poor pearlt will stand a bad chance when brought into collision with such metal as you are made of, and surnamed after. Who knows what sage remarks and criticism will be made by you after reading through my epistle. Perhaps some such as these, "poor Margoliouth has taken leave of his senses," (a favourite phrase of yours). "What will the babbler say next?" "What newfangled theories!" Besides, Paris and all that is within it have been so often described; and you know full well, how thoroughly I dislike writing about things that are already generally known. So, that putting all things together, I might, with great justice, have declined complying with the terms of your letter; but since you put a veto upon my leaving Paris before I dispatched a letter to you, I submit. Nevertheless, the veto is most arbitrary. The English have a proverb, "One good turn deserves another;" as soon, therefore, as I get to know of your visiting Dresden or Venice, I shall put a veto upon your leaving either the one or the other, before your dispatching a long epistle to me, containing full particulars about all things belonging to them. Well then, if I must needs write, I tell you candidly, I have examined everything of interest in this great place, and I own that the impressions made upon my mind are of an antagonistic nature. As long as my eyes rest exclusively upon the majestic and august buildings and * The literal translation of Eyssenhardt. monuments; as long as I am in the Libraries, Colleges, Museums, or any other institution—either of art or science; I feel extremely charmed with the French nation, and am ready to exclaim, "France, thou art indeed great and glorious." What encouragement does she not afford to those who evince any thirst for knowledge! Which is the department of learning for which she has not an école gratuite? I have listened to a lecture in almost every one of them. The one which elicited my greatest admiration, is l'Ecole des Chartes, at the Palais des Archives.* Almost equally so l'Ecole des Langues Orientales vivantes.† I heard lectures in both the above institutions, which may be of the greatest service to me during my peregrinations in the East. Of the monuments, the one which obtained my greatest attention, is the Obelisk of Luxor. I honour it by a daily visit. You know that it once stood in front of the great temple at Thebes, but now, in the centre of the square called Place de la Concorde. This magnificent * This institution was founded by Louis XVIII. for encouraging the study of the ancient MSS. contained in the different libraries, and the dépôts of the archives of the kingdom. It has been lately considerably increased. Three professors and four assistant-professors give lectures daily on palæography, and the art of deciphering ancient documents. The students who distinguish themselves, receive from the Minister of Public Instruction an allowance of 600 francs yearly, till they obtain a place. Ten professors are attached to this establishment, and lectures given publicly and gratuitously on the following languages: pure and vulgar Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, modern Greek and Greek palæography, Hindoostanee, Thibetani, vulgar Chinese, Malay, and Javanese. Till similar institutions are established in the city of London, I would certainly recommend to all those who contemplate a pilgrimage to the East, to go first for a couple of months to Paris, and attend the lectures in the above institutions. They will be found of invaluable service. monument was erected by Ramses III., alias, the great Sesostris of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, 1550 B.C. I have no time at present to attempt even a description of that venerable relic of Mizraim, and must content myself by saying my say in a few words. I have carefully examined the inscriptions on all its sides, and am convinced that the Hebrews-whose lives the Egyptians made bitter, "with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" (Exod. 1. 14)—were its workmen. I do not think that I am far wrong in opining that the following expressions may have reference to Thebes and her monuments, and therefore throw light on the manufacture of the Obelisk, which is now in the French capital: "And they built for Pharoah treasure cities, Pithom and Ramses." (Exod. 1. 11). My evening notes are replete with particulars about this Obelisk, but are too many to be copied herein. I visited no less than thirty libraries, and was much pleased with the order and regularity which characterized some of those store-houses of literature; but also exceedingly chagrined and annoyed at the Babel-condition of others. Give me the Library of the British Museum, and the Bodleian of Oxford, and you are welcome to all the libraries France possesses. I wish I could say that the above were the only impressions my mind received, but it is not so; as I told you at the outset, the impressions made upon my mind are of an antagonistic nature. As soon as I leave the abodes of learning and knowledge, and begin to mix amongst the people, the charming spell, which enraptured me, is broken, and my first feeling is, “O, France, thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels." The same feeling which animated the Prophet Isaiah with reference to Babylon.* The cause in both cases is the same. "The beginning of wisdom" does not form a part of their learning, and hence the inhabitants of this city turned this otherwise magnificent place into a most disgusting habitation. Sin and wickedness abound in it to a most awful degree. It is a nursery of impiety, immorality and vice. It vies, in vice, old Pagan Corinth. The Bible is not nationally honoured nor taught! I know you do not want my moralizing, but I do not mind your sneers. I shall always write as I feel and think. "Beggars are not choosers." England is the country I like best after all. As regards the archæological curiosities of Paris, about which you are so curious, and respecting which you expect a long, full, minute and critical disquisition from me," you must be content to be disappointed for once. I have so many new crotchets in my head about that part of the French capital, that I fear, were I now to put them on paper, many would pronounce the production rather inharmonious music, at least very much discordant from those who played at Paris antiquities before me. I shall, therefore, muse a little longer over my conceptions and theories, before I astonish the German savans with them. I am sometimes annoyed at my queer disposition. I cannot find it in my heart to take any theory for granted, without fully examining all the pros and cons; and not very seldom do I incur, for that inquisitiveness, the vehement displeasure of speculating theorists, for preferring my own speculation to theirs. The French connexion with Algiers has produced in this country a legion of Oriental scholars. I was anxious * Isaiah, XLVII, 13. |