treaty of cession, or given in lieu of contributions at the option of the
owners, and the Princes were very glad to give up their pictures and
statues, which the most of them did not know how to appreciate, in lieu of
money which they were all anxious to keep; and on these articles a fair
value was fixed by competent judges. In this manner did the French become
the possessors of these valuable objects of art, and in this manner was the
noble Museum in Paris filled up, and surely nothing could be more generous
and liberal than the use made of the Museum by the French Government;
foreigners were indeed more favoured than the inhabitants themselves. To
the inhabitants of Paris this Museum is open twice a week; but to
foreigners on producing their passports, it is open every day in the week
all the year round; artists of all nations are allowed, during a certain
number of hours each day, to come to copy the statues and pictures which
suit their taste; and stoves are lighted for their accommodation during
winter, and all this gratis.--Now, before these objects of art were
collected here, they were distributed, some in churches, and some in
Government palaces. To see the first, required a specific introduction to
the owner; to see the second, application to the attendants of the churches
became necessary, and for both these you were required to pay fees to the
servants and church-attendants, who are always impatient to take your fee
and hurry you through the apartments or chapels, scarcely giving you time
to examine anything. To be admitted into the Government palaces was a
matter of favour, and here also fees were required.[32] Here in the Louvre
there is no introduction required; no court to be paid to _major-domos_, no
favour; it is open to all classes, high and low, without exception, and no
money is allowed to be given.

But there are some people, in their ridiculous fury against the French
Revolution, who would fain persuade us that before that epoch there was a
golden age on the earth, that there were no acts of violence committed, no