those manufactures in which England is acknowledged to surpass other
countries.

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