Paris, February 8, 1803.

Having complied with your desire in regard to the BibliothÈque Nationale, I shall confine myself to a hasty sketch of the other principal public libraries, beginning with the

BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE.

By his will, dated the 6th of March 1662, Cardinal MAZARIN bequeathed this library for the convenience of the literati. It was formed by GABRIEL NAUDÉ of every thing that could be found most rare and curious, as well in France as in foreign countries. It occupies one of the pavilions and other apartments of the ci-devant CollÈge Mazarin ou des Quatre Nations, at present called Palais des Beaux Arts.

No valuable additions have been made to this library since the revolution; but it is kept in excellent order. The Conservators, LE BLOND, COQUILLE, and PALISSOT, whose complaisance is never tired, are well known in the Republic of Letters. It is open to the public every day, from ten o'clock to two, Sundays, Thursdays, and the days of national fÊtes excepted.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU PANTHÉON.

Next to the BibliothÈque Nationale, this library is said to contain the most printed books and manuscripts, which are valuable on account of their antiquity, scarceness, and preservation. It formerly bore the title of BibliothÈque de St. GeneviÈve, and belonged to the Canons of that order, who had enriched it in a particular manner. The acquisitions it has made since the revolution are not sufficiently important to deserve to be mentioned. With the exception of the BibliothÈque Nationale, not one of the public libraries in Paris has enjoyed the advantage of making improvements and additions. The library of the Pantheon is open to the public on the same days as the BibliothÈque Mazarine.

The present Conservators are DAUNOU, VENTENAT, and VIALLON. The first two are members of the National Institute.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ARSENAL.

This library, one of the richest in Paris, formerly belonged to the Count d'Artois. It is destined for the Conservative Senate, in whose palace a place is preparing for its reception. However, it is thought that this removal cannot take place in less than a year and a half or two years. It has acquired little since the revolution, and is frequented less than the other libraries, because it is rather remote from the fashionable quarters of the town. There are few inquisitive persons in the vicinity of the Arsenal; and indeed, this library is open only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of every week from ten o'clock till two. AMEILHON, of the Institute, is Administrator; and SAUGRAIN, Conservator.

Before I quit this library, you will, doubtless expect me to say something of the place from which it derives its appellation; namely,

THE ARSENAL.

It is a pile of building, forming several courts between the Quai des CÉlestins and the Place de la LibertÉ, formerly the Place de la Bastille. Charles V had here erected some storehouses for artillery, which were lent very unwillingly by the Provost of Paris to Francis I, who wanted them for the purpose of casting cannon. As was foreseen, the king kept possession of them, and converted them into a royal residence. On the 28th of January 1562, lightning fell on one of the towers, then used as a magazine, and set fire to fifteen or twenty thousand barrels of powder. Several lives were lost, and another effect of this explosion was that it killed all the fishes in the river. Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV rebuilt the Arsenal, and augmented it considerably. Before the revolution, the founderies served for casting bronze figures for the embellishment of the royal gardens. The Arsenal then contained only a few rusty muskets and some mortars unfit for service, notwithstanding the energetic inscription which decorated the gate on the Quai des CÉlestins:

"ÆtnÆ hÆc Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat,
Tela gigantÆos debellatura furores."

NICOLAS BOURBON was the author of these harmonious lines, which so much excited the jealousy of the famous poet, SANTEUIL, that he exclaimed in his enthusiasm, "I would have wished to have made them, and been hanged."

During the course of the revolution, the buildings of the Arsenal have been appropriated to various purposes: at present even they seem to have no fixed destination. Here is a garden, advantageously situated, which affords to the inhabitants of this quarter an agreeable promenade.

The before-mentioned libraries are the most considerable in Paris; but the National Institute, the Conservative Senate, the Legislative Body, and the Tribunate, have each their respective library, as well as the Polytechnic School, the Council of the School of Mines, the Tribunal of Cassation, the Conservatory of Music, the Museum of Natural History, &c.

Independently of these libraries, here are also three literary dÉpÔts or repositories, which were destined to supply the public libraries already formed or to be formed, particularly those appropriated to public instruction. When the Constituent Assembly decreed the possessions of the clergy to be national property, the Committee of Alienation fixed on the monasteries of the Capucins, Grands JÉsuites, and Cordeliers, in Paris, as dÉpÔts, for the books and manuscripts, which they were desirous to save from revolutionary destruction.