I shall never end if I begin a detailed account of the art treasures of the Louvre, and I will therefore conclude by saying that the sculpture of different nations is represented in the lower floor as painting is in the upper. One can spend days and days usefully amid the monuments of an ancient world,—monuments from Egypt with their hieroglyphics, 2,500 years before Christ, monuments from Assyria and Babylon with their cuneiform inscriptions 1,500 years before Christ, and the marble monuments of Greece and Rome never since equalled in their nobility of form and grace. The original Venus of Milo is here—and is among the noblest productions in marble which modern world has inherited from ancient Greece. India alone among the ancient countries of the world is not represented in the art museums of Europe, because India, distinguished by her ancient poetry and philosophy, never cultivated sculpture until in comparatively recent times.
I have already stated that the Louvre took some centuries in completion and gradually extended along the north bank of the Seine from the east to the west. To the west again of this historic palace stood at one time the scarcely less celebrated palace of the Tuilleries, but which alas! exists no more. Tuilleries.Cathrine de Medici constructed the palace in the sixteenth century and for three hundred years the palace had an eventful history. The great Henry IV. and Louis XIII. resided in the Tuilleries from time to time, and the "Grande Monarque," Louis XIV. also resided there during the commencement
