battles of the papacy with greater vigour and success than that with which it ever contended against it. De Maistre adds, in his exaggerated style, that the republicanized monarchies of Europe having thus thrown away all their means of maintaining order and obedience, and evoked a spirit of anarchy, which they will never be able to suppress, will be fain to make humble supplication to the Bishop of Rome to exorcise the unquiet spirit which they have aroused, and to take their kingdoms into his own hands.

Tuesday, Aug. 13.-By the kindness of two friends we obtained tickets of admission to the grand concours of the Colleges of Paris and Versailles at the Sorbonne, for to-day.

The design of the concours is as follows: the colleges or great schools of Paris and Versailles, containing altogether, at present, above 6000 students, are brought into competition with one another annually, by means of the University, of which they are constituent parts. In the departments there are other academies, as they are called, twenty-seven in number, each consisting of groups of colleges, and these academies are clustered together into the University of France, and thus there is one system of national education, which is commensurate with the whole extent of France. The chef lieu, or centre of this great system, is the Sorbonne, a large building of the bad Italian style of the age of Cardinal Richelieu, who laid the first stone, and occupying the

place of the old venerable fabrics of that name, which dated from the thirteenth century, but which have now disappeared.

The result of the competition of the Parisian colleges is announced at the concours with great ceremony and display. The proceedings of the day took place in a large saloon at the Sorbonne, in which the seats are arranged for the students after the manner of an ancient theatre, i. e. with concentric benches rising up in an inclined plane one above another, thus forming cunei with vice converging downwards to what would be called the orchestra in a Greek theatre. Above these seats to the right and left at each end of the room are tribunes, as they are termed, or galleries (two on each side), which were filled with spectators. The stage, as it would be termed, of this theatre was occupied in the centre by a chair of state, which was to be filled by M. Villemain, the Minister of Instruction, grand Master of the University, Peer of France, &c., with crimson velvet and gilt benches on each side, to be occupied by members of the Council of Instruction and other dignitaries. Immediately behind M. Villemain's chair was a portrait of King Louis Philippe flanked by tri-coloured flags, beyond which, one on each side, in niches, are statues of Fénélon and Bossuet, obsolete remnants of the ancien régime.

After the admission of the company, about eleven o'clock A. M., the students poured in in crowds, and

took their places in the centre or body of the hall. At the same time came in the members of the Ecole Normale, i. e. of the school for training masters; then marched in the professors, in black gowns, bands, and long orange-coloured silk badges, or laticlaves, over the left shoulder: together with them came the doctors in the faculties of law and medicine, in scarlet cloth gowns, and other professors in crimson satin and orange silk gowns-a brilliant show. These took their places where the senators would have sat in a Roman theatre, i. e. the lowest in front nearest the stage. The front rows of the galleries were occupied by distinguished personages, among whom were some members of the Institute in dress coats covered with bright-green embroidery and with swords. A military band occupied one corner near the north gallery, where we sat.

After the students had taken their places, and one or two pieces of music had been played, a great uproar arose, the young prize-men and their comrades demanding the revolutionary air of la Marseillaise, which after a short delay was played by the band, and received by the students with great applause; it was soon called for again, and again played, and received with equal éclat.

At twelve o'clock precisely appeared M. Villemain (dressed in a plain court dress, embroidered collared coat, white waistcoat, and sword, no gloves), préceded by two gold maces who took their station

behind his chair; the assembly stood up, and M. Villemain desired them to be seated. Some gentlemen, splendidly robed in violet velvet and ermine with white gloves, followed him and took their seats on the side benches; after which, on each side, the stage was guarded by a company of soldiers, who stood all the time. M. Cousin, dressed as member of the Institute, sat at the end of the left bench. The proceedings were opened by a Latin address read by one of the professors, Mons. Demogeot, of the College of St. Louis. The English pronunciation of Latin is not very good, to be sure; but Cicero himself could not have been eloquent in French. M. Villemain next arose and drew out of his pocket a paper, from which he proceeded to read his address in a very good and audible voice, and in a very dignified manner. The speech had excited great expectation on account of the present condition of affairs connected with national education, and was listened to with profound attention. It commenced with the usual salutation, "Jeunes Elèves," and reminded them that on no previous occasion was so much interest attached to the proceedings and the career of the rising generation of France as at the present day; that they had, therefore, much to rejoice in, and much to hope for. He spoke of the dignity of the University whose character was in their hands; he referred to its foundation by the hand of the great hero of France (Napoleon), by that

same hand as had reared again her fallen altars, had signed the concordat of 1801, and had brought (attira) the sovereign Pontiff to Paris (not a word about his sending him to Fontainebleau and to Savona). He enlarged upon the advantages which they enjoyed, as having not only all the learning and genius of antiquity open to them, but also possessing it elevated by Christianity, illustrated by the science of modern times, and purified by the morality of its rational and intelligent philosophy; and he exhorted them, by religious and moral conduct, by loyalty and patriotism, by discharging the duties which they owed to their colleges, to their families, and to society at large, to maintain the character of the University, to vindicate it from the aspersions of its enemies, to be the apology of their masters (l'apologie de leurs maîtres), and the joy and pride of their families. He reminded them that their time for mixing in the politics of the world would soon arrive, but that it was not yet come; when it did arrive, they would then show that they were true sons of the University of France, and would follow the glorious examples of their former comrades the young sons of their king, who were advancing its glory in the colony of Constantine, and on the perilous coasts of Morocco '.

5 [A few months after this brilliant exhibition, the public mind was suddenly shocked by the melancholy news that M. Villemain had been bereft of reason: he was succeeded as Minister of Public