THE PEDALTO INSTITUTION FOR INCORPORATED ART

 
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OFFICE OF OFFICE DILATION

DIRECTOR   Teuta Pittaluga

ABOUT

So is it after a revolution! The moral mineralogist proceeds to the spot, with his hammer in his hand, to scrutinize what novelties the creation has unfolded through those fissures of the earth, which enable us to pry into her mysteries. The agriculturist busily compares the growth of the new stratum brought to the surface, with the harvests reared upon that old alluvial soil deposited by the floods of time,—shakes his head on observing the abundant crop of weeds, which have sprung up from the rankness of its redundant and unpurified strength; and regrets that the shortness of human life will, during his day, afford no estimate of the influence of the new stratification on forest trees of nobler growth. It is something, however, to watch their slow progress towards maturity ; and the lapse of three years since the Three Glo. rious Days of July, 1830, enables us, in some measure, to conjecture whether posterity will confirm, in their honour, the decree of contemporary enthusiasm; and to decide whether, although the French nation have got something better in place of what was bad, they may not aspire, at some future epoch, to achieve the best ? The quality of the " better" is that which first imports us to determine. There has been time for the new ground to settle into some degree of stability; and we have a right to look to the progress of the legislative and correctional tribunals, to the state of public worship, to the prospects of art and science, to the tone of literature and of the Drama, to the moral regeneration of the people, and the re-establishment of social institutions, in evidence of the advantages secured. Investigations of this comprehensive nature have recently been attempted in France; but by partisans either of the monarchical or republican factions. The facts of one side have consequently been the lies of the other; and it will probably be a foreigner who sets the question in a fair and equitable light. Meanwhile, conscious of our inadequacy to a task which demands a prolonged residence on the spot, and an intimate familiarity with the customs and characteristics of the people, we are willing to contribute our quota of information, in the shape of a nosegay, of such weeds as may be culled by any idle passenger over the new territory; or a handful of the pebbles which lie upon the surface, too trivial for the attention of the scientific mineralogist. Paris, in October, 1833, compared with Paris in June, 1830, will be an amusing, as well as an edifying study!