114
A LITTLE TOUR IN FRANCE.
degree of entertainment to be  derived.    If they are
tolerably old, they are often touching; but they must
have a relative antiquity,  for I confess I can do no-
thing with works of art of which the badness is of
recent origin.    The   cool,   still,   empty chambers in
which indifferent collections are apt to be preserved,
the red brick tiles, the diffused light, the musty odor,
the mementos around you of dead fashions, the snuffy
custodian in a black skull cap,   who pulls  aside  a
faded curtain to show you the lustreless gem of the
museum,—these things have a mild historical quality,
and the sallow canvases after all illustrate something.
Many of those in the museum of Nantes illustrate the
taste of a successful warrior; having been bequeathed
to the city by Napoleon's marshal,   Clarke (created
Duc de Feltre).    In   addition  to these there  is the
usual number of specimens ofthe contemporary French
school, culled from the annual Salons and presented
to the museum by the State.    Wherever the traveller
goes, in France, he is reminded of this very honorable
practice,—the purchase by the Government of a cer-
tain number of "pictures of the year," which are pre-
sently distributed in the provinces.    Governments suc-
ceed   each   other   and bid   for  success  by   different
devices; but the "patronage of art" is a plank, as we
should say here, in every platform.    The works of art
are often ill-selected,—there is an official taste which
you immediately recognize,—but the custom is essen-
tially liberal, and a government which should neglect
it would be felt to be painfully common.   The only