The design of this school, _which is of acknowledged utility in
politics and commerce_, is to qualify persons to supply the place of
the French droguemans in the East, who, at the beginning of the
troubles which distracted France, abandoned the interests of their
country, and deserted their stations.
LANGLÈS, president of this school, here teaches the Persian and Malay
languages.
SILVESTRE DE SACY, literal and vulgar Arabic.
JAUBERT, Turkish and the Tartarian of the Crimea.
DANSE DE VILLOISON, modern Greek.
In general, very few pupils are instructed here, and the greater part
of those who begin the courses of lectures, do not follow them three
months. This fact I gathered from the professors themselves. When
FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU was Minister, he had attached to this school
an Armenian, named CIREIED, who gave lessons in his native language,
which are now discontinued.
A course of archæology is also delivered here by the learned MILLIN.
The object of this course is to explain antique monuments, and
compare them with passages of the classics. The professor indicates
respecting each monument the opinions of the different learned men
who have spoken of it: he also discusses those opinions, and
endeavours to establish that which deserves to be adopted. Every year
he treats on different subjects. The courses which he has already
delivered, related to the study of medals, and that of engraved
stones; the explanation of the ancient monuments still existing in
Spain, France, and England; the history of ancient and modern Egypt;
sacred and heroic mythology, under which head he introduced an
explanation of almost every monument of literature and art deserving
to be known.
[Footnote 1: It is the intention of the government to remove the
_Bibliothèque Nationale_ to the _Louvre_, or _Palais National des
Sciences & des Arts_, as soon as apartments can be prepared for its
reception.]