The edifice is in perfect preservation, and the hand of power has not yet ventured to appropriate the plate or ornaments; but this forbearance will most probably give way to temptation and impunity.  The Convention will respect ancient prejudices no longer than they suppose the people have courage to defend them, and the latter seem so entirely subdued, that, however they may murmur, I do not think any serious resistance is to be expected from them, even in behalf of the relics of St. Firmin. [St. Firmin, the patron of Amiens, where he is, in many of the streets, represented with his head in his hand.]—­The bust of Henry the Fourth, which was a present from the Monarch himself, is banished the town-house, where it was formerly placed, though, I hope, some royalist has taken possession of it, and deposited it in safety till better times.  This once popular Prince is now associated with Nero and Caligula, and it is “leze nation” to speak of him to a thorough republican.—­I know not if the French had before the revolution reached the acme of perfection, but they have certainly been retrograding very fast since.  Every thing that used to create fondness and veneration is despised, and things are esteemed only in proportion as they are worthless.  Perhaps the bust of Robespierre may one day replace that of Henry the Fourth, and, to speak in the style of an eastern epistle, “what can I say more?”

Should you ever travel this way with Gray in your hand, you will look for the Ursuline convent, and regret the paintings he mentions:  but you may recollect, for your consolation, that they are merely pretty, and remarkable only for being the work of one of the nuns.—­Gray, who seems to have had that enthusiastic respect for religious orders common to young minds, admired them on this account; and numbers of English travellers have, I dare say, prepossessed by such an authority, experienced the same disappointment I myself felt on visiting the Ursuline church.  Many of the chapels belonging to these communities were very showy and much decorated with gilding and sculpture:  some of them are sold for a mere trifle, but the greatest part are filled with corn and forage, and on the door is inscribed “Magazin des armees.”  The change is almost incredible to those who remember, that less than four years ago the Catholic religion was strictly practised, and the violation of these sanctuaries deemed sacrilegious.  Our great historian [Gibbon] might well say “the influence of superstition is fluctuating and precarious;” though, in the present instance, it has rather been restrained than subdued; and the people, who have not been convinced, but intimidated, secretly lament these innovations, and perhaps reproach themselves conscientiously with their submission.—­Yours.

June 20, 1793.