FRANCE.

103

Of  the  “  ficole  Speciale  d’Architecture”  _(establishcd  1863)  tliere
were  to  be  seen  original  works,  and  photographs  from  such.  The
school  is  well  known  by  its  admirable  productions.  A  large  number
  of  architectural  works  were  published  by  it,  of  which  the
“  Fragments  d’Architecture  ”  (Paris,  Morel)  must  be  mentioned
as  the  most  prominent.
Excellent  specimens  had  furthermore  been  sent  by  the  provincial
cities  from  the  renowned  “  Ecoles  professionelles  ”  of  Rouen,  St.
Quentin,  Havre,  Lyons  (la  martinere),  and  the  “  ficole  Industrielle ­
  de  la  Ville  de  Lille.”  There  were  also  numerous  portfolios,
witli  good  drawings  from  Normandy  and  the  Bretagne,  where  the
greater  number  of  the  “  ficoles  manufacturelles  ”  are  to  be  fonnd.
In  the  South,  Toulouse  and  Bordeaux  still  continue  to  be  the  central ­
  points  of  art-instruction,  and  their  schools  are  the  patterns
for  those  of  the  smaller  cities.  The  schools  of  Bordeaux  are  more
inelined  towards  the  industrial;  wliile  in  Toulouse,  under  the  direction
  of  M.  Gaillard,  the  academical  and  purely  artistic  prevails.
Opportunity  is  everywhere  given  to  the  workingman  in  France,
and  perhaps  more  especially  so  in  Paris,  to  acquire  an  artistic
education  ;  and  the  government  has  at  no  time  neglected  to  see  to
it,  that  the  advantages  offered  should  be  made  use  of  to  their
full  extent.  Hausmann,  under  Napoleon,  had,  indeed,  done  a
good  deal  in  tliis  direction  ;  but  a  good  deal  remained  still  to
be  done,  when  the  calamitous  catastrophe  of  war  produced  a
marked  change  in  the  course  of  all  things  in  France.  The  present ­
  ministry,  however,  took  up  the  question  more  energetically
than  before,  and  its  olforts  are  especially  directed  towards
advancing  the  education  of  the  working-classes.  People  are
well  eonvinced  that  it  is  chiefly  industry  which  must  bring  the
lost  milliards  back  to  the  country  ;  while  at  the  same  time,  in
view  of  the  advances  made  by  other  nations,  to  stand  still  would  bo
equal  to  retrogression.  But  however  the  special  schools  of  Paris
may  fiourish,  and  however  large  a  number  of  artistically-trained
working-men  tliey  may  supply  to  the  industries,  it  is  nevertheless
true,  that  with  the  mass  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  espeeially  with
the  apprentices,  —  the  young  aftergrowth  as  it  were,—general
as  well  as  special  education  is  still  exceedingly  defleient.  In  view
of  these  circumstances,  M.  Greard,  at  present  Inspector-Geneial