THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. 10. No. 273.] | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1827 | [PRICE 2d. |
GASPARD MONGE'S MAUSOLEUM.
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)
Sir,—As one of your correspondents has favoured you with adrawing of the gaol I designed for the city and county of Norwich,with which you have embellished a recent number of the MIRROR, Iflatter myself that an engraving from the drawing I herewith sendyou of the mausoleum of Gaspard Monge, which I drew while at Paris,in 1822, will also be interesting to the readers of your valuablelittle miscellany. Gaspard Monge, whose remains are deposited inthe burying ground in Pere la Chaise, at Paris, in a magnificentmausoleum, was professor of geometry in the Polytechnique School atParis, and with Denon accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on hismemorable expedition to Egypt; one to make drawings of thearchitectural antiquities and sculpture, and the other thegeographical delineations of that ancient country. He returned toParis, where he assisted Denon in the publication of hisantiquities. At his decease the pupils of the Polytechnique Schoolerected this mausoleum to his memory, as a testimony of theiresteem, after a design made by his friend, Monsieur Denon. Themausoleum is of Egyptian architecture, with which Denon had becomefamiliarly acquainted.
There is a bust of Monge placed on a terminal pedestalunderneath a canopy in the upper compartment, which canopy is openin front and in the back. In the crown cavetto of the cornice is anEgyptian winged globe, entwined with serpents, emblematical of timeand eternity; and on the faci below is engraved the followingline:—
A. GASPARD MONGE.
On each side of the upper compartment is inscribed the followingmemento mori:
LES ELEVES
DE L'ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE.
A.G. MONGE.
COMTE DE PELUSE.
Underneath this inscription is carved in sunk work an Egyptianlotus flower in an upright position; on the back of the mausoleumis the date of the year in which Gaspard Monge died. The body is inthe cemetery below.
AN. MDCCCXX.
Monge was a man of considerable merit as a geometrician, and,while living, stood preeminent above his contemporaries in theFrench school of that day. He is the author of several works, buthis most popular one is entitled "GèomètrieDescriptive. par G. Monge, de l'Institut des Sciences, Lettres etArts, de l'Ecole Polytechnique; Membre du SénatConservateur, Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honeur et Cointe del'Empire."
The programme to this work is interesting, as it urges thenecessity of making geometry a branch of the national education,and points out the beneficial results that would arise therefrom.The following is the translation:—
To draw the French nation from the dependence, which, even inthe present day it is obliged to place in foreign industry, it isnecessary first to direct the national educat