the capital of France, situated on the river Seine, about 110 miles in direct distance from its mouth, in N. Lat. 48. 50. 49., E. Long. 2. 20. 15. It is in the department of the Seine, of which it is the chief town, and is distant about 210 miles S.S.E. from London, and 159 S.S.W. from Brussels.

Paris takes its name from the Parisi, a Gallic tribe, whose chief town, called by themselves Loutoulezi (i.e., a dwelling surrounded by water), and by the Romans Lutetia, stood on the island now known as La Cité. It is first mentioned in history as the place where, in B.C. 54, Julius Caesar convoked an assembly of the Gallic tribes. In the following year, when these tribes revolted under Vercingetorix, the Parisi were among the foremost to take up arms. Though they made a desperate resistance, and set fire to their city to save it from falling into the enemy's hands, they were finally subdued; and in the distribution of Gaul, were incorporated in the province of Lugdunensis Quarta. For 400 years after this date the name of Lutetia is hardly mentioned, except by the geographers. In A.D. 360 it became associated with the name of Julian the Apostate, who fortified the Île de la Cité, and built on the mainland the Thermae Juliani (a palace with baths, of which the extensive remains are still in excellent preservation), besides other edifices on both sides of the river. At this time, or even earlier, Lutetia was a bishop's see. According to one account, St Denis, the patron saint of France, suffered martyrdom at Paris about the middle of the third century. To the Romans succeeded the Franks, who, under Clovis, seized Paris in 491. Most of this monarch's successors fixed their abode there, and, having embraced Christianity, founded many churches and abbeys, and otherwise enlarged and embellished the town. Under the Merovingians, Paris rose to considerable importance, being regarded by the Salian or Neustrian Franks as the capital of their dominions. In 574 it was burned to the ground in a war waged by Sigebert, King of Metz, against his brother Chilperic, King of Soissons. By the princes of the Carlovingian line Paris was neglected, and its fortifications allowed to fall into decay. On this account, when it was attacked by the Northmen in 841, it fell an easy prey. Fifteen years later, the Normans again appeared before the ruined walls, and burnt some of the churches, holding the rest to ransom. In 861 a third invasion of these northern pirates, attended with the same results as before, showed the necessity of putting the town in a state of defence. This was done by Charles le Chauve, and so effectually, that when the Normans assaulted the city for the fourth time in 885, they were completely foiled, and only escaped destruction by concluding with Charles le Gros a treaty which cost that monarch his crown. The vacant throne was then offered to Count Eudes or Otho, in whose family it became hereditary in the person of Hugo or Hugues Capet, in 987. This monarch chose Paris for his residence; and from that time the city became the capital of the kingdom of France. In the reign of Louis VI. (Le Gros), the Louvre was rebuilt, the Palais de Justice was commenced, and the fortresses of Le Grand and Le Petit Châtelet were constructed to command the bridges that joined the Cité with the mainland. The fame of Paris as a seat of learning began to spread, and many new streets were erected for the students who flocked thither in crowds. Ten men sufficed, however, to collect all the taxes; and the duties levied at the North Gate produced under Louis VI. only 12 francs a year, or about 600 francs of present money. A wall was thrown round these extended suburbs by Louis VII., whose successor, Philippe Auguste, enlarged the limits of the city by inclosing a wide sweep of ground with a new mur d'enceinte. The space thus inclosed was in course of time covered with the churches and other religious establishments erected by St Louis between the years 1226 and 1270. Of these the only one that has survived is the Sainte-Chapelle, now restored in more than its original splendour. In the reign of St Louis the bourgeoisie of Paris were confirmed in many important privileges, in return for the help which they afforded to the king against his rebellious barons. There was no recognised municipality in Paris at this time; but the guilds of merchants and traders, which had existed since the times of the Romans, were amalgamated by St Louis into a sort of municipality, sometimes called the marchandise or hausse Parisienne, whose chief, under the title of prévôt des marchands, exercised a wholesome judicial authority. One of his functions was to administer, in concert with the prévôt de Paris, the police of the city, which till this time had been very defective. In 1250 the Sorbonne was founded; and soon afterwards a hospital for the blind, a school of surgery, and a body of notaries were instituted. Under the successors of Louis the progress of the city was seen in the foundation of numerous colleges, abbeys, and churches, and the growing spirit of independence among the towns-people. In 1306 the citizens for the first time rose in arms against the king. They rebelled against the heavy taxation to which they were subjected by Philippe IV. (Le Bel). After a temporary success, the mutineers were quelled, and twenty-eight of the ringleaders were hanged. Philippe, however, found it convenient for the future to fill his coffers by means more popular than the taxation of his own subjects. Accordingly, Paris saw with scarcely a murmur the Jewish residents among them banished and robbed of all their property, and in the following year (1307) the cruel extirpation of the Knights Templars. In this reign, however, the streets and highways were improved, and some courts of law were established. During the absence of King John as a captive in England the peace of Paris was embroiled by the faction of the Mailloins under Etienne Marcel, prévôt des marchands, instigated by Charles le Mauvais, King of Navarre. Marcel, however, was slain by his own partizans; and the Dauphin, afterwards Charles V., quelled the mutiny. The faubourgs had meanwhile been considerably extended beyond the mur d'enceinte; and as they were threatened from time to time with attacks by the English, new walls and ditches, which it took sixteen years to complete, were drawn round them in 1367. Under Charles V., the Bastille and the Palais des Tournelles were built, and the Louvre enlarged and repaired. Charles V. was succeeded in 1380 by Charles VI., in whose reign the bridges of St Michel and Notre Dame were built in 1384 and 1414 respectively. In 1420, by the treaty of Troyes, Paris passed into the hands of the English. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1429 by Jean of Arc to retake the city. A second attack, conducted by Dunois and the Count de Richemond, in 1436, had a different issue. The English garrison was surprised and put to the sword. A few men only, who took refuge in the Bastille, were allowed to escape with their lives. Under Charles and some of his immediate successors, Paris was desolated by war, pestilence, and famine, to such a degree that at one time it was seriously intended to transfer the seat of government to some healthier and safer city on the Loire. Such was the insecurity of life, that in the environs, and occasionally in the streets of the capital itself, numbers of people were destroyed by the wolves. So rapidly, however, did it recover from its disasters, that by the time of Louis XI., who came to the throne in 1461, the population was upwards of 200,000, and the city and the surrounding country were in such a flourishing condition that, in the words of Comines, "C'est la cité que jamais je visse entourée de meilleurs pays et plantureux, et est chose presque incroyable que des biens qui y arrivent." Louis XI. had an especial favour for Paris, and used to say, "Ma bonne ville de Paris, si je la perdais, tout serait fini pour moi." He encouraged trade and commerce to the utmost of his power, and set up in the Sorbonne the first printing-press that was established in France. Though neglected by the immediate successors of Louis, Paris continued to grow and prosper, and added to its old monuments some new ones of great importance, such as the Fontaine des Innocents, the Hôtel de Cluny, the churches of St Merry and St Eustache, and the College of France. Francis I. restored the fortifications and enlarged the circuit of the city, besides adorning it with some handsome public buildings. The old castle of the Louvre was demolished, and a new and splendid palace, which still remains, was erected on its site. The Faubourg St Germain, which had been destroyed in the wars, was restored, and the foundations of the Hôtel de Ville were laid. In 1563 the chateau and garden of the Tuileries were formed by Catherine de Medici, and the enceinte enlarged so as to comprise them within its circuit. Paris was at this time regularly divided into sixteen quarters, and its administration was conducted by—1st, The Prévôt de Paris, appointed by the King, and having under him two lieutenants, one civil and the other criminal, who presided in the court of the Châtelet, with its twenty-four members; 2d, The Prévôt des Marchands, chosen by the trades, and assisted by thirty-two assessors; 3d, The Garde Bourgeoise; and 4th, The Guet Royal, consisting of 500 foot soldiers and three companies of archers or musketeers. These tribunals exercised their functions with great and often indiscriminating severity, yet were sometimes unable to make head against the bands of thieves, vagabonds, and beggars, who, to the number of fourteen or fifteen thousand, frequently combined to plunder and disturb the town. It was not till the time of Louis XIV., that the arm of the law was strong enough to put down these ruffians completely. In the religious wars of the sixteenth century, Paris suffered severely. The events that followed the massacre of St Bartholomew in 1588, the formation of the League, the journée des barricades, and the sieges sustained by the city from Henri III. and his successor Henri IV., destroyed great numbers of the inhabitants, and the streets and houses in which they dwelt. When the edict of Nantes restored peace to France, Henry had leisure to carry out his plans for embellishing the capital. The Pont Neuf, begun in the previous reign, was completed; the Hôpital St Louis was founded; the Place Royale, the Rue Dauphine, and some fine quais along the river, were laid out; the building of the Tuileries, and of the galleries connecting that palace with the Louvre, was vigorously prosecuted; and the two westernmost of the islands in the Seine were united to that of La Cité. Under Louis XIII., many splendid structures were added to the city. The Palais Cardinal, now the Palais Royal, was begun by Richelieu, who also founded the Académie; the Luxembourg was commenced by Marie de Medici; the Jardin des Plantes was laid out by Labrosse, one of the royal physicians; the enceinte of the city was extended almost to the line of the present boulevards; the quais and bridges of the Île St Louis were constructed; the Pont au Change was rebuilt; and a wooden bridge, now replaced by the Pont Royal, connected the quarter of the Louvre with the Faubourg St Germain, where many splendid hotels now began to rise. The police, though now a little better administered than of old, was still so badly administered that crimes and vices of the most hideous kind might be indulged in with impunity. During the supremacy of Mazarin, Paris was harassed by the never-ceasing outbreaks of the Frondeurs; and insurrections, barricades, and street-fighting recurred periodically. The distress occasioned by these feuds was such, that on one occasion in 1653 it was estimated that of the entire population of the city, then amounting to about 400,000 souls, one-tenth was without any ostensible means of livelihood.

As soon as he attained his majority, Louis XIV. began to carry out the plans of his father and grandfather. Eighty new streets were laid out, and many of the old ones repaired and embellished. Thirty-three new churches, besides chapels, were erected; while the Hôpital Général, or La Salpêtrière, afforded shelter to the homeless poor, and the Hôtel des Invalides to old or disabled soldiers and seamen. The observatory, the colonnade of the Louvre, and the Pont Royal were completed; and the Champs Élysées were planted. The palace of the Tuileries was finished; and its gardens were laid out nearly as they now stand. The Place Vendôme and the Place des Victoires were formed; and the triumphal arches of St Denis and St Martin substituted in room of two of the old city gates. The ancient fortifications of the northern part of the city were demolished, and their site converted into a splendid succession of promenades. The streets were now for the first time lighted at night; the police was greatly improved, and the drainage and sewerage of the town received special attention. In 1710 the population of Paris amounted to 490,000 souls. Under Louis XV., the progress of the city was neither so rapid nor so great as under his predecessor. Some of the splendid streets in the faubourgs St Honoré and St Germain were opened in his reign; the Palais Bourbon, now the seat of the Legislative Assembly, the Panthéon, or church of St Geneviève, the Mint, and the École Militaire were founded; the Place de la Concorde was laid out; and the porcelain manufactory at Sèvres established. The peace of the city was during this reign never broken by such feuds as had troubled it in past ages. Some slight tumults resulted from the general distress that followed the bursting of the Mississippi bubble, and the other financial schemes of Law, but they were easily suppressed. Louis XVI. continued the Pantheon and began the Madeleine, and other less important churches. The Français, the French, Italian, and comic opera-houses, and some minor theatres, rose in rapid succession. Many new fountains were opened, and the water of the Seine was distributed through various parts of the city by means of steam-engines erected on its banks; the enceinte of the capital was again extended, and some villages, such as Chaillot, Roule, and Monceaux, formerly beyond the walls, were now incorporated with the city. The Palais Royal, diverted from its original use, was parcelled out into shops, and the gardens inclosed in its quadrangle were thrown open as places of public recreation. The population of Paris at this time, according to Necker, amounted to about 620,000. The reign of Louis XVI. was inaugurated with bread riots, forecasting the more terrible events that were speedily to follow. The history of Paris during the Revolution becomes a history of the Revolution itself; all the leading events and ideas of which originated in the capital. On the 14th July 1789 the Bastille was taken and destroyed. The sufferings of the people from famine during the ensuing months led to almost daily riots, in which many lives were lost. In the October of this year the king, then living at Versailles, was brought in triumph to Paris by the mob, and the National Assembly likewise transferred its seat to the capital. Order was not restored till martial law had been proclaimed; but despite the utmost exertions of the authorities, émeutes were constantly taking place during the next two years. On the 20th June 1792 the mob rose and attacked the Tuileries, where the royal family was then residing; on the 10th August of the same year the attack was repeated, and the Swiss bodyguards of the king were slain to a man: Louis himself was deposed and confined a prisoner in the Temple. On the 2d of September 1792 the mob rose, broke open the prisons, and murdered all the inmates, to the number of about 5000. The National Convention supplanted the Assembly, and the doctrines of the Mountain became rampant. On the 21st of January 1793 Louis was executed on the guillotine which had been set up in the Place Louis XV., or, as it is now called, de la Concorde; and when the Reign of Terror was inaugurated, on the overthrow of the Girondist party in the Convention, and the supremacy of the Clubs, executions took place daily to the number of fifty or sixty, sometimes even of a hundred. After a time, the guillotine was removed from the Place Louis XV., to that of the Bastille, and thence to the Place du Trône, where it remained till brought back to its original site for the decapitation of Robespierre and the leading terrorists. Before the Convention gave place to the Directory, it had introduced some important reforms,—abolished the commune of Paris; silenced the Clubs, or reduced them to order; and organized the Bureau des Longitudes, the Polytechnic School, and the Institute of France. The Directory maintained itself in power from 1795 till the revolution of the 18th Brumaire (8th November 1799) left Napoleon virtually master of France. In the course of twelve years, as first consul and emperor, the new ruler of France expended upwards of four millions sterling on the extension and embellishment of the capital. Three new bridges were built over the Seine; three great cemeteries were formed beyond the walls, and five abattoirs constructed; many new fountains and markets were opened in different parts of the city; the quais were extended along the banks of the river; and a number of new and handsome streets were begun. The churches destroyed during the Revolution were restored, many of them in more than their former beauty. On the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, Paris fell into the hands of the allies after a gallant defence by the garrison, the National Guard, and the students of the Polytechnic and Veterinary Schools. The events that followed Waterloo and the final deposition of the emperor again gave up Paris into the hands of the stranger, but on neither of these occasions was much damage done to the city. The Prussians had made arrangements for blowing up the Pont de Jena, but were prevented from carrying out their design by the firmness of the Duke of Wellington. Louis XVIII. entered Paris on the 8th of July 1815, and the old Bourbon line was reinstated on the throne of France. He carried out many of his predecessors' plans; built three new bridges and three churches, and greatly improved the lighting and cleansing of the metropolis. During his reign Paris enjoyed almost undisturbed tranquility. The only émeute that occurred took place in 1827, on the occasion of an election of deputies to the Chamber. Barricades were erected, but the troops proved faithful to the king, and the insurrection was put down with little loss of life. Subsequent attempts to renew it proved equally abortive. Charles X. was less lucky or less prudent than his brother. On the 27th of July 1830 he published the famous ordinances, suppressing the charter of 1814, annulling elections, and abolishing the liberty of the press. Instantly the Parisian people were up in arms. Four thousand barricades were raised; the Swiss guards, and the gendarmerie under Marshal Marmont, fought desperately for a time, but failed to make head against the mob. The troops lost about 400 men in killed and wounded; the insurgents 783 slain, and 4500 put hors de combat. In honour of these patriots, a monumental column, with their names inscribed in letters of gold, was erected in the centre of the Place de la Bastille. Their bodies were deposited in vaults beneath the column, which was completed and solemnly inaugurated on the 28th July 1840. The Orleans branch of the family succeeded to the throne in the person of Louis Philippe. The new sovereign was fortunate enough to escape all the repeated attempts to assassinate him, and lived to complete numerous works of great beauty and importance. Among those which he finished may be men- tioned the churches of the Madeleine, St Vincent de Paul, Notre Dame de Lorette, and St Denis; the Hôtel de Ville, and the triumphal Arc de l'Étoile. The Place de la Concorde was remodelled, and adorned with splendid statues and fountains, and an interesting obelisk of great size brought from Luxor in Upper Egypt. Some of the old quais were widened, and new ones were built and planted with trees. Gas was introduced into the town, and vast works were undertaken for the drainage of the streets. The greatest and most costly, however, of all the public works were the fortifications of Paris. The whole of the city and its faubourgs were surrounded with a fosse and a high rampart, commanded along their whole line by fourteen detached forts, some of them of great size and strength. The cost of these works exceeded twenty millions sterling. Till the year 1848, Louis Philippe's reign secured peace and prosperity to Paris and to France. Some of his later acts, however, rendered him very unpopular; and when, in 1848, he obstinately opposed the movement for electoral reform, the mob rose, and the army eventually sided with the people. Louis Philippe abdicated in favour of his grandson, the Count of Paris; but it was too late. A democratic republic was proclaimed, and a constituent assembly convoked to draw up the constitution. The extreme party, the Red Republicans as they were called, disgusted with what seemed to them the too conservative spirit of the new government, began to embroil the public peace by their violent teaching of the wildest doctrines of socialism. Clubs were formed which, by the 15th of May, became strong enough to seize the Hôtel de Ville and establish a provisional government of their own. The leaders of the movement were arrested and thrown into prison; but new leaders appeared; and on the 23rd of June the civil war broke out. The eastern half of Paris was in the hands of the insurgents, who threw up barricades in all the great thoroughfares, some of them exceedingly strong and scientific in their construction. For three days—the 24th, 25th, and 26th of June—a bloody combat was fought, with doubtful issue, till the arrival of the artillery decided the action in favour of the government forces under General Cavaignac, who had been nominated dictator by the Assembly. The lives lost during the insurrection amounted to at least 15,000, and the sums paid by the city to compensate for the destruction of property amounted to £223,945 sterling.

In the canvass for the presidency of the new republic, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte proved the successful candidate. During his term of office no outbreak occurred; but Paris and France were agitated by the intrigues of all the parties and factions that had lately believed themselves entitled to a share in the administration. Towards the close of 1851 an attempt was made in the Chambers to encroach on the powers of the president, who had made himself highly popular with the army and the mass of the peasantry. Accordingly, on the 2d December Louis Napoleon declared Paris in a state of siege, dissolved the Legislative Assembly, and restored universal suffrage. He then appealed to the people, offering himself as candidate for a ten years' presidency. He was appointed by a majority of about seven millions and a half of affirmative votes. On the anniversary of the coup d'état, which had been effected with much less bloodshed than usually attends such changes of government in France, he was promoted, or promoted himself, to the higher dignity of emperor of the French, under the title of Napoleon III. The public works that mark his reign far surpass in number and splendour all the achievements of his predecessors. The Louvre has been completed on a style of almost unparalleled grandeur, and joined to the Tuileries; the Rue de Rivoli has been prolonged to the Hôtel de Ville; many new streets, some of them hardly inferior to it in point of splendour, have been opened up; the tomb of Napoleon I., in the Hôtel des Invalides, has been finished, and the Ste. Chapelle restored; a railway has been formed, encircling the city, and connecting all the lines that issue from it; the Champs Élysées and the Bois de Boulogne have been splendidly embellished. Other works are either contemplated or are already in progress, which, when carried out, will have remodelled to a great extent the entire aspect of the city.

The circumference of Paris is now 25,978 yards, or upwards of 14½ miles. Its area at different times is shown in the subjoined table:

| Under Julius Caesar | B.C. 56 | 37 acres | |---------------------|--------|---------| | Philippe Auguste | A.D. 1211 | 625 " | | Charles VI | 1383 | 1084 " | | Henri III | 1581 | 1193 " | | Louis XIII | 1634 | 1403 " | | Louis XIV | 1686 | 2728 " | | Louis XV | 1717 | 2809 " | | Louis Philippe | 1848 | 8708 " |

The last official measurement gives the area of the city as 35,240,000 square metres, equal to 42,150,640 square yards, or 8710 acres.

The plain in which Paris stands is about 60 metres above the level of the sea, and is surrounded in its entire circumference by a range of low hills. The heights inclosing the northern and more considerable part of the town skirt the shore of the Marne above its junction with the Seine, sink between Rosny and Montreuil, rise again in the plateau of Belleville, disappear altogether in the plain of St Denis, attain in the hill of Montmartre, one of their most elevated points, an altitude of 295 feet above the river, cross the plain of the Batignolles, and terminate in the slopes of Passy and Chaillot. The southern, like the northern portion of the city, is pretty nearly semicircular. The hills that screen the southern portion of the city are less high than those which inclose the northern. Almost level at the eastern extremity of Paris, the ground rises with a gentle slope into the plateau of Ivry and the hill of Caïlles, where it is intersected by the Bièvre. Passing that little stream, the first eminence to be seen is the Mont Ste. Geneviève, behind which extends the plateau of Montrouge, from the western end of which rise the slight elevations commanding the barriers of Maine and Mont Parnasse. Between Vaugirard and the river lies the level plain of Grenelle. Beyond these rising grounds, and at a distance of from 3 to 5 miles S. and W. of the city is a ridge of hills with several points of considerable height. Of these may be mentioned, Villejuif, Meudon, St Cloud, and Mont Valérien. The inner range of hills, encircling the southern part of the city, furnished the stone from which much of Paris was built. These old quarries are now built over, the excavations serving as catacombs, into which, when the intramural cemeteries were cleared in 1786, the bones of at least three millions of persons were thrown. The Seine enters the city at Bercy, and leaves it at Passy, the distance between these points by the river-course being nearly five English miles. About half-way the river flows round the two islands of St Louis and La Cité, the three other islets which formerly existed at this spot being now incorporated with one or other of these, or with the mainland. From Bercy to Passy there is an unbroken line of quais on both sides of the stream. The breadth of the Seine at the Pont d'Austerlitz is about 182 yards; at the Pont Neuf, 288 yards; and at the Pont de Jena, 149 yards. The mean velocity of the water is 20 inches a second. In summer it is sometimes so low as to be fordable; in winter it rises high, has a very rapid current, and sometimes does great damage by overflowing its banks. Numerous barges, laden with firewood, coals, &c., unload at the wharves; and small steamboats for the local traffic, and occasionally a sea-going vessel or two, are to be seen plying on the Seine. No impurities are allowed to pollute its waters, the sewerage of the city being otherwise disposed of. Floating wash-houses, and bathing and swimming schools, stud the surface in great numbers. The river communicates with the Loire by the canals of Briare and Orleans, with the Somme and Scheldt by the canal of St Quentin, and with the Saône by that of Bourgogne.

It was long a favourite scheme of the French kings to fortify the capital; and in 1841 a grant of 140 millions of francs was voted to Louis Philippe for the purpose. The fortifications, as they now stand, consist of two parts,—1st, A continuous enceinte, bastioned and terraced with 10 metres revetment; and, 2d, Seventeen detached forts, besides occasional detached trenches. The ditch has an average depth of 20 feet, and a breadth of from 60 to 165 feet. The crest of the parapet is 14 metres above the bottom of the ditch. Military roads connect all the forts with Paris and with each other. The enceinte embraces within its sweep the whole of the capital and its faubourgs. The seventeen detached forts are,—Fort Charlemon, Nogent, Rosny, Noisy, Romainville, d'Aubervilliers, De l'Est, Couronne du Nord, Fort de la Brèche, Fort du Mont Valérien (with strong bomb-proof casemates and large barracks), Fort de Vanvres, D'Issy, Montrouge, Bicêtre, Ivry, Lamette de Stains, and Fort de Rouvray. The inner wall of Paris is quite unconnected with the defence of the city. It is pierced by fifty-six gates or barrières, at which the octroi, or local dues on taxable articles entering the capital are levied. Of these barriers, the handsomest are those of Neuilly, Du Trône, St Martin, Fontainebleau, Chartres, and Passy. A series of broad roads, planted with fine rows of trees, runs round the outside of this wall, and forms the external boulevards. The wall itself, begun in 1787, but not completed till the time of Napoleon I., comprises the majority of those quarters or suburbs which, from lying beyond what was at the time the city proper, are called faubourgs. Of the faubourgs embraced within the octroi wall, the chief are, on the north side of the river, those of St Honoré and the Route on the N.W.; Chausée d'Antin, Montmartre, Poissonnière, St Denis, and St Martin on the N.; the Temple on the N.E.; and St Antoine on the E. On the other side of the river are those of St Victor on the S.E.; St Marcel, St Jacques, and St Michel on the S.; St Germain and Gros Caillou on the S.W. Beyond the sweep of the octroi wall are the faubourgs of Auteuil, Passy, the Batignolles, La Villette, Belleville, Ménilmontant, Charonne, Bercy, Montrouge, Vaugirard and Grenelle.

Paris is bisected by the Seine. In the northern, which is the newest and most important part of the city, the streets run for the most part either parallel with the river or at right angles to it. The great arteries are the quais, the Rue St Honoré, and the Boulevards. In the Cité no plan seems to have been observed in laying out the streets and houses. But the changes of the last ten years have swept away or greatly altered the Cité of the middle ages, which had survived till that time. The houses, as in every part of Paris, were built of stone, and were generally from five to eight storeys in height. The streets were so narrow that a person walking in the middle of them, with arms outstretched, could in many cases touch the houses on either side at once. At night they were either not lighted at all, or were illuminated by the dingy réverbères, which, during the revolutions, were so often used as a gallows. Most of these old streets have in late years been pulled down. Wherever practicable, foot pavements have been laid, gas introduced, and the gutter transferred from the centre to the sides of the streets. Similar improvements have been effected, where required, in the streets of less ancient date on both sides of the river. The lighting of Paris is now effected by 1595 oil and 14,000 gas lamps, fed by 1,464,236 feet of pipes, and supplying nearly 560,000 cubic feet of gas. During six months all the lamps are lighted every night; and during the remainder of the year a certain number for part of the night. The northern boulevards, occupying the site of the fortifications demolished by Louis XIV., are now planted on both sides of the way with rows of trees, and constitute the most brilliant part of the city, from the size and elegance of the houses and the splendour of the shops and restaurants, which adorn them in a continuous line from the Madeleine to the Place de la Bastille. The stone used in building the houses is the marine limestone (calcaire grèsier), found abundantly in the Paris basin; and as the inhabitants are bound by law to scrape, paint, or whitewash their houses once every two years, the general aspect of the city is always clean and gay. The sweeping of the streets costs the city a million and a half of francs yearly, and is effected by 2500 scavengers of either sex. More than L120,000 sterling are annually spent in repairing the streets and pavements; and during the last fifty-five years more than L8,000,000 sterling have been spent in widening them.

Except the Place de la Concorde, none of the "places," or public squares of Paris, are memorable for their size, though several of them are remarkable for their beauty. The Place de la Concorde connects the garden of the Tuileries with the Champs Élysées. The centre of it is believed to furnish the finest coup d'œil in Europe. Looking towards the east, the eye falls first on the palace of the Tuileries, facing which, at a distance of about three-fourths of a mile, stands the noble Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile; another vista discloses the magnificent church of the Madeleine, confronted by the hall of the Chamber of Deputies. The "Place" itself is splendidly decorated. Eight thrones, supporting eight figures, representing the principal cities of France, besides numerous groups of statuary, encircle it. In the centre stands the famous obelisk of Luxor, marking the site of the guillotine during the first revolution. Two of the largest and finest fountains in the world play during the greater part of each day. The most noteworthy of the other places are the Place des Victoires, with its fine statue of Louis XIV., the Place Royale, the Place du Trône, and the Place Vendôme. In the last-named of these stands the Colonne Vendôme, erected by Napoleon to commemorate his victories in the German campaign of 1805. The pillar is an imitation of Trajan's Column at Rome, and is 135 feet high, with a diameter of 12 feet. The bas-reliefs of the shaft, cast out of 1200 pieces of Austrian and Russian cannon, comprise 2000 figures, in a spiral scroll 840 feet long. The pillar is now surmounted by a bronze statue of the first Napoleon, 11 feet high. The total cost of it was L60,000 sterling.

The public buildings of Paris are so numerous and so interesting that to dwell upon or even enumerate all that deserve, and in fact require notice, is impossible. Perhaps the most important in the history of Paris, especially during the last seventy years, is the palace of the Tuileries, the official residence of the reigning monarch. It takes its name from the tile-fields on the site of which it stands, and was founded by Catherine de Medici in 1564. It was enlarged by Henri IV., and again by Louis XIII., who left it externally very much in the condition in which it now stands. The façade is 330 yards in length, and 36 in breadth. The columns of the lower storey of the central façade are Ionic; those of the second, Corinthian; of the third, composite. Though not a beautiful building, its size and its peculiar lofty roof and chimneys, are very impressive. The internal decorations are in a style of splendour which it is difficult for any who has not seen to conceive. Both the galleries connecting the Tuileries with the Louvre are now complete; that on the south is nearly 1500 feet in length, and contains a magnificent collection of paintings of the French, Dutch, German, and Italian schools. The Louvre itself, once a royal residence, is now used as a repository for the art treasures of the National Paris Museum, and contains vast and well-arranged collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Assyrian antiquities; many masterpieces of the leading painters and sculptors of most ages and countries; and a museum, in which are preserved models of the most important arsenals, ships, and forts, and everything, in short, connected with the maritime defences of the country. It consists of two parts—the old Louvre, designed by Claude Perrault, and the new Louvre, by Visconti. The old Louvre is nearly a square, 576 feet in length by 538 in breadth, and inclosing a quadrangle of 394 feet square. Its eastern façade, looking towards the church of St Germain l'Auxerrois, is a colonnade of twenty-eight coupled Corinthian columns, and is justly reckoned one of the finest pieces of architecture of any age. The new Louvre consists of two vast lateral piles of buildings, projecting at right angles from the two parallel galleries which join the old Louvre with the Tuileries, and forming the eastern boundary of the Place du Carrousel. Turning into the Place Napoleon III., they present on each side a frontage of 590 feet, intersected by three sumptuous pavilions. These vast structures are intended to accommodate the minister of state, the minister of the interior, and the library of the Louvre. Some of the galleries on the upper storeys are to be set apart for permanent and annual exhibitions of the works of living artists. The Tuileries and the Louvre, both now completed and harmonized, may be regarded as forming together a single palace, of a magnitude and splendour to which a parallel can nowhere be shown. The total space covered or inclosed by the entire structure amounts to nearly 60 English acres. The money expended on the new works already exceeds a million and three-quarters sterling; and large additional sums will be required for the decorations that remain to be introduced.

The Palais du Luxembourg, now the Palais du Sénat, in the southern portion of the city, was built in 1612 for Marie de Médicis, on the model of the Pitti Palace in Florence. It is a handsome edifice, consisting of a centre and two wings, connected by terraced arcades. At the revolution of 1789 it was converted into a prison, and afterwards was called successively Palais du Directoire, Palais du Consulat, and Palais du Sénat. At the restoration it became the Chambre des Paires, and since 1852 for the second time Palais du Sénat. A fine collection of the masterpieces of modern artists adorns one of the galleries of the Luxembourg. The gardens attached to the palace are extensive and beautiful. A broad avenue of great length leads from the Luxembourg to the Observatory. A bronze statue, erected in 1854, marks the exact spot in this avenue where Marshal Ney was shot on the 7th December 1815.

The Hôtel des Invalides also, on the southern side of the Seine, was founded by Louis XIV., in 1670, for old or disabled soldiers and sailors. Additions have been made to it from time to time, till it now covers 16 acres of ground, inclosing 15 courts, and is capable of accommodating 5000 inmates. The ordinary number of inhabitants is between 3000 and 4000. Attached to the hotel is the church, with its beautiful double dome, 173 feet high, surmounted by a graceful lantern-globe and cross. The height to the top of this cross is 323 feet. Under the dome is the tomb of the Emperor Napoleon I. This, the most superb mausoleum in the world, was designed by Visconti, and cost from first to last about L360,000 sterling. A little further down the river is the Champs de Mars, oblong in form, and 2932 feet long by 1476 broad. It was in this plain that the Fête de la Fédération was held on the 14th July 1790. Here, too, Napoleon held the famous Champ de Mai before the battle of Waterloo. The Champ de Mars is now used for reviews and races. At its southern extremity stands the École Militaire, now a barrack.

At the southern end of the bridge connecting the Place de la Concorde with the Faubourg St. Germain stands the Paris Palace of the Legislative Body, formerly the Chamber of Deputies, the façade of which, built in 1804, consisting of twelve Corinthian columns that rest on a broad flight of twenty-nine steps, and support a triangular pediment, measuring 95 feet at the base and 17 feet high, is much admired. A little way up the river stands the Palais du Quai d'Orsay, a magnificent structure begun by Napoleon I., but not completed till the time of Louis Philippe. It was designed as a palace for the exhibition of the products of French industry, but is now used by the Council of State. Separated from the Palais d'Orsay by an intervening street is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, also a fine building, though externally somewhat insignificant. Still higher up the river, and on the quai opposite the Louvre, stands the Palais de l'Institut, occupying the site of a college founded by Cardinal Mazarin, and containing two valuable libraries—the Bibliothèque Mazarine, with 150,000 printed books and 3700 MSS.; and the Bibliothèque de l'Institut, with about 100,000 printed books. The latter library is especially rich in scientific books, both French and foreign, and possesses the transactions and periodicals of almost every scientific association in the world. East from the Palais de l'Institut, and close beside it, is the Hôtel des Monnaies, or Mint. The façade of this edifice fronting the Quai Conti is 360 feet long, with an elevation of 76 feet; that towards the Rue Guénégaud is 348 feet in length. The Mint is far from handsome externally, but is interesting for its extensive and admirably arranged collection of coins and medals. The coining-machines, eleven in number, are singularly ingenious in their structure, and when worked all at once, produce coin to the value of a million and a half sterling a day. Still further east, on the opposite bank of the river, stands the Hôtel de Ville, the residence of the Prefect of the Seine, and the meeting-place of the municipality of Paris. This handsome edifice was founded in 1533, but not completed till many years later. During the revolution of 1789 it suffered great damage. In 1837 it was restored and extended to about four times its previous size. As it now stands, it is a rectangle, with a handsome pavilion at each angle, and two more in the eastern and western façades, the latter of which, as the principal façade of the building, is adorned besides with an elegant belfry over the great central doorway. The reception-rooms of the Hôtel de Ville are decorated with a taste and brilliancy unsurpassed in any even of the imperial residences of France. They form a circuit of about half a mile, and require for their complete illumination 9714 tapers and 2369 gas-burners. They can accommodate 7000 visitors at once without discomfort.

The ecclesiastical edifices of Paris are, in magnitude and splendour, worthy of the general palatial aspect of the city. Conscious among them in point of architectural beauty, as well as of historic interest, is the cathedral of Notre Dame on the Île de la Cité. This superb temple was begun about the year 1000, and completed in 1812, and exemplifies the Gothic architecture of the intervening centuries in its noblest form. It is a regular cruciform, with an octagonal eastern end. The western façade is flanked by two lofty square towers, intended for spires, which, however, have never been built. The interior consists of a nave and choir, with double aisles and lateral chapels between the outer buttresses. The building is 390 feet in length, 144 feet wide at the transepts, and 102 feet from the floor to the vaulting of the roof. The towers are 204 feet high, and the western front is 128 feet in length. The nave is 255 feet long by 39 broad; the roof, made of chestnut timber, is 356 feet in length, and rises 30 feet above the internal vaulting. The chapels are adorned with many impressive pictures; and the sculptures, both external and internal, are quaint and striking. Totally different in kind, but equally splendid with Notre Dame, is the church of the Madeleine, at the extreme western end of the northern boulevards. It was begun in 1764. The works were slowly progressing when, after the Prussian campaign, Napoleon determined to convert it into a Temple of Glory to commemorate the exploits of his armies. His abdication frustrated this design; and in 1815 Louis XVIII restored it to its original destination. It was completed in the reign of Louis Philippe at a total cost of £323,160 sterling. The Madeleine is the finest reproduction in modern times of any ancient model. Its archetype was the Parthenon at Athens, which, however, it greatly surpasses in size. The Parthenon was only 228 feet long by 100 broad. The Madeleine stands on an elevated platform 418 feet in length, and is 328 feet long by 138 broad. It is reached by a flight of 28 steps, and is surrounded by a colonnade of 52 Corinthian columns, 15 on each side; 14 on the southern portico, and 8 in the northern. The entablature, ceiling, and pediment of the colonnade are lavishly adorned with sculpture. The decorations of the interior are very splendid, but their effect is better suited for an opera-house or a picture gallery than a Christian temple. In a totally different style of architecture is the Panthéon, which, a few days after the coup d'état of 1851, Louis Napoleon restored to ecclesiastical uses and to its original name of the church of St. Géneviève. The Panthéon is cruciform, and from the centre of the cross springs a lofty circular drum surrounded by a peristyle of 32 Corinthian columns. Above rises a splendid dome, the highest point of which is 268 feet above the pavement. The portico is composed of 22 fluted Corinthian columns 60 feet high, supporting a pediment 120 feet long and 24 in height. The sculpture in the pediment, by David, represents the genius of France surrounded by the great men of the nation. On the frieze beneath is inscribed in gold letters—"Aux grands hommes la Patrie reconnaissante." The total length of the building, including the portico, is 352 feet; interior length from east to west, 295; length of the transept, 265 feet; uniform breadth, 104 feet. The remains of Voltaire and Rousseau were removed to the Panthéon in 1791, but were secretly taken away during the Restoration. Among the illustrious dead buried in the vaults are Lagrange the mathematician, Bougainville the navigator, the Dutch Admiral de Winter, Soufflot the architect of the church, and Marshal Lannes. Mirabeau and Marat were also interred here, but their remains were afterwards removed. The Panthéon was begun in 1764 by Louis XV, and afterwards restored by Louis XVIII. It has cost in all about a million and a quarter sterling. Close to the Panthéon is the church of St Etienne du Mont, with a very beautiful interior. Of the other Parisian churches, the handsomest are St Sulpice near the Luxembourg, the two towers of which are used as telegraphic stations; St Vincent de Paul, in the N.E. corner of Paris, one of the finest churches in the city; St Eustache, lately restored with great splendour; and St Roch, both noted for their musical services; Notre Dame de Lorette; St Germain des Prés; and St Germain l'Auxerrois, opposite the eastern front of the old Louvre, interesting for its curious frescoed portico, and as the church from the belfry of which the signal was given for the massacre of St Bartholomew, August 23, 1572.

The hospitals and benevolent institutions of Paris are very numerous. The hospitals are of two kinds—general and special; and besides these there are hospices, analogous to the English almshouses. The total number of beds in these establishments is at present 17,469. The oldest and most important of the hospitals is the Hôtel Dieu, on the Ile de la Cité, close to Notre Dame. It is known to have been in existence in the twelfth century, and was subsequently much enlarged in the reigns of Henri IV. and Louis XVI. At present it contains 850 beds, and gives relief to about 12,000 patients annually. The mortality is 1 in 18. The next in importance are the hôpitaux Lariboisière, de la Pitié, de la Charité, Beaujon, St Antoine, Necker, and Cochin. Of the hospices, the most important are those des Ménages, des Enfants Trouvés, des Orphelins, des Incurables, and the Bicêtre. The civil hospitals are managed by the Administration of Public Assistance; the military, three in number, are under the control of the staff of the garrison of Paris. The incomes of the civil hospitals are derived from legacies and donations, from the tax of 10 per cent. of the sums received at theatres and other places of amusement, a tax on cemeteries, a portion of the octrois of the city of Paris, and of the profits of the Mont de Piété. In 1856 the number of patients treated in the hospitals amounted to 94,774; of those treated at their own homes, 32,584. Relief in money was given to 40,474 sick persons, and in kind to 172,842. In that same year the revenue of the hospitals and hospices amounted to £625,133, and the expenditure to £662,463. The average of the mortality in the general hospitals was 1 in 10-82, and in the special 1 in 13-25; in the hospices, 1 in 7-99. Two hospitals have lately been founded by Napoleon III. for workmen disabled at the great public works. Besides the hospices and hospitals, there is a vast number of charities, both lay and clerical. There are also 13 asylums and houses of retreat for the blind and for deaf-mutes. Crèches or public nurseries are established in different parts of Paris. Poor women who work in factories or out of doors deposit their children in the crèche as they go to their work in the morning, return to feed them at certain hours of the day, and carry them home at night. There are 18 such institutions in Paris.

Of the public commercial establishments of Paris, the handsomest is the Bourse, begun in 1808, and completed in 1826, at a cost of £325,960 sterling. It is a parallelogram of 212 feet by 126, surrounded by a peristyle of 66 Corinthian columns, the effect of which is exceedingly graceful. The Banque de France is a very plain building; (for its administration and history see article Monéx, section x.) The Halle au Blé, or corn-market, is a vast circular building, begun in 1763, and finished in 1767. The Halle aux Vins is an immense inclosure on the S. bank of the Seine, with an area of 31,100 square yards. The warehouses and vaults have room for 400,000 casks. The other wholesale markets are the Halle aux Draps and the Halle au Cuir. The Mont de Piété was created in 1777 for the benefit of the hospitals, and has the exclusive right of lending money on moveable effects, at the rate of 9 per cent. a year. There are 45 branches of the establishment in France. In 1857 the number of pledges was 3,400,087, representing a value of £1,956,890. The savings-bank (Casse d'Epargne et de Prévoyance), was founded in 1818. In 1855 the number of depositors amounted to 228,985, the receipts to £981,595, and the payments to £934,036.

There are 24 retail markets in Paris, and the number of the merchants who trade in them is about 9000. The finest are the Marché St Germain, the Marché des Innocents, with its beautiful fountain, and the new markets beside the church of St Eustache. The excellent abattoirs of Paris are 5 in number, and were finished in 1818 at an expense of £660,720. Three of them are on the N. side of the river, those, namely, of Montmartre, Popincourt, and the Roule; on the southern side are those of Villejuif and Grenelle. The first two have 64 slaughter-houses each; that of Grenelle 48; the other two, each 32.

The population of Paris was estimated in 1798, at 640,000; in 1802, at 672,000; in 1806 it was 580,609; in 1817, 713,966; in 1827, 890,431; in 1836, 909,126; in 1846, 945,721; in 1856, 1,174,346. In 1856, the date of the last census, the number of births for that year was Paris. 37,697, of which 19,110 were male, and 18,587 female; 25,948 were legitimate, and 11,749 illegitimate. Of the latter class, 2,522 were legitimized after birth. The number of marriages that took place in 1856 was 12,493; in 10,177 of which neither party had been previously married; in 1268 the male, and in 597 the female; and in 461 both had been previously married. The total number of deaths was 29,950, of which 14,755 were males, and 15,195 females; 11,072 died in the various hospitals, 152 in the prisons, 361 were deposited in the morgue, and one was executed. Of the males, 9522 were unmarried, 3772 married, and 1150 widowers; of the females, 8672 were unmarried, 3737 married, and 2736 widows.

The ordinary revenue of Paris for 1856, derived from the octroi, the markets, abattoirs, ground-rents, &c., amounted to L2,781,537; the extraordinary to L65,000; making a total of L2,846,537. The ordinary expenditure for the same year amounted to L1,675,902; the extraordinary to L1,208,484; making a total of L2,884,386. The largest item in the expenditure is for the interest of the municipal debt, L656,268; the next largest is for the prefecture of police, L516,645. The municipal debt amounted in 1855 to L5,137,719.

The details of the principal articles of consumption in Paris, as furnished by the last official returns (for 1856) are as follows:—Wine, 22,986,828 gallons; brandy, spirits, and liquors, 1,675,511 gallons; cider, 421,180 gallons; vinegar, 500,000 gallons; beer, 6,396,305 gallons; olive oil, 140,229 gallons; other kinds of oil, 2,546,025 gallons. The weight in pounds of the food consumed during the same year was as follows:—Beef and mutton, 151,943,094; veal, 4,023,774; pork, 20,688,447; hams and sausages, 2,940,702; charcuterie, 2,182,832; suet, 4,306,576; salt, 15,228,064; cheese, 3,974,804; poultry, game, rabbits, &c., 2,631,685; butter, 6,926,262; eggs, 3,787,243; fish of all kinds, 161,236; grapes, 7,745,326. The total value of these articles is estimated at about L14,000,000 sterling. The wine represents a value of about L2,000,000 sterling; milk, rather more than L750,000; groceries, upwards of L3,000,000; bread, L1,520,000; meat, L1,600,000; vegetables, about L600,000. The number of bakers, as fixed by law, is 601; of butchers, 500; of restaurateurs, 1720; and of wine and spirit dealers, 3182.

The trade of Paris is very extensive. In the variety and importance of its productions it is surpassed by few cities in the world. The special exports of the city were valued in 1837 at L3,760,000; in 1847, at L6,742,887; in 1848 (a year of revolutions), at L6,120,000; in 1851, at L8,800,000; and in 1852, at L8,860,000. The average, calculated on the last sixteen years, gives a yearly value of L4,640,888. The number of trades in the city is 325, carried on by 65,000 masters, 205,000 workmen, 112,800 women, 16,600 boys, and 7700 girls. The trades connected with dress produce nearly 10 millions sterling a-year; those with food about 9 millions; those with building about 6 millions; furniture about 5½ millions; jewellery about 4 millions; bronze about a million; basket-making, &c., nearly as much; hats three-quarters of a million; and gloves more than half a million. The looms engaged in the shawl trade are 752 in number; the manufactories of hairdressing are 999; there are 879 millinery shops, 225 ready-made clothes shops, 653 shay-makers, 644 hatters, 1915 cabinetmakers, 222 carvers, 519 upholsterers, 141 paper-stainers, 120 mirror-makers, and 450 decorators.

The history and statistics of the university of Paris are given in the articles FRANCE and UNIVERSITIES. The students attending the various faculties number about 6500. Of the schools and lycées, the most important are,—The Collège Impérial de France, with a staff of 28 professors; the Musée Impérial d'Histoire Naturelle, with 17 professors; the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, for the technical education of artizans, with 14 professors; the École Normale, with 18 professors and 80 students; the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, with 42 professors, 370 boarders, and 500 day scholars; the Lycée Napoleon, 18 professors and 350 boarders; the Lycée St Louis, 45 professors, 340 boarders, and 500 day scholars; the Lycée Charlemagne, 40 professors and 800 day scholars; the Lycée Bonaparte, 33 professors and 1100 day scholars; the Collège Stanislas, with 10 professors and 200 boarders; and the Collège Ste. Barbe, with 80 professors and 1000 boarders and day pupils. Besides these, there are special schools, for the most part belonging to government. The principal of these are the three military schools,—the École Polytechnique, with 300 pupils; the École des Ponts et Chaussées, with 15 professors and 100 students; and the École de l'État Major: the École des Mines, for the study of geology, mining, &c.; the École des Chartes, for the study of the ancient manuscripts in the various public libraries of France; the École des Beaux Arts, for painting and sculpture, and architecture, with 20 professors; the Conservatoire de Musique, with 10 bursaries of L40 each, and 600 pupils. The three collèges municipaux of Rollin, Chaptal, and Turgot, belonging to the city of Paris, give a good commercial education at a very moderate cost. The private “institutions” and “pensions” are under government control. There are 50 institutions, and 240 pensions for boys; and 180 institutions, and 123 pensions for girls. There are 22 adult schools, attended by 2700 pupils. Of the écoles primaires, there are, for boys, 33 écoles mutuelles, and 30 écoles simultanées; for girls, 35 of the former class, and 32 of the latter. The écoles mutuelles have 13,700 pupils of both sexes; the écoles simultanées, 15,600. The expense of these primary schools to the municipality is about L54,800 annually.

The prisons of Paris are eight in number,—the Prison Modèle or Nouvelle Force, a model prison with accommodation for 1260 inmates, and costing annually about L4000; the Maison d'Arrêt des Madelonnettes, with about 600 inmates, and costing annually about L1500; the Dépôt de la Préfecture de Police, a place of temporary confinement, where accused persons are kept for twenty-four hours, after which they are either liberated or removed to some of the other jails; the Conciergerie in the Palais de Justice, in which prisoners are kept during their trial; the debtors’ prison, holding 300 to 400 inmates, and costing about L1200 a year; Ste. Pélagie, with an average population of about 550 persons, and costing about L1600 annually; St Lazare, with an average population of from 900 to 1100, and costing about L3000 annually; the Dépôt des Condamnés, with an average of 400 inmates, and an annual cost of L1400; and the Maison Centrale d'Éducation Correctionnelle, or Prison des Jeunes Détenus, with an average of 500 inmates, and an annual cost of L1280.

The number of theatres in Paris is at present twenty-three, with about 34,000 seats, and a nightly average of about 20,000 spectators. The principal theatres, such as the Italian Opera, the Français, and the Opéra-Comique, besides others, are subsidized by government. The Grand or French Opera is now managed by government altogether. The secondary theatres are the Odeon, the Théâtre Lyrique, the Vaudeville, Gymnase, Variétés, Porte St Martin, &c. There is also an equestrian circus in the Champs Elysées, besides two hippodromes, one at the east and the other at the west end of the city, capable of accommodating each about 10,000 spectators. The annual receipts of these places of amusement average now about half a million sterling, 10 per cent. of which is claimed by government for the maintenance of the hospitals and charitable institutions. The public gardens, concerts, and balls, which are very numerous, are frequented by crowds of pleasure-seekers both in summer and winter. Paris is the seat of the imperial government of the executive and legislative authorities, of the Cour de Cassation (supreme court of appeal), and of an archbishop whose suffragans are the bishops of Meaux, Versailles, Chartres, Orleans, and Blois. It is the head-quarters of the first military division which comprises the departments of Seine, Seine-et-Oise, Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Aube, Yonne, Loiret, and Eure-et-Loir. For municipal purposes it is divided into twelve arrondissements, each of which is subdivided into four quarters. Each arrondissement has a separate municipality, presided over by a mayor and two deputy-mayors. The prefect of the Seine is the chief municipal authority of the capital. Under him is a council of prefecture, composed of five members and a secretary-general, with a municipal and departmental commission consisting of 36 members. The members of this commission are also members of the council-general of the department, which comprises eight additional members for the arrondissements of Sceaux and St Denis. (Galigani's Paris Guide; Malte-Brun; Balbi; Theophile Lavallée's Histoire de Paris; MacCulloch's Geographical Dictionary; Annuaire de l'Economic Politique; &c.)

surnamed Alexander, was the second son of Priam and Hecuba, the King and Queen of Troy. His birth was attended by the most singular circumstances. Immediately before he was born, his mother dreamed that she brought forth a torch, which set fire to the whole city. This dream was interpreted to mean that the coming infant would bring destruction upon Troy. Accordingly, no sooner had the child come into the world than his terrified parents, devoting him to death, exposed him on the neighbouring mountain of Ida. There he was suckled by a she-bear, until, at the end of five days, a shepherd found him, took him home, and adopted him. As the youthful Paris grew up, his princely endowments, shining forth from under his humble peasant-garb, began to exercise their legitimate influence. His graceful and refined comeliness won the heart of Oenone, the beautiful daughter of a river-god. He became the champion of the shepherds in their conflicts with the wild beasts of the forest, and was honoured with the surname of Alexander, "the defender of men." The fame of his exquisite taste and accomplishments even reached the ears of the immortals, and procured for him a notable honour. A golden apple, bearing the inscription "for the fairest," was brought to him from the gods; he was commanded to award it; and Juno, Minerva, and Venus presented themselves before him in the vale of Ida as the claimants. Besides dazzling his eyes with the uncovered brilliancy of their celestial charms, the goddesses tempted his judgment with bribes. Juno promised him a kingdom, Minerva military glory, and Venus the fairest woman in the world. The last offer won the partiality of the susceptible judge, and he awarded the prize to the goddess of love.

This decision led Paris into a course of action which brought ruin upon his native country. Having been discovered and recognised to be the son of Priam, he was placed in a position in which he resolved to avail himself of the promise which Venus had given to him. Hearing, therefore, of the surpassing beauty of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, he fitted out a fleet, repaired to her husband's court under the guise of friendship, carried her off, and brought her home to his father's palace. The Greek chieftains soon arrived at the head of their forces to exact the restoration of the seduced queen; and thus the Trojan war, which ended in the destruction of Troy, was begun. During this famous struggle Paris did not show his usual valour. It is true that he twice advanced to meet his injured foe Menelaus; but on the first occasion he fled ignominiously before the Spartan hero, and on the second he would have been slain had not Venus interposed to save him. It is also true that he slew Menesthius, and wounded Diomedes and other Greek heroes; but he was fonder of passing the day in idle dalliance than of fighting before the walls of the city. The death of Paris is said to have been caused by one of the arrows of Hercules shot from the bow of Philoctetes. Apollo is reported to have assumed his form in order to slay Achilles.