Paris

Preface

. A better book than this might easily have been published, but no one else has tried to write anything of the kind, and I have done my best. This volume and ' Days near Paris ' have been the conscientious hard work of two years. As in my ' Cities of Italy,' the descriptions are my own, but, for opinions and comments, I have quoted from others, choos ing those passages which seem pleasant to read upon the spot, and likely to impress what is seen upon the recollec tion. The woodcuts, with very few exceptions, are from my own sketches, transferred to wood by Mr. T. Sulman. Augustus J. C. Hare. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTORY I

Introduction

. ALMOST all educated Englishmen visit Paris some time in their lives, yet few really see it. They stay at the great neighbouring capital to enjoy its shops and theatres and to drive in the Bois de Boulogne, and they describe it as a charming modern city, from which the picturesqueness of an historic past has been utterly obliterated. But, whilst it is true that much has perished, those who take the trouble to examine will be surprised to find how many remnants of past times still exist, more interesting than those in any pro vincial town, because the history of France, more especially of modern France, is so completely centred in its capital. ' C'est a Paris et a Versailles, son royal faubourg, que se fait l'histoire de France, a partir de Louis XIII. Paris rayonne sur la France et l'absorbe.

Tous les memoires, toutes les relations parlent de Paris.' — Albert Babeau. ' La France est aujourd'hui le pays du monde oil la capitale presente l'aspect le plus different du reste de la nation. En face de trente-cinq millions de provinciaux se dresse une ville, ou plutot un petit etat, superieur, par sa population, a la Grece, a la Serbie, au Danemark, a la Norwege et quelques autres royaumes plus ou moins constitutionnels. Cette republique, enclavee dans la grande, est represented par une assemblee agressive qui reclame tous les jours une autonomie plus complete. Elle se vante d'etre cosmopolite, et ne desespere pas de rompre un jour quelques-uns des liens qui subordon nent son sort a celui de la patrie. Combattue par les lois, sa pre ponderance a ete longtemps favorisee par la politique.

Apres avoir B PARIS 2 impose trois ou quatre revolutions a la province, elle ne peut se consoler d'avoir perdu ce privilege. Tous les ans, un parti puissant celebre l'anniversaire du jour ou ce petit Etat, exaspere par un siege de quatre mois, a tourne ses armes contre la volonte nationale. Les mœurs elles-memes semblent perpetuer des causes de mesintelli gence entre ces deux fractions inegales du pays. En vain Ia population de la capitale est sans cesse renouvelee par des elements pro vinciaux, au point que sur dix Parisiens, il y en a au moins cinq dont la famille a une autre origine. II semble qu'en respirant Fair de Paris, le meme individu change de caractere et de langage. II s'empresse d'oublier ses anciennes attaches. II croit echapper a la tyrannie des incidents mesquins et contradictoires ; il se jette a corps perdu dans le monde des idees generates.

Paris est le sol beni des abstractions. On yjugedetout par principes. On y cueille la fleur de la civilisation sans se preoccuper de Ia tige et des racines. Paris nous vaut notre reputation de gens a theories et a maximes humanitaires. ' A force de manier des idees plutot que des faits, la capitale apercoit le reste de la France de loin, de haut, et sous une forme abstraite. Le spectateur, attentif au drame qui se joue sur le devant de la scene, distingue a peine, au fond du theatre, une foule confuse, qu'il designe par l'expression commode et vague de "masses pro fondes;" c'est-a-dire une poussiere d'individus, un amas de ces monades dont parle Leibnitz.' — Rene Belloc, 'Revue des Deux- Mondes,' lxx. Peter the Great said of Paris that if he possessed such a town he should be tempted to burn it down, for fear it should absorb the rest of his empire ; and the hearts of all Frenchmen, and still more of all Frenchwomen, turn to their capital as the wished-for, the most desirable of resi dences, the most beautiful of cities, the intellectual, com mercial, and political centre of their country. ' Francigenae princeps populosa Lutetia gentis Exerit imtnensum clara sub astra caput.

Hie cujus numerum, ars pretium, sapientia finem Exuperant, superant thura precesque Deos. Audiit obstupuitque hospes, factusque viator Vidit, et haud oculis credidit ipse suis.' Julius Caesar Scaliger. ATTRACTION OF PARIS 3 Long ago Charles V. declared ' Lutetia non urbs, sed orbis,' and now Paris covers an area of thirty square mile^, and is the most cosmopolitan town in Europe, the city to which members of every nationality are most wont to resort, for interest, instruction, and most of all for pleasure. ' J'ai voulu voir Paris ; les fastes de l'histoire Celebrent ses plaisirs, et consacrent sa gloire,' ' is an impulse which every day brings throngs of strangers to its walls. To most of these the change from their ordinary life, which is to be found in the ' distraction ' of Paris, forms its chief charm, and Londoners delight in the excess of its contrast to all they are accustomed to.

But to Frenchmen Paris is far more than this : the whole country looks to it as the mother-city, whilst those who have been brought up there can seldom endure a long separation from it. ' Paris a mon cœur des mon enfance ; et m'en est advenu comme des choses excellentes ; plus i'ay veu, depuis, d'autres villes belles, plus la beaute de celte-cy peult et gaigne sur mon affection ; ie l'aime tendrement, jusques a ses verrues et a ses taches.' — Montaigne. ' Oil trouver une ville qui ait une physionomie a la fois plus vivante et plus caracteristique, plus a elle, mieux saite pour tenter le pinceau, la plume, pour amorcer le reve ou piquer la curiosite. ' Paris vit, Paris a un visage, des gestes, des habitudes, des tics, des manies. Paris, quand on le connait, n'est pas une ville, c'est un etre anime, une personne naturelle, qui a ses moments de fureur, de folie, de betise, d'enthousiasme, d'honnetete et de lucidite ; comme un homme qui est parfois charmant et parfois insupportable, mais jamais indifferent. ' On l'aime ou on 1'execre ; il attache ou il repousse, mais il ne laisse personne froid.' — D'Herisson. ' La voila done, me disais-je, cette ville qui depuis des siecles sert de modele a l'Europe pour la mode et le gout ; cette ville dont le nom est prononce avec veneration dans toutes les parties du monde par les savants et les ignorants, par les philosophes et les petits-maitres, par les artistes et meme par les flaneurs; nom que je connus presque 1 Voltaire.

B PARIS 4 aussitot que mon propre nom, que je retrouve dans d'innombrables romans, dans la bouche des voyageurs, dans mes reves et dans mes pens^es. Voici Paris, et j'y suis ! Ah ! mes amis, ce fut la le moment le plus fortune de ma vie. Rien n'egale les vives sensations de curiosite et d'impatience que j'eprouvai alors.' — Karamsine. ' Tous y trouvent ce qu'ils etaient venus chercher, et c'est du choc de tous les interets, c'est du contact de toutes les industries, de nom breux talents dans mille branches diverses, de toutes les imaginations appliquees au travail, aux recherches de tout genre, que naissent cette activite, ce mouvement continuel de fabrication, les prodiges de l'art et de la science, ces ameliorations journalieres, ces conceptions savantes et ingenieuses ; ces decouvertes surprenantes, enfin ces admirables merveilles qui saisissent, etonnent, captivent et font generale ment considerer Paris comme sans egal dans l'univers. ' — Bahac, ' Esquisses Parisiennes.' However long a stay be made in Paris, there will ahvays remain something to be discovered.

All tastes may be satisfied, all pleasures satiated, and to the lovers of historic reminiscence its interest is absolutely inexhaustible. ' Paris est un veritable ocean. Jetez-y Ia sonde, vous n'en con naitrez jamais la profondeur. Parcourez-le, decrivez-le, quelque soin que vous mettiez a le parcourir, a le decrire, quelque nombreux et interesses que soient les explorateurs de cette mer, il s'y rencontrera toujours un lieu vierge, un autre inconnu, des fleurs, des perles, des monstres, quelque chose d'inoui, oublie par les plongeurs litteraires. ' — Bahac, ' Le Pire Goriot. ' ' Notre etrange Paris, dans sa population et ses aspects, semble une carte d'echantillon du monde entier. On trouve dans le Marais des rues etroites a vieilles portes brodees, vermiculees, a pignons avanjants, a balcons en moucharabies qui vous font penser a l'antique Heidelberg.

Le faubourg Saint-Honore dans sa partie large autour de l'eglise russe aux minarets blancs, aux boules d'or, evoque un quartier de Moscou. Sur Montmartre je sais un coin pittoresque et encombre qui est l'Al ger pur. Des petits hotels bas et nets, derriere leur entree a plaque de cuivre et leur jardin particulier, s'alignent en rues anglaises entre Neuilly et es Champs-Elysees ; tandis que tout le chevet de Saint- Sulpice, a rue Feron, la rue Cassette, paisibles dans 1'ombre des grosses tours, inegalement pavees, aux portes a marteau, semblent detachees d une ville provinciale et religieuse ; Tours ou Orleans par PLEASURES OF PARISIAN LIFE 5 exemple, ou de grands arbres depassant les murs se bercent au bruit des cloches et des repons.' — Daudet, 'Le Nabab.' ' Ce que c'est que Paris ? II n'y eut jamais un homme qui put repondre k cette question.

Quand j'aurois les cent bouches, les cent langues, et la voix de fer, dont patient Homere et Virgile, je ne pour rois pas compter la moitie de ses vertus, de ses vices, ni de ses ridicules. Ce que c'est que Paris ? C'est un assemblage de contradictions, un tissu d'horreurs et de deiices, les unes et les autres rendues plus saillantes par leur proximite. C'est un pays plein d'etourderie et de profondeur, d'une grande simplicite et de preventions outrees. Les contrastes ne finiroient jamais.' — Sherlock, 17S1. ' There are many points in Paris, many facts and phases of Parisian life, which interest strangers, whilst they pass unnoticed by those who live amongst them, for differences always excite more attention than similitudes, and no one thinks it worth while to describe what he sees every day — manners, customs, or appearances with which he has been familiar from childhood.

To a foreigner, especially to one who has never left his own country before, half an hour spent on the boulevards or on one of the chairs in the Tuileries gardens has the effect of an infinitely diverting theatrical performance, whilst, even to a cursory observer, it will seem as if the great object of French men and women in every class were to make life as easy and pleasant as pos sible — to ignore its present and to forget its past troubles as much as they can. ' Dans aucun pays et dans aucun siecle, un art social si parfait n'a rendu la vie si agreable. Paris est l'ecole de 1'Europe, une ecole d'urbanite, oil, de Russie, d'Allemagne, d'Angleterre, les jeunes gens viennent se degrossir. Quand on a connu ces salons, on ne les quitte plus, ou, si on est oblige de les quitter, on les regrette toujours.

" Rien n'est comparable," dit Voltaire, " k la douce vie qu'on y mene au sein des arts et d'une volupte tranquille et delicate ; des etrangers, des rois ont prefere ce repos si agreablement occupe et si enchanteur k leur 1 The first edition of Sherlock's Lettres d'un Voyageur anglais, 1781, was pub lished in French. PARIS 6 patrie et a leur trone. ... Le cœur s'y amollit et s'y dissout, comme les aromates se fondent doucement a un feu modere et exhalent un parfum delicieux." ' — Taine, ' Origines de la France Contemporaine.' ' There is nothing wanting to the character of a Frenchman that belongs to that of an agreeable and worthy man. There are only some trifles surplus, or which might be spared.' — Ben. Franklin. On the rare occasions when a Frenchman, destined by his nature to be gay and animated, allows himself to be conquered by depression, he is indeed to be pitied. ' Que je plains un frangois, quand il est sans gaiete ; Loin de son element le pauvre homme est jette.' — Voltaire.

Pleasure at Paris becomes business ; indeed, a large portion of the upper classes of Parisians have no time for anything else. ' Ici a Paris je ne m'appartiens plus, j'ai a peine Ie temps de causer avec mon mari et de suivre mes correspondances. Je ne sais comment font les femmes dont c'est la vie habituelle ; elles n'ont done ni famille a entretenir, ni enfants a elever.' — Marie d'Oberkirk. An Englishman may learn many a lesson in outward forms of politeness on the public promenades of Paris, for the rules of good manners which were so rigidly inculcated by Louis XIV. bear their fruit still ; and if outward de meanour could be received as a sign of inner cha racter, Parisians would be the most delightful people in the world. Sometimes the grandiloquence of expressions used about trifles will strike the hearer with amusement — ' Comment Madame veut-elle que sa robe soit organisee ? ' is an ordinary inquiry of a dress-maker from her lady employer.

In all classes the routine of life is simplified, and made easier than with us. This is partly owing to all the apartments of a residence being usually on the same level. The letting-out of the houses at Paris in different floors is a com- NOMENCLATURE OF PARIS 7 fortable arrangement which Londoners may well envy. Often each house, as Alphonse Karr says, becomes like a mountain inhabited from the valley to the summit, in which you may study the differences of manners and habits which have existed from all time between lowlanders and highlanders. Confined to the island of La Cite in its early existence, Paris has gone on spreading through centuries, swallowing up fields, forests, villages. The history of its gradual in crease is written in the names of its streets. One may almost trace the limits of the boundary of Paris under Philippe-Auguste or Charles V. in following the Rues des Fosses-S. -Bernard, des Fosse"s-S. -Victor, des Fosses- S. -Marcel, de la Contrescarpe-S. -Marcel, des Fosses- S. -Jacques, des Fosse's-Monsieur-le-Prince, de la Con trescarpe-Dauphine, des Fosse"s-S.-Germain-l'Auxerrois, des Fosses- Montmartre, des Fosses-du-Temple, du Rempart, &c. Of other streets, many take their names from churches and chapels ; some (as des Grands Augustins, des Blancs Manteaux, des Mathurins, Petits-Peres, Recollets, &c.) from convents : some (as Filles-du-Calvaire, Filles-S. -Thomas, Nonnains d'Yeres, Ursulines) from monasteries ; the streets of S. Anne, Bellefond and Rochechouart from three Abbesses of Montmartre.

A number of streets are named from hotels of nobles, as d'Antin, de Duras, Garanciere, Lesdiguieres, de Rohan, du Roi de Sicile; others from nobles themselves, as Ventadour, de Choiseul, de Gram mont, &c. In the Marais many of the streets are named from the palace of the Hotel de S. Paul and its surroundings, as the Rue du Figuier-S.-Paul, from its fig-garden; Beautreillis, from its berceau of vines ; Cerisaie, from its cherry-orchard ; Lions-S.-Paul, from its menagerie. A vast PARIS number of streets are named from bourgeois inhabitants, as Coquilliere, Geoffroy-Lasnier, Git-le-Cœur (Gilles le Queux), Simon-le-Franc (Franque) ; others from tradesmen, as Aubry-le-Boucher, Tiquetonne, &c; others from municipal officers, as Mercier, Thevenot, &c. ; others from officers of Parliament, as Bailleul, Meslay, Popincourt, &c. Still greater in number are the streets named from the signboards which formerly hung over the shops, as de l'Arbalete, de l'Arbre Sec, du Chaudron, du Coq-H^ron, du Coq-S.-Jean, des Deux-Ecus, de l'Hirondelle, des Ciseaux, du Sabot, du Cherche-Midi, &c. Many streets take names from history or legends, as the Rue Pierre-Levee, where a menhir is believed to have stood; the Rue des Martyrs, by which SS.

Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius are supposed to have gone to their death at Montmartre ; the Rue des Frondeurs, where the barricades of the Fronde were begun ; the Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, of which the inhabitants were free from taxation. The Rue de l'Enfer, formerly Rue Inferieur, had its name corrupted in the reign of S. Louis, when the devil was supposed to haunt the Chateau de Vauvert. The evil character of their inhabitants gave a name to such streets as the Rue Mauvais-Garcons, Mauconseil, Vide- Gousset, &c. In the more modern Paris a vast number of streets are named from eminent men, as Bossuet, Corneille, Casimir-Delavigne, d'Aguesseau, Richelieu, Montaigne, &c. ; and some from victories, as Rivoli, des Pyramides, Cas tiglione, d'Alger, &c. As in London, fashionable life has moved constantly from one quarter to another, and constantly westwards. ' La vie de Paris, sa physiognomie, a ete, en 1500, rue Saint Antoine; en 1600 a la Place Royale; en 1700, au Pont Neuf; RELIGION AT PARIS 9 en 1800, au Palais Royal.

Tous ces endroits ont ete tour k tour les boulevards ! La terre a ete passionnee \k, comme l'asphalte Test aujourd'hui sous les pieds des boursiers, au perron de Tortoni. . . . Ces displacements de la vie parisienne s'expliquent. En 15S0, la cour etait au chateau des Tournelles, sous la protection de la Bastille. En 1600, l'aristocratie demeurait a la fameuse Place Royale, chantee par Corneille, comme quelque jour on chantera les boulevards.' — Balzac, ' Esquisses Parisiennes.' The suppression of the religious orders, who once occupied a third of the area of the town, has done more than anything else to remove the old landmarks in Paris, and many fine old monastic buildings have perished with their owners, who were such a mighty power before the Revolution. But, in later years, the spirit of religion seems to have died in France, and the very churches are almost deserted now, except when any fashionable preacher is announced.

A congregation of twenty is not unusual even at high-mass in the metropolitan cathedral of Notre Dame. The numberless priests officiate to bare walls and empty chairs. Only, in the parish churches, poor women are still constantly seen buying their tapers at the door, and lighting them before the image of the Madonna or some favourite saint, praying while they burn — a custom more frequent in Paris than anywhere else. ' On dit par jour quatre a cinq mille messes a quinze sols la piece. Les Capucins font grace de trois sols. Toutes ces messes innombrables ont ete fondees par nos bons ai'eux, qui, pour un reve, commandoient a perpetuite le sacrifice non sanglant. Point de testament sans une fon dation de messes ; c'eiit ete une impiete ; et les pretres auroient refuse la sepulture a quiconque eut oublie cet article, ainsi que les faits anciens le prouvent. ' Entrez dans une eglise ; a droite, k gauche, en face, en-arriere, de cote, un pretre ou consacre, ou eleve l'hostie, ou la mange, ou prononce Vite, tuissa est.' — Tableau de Paris, 1782.

The great Revolution changed the whole face of Paris so PARIS 10 completely, that it is difficult to imagine it as it was before that time : but the many other revolutions have passed by, leaving few marks upon the town, seldom even affecting the daily life of the people for more than a few days. Thus Balzac writes after that of 1830 : ' 26 Sept. — Les rues ont repris leur aspect accoutume ; les cabriolets elegants, les voitures, les fashionables roulent ou courent comme ci devant ; et, sauf quelques arbres de moins, les boulevards sont toujours semblables a eux-memes. Les sommes destinees aux blesses s'encaissent, les blessures se guerissent, et tout s'oublie.' — Lettres sur Paris. It will probably be remarked that there are far fewer idle waifs in Paris than in London. Industry is a passion — ' Les Frangais changeraient les rochers en or, si on les laisserait faire,' was a saying of the minister Colbert. ' Dans ce Paris plein d'or et de misere,' ' poverty is seldom apparent.

Even in the Rue de Beaubourg and its side streets, which have the reputation of being the poorest parts of the city, there is an amount of movement and activity which is very different to the hunger-stricken inanition of the poorer quarters in English cities. An old proverb says that, ' Paris is the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses.' But however true the first of these dictums may be, its bad reputation in the last instance has long been a tale of the past. Absorbed in the pursuit of pleasure, setting the fashions of ladies' dress to the universe, Paris has probably had less influence upon literature or art than any other of the great capitals. ' Cette ville ou il entre par tant de portes, et tous les jours, et Beranger. INFLUENCE OF PARIS 11 incesiament, des bestiaux, de la farine, du lait, des poetes, et dont il ne sort que du fumier.' — Alphonse Karr, ' Clovis Gosselin.' But its political state has always penetrated the rest of Europe ; it has never had a revolution without shaking the stability of other European powers. ' Ville qu'un orage enveloppe !

C'est elle, heias ! qui nuit et jour Reveille le geant Europe Avec sa cloche et son tambour ! Sans cesse, qu'il veille ou qu'il dorme, II entend la cite difforme Bourdonner sur sa tete enorme Comme un essaim dans la foret. Toujours Paris s'ecrie et gronde. Nui ne sait, question profonde, Ce qui perdrait le bruit du monde Le jour oil Paris se tairait.' Victor Hugo, 'Les Voix Interieures.' The excitable nature of the French, their intense love of change, and their passion for everything noisy, natur ally tends to revolutions, and, a revolution once effected, everything belonging to the last regime is swept away as soon as possible : buildings are pulled down, statues dashed to pieces, names recalling those lately adored are changed as unendurable, and their memories are insulted and dragged in the mire. ' En France, pays de vanite, aussitot qu'une occasion de faire du bruit se presente, une foule de gens la saisissent ; les uns agissent par bon cœur, les autres par la conscience qu'ils ont de leur merite.' — Chateaubriand.

Nowhere is existence cheaper than at Paris for those who know how to manage. A bachelor who does not mind mounting five pairs of stairs may have a charming little apartment for about \l. a week. At the smaller private PARIS 12 hotels, an admirably furnished room, with breakfast, lights, and attendance, seldom comes to more than i/. io.r. At the admirable Restaurants Duval, which are scattered every where over the town, an excellent dinner, with coffee and 'petit verre,' costs from 2 fr. to 2 fr. 50c. Carriages are reasonable, omnibuses ply in all directions, upon the most admirable and equitable of systems, and a complete circle of railways connects the city with its environs, containing a thousand charming spots, which the Parisian of the middle classes can choose for the point of the Sunday excursion which he almost invariably makes into the country. 'Jamais un homme n'est parti de Paris gai ; ou il a perdu sa sante ou son argent ; ou il a laisse des attachemens qui peuvent difficilement se remplacer dans les autres pays, ou des connoissances interessantes, qu'il est impossible de quitter sans regret.

Qu'elle qu'en soit la raison, on est toujours triste en sortant de Paris.' — Sherlock, 1 78 1. ' Heureuse nation, qui avez de jolis appartements, de jolis meubles, de jolis bijoux, de jolies productions litteraires, qui prisez avec fureur ces charmantes bagatelles, puissiez-vous prosperer longtemps dans vos jolies idees, perfectionner encore ce joli persiflage qui vous concilie l'amour de l'Europe, et toujours merveilleusement coesses, ne jamais vous reveiller du joli reve qui berce mollement votre legere existence.' Tableau de Paris. '3 D ULL- USEFUL IN FOR MA TION. Arrival. — Cabs from the station, i fr. and 2 fr. : at night, 2\ and 2\ fr. Each piece of luggage 25 c. Travel lers are pressed to take an omnibus de famille, but these are only desirable for large parties. Travellers arriving late in Paris and leaving early the next morning by another line, may do well to sleep at one of the hotels near the Gare du Nord, such as Hotel du Chemin de Fer du Nord (good), opposite the station.

Or they may prefer a hotel near the station of departure, such as — near the Gare de I'Est (for Strasbourg and Nancy or Basle), Hotel de I'Europe (good), 74 Boulevard de Strasbourg : Hotel S. Laurent, 4 Rue de Metz : H. de Bale, 6 Rue de Metz : H. de Strasbourg, 78 Boulevard de Stras bourg ; near the Gare de Lyon, Hotel du Chemin de Fer de Lyon ; near the Gare d'Orleans, H. du Chemin de Fer, 8 Boulevard de I'Hopital ; near the Gare Alontparnasse (for Chartres and Brittany), H. de France et de Bretagne, 1 Rue du Depart ; near the Gare S. Lazare (for Rouen and Normandy), H. de Londres et New York, 15 Rue du Havre ; H. Anglo-Americain, 113 Rue S. Lazare. Hotels. — The best hotels are those on the western boule vards, in the Rue de Rivoli, Place Vendome, Rue de la PARIS 14 Paix, and their neighbourhood.

In these hotels the price of bedrooms varies from 4 to 10 fr., according to the size and floor. Pension in winter is from 15 to 20 fr. a day. Hotels in the Rue S. Honors are less expensive and often more comfortable — pension in winter from 10 to 15 fr. a day. The three largest Hotels are — H. Continental, 3 Rue de Castiglione, with a view of the Tuileries gardens ; Grand Hotel, 12 Boulevard des Capucins, close to the new Opera House ; Grand Hotel dit Louvre, Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Louvre, and close to the Palais Royal. Important and comfortable hotels are — H. Bristol, 3 and 5 Place Vendome ; H. du Rhin, 4 and 6 Place Vendome ; H. Meurice, 228 Rue de Rivoli ; H. Windsor, 226 Rue de Rivoli; H. Brighton, 218 Rue de Rivoli; H. Wagram, 208 Rue de Rivoli ; H. Mirabeau, 8 Rue de la Paix ; H. Westminster, n and 13 Rue de la Paix; H. de Hollande, 20 Rue de la Paix ; H. Splendide, 24 Rue de la Paix ; H. Chatham, 17 Rue Daunou ; H. deVEtnpire, 7 Rue Daunou ; H. des Deux-Mondes, 22 Avenue de l'Opera.

Comfortable hotels for a long residence are — H. S. "James, 211 Rue S. Honore ; H. de Lille ct <L Albion, 223 Rue S. Honore ; H. Richmond, 1 1 Rue du Helder. The hotels north of the boulevards or south of the Seine are much less expensive, and quite unfrequented by English. Bachelors making a long stay in Paris may live very comfortably and reasonably at Maisons Meublees, such as Hotel Noel-Peter, Rue d'Amboise, H. de Rastadt, 4 Rue Daunou, and many small hotels on the Quai Voltaire, and in the neighbouring streets. Travellers are never DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION 15 required to have luncheon or dinner in the Parisian hotels, but are generally expected to breakfast there. Restaurants. — The best as well as the most expensive restaurants are those on the boulevards and in the Palais Royal. Here a good dinner costs from 10 to 15 fr., exclusive of wine.

Restaurants of high reputation are — le Grand Vcfour, 79 Galerie Beaujolais, Palais Royal ; Maison Doree, 20 ; Cafe Riche, 29 ; Cafe Anglais, 13 ; Cafe du Helder, 29 — Boulevard des Italiens ; Bignon, 32 Avenue de l'Opera. Travellers who are not connoisseurs will, however, probably be satisfied with the Restaurants Duval, which are admirably managed and very moderate in price. These establishments are scattered all over the town, and a list of them is found on the card which is presented to everyone on entering, and on which the waitress (dressed in a costume) marks articles as they are ordered. Payment is made at a desk, three or four sous being left on the table for the attendant. Some of the most convenient Restaurants Duval are — 194 Rue de Rivoli ; 3r Avenue de l'Opera ; 27 Boulevard de la Madeleine ; 10 Place de la Madeleine ; 10 Boulevard Poissonniere ; 21 Boulevard Montmartre ; 26 Boulevard S. Michel (near Hotel de Cluny).

Cabs. — When a cab is engaged the driver should be asked to give you his ticket {numero), which is marked with the tariff of pieces. Omnibuses. — The fares in all Parisian omnibuses are the same, for any distance whatever within the barriers — 30 c. inside, 15 c. outside. If no omnibus runs to the exact point a traveller wishes to reach, he demands correspondance (permission to change from one line to another), on entering a vehicle. Receiving a ticket, he will be set down at the PARIS point where the two lines cross, and the ticket will give him a prior right to a seat in the corresponding omnibus, and, in some cases, free him from a second payment. There are tramway-lines to S. Cloud, Versailles, and other places in the suburbs. Theatres. — Tickets for theatres may be purchased before hand at a bureau de location, where a plan of the theatre is shown.

Seats secured thus are slightly more expensive than those demanded au bureau (at the door). The most important theatre is the Theatre Frangais on the S.W. of the Palais Royal. The performances of the Opera take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and, in the winter, on Saturdays also. History. — The founder of the Merovingian dynasty (of which few monarchs resided at Paris) was Clovis, c. 496. The Carlovingian dynasty was founded by Pepin-le-Bref, 752. This dynasty was deposed, after the Norman invasion of 885, and the crown given to Count Eudes, who founded the Capetian dynasty. From this time France was ruled by — Hugues Capet, 987. Robert II. (le Pieux), 1031. Henri I., 1031. Philippe I., 1060. Louis VI. (le Gros), 1108. Louis VII. (le Jeune), 1 137. Philippe II. (Auguste), 11 80.