u could not, as here, divest yourself of
every particle of sad or serious thought and be content to gaze for
hours on the showy scene, without an idea beyond the present moment. It
must be that the spirit of the croud is _magnetically_ contagious.

The evening of our arrival we walked out past the massive and stately
_Hotel de Ville_, and took a promenade along the Quais. The shops facing
the river presented a scene of great splendor. Several of the Quais on
the north bank of the Seine are occupied almost entirely by jewellers,
the windows of whose shops, arranged in a style of the greatest taste,
make a dazzling display. Rows of gold watches and chains are arranged
across the crystal panes, and heaped in pyramids on long glass slabs;
cylindrical wheels of wire, hung with jewelled breastpins and earrings,
turn slowly around by some invisible agency, displaying row after row of
their glittering treasures.

From the centre of the Pont Neuf, we could see for a long distance up
and down the river. The different bridges traced on either side a dozen
starry lines through the dark air, and a continued blaze lighted the
two shores in their whole length, revealing the outline of the Isle da
la Cite. I recognized the Palaces of the Louvre and the Tuileries in the
dusky mass beyond. Eastward, looming against the dark sky, I could
faintly trace the black towers of Notre Dame, The rushing of the swift
waters below mingled with the rattling of a thousand carts and
carriages, and the confusion of a thousand voices, till it seemed like
some grand nightly festival.

I first saw Notre Dame by moonlight. The shadow of its stupendous front
was thrown directly towards me, hiding the innumerable lines of the
ornamental sculpture which cover its tall, square towers. I walked
forward until the interlacing, Moorish arches between them stood full
against the moon, and the light, struggling through the quaint openings
of the tracery, streamed in silver lines down into the shadow. The
square before it was quite deserted, for it stands on a lonely part of
the Isle de la Cite, and it looked thus far more majestic and solemn
than in the glaring daylight.

The great quadrangle of the Tuileries encloses the Place du Carrousel,
in the centre of which stands a triumphal arch, erected by Napoleon
after his Italian victories. Standing in the middle of this arch, you
look through the open passage in the central building of the palace,
into the Gardens b