little of interest in the monotonous miles of dreary coincidence which
constitute the architectural legacy of the Second Empire.

The sad task of the Third Republic has been to heal the wounds and
cover up the destruction wrought by the Civil War of 1871. The chief
architectural creations of the Third Republic are the Hotel de Ville,
the new Sorbonne, the Trocadero, and the completion of the magnificent
and colossal temple, rich with precious marble and stone of every
kind, which, at a cost of L10,000,000 sterling, has been raised to
the Muses at the end of the Avenue de l'Opera. The Church, too, has
lavished her millions on the mighty basilica of the Sacre Coeur,
which towers over Paris from the heights of Montmartre.

[Illustration: HOTEL DE VILLE FROM RIVER.]

But some of the glory of past ages remains hidden away in corners of
the city; some has been recovered from the vandalism of iconoclastic
eighteenth-century architects, canons, revolutionists and
nineteenth-century prefects. Let us now wander awhile about the great
city and refresh our memories of her dramatic past by beholding
somewhat of the interest and beauty which have been preserved to us;
for "to be in Paris itself, amid the full, delightful fragrance of
those dainty visible things which Huguenots despised--that, surely,
were the sum of good fortune!"

"I see ... long ranks of the new oppressors who have risen
on the destruction of the old, perishing.... I see a
beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this
abyss, and in their struggles to be truly free, in their
triumphs and defeats, through long, long years to come, I
see the evil of this time and of the previous time, of which
this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for
itself and wearing out."--DICKENS.

Part II: The City

SECTION I

_The Cite--Notre Dame--The Sainte-Chapelle[178]--The Palais de
Justice_[179]

[Footnote 178: Open 11-4 or 5. Closed Mondays and Chief Festivals.]

[Footnote 179: Open daily, except Sundays, 11-4.]

If the traveller will place himself on the Pont Royal, or on the Pont
du Carrousel, and look towards the Cite when the tall buildings, the
spire of the Sainte Chapelle and the massive grey towers of Notre Dame
are ruddy with the setting sun, he will enjoy a scene of beauty not
easily surpassed in Europe. Across the picture, somewhat marred by the
unlovely Pont des Arts, stride the arches of the P