at the expense of
being smeared with a little mud from the wheel; this is the case in many
of the streets in that part of Paris called the _Cite_, and others which
cross from the _Rue Saint-Denis_ to the _Rue Saint-Martin_ and _du
Temple_ etc. Happily for my readers, it is not very probable that many
of them will ever be called into those neighbourhoods, or if they be, it
will probably be in a carriage, when they will not stand near the same
chance of being crushed to death; but as I explore all parts and am
thereby the better enabled to give a faithful picture of Paris, I
consider it incumbent on me to inform my country people that there are
such streets that they may better know how to enjoy Paris by keeping out
of the way of them. To see Paris to the best advantage it is requisite
to get up early, that is about three o'clock in the morning in the
months of June or July, before any one is stirring; this indeed is
pretty much the case with all cities, but particularly the French
capital, because the streets being very narrow and crowded, you have not
room to look up and look about. Paris in the old quarters at that hour,
or in a bright moonlight when all are at rest, has the effect of a city
composed of chateaux or castles joined together, the height of the
houses, the great heavy _porte cocheres_, the castellated style of the
attic windows and often projecting turrets, with the profusion of iron
work, combine in giving a degree of gloom that appears to tell a tale of
olden time, and many of the houses date as far back as Charles the
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh, which is coeval with our Henry the Fourth,
Fifth, and Sixth. There is one house of which the ancient staircase
still remaining is as old as the year 1220; it is situated in the _Rue
du Four_, near the _Rue de la Harpe_, and called the _Maison Blanche_,
having been inhabited by the mother of _Saint-Louis_, but there is no
doubt that the only part now standing that could have been built at that
period is the staircase; in the same neighbourhood are many objects that
would interest the antiquary, to which I shall hereafter allude. Paris
is encircled by a double row of _Boulevards_, the north inner circle is
that which is the most frequented; the outer circle runs all along the
walls which encompass Paris, where the barriers are situated, of which
there are fifty-six, all rather handsome buildings than otherwise, and
no two of them quite alike. Many of the streets as y