palaces; and the University, the colleges. Setting aside
secondary jurisdictions, we may assume generally that the island was
under the bishop, the right bank under the provost of the merchants,
the left under the rector of the University, and the whole under the
provost of Paris, a royal and not a municipal officer. The City had
the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Ville the Louvre and the Hotel de
Ville, and the University the Sorbonne. The Ville contained the
Halles, the City the Hotel Dieu, and the University the Pre aux
Clercs. For offenses committed by the students on the left bank, in
their Pre aux Clercs, they were tried at the Palace of Justice in the
island, and punished on the right bank at Montfaucon, unless the
rector, finding the University strong and the king weak, chose to
interfere; for it was a privilege of the scholars to be hung in their
own quarter.

Most of these privileges, be it remarked by the way, and some of them
were more valuable than that just mentioned, had been extorted from
different sovereigns by riots and insurrections. This is the
invariable course--the king never grants any boon but what is wrung
from him by the people.

In the fifteenth century that part of the Seine comprehended within
the enclosure of Paris contained five islands: the Ile Louviers, then
covered with trees and now with timber, the Ile aux Vaches, and the
Ile Notre Dame, both uninhabited and belonging to the bishop [in the
seventeenth century these two islands were converted into one, which
has been built upon and is now called the Isle of St. Louis]; lastly
the City, and at its point the islet of the Passeur aux Vaches, since
buried under the platform of the Pont Neuf. The City had at that time
five bridges: three on the right--the bridge of Notre Dame and the
Pont au Change of stone, and the Pont aux Meuniers of wood; two on the
left--the Petit Pont of stone, and the Pont St. Michel of wood; all of
them covered with houses. The university had six gates, built by
Philip Augustus; these were, setting out from the Tournelle, the Gate
of St. Victor, the Gate of Bordelle, the Papal Gate, and the gates of
St. Jacques, St. Michel, and St. Germain. The Ville had six gates,
built by Charles V, that is to say, beginning from the Tower of Billy,
the gates of St. Antoine, the Temple, St. Martin, St. Denis,
Montmartre, and St. Honore. All these gates were strong, and handsome,
too, a circumstance which does not detract from str