villas by which London is encompassed. The gate of St. Denis, under
which we passed, is a fine piece of architecture; it stands at the end
of a long and narrow street, which is but ill calculated to impress a
stranger with those ideas of the magnificence of Paris of which the
French are perpetually boasting, although it conducts him nearly to the
centre of the city. I afterwards found that this is the most crowded
quarter of the city; the houses are from six to eight stories in height,
and are almost universally built of stone.--But although it must be
admitted that this entrance to Paris is one of the least distinguished,
yet at the same time it must be observed, that there are but very few
streets in that city which have much to boast of in point of appearance;
they are mostly narrow, and the height of the houses necessarily makes
them gloomy. They are (except in one or two new streets at the extremity
of the town) extremely incommodious for pedestrians, there being here no
place set apart for them as in London; hence they traverse the streets
in perpetual dread of being run over by some of those numerous carriages
which are continually passing along with an _impetus_ which raises just
apprehensions in the mind of the foot passenger, that he may share the
fate of Doctor Slop, if nothing more serious should befall him; as in
avoiding the carriages it is no easy task to keep clear of the _kennel_,
which is in the centre of the street; the descent to it is rapid, and it
is rarely dry even in the warmest weather.

It is when seen from one of the bridges, that Paris appears to most
advantage, as many of the quays are unquestionably very handsome, and
decorated with many elegant edifices. The Seine is in no part so much as
half the width of the Thames, in some places not a fourth part, as it
forms two islands, on one of which stands the original city of Paris.
Its waters are united at the _Pont Neuf_, on which stands the statue of
Henry IV. looking towards the Louvre, which he founded. The view from