the Bourse from nine in the morning till five at night. A very singular
regulation exists in reference to the ladies. No woman is admitted into
the Bourse without a special order from the proper authorities. The
cause for this is the fact that years ago, when ladies were admitted to
the Bourse, they became very much addicted to gambling there, and also
enticed the gentlemen into similar practices. It is not likely that the
old stockholders were tempted into any vicious practices, but the
presence of women was enough to attract another class of men--idlers and
fashionable gamblers--until the exchange was turned into a
gambling-saloon. The matter was soon set to rights when women were shut
out.

Paris was formerly without an Exchange, and the merchants held their
meetings in an old building which John Law, the celebrated financier,
once occupied. They afterward met in the Palais Royal, and still later,
in a comparatively obscure street. The first stone of the Bourse was
laid on the 28th of March, 1808, and the works proceeded with dispatch
till 1814, when they were suspended. It was completed in 1826. The
architect who designed it died when it was half completed, but the plan
was carried out, though by a new architect. It is now a model building
of its kind, and cost nearly nine millions of francs. In comprehensive
magnificence it has no rival in Paris--perhaps not in the world. The
Royal Exchange of London, though a fine building, is a pigmy beside this
massive and colossal structure. The best view can be obtained from the
Rue Vivienne. From this street one has a fine view of the fine marble
steps ascending to it, and which stretch completely across the western
part.

The history of all the great panics which have been experienced on the
Paris Exchange would be an excellent history of the fortunes of France.