have hit the happy medium, which, in the metropolis of a great empire,
would unite all the conveniences, with all the magnificence, of situation.

Of other buildings, devoted to civil purposes, the CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, the
HÔTEL DES INVALIDES, with its gilded dome (a little too profusely adorned,)
the INSTITUTE, and more particularly the MINT, are the chief ornaments on
the south side of the Seine. In these I am not disposed to pick the least
hole, by fastidious or hypercritical observations. Only I wish that they
would contrive to let the lions, in front of the façade of the Institute,
(sometimes called the _Collège Mazarin_ or _des Quatre Nations_--upon the
whole, a magnificent pile) discharge a good large mouthful of water--
instead of the drivelling stream which is for ever trickling from their
closed jaws. Nothing can be more ridiculous than the appearance of these
meagre and unappropriate objects: the more to be condemned, because the
French in general assume great credit for the management of their
fountains. Of the four great buildings just noticed, that of the Mint, or
rather its façade, pleases me most. It is a beautiful elevation, in pure
good taste; but the stone is unfortunately of a coarse grain and of a dingy
colour. Of the BRIDGES thrown across the Seine, connecting all the fine
objects on either side, it must be allowed that they are generally in good
taste: light, yet firm; but those, in iron, of Louis XVI. and _des Arts_,
are perhaps to be preferred. The _Pont Neuf_, where the ancient part of
Paris begins, is a large, long, clumsy piece of stone work: communicating
with the island upon which _Notre Dame_ is built. But if you look eastward,
towards old Paris, from the top of this bridge--or if you look in the same
direction, a little towards the western side, or upon the quays,--you
contemplate, in my humble opinion, one of the grandest views of street
scenery that can be imagined! The houses are very lofty--occasionally of
six or even eight stories--the material with which they are built is a fine
cream-coloured stone: the two branches of the river, and the back ground