absence of _trottoirs_--- or foot-pavement--is indeed here found to be a
most grievous defect. With the exception of the _Place Vendome_ and the
_Rue de la Paix_, where something like this sort of pavement prevails,
Paris presents you with hardly any thing of the kind; so that, methinks, I
hear you say, "what though your Paris be gayer and more grand, our London
is larger and more commodious." Doubtless this is a fair criticism. But
from the _Marché des Innocens_--a considerable space, where they sell
chiefly fruit and vegetables,[6]--(and which reminded me something of the
market-places of Rouen) towards the _Hôtel de Ville_ and the _Hôtel de
Soubise_, you will meet with many extremely curious and interesting
specimens of house and street scenery: while, as I before observed to you,
the view of the houses and streets in the _Isle St. Louis_, from the _Pont
des Ars_, the _Quai de Conti_, the _Pont Neuf_, or the _Quai des
Augustins_--or, still better, the _Pont Royal_--is absolutely one of the
grandest and completest specimens of metropolitan scenery which can be
contemplated. Once more: go as far as the _Pont Louis XVI._, cast your eye
down to the left; and observe how magnificently the Seine is flanked by the
Thuileries and the Louvre. Surely, it is but a sense of justice and a love
of truth which compel an impartial observer to say, that this is a view of
regal and public splendor--without a parallel in our own country!

The _Rue de Richelieu_ is called the Bond-street of Paris. Parallel with
it, is the _Rue Vivienne_. They are both pleasant streets; especially the
former, which is much longer, and is rendered more striking by containing
some of the finest hotels in Paris. Hosiers, artificial flower makers,
clock-makers, and jewellers, are the principal tradesmen in the Rue de
Richelieu; but it has no similarity with Bond-street. The houses are of
stone, and generally very lofty--while the _Academie de Musique_[7] and the
_Bibliothèque du Roi_ are public buildings of such consequence and capacity
(especially the former) that it is absurd to name the street in which they