Charlotte Corday, and the Chevalier d'Eon are known to all, and hundreds
of others must live in the memory of those who are familiar with the
history of France. After numerous encounters between the Romans and the
Gauls, the latter were at length wholly subdued about 50 years before
Christ, and although the records of this ancient people date nearly as
far back as the foundation of Rome, yet our first accounts of Paris are
derived from Cæsar and Strabo, who allude to it under the name of
Lutetia, the principal city of the Parisii; and from the most probable
statements which could be collected from aged persons at that period, it
is presumed that its foundation must have occurred not more than half a
century antecedent. It is supposed that the ground which Paris now
occupies formerly consisted of a number of small hills, which in the
process of time, building, paving, etc., have been somewhat reduced, by
the summits having been in a degree levelled; and the houses upon them
being generally not so high as those in the lower parts, the eminences
are not now so apparent. These hillocks were called by the French
_buttes_, and some of them are still very perceptible, such as in the
_rue des Saints-Pères_, by the _rue St-Guillaume_, the _rue Meslay_, the
_rue de l'Observance_, near the _École de Médecine_, and several other
places; indeed, on each side of the Seine Paris rises as you proceed to
the _Faubourgs_. Some of these little hills still bear the name of
_butte_, as _les Buttes St-Chaumont, la rue des Buttes_, etc., but the
most ancient part of Paris is that which is now termed La Cité and is
confined to an island formed by the Seine, and which is joined to the
opposite banks by the _Pont-Neuf_ (or New-Bridge), but certainly no
longer meriting that title, having been built in the reign of Henry the
Third about the year 1580. There are many histories of Paris which have
been handed down by oral record to some of the earliest authors amongst
the Gauls, but so ill authenticated that they do not merit repetition,
having being reputed as fabulous by most writers to whom credit can be