284 liRWK AND STONE. 



Paris forms aiiotlier excellent example of the 

 influence of material upon street-architecture. It 

 stands upon endless quarries of a soft and very 

 workable freestone which lends itself readily to the 

 chisel of the architectural sculptor and permits of 

 infinite indulgence in scrolls, figures, and ornamen- 

 tal handicraft strictly in accordance with the florid 

 and gaudy Parisian taste. The old Paris made 

 comparatively little use of this its natural mineral 

 wealth ; but the new city which grew up under 

 the fostering hands of Baron Hausmann has util- 

 ized its splendid stone-quarries to the utmost, if 

 not with any great picturesque effect, at least 

 with much stateliness, uniformity, and dignity of 

 plan, only here and there degenerating character- 

 istically into vulgar meretricious ornament. The 

 great boulevards which stretch out radially from 

 the centres formed every now and again by round 

 points .adorned with fountains run very straight 

 ad infinitum^ and arc composed of exceedingly tall 

 and rather monotonous white stone-fronted shops 

 and mansions; but, as a whole, they possess a 

 certain grand imperial dignity of their own, and, 

 when lighted up at night with the electric light, 

 are worthy highways for the gay metropolis of a 

 great civilized and enlightened people. No sight 

 on earth is more impressive in its w.ay than a 

 glance from one of these central diverging points 

 down avenue after avenue of stately, noble, and 



