196 Gardening Visit to Paris. 



iz, 



city in France, without any compensation being made for the 

 ground given by the proprietors of the houses. Here then is 

 a cause in operation, which, in the course of a generation, will 

 render France the most beautiful country of towns and cities in 

 Europe ; because, it must be recollected, the elevations of 

 houses on the Continent are not, like ours, liable to be dis- 

 figured by coal smoke, and, in consequence of the bright sunshine, 

 the shadow of every architectural member is distinctly marked. 

 One improvement the streets of Paris are susceptible of, and 

 that is gently elevated crossings for foot passengers ; and, if our 

 wooden pavement should be found durable, its introduction, 

 more especially in court-yards and in narrow streets, will be an 

 immense improvement, in short, as great with respect to the 

 carriage ways, as the asphalte is with respect to the footways. 



Street Houses built within the last ten years are much improved 

 in elevation. Without diminishing their magnitude, and those 

 grandiose proportions introduced by Louis XIV., the elevations 

 are enriched by architraves or other facings to the doors and 

 windows, by string courses or bands indicating the different 

 floors, and in many instances even by sculptural ornaments, 

 finishing always at top with a very bold cornice. As an example, 

 we may refer to la Rue de I'Arcade, which is now in great part 

 built; but there are street houses on a much larger scale in other 

 places. We have been informed that the internal arrangement 

 of these houses is greatly improved, and that separate entrances 

 to the principal rooms for servants, servants' stairs, dressing- 

 rooms to bedrooms, and waterclosets, are as common to newly 

 built first-rate houses in Paris as they are to newly built first- 

 rate houses in London. 



2he Public Buildings are in many instances undergoing im- 

 provements, of which, not being finished, we cannot very well 

 judge. Perhaps the most perfect public monument is the Mag- 

 dalen, which is finished externally, and nearly so within. In- 

 teriorly it is ill adapted for a church, and there is no place where 

 a bell tower can be placed without destroying the effect of the 

 edifice. We trust, therefore, that it will ultimately become a 

 depository of statues, or employed for some other analogous 

 national purpose. The Hotel d'Orsay is a quadrangle of apart- 

 ments for government commissions and councils, which may be 

 compared to our Somerset House, as to magnitude. There is 

 much to admire both externally and internally, and some things 

 also which are obvious faults. For example, in the great central 

 projection, the windows of the front elevation of the principal 

 floor are lofty, with arched heads, but the windows of the two 

 ends are small rectangular openings in twc ranges, indicating 

 two stories; so that, when this central projection is viewed at the 

 angle, it presents a manifest absurdity, and we are at a loss to 



