428 LETTERS FROM PARIS". 



md dirtieft part of the city. Thofe lying nearer! round 

 this are already fomewhat brighter, the farther ones 

 fall more, and the farther! of all are the brighteft, 

 handfomeft, and moft inviting. The cite may be 

 compared to the root of a monftrous tree, which, wa- 

 tered by a frrearn, and, planted in a happy climate, 

 lias fhot forth enormous branches both in height and 

 breadth. The fuburb St. Germain, the military aca- 

 demy, the hofpitai of invalids, the palace Bourbon, 

 the Tuilleries, the champs elii'ees, and a thoufand 

 ether works of the like nature round about, are the 

 outward ends of this fanlike tree, the palais royal is the 

 iummit. What a difference between the city which 

 the emperor Julian termed his dear Lutetia, and which 

 Louis XVI. calls his good city of Paris ! 



It has been highly entertaining to me to advert to 

 the gradual growth of this huge city, with the affif- 

 tances I have in hand ; and to transport myfelf back to 

 the time, when firfr. a colony of fimermen and mari- 

 ners, who gradually became traffickers, inhabited the 

 fmall iile, which now, that it is extended by art both 

 in length and breadth, contains no more than four 

 hundred and feventy toifes in its greatefl: length, and 

 fifty in its greatest breadth. Caefar is the fir ft that 

 mentions this iiland ; and after him it is quite loft in 

 Iiiftory, even to the very name, till the time of Julian, 

 who was called from hence in the year 360. of the 

 common sera, to be auguftus. The fcite of the town 

 pleaied him, and he fpeaks in raptures of it, of its cli- 

 mate, of its inhabitants, of the vineyards, and of the 

 culture of the fig-trees around it. It was not then any 

 larger than in Casfar's time. It lies, fays he, on 

 an i/land in the middle pf the Seine^ and it is entered 



by 



