446 
PARIS. 
It is here butjuftice to obferve, that Louis XVIII. has 
not been inattentive to the ornamenting of his capital; 
iince his return feveral little improvements have been 
made, particularly in the Palais Royal, where a hand- 
fome fountain has been eredted in the centre of the gar¬ 
den, which adds much to the beauty of this enchanting 
fpot. It was opened in March 1817. 
The fuperficial extent of Paris at various epochs has 
been traced by MM. Legrand and Landon, (Defcrip- 
tion de Paris, 1808.) In the time of Julius Casfar, B. C. 
56, being confined to a fmall ifland in the Seine, it mea¬ 
sured only about 44 arpens, or acres ; in the reign of 
Francis I. 1414 arpens ; under Louis XIV. and XV. 3919 ; 
and under Louis XVI. in 1788, it meafured 9858 arpens 
and three perches, and might then contain about 26,000 
houfes. At prefent the number of houfes is calculated to 
be 29,400 ; we may fay, for a round number, 30,000. 
There are 1062 ftreets; 117 culs-de-fac (courts with no 
thoroughfare); 28 quays 5 18 boulevards (malls); and 
56 barriers (gates). 
From a work lately publilhed by the Academy of Sci¬ 
ences, it appears, that Paris contains 715,595 inhabitants, 
(and all France 29,327,388.) The fixed population of 
Paris is 657,172. The number of births annually is 
21,000, and of thefe the proportion of male to female is 
25 to 24; yet the furviving females at prefent in Paris 
exceed the males by about one-fifth. The confumption 
of provifions annually is 206 millions of loaves; 21,000 
quarters of wheat; 8,500 quarters of barley; 75,000 
oxen; 15,000 neat cattle ; 10,000 calves; 220,000 fheep; 
550,000 hogs ; 100,000 quintals (hundred weight) of fea- 
filh ; 1,300,000 francs worth of frefti-water fiffi; 6,000 
hogfheads of cider; 30,000 hogfheads of beer; 33 mil¬ 
lions of wine ; and 3 millions of brandy. 
Before the revolution, Paris contained 46 parilh-churches, 
and 20 others anfwering the fame purpofe ; 11 abbeys, 
and 133 monafteries, or convents of men and women; 
13 colleges, 15 public feminaries, and 26 hofpitals. At 
the beginning of the revolution feveral of thefe buildings 
were deftroyed; almoft all the monafteries and convents 
were fuppreffed, and, together with the churches belong¬ 
ing to them, fold as national property, and either demo- 
lifhed for the fake of their materials, or converted to dif¬ 
ferent ufes. Three of them were converted into commo¬ 
dious healthy prifons, and a penitentiary houfe for wo¬ 
men, viz. St. Pelagie, St. Lazare, and the Madelonettes. 
Four other convents have become extenfive hofpitals : the 
Lying-in Hofpital, the Hofpital for Venereal Dileafes, and 
the Military Hofpital of the Val de Grace. Six commo¬ 
dious, and moll of them elegant and extenfive, markets, 
have replaced a like number of convents and churches ; 
viz. The Market of the Jacobins, fo called from the 
Dominican Friars; the Poultry and Game Market has 
replaced the Augultine monks; the Market of St. Mar¬ 
tin, built on part of the garden of the Benedifline abbey 
of St. Martin ; the market of the Blancs Manteaux, old 
Rue du Temple; the Market of the Cannes, where the 
Carmelite monks were eftablilhed ; the market of St. Jo- 
feph has replaced the church dedicated to that faint ; the 
convents of the Petits-Peres, that of the nuns of the 
Panthemont; that of the Minimes, and fome others, have 
been converted into uleful and commodious barracks. 
The Seminary of St. Sulpice has been pulled down to 
make room fora fine fquare, ornamented with a fountain ; 
and to difplay a full view of the front of the church of 
St. Sulpice, undoubtedly one of the fined monuments of 
architecture in Paris. The extenfive buildings of the 
Sorbonne have, been appropriated to lodge commodioully 
thirty-fix artifts, with their families. The eminently- 
ufeful Quays which border the ifland Notre Dame, or la 
Cite, have replaced filthy unhealthy buildings of every 
defcription. The magnificent new Exchange is erecting 
on the garden which belonged to the nuns that were 
called Filles St. Thomas. The famous Polytechnic School 
occupies the manfion, confiderably enlarged, of the Col¬ 
lege of Navarre, a celebrated fchool of divinity. The 
ufeful Normal School replaces a religious eftablifhment. 
The National Inftitute is inftalled under the dome of the 
College Mazarin. The Lyceum of Charlemagne was for¬ 
merly the College of the Jefuits; a part of the building 
has been appropriated for the City Library. The Inftitu- 
tion for the Deaf and Dumb replaces the ancient eccle- 
fiaftical feminary of St. Magloire. The healthy fpacious 
Hofpital for Incurables, in the Fauxbourg St. Martin, was 
formerly a convent of mendicant friars; and the Abbaie 
de St. Martin is now the ufeful and fplendid Confervatoire 
des Arts. The ground on which the Baftile Hood has 
been transformed into a beautiful boulevard, the Boule¬ 
vard Bourdon. The famous Canal de l’Ourcq will end 
here; and probably few will regret this metamorphofis of 
the Baftile. 
We know not whether the convents and religious edi¬ 
fices in other parts of France were deftroyed or converted 
to the proportionate extent that they were in Paris ; but 
we are told that there are now (1820), in all France, no 
more than 36,185 priefts, (fee France, vol. vii. p. 896.) 
while there are 106 female congregations, poffefling 1721 
eftablilhments, which contain 11,762 fillers : thefe chari¬ 
table women adminifter relief to nearly 69,000 fickperfons, 
and inftru£t gratuitoufly 63,000 poor children. 
Paris is divided into twelve mayoralties, each of which 
is prefided over by a central officer of the municipal police. 
The fauxbourgs retain their ancient names, but thofe of 
many of the ftreets have been changed fince the revolution. 
In proportion as the limits of the capital became extended, 
the real gates were removed, but they re-appeared under 
the name of bai'riires. Thefe edifices, many of which were 
very coftly, were conftrudled during the miniftry of Ca- 
lonne, under the diredlion of Ledoux, the architefl, who 
has taken pleafure in varying their form and charafler. 
One reprefents an obfervatory ; another, a chapel; fome 
have the appearance of rufticated buildings ; others of 
temples. There are about fixty of thefe barrieres, which, 
during the revolution, were frequently fliut to ferve the 
purpoles of party, and to favour the arreft of particular 
perlons : they are now occupied by cuftom-houfe officers, 
whofe bufinefs is to collect duties, and to watch that no 
contraband goods find their way into the city. 
The river Seine, which interfefls Paris as the Thames 
does London, is juftly efteemed one of the molt beautiful 
in France ; it is ofa light fea-green hue, a Angularity which 
adds to the effe£l of the noble bridges and quays. This 
colour is not obfervable before the junction of the Seine 
and Marne, where it may be clearly obferved to belong to 
the latter ftream, the Seine being of a brown or muddy ap¬ 
pearance, while the green hue of the Marne continues un¬ 
polluted for a confiderable fpace. Towards the north this 
plain is bounded by a femicircular range of gentle eleva¬ 
tions, moftly compofed of gypfum, or aiabafter, which by 
combuftion yields the noted plajler of Paris. Thisfubftance 
is much ufed in the conllruftion of the houfes. The cal¬ 
careous free-ftone, with which the fuperior hotels are built, 
is drawn from the quarries on the fouth of the city; 
and to the difcovery of thefe quarries, about the middle 
of the fixteenth century, the prefent magnificence of Paris 
is chiefly owing. 
The river forms two fmall iflands, denominated Ifle St. 
Louis and Ifle Notre Dame. The former is the ancient 
city ; and derives its name from a building wherein the 
kings of the firft dynafty refided, and which was afterwards 
appropriated to the reception of the parliament. The quar¬ 
ter denominated the Ville is fituated on the north, the uni- 
verlity is on the fouth, and the city Hands in the centre. 
Its extent along the river is about four miles and a half; 
its breadth, from the Barrier St. Denis to the Barrier St. 
Jacques, about three miles and a half. The new walls en- 
clofe a very confiderable fpace of ground which is uninha¬ 
bited, and even under tillage: hence the real extent of the 
city is very different from its apparent magnitude. 
The ravages of the Normans in the tenth century, 
and 
