PARIS. 
firiptiveof the eftablifliment of the legion; and round 
the 1'aloon will be placed the ftatues of thofe deceafed 
members who may be deemed worthy of that diftin&ion. 
The apartments are adorned with elegant fimplicity. 
In the Rue Barbette, there is a Royal Eftablifliment for 
the Orphan Daughters of the Legion of Honour, in which 
300 females, daughters of the officers, are educated by 
nuns. 
Palais des Thermes, Palace of the Warm Baths; 
Rue de la Harpe.—Let not our reader be furprifed that 
we rank this little, but precious, relique of' antiquity, 
among the palaces of the metropolis. Inconfiderable as 
it now appears, it was once the refidence of the Roman 
emperors, and in later times the chofen habitation of the 
kings of France. It is fuppofed to have been built and 
inhabited by Julian the Apoftate about the year 357. 
There remains only a noble hall roofed by a lofty arch, 
much admired by the antiquary. The arch, like thole 
of all the Roman buildings, is compofed of bricks and 
ftone, cemented by a mortar which modern ingenuity 
lias not yet equalled. For many revolving ages it has 
iupported a garden, the mould of which is at lead four 
feet thick ; and, although this has been conftantly moift- 
«ned by the rain, and by artificial means, not the lead 
damp has yet penetrated the vault. Beneath is a double 
row of caves, or vaults, nine feet in diameter, the inten¬ 
tion of which is not known. Thele ruins were lately 
occupied by a cooper, as noticed at p. 447, but have 
been purchafed by the French government for the recep¬ 
tion of the monuments of' antiquity, from the Petits 
Auguftins. 
The Hotel de Ville, or Town Hall; Place de Greve. 
—This edifice was begun in 1533, after the defigns of an 
Italian architect named Boccaridora, fometimes called 
Cortona: it tvas not completed till the year 1606. It is 
regular in its architecture, convenient for the purpofefor 
which it was defigned, and rich in beauty and ornament. 
An equeftrian ftatue of Henry IV. in bas-relief, is placed 
over the principal entrance; but that entrance is far too 
fmall for the great extent of the Hotel. The apartments 
are extenfive, handfome, and commodious. The clock 
is a very celebrated piece of mechanifm. The Hotel de 
Ville is worthy the traveller’s attention, on account of 
its antiquity, and the extraordinary fcenes which it has 
witnefied. When the king was brought from Verfaiiles, 
he was exhibited to the populace from one of the win¬ 
dows of this manfion. Hither Robefpierre retreated after 
he had been outlawed. In front of the Hotel de Ville is 
the famous lamp-iron; and within the building is prefer- 
ved the ftill more celebrated guillotine. 
The Place de Greve, in front of this building has been 
ufed for magnificent fetes. It is alfo the appointed fcene 
of public executions ; and its name revives the mod odious 
recollections. It is painful to learn that innocent blood 
was the firft that flowed here : an unhappy female heretic 
named Margaret Porette, fcarcely thirty years old, was 
burnt herein 1310, for having written, “that the foul, 
abforbed in God, is at the height of every virtue, and 
has nothing more to do; and, that when a certain degree of 
virtue is attained, one cannot go beyond it.” Previoully 
to this execution, criminals were put to death in the 
market-places, which ftill participated, for more than a 
century, with La Greve, the miferable prerogative of 
fcaffolds. Here were decapitated, in 1398, the two Au- 
guftin monks, who had engaged, for a large remunera¬ 
tion, and on the penalty of their lives, to cure Charles 
yi. of an incurable malady with which he was ftruck. 
The two friars loft their heads; and the king did not re¬ 
cover his own fenfes. The laft execution which took 
place in a market place, in 1477, was that of the unhappy 
duke of Nemours, whofe children, placed on the fcaffold 
by order of the cruel Louis XI. were covered with the 
blood of their father. Since that epoch, every fentence 
Vox. XVIII. No. 1158. 
469 
of death palled at Paris has been executed at the Place 
de Greve, except thofe ordered by military tribunals. 
The Church of St. Gervais is near the Place de Greve. 
—The portal to this church, which is the object that 
principally deferves the traveller’s attention, was rebuilt 
by Louis XIII. in 1616. Some critics have cenfured the 
diftribution of minuter parts : but the happy union of 
the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, orders, the immenfe 
fpan of the arches, and the character of boldnefs, yet le- 
verity, which prevails, mull produce a pleating impref- 
lion on the mind. The interior of this building is in 
harmony with the purpofe for which the edifice waserefted. 
The little chapel of the Virgin, apparently fufpended 
from the roof of the church, is an objeCI of much curiofity. 
Hotel des Monnaies, the Mint.—Till the year 1771, 
Paris was deftitute of a Mint worthy of the capital of a 
great nation. The ancient edifice which was appropria¬ 
ted to that purpofe, and which was fituated in the ftreet 
that now bears its name, oppofite to the Pont Neuf, w'as 
in ruins. The architect Antoine was appointed to con- 
ftruCt a new building on the fite of the ancient Hotel 
Conti. The Hotel des Monnaies was erefted, and it 
forms one of the nobleft ornaments of the banks of the 
Seine. The principal front towards the quay is 360 feet 
long, and 84 in height. It is ornamented by a projecting 
building, formed by fix Ionic columns, placed on a fub- 
bafement of five arcades. A grand entablature crowns 
the whole length of the edifice. The projecting building 
is furmounted by an attic, on which are fix detached 
figures, reprefenting Law, Prudence, Fortitude, Com¬ 
merce, Abundance, and Peace. The front towards the 
Rue Guenegaud offers an attic on a fub-bafement, of the 
fame height as the preceding. On a projecting building 
in the centre are figures reprefenting the four Elements. 
The chief entrance to the Mint is formed of a fuperb 
veftibule, ornamented by twenty-four Doric columns. 
On the right is a magnificent ftaircafe, decorated by fix- 
teen Ionic columns, and conducting to the principal halls. 
The Salle des Balanciers is diftinguiffied by four co¬ 
lumns of the Tufcan order, which fupport its vault, and 
at the end of which is a ftatue of Fortune by M. Mouchi. 
The upper apartment of the fame fize contains places for 
a hundred ajujleurs. The Moulins a Laminageare in ano¬ 
ther room contiguous to that of the balanciers. The en¬ 
trance to the chapel is underneath one of the arcades on 
the right of the court: this chapel receives molt of its 
light by a fmall cupola in the centre ornamented with 
caiflons. 
Every branch belonging to coining is performed within, 
the circuit of this building. Here is alfo a kind of Ailay- 
office for the gold and filver of Paris; and it is the feat 
of the Adminiltration generale des Monnaies. 
The Bank, Rue de la Vrilliere.—Francis Manfard 
built this hotel for the dulce de la Vrilliere. It was after¬ 
wards the property of the comte de Touloufe, and then 
of the duke de Penthievre. When it was determined to 
fix the Bank of France here, the architect Delauny was 
employed to prepare it for its new deftination. He has 
negleCted nothing for the fecurity or convenience of this 
important eftablifliment. The two figures upon the enta¬ 
blature reprefent Minerva and Mercury. 
The Bank of France has, by the laws of the 14th of 
April, 1803, and of the 2zd of April, 1806, the privi¬ 
lege of circulating bills, payable to the bearer, or at fight. 
This privilege was granted for forty years, to commence 
on the 23d September, 1803. According to thefe ftatutes, 
and the imperial decree of the 16th January, 1808, it has 
eftabliffied houfis for difcounting in every town of the 
departments where the nature of the commerce requires 
them. 
The currency of France is almoft entirely metallic, 
there being only one bank, the circulation of which is, 
in a manner, confined to the metropolis; the branch 
6 D banks 
