470 
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banks at Lyons and Rouen finding it very difficult to ex¬ 
tend their ifl'ues. The Bank of France is a very folid 
eftabliffiment, pofleffing funds to the amount of 4.,500,000k 
while its paper in circulation feldorti exceeds 3,000,000k 
Though, on all permanent loans, the rate of intereft in 
France is confiderably higher than with us, being gene¬ 
rally from 6 to 7 per cent, the bank difcounts mercantile 
bills at fo low a rate as 4 per cent. The difcounting-days 
are Mondays, Wedneldays, and Fridays, in each week. 
To be admitted to dil'count, and to have a running ac¬ 
count, it is neceftary to write to the governor, accompa¬ 
nied with a certificate figned by three well-known perfons. 
The amount of the metallic currency in France cannot 
be fhort of 90,000,000k flrerling; and faving-banks, caif- 
J’es d'epargnc, have been lately introduced. Another very 
laudable eftabli/hment is the 
Mont de Pule, Rue des Blancs Manteaux.—Here fmall 
Aims are advanced to the poorer dalles at little intereft, 
on tiie depoiit of fome fecurity or property. It is open 
from nine till two. and from four to feven. 
Its architecture is fi mpl e-: the gate towards the ftreet is 
furmounted by a large pediment, fupported by two keys 
adorned with garlands. The hall on the fide of the Rue 
Paradis, is fuftained by Tufcari columns, which have a 
noble effeft. 
The .Royal Printing-Office, formerly l’Hotel Sou- 
bife; Rue du Paradis.—This ancient hotel was the refi- 
dence of the conftable Oliver Clifton. It was then called 
the Hotel of Mercy, becaufe, after a popular tumult, 
Charles VI. afi'emblc-d the citizens, and converted the pu- 
nifhment of death, to which many of them were expofed, 
into a trifling pecuniary fine. It afterwards became the 
property of the dukes of Guife, whole name it bore un¬ 
til 1697. Francis de Rohan, prince de Soubife, then pur- 
chafed it. In 1712, cardinal Rohan erected a new palace 
clofe to the former, which he called Hotel Cardinal. The 
front of this lalt hotel towards the court is very fim- 
ple. On the garden fide it is ornamented by Doric and 
Ionic columns, furmounted by an attic, and terminated 
by a pediment. 
The front of the Hotel de Soubife is compofed of fixteen 
columns of the Compofite order, eight of which form a 
projefting building, furmounted by Corinthian pillars, 
and crowned by a pediment. The other eight columns 
fupport four lfatues, and fome groups of infants by Le 
Lorrain. Above the pediment are two ftatues, reprefent- 
ing Fortitude and Wifdom. The new court, of an ellip¬ 
tical form, is furrounded by a gallery of fifty-fix Corn- 
polite columns ; over which are a terrace and a balluftrade. 
The effeft of the whole is unufually grand. The entrance 
is decorated, within and without, by double columns. 
The veftibule and ftaircafe are large and beautiful, and 
ornamented with paintings hy Brunetti. 
The Hotel de Soubife is now appropriated to the recep¬ 
tion of the archives of the city. The Hotel Cardinal is 
converted into the royal printing-office. The colleftion 
of types, of every age and character, is immenfe. It con¬ 
tains no lefs than 250 preffes, and is well worthy the at¬ 
tention of ftrangers. During the reign of Napoleon, the 
pope vifited this wonderful eftabliffiment, and the direc¬ 
tors prefented him with the Lord’s Prayer printed in fifty 
different languages, and all of them ftruck off during his 
vifit. 
CHURCHES, CEMETERIES, See. 
There are thirty-nine parochial and other churches in 
Paris, in which there is folemn fervice twice every day, 
that is, at eight and ten o’clock in the morning, and even¬ 
ing fervice at three and five every funday and holiday ; 
belides low makes every hour from fix to twelve. On the 
week-days there are low mafles only. Of thefe churches it 
will be lufficient to name thofe which are moll remarkable 
for their antiquity or architectural beauty. 
Notre Dame.' —This celebrated cathedral, the mother- 
R I S. 
church of France, is fo furrounded with houfes, that there 
is no fpot from which it may be feen with advantage. It 
is the moll ancient religious edifice in Paris. The epif- 
copal, fee is alfo of the greateft antiquity, deriving its 
foundation from Denis, the tutelar faint of France. It 
was erected on the ruins of a templeconfecrated to Jupi¬ 
ter, Caftor, and Pollux, by the merchants of Paris, in the 
reign of Tiberius. Some ancient inferiptions to this ef¬ 
fect: were found in the beginning of the laft century. 
This church was named after St. Denis till 522, when it 
was rebuilt under Childebert I. and dedicated to the Vir¬ 
gin Mary. The building of the prefent day derives its 
origin from the time of king Robert the Devout, about 
the year 1010; but fome antiquaries date its foundation 
under Louis the Young about the year 1177. 
Its architecture, although Gothic, pofieftes fomething 
fo lingular, fo bold, and at the fame time fo delicate, that 
it has ever been efteemed one of the handfomeft ftrudtures 
in the kingdom. It is 414 feet long, 144 wide, and 102 
in height, without comprehending the fpace allotted to 
forty-five chapels, and the aftonilhing thicknefs of the 
wall. One hundred and Twenty enormous columns, 
which fupport this edifice, form- a double colonnade ex¬ 
tending the whole length of the fabric. The weftern 
front prefents a venerable portico, to which was formerly 
an afeent of thirteen fteps. It contains three portals. 
Tire centre portal is of modern architecture j the other 
two are antique, and are remarkable fora multiplicity of 
ornaments in the ftyle of the Lower Empire. The centre 
portal is likewife furrounded by innumerable decorations, 
but they are evidently of later date. Above them is a 
gallery, fupported by columns, in the intervals of which 
are twenty-eight ftatues of the kings of France, from 
Childebert to Philip-Auguftus. Over the fide portals 
rife two immenfe towers, forty feet fquare, and two hun¬ 
dred and four in height. They command an extenfive 
view of Paris ar.d its environs, but their heavy appear¬ 
ance ill accords with the building to which they belong. 
Between thefe towers, and over the window that en¬ 
lightens the nave, is a fecond gallery, fupported by Go¬ 
thic columns of exquifite delicacy. The whole of the 
exterior is furrounded by three galleries; the firft over 
the chapel, the fecond above the internal galleries, and 
the third around the dome. Thefe render almoft every 
part of the ftrufture eafily acceffible. This front is the 
lubjefl of the annexed Plate. 
The choir is truly fuperb. The modern ornaments of 
it were commenced by De Cotte, principal architect to 
the king, in 1669, and finifhed by his fon in 1714. In 
the centre is a brazen eagle, feven feet high, and three 
feet from wing to wing. Two pilafters of wood at the 
entrance of the choir, adorned With grotefque fculpture, 
fupport two angels in bronze. The elegant ftalls which 
line the two fides of the choir, are terminated by two of 
fuperb workmanfnip, appropriated to the archbilhop. 
The wainfeot is covered with numerous curious and 
well-executed bas-reliefs, reprefenting the life of the Holy 
Virgin. The ftalls are furmounted by a cornice of rich 
defign, the upper part of which contains eight fine paint¬ 
ings, by the mod celebrated makers of the French fchool : 
the Annunciation of the Virgin, by Halle; the Vifitation 
cf the Virgin, the chef-d’oeuvre of Jouvenet, who painted 
with his left hand after his right had become paralytic; 
the Birth of our Saviour, by. Philip de Champagne; the 
Adoration of the Magi, byLafofle; the Prefentation of 
our Saviour in the Temple, by Louis Boulogne; the 
Flight into Egypt, by the fame artift; the Prefentation 
of the Virgin in the Temple, by Philippe de Champagne ; 
and the Affumption of the Virgin, by Antoine Coypel. 
The choir was formerly adorned with ftone fculptures, re¬ 
prefenting the hiftory of Genefis. On the outfide, the 
hiftory of the New Teftament was deferibed. A few gro¬ 
tefque figures yet remain, and fliow the extraordinary 
ftyle in which thefe performances were executed. 
Some 
