House and Garden 
power to turn their mills. In the thirteenth 
century we find an entire bridge, the Pont 
aux Meuniers, or Millers’ Bridge devoted to 
this usage. The current was also used to 
pump Seine water into the city. T wo machines, 
the Pompe Notre-Dame and the Samaritaine, 
became landmarks of first-rate importance. 
The Millers’ Bridge fell in 1596 and was 
replaced by the Pont aux Marchands. 
In the sixteenth century the old bridges, 
which have been described, proved entirely 
inadequate to the necessities of traffic. The 
people of the rive gauche, especially, clam¬ 
ored for a new bridge as early as 1556, in 
the reign of Henry II. (T 547 - 1559 )- It 
was at first desired to place the Pont-Neuf 
near the Louvre, probably at the termination 
of the modern Rue du Louvre, where a 
bridge is much needed at the present mo¬ 
ment; but a more picturesque location was 
found just at the point where the lie de la 
Cite approached nearest to the two Hots which 
lay to the west. The design was made by 
one of the Cerceaus, probably Baptiste, 
and Guillaume Marchand. In 1585 a 
special commission was created which was 
directed to superintend the construction 
of the bridge and to arrange squares and 
streets connecting the Pont-Neuf with im¬ 
portant points. Curiously enough a large 
part of this necessary work still remains to 
be done. The first stone of the Pont-Neuf 
was laid in 1588 ; the southern portion, cross¬ 
ing the narrow arm of the Seine, was opened 
in 1601 and the entire bridge finished June 
20, 1603. In 1607 a part of the royal gar- 
OtCtNS 
sassGZ 
ay's * 3 .' 
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THE “ PLAN DE SAINT-VICTOR.”- 1555 
T 95 
