Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/297

 PARIS 275 Concorde ; Place de 1 Etoile ; Place Vendome, with the column and statue of Napoleon I. ; Place du Carrousel, with a small triumphal arch commemorative of the cam paign of 1806, which formed the entrance to the palace of the Tuileries, now demolished ; Place des Victoires, with the equestrian statue of Louis XIV.; Place des Vosges, formerly Place Royale, with that of Louis XIII. ; Place de la Bastille, with the column commemorative of the lie volu tion of July 1830; Place de la Republique, with the Republic statue ; Place de 1 Hotel de Ville ; Place du Chatelet, with a column commemorative of the Italian campaign of 1796 ; those which take their names from the Bourse, the Palais Royal, and the Opera ; Place de Rivoli, with the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc ; Place Moncey, adorned with a monument in memory of the defence of Paris in 1814, as Place Denfert, at the opposite extremity of the town, is adorned with a colossal lion symbolizing the defence of 1871. South of the Seine are the Place St Michel, adorned with a monumental fountain, and one of the great centres of traffic in Paris ; Place du Pantheon ; Place St Sulpice ; Place Vauban, behind the dome of the Invalides, and Place du Palais Bourbon, in front of the chamber of deputies. Besides those already mentioned there are monumental fountains in the Places de la Con corde, de la Republique, and du Chutelet, the Avenue de 1 Opera, and the Place Louvois opposite the national library ; and attention must also be called to the Fountain of the Innocents near the markets, which was originally adorned with sculptures by Jean Goujon ; the Moliere Fountain, in the Rue Richelieu ; the Gaillon Fountain; and on the left side of the river the Fountain of Rue de Grenelle. The Seine. The Seine flows for 7 miles (taking five hours) through Paris. As it enters and as it leaves the city it is crossed by a viaduct used by the circular railway and for ordinary traffic ; that of Point du Jour has two stories of arches. Two bridges, the Pont des Arts and the Passerelle de Passy, are for foot passengers only ; all the others are for carriages as well. The most famous is the Pont Neuf, the two portions of which rest on the extremity of the island called La Cite where the river is at its widest (961 feet). On the embankment below Pont Neuf stands the statue of Henry IV., the people s king. Between La Cite and the left bank the width of the lesser channel is reduced to 161 feet. The whole river has a width of 532 feet as it enters Paris and of 440 as it leaves it. As it descends it passes under the bridges of Tolbiac, Bercy, and Austerlitz (built of stone), that of Sully (of iron), those of Marie and Louis Philippe between lie St Louis and the right bank ; that of Les Tournelles between lie St Louis and the left bank ; that of St Louis between lie St Louis and La Cite&quot;; and Pont d Arcole, a very elegant structure connecting La Cite with Place de 1 Hotel de Ville. La Cite besides communicates with the right bank by the bridges of Notre Dame and Au Change; with the left bank by that of the Archeveche, the so-called Pont au Double, the Petit Pont, and Pont St Michel. Below Pont Neuf come the Pont des Arts, Pont du Carrousel (of iron), Pont Royal (a fine stone structure leading to the Tuileries), and those named after Solferino, La Concorde, the In valides, Alma, Jena, (opposite the Champ de Mars), Passy, and Grenelle. The houses of Paris nowhere abut directly on the river banks, which in their whole extent from the bridge of Austerlitz to Passy are protected by broad embankments or &quot;quays.&quot; At the foot of these lie several ports for the discharge of goods : on the right side Bercy for wines, La Rap6e for timber, the Port de 1 Arsenal at the mouth of th5 St Martin Canal, 1 the Port de l H6tel de Ville for 1 This canal, leaving the Seine below Austerlitz Bridge, passes by a tunnel under Place de la Bastille and Boulevard Richard Leuoir, and fruits, and the Port St Nicholas or du Louvre (steamboats for London) ; on the left bank Port de la Gare for timber, St Bernard for wines, and those named after La Tournelle, the Saints Peres, the Invalides, and Grenelle. Promenades and Parks. In the heart of Paris are Prome- situated the gardens of the Tuileries (74 acres), laid out in uaues. parterres and bosquets, planted with chestnut trees, lindens, and plane trees, and adorned with playing fountains and basins, and numerous statues mostly from the antique. From the terrace along the river side a fine view is to be had over the Seine to the park and palace of the Trocadero ; and from the terraces along the Place de la Concorde the eye takes in the Place and the Avenue of the Champs Elysties. The gardens of the Luxembourg, in front of the palace occupied by the senate, are rather larger than those of the Tuileries ; with less regularity of form they present greater variety of appearance. In the line of the main entrance extends the beautiful Observatory Walk, terminat ing in a monumental fountain, which is in great part the work of Carpeaux. The Luxembourg conservatories are rich in rare plants ; and classes are held in the gardens for the study of gardening, fruit-tree pruning, and bee-keeping. The Jardin des Plantes will be mentioned below in the list of scientific establishments. Besides these three great gardens laid out in the French taste, with straight walks and regular beds, there are several in what the French designate the English style. The finest and most exten sive of these, the Buttes-Chaumont Gardens, in the north east of the city, occupy 62 acres of very irregular ground, which up to 1866 was occupied by plaster-quarries, lime kilns, and brick-works. The &quot; buttes &quot; or knolls are now covered with turf, flowers, and shrubbery. Advantage has been taken of the varying relief of the site to form a fine lake and a cascade with picturesque rocks. The Montsouris Park, in the south of the city, 40 acres in extent, also con sists of broken ground ; in the middle stands the meteoro logical observatory, built after the model of the Tunisian palace of Bardo, and it also contains a monument in memory of the heroic and unfortunate Flatters expedition. Monceau Park, surrounded by the most aristocratic quarters of modern Paris, is a portion of the old park belonging to King Louis Philippe, and is now the property of the town. The gardens of the Palais Royal are surrounded by arcades and fine shops. There is hardly, it may be further remarked, a district in Paris which has not of recent years its well- planted square kept up at municipal expense on some plot of ground cleared during the improvements. Such are those named after Tour St Jacques (one of the most graceful monuments of old Paris), the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, the Temple, Montholon, Cluny, &amp;lt;fcc. There have recently been added the park of the Champs de Mars, and that of the Trocadero with its fountains and aquarium. But the real parks of Paris are the Bois de Boulogne Bois do and Bois de Vincennes, which belong to the city, though Kou ~ situated outside of the fortifications. The former is reached n by the wide avenue of the Champs Elyse es as far as the Arc de Triomphe, and thence by the avenue of the Bois de Boulogne or that of the Grande Armoe. The first of these, with its side walks for foot passengers and equestrians, grass-plots, flower-beds, and elegant buildings with gardens and railings in front, affords a wide and magnificent prospect over the Bois and the hills of St Cloud and Mont Valerien. The Bois de Boulogne covers an area of 2158 acres, one- fourth of which is occupied by turf, one-eighth by roads, and the rest by clumps of trees, sheets of water, or running streams. Here are the two race-courses of Longchamps (flat races) and Auteuil (steeple-chases), and the gardens rises by .sluices to the La Villette basin, from which the St Denis Canal descends to the Seine at St Denis. In this way boats going up or down the river can avoid passing through Paris.