in the Rue Richelieu, rivals
the British Museum in numbers of books and manuscripts. The Palace of
Industry and the Eiffel Tower commemorate the exhibitions of 1854 and
1889 respectively. Great market-places stand in various parts of the
city. The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix, Rue du Faubourg St.-Honore, and
the Rue Royale are among the chief streets; beautiful squares are
numerous, the most noted being the Place de la Concorde, between the
Champs Elysees and the Gardens of the Tuileries, in the centre of which
the Obelisk of Luxor stands on the site of the guillotine at which Louis
XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Philippe Egalite, Danton, and Robespierre
died. Boulevards lined with trees run to the outskirts of the city. The
many roads, railways, canals, and rivers which converge on Paris have
made it the most important trading centre in France, and the concourse of
wealthy men of all nations has given it a high place in the financial
world. It is a manufacturing city, producing jewellery, ornamental
furniture, and all sorts of artistic "articles de Paris." The centre of
French, and indeed European, fashion, it is noted for its pleasure and
gaiety. The concentration of Government makes it the abode of countless
officials. It is strongly fortified, being surrounded by a ring of forts,
and a wall 22 m. long, at the 56 gates of which the octroi dues are
levied. The Prefect of the Seine, appointed by the Government, and
advised by a large council, is the head of the municipality, of the
police and fire brigades, cleansing, draining, and water-supply
departments. The history of Paris is the history of France, for the
national life has been, and is, in an extraordinary degree centred in the
capital. It was the scene of the great tragic drama of the Revolution,
and of the minor struggles of 1830 and 1849. In recent times its great
humiliation was its siege and capture by the Germans in 1870-71.

PARIS, the second son of Priam and Hecuba; was exposed on Mount Ida
at his birth; brought up by a shepherd; distinguished himself by his
prowess, by which his parentage was revealed; married OENONE (q. v.);
appealed to to decide to whom the "apple of discord" belonged, gave
it to Aphrodite in preference to her two rivals Hera and Athena; was
promised in return that he should receive the most beautiful woman in the
world to wife, Helen of Sparta, whom he carried off to Greece, and which
led to the TROJAN WAR (q. v.); slew Achilles, and wa