this interesting monument we turn
with regret, but a new scene bursts upon us; it is the flower market,
which is held under trees and furnished with large bassins constantly
supplied with water; the numerous display of flowers mostly in pots done
up in such a manner with white paper so that it forms the background,
gives much light and life to the colours, buds, and blossoms, which
bloom on this enlivening spot. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the market
days, and I recommend the reader not to miss so pleasing a spectacle. On
the Quai du Marche-Neuf, on the southern bank of the island, a very
opposite sight may be seen, being the Morgue, a little building for
receiving all dead bodies found, and not owned.

We now proceed to Notre-Dame, which is in the form of a cross; it was
began about the year 1150, in the reign of Louis the Seventh, but
continued in that of Philippe-Auguste, and completed under Saint-Louis
in 1257, which date, as I have already stated, it now distinctly bears.
Its magnitude and extent surpasses every other church in Paris, it is in
the arabic style, and being now totally detached from any other building
has a most grand effect; it is only in the present reign that this great
improvement has been effected, as it was formerly joined on one side to
the archiepiscopal palace. The immense number of grotesque figures which
surround and surmount the doorway, give it a most rich appearance,
although they are in the rudest style of barbarism; above is a large
window called the rose, which is a most beautiful and curious object.
The interior at the first view has a most striking effect; one hundred
and twenty pillars supporting a range of arches afford a most splendid
_coup d'oeil_, the middle aisle presenting an uninterrupted view of
the whole church, which being very lofty has a most majestic appearance;
the sumptuous altar, the fine gloom pervading the pictures, the curious
Gobelin tapestry which decorate the sides, combine in affording a rich
effect which is still heightened by the chapels which are perceptible
between the columns. Although it might be urged that there is rather a
profusion of decoration with the bas-reliefs, and other ornaments, yet
the edifice is on so colossal a scale that it still presents so broad a
mass, that a tone of simplicity pervades the whole. The beautiful choir
is after a design by De Goste, the altar and sanctuary are of marble and
porphyry, whilst tesselated pavements and var