ntrance is in the Rue de Lille, and there
are side gateways into other streets. The ground-floor is appropriated
to the Council of State and the offices attached, the first floor to the
Cour des Comptes, and the third to the conservation of the Archives of
these two public bodies. This noble structure has cost upwards of twelve
million francs.

We will now cast one glance at the Hotel Praslin, which also has its
entrance in the Rue de Lille, No. 54; its terrace is perceptible from
the quay, it is one of the most extensive and grandest mansions of the
old nobility. The next building is a barrack for cavalry, which is
totally devoid of any ornament or beauty. We now arrive at the Pont
Royal, an old but substantial bridge, built by a Dominican friar in
1684. The river here was formerly crossed by a ferry (bac), which gave
the name to the Rue du Bac.

I shall now advise that we take a boat and see how Paris looks from the
water, affording us a good view of the quays as we pass between them; we
also get an excellent sight of the Point Neuf already described, and
which has a very fine effect as we approach it. We next come to the Pont
au Change, formerly a wooden bridge; in 1141 Louis VII fixed the
residence of the money changers upon it, hence it derived its name; the
present structure was built in 1639. The Pont Notre Dame soon after
arrests the eye (vide page 87), it was begun 1499 and finished in 1507,
after the designs of Jean Joconde; on the western side is an engine
called Pompe du Pont Notre Dame, consisting of a square tower erected
upon piles, having a reservoir into which water is elevated, by
machinery impelled by the current of the water. We next pass under the
Pont d'Arcole, built in 1828; it is a suspension bridge, and there is a
toll upon it. The circumstances from which it derives its name are very
singular. A young man, in 1830, during the murderous conflict which here
took place between the royal guard and the people, rushed on the bridge
with a flag in his hand, heading the patriots, and was killed under the
archway in the middle; his name was Arcole, and the same trait of
courage was displayed by Napoleon on the bridge of Arcola; hence its
present designation.

A little farther on we pass close to the house where it is pretended
lived Fulbert, uncle of Heloise; the outward part of the building does
not bear the impression of being as old as the period when Abelard
lived, as he was born in 1080, and die