terior is decorated with ornaments even to
profusion; a fine dome with figures of the Evangelists and four kings of
France give it altogether a very handsome appearance. Opposite the
College of Charlemagne, is the Fontaine de Birague; consisting of a
pentagonal tower, with a dome and lantern. Above a pediment supported by
doric pilasters is an attic with a naiad. At the corner of the Rue
Culture Ste. Catherine, is the Hotel de Carnavalet, where resided Madame
de Sevigne and her daughter, a fine mansion of the 16th century, having
been erected in 1544; most of the sculpture is from the chisel of the
celebrated Jean Goujon, and is of a most interesting description; the
cabinet in which the letters of that highly gifted woman were written is
still shown, also a marble table upon which she and her daughter used to
dine under the sycamores in the garden, two of which remain. M. Viardot
occupies this Hotel, and with pleasure shows it to strangers; he keeps
an academy and has written a history of the edifice, which may be had of
the porter. It was at the corner of this street that the Constable de
Clisson was assailed and severely wounded by 20 ruffians, headed by
Pierre de Graon, Chamberlain of the Duke of Orleans, who was murdered by
the Duke of Burgundy.

In the Rue du Roi de Sicile is the prison of La Force, containing 700
prisoners, and excellent regulations, but another, in a more retired
part of Paris, is soon to be constructed. This building was formerly the
Hotel of the Duc de la Force, hence the origin of its name. In the Rue
Pavee, which is on one side of the prison, will be found, at No. 3, the
Hotel de la Houze, and in the same street stood the Hotels de Gaucher,
de Chatillon, and d'Herbouville, or de Savoisi. We will now go a little
out of our way to see the fine long and broad street of St. Louis,
which we shall soon reach by keeping straight on along the Rue Payenne,
and then turning to the east by the Rue Parc Royal, shall proceed to one
of the ornaments of the Rue St. Louis, the Church of St. Denis du
Sacrement; it is quite modern, but is conceived according to good taste;
the order is ionic, which is consistently preserved both throughout the
exterior and the interior, much chasteness of design, in fact has been
observed in the construction of this simple but elegant edifice. The
Fountain of St. Louis is worthy of attention _en passant_. Formerly this
street was filled with nobility, as even so late as the be