The Project Gutenberg EBook of Paris from the Earliest Period to the
Present Day; Volume 1, by William Walton

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Title: Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1

Author: William Walton

Release Date: December 11, 2009 [EBook #30651]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PARIS

FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT DAY

VOLUME I

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE SEINE AT BOUGIVAL

PHOTOGRAVURE, AFTER THE PAINTING BY JULIUS L. STEWART]

_IL FLOTTE SANS ETRE SUBMERGE_

[Illustration]

PARIS

FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT DAY

[Illustration: WILLIAM WALTON]

_VOLUME I_

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE BARRIE & SON, PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SON

CONTENTS

VOLUME I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

GALLO-ROMAN AND PRE-MEDIAEVAL PERIODS

CHAPTER II

THE COURT AND THE UPPER CLASSES

CHAPTER III

THE BOURGEOIS AND THE LOWER CLASSES

INTRODUCTION

[Illustration: THE MARTYR; MEROVINGIAN PERIOD. By F. Bac, from a
tapestry.]

If the capital of the French nation, situated on the river Seine, were
simply the most beautiful, the wittiest, wickedest, and most artistic of
towns, if--as has been so often asserted (and not exclusively by the
citizens thereof)--the most commonplace and the most brilliant of human
manifestations alike take on new qualities, texture, and interest the
moment they become Parisien, then, indeed, would this city be entitled
to be considered only with that mild offence which is the proper
intellectual attitude before all so-claimed earthly superlatives. But
Paris is by no means to be so disposed of. The very peccability of her
wit is demonstrated by the extravagant claims which it permits itself.
No God-given institution proclaims itself as such,--at least, noisily.
It is the shadings to this brilliant picture, the exceeding width and
depth and blackness of the sun-spots on this luminary of civilization,
which relieve us from any easy toleration and compel