good fortune to see a Gothic city entire, complete, homogeneous, — a few of which still remain, Nuremberg in Bavaria and Vittoria in Spain, — can readily form an idea; or even smaller specimens, provided that they are well preserved, — Vitr� in Brittany, Nordhausen in Prussia.

The Paris of three hundred and fifty years ago — the Paris of the fifteenth century — was already a gigantic city. We Parisians generally make a mistake as to the ground which we think that we have gained, since Paris has not increased much over one-third since the time of Louis XI. It has certainly lost more in beauty than it has gained in size.

Paris had its birth, as the reader knows, in that old island of the City which has the form of a cradle. The strand of that island was