From the tower where we are placed, the H�tel Saint-Pol, almost half hidden by the four great houses of which we have just spoken, was still very considerable and very marvellous to see. One could there distinguish, very well, though cleverly united with the principal building by long galleries, decked with painted glass and slender columns, the three H�tels which Charles V. had amalgamated with his palace: the H�tel du Petit-Muce, with the airy balustrade, which formed a graceful border to its roof; the H�tel of the Abbe de Saint-Maur, having the vanity of a stronghold, a great tower, machicolations, loopholes, iron gratings, and over the large Saxon door, the armorial bearings of the abb�, between the two mortises of the drawbridge; the H�tel of the Comte d’ Etampes, whose donjon keep, ruined at its summit, was rounded and notched like a