The French capital is a good deal diversified and en livened by the number of its squares, of which there are no less than seventy. Of these, however, none are very large or very elegant. The houses, indeed, are not un frequently superb in point of architecture, while the area in the centre is ill-paved, and otherwise entirely neglected: This is the case in a striking manner with the Place Ven dome, the largest and the finest square in Paris, which, with all the beauty of the houses, which are uniform, and decorated with Corinthian pillars, is characterized by some of the most unequivocal symptoms of vulgarity and filthiness. Of the pillar in the centre, erected by Bono parte in honour of his successes in Germany, we shall hereafter speak. The most handsome squares, after the one already mentioned, are the Place Royale, the Place des Victoires, the Place de Carousel, the Place de Louis XV. The largest of the squares of Paris is not above 400 or 500 feet in any direction ; while some places denomi nated squares are so exceedingly restricted as scarcely to merit that appellation.
But whatever opinion may be formed with regard to the character of the streets and squares of Paris, this capi tal, it is universally allow cd, is superior to any other Euro pean metropolis, in the number and magnificence of its public edifices. The palace of the Thuillerics, the present royal residence, begun in the sixteenth, and completed in the following century, is a massy and venerable structure. Including the pavilion at each end, its length is upwards of 1000 feet ; and though it is not probably the most chaste of Parisian buildings, though it exhibits several orders of architecture, and its height in the centre is less than at the two extremities, it has yet a very grand and imposing ef feet, and is worthy of the use to which it is now dedi cated.
The portico of the palace, and the garden connected with it, contain some admirable specimens of ancient and modern sculpture.—The palace of the Luxemberg, one of the apartments of which now forms the Chamber of Peers, is more chaste and elegant than the Thuilleries, though not so large or so striking. It is a square edifice, with an ample portico in the centre. A noble pavilion surmounts the principal building, and terminates in a dome, composed of the Doric and Ionic orders. Its in terior is remarkable for a spacious staircase, adorned till lately, when they were removed to the Louvre, with the statues of some of the most illustrious generals and legis lators of France.—The Palais Bourbon, where the legisla tive body under Bonaparte held their sittings, and where the chamber of deputies now meet, is delightfully situated on the Seine, and is characterized by some writers as the noblest building of Paris. Its front is ornamented with twelve Corinthian pillars, which support a chaste entabla ture, bearing, until the return of the present royal family, the inscription—A Napoleon le Grand, and containing a bas relief to his honour, executed in the most elegant style. In the chamber of deputies are six statues, repre senting Lycurgus, Solon, Demosthenes, Brutus, Cato, and Cicero; and the stair is distinguished by allegorical co lossal figures, seated in calm attitudes, and exhibiting a mild, unostentatious adjustment of drapery. The Palais Royale, now more remarkable as a place of business, of amusement, and dissipation, than as the remains of a royal residence, must not be overlooked in this enumeration.
It has long been vested as private property in the Orleans family ; and, at the time of the revolution, it was the resi dence of the infamous Duke of Orleans, who, by his sen suality and depravity, at least, promoted that memorable event, of which himself, ere long, was the victim. The original building is not deficient in elegance and taste; the facade, which was erected so lately as 1781, is embel lished with Doric and Ionic pillars, surmounted by a finely sculptured fronton ; and the whole edifice forms an oblong square, the area of which is paved, and decorated with trees. The first floor of the building is occupied chiefly with shops, small but neat, and devoted to toys, ornaments, and luxuries of every description. The second floor is in habited by private families ; it also contains coffee-rooms, reading-rooms, apartments for public exhibitions, and for the meetings of literary societies. On three sides of these buildings is a chain of arcades separated by pilasters, which form a covered walk, frequented during the day by men of business, by strangers, by the gay and the fashionable, and at night by the profligate and the sensual. There is also adjoining to the palace a garden of an oblong form, nearly 250 feet in length, with several jets d'eau in the centre, and terminated at either end by elegant shrubberies. The Palais Royale, with its premises, is the scene of all the dissipation and prostitution of the French metropolis; and the vices and grossness, which in other capitals are scat tered over the whole town, are in Paris collected in this central spot. The Louvre, the oldest royal palace con nected with Paris, is now used as a museum of painting and sculpture, and is, in every respect, a most important and interesting edifice. It is situated about a quarter of a mile to the east of the Thuilleries, to which indeed it is united by what is denominated the gallery of the Louvre. That portion of it termed the Old Louvre was erected many centuries ago ; but the greater part of it, including the celebrated colonnade, was the work of the refined age of Louis XIV. It is of a quadrangular form, with an innd court of 400 feet square. Its sides present project ing building, adorned with beautiful sculptures; and alto gether it forms a perfect model of architectural splendour. " It is impossible," says a sensible traveller, " for language to convey any adequate idea of the impression which this exquisite building awakens in the mind of a stranger. The beautiful proportions and fine symmetry of the great facade, give an air of simplicity to the distant view of the edifice, which is not diminished on nearer approach by the unrivalled beauty of its ornaments and detail ; but when you cross the threshold of the portico, and pass under its noble archway into the inner court, all considerations are absorbed in the throb of admiration, which is excited by the sudden display of all that is lovely and harmonious in Grecian architecture." But the effect which it is calcu lated to produce, is much weakened by the narrowness of the open space in front, and the mean buildings with which it is so immediately associated. It is almost the only important public building in Paris that enjoys no ad vantages of situation. Of the use to which it is now con verted, as the depot of works of genius and art, we shall, under another head of this article, soon proceed to give an account.