Thus having completed our survey, which I shall call the south-east division, we will proceed to the south-west, and begin by the church of St. Severin at No. 3, in the street of the same name, called after a hermit who died in the year 530, but had on this spot an oratory and cells, where he conferred the monastic habit on St. Cloud.  The present building was erected in 1210, in the reign of Philippe Auguste, has been repaired and enlarged at several different periods, which is perceptible by the different styles displayed in the architecture; there is a great deal of elaborate workmanship about this church that is exceedingly beautiful and interesting, the lower part of the tower is coeval with its first erection; a few good pictures of the old French school are amongst the attractive objects contained within this edifice.

Ascending the little unseemly streets des Pretres and Boutebrie, we find ourselves in the Rue du Foin, No. 18, being called the Hotel de la Reine Blanche; she was living about the year 1210, when the church of St. Severin close by was founded in the reign of her father-in-law, and very probably resided in the neighbourhood, perhaps on the very spot where the house stands which is now called after her, but evidently not in the same building which is now shown as such, although the staircase is of a very ancient appearance.

In the same street, at the corner of the Rue Boutebrie, is the old College de Maitre Gervais, founded in 1370, at present appropriated as a barrack for infantry.  The visiter now must prepare for a grand treat, as we turn round into the Rue de la Harpe, and at No. 63, we find the venerable and crumbling remains of the Palais des Thermes (vide page 55).  Julian, who was born in 332, inhabited it for some time, and many imagine it was built by his grandfather, but others state that it was alluded to at a still earlier period.  Of what now remains there is principally a large hall and a smaller, forming together one room; the architecture is simple but noble, the walls are adorned by three grand arcades, the middle being the loftiest.  The vaulting of the roof rests upon supports, representing the sterns of ships; human figures may be distinguished in one of them.  Beneath the hall are vaulted apartments extending under most of the neighbouring houses.  An aqueduct is traced as having been brought from some leagues, for the purpose it is supposed principally of supplying the baths.  The masonry is alternately of stone and brick, in parts covered with a thick stucco.  It seems almost incredible that a monument so ancient, and of such high interest should have been for so long a period totally disregarded by the government, and suffered to be occupied by a printer, a traiteur, and a cooper.  The Municipality of Paris have now however purchased it, and intend to convert it into a museum for the reception of antiquities that can be collected of the ancient Gauls.  After the overthrow of the Roman yoke, the Palais des Thermes was inhabited by the earliest kings of France.  To view these ruins the stranger must apply to the concierge, No. 68, Rue de la Harpe, directly opposite, and a trifle should be given to the party showing them.