The Palais du Quai D’Orsay is almost adjoining, and although one of the most magnificent, yet one of the most chaste edifices in Paris; it has never received any decided name.  It was begun under Napoleon, and then remained dormant until 1830, and in the present reign has been finished in the most perfect style.  The grand front which faces the river presents a long series of windows formed by arches beneath a tuscan colonnade on the ground-floor; the one above is similar, except being of the ionic order, surmounted by a sort of corinthian attic; the court is surrounded by a double series of Italian arcades, there are four staircases, placed at each corner, one styled the escalier d’honneur, is absolutely splendid, both as regards the construction and the richness of its ornaments.  The chief entrance is in the Rue de Lille, and there are side gateways into other streets.  The ground-floor is appropriated to the Council of State and the offices attached, the first floor to the Cour des Comptes, and the third to the conservation of the Archives of these two public bodies.  This noble structure has cost upwards of twelve million francs.

We will now cast one glance at the Hotel Praslin, which also has its entrance in the Rue de Lille, No. 54; its terrace is perceptible from the quay, it is one of the most extensive and grandest mansions of the old nobility.  The next building is a barrack for cavalry, which is totally devoid of any ornament or beauty.  We now arrive at the Pont Royal, an old but substantial bridge, built by a Dominican friar in 1684.  The river here was formerly crossed by a ferry (bac), which gave the name to the Rue du Bac.

I shall now advise that we take a boat and see how Paris looks from the water, affording us a good view of the quays as we pass between them; we also get an excellent sight of the Point Neuf already described, and which has a very fine effect as we approach it.  We next come to the Pont au Change, formerly a wooden bridge; in 1141 Louis VII fixed the residence of the money changers upon it, hence it derived its name; the present structure was built in 1639.  The Pont Notre Dame soon after arrests the eye (vide page 87), it was begun 1499 and finished in 1507, after the designs of Jean Joconde; on the western side is an engine called Pompe du Pont Notre Dame, consisting of a square tower erected upon piles, having a reservoir into which water is elevated, by machinery impelled by the current of the water.  We next pass under the Pont d’Arcole, built in 1828; it is a suspension bridge, and there is a toll upon it.  The circumstances from which it derives its name are very singular.  A young man, in 1830, during the murderous conflict which here took place between the royal guard and the people, rushed on the bridge with a flag in his hand, heading the patriots, and was killed under the archway in the middle; his name was Arcole, and the same trait of courage was displayed by Napoleon on the bridge of Arcola; hence its present designation.