The famous prison which stood there from the end of the fourteenth century to the memorable summer of 1789, was built by Hugues Aubriot, Prévôt du Roi, as a fortified castle to protect the palais St-Pol close by, and Paris in general, against hostile inroads from the country beyond. Its form is well known. A perfect model of it is to be seen at Carnavalet, in that most interesting salle—the Bastille-room. It had eight towers each 23 mètres high, each with its distinct name and use. White lines in the pavement of the place show where some of its walls, some of its towers rose, houses stand upon the site of others. The great military citadel became a regular prison in the time of Charles VI—a military prison, though civilians were from the first shut up there from time to time. Aubriot himself was put there by the mob, to be quickly released by the King. Under Richelieu it became a State prison, the prison of lettres de cachet notoriety. The Revolutionists attacked it in the idea that untold harshness, cruelty, injustice dominated there. As a matter of fact, the Bastille was for years rather a luxurious place of retirement for persons who themselves wished or were desired by others to lie low for a time, than a fort of durance vile. The last governor, M. de Launay, in particular, was generous and kind even to the humblest of those placed beneath his rule. And we know the attacking mob found seven prisoners only—two madmen, the others acknowledged criminals. M. de Launay was massacred nevertheless. The Revolutionists seized all the arms they could find, a goodly store; the walls were razed soon afterwards and a board put up with the words “Ici on dance.” In reality the attack upon the Bastille was a milder under-taking than is generally supposed, and its entire destruction took place later on in quite a business-like way by a contractor.
LA BASTILLE
The place was finished in 1803. The Colonne de Juillet we see there dates from 1831. The bones of the victims of the two minor Revolutions (1830-48) are beneath it. Louis Philippe’s throne was burnt before it in 1848.
CHAPTER XV
IN THE VICINITY OF TWO ANCIENT CHURCHES
ARRONDISSEMENT V. PANTHÉON. RIVE GAUCHE (LEFT BANK)
CROSSING the Seine by the Pont St-Michel we reach Place St-Michel, of which we will speak in another chapter, as it lies chiefly in arrondissement VI. Turning to the east, we come upon two of the oldest and most interesting of Paris churches and a very network of ancient streets, sordid enough some of them, but emphatically characteristic. Rue de la Huchette dates from the twelfth century; there in olden days two very opposite classes plied their trade:—the rotisseurs—turnspits, and the diamond cutters. The old street is still of some renown in the district for good cooking in the few restaurants of a humble order that remain. The erewhile Bouillon de la Huchette is now a bal. Once upon a time Ambassadors dined at l’hôtellerie de l’Ange in this old street. And the name “Le Petit Caporal” tells its own tale. There Buonaparte, friendless and penniless, lodged in the street’s decadent days. Rue Zacharie, dark and narrow between its tall old houses, dates back to the twelfth or early thirteenth century. Rue du Chat qui Pêche, less ancient (sixteenth century), is a mere pathway between high walls. From Rue Zacharie we turn into Rue St-Séverin, one of the most ancient of ancient streets. Many traces of past ages still remain despite the demolition of old houses around the beautiful old church we see before us, and subterranean passages run beneath the soil. At No. 26 and again at No. 4 we see the name of the street, the word Saint obliterated by the Revolutionists. The church porch gives on Rue de Prêtres-St-Séverin—thirteenth century. It was brought here from the thirteenth-century church St-Pierre-aux-Bœufs, razed in 1837. Till then the entrance had been the old door, Rue St-Séverin, where we see still the words, half effaced: “Bonne gens, qui par cy passées, priez Dieu pour les trepassés,” and the figures of two lions, once on the church steps, where the Clergy of the parish were wont of yore to administer justice: hence the phrase “Datum inter leones.” The church was built in the twelfth century, on the site of a chapel erected in the days of Childebert, over the tomb of Séverin, the hermit. Thrice restored, partially rebuilt, the beautiful edifice shows Gothic architecture in its three stages: primitive: porch, side door, three bays; rayonnant: the tower and part of the nave and side aisle; flamboyant: chancel and the splendid apse. Glorious stained glass, beautiful frescoes—modern, the work of Flandrin, fine statues surround us here. A striking feature is the host of votive offerings, some a mere slab a few inches in size with the simple word “Merci” and a date. Many refer to the successful passing of examinations, for we are in the vicinity of the University. The presbytery and its garden cover what was once the graveyard. Some of the old charniers still remain.
RUE ST-SÉVERIN