Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
Returning to the vicinity of St-Pierre and the Sacré-Cœur, we find
numerous short streets, generally narrow and tortuous, which retain
their old-world aspect. Rue St-Eleuthère is one of the most ancient. Rue
St-Rustique formerly Rue des Dames, Rue Ravignan once Rue du
Vieux-Chemin, Rue Cortot, Rue Norvins, Rue des Saules, are all
seventeenth-century thoroughfares. Rue Norvins was Rue des Moulins in
bygone days. No. 23 was a far-famed _folie_, then, in 1820, the
celebrated Dr. Blanche founded there his first asylum for the insane,
many of whom he cured. At No. 9 we come to an old house and alley, the
_impasse_ Trainée, a name recalling the days when Montmartre was, in
wintry weather, a wolf-haunted district: a _trainée_ is a wolf-trap. The
inn at No. 6 was in the past a resort of singers in search of an
engagement: the impecunious could bring food to eat there. On the Place
du Tertre two trees of liberty were planted in 1848, felled in 1871. No.
3 is the site of the first Mairie of Montmartre. Passing along Rue du
Calvaire we come to the rustic Place du Calvaire, erewhile Place
Ste-Marie.
A very chief interest at Montmartre is the view. It is best obtained
from the Belvedere built by baron de Vaux at No. 39 Rue Gabrielle, and
from the Moulin de la Galette reached through Rue des Trois-Frères. Rue
de la Mire was in olden days Petite Rue des Moulins. The steps we see
are said to have been put there for the passage of cattle.
The cellars of the house at No. 7, Rue la Vieuville are vestiges of the
ancient abbey. Place des Abbesses was erewhile Rue de l’Abbaye. On the
ancient _place_ we find the most modern and most modern-style church in
Paris, St-Jean l’Evangeliste, built of concrete. The Passage des
Abbesses leads by an old flight of steps to Rue des Trois-Frères, a
modern street. Rue Lepic, for some years after its formation Rue de
l’Empereur (Napoléon III), was renamed in memory of the General who
defended the district in 1814. Numerous old streets are connected with
it. Avenue des Tilleuls recalls the days when lime-trees flourished
there, the lime-trees memorized in Alphonse Karr’s novel _Sous les
Tilleuls_. In the Square where it ends is an eighteenth-century house
where François Coppée dwelt as a boy. The severely wall-enclosed _hôtel_
at No. 72 was the home of the artist Ziem. Close here is the entrance to
the Moulin de la Galette. At the top of the house No. 100 there is an
astronomical observatory set up under Napoléon III. The Rue Girardon, a
rural pathway in the seventeenth century, was known later as Rue des
Brouillards, the point no doubt from which the city lying below was to
be seen fog-enveloped, as is not unfrequently the case. The old house
No. 13 goes by the name le Château des Brouillards. In the _impasse_ at
No. 5 stood in ancient days the Fontaine St-Denis. Its waters were of
great repute, assuring, it was said, in women who drank them, the virtue
of conjugal fidelity. And here through the short street Rue des
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