Nothing is more relative than an impression felt. To certain minds in love with the Past, this or that ruin is much more affecting than the most modern palace; it is the same with streets, houses, and pavements. An exquisite hour to call up the soul of old Paris is at twilight. The colour peculiar to each object has melted into the general shades and tints spread by the day which is departing and the night which comes. Delicate lace-work outlines stand out against the sky, while huge violet, black, and blue masses of atmosphere bathe whole streets in fathomless mystery. Then thought awakens, souvenirs revive and grow clear; scenes are lived through again of which these streets and houses were the silent witnesses. One hears cries of fury or of joy; drums beat, bells ring, groups pass singing 'mid these dream visions that rise again! In order to enjoy such an experience no better spot could be chosen than the Stockade Bridge, which, with its barrier of black beams, as it were shuts off to the east Paris of the olden days. The City slumbers in the calm of evening, the smoke curls lazily up. Afar sound bells; swallows sweep crying in the air embalmed by falling night; noises ascend vague and weird, interpreted according to the fancy of one's musings. All life seems to sleep; the soul of the past awakes. It is the hour desired. [Illustration: THE CONSTANTINE BRIDGE AND STOCKADE _Etching by Martial_] FOOTNOTES: [1] There is a pun here in the French impossible to render in English. [2] Manon Lescaut. [Illustration: THE PONT ROYAL IN 1800 _Boilly, pinxit_ (Carnavalet Museum)] THE RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER The Arsenal quarter, built over the site of the two Royal Palaces--the Saint-Paul mansion, the Tournelles palace--and the soil of the Louviers Isle, joined to the river bank in 1843, serve as a natural transition from the old to modern Paris. [Illustration: THE LESDIGUIÈRES MANSION]