Divided as Paris is by the Seine, it seldom happens that one has not occasion to cross it more than once in the course of the day. I shall therefore make you acquainted with the bridges which connect to its banks the islands situated in that part of the river I have not yet described. Being out of my general track, I might otherwise forget to make any further mention of them, which would be a manifest omission, now you have before you the Plan of Paris. We will also embrace the opportunity of visiting the _Palais de Justice_ and the Cathedral of _Notre-Dame_. East of the _Pont-Neuf_, we first arrive at the PONT AU CHANGE. This bridge, which leads from the north bank of the Seine to the _Ile du Palais_, is one of the most ancient in Paris. Though, like all those of which I have now to speak, it crosses but one channel of the river, it was called the _Grand Pont_, till the year 1141, when it acquired its present name on Lewis VII establishing here all the money-changers of Paris. It was also called _Pont aux Oiseaux_, because bird-sellers were permitted to carry on their business here, on condition of letting loose two hundred dozen of birds, at the moment when kings and queens passed, in their way to the cathedral, on the day of their public entry. By this custom, it was intended to signify that, if the people had been oppressed in the preceding reign, their rights, privileges, and liberties would be fully re-established under the new monarch. On the public entry of Isabeau de Bavière, wife of Charles VI, a Genoese stretched a rope from the top of the towers of _Notre-Dame_ to one of the houses on this bridge: he thence descended, dancing on this rope, with a lighted torch in each hand. Habited as an angel, he placed a crown on the head of the new queen, and reascending his rope, he appeared again in the air. The chronicle adds that, as it was already dark, he was seen by all Paris and the environs. This bridge was then of wood, and covered with houses also of wood. Two fires, one of which happened in 1621, and the other in 1639, occasioned it to be rebuilt of stone in 1647. The _Pont au Change_ consists of seven arches. Previously to the demolition of the houses, which, till 1786, stood on each side of this bridge, the passage was sufficiently wide for three carriages. Traversing the _Ile du Palais_ from north to south, in order to proceed from the _Pont au Change_ to the _Pont St. Michel_, we pass in front of the PALAIS DE JUSTICE.