The Odéon 290 The Comédie Française about 1785 290 “The Convention,” by Sicard 308 Rue de Rivoli 326 Triumphal Arch of the Carrousel 330 Triumphal Arch of the Star 330 Napoleon’s Tomb 336 The Bourse 346 Church of the Madeleine 346 The Successive Walls of Paris _between_ 366 _and_ 367 The Strasbourg Statue 360 The Eiffel Tower 360 The New Louvre 370 Hôtel de Ville 374 Mairie of the Arrondissement of the Temple 376 Salle des Fêtes, Hôtel de Ville 376 Portions of the Louvre built by Francis I, Henry II, and Louis XIII 378 Colonnade, East End of Louvre, built by Louis XIV 378 Section of Louvre begun by Henry IV 380 Northwest Wing of Louvre, built by Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, and Napoleon III 380 Plan of the Louvre _page_ 382 [Illustration: Map of Paris] _Twenty Centuries of Paris_ CHAPTER I EARLIEST PARIS France has been inhabited since the days when prehistoric man unconsciously told the story of his life through the medium of the household utensils and the implements of war which he left behind him in the caves in which he dwelt, or which his considerate relatives buried with him to make his sojourn easy in the land beyond the grave. From bits of bone, of flint, and of polished stone archæologists have reconstructed the man himself and his activities through the early ages. Of contemporary information, however, there is none until the adventurous peoples of the Mediterranean pushed their way as traders and explorers into the heart of Gaul, and then wrote about their discoveries. The Gauls, they said, were largely Celtic in origin and had displaced an earlier race, the Iberians, whom they had crowded to the southwest. They were brave, loyal, superstitious, and subject to their priests, the Druids. Their dress showed that they had made great advance in knowledge over the cave men, for they wore colored tunics--which meant that they knew how to spin and weave and dye--and brazen helmets and shields and gold and silver girdles--which meant that they could work in metal.