Imperial Paris.

"Years ago , when the North London Railway was commenced , it was fully determined that some system of encircling the metropolis by the iron road should be carried out . This is not done yet ; but here , at Paris , they haA - e literally put a complete girdle round the city , in the shape of the ceinture railway , some twenty miles

in length , which is nearly complete . The stagnant waters of the old Canal de l'Ouroq , and the clumsy barges Avhich were scarcely tolerable in so large a city—how were these evils to be got rid of , and the useful canal spared ? A bold and simple method was adopted , and the whole arched over like a tunnel ; and the visitor AA'ho drives

down the splendid new Boulevard Prince Eugene ( Beauharnais , of course—not Marlborough ' s friend ) little thinks that huge cargoes of stone and floats of timber are gliding under his feet , while trees are groAving over the heads of the sturdy blue-clad bargemen .

" Now , it will be asked , how does the land let for building ? You may provide a feast , and none may come to feast ; you may make streets , and none come to build . Such is not the case in Paris . Houses are springing up in e \ ery direction , as if by enchantment . The majority of the dwellings are generally considered to be

constructed on too expensive a scale ; that is to say , there are many thousands of the modern houses for Avhich an apartment on the first floor will cost the tenant from 3 , 000 fr . tol 0 , 000 fr ., or even 15 , 000 fr ., per annum , exclusive of taxes ( from £ 120 to £ 600 a year ) , and these suites of apartments are not in the most fashionable

localities of Paris . The general impression is that there are too many expensive large apartments , and too few to accommodate a class of tenants Avhose incomes may range from £ 300 to £ 800 a year . "I observed on going down tho Boulevard Malesherbos and other important streets of modern Paris , that

many first and second floors are to let , and I hear from practical people that they are not likely to be occupied unless they are to be subdivided so as to meet the purses of the majority of tenants .

"In my last letter I described the general renaissance character of the white stone buildings of Paris . This does not appear to have been materially departed from during the last two years . Perhaps there may be a little more ornament , but this is not the wild , spasmodic sensational stuff Ave get in London , but , if possible , is

more delicate and refined than before . The entrancedoors , in particular , are perfect models of design . From the architectural dressings down to the elegant handles by Avhich they are closed , all is subject of thought and taste . As a proof that building iu Paris , as regards apartments of moderate size , is not overdone , the rents

of smaller suites of rooms have actually increased in value of late . Taxes , however , are nominally lighter , for the landowner generally paj's the city lighting and paving dues ; but a curious impost—a mixture of the real and personal—a sort of income-tax—is levied on the tenant , called the mobilier or furniture tax , which is a

sort of por-centage ou the rent . One tax , however , which Avould be most hateful to the Londoner , really falls heavily on the tenant—the octroi on all sorts of food . The Londoner grumbles at the City dues ou coals ;

what would he say to such a municipal duty on bis butter , his bacon , his eggs , his everything he eats or drinks P However , so it is here . "To return ; the principal streets UOAV in progress are the Avenue de Yincennes , leading from the Place de la Bastille ; the Boulevard St . G-ormain , from that of

Sebastopol to the Halles aux Yins ; the Rue Feuillantain , by the Pantheon ; the Rue Turbige , from the Halles Oentrale to the Faubourg du Temple ; the new streets round the Grand Opera ; the continuation of the Boulevard Magenta ; the Avenue de l'Alma , leading from the Ohamps-Elysces across the river to the Champ de

Mars ; and the new Avenue du Roi de Rome . " The projected lines are a fine system between the Observatoire and the Salpetriere , branching from a point near the Gobelins ; the new Boulevards des Amandiers , leading from that of St . Martin to the cemetery of Pero la Chaise ; the continuation of the Rue La Fayette

to tho Grand Opera ; a boulevard running northward from the Etoile des Champs Elysees to the Pare Monceaux ; the continuation of the Avenue do 1 'Emporeur to the Pont de l'Alma , and a fine street from the Rue de Rennes to the Quai Oonti .

"These new streets are most judiciously planned . They are all intended to radiate from , and terminate in ,, great central points . The system is the very reverse of that of the Quaker cities in America , Avhere one must go round two sides of a square ( pardon the apparent blander , but no other phrase can express it ) to got to

the opposite corner . This system of plan has here the additional merit of affording the opportunity of laying out the centres as grandes places , etoiles , sites for columns , statues , gardens , fountains , and for a better class of houses than the main streets themselves . "No difficulties are allowed to stand in the way of

this system of direct lines . The hills about Passy , and the Batignolles , Avhere a short time ago the Parisian cockneys used to ramble and talk of pastoral life , are fairly levelled if they stand in the way . At present , on the line of tho Avenue du Roi de Rome , the road is in a cutting where the bank stands up some twenty feet above the footpath . No matter , the earth will be wanted

to fill up elsewhere , and will soon disappear as if by the wand of the magician . "Years ago Lincohi ' s-inn and Leicester-square were in 'the fields . ' Pancras was a country walk ; Highgate and Hampstead almost a journey . At the time when its author wrote the ' Yoyage de Paris a St . Cloud , ' he

made his hero hurst into vivid apostrophes when ' setting sail' in 'the briny ocean' —that is , getting into the little steamer at the Pont de la Concorde , Avhere the river is about half "the width that ours is at Battersea . ' Beloved Passy , ' says the still most loved Issy , ' adorable Yaugirard , in whose pastoral groves these feet have

strayed iu innocence—farewell ! Should I escape the treacherous ocean , and the anger of the tempest , Avith what feelings shall I revisit thee ! ' The brick and mortar king , or rather stone or mortar , has run o \ er all the neighbourhood , and there is no more pastorality there than there is in Belgrave-square or in Goodman's-fields . " As to the national building , the Grand Opera is gra >