Notre Dame was within comparatively recent times surrounded with streets so narrow that vehicular traffic was impossible. Amongst the most characteristic were the Rue de Glatigny and the Rue de Marmousets, which, as late as 1865, preserved the dimensions, and something of the aspect, of a side street in the middle ages. The quartier thus intersected literally teemed with churches of which nothing remains. Amongst them perhaps the most important were those dedicated to Saint-Landry, Sainte-GeneviÈve des Ardents, Saint-Pierre aux Boeufs, Saint-Aguan, Saint-Marine, Saint-Luc, Saint-Jean le Rond, Saint-Denis au Pays and Saint-Christophe. None of them appear to have been large, and of some the origin and history remain obscure.

On the south side of the Cathedral stood the Palais Episcopal, which was constructed by Maurice de Sully and added to by Matiffas de Bucy and other prelates. On Feb. 14th, 1831, it was attacked by the mob, and five hours sufficed for its complete destruction. The contents included a library of 20,000 volumes, a collection of 1,500 manuscripts, those of the ancient archives of the church, which escaped the Revolutionists, a fine collection of pictures, and priceless works of art of an ecclesiastical character. These were thrown into the Seine, burned, or stolen.

The CloÎtre or Cloister of Notre Dame was on the north side and at the east end of the church. It is difficult to say what was its early aspect, but in the sixteenth century and afterwards it in no way resembled the cloister of a monastery, but consisted of an agglomeration of separate houses. It was in the nature of a College of Secular Canons. It was similar to the Temple in London in that it possessed gates of its own, which shut it off from the rest of the city. The Cloister contained thirty-seven houses for the canons of the Cathedral, who were allowed to have living with them their near female relatives. No other women, lay or religious, were allowed to sleep in the cloister. The tedious Rue du CloÎtre Notre-Dame occupies a portion of the space on which the Cloister stood.

The Sacristy was formerly a part of the Palais Episcopal. It had been rebuilt by Soufflot, whose work was partially destroyed in 1831. A new sacristy has been constructed by Viollet-le-Duc in the style of the thirteenth century. The exterior is richly ornamented with statues and pinnacles. It communicates with the south ambulatory of the choir by means of two covered passages, one of which leads into the Sacristie du Chapitre, which contains a large hall, the room of the Chapter above, which is the cathedral treasury, and a vestry for the canons. The great hall has stained glass windows in which bishops of Paris are represented.

It contains a crucifix and two statuettes by Corbon, a fine armoire decorated with paintings of scenes in the life of St. Denis. There are pictures in various parts of the building by Vaulos, Salvator Rosa, Lebrun, Louis Testelin, Charles Poerson and others, but none of them are of much note. A picturesque little cloister, with a fountain in the middle surmounted by a crucifix, is one of the agreeable features of the building. Its eastern arcade is glazed, the windows representing scenes in the life of Ste. GeneviÈve.

The Treasury, once endowed with enormous riches, was despoiled at the Revolution of all but a few objects of value. There still remains the reputed Crown of Thorns (supposed to have been given to St. Louis), brought hither from La Sainte Chapelle. The so-called Nail of the True Cross formerly belonged to the royal abbey of St. Denis. These relics are only exposed on Fridays in Lent. The reliquaries are for the most part imitations of those which were formerly in La Sainte Chapelle. Perhaps the most interesting of the objects exhibited is a gold cross, probably of twelfth-century workmanship. It belonged to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, and was bequeathed by the Princess Anne de Gonzague to the church of St. Germain des PrÉs in 1863. In addition there are the relic of the True Cross sent to Bishop Galon in 1109, from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; the “discipline” of St. Louis; the crozier in copper and wood of Bishop Eudes de Sully; the crucifix used by St. Vincent-de-Paul at the death-bed of Louis XIII.; the pastoral cross of Archbishop Affre; a silver image of the Virgin and Child presented in 1821 by Charles X.; the ostensoir given by Napoleon I., and services of plate presented by the same monarch and by Napoleon III. The vestments are very magnificent, and include the coronation mantle of Napoleon I. and the chasuble worn by Pope Pius VI. when he crowned him. The soutanes worn by Archbishops Affre, Sibour, and Darboy in their last moments, marked by the instruments which produced their violent deaths, have a tragic interest.

The somewhat obtrusively picturesque modern building to the west of the Sacristy is known as the PresbytÈre. It has been often ridiculed, and at times rather fiercely denounced, but if any building was to be erected on the site, it seems difficult to imagine anything less offensive. It is pleasing and unpretentious, and contrasts only too favourably with the dull houses of the Rue du CloÎtre Notre-Dame, which are as undistinguished as they well can be.

The space at the back of the Cathedral is laid out as a garden. This is modern and somewhat formal, but it affords a fine view of the east end, and constitutes a welcome oasis of trees and grass in a grey waste of commonplace buildings. In the centre is a fountain with a statue of the Virgin and Child, and fragments of sculpture and carving taken from the church at different times lie about. The reader who wishes to understand at a glance the various changes which have taken place in that part of the French metropolis which lies in the very shadow of the cathedral should refer to the second volume of the magnificent work Paris À travers les Ages, in which a plan of the district in 1881 is compared with conjectural plans of the same in the years 1150, 1550, and 1750.

The huge open space west of the cathedral is the Place du Parvis Notre-Dame. This oblong place far exceeds the church itself in area, and gives to the west front a somewhat dwarfed appearance. On the left-hand side (looking east) is the vast Hotel Dieu, the modern name of the hospital, known as the Maison Dieu, which for centuries has been associated with Notre Dame. The present building was only completed in 1877. It is from the designs of M. Diet, and is by no means of an ornamental character, although the total cost was 36,400,000 francs. On the west side of the Place du Parvis are the barracks of the Garde Republicaine. Close to them is one of those open-air flower markets which are so charming and characteristic a feature of the Paris of to-day.