In 1285 Philippe the Fair, so named on account of his handsome person, succeeded to the throne of his father; in his ardent thirst for money he changed the value of the coinage three times, and caused a riot which ended by his hanging twenty-eight of the conspirators at the different entrances of Paris, and had numbers of persons accused of crimes in order to have them executed that he might obtain possession of their property; thus hundreds were burned alive and tortured in various manners. One act, however, threw a degree of lustre on his reign, and that was the organisation of the Parliament at Paris, establishing it as a sovereign court, their sittings being held in the Palais de Justice, the residence at that period of the kings of France. For several succeeding reigns Paris appeared to make but little progress; some churches were built as also other establishments, but none which are now standing, except some portions of them which may have escaped destruction and are now in the occupation of different tradespeople. The government became exceedingly poor, and several measures were adopted in order to repair the finances of the state; amongst others, that of suffering serfs to purchase their emancipation, of which many availed themselves, but not sufficient effectually to replenish the exhausted treasury. For the same reason the property of the Lombards was confiscated, next recourse was had to the Jews, and even the exactions imposed upon them were inadequate to the wants of the nation. The succession of several weak kings had brought affairs into this state, when Philippe the Sixth of Valois crowned the misfortunes of the country by entering into a war with England, at a time when the funds of his kingdom were at the lowest ebb; constantly engaged in hostilities, he had not leisure or the means of attending to the welfare of the Parisians, and the disasters he encountered caused his reign to be remembered as a series of misfortunes. Several colleges, however, were founded in his reign; amongst others, that of the Collége des Ecossais (Scotch College) then in the Rue des Amandiers, but now existing in the Rue des Fossés St. Victor. It was first instituted by David, Bishop of Murray, in Scotland, but the present building was erected by Robert Barclay in 1662.
The Collége des Lombards was founded by a number of Italians, and was some years afterwards deserted, but in 1633 was given by the government to two Irish priests, and has from that period become an Irish seminary; and several other colleges, which have either been abandoned or their locality changed, and often united to other colleges, some of which are still existing. On the death of Philippe, John, surnamed the Good, ascended a throne of trouble in 1350, and encountered a succession of misfortunes of which Paris had its share; from the immense number of churches, monasteries, colleges, hospitals, and other public edifices, the wall which surrounded Paris, built by Philippe-Auguste, enclosed too limited a space to contain the houses of the increased population, which continued to augment, notwithstanding all the impediments which bad government could create. A more extended wall therefore became necessary to protect those inhabitants who resided beyond the limits of the first, and whose position was likely to be compromised by the position in which France was placed by the battle of Poitiers, by a band of ruffians called the Companions, who carried desolation wherever they appeared, and by what was termed La Jacquerie, hordes of peasants who were armed and levied contributions upon the peaceable inhabitants as they traversed the country, in groups too numerous to be withstood by the tranquil residents. The extension of the wall was erected under the superintendence of Etienne Marcel, called Prévôt des Marchands; what might be termed Mayor or Chief Magistrate of the tradespeople, a man of extraordinary energy, which he exerted to the utmost for the benefit of his fellow citizens, and at this period first began the custom of putting chains at night across the streets as a measure of security, as notwithstanding that Paris was menaced on all sides by enemies from without, insurrections of the most violent nature took place within its walls, commencing on account of the Dauphin, who was governor of Paris and regent of the kingdom (in consequence of the imprisonment of his father John in England), issuing a coinage consisting of base metal which he was compelled to recall; but the fire-brand was kindled, other grievances were mooted, thirty thousand armed Parisians assembled headed by Etienne Marcel, who himself stabbed Robert de Clermont, Marshal of Normandy, and Jean de Conflans, Marshal of Champagne, in the presence of the Dauphin; but to save the latter from the fury of the people, Marcel changed hats with the Prince, thus affording him a passport, by causing him to wear a hat that bore the colours of the people, blue and red. After a tremendous slaughter, Marcel and his principal friends were themselves dispatched by the partisans of the Dauphin. During all these convulsions in the interior of Paris, it was surrounded on one side by the troops of the King of Navarre, whilst the forces of the Dauphin were hovering under the walls, the different parties skirmishing with each other, and all living upon the pillage and contributions levied on the inhabitants of the adjacent country.
Meantime famine thinned the population of Paris, cut off from any means of receiving provisions from without; but on account of the wall constructed by Marcel, Edward III of England found it impossible to make any progress in the siege, and having exhausted the country for some leagues of extent, was obliged to retreat for want of food to maintain his army. The scarcity of money was such in Paris at that period, that they were compelled to have a circulation of leather coin, with a little nail of gold or silver stuck in the middle; yet when John returned from his captivity in England, the streets were hung with carpets wherever he had to pass, and a cloth of gold borne over his head, the fountains poured forth wine, and the city made him a present of a silver buffet weighing a thousand marcs. At this period schools existed in Paris sanctioned by the government, when the pay for each scholar was so contemptible that they must have been for the use of the middle classes, whose means were very confined; they were called Petites Écoles (Little Schools), and paid a certain sum for having the privilege to teach; the number in the reign of John was sixty-three, of which forty-one were under masters, and twenty-two under mistresses. In some of the streets of Paris it was the custom to have two large doors or gates, which were closed at night, and the names of several streets still bear evidence of that practice, as the Rue des deux Portes; the Rue des Deux-Portes-Saint-Jean, des Deux-Portes-Saint-Sauveur, etc.
During the reign of John, about 1350, a poem appeared, which contained advice as to the conduct ladies ought to observe who wished to act with propriety, and as my fair countrywomen are generally willing to listen to good counsel, no matter how remote the period from which it is derived, I cannot resist giving them the benefit of some of the recommendations of the sapient poet to the Parisian belles, some of which are certainly highly commendable. The verses were written by a monk, whose name I have forgotten.
"In walking to church never trot or run, salute those you meet upon the way, and even return the salutations