THE LATIN QUARTER

Evening Star, Issue 22953, 10 May 1938, Page 6

THE LATIN QUARTER

HOW IT GOT ITS NAME Many visitors to Paris wonder how " that quarter of Paris famous for its- - thousands of students came by its name of the Latin Quarter. The Latin ; Quarter lies on the left bank of the Seine, opposite the cathedral of NolreDame, and spreads: up to the height-”, on which the Pantheon standi, its centre being the famous Sorhonna ; University, attended by students from, . all parte of the world. This university, . one of the oldest in Europe, was- wellknown in the middle ages, and as its ~ students even ' then were .not ■ only ( . French but of all nationalities Latin f was the common language of instruction. Hence the name “ The Latin Quarter.” ; r _ Students ever have been known f0r.,," their gaiety, and those of the -Latin!,. Quarter of to-day are no exception,. But the students of old would . nropk'.' no, outsiders,, and .when one did get, among them and join in their revels he was quickly discovered by his in- ; ability to speak Latin, when he was. unceremoniously ejected,. not by;, tha - door, but by the window.' i : ,• If less boisterous than in the latter'half of last century,, the students to-day • are non the less a merry crowd, and when the hours of study are over - they , may bo- seen crowding the cafes, of tha . boulevard St. Michel and neighbourhood, though heavy drinking is urnknown. ■ Occasionally they, play theiev practical jokes, occasionally demon-, strata noisily against some professor : or other, but rarely give the.police any; , more trouble than a request to move on„ : The Latin Quarter is .full .of interesting monuments and souvenirs of tha past. A Rue des Anglais, and a Rue - des Irlandais commemorate the days when English and Irish students were numerous. The College of Ste. Barbe, close bv the Pantheon, claims as one of its students of 1577 the famous scholar - James Crichton, the “ Admirable Crichton.” Next to the Pantheon is the Bibliotheque St. Genevieve, on- the exterior, wall of which are inscribed the name* 1 of the great philosophers and writers of the world, among the English names being those of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Locke, Newton, and Darwin.

The students of to-day, have little inclination for the dancing’ halls,- which! have almost entirely disappeared, their V places being taken by cinemas. There are one or two cabarets in the Latin. Quarter, ‘ but these, too, seem rather , to be, favoured by;• the visitor than' tbe student' One of these, Les Oubliettes, is below ground, just behind the church!; of St Ju’ien Le Pauvre, where - after - descending a flight of winding steps the ‘visitor finds himself -in a. - long cellar. On a small stage : there are six-, performers and a piano to entertainhim. But the Oubliettes has a tradition, almost a mission* for here - only the songs of France of the past 1 are sung, one evening , devoted, to •: soldier’s sen -chanr u.s, ( another' Songs'- praising- wine; and-? another Id' songs of the .Revolution*"".