Female Agency and Early Modern Urbanism The Paris of Maria de' Medici

摘要

I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood. And it has happened to me in this as happens with excellent things: the more other beautiful cities I have seen since, the more the beauty of Paris has power over me and wins my affection. I love her for herself, and more in her own essence than overloaded with foreign pomp. I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am a Frenchman only by this great city: great in population, great in the felicity of her situation, but above all great and incomparable in variety and diversity of the good things of life; the glory of France, and one of the noblest ornaments of the world.