Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) Every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. Some typographical errors have been corrected. (a list follows the text.) No attempt has been made to correct or normalize all of the printed accentuation of names or words in French. (etext transcriberâs note) HISTORIC PARIS BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE STORY OF THE CHURCHES OF PARIS [Illustration: LA TOUR DE LâHORLOGE, LES âTOURS POINTUESâ DE LA CONCIERGERIE ET LE MARCHÃ AUX FLEURS _Frontispiece_] HISTORIC PARIS BY JETTA S. WOLFF WITH FIFTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LIMITED NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXXI _The Mayflower Press, Plymouth, England._ William Brendon & Son, Ltd. TO LA FRANCE THE BEAUTIFUL--THE VALOROUS PREFACE This book, begun many years ago, was laid aside under the stress of other work, which did not, however, hinder the sedulous amassing of notes during my long and continuous residence in Paris. The appearance of the Marquis de Rochegudeâs exhaustive work, on somewhat the same lines in a more extensive compass, took me by surprise, and I thought for a moment that it would render my book superfluous. The vast concourse of English-speaking people brought hither by the great war, people keen to learn the history of the beautiful old buildings they find here on every side, made me understand that an English book of relatively small compass was needed, and I set to work to finish the volume planned and begun so long ago. I had made the personal acquaintance and consequent notes of most of the ancient âStones of Parisâ before looking up published notes concerning them. When such notes were looked up, I can only say their sources were far too numerous and too scattered to be recorded here. I must beg every one who may have published anything worth while on Old Paris to receive my thanks, for I have doubtless read their writings with interest and benefit. But I must offer special thanks to M. de Rochegude, for--writing under pressure to get the book ready for press--his work as a reference book, while pursuing my own investigations, has been invaluable. To my readers I would say peruse what I have written, but use your own eyes, your own keen observation for learning much more than could be noted here. Look into every courtyard in the ancient quarters, look attentively at every dwelling along the old winding streets, and fail not to look up to their roofs. The roofs are never alike. They are strikingly picturesque. Old world builders did not work mechanically, did not raise streets in machine-like style, each structure exactly like its neighbour, one street barely distinguishable from the street running parallel or crossing it, according to the habit of to-day. The builders of _les jours dâantan_ loved their craft; every single house gave scope for some artistic trait. The roofs offered a fine field for architectural ingenuity: wonderfully planned windows, chimneys, balconies, gables are to be seen on the roofs often in most unexpected corners, in every part of the _Vieux Paris_. Look up!--I cannot urge this too strongly. And within every old _hÃ´tel_--the French term for private house or mansion--examine each staircase. In the erection of a staircase the architect of past ages found grand scope for graceful lines, and exquisite workmanship. Thus walks even through the dimmest corners of _la Ville LumiÃ¨re_ will be for lovers of old-time vestiges a joy for ever. This was an iconoclastic age even before the destructiveness of the awful war just over. Precious architectural and historical relics were swept away to make room for brand-new buildings. As it has been impossible during the past months to verify in every instance the up-to-date accuracy of notes made previously, it is probable that some old structures referred to in these pages as still standing may no longer be found on the spot indicated. But whether in such cases their site be now an empty space, or occupied by newly built walls, it cannot fail to be interesting as the site where a vanished historic structure stood erewhile. JETTA SOPHIA WOLFF. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THREE PALACES 1 II. AMONG OLD STREETS 22 III. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE GREAT MARKETS 35 IV. THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE 45 V. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE BIBLIOTHÃQUE NATIONALE 51 VI. ROUND ABOUT ARTS ET MÃTIERS (THE ARTS AND CRAFTS INSTITUTION) 62 VII. THE TEMPLE 70 VIII. THE HOME OF MADAME DE SÃVIGNÃ 81 IX. NOTRE-DAME 86 X. LâÃLE ST-LOUIS 92 XI. LâHÃTEL DE VILLE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 94 XII. THE OLD QUARTIER ST-POL 112 XIII. La Place des Vosges 119 XIV. The Bastille 123 XV. In the Vicinity of Two Ancient Churches 126 XVI. In the Region of the Schools 137 XVII. La Montagne Ste-GeneviÃ¨ve 144 XVIII. IN THE VALLEY OF THE BIÃVRE 149 XIX. RUE ST-JACQUES 152 XX. LE JARDIN DES PLANTES 155 XXI. THE LUXEMBOURG 162 XXII. LES CARMES 168 XXIII. ON ANCIENT ABBEY GROUND 170 XXIV. IN THE VICINITY OF PLACE ST-MICHEL 181 XXV. LâODÃON 184 XXVI. ROUND ABOUT THE CARREFOUR DE LA CROIX-ROUGE 186 XXVII. HÃTEL DES INVALIDES 190 XXVIII. OLD-TIME MANSIONS OF THE RIVE GAUCHE 194 XXIX. ANCIENT STREETS OF THE FAUBOURG SAINT-GERMAIN 203 XXX. THE MADELEINE AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 208 XXXI. LES CHAMPS-ÃLYSÃES 213 XXXII. FAUBOURG ST-HONORÃ 216 XXXIII. PARC MONCEAU 221 XXXIV. IN THE VICINITY OF THE OPERA 223 XXXV. ON THE WAY TO MONTMARTRE 227 XXXVI. ON THE SLOPES OF THE _BUTTE_ 232 XXXVII. THREE ANCIENT FAUBOURGS 236 XXXVIII. IN THE PARIS âEAST ENDâ 243 XXXIX. ON TRAGIC GROUND 246 XL. LES GOBELINS 251 XLI. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PORT-ROYAL 256 XLII. IN THE SOUTH-WEST 260 XLIII. IN NEWER PARIS 263 XLIV. TOWARDS THE WESTERN BOUNDARY 269 XLV. LES TERNES 276 XLVI. ON THE _BUTTE_ 278 XLVII. AMONG THE COALYARDS AND THE MEAT-MARKETS 290 XLVIII. PÃRE-LACHAISE 292 XLIX. BOULEVARDS--QUAYS--BRIDGES 297 L. LES BOULEVARDS EXTÃRIEURS 309 LI. THE QUAYS 320 LII. LES PONTS 337 ILLUSTRATIONS La Tour de LâHorloge, les âTour pointuesâ de la Conciergerie et le MarchÃ© aux Fleurs _Frontispiece_ PAGE Le Vieux Louvre 3 The Louvre of To-day 5 Palais des Tuileries 9 Palais-Royal 15 LâÃglise St-Germain-lâAuxerrois 20 Place et Colonne VendÃ´me 31 Portail de St-Eustache 37 La Tour de LâHorloge, les âTours Pointuesâ de la Conciergerie et le MarchÃ© aux Fleurs 46 La Sainte-Chapelle 48 Rue Quincampoix 63 St-Nicolas-des-Champs 65 Rue Beaubourg 67 La Porte du Temple 71 Porte de Clisson 75 Ruelle de Sourdis 77 HÃ´tel VendÃ´me, Rue BÃ©ranger 79 Notre-Dame 87 Rue Massillon 89 Place de GrÃ¨ve 95 La Tour St-Jacques 97 View across the Seine from Place du ChÃ¢telet 99 Rue Brisemiche 101 LâÃglise St-Gervais 103 HÃ´tel de Beauvais, Rue FranÃ§ois-Miron 105 Rue Vieille-du-Temple 109 Rue Ãginhard 113 Rue du PrÃ©vÃ´t 115 HÃ´tel de Sens 117 Rue de Birague, Place des Vosges 121 La Bastille 124 Rue St-SÃ©verin 127 Ãglise St-SÃ©verin 129 HÃ´tel Louis XV, Rue de la Parcheminerie 131 St-Julien-le-Pauvre 133 Bas-relief, Rue Galande 134 Le MusÃ©e de Cluny 139 St-Ãtienne-du-Mont 145 Interior of St-Ãtienne-du-Mont 147 Rue Mouffetard et St-MÃ©dard 150 Jardin et Palais du Luxembourg 163 LâAbbaye St-Germain-des-PrÃ©s 171 Cour de Rohan 179 Rue Hautefeuille 183 Castel de la Reine Blanche 253 La SalpÃ©triÃ¨re 255 Rue des Eaux, Passy 271 St-Pierre de Montmartre 281 Vieux Montmartre, Rue St-Vincent 282 Rue Mont-Cenis: Chapelle de la TrinitÃ© 283 Vieux Montmartre: Cabaret du Lapin-Agile 284 Moulin de la Galette 287 Le Mur des FÃ©dÃ©rÃ©s 295 Old Well at SalpÃ©triÃ¨re 311 CloÃ®tre de lâAbbaye de Port-Royal 315 Remains of the Convent des Capucins 317 HÃ´tel de Fieubet, Quai des CÃ©lestins 325 Quai des Grands-Augustins 333 Le Pont des Arts et lâInstitut 338 Pont-Neuf 339 HISTORIC PARIS CHAPTER I THREE PALACES THE LOUVRE The Louvre has existed on the selfsame site from the earliest days of the history of Paris and of France. It began as a rough hunting-lodge, erected in the time of the _rois fainÃ©ants_--the âdo-nothingâ kings: a primitive hut-like construction in the dark wolf-haunted forest to the north of the settlement on the islets of the Seine, called Leutekia, the city of mud, on account of its marshy situation, or Loutouchezi, the watery city, by its Gallic settlers, by the Romans Lutetia Parisiorum--the Paris of that long-gone age. The name Louvre, therefore, may possibly be derived from the Latin Word _lupus_, a wolf. More probably its origin is the old word _leouare_, whence lower, louvre: a habitation. Lutetia grew in importance, and the royal hunting-lodge in its vicinity was made into a fortress. The city of mud was soon known by the tribe name only, Parisii-Paris, and the Louvre, freed from surrounding forest trees, came within the city bounds. It was gradually enlarged and strengthened. A white circle in the big court shows the site of the famous gate between two Grosses Tours built in the time of the warrior-king Philippe-Auguste. Twelve towers of smaller dimensions were added by Charles V. Each tower had its own special battalion of soldiers. The inner chambers of each had their special use. In the Tour du TrÃ©sor, the King kept his money and portable objects of great value. In the Tour de la BibliothÃ¨que were stored the books of those days, first collected by King Charles V, and which formed the nucleus of the National Library. Charles V made many other additions and adornments, and the first clocks known in France were placed in the Louvre in the year 1370. About the same time a primitive stove--a _chauffe-poÃ«le_--was first put up there. The grounds surrounding the fortress were laid out with care, the chief garden stretching towards the north. A menagerie was built and peopled; nightingales sang in the groves. The palace became a sumptuous residence. Sovereigns from foreign lands were received by the Kings of France with great pomp in â_Notre Chastel du Louvre, oÃ¹ nous nous tenons le plus souvent quand nous sommes en notre ville de Paris_.â The Louvre was the scene of two of the most important political events of the fourteenth century. In the year 1303, when Philippe-le-Bel was King, the second meeting of that imposing assembly of barons, prelates and lesser magnates of the realm which formed, as a matter of fact, the first _Ã©tats gÃ©nÃ©raux_ took place there. In 1358, at the time of the rising known as the Jacquerie, Ãtienne Marcel, PrÃ©vÃ´t des Marchands, made the Louvre his headquarters. In the fourteenth century a King of England held his court there: Henry V, victorious after Agincourt, kept Christmas in great state in Paris at the Louvre. [Illustration: LE VIEUX LOUVRE] The royal palaces of those days, like great abbeys, were fitted with everything that was needed for their upkeep and the sustenance of their staff. Workmen, materials, provisions were at hand, all on the premises. A farm, a Court of Justice, a prison were among the most essential elements of palace buildings and domains. Yet the Louvre with its prestige and its immense accommodation was never inhabited continuously by the Kings of France, and in the sixteenth century the Palace was so completely abandoned as to be on the verge of ruin. Then FranÃ§ois I, looking forward to the state visit of the Emperor Charles-Quint, sent workmen in haste and in vast numbers to the Louvre, to repair and enlarge. Pierre Lescot, the most distinguished architect of the day, took the great task in hand. The Grosse Tour had already been razed to the ground. The ancient walls to the south and west were now knocked down. One wall of the Salle des Cariatides, and the steps leading from the underground parts of the palace to the ground floor, are all that remain of the Louvre of Philippe-Auguste. It is from this sixteenth-century restoration that the Old Louvre as we know it dates in its chief lines. Much of the work of decoration was done by Jean Goujon and by Paul Pouce, a pupil of Michael Angelo. But the Louvre nevermore stood still. Thenceforward each successive sovereign, at some period of his reign, took the palace in hand to beautify, rebuild or enlarge--sometimes, however, getting little beyond the designing of plans. Richelieu, that arch-conceiver of plans, architectural as well as political, would fain have enlarged the old palace on a very vast scale. His King, Louis XIII, laid the first stone of the Tour de lâHorloge. As soon as the wars of the Fronde were over, Louis XIV, the greatest builder of that and succeeding ages, determined to enlarge in his own grand way. An Italian architect of repute was summoned from Italy; but he and Louis did not agree, and the Italian went back to his own land. [Illustration: THE LOUVRE OF TO-DAY] The grand Colonnade, on the side facing the old church, St-Germain-lâAuxerrois, was built between the years 1667-80 by Claude Perrault. The faÃ§ade facing the quay to the south was then added. After the death of the Kingâs active statesman, Colbert, work at the Louvre stopped. The fine palace fell from its high estate. It may almost be said to have been let out in tenements. Artists, savants, men of letters, took rooms there--_logements!_ The Louvre was, as a matter of fact, no longer a royal palace. Its âdeceaseâ as a kingâs residence dates from the death of Colbert. The Colonnade was restored in 1755 by the renowned architect, Gabriel, and King Louis XVI first put forward the proposition of using the palace as a great National Museum. It was the Kingâs wish that all the best-known, most highly valued works of art in France should be collected, added to the treasures of the _Cabinet du Roi_, and placed there. The Revolutionary Government put into effect the guillotined Kingâs idea. The names of its members may be read inscribed on two black marble slabs up against the wall of the circular ante-chamber leading to the Galerie dâApollon, where are preserved and shown the ancient crown jewels of France, the beautiful enamels of Limoges and many other precious treasures once the possession of royalty. This grand gallery, planned and begun by Lebrun in the seventeenth century, is modern, built in the nineteenth century by Duban. The First Empire saw the completion of the work begun by the Revolutionists. In the time of NapolÃ©on I the marvellous collection of pictures, statuary, art treasures of every description, was duly arranged and classified. The building of the interior court was finished in 1813. On the establishment of the Second Empire, NapolÃ©on III set himself the task of completely restoring the Louvre and extending it. The Pavillon de Flore was then rebuilt, joining the ancient palace with the Tuileries, which for two previous centuries had been the habitation of French monarchs. After the disasters of 1870-71 restoration was again undertaken, but though the Tuileries had been burnt to the ground the Louvre had suffered comparatively little damage. Within its walls the Louvre has undergone drastic changes since its conversion from a royal palace to a National Museum. The Salle des FÃªtes of bygone ages has become the Salle Lacaze with its fine collection of masterpieces. What was once the Kingâs Cabinet, communicating with the south wing, where in her time Marie deâ Medici had her private rooms, is known as the Salle des Sept CheminÃ©es, filled with examples of early nineteenth-century French art. In the Salle CarrÃ©e, where Henri IV was married, and where the murderers of President Brisson met their fate by hanging--swung from the beams of the ceiling now finely vaulted--masterpieces of all the grandest epochs in art are brought together; from among them disappeared in 1911 the now regained Mona Lisa. Painting, sculpture, works of art of every kind, every age and every nation fill the great halls and galleries of the Louvre. We cannot attempt a description of its treasures here. Let all who love things of beauty, all who take pleasure in learning the wonderful results of patient work, go and see[A]. Nor can I recount here the numberless incidents, the historic happenings of which the Louvre was the scene. It is customary to point out the gilded balcony from which Charles IX is popularly supposed to have fired upon the Huguenots, or to have given the signal to fire, on that fatal night of St-Bartholemew, 1572. But the balcony was not yet there. Nor is it probable the young King fired from any other balcony or window. Shots were fired maybe from the palace by men less timorous. On the Seine side of the big court is the site of the ancient Gothic Porte Bourbon, where Admiral Coligny was first struck and Concini shot through the heart. In our own time we have the startling theft of the Joconde from the Salle CarrÃ©e, its astonishing return, and the hiding away of the treasures in the days of war, of air-raids and long-range guns and threatened invasion, to strike our imagination. âThe great black mass,â which the enemy aviator saw on approaching Paris, and knew it must be the Louvre, grand, majestic, undisturbed, is the most notable monument of Paris and of France. THE TUILERIES The Palace has gone, burnt to the ground in the war year 1870-71. The gardens alone remain, those beautiful Tuileries gardens, the brightest spot on the right bank of the Seine. Several moss-grown pillars, some remnants of broken arches, the pillars and frontal of the present Jeu de Paume and of the Orangery, are all that is left to-day of the royal dwelling that erewhile stood there. The palace was built at the end of the sixteenth century by Catherine deâ Medici to replace the ancient palace Les Tournelles, in the Place Royale, now Place des Vosges, where King Henri II had died at a festive tournament, his eye and brain pierced by the sword of his great general, Comte de Montmorency. Queen Catherine hated the sight of the palace where her husband had died thus tragically. Its destruction was decreed; and the Queen commanded the erection in its stead of the _magnifique bÃ¢timent de lâHÃ´tel royal, dit des Tuileries des Parisiens, parcequâil y avait autrefois une Tuilerie au dit lieu_. The site of that big tile-yard was in those days outside the city boundary. The architect, Philibert Delorme, set to work with great ardour. A rough road was made leading from the _bac_, i.e. the ford across the Seine, now spanned near the spot by the Pont Royal, to the quarries in the neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-des-Champs and Vaugirard, whence stone was brought. Thus was born the well-known Rue du Bac. The palace was from the first surrounded by a fine garden, separated until the time of Louis XIV from the Seine on the one side, from the palace on the other, by a _ruelle_; i.e. a narrow street, a lane. [Illustration: PALAIS DES TUILERIES] Catherine took up her abode at the new palace as soon as it was habitable; but the Queen-Mother was restless and oppressed, haunted by presentiments of evil. An astrologer had told her she would meet her death beneath the ruins of a mansion in the vicinity of the church, St-Germain-lâAuxerrois. She left her new palace, therefore, bought the site of several houses, appropriated the ground and buildings of an old convent in the neighbourhood of St-Eustache, had erected on the spot a fine dwelling: lâhÃ´tel de la Reine, known later as lâhÃ´tel de Soissons, where we see to-day the Bourse de Commerce. One column of the Queenâs palace still stands there, within it a narrow staircase up which she was wont to climb with her Italian astrologer. Meanwhile, the Tuileries palace showed no signs of ruin--quite the reverse. Catherineâs son, Charles IX, had a bastion erected in the garden on the Seine side; a small dwelling-house, a pond, an aviary, a theatre, an echo, a labyrinth, an orangery, a shrubbery were soon added. Henri IV began a gallery to join the new palace to the Louvre, a work accomplished only under Louis XIV. Under Henriâs son, Louis XIII, the Tuileries was the centre of the smart life of the day; visitors of distinction, but not of royal rank, were often entertained in royal style in the pavilion in the garden. Under Louis XIV the Kingâs renowned garden-planner, Le NÃ´tre, took in hand the spacious grounds and made of them the Jardin des Tuileries, so famous ever since. The fine statues by Coustou, Perrault, Bosi, etc., were soon set up there. The _manÃ¨ge_ was built--a club and riding-school stretching from what is now the Rue de Rivoli from the then Rue Dauphine, now Rue St-Roch, to Rue Castiglione. There the _jeunesse dorÃ©e_ of the day learned to hold in hand their fiery thoroughbreds. The cost of subscription was 4000 francs--Â£160--a year, a vast sum then. Each member was bound to have his personal servant, duly paid and fed. A swing-bridge was set across the moat on the side of the waste land, soon to become Place Louis XV, now Place de la Concorde. The Garden was not accessible to the public in those days. Until the outbreak of the Revolution, the _noblesse_ or their privileged associates alone had the right to pace its alleys. Soldiers were never permitted to walk there. Once a year only, a great occasion, its gates were thrown open to the _peuple_. A period of neglect followed upon the fine work done under Louis XIV. His successor cared nothing for the Tuileries palace and grounds. They fell into a most lamentable state; and, when in the troublous days of the year 1789, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their little son took up their abode at the Tuileries, the Dauphin looked round in disgust. âEverything is very ugly here, _maman_,â he said. It was the Paris home of the unhappy royal family thenceforth until they were led from the shelter of its walls to the Temple prison. It was from the Tuileries they made the unfortunate attempt to fly from France. Stopped at Varennes, the would-be fugitives were led back to the palace across the swing-bridge on the south-western side. Beneath the stately trees of the garden the Swiss Guards were massacred soon afterwards. The Revolutionary authorities had taken possession of the Riding-School, a band of tricolour ribbon was stretched along its frontage and the AssemblÃ©e Nationale, which had sat first in the old church, St-Pol, then at the _archevÃªchÃ©_, installed itself there. There, under successive governments, were decreed the division of France into departments, the suppression of monastic orders, the suspension of the Kingâs royal power after his flight. And there, in 1792, Louis XVI was tried, and after a sitting lasting thirty-seven hours condemned to death. The Terrace was nicknamed the Jardin National; sometimes it was called the Terre de Coblentz, a sarcastic reference to emigrated nobles who erewhile had disported there. In 1793, potatoes and other vegetables--food for the population of Paris--grew on Le NÃ´treâs flower-beds, replacing the gay blossoms of happier times, even as in our own dire war days beans, etc., are grown in the park at Versailles, and the government of the day sat in the Salle des Machines within the Palace walls. On June 7th, 1794, the Tuileries palace and gardens were the scene of a great Revolutionary fÃªte. A few months later the body of Jean-Jacques Rousseau was laid out in state in the dry _bassin_ before being carried to the PanthÃ©on. Revolutionary fÃªtes were a great feature of the day, and Robespierre, in the intervals of directing the deadly work of the Guillotine, devised the semi-circular flower-beds surrounded by stone benches for the benefit of the weak and aged who gathered at those merry-makings. Then it was NapolÃ©onâs turn. The Tuileries became an Imperial palace. For Marie Louise awaiting the birth of the son it was her mission to bear, a subterranean passage was made in order that the Empress might pass unnoticed from the palace to the terrace-walk on the banks of the Seine. The birth took place at the Tuileries, and a year or two later a pavilion was built for the special use of the young âRoi de Rome.â At the Tuileries, in the decisive year 1815, the chiefs of the Armies allied against the Emperor met and camped. Louis XVIII died there in 1824. In 1848, Louis-Philippe, flying before the people in revolt, made his escape along the hidden passage cut in 1811 for Marie-Louise. The palace was then used as an ambulance for the wounded and for persons who fell fainting in the Paris streets during the tumults of that year. Its last royal master was NapolÃ©on III. The new Emperor set himself at once to restore, beautify and enlarge. The great iron railing and the gates on the side of the Orangery were put up in 1853. A _buvette_ for officers was built in the garden. The Prince Imperial was born at the Tuileries in 1854. During the twenty years of NapolÃ©onâs reign, the Tuileries was the scene of gay, smart life. The crash of 1870 was its doom. The Empress EugÃ©nie fled from its shelter after Sedan. The Commune set fire to its walls. Crumbling arches, blackened pillars remained on the site of the palace until 1883. Then they were razed, cleared away and flower-beds laid out, where grand halls erewhile had stood. The big clock had been saved from destruction. It was placed among the historic souvenirs of the MusÃ©e Carnavalet. The Pavillon de Marsan of the Louvre, built by Louis XIV, and the Pavillon de Flore joining the Tuileries, were rebuilt in 1874. THE PALAIS-ROYAL Crossing the Rue de Rivoli in the vicinity of the Louvre, we come to another palace--the Palais-Royal--of less ancient origin than the Louvre or the Tuileries, and never, strictly speaking, a royal palace. Built in the earlier years of the seventeenth century by Louis XIIIâs powerful statesman, Cardinal Richelieu, it was known until 1643 as the Palais-Cardinal. Richelieu had lived at 20 and 23 of the Place-Royale, now Place des Vosges, and at the mansion known as the Petit Luxembourg, Rue de Vaugirard. The great man determined to erect for himself a more splendid residence, and made choice of the triangular site formed by the Rue des Bons-Enfants, Rue St-HonorÃ© and the city wall of Charles V, whereon to build. Several big mansions encumbered the spot. Richelieu bought them all, had their walls razed, gave the work of construction into the hands of Jacques de Merrier. That was in the year 1629. The central mansion was ready for habitation four years later; additions were made, more _hÃ´tels_ bought and razed during succeeding years. Not content with mere courts and gardens around his palace, the Cardinal acquired yet another mansion, the hÃ´tel Sillery, in order to make upon its site a fine square in front of his sumptuous dwelling. He did not live to see its walls knocked down. A few days after the completion of this purchase the famous statesman lay dead. It was then--a month or two later--that the Palais-Cardinal became the Palais-Royal. By his will, Richelieu bequeathed his palace to his King, Louis XIII, who died a few months later. Anne dâAutriche, mother of the young Louis XIV, was living at the Louvre which, in a continual state of reparation and enlargement, was not a comfortable home. Richelieuâs fine new mansion tempted her. It was truly of royal aspect and dimensions, and was fitted with all âthe modern conveniences and comfortsâ of that day. To quote the words of a versifier of the time: âNon, lâUnivers ne peut rien voir dâÃ©gal. Aux superbes dehors du Palais Cardinal. Toute une ville entiÃ¨re avec pompe bÃ¢tie; Semble dâun vieux fossÃ© par miracle sortie. Et nous fait prÃ©sumer Ã ses superbes toits Que tous ses habitants sont des Dieux ou des Rois.â [Illustration: PALAIS-ROYAL] In 1643 the Queen moved across to it with her family. When the King left it in 1652, Henriette of England, widow of Charles I, lived there for a time. In 1672 Louis XIV made it over to his brother the duc dâOrlÃ©ans, who did some rebuilding, but the most drastic changes were made in the vast construction close upon Revolutionary days. Then, in 1784, Philippe-ÃgalitÃ©, finding himself in an impecunious condition, conceived a fine plan for making money. Round three sides of the extensive garden of his palace he built galleries lined with premises to let--shops, etc.--and opened out around them three public thoroughfares: Rue de Valois, Rue Beaujolais, Rue Montpensier. The garden thus truncated is the Jardin du Palais-Royal as we know it to-day. It was even in those days semi-public. Parisians from all time have loved a fine garden, and the population of the city resented this curtailment. They resented more especially the mercantile spirit which had prompted it. It was in the year 1787 that the theatre known subsequently as the ComÃ©die FranÃ§aise, more familiarly the âFranÃ§ais,â was built. The artistes of the _VariÃ©tÃ©s_ _Amusantes_ played there then, and for several succeeding years. The theatre Palais-Royal had already been built, bore many successive different names and became for a time the ThÃ©Ã¢tre Montansier, later ThÃ©Ã¢tre de la Montagne. The fourth side of the palace had been left unfinished. The duc dâOrlÃ©ans had planned its completion in magnificent style. The outbreak of the Revolution put a stop to all such plans. Temporary wooden galleries had been built in 1784. They were burnt down in 1828 and replaced by the Galerie dâOrlÃ©ans, now let out in flats. Richelieu was titular Superintendent-General of the Marine: some of the friezes and bas-reliefs illustrative of this office, decorating the Galerie des Proues, are still to be seen there. But of the great statesmanâs original palace comparatively little remains. The duc dâOrlÃ©ans, Regent for Louis XV, razed a great part of Richelieuâs construction; many of the walls of the palace as we know it date from his time--1702-23. Disastrous fires wrought havoc in 1763 and 1781. The financially inspired transformations of Philippe-ÃgalitÃ© made in 1786, and finally the incendiary work of the Commune in 1871, changed the whole aspect of the palace. It went through many phases also during the Revolution. Seized as national property, it was known for a time as Palais-ÃgalitÃ©. Revolutionary meetings took place in its gardens. Revolutionary clubs were organized in its galleries. The statue of Camille Desmoulins, set up in recent years--1905--records that decisive day, July 12th, 1789, when Desmoulins, haranguing the crowd, hoisted a green cocarde in sign of hope. That garden was thenceforth through many years the meeting-place of successive political agitators. In our own day the Camelots du Roi met and agitated there. Under NapolÃ©on as Premier Consul, the Tribunat was established there in a hall since razed. The Bourse de Commerce succeeded the Tribunat. Then the OrlÃ©ans regained possession of the palace and Prince Louis-Philippe went thence to the hÃ´tel de Ville, to return Roi des FranÃ§ais. The galleries and the faÃ§ade of the portico of the second court date from the first half of the nineteenth century. The upheaval of 1848 and the reign of NapolÃ©on III resulted in further changes for the Palais-Royal. It became for a time Palais-National, and was subsequently put to military uses. Then King JÃ©rÃ´me took up his abode there, and was succeeded by his son Prince NapolÃ©on. The little Gothic Chapel where Princess Clothilde was wont to pray serves now as a lumberroom. Prince Victor, the husband of Princess ClÃ©mentine of Belgium, was born at the Palais-Royal in 1862. The galleries surrounding the garden are brimful of historic associations. Besides the clubs, noted Revolutionary clubs which met in the cafÃ©s, notorious gambling-houses existed there. Galerie Montpensier, Nos. 7-12, is the ancient CafÃ© Corazza, the famous rendezvous of the Jacobins, frequented later by Buonaparte, Talma, etc.; 36, once CafÃ© des Mille Colonnes, was so named from the multiple reflection in surrounding mirrors of its twenty pillars. At 50 we see the former CafÃ© Hollandais, which had as its sign a guillotine; at 57-60 the CafÃ© Foy, before the doors of which Desmoulins harangued the people crowding there. Galerie Beaujolais, No. 103--now a bar and dancing-hall--is the ancient CafÃ© des Aveugles, where in the sous-sol an orchestra played, formed entirely of blind men from the Quinze-Vingts, the hospital at first close by then removed to Rue Charenton, while the Sans-Culottes met and plotted. The mural portraits of notable Revolutionists seen there is modern work. Galerie de Valois, Nos. 119, 120, 121, Ombres Chinoises de SÃ©raphin (1784-1855) and CafÃ© MÃ©canique formed practically the first Express-Bar. At 177, was formerly the cutlerâs shop where Charlotte Corday bought the knife to slay Marat. Of the three streets made by the mercantile-minded duc dâOrlÃ©ans the walls of two still stand undisturbed. In Rue de Valois we see, at No. 1, the ancient pavilion and passage leading from the Place de Valois, formerly the Cour des Fontaines, where the inhabitants of Palais-Royal drew their water; at 6-8 the restaurant, BÅuf Ã la mode, built by Richelieu as hÃ´tel MÃ©lusine; at 10, the faÃ§ade of hÃ´tel de la Chancellerie dâOrlÃ©ans; at 20, hÃ´tel de la Fontaine-Martel, inhabited for a year by Voltaire, 1732-33. In Rue de Beaujolais we find the theatre which began as ThÃ©Ã¢tre des Beaujolais, was for several years towards the close of the eighteenth century a theatre of Marionnettes, and is now ThÃ©Ã¢tre Palais-Royal. Then Rue de Montpensier--1784--shows us interesting old windows, ironwork, etc.; Rue Montesquieu--1802--runs where the CollÃ¨ge des Bons-Enfants once stood. The Mother-house of the Restaurants Duval, so well known in every quarter of Paris, at No. 6, is on the site of the ancient Salle Montesquieu, once a popular dancing saloon, then a draperâs shop with the sign of âLe Pauvre Diableâ where the founder of the world-known Bon MarchÃ© was in his youth a salesman. Three notable churches stand in the immediate vicinity of these three palaces. The ancient St-Germain-lâAuxerrois, St-Roch, erewhile its chapel of ease, and the Oratoire. St-Germain opposite the Louvre was the Chapel Royal of past ages. Its bells pealed for royal weddings, announced the birth of princes, tolled for royal deaths, rang on every other occasion of great national importance. Its biggest bell sounded the death-knell of the Protestants on the fatal eve of St-Bartholomewâs Day, 1572. No part of the fine old church as its stands to-day dates back as a whole beyond the fifteenth century, but a chapel stood on the site as early as the year 560. A baptistery and a school were built close to the chapel about a century later, and this early foundation was the eldest daughter of Notre-Dame--the Paris Cathedral. After its destruction by the invading Normans, it was rebuilt as a fine church by Robert le Pieux, in the first years of the eleventh century, and no doubt many of its ancient stones found a place in the walls of successive rebuildings and restorations. The beautiful Gothic edifice is rich in ancient glass, marvellous woodwork, pictures, statuary and historic memorials. [Illustration: LâÃGLISE ST-GERMAIN-LâAUXERROIS] The first stone of St-Roch, in the Rue St-HonorÃ©, was laid by Louis XIV, in 1653, but the church was not finished till nearly a century later. In the walls of its Renaissance faÃ§ade we see marks of the grape-shot--the first ever used--that poured from the guns of the soldiers of the young Corsican officer, NapolÃ©on Buonaparte, in the year 1795. Buonaparte had taken up his position opposite the church, facing the insurgent _sectionnaires_ grouped on its broad steps. The fight that followed was the turning-point in the early career of the young officer fated to become for a time master of the city and of France. St-Roch is especially interesting on account of its many monuments of notable persons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and its groups of statuary. The Calvary of the Catechistsâ Chapel, as seen through the opened shutters over the altar in the Chapel of the Adoration, is of striking effect. The Oratory, Rue de Rivoli and Rue St-HonorÃ©, was built during the early years of the seventeenth century as the mother-church of the Society of the Oratorians, founded in 1611, and served at times as the Chapel Royal. The Revolution broke up the Society of the Oratorians, their church was desecrated, secularized. In 1810, it was given to the Protestants and has been ever since the principal French Protestant Church of Paris. The statue of Coligny on the Rue de Rivoli side is modern--1889. CHAPTER II AMONG OLD STREETS Round about these old palaces and churches some ancient streets still remain and many old houses, relics of bygone ages. Others have been swept away to make room for up-to-date thoroughfares, shops and dwellings. Place de lâÃcole and Rue de lâÃcole record the existence of the famous school at St-Germain-lâAuxerrois, a catechistsâ school in the first instance, of more varied scope in Charlemagneâs time, where the pupils took their lessons in the open air when fine or climbed into the font of the baptistery when the font was dry. Rue de lâArbre-Sec, once Rue de lâArbre-Sel, from an old sign, a thoroughfare since the twelfth century, was in past days the site of the gallows. There it is said Queen Brunehaut was hacked to death. Part of this ancient street was knocked down to make way for the big shop âla Samaritaineâ; but some ancient houses still stand. No. 4, recently razed, is believed to have been the hÃ´tel des Mousquetaires, the home of dâArtagnan, lieutenant-captain of that famous band. Rue Perrault runs where in bygone times Rue dâAuxerre, dating from 1005, and Rue des FossÃ©s St-Germain-lâAuxerrois stretched away to the Monnaie--the Mint. No. 4, hÃ´tel de Sourdis, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, was the home in her childhood of Gabrielle dâEstrÃ©es. No. 2, is the entrance to the _presbytÃ¨re_ St-Germain-lâAuxerrois. Rue de la Monnaie, a thirteenth-century street known at first by other names, recalls the existence of the ancient Mint on the site of Rue Boucher close by. In Rue du Roule, eighteenth century, we see old ironwork balconies. Rue du Pont-Neuf is modern, on the line of ancient streets of which all traces have gone. Most of the houses in Rue des Bourdonnais are ancient: In the walls of No. 31 we see two or three ancient stones of the famous La TrÃ©mouille Mansion once there occupied by the English under Charles VI. No. 34 dates from 1615. From the door of 39 the TÃªte-Noire with its _barbe dâOr_, which gave the house its name, still looks down. The sixth-century cabaret of lâEnfant-Jesus, the monogram I.H.S. in wrought iron on its frontage, has been razed. No. 14 is believed to have been the home of Greuze. The impasse at 37, in olden times Fosse aux chiens, was a pig-market where in the fourteenth century heretics were burnt. Rue Bertin-PoirÃ©e dates from the early years of the thirteenth century, recording the name of a worthy citizen of those long past days. At No. 5 we see a curious old sign âLa Tour dâArgentâ; out of this old street we turn into the Rue Jean-Lantier recording the name of a thirteenth-century Parisian, much of it and the ancient place du Chevalier-du-Guet which was here, swept away in 1854. Rue des LavandiÃ¨res-Ste-Opportune, thirteenth century, reminds us of the existence of an old church, Ste-Opportune, in the neighbourhood. Rue des Deux-Boules existed under another name in the twelfth century. And here in the seventeenth century was lâÃcole du ModÃ¨le, nucleus of lâAcadÃ©mie des Beaux-Arts. Rue des OrfÃ¨vres began in 1300 as Rue des Deux-portes. An old chapel, St-Eloi, stood till 1786 by the side of No. 8. Rue St-Germain-lâAuxerrois was a thoroughfare so far back as the year 820. No. 19 is the site of a famous episcopal prison: For-lâEvÃªque. 38, at lâArche Marion, duels were wont to be fought in olden days. Rue des Bons-Enfants, aforetime Rue des Echoliers St-HonorÃ©, was so-called from the College founded in 1202 for âles Bons-Enfantsâ on the site of the neighbouring Rue Montesquieu, suppressed in 1602. Many of the old houses we see there were the possession and abode of the dignitaries of St-HonorÃ©. A tiny church dedicated to Ste-Claire was in past days close up against the walls of No. 12. A vaulted arch and roof and staircase, lately razed, formed the entrance to the ancient cloister. Beneath a coat-of-arms over the doorway of No. 11, where is the Passage de la VÃ©ritÃ©, an old inscription told of a reading-room once there, where both morning and evening papers were to be found. 19, hÃ´tel de la Chancellerie dâOrlÃ©ans, is on the site of a more ancient mansion. All the houses of this and neighbouring streets show some trace of their former state. Rue Radziwill was once Rue Neuve des Bons-Enfants, the name still to be seen on an old wall near the Banque de France. Nearly all the houses there have now become dependencies and offices of the Banque de France, one side of which gives upon the even number side of the street. At No. 33 is a wonderful twin staircase. At its starting it divides in two and winds up with old-time grace to the top story. Two persons can mount at once without meeting. Rue la VrilliÃ¨re dates from 1652, named after the SecrÃ©taire dâÃtat of Louis XIV, whose mansion, remodelled, is the Banque de France with added to it the Salle DorÃ©e des FÃªtes and some other remains of the hÃ´tel de Toulouse. Rue Croix des Petits-Champs dates from 1600, its name referring to a cross which stood on the site of No. 12. No. 7, entrance of the old CloÃ®tre St-HonorÃ©. In the courtyard of No. 21 we see traces of the habitation of the abbÃ©s. No. 23, hÃ´tel des Gesvres, was the home of the parents of Mme de Pompadour. * * * * * Two long and important streets, one ancient the other modern, stretch through the entire length of this first arrondissement from east to west: Rue de Rivoli and Rue St-HonorÃ©. Rue de Rivoli, dating from the first half of the nineteenth century, was begun at its western end in the year 1811, across the site of ancient royal stables, along the line of the famous riding-school of the Tuileries gardens, and on through grounds erewhile the property of the three great convents: les Feuillants, les Capucins, lâAssomption. It swept away ancient streets and houses, picturesque courts and corners--a fine new thoroughfare built over the ruins of historic walls and pavements. There is little to say, therefore, about the buildings one sees there now. The hÃ´tel Continental is on the site of one of the first of the constructions then erected--the MinistÃ¨re des Finances, built during the second decade of the nineteenth century, burnt to the ground by the Commune in 1871. The famous Salle des ManÃ¨ges, where the Revolutionary governments sat and King Louis XVIâs trial took place, was on the site of the houses numbered 230-226: lâhÃ´tel Meurice, restaurant Rumpelmayer, etc., No. 186, a popular tearoom run by a British firm, is near the site of the Grande Ãcurie of vanished royalty, and of a well-known passage built there in the early years of the nineteenth century. Admiral Coligny fell assassinated on the spot occupied by the house number 144. Passing on into the fourth arrondissement, we come to the Square St-Jacques, formed in 1854, where had stood the ancient church St-Jacques-la-Boucherie, of which the tower alone remains, a beautiful sixteenth-century tower, restored in the nineteenth century by the architect Ballu. Nos. 18-16 are on the site of the ancient convent of the Petit St-Antoine. In its chapel the Committee of the section âdes droits de lâHommeâ sat in Revolution days. Rue St-HonorÃ© is full of historic houses and historic associations. Its present name dates only from the year 1540, recalling the existence of the collegiate church of the district. Like most other long, old thoroughfares, Rue St-HonorÃ© is made up of several past-time streets lying in a direct line, united under a single name. Almost every building along its course bears interesting traces of past grandeur or of commercial importance. Many have quaint, odd sign-boards: No. 96 is on the site of the Pavillon des Singes, where, in 1622, MoliÃ¨re was born. At No. 115 we see inscriptions dating from 1715. No. 108 is lâhÃ´tel de lâEcouvette, formerly part of hÃ´tel Brissac. No. 145 is on a site where passed the boundary wall of Phillippe-Auguste and where was built subsequently a mansion inhabited by the far-famed duc de Joyeuse, then by Gabrielle dâEstrÃ©es, and wherein one Jean ChÃ¢tel made an attempt upon the life of Henri IV. Nos. 180, 182, 184 were connected with the CloÃ®tre St-HonorÃ©. No. 202 bore an inscription recording the erection here of the Royal Academy of Music by Pierre Moreau--1760-70--burnt down ten years later. No. 161, the CafÃ© de la RÃ©gence, replaced the famous cafÃ© founded at the corner of the Palais-Royal in 1681, the meeting-place of chess-players. A chessboard was lent at so much the hour, the rate higher after sunset to pay for the two candles placed near. Voltaire, Robespierre, Buonaparte, Diderot, etc., and in later days Alfred de Musset and his contemporaries, met here. The city wall of Charles V passed across the site with its gateway, Porte St-HonorÃ©. At this spot Jeanne dâArc was wounded in 1429 and carried thence to the maison des GenÃªts on the site of No. 4, Place du ThÃ©Ã¢tre-FranÃ§ais. A bit of the ancient wall was found beneath the pavement there some ten years ago. No. 167, Arms of England. No. 280: Jeanne Vanbernier is said to have been saleswoman in a millinerâs shop here. No. 201 shows the old-world sign âAu chien de St-Roch.â At No. 211, hÃ´tel St-James, are traces of the ancient hÃ´tel de Noailles, which included several distinct buildings and extensive grounds. Part of it became, at the Revolution, the CafÃ© de VÃ©nus; part the meeting-place of the Committees of Revolutionary governments. At 320 we see another old sign-board: âA la Tour dâArgent.â No. 334 was inhabited by MarÃ©chal de Noailles, brother of the Archbishop of Paris, in 1700. Nos. 340-338 show traces of the ancient convent of the Jacobins. At No. 350, hÃ´tel Pontalba, with its fine eighteenth-century staircase, lived Savalette de Langes, keeper of the Royal Treasure, who lent seven million francs to the brothers of Louis XVI, money never repaid, the home in Revolution days of BarrÃ¨re, where NapolÃ©on signed his marriage contract. Nos. 235, 231, 229, were built by the Feuillants 1782 as sources of revenue, and are the last remaining vestiges of the old convent. At 249 we see the Arms and portrait of Queen Victoria dating from the time of Louis-Philippe. No. 374 was the hÃ´tel of Madame GÃ©offrin, whose salon was the meeting-place of the most noted politicians, _littÃ©rateurs_ and artistes of the day, among them ChÃ¢teaubriand, who made the house his home for a time. At No. 263 stands the chapel of the ancient convent des Dames de lâAssomption (_see_ p. 29). No. 398 is perhaps in part the very house, more probably the house entirely rebuilt, inhabited for a time by Robespierre and some of his family and by Couthon. No. 400 was the Imperial bakery in the time of NapolÃ©on III. No. 271, now a modern erection, was till quite recently the famous cabaret du St-Esprit, dating from the seventeenth century, where during the Terreur sightseers gathered to watch the tragic chariots pass laden with victims for the guillotine. Marie-Antoinette passed that way and was subjected to that cruel scrutiny. The greater number of the streets of this arrondissement running northwards start from Rue de Rivoli, and cross Rue St-HonorÃ©, or start from the latter. Beginning at the western end of Rue Rivoli, we see Rue St-Florentin dating from 1640, so named more than a century later when the comte de St-Florentin deputed the celebrated architects Chalgrin and Gabriel to build the mansion we see at No. 2. It was a splendid mansion then, with surrounding galleries, fine gardens, a big fountain, and was the home of successive families of the _noblesse_. In 1792, it was the Venetian Embassy, under the Terreur a saltpeter factory. At No. 12 was an inn where people gathered to watch the condemned pass to the scaffold. Rue Cambon, so named after the Conventional author of the Grand Livre de La Dette Publique, dates in its lower part, when it was Rue de Luxembourg, from 1719, prolonged a century later. Some of the older houses still stand, and have interesting vestiges of past days; others, razed in recent years, have been replaced by modern constructions. The new building, âCour des Comptes,â built to replace the Palais du Quai dâOrsay burnt by the Communards in 1871, is on the site of the ancient convent of the Haudriettes, suppressed in 1793, when it became the garrison of the Cent Suisses, later a financial depot. The convent chapel, left untouched, serves as the catechistsâ chapel for the Madeleine, and has services attended especially by Poles. In
{'title': 'Historic Paris by Jetta Sophia Wolff', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}