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<h2>Letter 26.</h2> Paris. Dear Charley:— We have been to dine at the Palais Royal, at the Trois Frères Provençaux, of which I suppose the boys have told you; and I shall only speak about the fine building, so renowned all over the world. The Palais Royal is to Paris what Paris is to France. Its history is briefly this: Cardinal Richelieu built it for himself; but the king, Louis XIII., was jealous, and the wily old priest gave it to the monarch, and, after Richelieu's death, he moved into it. In 1692, it fell into the hands of Philippe, Duke of Orleans, as a gift, or marriage portion, from Louis XIV., and here the great Orleans collection of paintings was gathered, and which was sold in 1789, at the breaking out of the great troubles. In 1814, Louis Philippe obtained it as his inheritance, and lived there till 1831. The garden is very fine, and is about seven hundred and fifty feet by three hundred, and has beautiful rows of lime-trees, trimmed into shape, as are most of these trees in Paris. In the centre are flower gardens and a basin of water, with a fine fountain. In this open space are beautiful bronze and marble statues. One I admired exceedingly; it is Eurydice, stung by a snake. In this garden are hundreds of persons under the trees, on chairs, which are hired, where they read and take refreshments. Under the arcades which surround the area are the most tasty shops of Paris, and where you may get any thing you please. A gayer sight than this same Palais Royal, or, as they now call it, Palais National, cannot be seen in this world. I shall not attempt to tell you about the apartments of the palace, and which you can read of at your leisure. What a loss it was to the world when, in February, 1848, six hundred thousand engravings, all classified by Louis Philippe, and making one hundred and twenty-two enormous folios, were destroyed by the mob, and the queen's own library also! We lounged about from one shop to another, and made purchases of some pretty things, which we hope may serve to show friends at home that we did not quite forget them. The Passage d'Orleans will never die out from my memory, nor shall I ever forget the Café d'Orleans, with its mirrors, walls, and ceilings, all radiant with a thousand lights. We find at every few steps the magazine for the Indian weed, and all varieties of pipe, from the commonest en bois to the elegantly carved ecume de mer, which would cost two or three hundred francs. Here, too, are the Theatres Français and Palais Royal, and other places of amusement. In our walks about the city we are sure to have all the notable places pointed out; and one morning, just after I had obtained a Henry IV. silver coin, in fine preservation, we were taken home by a long walk through the Rue St. Honore. The house No. 3, in this street, is the one in front of which Henry IV. was assassinated by Ravaillac. A bust of the king stands against the second story, with an inscription. In the Rue Vivienne, No. 34, we saw the house where Molière died, on which is a marble tablet, with this inscription: "Molière est mort dans cette maison, le 17 Février, 1673, à l'âge de 51 ans." At the corner of the same street, where a small passage way branches off, is a fine monument to the memory of the great poet and the noblest comic writer of France. The statue is of bronze, in a sitting posture; on each side are figures,—one humorous, the other serious,—both looking at the statue. At the foot of the monument is a basin to receive water, which flows from three lions' heads. This work was put up in 1844, with public services, on which occasion the first men of France took a part. Another morning's walk led us to the Rue de l'École de Médecine, and in this street Marat lived, at No. 20, and here it was, in a small room, that he was stabbed, while bathing, by Charlotte Corday, in 1793. And in this same street was held the old club of the Cordeliers. When I see the places of which I have heard so often it seems very interesting, and will forever identify the scenes with my future reading. We all enjoyed a visit to the palace of the Luxembourg. This edifice was begun in the sixteenth century, and the present palace was chiefly built early in the next one, by Marie de Medicis, in imitation of one at Florence. Bonaparte used it when chief consul. The old senate held its sessions there till its dissolution, in 1814. I never saw a building whose proportions appeared to me so elegant. The court is a parallelogram of three hundred and sixty by three hundred feet. The front consists of two pavilions, joined by terraces, and in the centre rises a cupola, around which are statues. In such a palace fine rooms are to be expected, and here they are in great number. The Senate Chamber or Chamber of Peers, is very suitable for its purpose. The library is good, and contains about fifteen thousand volumes. The picture gallery is large, and at present principally filled with pictures of living artists, and at his death the picture of each one is removed to the Louvre. All the great paintings of Napoleon's battles are gone to Versailles; so we shall see them in the series. The chapel is an exquisite gem: it has, beyond all comparison, the most devotional air of any thing I have seen of the sort. The gardens are fine, and have some noble terraces, adorned with plenty of statues, some of which are quite old; but a great many new ones, by living artists, are rapidly taking their places. The balustrades of the terraces are beautified with groups of children, athletæ, &c. Here are some fine old orange-trees, which were throwing out their blossoms most fragrantly; and I must not forget the noble clusters of chestnut-trees which are on the sides of the walks. The garden is a lovely spot, and I saw hundreds of old and young, who seemed to enjoy themselves highly. I am half surprised to find myself more delighted in Europe with the completeness and splendor of the gardens and public grounds than with the palaces and their internal gorgeousness. If I could carry back to my own beloved country any thing from England or France, it should be their gardens, their walks, their libraries and museums. As to the comforts and elegances of life, we have enough of them for our good. The Musée d'Artillerie is quite a place of interest, and here are seen some fine suits of ancient armor. The arrangement is good, and an hour's attention is well repaid. Yours affectionately, weld. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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