d a dispute with the Minister and was disgraced. Then Perrault got
married to a young lady of whom we know nothing except that her
marriage was the subject of some opposition from his powerful
employer. In a matter of the sort Perrault, though a courtier, could
be relied on to consider no wishes save those of his future wife and
himself. Colbert's own influence with the King became shaky, and this
affected his temper. So Perrault, then just fifty-five, slid quietly
from his service in the year 1683._

_Before he went, he succeeded in frustrating a project for closing the
Tuileries Gardens against the people of Paris and their children.
Colbert proposed to reserve them to the royal use, but Perrault
persuaded him to come there one day for a walk, showed him the
citizens taking the air and playing with their children; got the
gardeners to testify that these privileges were never abused, and
carried his point by declaring, finally, that "the King's pleasaunce
was so spacious that there was room for all his children to walk
there."_

_Sainte-Beuve, seventy years ago, pleaded that this service to the
children of Paris should be commemorated by a statue of Perrault in
the centre of the Tuileries. The statue has never been erected; and,
to the present day, Paris, so plentifully provided with statues and
pictures of the great men of France, has neither the one nor the other
to show that she appreciates the genius of Perrault. Indeed, there is
no statue of him in existence; and the only painting of him with which
I am acquainted is a doubtful one hung far away in an obscure corner
of the palace of Versailles._

_The close of Perrault's official career marked the beginning of his
period of greatest literary activity. In 1686 he published his long
narrative poem "Saint Paulin Evesque de Nole" with "a Christian Epistle
upon Penitence" and "an Ode to the Newly-converted," which he dedicated
to Bossuet. Between the years 1688 and 1696 appeared the "Parallele des
Anciens et des Modernes" to which I have already referred. In 1693 he
brought out his "Cabinet des Beaux Arts," beautifully illustrated by
engravings, and containing a poem on painting which even Boileau
condescended to admire. In 1694 he published his "Apologie des Femmes."
He wrote two comedies--"L'Oublieux" in 1691, and "Les Fontanges." These
were not printed till 1868. They added nothing to his reputation.
Between 1691 and 1697 were composed the immortal "Histoires ou