adoption of this plan was
finally accomplished the interpolation of that range of pavilions which
gives the architecture of the Louvre one of its principal distinctions.
Named after the principal ministers of former administrations--Donon,
Mollien, Daru, Richelieu, Colbert, Turgot, etc., these pavilions break
up what would otherwise be monotonous, elongated facades.

The inauguration of this last built portion of the palace was held on
August 14, 1857, the occasion being celebrated by a banquet given by
Napoleon III to all the architects, artists and labourers who had been
engaged upon the work. In the same Salle, two years later, which took
the name of Salle des Etats, the emperor gave a _diner de gala_ to the
generals returning from the Italian campaign.

Still further resume of fact with regard to the main body of the Louvre,
as well as with respect to its individual components, will open
never-ending vistas and pageants. It is not possible in a chapter, a
book or a five-foot shelf to limn all that is even of cursory interest.
The well-known, the little-known and the comparatively unknown mingle in
varying proportions, according to the individual mood or attitude. To
some the appeal will lie in the vastness of the fabric, to others in the
varied casts of characters which have played upon its stage, still
others will be impressed with the dramatic incidents, and many more will
retain only present-day memories of what they have themselves seen. The
Louvre is a study of a lifetime.

To resume a none too complete chronology, it is easy to recall the
following important events which have taken place in the Louvre since
the days of Henri III, the period at which only the barest beginnings of
the present structure had been projected.

In 1591 a ghastly procedure took place when four members of the Conseil
des Seize were hung in the Salle des Caryatides by orders of the Duc de
Mayenne.

Like the horoscope which foretold the death of Henri III, another royal
prophecy was cast in 1610 that reminds one of that which perhaps had
not a little to do with the making away with the last of the Valois
princes.

The Duc de Vendome, the son of Henri IV by Gabrielle d'Estrees, handed
the king a documentary horoscope signed by an astrologer calling himself
La Brosse, which warned the king that he would run a great danger on May
14 in case he went abroad.

"La Brosse is an ass," cried the king, and crumpled the paper beneath
his