with an ample garden. Vanity, or some other passion,
finally caused to grow up the magnificently proportioned edifice which
was called the Palais Cardinal instead of that which was to be known
more modestly as the Hotel de Richelieu.

Vast and imposing, but not without a certain graceful symmetry, the
Palais Royal of to-day is a composition of many separate edifices
divided by a series of courts and gardens and connected by arcaded
galleries. The right wing enclosed an elaborate Salle de Spectacle while
that to the left enclosed an equally imposing chamber with a ceiling by
Philippe de Champaigne, known as the Galerie des Hommes Illustres, and
further ornamented with portraits of most of the court favourites of
both sexes of the time. The architectural ornamentation of this gallery
was of the Doric order, most daringly interspersed with moulded ships'
prows, anchors, cables and what not of a marine significance.

In 1636, divining the attitude of envy of many of the nobility who
frequented his palace, Richelieu--great man of politics that he
was--made a present of the entire lot of curios to Louis XIII, but
undertaking to house them for him, which he did until his death in 1642.

At the death of Louis XIII the Palais Cardinal, which had been left to
him in its entirety by the will of Richelieu, came to Anne d'Autriche,
the regent, who, with the infant Louis XIV and the royal family,
installed herself therein, and from now on (October 7, 1642), the
edifice became known as the Palais Royal.

Now commenced the political role of this sumptuous palace which hitherto
had been but the Cardinal's caprice. Mazarin had succeeded Richelieu,
and to escape the anger of the Frondeurs, he, with the regent and the
two princes, Louis XIV and the Duc d'Anjou, fled to the refuge of Saint
Germain-en-Laye.

In company with Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who had been rudely
awakened from her slumbers in the Luxembourg, they took a coach in the
dead of night for Saint Germain. It was a long and weary ride; the _Pavi
du Roi_ was then, as now, the most execrable suburban highroad in
existence.

When calm was reestablished Mazarin refused to allow the regent to take
up her residence again in the old abode of Richelieu and turned it over
to Henriette de France, the widow of Charles I, who had been banished
from England by Cromwell.

Thirty odd years later Louis XIV, when he was dreaming of his Versailles
project, made a gift of the propert