ourbon _armoiries_ took
place. Whenever one or the other hated Bourbon symbol was found, eagles,
phoenix-like, sprang up in their place, only in their turn to
disappear when the Republican device of '48 (now brought to light
again), _Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite_--replaced them.

During the Commune of 1870 a part of the left wing and the central
pavilion suffered by fire, but restorations under the architect,
Chabrol, brought them back again to much their original outlines.
Through all its changes of tenure and political vicissitudes little
transformation took place as to the ground plan, or sky-line silhouette,
of the chameleon palace of cardinal, king and emperor, and while in no
sense is it architecturally imposing or luxurious, it is now, as ever in
the past, one of the most distinctive of Paris's public monuments.

To-day the Palais Royal proper may be said to face on Place du Palais
Royal, with its principal entrance at the end of a shallow courtyard
separated from the street by an iron grille and flanked by two
unimposing pavilions. The principal facade hides the lodging of the
Conseil d'Etat and is composed of but the ground floor, a story above
and an attic.

The Aile Montpensier, which follows on from the edifice which houses the
Comedie Francaise, was, until recently, occupied by the Cour des
Comptes. The Aile de Valois fronts the street of that name, and here the
Princes d'Orleans and King Jerome made their residence. To-day the same
wing is devoted to the uses of the Under Secretary for the Beaux Arts.

It is not necessary to insist on, nor reiterate, the decadence of the
Palais Royal. It is no longer the "capitol of Paris," and whatever its
charms may be they are mostly equivocal. It is more a desert than an
oasis or a _temple de la volupte_, and it was each of these things in
other days. Its priestesses and its gambling houses are gone, and who
shall say this of itself is not a good thing in spite of the admitted
void.

The mediocrity of the Palais Royal is apparent to all who have the
slightest acquaintance with the architectural orders, but for all that
its transition from the Palais du Cardinal, Palais Egalite, Palais de
la Revolution and Palais du Tribunat to the Palais Royal lends to it an
interest that many more gloriously artistic Paris edifices quite lack.

There is a movement on foot to-day to resurrect the Palais Royal to some
approach to its former distinction, which is decidedly what it