ent bought a chateau and
garden from the Duke of Piney-Luxembourg, and commissioned her
architect, Solomon Debrosse, to build a new palace in the style of the
Pitti at Florence. The work was begun in 1615, and resulted in the
picturesque but somewhat Gallicised Italian palace which, after
descending to Gaston of Orleans and his daughter the Grande
Mademoiselle, ends a chequered career as palace, revolutionary prison,
house of peers, and socialist meeting-place by becoming the
respectable and dull Senate-house of the third Republic. The beautiful
Renaissance gardens have suffered but few changes; adorned with
Debrosse's picturesque fountain, they form one of the most charming
parks in Paris. The same architect was employed to restore the old
Roman aqueduct of Arcueil and finished his work in 1624. In 1614 the
equestrian statue in bronze of Henry IV., designed by Giovanni da
Bologna, and presented to Marie by Cosimo II. of Tuscany, reached
Paris after many vicissitudes and was set up on the Pont Neuf by
Pierre de Fouqueville, who carved for it a beautiful pedestal of
marble, whereon were inscribed the most signal events and victories of
Henry's reign. This priceless statue was melted down for cannon during
the Revolution, and for years its site was occupied by a _cafe_. In
1818, during the Restoration, another statue of Henry IV., by Lemot,
cast from the melted figure of Napoleon I. on the top of the Vendome
column, was erected where it now stands. The founder, who was an
imperialist, is said to have avenged the emperor by placing pamphlets
attacking the Restoration in the horse's belly.

[Footnote 134: The Marche St. Honore now occupies its site.]

[Illustration: THE MEDICI FOUNTAIN, LUXEMBOURG GARDENS.]

In the seventeenth century the Pont Neuf was one of the busiest
centres of Parisian life. Streams of coaches and multitudes of
foot-passengers passed by. Booths of all kinds displayed their wares;
quacks, mountebanks, ballad-singers and puppet-shows, drew crowds of
listeners. Evelyn describes the footway as being three to four feet
higher than the road; and at the foot of the bridge, says the
traveller, is a water-house, "whereon, at a great height is the story
of our Saviour and the Woman of Samaria pouring water out of a bucket.
Above is a very rare dyall of several motions with a chime. The water
is conveyed by huge wheels, pumps and other engines, from the river
beneath." This was the famous Chateau d'Eau, or La