ality of
France by acts of Vandalism. In 1661, on the marriage of Henrietta
Anne, her daughter, to the Duke of Orleans it was assigned to the
Orleans princes, a portion being reserved for Louis XIV. where he
lodged his mistress Mme. de la Valliere. The palace subsequently
became infamous as the scene of almost incredible orgies during the
regency. In 1730 Philip II.'s austere and pious son, Prince Louis,
after having made an _auto-da-fe_ of forty pictures of the nude from
the Orleans collection, permitted the destruction of Richelieu's
superb avenue of trees. The buildings were further extended by Philip
Egalite, who erected shops along the sides of the gardens, which as
_cafes_ and gambling-saloons became a haunt of fashionable vice and
dissipation in the late eighteenth century. The gardens of the royal
palaces had always been open to well-dressed citizens, but notices
forbade entrance to beggars, servants, and all ill-clad persons under
pain of imprisonment, the carcan, and other graver penalties. Egalite,
however, to win popularity, opened his gardens without restriction,
and they soon became the forum of the revolutionary agitation. Here
Camille Desmoulins declaimed his impassioned orations and called Paris
to arms. The gambling-hells, of which there were over three hundred,
survived the Revolution, and Bluecher and many an officer of the allied
armies lost immense sums there. The Palais Royal became subsequently
the residence of Louis Philippe, and now serves as the meeting-place
of the Conseil d'Etat.

In the early seventeenth century nine lovers of literature associated
themselves for the purpose of holding a friendly symposium, where they
discoursed of books, and read and criticised each other's
compositions; the meetings were followed by a modest repast and a
peripatetic discussion. The masterful cardinal, who would rule the
French language as well as the state, called the nine together, and in
1635 organised them into an Academie Francaise, whose function should
be to perfect and watch over the purity of the French tongue. The
Parlement granted letters-patent, limited the number of academicians
to forty, and required them to take cognisance of French authors and
the French language alone. The original nine, however, were far from
gratified, and always regretted the "golden age" of early days.
Richelieu established the Jardin des Plantes for the use of medical
students, where demonstrations in botany were giv