rn R. and enter the Grande Salle or, as
it is now known, the Salle des Pas Perdus. It, too, was once a busy
mart, booksellers especially predominating, most of whom had stations
there, much as we see them to-day, round the Odeon Theatre. Verard's
address was--"At the image of St. John the Evangelist, before Notre
Dame de Paris, and at the first pillar in the Grande Salle of the
Palais de Justice, before the chapelle where they sing the mass for
Messieurs of the Parlement." Gilles Couteau's address was at "The Two
Archers in the Rue de la Juiverie and at the third pillar at the
Palais." Every pillar had its bookseller's shop. In 1618 the great
chamber, the finest of its kind in Europe, with its rich stained
glass, its double vaultings resplendent with blue and gold, was gutted
by fire, and its long line of statues of the kings of France, from
Pharamond to Henry IV.--the _rois faineants_ with pendent arms and
lowered eyes, the valiant warrior kings with heads and arms
erect--disappeared for ever. This was the hall where the clercs of the
Basoche performed their _farces_, _sottises_ and _moralites_, and
where Victor Hugo has placed the scene of the famous performance of
the _moralite_, composed by Pierre Gringoire,[182] so vividly
described in the opening chapters of _Notre Dame_.

[Footnote 182: Notes exist of payments in 1502, 1505 to Pierre
Gringoire, _histrion et facteur_ for the mysteries--well and honestly
performed--at the entries of Madame la reine, before the portail of
the Chatelet.]

Debrosse, who built the new Salle in 1622, left a noble and harmonious
Renaissance chamber, which, again restored after the fire of 1776,
endured until its destruction by fire during the Commune. The present
rather frigid hall was completed in 1878 by J.L. Duc, who respected
the traditional form and amplitude of the older structures. Nearly
opposite the monument to Malesherbes (R.) was the position of the old
Pilier des Consultations, where the lawyers were wont to give
gratuitous legal help to the poor. The best time to visit the Hall is
in the afternoon, when the courts are sitting and when the footsteps
of the lawyers and their clients are indeed lost amid the buzz of
conversation as they pace up and down.

The _Premiere Chambre_ to the L., in the north-west corner of the
Hall, is one of the most profoundly interesting in the agglomerated
mass of buildings known as the Palais de Justice. This, now somewhat
reduced in size, wa