ing the site of the Hotel de Montbazon where
Coligny was assassinated. We cross to the Rue Perrault and soon reach
the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois from whose tower rang the signal
for the St. Bartholomew butchery. The porch was added in 1431 for the
convenience of distinguished worshippers; for it was the parish church
of the Chateau of the Louvre and consequently the royal chapel. The
saints and martyrs on the portail and porch are therefore closely
associated with the history of Paris: opposite to us extends
Perrault's famous E. facade of the Louvre.

SECTION IX

_Palais Royal--Theatre Francais--Gardens and Cafes of the Palais
Royal--Palais Mazarin (Bibliotheque Nationale)_[235]_--St.
Roch--Vendome Column--Tuileries Gardens--Place de la Concorde--Champs
Elysees._

[Footnote 235: Open Tuesdays and Fridays, 10 to 4.]

From the Palais Royal Station of the Metropolitain we issue before the
great palace begun by Richelieu (p. 212). To our L. stands the Theatre
Francais, occupied by the Comedie Francaise since 1799, on the site of
the old Varietes Amusantes or Palais Varietes built in 1787, a little
to the W. of Richelieu's Theatre of the Palais Cardinal. This latter
was the scene of Moliere's triumphs and of his piteous death, and the
original home of the French Opera whose position is indicated by an
inscription at the corner of the Rues de Valois and St. Honore. It was
at the Theatre des Varietes, when the staid old Comedie Francaise was
rent by rival factions that Chenier's patriotic tragedy, _Charles
IX._, was performed on 4th November 1789, and the pit acclaimed Talma
with frantic applause as he created the _role_ of Charles IX., and the
days of St. Bartholomew were acted on the stage. The bishops tried to
stop the performances, and priests refused absolution to those of
their penitents who went to see them. The Royalists among the
Comedians replied at the Nation (the Odeon) by playing a royalist
repertory, _Cinna_ and _Athalie_, amid shouts from the pit for
_William Tell_ and the _Death of Caesar_, and the stage became an arena
where political factions strove for mastery. Men went to the theatre
armed as to a battle. Every couplet fired the passions of the
audience, the boxes crying, "_Vive le Roi!_" to be answered by the
hoarse voices of the pit, "_Vive la nation!_" Shouts were raised for
the busts of Voltaire and of Brutus: they were brought from the foyer
and placed on the stage. The very kings