ginning of the
reign of Louis XV it was rather a fashionable quarter, at present it is
the cheapest in Paris.

We must now retrace our steps, which will bring us to the Rue Francs
Bourgeois; No. 25 is an hotel of the time of Henri IV, No. 7, Hotel de
Jeanne d'Abret, of Louis XV's days, and No. 12, the former residence of
the Dukes de Roquelaure, and at the corner will be observed a little
turret belonging to a house, one side of which is in the Vieille Rue du
Temple; there is some curious work upon it, and it is supposed to have
been standing at the time the Duke of Orleans was murdered by order of
the Duke of Burgundy, which was just about this spot, in 1407. At No. 51,
Rue Franc Bourgeois, is the Hotel de Hollande, so called from its having
belonged to the Dutch Ambassador, in the reign of Louis XIV; amongst the
sculpture is perceived the date of 1660; this handsome hotel was once
the residence of Beaumarchais. At the corner of the Rue Pavee is the
Hotel de Lamoignon, one of the handsomest mansions of the ancient
nobility. It is of the sixteenth century, some of the carved work is
most curious, and merits attentive examination; a picturesque turret and
balcony must excite the attention of every observer. A few steps further
is the large central establishment of the Mont de Piete, No. 18, Rue des
Blancs Manteaux, lending money on pledges, much the same as our
pawnbrokers, only on more advantageous terms for the borrowers. In the
same street is Notre Dame des Blancs Manteaux, once the chapel of a
religious house, so called from their dress consisting of white
garments; there was formerly a monastery here, of which there may be
discovered some remains to the east, and evidently in the left wing of a
house at No. 25; the chapel remaining has a plain exterior, but the
corinthian style of the interior is handsome, and worth attention; there
is also a very admired picture of the Burial of St. Petronilla, which is
eighteen feet by eight, it is of the school of Guercini, but it is not
known by what means it came to be placed in this church. Facing this
street is the Market des Blancs Manteaux.

At the corner of the Rue Vieille du Temple, and that of the Rue de
Quatre Fils, is the Palais Cardinal, now the Imprimerie Royale; it was
erected in 1712, and is named after its owner, the Cardinal de Rohan,
whose intriguing spirit so much involved Marie Antoinette; in this
hotel the scenes occurred concerning that extraordinary affair