tre's
"Chat Noir," or are elected simply because some other candidate has been
"_blackbouled_."

Still following along the left bank of the Seine one comes to the Palais
Bourbon, the Chambre des Deputes, as it is better known. This edifice,
where now sit the French deputies, was built by Girardini for the
Dowager Duchesse de Bourbon in 1722, and, though much changed during
various successive eras, is still a unique variety of architectural
embellishment which is not uncouth, nor yet wholly appealing. Napoleon
remade the heavily imposing facade, so familiar to all who cross the
river by the Pont de la Concorde, but its grimness is its charm rather
than its grace.

The structure cost its first proprietor twenty million or more francs,
and since it has become national property the outlay has been constant.
Everything considered it makes a poor showing; but its pseudo-Greek
facade, were it removed, would certainly be missed in this section of
Paris.

The principal apartments are the "Salle des Pas Perdus," the "Salle des
Seances," and the "Salle des Conferences"--where, in 1830, the Duc
d'Orleans took the oath as king of France.

A recent discovery has been made in the lumber room of this old Palais
Bourbon, where deputies howl and shout and make laws as noisily as in
any other of the world's parliaments.

[Illustration: The THRONE of the PALAIS-BOURBON]

This particular "find" was the throne constructed in 1816 for Louis
XVIII, with its upholstering of velvet embroidered with the golden
fleur-de-lis. The records tell that this throne also served Louis
Philippe under the Second Empire, and also was used under the Monarchy
of July. It was after the momentous "Quatre Setembre" that it was
finally relegated to the garret, but now, as a historical souvenir of
the first rank, it has been placed prominently where all who visit the
Palais Bourbon may see it.

The history of the Palais de l'Elysee has not been particularly vivid,
though for two centuries it has played a most important part in the life
of the capital. In later years it has served well enough the
presidential dignity of the chief magistrate of the French Republic and
is thus classed as a national property. Actually, since its
construction, it has changed its name as often as it has changed its
occupants. Its first occupant was its builder, Louis d'Auvergne, Comte
d'Evreux, who built himself this great town house on a plot of land
which had been given him by