It lies on the opposite side of the Seine from the river side of the Louvre, and runs just back of the site formerly occupied by the Duc de Montmorenci, where was held the gorgeous ceremony of the marriage of the Marquis St. Luc, of which one reads in "Chicot the Jester." There is not much of splendour or romance about the present-day Rue de Lille; indeed, it is rather commonplace, but as Dumas places the particular house in which De Boissy lived with definiteness, and, moreover, in that it exists to-day practically unaltered, there seems every good reason why it should be catalogued here. [Illustration: THE BUILDERS OF THE LOUVRE (1) François I., _1546_; (2) Catherine de Medici, _1566-1578_; (3) Catherine de Medici, _1564_ (destroyed at the Commune); (4) Louis XIII., _1524_; (5) Louis XIV., _1660-1670_; (6) Napoleon I., _1806_; (7) Louis XVIII., _1816_; (8) Napoleon III., _1852-1857_; (9) Napoleon III., _1863-1868_.] CHAPTER XIII. THE LOUVRE "_Paris renferme beaucoup de palais; mais le vrai palais de Paris, le vrai palais de la France, tout le monde l'a nommé,--c'est le Louvre._" Upon the first appearance of "Marguerite de Valois," a critic writing in _Blackwood's Magazine_, has chosen to commend Dumas' directness of plot and purpose in a manner which every lover of Dumas and student of history will not fail to appreciate. He says: "Dumas, according to his custom, introduces a vast array of characters, for the most part historical, all spiritedly drawn and well sustained. In various respects the author may be held up as an example to our own history-spoilers, and self-styled writers of historical romance. One does not find him profaning public edifices by causing all sorts of absurdities to pass, and of twaddle to be spoken, within their precincts; neither does he make his king and beggar, high-born dame and private soldier use the very same language, all equally tame, colourless, and devoid of character. The spirited and varied dialogue, in which his romances abound, illustrates and brings out the qualities and characteristics of his actors, and is not used for the sole purpose of making a chapter out of what would be better told in a page. In many instances, indeed, it would be difficult for him to tell his story, by the barest narrative, in fewer words than he does by pithy and pointed dialogue."