Dumas, Alexandre, 1802-1870; Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History -- 19th century
"That morning no one knew the name of that young man; in the evening it
was in every mouth.
"That young man's name was Camille Desmoulins."
* * * * *
After 1793 the Palais Royal was converted, by decree, into the Palais et
Jardin de la Révolution; and reunited to the domains of the state.
Napoleon I. granted its use to the Tribunal for its seances, and Lucien
Bonaparte inhabited it for the "Hundred Days." In 1830 Louis-Philippe, Duc
d'Orleans, gave there a fête in honour of the King of Naples, who had come
to pay his respects to the King of France. Charles X. assisted as an
invited guest at the function, but one month after he had inhabited it as
king.
Under Napoleon III. the Palais Royal was the residence of Prince Jerome,
the uncle of the emperor, afterward that of his son the Prince Napoleon,
when the _fleur-de-lis_ sculptured on the façade gave way before
escutcheons bearing the imperial eagles, which in turn have since given
way to the Republican device of "'48"--"Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité."
* * * * *
It is with a remarkable profusion of detail--for Dumas, at any rate--that
the fourteenth chapter of "The Conspirators" opens.
It is a veritable guide-book phraseology and conciseness, which describes
the streets of the Palais Royal quarter:
"The evening of the same day, which was Sunday, toward eight o'clock, at
the moment when a considerable group of men and women, assembled around a
street singer, who was playing at the same time the cymbals with his knees
and the tambourine with his hands, obstructed the entrance to the Rue de
Valois, a musketeer and two of the light horse descended a back staircase
of the Palais Royal, and advanced toward the Passage du Lycée, which, as
every one knows, opened on to that street; but seeing the crowd which
barred the way, the three soldiers stopped and appeared to take counsel.
The result of their deliberation was doubtless that they must take
another route, for the musketeer, setting the example of a new
manoeuvre, threaded the Cour des Fontaines, turned the corner of the Rue
des Bons Enfants, and, walking rapidly,--though he was extremely
corpulent,--arrived at No. 22, which opened as by enchantment at his
approach, and closed again on him and his two companions.
"... The crowd dispersed. A great many men left the circle, singly, or two
and two, turning toward each other with an imperceptible gesture of the
hand, some by the Rue de Valois, some by the Cour des Fontaines, some by
the Palais Royal itself, thus surrounding the Rue des Bons Enfants, which
seemed to be the centre of the rendezvous."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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