The first numbers in Rue Miromesnil are old and have interesting decorations, Châteaubriand lived at No. 31 in 1804. Rue de Panthièvre was Rue des Marais in the seventeenth century, then Chemin Vert. Its houses were the habitation of many noted persons through the two centuries following. Franklin is said to have lived at No. 26, also Lucien Buonaparte. The barracks dates from 1780, one of those built for the Gardes Françaises, who had previously been billeted in private houses. Fersen lived in Rue Matignon; Gambetta at No. 12, Rue Montaigne (1874-78). The Colisée, which gave its name to the street previously known as Chaussée des Gourdes, was an immense hall used for festive gatherings from 1770 to 1780, when it was demolished. On part of the site it occupied, Rue Penthieu was opened at the close of the eighteenth century and Rue de la Bôëtie into which we now turn. That fair street was known in the different parts of its course by no less than eleven different names before its present one, given in 1879. Several eighteenth-century _hôtels_ still stand here; others on the odd number side were razed in recent years to widen the thoroughfare. No. 111 was inhabited for a time at the end of the eighteenth century by the then duc de Richelieu. When Napoléon was in power, an Italian minister lived there and gave splendid fêtes, at which the Emperor was a frequent guest. In recent days its owner was the duc de Massa, grandson of Napoléon’s famous minister of Justice. Carnot lived for a time at No. 122. Eugène Sue at No. 55. Comtesse de la Valette at No. 44, a _hôtel_ known for its extensive grounds. Rue de Berri, opened 1778, across the site of the royal nursery gardens, went by several names before receiving that of the second son of Charles X, assassinated in 1820. The Belgian Legation at No. 20 was built by the aunt of Mme de Genlis and was in later times the home of princesse Mathilde who died there in 1904. Rue Washington was opened in 1789; Rue Galilée as chemin des Bouchers, then Rue du Banquet, in 1790. In Rue Daru, of the same date, opened as Rue de la Croix du Roule, we see the Russian church built in 1881, with its beautiful paintings and frescoes and rich Oriental decorations. CHAPTER XXXIII PARC MONCEAU