La Galerie du Palais, besides forming the subject of Bosse’s engraving, supplied Corneille with the _motif_ of one of his comedies produced in 1634. ‘La Galerie’ was situated in the midst of the city, beside the Palais de Justice, between the two branches of the Seine, and had become, at the close of the reign of Henry IV., a ‘lively and animated centre.’ In the latter years of the reign of Louis XIII. it was, as we learn from the explanatory verses at the foot of Bosse’s engraving, as also from Corneille’s comedy, a place of rendezvous for, and assignations with, the beau-monde. ‘Icy faisant semblant d’acheter devant tous Des gands, des Éventails, du ruban, des danteles; Les adroits Courtisans se donnent rendez-vous, Et pour se faire aimer, gallantisent les Belles.’ It was furnished with wooden shops in which were arranged _objets de luxe_, new fashions, _chefs-d’œuvres_ of industry, laces, and jewellery. The engraving shows a mercer’s shop with a cavalier and lady examining fans, these objects being also exposed to view in the window. We have here a genuine bit of old Paris of the time of Louis XIII., and thus obtain a clear idea of what the Paris fan shops were like at this epoch. Fans had, indeed, at this period obtained a firm hold upon the affections of the fair, though not so firm as to preclude the possibility of a powerful rival. The witty author of the lines appended to Bosse’s engraving of Summer, in the circular composition of the four seasons, a lady with a fan, accompanied by a Cupid bearing a parasol, suggests that the love-god himself would be a better substitute for the fan, not only for cooling the heated cheek, but also to assuage the fire that burns within. ‘Qu’n éventail dans la chaleur Semble oster de cette couleur Dont vôtre teint rougit encore; Vous ressemblez presque a l’aurore A cause de cette rougeur Mais dans cette simple douleur Qui semble afliger vôtre cœur Est-ce tout ce qui vous honore Qu’n éventail? Changez viste vôtre maleur Et sans me crére caioleur Aimable Phylis que j’adore Croiez, qu’au feu qui vous deuore Un hom̃e vous servit meilleur Qu’n éventail.’ Authenticated examples of Louis XIII. fans are exceedingly rare. In the Jubinal collection at Paris is a superb fan painted on skin, representing the king playing blind-man’s buff with the four quarters of the globe. This is designed upon the same principle as the three engraved fans of Bosse above referred to, _i.e._ the subject enclosed in a large and elaborate cartouche, filling the whole field of the fan, a system of decoration which lasted well into the reign of Louis XIV. The Countess de Beaussier exhibited at South Kensington, in 1870, a mount of vellum painted with a large medallion or cartouche in the centre, of lords and ladies of the court of France joining in a dance in a park, the border enriched with coloured ornament in the style of the period.