"Si de maint politique orage Le Palais Royal Devint le théâtre infernal, Du gai carnaval Il est aujourd'hui l'héritage: Jeu, spectacle, bal Y sont dans leur pays natal, Flamand, Provençal, Turc, Africain, Chinois, sauvage, Au moindre signal Tout se trouve au Palais Royal. Bref, séjour banal, Du grand, du sot, du fou, du sage, Le Palais Royal Est le rendez-vous général." [Illustration: GARDENS OF THE PALAIS ROYAL.] Reformed in so many respects under the reign of Louis Philippe, the Palais Royal was destined at the same time to be overshadowed by the increasing importance of the Boulevards. After the Revolution of 1848 the Palais Royal, now styled Palais National, was once more treated as State property. Under the Second Empire it became the residence of Prince Jerome, succeeded by his son, Prince Napoleon. On the ornamentation of the portico, some _fleurs de lis_ dating from the time of Richelieu, which the Revolutionists of 1789 and of 1848 had forgotten to scrape off, were erased and replaced by Imperial eagles, themselves destined to disappear in the revolution of the 4th of September, 1871, when, at the same time, the Republican motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," was restored. Meanwhile, on the 23rd of May, 1871, while the expiring Commune was still struggling against the army of Versailles, the palace was invaded by the Communards and set in flames. The whole of the left wing, with part of the central pavilion, was burnt down. In the midst of the general incendiarism, the Théâtre Français, which may be regarded as an annexe of the Palais Royal, though it is entered from the Rue Richelieu, had itself a narrow escape from fire. The Palais Royal was destined to be the birthplace of more than one revolution. It was here that the great movement of 1789, and the minor one of July, 1830, began. The revolution of July seems, in the first instance, to have been intended simply as a protest, an act of resistance against arbitrary measures--and in particular against the muzzling of the Press to such an extent as to render it impossible under modern conditions to publish a newspaper. The celebrated _ordonnances_ had the immediate effect of throwing a multitude of journeyman printers out of work, and it was by these men that in one part of the city the insurrection was commenced. With them the question was not a political one in theory alone; it was a question whether they should get the hateful _ordonnances_ repealed or remain without work: that is to say, starve. [Illustration: THE PALAIS ROYAL AFTER THE SIEGE.]