[131] The Rue Poulletier marks the line of the old channel between the islands. [132] So named from the wooden seat, or _couche de bois_, covered with rich stuff embroidered with _fleur-de-lys_, on which the king sat when he attended a meeting of the Parlement. [133] One of the schemes of Francis I. to raise money had been to offer the benches to the highest bidders, and under the law of 1604 the office of councillor became a hereditary property on payment to the court of one-sixtieth of its value. Moreover, the Parlement was but a local body, one among several others in the provinces. [134] The added indignity of the whip is an invention of Voltaire. [135] Louis used, however, to stilt his low stature by means of thick pads in his boots. [136] Taine, basing his calculation on a MS. bound with the monogram of Mansard, estimated the cost of Versailles in modern equivalent at about 750,000,000 francs (£30,000,000 sterling.) [137] The writer, whose youth was passed among the descendants of the Huguenot silk-weavers of Spitalfields, has indelible memories of their sterling character and admirable industry. [138] Marshal Luxembourg was dubbed the _Tapissier de Notre Dame_ (the upholsterer of Notre Dame), from the number of captured flags he sent to the cathedral. [139] In a previous campaign the king had taken his queen and two mistresses with him in one coach. The peasants used to amuse themselves by coming to see the "three queens." [140] When the Duke of Orleans was about to start for Spain, the king asked whom he had chosen to accompany him. Orleans mentioned, among others, Fontpertius. "What, nephew!" exclaimed Louis, "a Jansenist!" "So far from being a Jansenist," replied Orleans, "he doesn't even believe in God." "Oh, if that is so," said the king, "I see no reason why he should not go." [141] Among the privileges granted to England was the monopoly of supplying the Spanish Colonies with negro slaves. [142] Levau's south façade was not completely hidden by Perrault's screen, for the roofs of the end and central pavilions emerged from behind it until they were destroyed by Gabriel in 1755. [143] Jules Hardouin, the younger Mansard, was a nephew and pupil of François Mansard, who assumed his uncle's name. The latter was the inventor of the Mansard roof. [144] The sixth part of a sou. [145] Twelve alone were added to the St. Honoré quarter by levelling the Hill of St. Roch and clearing away accumulated rubbish. [146] It extended as far as the entrance to the quadrangle opposite the Pont des Arts. A double line of trees, north and south, enclosed a Renaissance garden of elaborate design, and a charming _bosquet_, or wood, filled the eastern extremity. [147] "By order of the king, God is forbidden to work miracles in this place." [148] In 1753 between 20th January and 20th February two hundred persons died of want (_misère_) in the Faubourg St. Antoine.