or restaurateurs, some of them splendidly decorated and most brilliantly lighted; as may be imagined, this amusing locality forms the lounge of thousands, and no stranger ever comes to Paris without making an early visit to the Palais Royal.  It was originally intended by Cardinal Richelieu for his own residence, but the magnificence which he had already developed, with intentions of augmenting his design to so extravagant and luxurious a degree, began to excite the jealousy of Louis XIII, and finally the Cardinal made him a present of it shortly before his death.  Since then it has been inhabited by several royal visiters, and such changes have been made that the original plan is scarcely to be traced, it having formerly been so much more extensive as to occupy several of the surrounding streets.  So numerous are the shops, and so various are the articles within them, that it has been observed that a person might live in the Palais Royal without ever stirring out of it, finding all within it required to supply the wants of a reasonable being.

Although under the comprehensive title of Palais Royal, the whole extent is included, not only garden but all the surrounding shops and the stories above, yet that part which specifically is the Palais Royal, or Royal Palace, is situated at the southern extremity, looking into two court-yards, and where the present King with his family resided until 1831, when he removed to the Tuileries.  It is entered by the Rue St. Honore, and may be considered rather a fine building; the doric, ionic, and corinthian orders are visible in different parts of the edifice, in the interior there are some extremely handsome apartments, beautifully furnished but not very large for a palace; there are many very interesting pictures, particularly those relative to the King’s life, from the period, of his teaching geography in a school in Switzerland, to his return to Paris; also the subjects connected with the events of the Palace are well worth attention, and many of them painted by the first rate artists.  The apartments may usually be seen on Sundays from 1 till 4, on presentation of the passport.

Opposite the Palais-Royal is an open space called the Place du Palais Royal, on the southern side is the Chateau-d’Eau, a reservoir of water for supplying the neighbouring fountains; it is decorated with statues, and two pavilions.  Just near it is the Rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre, where formerly stood the famous Hotel de Longueville, the residence of the Duke de Longueville, and Elboeuf, where the intrigues of the Fronde were carried on, during the minority of Louis XIV, against Mazarin; it is now in part occupied by the king’s stables, containing 160 horses, and may be visited any day by applying at the porter’s lodge.  We will now retrace a few steps eastward to the Rue St. Honore, and passing by the large establishment of Laffitte, Caillard, et Compagnie, for diligences to all parts of France, we shall come to the Oratoire,