PALAIS ROYAL, a heterogeneous mass of buildings on the eastern side of the rue Richelieu in Paris, composed of a palace, theaters, public gardens, bazaars, shops, cafes, and restaurants. The old palace was built 1624 and 1636 on the site of the Rambouillet by cardinal Richelieu, who at his death bequeathed it to Louis XTII. Henrietta of France, widow of Charles I., and Anne of Austria, the queen mother, wards lived in it for a time whh her young son, Louis XIV. It subsequently became the town residence of the Oilcans branch of the Bourbons, and during the minority of Louis Xr. it acquired a scandalous notoriety as the scene of the wild orgies in which the regent, duke of Orleans, and his dissolute partisans were wont to indulge; while in the time of his son, Philippe Egalite, it became the focus of revolutionary intrigue, and the rendezvous for political demagogues of every shade of opinion. This prince, partly to repair his impoverished fortune and partly to persuade the sans-culottes of Paris of the sincerity of his professed sympathy with their striving for equality, converted part of his gardens into a place of public resort, and the pavilions of the great court into bazaars, which were divided into shops and stalls. On the downfall of Egalite the palais royal was taken possession of by the republican government, and used for the sittings of the tribunes during time reign of terror. On the restoration of the Bourbons, it reverted to the Orleans family, and was occupied by Louis Philippe till his election tc the throne of France in 1880, when it was incorporated in the general domains of the state, and ceased to be an appanage of the house of Orleans. The palace was sacked by the mob during the revolution of 1848, when many of its best paintings and most precious works of art were destroyed. After having been temporarily appropriated to various
public purposes, it was thoroughly repaired and magnificently furnished, and given by the late emperor, in 1835, to his uncle, Jerome Bonaparte, whose son, prince Napoleon, resided there until 1871. The main entrance, with its elegant facade, is in the rue St. Ronore; and on passing the first court, the second or tou• royale is reached, to the left of which stands the 'Theatre Francais, while immediately facing it is the cele brated Galerie Vitree, or glass gallery, which contains on the ground floor some of the most brilliant shops of Paris, while the upper stories are chiefly occupied by cafes and restaurants. The garden, which is surrounded by this and other galleries, measures 7C0 ft. by 300. The red republicans set fire to the palace in Mar., 1871 (see PAnis), when all the apartments occupied by prince Napoleon were destroyed. The firemen and those who aided them, while forming into line to pass buckets of water, were fired upon by the insurgents, but kept to their work, and succeeded in checking the flames before they spread to the galleries and shops, which may almost be said to have reinained intact. In the autumn of 1873 that part of the palace injured by the insurgents was restored. The garden, with its avenues and parterres, fountains, and grass plots, still constitutes one of time liveliest and most frequented spots in the whole city; and although much of their glory has faded, its cafes still maintain, iu great measure, the world-wide reputa tion they long ego acquired.