Historic Paris by Jetta Sophia Wolff

the Revolution, when the Royalists who had taken refuge beyond the German Rhine returned to Paris and held meetings on this boulevard, it was nicknamed “Le Petit Coblentz.” No. 33 (eighteenth century) is the Pavillon de Hanovre, forming part in past times of the hôtel d’Antin, which had been owned in its later days by Richelieu, then was divided into several dwellings, and in the time of the Merveilleuses one of these sub-divisions of the fine old mansion became a dancing saloon, _bal_ Richelieu, and the meeting-place of the Incroyables. Rue du Helder, which we see opening at No. 36, was in those days a cul-de-sac, i.e. a blind alley. The bank there (No. 7) was erewhile the famous cabaret “le Lion d’Or,” and at No. 2 Cavaignac was arrested when Napoléon made his _coup d’état_. No. 22 of the boulevard was the far-famed “Tortoni.” No. 20, rebuilt in 1839, now a post office, is the ancient hôtel Stainville, later Maison Dorée. No. 16, till a year or two ago Café Riche, dating from 1791. No. 15, hôtel de Lévis, was once the Jockey Club. On the site of No. 13 stood till recent years the famous Café Anglais. At No. 11 was the club “Salon des Italiens” in the time of Louis XVI, subsequently the restaurant Nicolle and Café du Grand Balcon, its first story commonly known as Salon des Princes. At No. 9 Grétry lived from 1795 till his death, which happened at Montmorency in 1813. No. 1 Café Cardinal founded by Dangest (eighteenth century). Boulevard Montmartre dates from the seventeenth century, lined in olden days on both sides by handsome private mansions; we see it now a thoroughly commercial thoroughfare, one of the busiest in the city. A modern journalist called its _carrefour_--the point where it meets the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre--“_carrefour des écrasés_.” From the house, now a newspaper office, at No. 22 an underground passage ran in past days to the Café Cardinal opposite, leading to an orangery. On the site of No. 23 stood the gambling-house Frascati, built on the site of the old hôtel Taillepied. The Café Véron at No. 13 dates from 1818, opened through the gardens of the hôtel Montmorency-Luxembourg. Passage Jouffroy at No. 10 was cut, in 1846, across the site of an ancient building known as the Maison des Grands Artistes. The théâtre des Variétés, at No. 7, first set up at the Palais-Royal in 1770 by “la Montansier,” was built here in 1807 on the grounds of the hôtel Montmorency-Luxembourg. No. 1 is the site of the Café de la Porte Montmartre, founded by Louis XV, a meeting-place of Parisians hailing from Orléans, nicknamed Guépins. Boulevard Poissonnières (seventeenth century) begins where hung till recent years an ancient sign at No. 1--“Aux limites de la Ville de Paris”--recording the inscription once on the old wall there. Most of the houses are those originally built along the boulevard, and many old streets run into it on either side. At No. 9 we see Rue St-Fiacre, dating from 1630, when it was Rue du Figuier, a street closed at each end by gates till about 1800. The restaurant Duval at No. 10 of the boulevard was an eighteenth-century mansion. No. 14 is known as Maison du Pont-de-Fer. No. 19, now l’École Pratique du Commerce, was till a few years ago the home of an old lady who, left a widow after one happy year of married life, shut herself up in the house she owned, refused to let any of its six large flats, and died there in utter solitude at the age of ninety. No. 23, designed by Soufflot le Romain in 1775 as a private mansion, became later the _dépôt_ of the famous Aubusson tapistry. Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, named from the church Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle in Rue de la Lune, dates from the seventeenth century (_see_ p. 59). No. 21 was built after the Revolution with the stones of the old demolished church St-Paul (_see_ p. 12). No. 11, in 1793, with some of the stones of the Bastille. The theatre, le Gymnase, which we see at No. 38, erected in 1820 on the grounds of a mansion, a barracks and a bit of an old graveyard, was known during some years as the théâtre de Madame la duchesse de Berri, who had taken it under her patronage. Its façade was rebuilt in 1887. The church just off the boulevard was first built in 1624 on the site of the old chapel Ste-Barbe, and named by Anne d’Autriche, perhaps in gratitude for the good news of the prospect of the birth of a son (Louis XIV) after twenty-three years of childless married life, or, as has been said, on account of a piece of good news communicated to the Queen when passing by the spot. The edifice was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, the tower alone remaining untouched. Within it we find an old painting of Anne d’Autriche and Henriette of England. Boulevard St-Denis (eighteenth century). The fine Porte St-Denis shows in bas-relief, the victories of Louis XIV in Germany and in Holland. It has been restored three times since its first erection in 1673. The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 began around this grand old Porte. Paving-stones were hurled from its summit. At No. 19 we see a statue of St-Denis. Boulevard St-Martin (seventeenth century). Its course was marked out, its trees planted a few years earlier than that of boulevard St-Denis. On its handsome blackened Porte, built in 1674-75, we read the words: “A Louis-le-Grand pour avoir pris deux fois Besançon et vaincu les Armées allemandes, espagnoles et hollandaises.” Like Porte St-Denis, it has been three times restored. The Allies passed beneath it on entering Paris in 1814. The first théâtre de la Porte St-Martin was built in the short period of seventy-five days to replace, with the least delay possible, the Opera-house near the Palais-Royal, burnt down in 1781. It was the Opera until 1793. The structure we see was erected in 1873, after the disastrous conflagration caused by the Communards two years previously. We see theatres and concert-halls along the whole course of the boulevard. The Ambigu at No. 2 dating from 1828 was founded sixty years earlier as a marionnette show on the site of the present Folies Dramatiques. This part of the boulevard was formerly on a steep incline, with steps up to the théâtre Porte St-Martin. Its ground was levelled in