The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-10-19
OTTAWA FREE TRADER; SATURDAY. OCTOBER 49, 1878.


TPmlppc!" The last cry won the day; and
Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, went iorth
from the Palais Royal Citizen King. Eigh-
teen years afterwards the mob came back to
his house 10 turn il out of windows. The Pa
Ilais Royal had, however enjoyed full twenty
years of splcndor Even before the rc-csab-
IliShmcnt of the Empire it had been the resi-
Idencc of old Jerome Bonapar,e, cXking OF
i Wcstphala the uncle of Napoleon l., and the
consort of the iluscd Miss Paterson of Bal
imore, and whom his Imperial nephew, not
knowing very well what to do, made mt last
Governor of the lnvalidS The old gentleman
was Waterloo man-it was his corps that
had opened the battle on that fatal wet morn
| ng-and he had not behaved badly in the fight
BY the Parisians he was generally, in virtue
of an atrociously twisted conundrum, called
"POncle Tom since, it was argued Napoleon
l. being "le Grand flomme" and Napoleon
| Ill. " lie Petit IIomme,n old Jerome must me-
cessarily stand in the relation of "Uncle Tom,'
or thomme" to the latter. His son, Napoleon
Jerome, kept high state at the Palais Royal,
gave good dinners and bad cigars and Matched
vain intrlgues there against his cousin and
beneiactor, until the Empire tumbled to piece
| like n pack of cards-cards marked by gam
blers who had lost their cunning and could no
longer "sdUter Il coup' Very dreary must be
the saloons of the Palais Royal Palace now.
Very dank and dismal must be the empty sta
bles and coach-houses in the courtyard adjoin.
| ing the Galeric d'Orleans. The ghost of the
| Napolconic era Is a very woebegone one and
! BOnapartisn, far tie mOmeat, seems to exercise
less influence over the minds OF the multitude
than ut any former time during this century.
pire, while it lasted did things very handsome
y indeed. The pieces in its Tepertojres were
got up regardless of expenses and its pourboires
were unstnted.
Disestablished politically ostracised by the
fashionable world, the Palals Royal might os-
tensibly run the risk of sinking to the level of
a tenth-rale neghborhood 1t is not only
the great clearinghouse and coffee house keep
ers who have quilted 1t for the boulevards. TO
a great extent 1t has suffered abandonment at
the hands Of cheap tailors, who have dlscov-
cred that " coin de- rUe" or corner of popu-
lous street, is necessity in carrying on the
business of a slopshop palace on Il large scale.
There yet remain slop-shops in the Palais Roy
al; but they are few in number, and subdued
in aspect. Their dummies look dusty clam
mily pallid, and generally detected from their
Obvious inability to cope with the pretentious
lay-figures of the coin de rue" slop-palaces
the boys IN Glengarry jackets, Knickerbokcrs,
purple hose, and preposterously rough faces;
the aristocratc coachmen with buff great coats
reaching down to their feet white neckcloths,
bushy black whiskers, and gold-laced hats with
monstrous cockades the dashing Amazons with
Tyrolese hats and golden and coral-handled
whips, and who never forget to lift a corner of
their habits to Il sufficient attitude to assure
the spectator that they are provided with I'M
dergarments of chamoIs leather with black
feet The artistic eXuberances are beyond the
poor old Palais Royal. The Palais Royal,
built IN deliberate imitation of the Piazza San
Marco and presenting Il really noble albeit
imperfect copy, must always bear II pleasantly
dim resemblance to its peerless Venetian or
iginal. Unfortunately the incurable mania of
the French for the accommodation of every
monument of architecture which they possess
has led TO the conversion of the immense area
between the arcades into II garden. 1t never
was handsome garden; and at present ii is
more than usually illkcpt, exhibiting only al
gravelly walk, with a few patches of grey green
heritage and scraggy shrubs here and there.
Were the whole exDanse smoothly paved ]
Italiaaa in simple but elegant pattern in
white and grey or white and pink marble, and
were the ugly newspaper kiosks, the toy and
cake stalls and the supplementary booth front.
ing the Rotonde, all of which impede the view
to an cNasperating extent swept away, the gar
den Of the Palais Royal would assuredly be
one of the most magnificent spectacles in Eu-
rope especially at night, since the basement of
every one of its sections Is Il shop or cafe
scarcely ever closing until after ten O'Clock,
and necessarily brilliantly lighted with gas.
The majority of the entresals and first floors
are again occupied by restaurants, and the l'
Elimination of these saloons enhances, to Il
wonderful degree, the nocturnal brillance OF
the scene. We had heavy rains yesterday at
ternoon, but it cleared up at night and the
moon was superb. 1t was aggravating to have
no full and sweeping view of the arcades on
either side and the radiant frontage of the Gal
erie d. Orleans at the extremity, parallel with
the Palace 1t was more aggravatlng to find
no military band present as in olden times to
discourse enlivening strains.
tad Eals