The Arsenal quarter, built over the site of the two Royal Palaces--the
Saint-Paul mansion, the Tournelles palace--and the soil of the Louviers
Isle, joined to the river bank in 1843, serve as a natural transition
from the old to modern Paris.
[Illustration: THE LESDIGUIÈRES MANSION]
Notwithstanding its warlike name, the Arsenal quarter is one of the most
peaceful parts of the Capital. Centuries ago, the palaces disappeared
that brought it its wealth, life and movement. On their ruins and their
huge gardens, humble, tranquil streets have been made: the Rue de la
Cerisaie, where Marshal Villeroy received Peter the Great in the
sumptuous Zamet mansion; the Rue Charles V., where once was the
elegant home of the Marchioness de Brinvilliers, now at No. 12,
premises in which a white-capped sister-of-charity distributes
cod-liver oil and woollen socks to poor, suffering children; the Rue des
Lions-Saint-Paul; the Rue Beautreillis, where Victorien Sardou was
born; near there the great Balzac dwelt. "I was then living," he says in
his admirable _Facino Cane_, "in a small street you probably don't know,
the Rue de Lesdiguières. It commences at the Rue Saint-Antoine, opposite
a fountain near the Place de la Bastille, and issues in the Rue de la
Cerisaie. Love of knowledge had driven me into a garret, where I worked
during the night, and spent the day in a neighbouring library, that of
_Monsieur_. When it was fine, I took rare walks on the Bourdon
Boulevard." This modest Rue de Lesdiguières still exists in part; on the
site occupied by Nos. 8 and 10, could be seen, a few years ago, one of
the containing walls of the Bastille; narrow houses have been stuck
against it; and, at No. 10, it is the very wall of the old Parisian
fortress which constitutes the back of the porter's lodge! What a
destiny for a prison wall!
Of what was once the Arsenal only the mansion of the Grand Master is
left; it is, at present, the Arsenal Library--formerly called, as Balzac
says, the Library of _Monsieur_. It used to be a fine dwelling, the home
of Sully, and possesses priceless books and autographs, and most
valuable writings. In a coffer, covered with flower-de-luces, may be
admired Saint Louis's book of hours, side by side with a fragment of his
royal mantle, the blue silk of it, worn with time, being strewn with
golden flower-de-luces; the old book bears this venerable inscription:
"It is the psalter of Monseigneur Loys, once his mother's;" and was
taken from the scattered treasures of the Sainte-Chapelle. Then there is
Charles the Fifth's Bible with the King's writing on it: "This book
(belongs) to me, the King of France;" and a missal, each leaf of which
is framed with an incomparable garland due to the brush of the "master
of flowers," a great artist whose name is unknown to us. Besides, there
are rare manuscripts, marvellous bindings, unique editions, romances of
chivalry, classics, poets of every age, complete in this fine palace;
together with Latude's letters, the box that served for his ridiculous
attempt against Madame de Pompadour; and, near them, the
cross-examination of the Marchioness de Brinvilliers, and the
death-certificate of the Man in the Iron Mask; Henri IV.'s love-letters
too, with his kisses sent to the Marchioness de Verneuil, and the
documents relating to the affair of the Necklace. How many more things
in addition...!
Let us add that the curators--Henri Martin, so learned and obliging,
Funck-Brentano, the exquisite historian of the Bastille, the picturesque
relater of all its dramas. Sheffer and Eugène Muller are not only
scholars needing no praise but most courteous and genial men--and you
will quite understand why the Arsenal is one of the few corners in Paris
where it is delightful to go and work or to saunter about. Indeed, it is
a tradition of the house. Nodier, good old Nodier, who was one of
Monsieur de Bornier's predecessors and a predecessor also of J. M. de
Heredia, the master who has so recently gone from us, Nodier, the
admirable author of the _Trophées_, had succeeded in making the Arsenal
the centre of literary and artistic Paris. Hugo, Lamartine, de Musset,
Balzac, Méry, de Vigny, and Fr. Soulié used to meet there; and fine
verses were said while regarding the sun glow with red flame behind the
towers of Notre Dame.
"The towers of Notre Dame his name's great H composed!"
wrote Vacquerie.
Of the Bastille nothing remains except a few stones which formed the
substructure of one of the old towers; and these have been carefully
removed to the Célestins Quay, along the Seine, where they are visible
to-day. In vain, therefore, would any one now seek for a vestige of the
sombre fortress over which so many legends hovered. Latude's great shade
itself would hardly locate the spot; and yet how full Paris history is
of this traditional Bastille, which the people, amazed with their easy
victory, could not tire of visiting after the 15th of July 1789. Such
was their curiosity and such their eagerness that Soulès, the governor
appointed by the Parisian municipality, was compelled to stop the
visits, on the curious ground "that such damage had already been done to
the fortress by visitors that more than 200,000 livres would be required
to repair it." Repair the Bastille! The souvenir manuscripts of Paré
tell us the fury excited by this strange pretension in Danton, sergeant
of a section of the National Guard, who, with his company, was turned
back by the order.
Danton had himself admitted into the presence of the unfortunate Soulès,
seized him by the collar and dragged him to the Town Hall; the
prohibition was removed; and Citizen Palloy was thenceforth allowed to
exploit the celebrated State prison. The stones were "hewn and cut into
images of the fortress and dedicated to the various departments and
assemblies," or into "commemorative slabs intended to rouse people's
courage." Palloy cut up the leads into medals, and made rings with the
iron chains; out of the marble he manufactured games of dominoes, and
had the delicate thought to offer one of these games to the young
Dauphin to inspire him with "the horror of tyranny."
[Illustration: COMMEMORATIVE BALL ON THE RUINS OF THE BASTILLE