THE HOME OF MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ
We are now in the vicinity of that most entrancing of historic museums,
Musée Carnavalet, and its neighbouring library. On the wall of Rue de
Sévigné is still to be read engraved in the stonework its more ancient
name, Rue de la Culture-Ste-Catherine, so called because it ran across
cultivated land in the vicinity of an ancient church dedicated to St.
Catherine. It was in 1677 that Madame de Sévigné and her daughter,
Madame de Grignan, settled in the first story of the house No. 23, built
some hundred and thirty years before by Jacques de Ligneri under the
direction of the renowned architect Pierre Lescot and the sculptor Jean
Goujon. The widow of a Breton lord, Kernevenoy, or some such word by
name, which resolved itself into Carnavalet, bought the _hôtel_ from the
Ligneri; inhabitants and owners changed as time went on, but this name
remained. At the Revolution, the mansion was taken possession of by the
State, was used for a school, to become after 1871 the historical Museum
of Paris. In 1898 the museum was taken in hand by M. Georges Cain and
from that day to this has been continually added to, made more and more
valuable and attractive by this eminently capable administrator. To
study the history, and learn “from the life” the story of Paris and of
France, go to the Musée Carnavalet. And to read about all you see
there, turn at No. 29 into the Bibliothèque de la Ville. In olden days
le Petit Arsenal de la Ville stood on the site. The edifice we see,
l’hôtel St-Fargeau, was built in 1687. The city library, which had been
re-organized by Jules Cousin, was placed there in 1898.
Rue Payenne runs across the site of ancient houses and of part of two
convents, a door of one is seen at that regrettably modern-style
erection, so out of keeping with its surroundings, the Lycée
Victor-Hugo. At No. 5 we see a bust of Auguste Compte, with an
inscription, for this was the “Temple of the religion of Humanity,” and
Compte’s friend and inspirer Clotilde de Vaux died here. Here souvenirs
of the philosopher are kept in a memorial chapel. Nos. 11 and 13 formed
the mansion of the duc de Lude, one of the most noted admirers of Madame
de Sévigné, Grand Maître d’Artillerie in 1675, and was inhabited at one
time by Madame Scarron. In Rue Elzévir--in the sixteenth century Rue des
Trois-Pavillons--was born Marion Delorme (1613). Ninon de Lenclos lived
here in 1642. We see a fine old house at No. 8, and at No. 2 l’hôtel de
Lusignan. Leading out of Rue Elzévir, the old Rue Barbette records the
name of a master of the Mint under Philippe-le-Bel, and a house he built
with extensive gardens, known as the Courtille Barbette; the Courtille
was destroyed by the populace, displeased at a change in the coinage, in
1306; the house remained and became a rendezvous of courtiers, passed
into the hands of the extremely light-lived Isabeau de Bavière, who
inaugurated there her wonderful _bals masqués_. It was on leaving the
hôtel Barbette that the duc d’Orléans, Isabeau’s lover, was
assassinated, on the threshold of a neighbouring house, by the men of
Jean Sans Peur, 23 November, 1407 (_see_ p. 40). The mansion passed
subsequently through many hands, and was finally in part demolished in
1563, and this street cut across the ground where it had stood. No. 8
was the “petit hôtel” of Maréchal d’Estrées, brother of Gabrielle,
confiscated at the Revolution and made later the mother-house of the
Institution “la Legion d’Honneur” for the education of officer’s
daughters. The grand old mansion has been despoiled of its splendid
decorations, precious woodwork, etc.--all sold peacemeal for high
prices. Almost every house in this old street is an ancient _hôtel_. No.
14 was the hôtel Bigot de Chorelle, No. 16 the hôtel de Choisy, No. 18
the hôtel Massu, No. 17 the hôtel de Brégis, etc. We see other ancient
houses in Rue de la Perle. At No. 1, dating from the close of the
seventeenth century, we find wonderfully interesting things in the
courtyard; busts of old Romans, fine bas-reliefs, etc.
Rue de Thorigny, sixteenth century, was named after Président Lambert de
Thorigny, whose descendants built, a century or two later, the fine
hôtel Lambert on l’Ile St-Louis. Marion died in a house in this street;
Madame de Sévigné lived here at one time, as did Balzac in 1814. The
fine _hôtel_ at No. 5 goes by the name hôtel Salé, because its owner,
Aubert de Fontenay, had grown rich through the Gabelle (salt-tax). Later
it was the abode of Monseigneur Juigné, Archbishop of Paris, who in the
terrible winter 1788-89 gave all he possessed to assuage the misery of
the people, yet met his death by stoning on the outbreak of the
Revolution. Confiscated by the State, the fine old mansion was for a
time put to various uses; then bought and its beauties reverently
guarded by its present owners. Rue Debelleyme, made up of four short
ancient streets, shows interesting vestiges. The nineteenth-century
novelist, Eugène Sue, lived here.
To the east of Rue de Turenne, at its junction with Rue des
Francs-Bourgeois, we find old streets across the site of the ancient
palace des Tournelles; of the palace no trace remains save the name of
the old Rue des Tournelles. Rue du Foin runs where hay was once made in
the fields of the palace park. Rue de Béarn was in olden times Rue du
Parc-Royal. Here we find vestiges of the convent des Minimes, founded by
Marie de’ Medici in 1611, suppressed in 1790. Some of its walls form
part of the barracks we see there, and the cloister still stands intact
in the courtyard, while at No. 10, Rue des Minimes, may be seen the old
convent door. The building No. 7 of this latter street, now a school,
dates from the seventeenth century. A famous chestnut-tree, several
hundred years old, flourished in the court at No. 14 till a few years
ago. In Rue St-Gilles, we see among other ancient houses the Pavilion of
the hôtel Morangis, No. 22, and at No. 12, the Cour de Venise. In Rue
Villehardouin, when it was Rue des Douze Portes, to which Rue St-Pierre
was joined at its change of name, lived Scarron and his young wife. Rue
des Tournelles with its strikingly old-world aspect shows us two houses
inhabited by Ninon de Lenclos, Nos. 56 and 26, and at No. 58, that of
Locré, who with some other men of law drew up the famous Code Napoléon.
At No. 1, Rue St-Claude, one side of the house in Rue des Arquebusiers,
dwelt the notorious sorcerer, Joseph Balsamo, known as comte de
Cagliostro. The iron balustrade dates from his day and the heavy
handsome doors came from the ancient Temple buildings. Rue Pont-au-Choux
recalls the days when the land was a stretch of market gardens. Rue
Froissard and Rue de Commines lie on the site of the razed couvent des
Filles-du-Calvaire, of which vestiges are to be seen on the boulevard at
No. 13.