Rue du Temple has caused the disappearance of the Hôtel du Marquis
de l'Hospital, which was the Garden of Paphos under the Directory.

The Rue du Temple leads towards the Hôtel de Ville (p. 169).
We follow it as far as the (10 min.) broad Rue de Rambuteau, lead-
ing on the right to the Halles Centrales (p. 188), and on the left to
the Archives Nationales (p. 176).

7. From the Louvre and the Palais-Royal to the Boulevard
Montmartre and the Boulevard des Italiens.

Station of the Métropolitain : Place du Palais-Royal (see Appx., p. 36). —
Restaurants in this part of Paris, see p. 19.

Situated immediately to the N. of the Palais-Royal is the Biblio-
thèque Nationale (see below). It is entered from the Rue de Richelieu
(Pl. R, 21 ; II), which begins at the Place du Theâtre-Français, and
passes on the W. side of the Palais-Royal. At the corner of the Rue
de Richelieu and the Rue Molière is the Fontaine Molière, erected
in 1844 to the memory of the famous dramatist, who died in 1673 at
No. 40 Rue de Richelieu (tablet). The monument was designed by
Visconti; the statue of Molière is by Seurre, while the muses of
serious and light comedy are by Pradier. — At No. 39 Rue de Riche-
lieu a tablet indicates the house where Diderot died (see p. 289) ;
No. 23bis is similarly designated as the death-place of the painter
Mignard (in 1695). No. 25 is a charming building in the Louis XV
style, the balcony adorned with a grotesque. Beyond the fountain,
No. 50, was the residence of Louise de la Motte, mother of Mme. de
Pompadour; the balcony of wrought iron is supported by carved
consoles.

After crossing the Rue des Petits-Champs (on the right the statue
of Louis XIV., p. 202) we skirt the W. side of the Bibliothèque
Nationale, opposite the principal entrance to which (farther on) is
the Fontaine Richelieu, or Louvois, in bronze, by Visconti, with
statues by Klagmann representing the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne,
and the Saône. It stands in the small Square Louvois, on the site of
the old Grand-Opéra, which the Duc de Berry, son of Charles X.,
was about to visit in order to applaud the dancing of his mistress,
Virginie Oreiller, when he was assassinated by Louvel, in 1820.

The Bibliothèque Nationale (Pl. R, 21 ; II), formerly called
the Bibliothèque du Roi, and afterwards the Bibliothèque Royale or
Impériale, is probably the richest library in the world. The building,
which was formerly the palace of Cardinal Mazarin, dates from the
17th cent., though the greater part of it is modern. On the completion
of the portion in the Rue Vivienne it will occupy nearly the entire
block of buildings bounded by the Rues de Richelieu, des Petits-
Champs, Vivienne, and Colbert. The handsome façade with its court
and railing, which we notice from the Rue Vivienne, and the frontage
on the Rue des Petits-Champs both belong to the edifice.