Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/506

 *stalled there, and from his time the Palace has become the home of the monarchs of France.

In the revolution of 1830 the building was sacked and plundered; restored to its former splendor under Louis Philippe, it was again invaded in 1848, and the throne, carried away by the mob, was burned in the Place de la Bastille. A band of ruffians took possession of the royal apartments, where they remained for ten days.

The Tuileries was then used for a hospital, afterwards for an exhibition of pictures, and, in 1851, became the home of Napoleon III.

The flight of the Empress, when the Palace was again invaded by the mob on the 4th of September, 1870, and the concerts given for the benefit of the wounded during the days of the Commune, are the last historical episodes before the final catastrophe.

The centre, north and south wings of the Tuileries were called respectively the Pavilion de l'Horloge, the Pavilion de Flore, and the Pavilion de Marsan. Under the late Empire the building was shown to visitors.

Napoleon III's theatre and chapel were built upon the site of the old Salle des Machines, where Molière's Psyché and Comédie Française were played, and where Voltaire was publicly crowned. The state staircase led to a fine ball-room, called the Salle de la Paix, which opened into the Salle des Maréchaux. This room extended the whole depth of the Palace and the height of two floors, and was one of the most gorgeously decorated halls in Paris. The busts of marshals and generals were ranged along the walls, and the ceiling, exquisitely painted, was supported by four caryatides, copied from those by Jean Goujon, in the Louvre. Doors led on the right from Salle des Maréchaux to the private apartments of the Emperor and Empress, and on the left through the Salle du Premier Consul and the Salle d'Apollon to the Salle du Trône, where a