صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

gate Street, Skinner Street, Holborn, Oxford Street."

Richard Grant White.

"The various, shifting, motley group that belong to Oxford Street, and to Oxford Street alone! What thoroughfares equal thee in the variety of human specimens! in the choice of objects for remark, satire, admiration! Besides, the other streets seem chalked out for a sect, narrow-minded and devoted to a coterie. Thou alone art catholic-all receiving." N. P. Willis.

My good people, I hardly see you. You

[blocks in formation]

P.

Pacific, The. A steamer belong-| ing to the Collins line, plying between New York and Liverpool. She left the latter port Jan. 23, 1856, with nearly 200 persons on board, and was never heard from afterwards.

Paddington. A now populous district of London.

Pitt is to Addington,

As London is to Paddington.

Canning. Paddock Elms. A row of stately elms which, until recently, stood before the Old Granary Buryingground in Boston, Mass. They were brought from England and planted by Capt. Adino Paddock, a loyalist, about 1762. During the Britishi occupation of the city they were well cared for and protected, but within a few years have been cut down.

We walked under Mr. Paddock's row of English elms. The gray squirrels were out looking for their breakfasts; and one of them came toward us in light, soft, intermittent leaps, until he was close to the rail of the burial-ground. Holmes. Pæstum, Roses of. See ROSES OF PESTUM.

Painted Chamber. A room of historical interest in the Old Palace at Westminster, so called from its having been painted by order of Henry III. It was hung with tapestries representing the siege of Troy. In this room Parliament sat for a time. The building was taken down in 1852. Painter in his Studio. An admired picture by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (b. 1811).

Painting. See HISTORY OF PAINT

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

cipal streets of Paris, extending from the Place Vendôme to the Boulevart des Capucines. Here are some of the most elegant shops in Paris, over which are fashionable residences and hotels.

Nay, it was said that his victories were not confined to the left bank of the Seine; reports did occasionally come to us of fabulous adventures by him, accomplished in the far regions of the Rue de la Paix. Thackeray.

There is a little Jewess hanging about the Louvre, who begs with her dark eyes very eloquently; and in the Rue de la Paix there may be found at all hours a melancholy, sick-looking, Italian boy, with his hand in his bosom, whose native language and picture-like face are a diurnal pleasure N. P. Willis.

to me.

[blocks in formation]

Palace of the Caesars. A mass of ruins upon the Palatine Hill, in Rome, being all that now remains of the extensive buildings erected by Augustus Cæsar and succeeding emperors for the imperial residence. The palace of Augustus, built upon the site of the houses of Hortensius, Cicero, Catiline, and Claudius, was the first Palace of the Cæsars. It was enlarged in different directions by Tiberius and by Caligula, and the Golden House of Nero with its grounds spread over the Esquiline and Coelian hills, as well as the Palatine. Vespasian afterward contracted the limits of the immense edifice, and Titus made use of part of the foundations upon the Esquiline in building his Baths. The Palace of the Cæsars was repeatedly altered and rebuilt by the different succeeding emperors, and these various changes have all combined to make a most confused mass of ruins. See GOLDEN HOUSE.

"In Rome itself no ancient house-indeed, no trace of a domestic edifice-exists, except the Palace of the Cæsars on the Palatine Mount; and this, even, is now merely a congeries of shapeless ruins, so completely destroyed as to have defied even the most imaginative of restorers to make much of it except a vehicle for the display of his own ingenuity. The extent of these ruins, coupled with the descriptions that have been preserved, suffice to convince us that of all the

palaces ever built, either in the East or the West, this was probably the most magnificent and the most gorgeously adorned. Never in the world's history does it appear that so much wealth and power were at the command of one man as was the case with the Cæsars, and never could the world's wealth have fallen into the hands of men more inclined to lavish it for their own personal gratification than those emperors were. They could, moreover, ransack the whole world for plunder to adorn their dwellings, and could command the best artists of Greece, and of all the subject kingdoms, to assist in rendering their golden palaces the most gorgeous that the world had then seen, or is likely soon to see again. The whole area of the palace may roughly be described as a square platform, measuring 1,500 feet east and west, with a mean breadth of 1,300 feet in the opposite direction. Owing, however, to its deeply-indented and irregular outline, it hardly covers more ground than the Baths of Caracalla. . . withstanding all its splendor, this palace was probably, as an architec tural object, inferior to the Thermæ. In its glory the Palace of the Cæsars must have been the world's wonder; but as a ruin, deprived of its furniture and ephemeral splendor, it loses much that would tend to make it either pleas ing or instructive." Fergusson.

Not

"Imagine a hill, upwards of a mile in circuit, and less than 200 feet high, strewn with shapeless ruins and yawning with excavations to such an extent that the original soil is almost displaced by fragments of brick and mortar; intersperse it with kitchen gardens for the growing of such matterof-fact vegetables as cauliflower, artichokes, and lettuce; throw in occasionally the vine, the laurel, the cypress, and the ivy; overshadow it with here and there a stately oak; crown the whole with a smart modern villa, - and you will have some notion of the Palace of the Cæsars." Hillard.

Where the Cæsars dwelt,

And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst

A grove which springs through levell'd battlements,

And twines its roots with the imperial hearths,

Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth; But the gladiators' bloody Circus stands, A noble wreck in ruinous perfection! While Cæsar's chambers, and the Augustan halls,

Grovel on earth in indistinct decay.

Byron.

Palace of the Conservators. See
PIAZZA DEL CAMPIDOGLIO.
Palace of the Lateran. See LAT-
ERAN, PALACE OF THE.
Palace of the Luxembourg. See
PALAIS DE LUXEMBOURG.

Palace of the Senator. See PIAZ-
ZA DEL CAMPIDOGLIO.

Palace. For names beginning with the word PALACE, see the next prominent word of the title. See also supra.

Palais Bourbon. See PALAIS DU CORPS LÉGISLATIF.

Palais de Justice. This ancient palace in Paris is very interesting from its associations. It was built by one of the Capets, and was the residence of several of the ancient kings. It was originally small, but has been enlarged at various times, and of late has been greatly improved and adorned. The square tower, known as the "Tour de l'Horloge," was built in the time of Philippe Augustus. This tower contains a famous clock which was made by a German and presented to Charles V. The tocsin, or alarm-bell, which was rung at the death of a king or the birth of a dauphin, hung in this tower. This bell also, in response to the alarm from the bell of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, sounded the death-signal for the massacre of the Huguenots. The steps ap proaching the palace are adorned by figures representing Justice, Prudence, and Force. Since the reign of Charles V. the palace has served for the Parliament of Paris, courts of justice, and a prison. A Roman palace or cas

tle is supposed to have been built | upon this site. The Sainte Chapelle, the clock-tower, the kitchen of St. Louis, two circular towers, and some vaults, are all that remain of the ancient palace, the rest having been destroyed by fire. Here is the famous Conciergerie, or ancient prison, where so many victims were confined during the Reign of Terror.

Palais de l'Industrie. A building of stone and glass in the Champs Elysées, Paris, built in 1852 for the exhibition of objects of national industry. Here was held the exhibition of 1855, for the accommodation of which extensive additions were made to the permanent building.

Palais de l'Institut. A massive

classical structure on the south bank of the Seine, opposite the Louvre, Paris. It was begun in 1662, and since 1795 has been occupied by the Institut and the Bibliothèque Mazarine. See INSTITUT and also BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE.

Palais de Luxembourg, or du Senat. [Palace of Luxembourg, or of the Senate.] A magnificent palace in Paris, whose architecture is particularly admired. It was built by Marie de Medicis, occupied successively by several Dukes of France, and during the Revolution it was converted into a prison. Bonaparte made it the Palace of the Senate, afterwards the peers of the realm met there, and after the restoration the Senate again held its meetings there. It contains a very valuable library, and fine works of art, paintings, sculptures, Gobelin tapestry, etc. A palace was begun on the same site in the fifteenth century, and completed by the Duke de Luxembourg, hence the name of the present palace.

He had Versailles and St. Cloud for his country resorts, and the shady alleys of the Tuileries and the Luxembourg for his town recreation. Irving.

Isaid he,-I am proud to say, that has so far enriched me, that I can

not own so much as a duck without seeing in it as pretty a swan as ever swam the basin in the garden of the Luxembourg. Holmes.

Palais des Tournelles. A former large castle or palace of Paris, enlarged by the recent Duke of Bedford, inhabited by Charles VII. and a number of his successors. Nothing is now left of this palace, the destruction of which was begun by Catherine de Médicis. Its site is now occupied by the Place Royale and adjoining streets extending to the Rue St. Antoine.

Palais des Beaux Arts. A building in Paris, France, devoted to the Fine Arts.

"A word for the building of the Palais des Beaux Arts. It is beautiful and as well finished and convenient as beautiful. With its light and elegant fabric, its pretty fountain, its archway of the Renaissance and fragments of sculpture, you can hardly see, on a fine day, a place more riant and pleasing." Thackeray.

Palais des Thermes. Ruins near the Hôtel de Cluny, Paris, the chief part of which is thought to have belonged to the baths built by the Emperor Constantius Chlorus (250 ?-306).

Palais d'Orsay. See ORSAY, PA

LAIS D'.

Palais du Corps Législatif. [Pal

ace of the Legislative Assembly.] A handsome building in Paris, begun in 1622 by the Duchess de Bourbon, completed in 1789 by the Prince of Condé, and called at that time Palais Bourbon. Here the Council of Five Hundred held their sittings, after the confiscation of the building in 1792. Part of the palace was afterwards used by Napoleon's Corps Législatif. The palace was restored to the Prince de Condé at the Restoration, but finally became the property of the state. Here sat the Chamber of Deputies (1814 to 1848), the Constituent Assembly of 1848, the Corps Législatif of the Second Empire. A fine portico was added to the building in 1807. The halls within

are adorned with paintings and Palatine Library. A celebrated statuary.

In vain wilt thou go to Schönbrunn, to Downing Street, to the Palais Bourbon: thou findest nothing there but brick or stone houses, and some bundles of Papers tied with tape. Carlyle.

Palais Elysée. See ELYSÉE, PA

LAIS.

Palais Royal. This palace, in Paris, was built by Cardinal Richelieu. It is associated with the political intrigues of France from the time of its founder down to the accession of Louis Philippe. Many of the most dramatic scenes of the party of the Fronde occurred here. Here many of the extreme measures of the Red Republicans were taken. In a café of the gardens belonging to the palace the Dantonists inet, and in another the Girondists. It is now used as a royal residence. The gardens are prettily ornamented, and much frequented by men, women, and children during the warm weather. The Boulevards have now diminished the attractions of the Palais Royalonce the centre of life, gayety, and splendor in Paris.

From that first necessary assertion of Luther's, You, self-styled Papa, you are no Father in God at all; you are-a Chimera, whom I know not how to name in polite language!"- from that onwards to the shout which rose round Camille Desmoulins in the Palais-Royal, "Aux armes!" when the people had burst up against all manner of Chimeras, I find a natural historical sequence. Carlyle. John to the Palais-Royal came, Its splendor almost struck him dumb. "I say, whose house is that there here?" "House! Je vous n'entends pas, Monsieur." C. Dibdin.

[blocks in formation]

collection of ancient books and manuscripts, formerly in Heidelberg, Germany, afterwards carried to Rome and deposited in the Vatican, and during the present century in part restored to its original place.

Palatine Mount or Hill. [Lat. Mons Palatinus.] One of the original seven hills of Rome, and the seat of the earliest settlement of the city. It is now covered with the ruins of the Palace of the Cæsars. The history of the Palatine is an epitome of that of Rome. From the time when Romulus encircled it with a furrow, and raised his straw-roofed cottage, it was the site of the mansions of the highest nobility. These structures and palaces became successively more and more splendid and luxurious till they reached their limit of magnificence in the Golden House of Nero. From that time the buildings of the Palatine have degenerated to their present state of ruin.

"The Palatine formed a trapezium of solid rock, two sides of which were about 300 yards in length, and others about 400; the area of its summit, to compare it with a familiar object, was nearly equal to the space between Pall-Mall and Piccadilly in London, ... After the Etruscan fashion, he [Romulus] traced round the foot of the hill with a plough drawn by a bull and heifer, the furrow being carefully made to fall inwards, and the heifer yoked to the near side, to signify that strength and courage were required without, obedience and fertility within, the city. The locality thus enclosed was reserved for the temples of the gods, and the residence of the rul. ing class, the class of patricians or burghers, as Niebuhr has taught us to entitle them, which predominated over the dependent commons, and only suffered them to crouch for security under the walls of Romulus. The Palatine was never occupied by the plebs. In the last age of the republic, long after the removal of this partition, or of the civil distinction between the great classes of the state, here was still the chosen site of the mansions of the highest nobility." Merivale. "Every step we tread here is

« السابقةمتابعة »