Rue Boissy d'Anglas, opened in the eighteenth century, bearing for long three different names in the different parts of its course, records in its present name that of a famous conventional (1756-1826). In the well-known provision shop, Corcellet, Avenue de l'Opéra, we may see the portrait of the famous Gourmet, who in pre-Revolution days lived at the fine mansion No. 1, now the Cercle artistique "l'Épatant," and carried out there his luxurious and ultra-refined taste in the matter of food and the manner of serving it. Horses to whom a _recherché cuisine_ could not be offered, had their oats served to them in silver mangers. Sequestered at the Revolution, it still remained the abode of a gourmet of repute; sold later to the State, it became an Embassy, then a club. No. 12 dates from Louis XV and has been the abode of several families of historic name. Prince de Beauvau lived there in more modern days and baron Hausmann died there. Lulli died at No. 28 (1637). Curious old houses are seen in the Cité Berreyer and Cité du Retiro.
Rue Royale, in its earliest days Chemin des Remparts--Rampart Road--for the third Porte St-Honoré in the city wall was at the point where it meets the Rue du Faubourg, became a street--Rue Royale-des-Tuileries--in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1792 it became Rue de la Révolution, then, from 1800 to 1814, Rue de la Concorde. Most of the houses we see there date from the eighteenth century, built by the architect Gabriel, who lived at No. 8. Mme de Staël lived for a time at No. 6. This leads us to Place de la Concorde, built by Gabriel; it was opened in 1763 as Place Louis XV, to become a hundred and thirty years later Place de la Révolution, with in its centre a statue of Liberty replacing the overturned statue of the King. Its name was changed several times during the years that followed, till in 1830 the name given by the Convention was restored for good. In olden days it was surrounded by moats and had on one side a _pont-tournant_; the _place_ was the scene of national fêtes in times past as it is in our own times. It was also not unfrequently the scene of tragedy and death. The guillotine was set up there on January 21, 1793, for the execution of the King. Marie-Antoinette, Charlotte Corday and many other notable victims of the Revolution were beheaded there ... in the end, Robespierre himself. In 1814 the Allies of those days gathered there for the celebration of a grand _Te-Deum_. The statues we see surrounding the vast place personify the great towns of France--that of Strasbourg the most remarkable. The fine "Chevaux de Marly" at the starting-point of the Champs-Elysées are the work of Coustou, Mercury and la Renommée, at the entrance of the Tuileries gardens, of Coysevox. Handsome buildings (eighteenth century) flank the _place_ on its northern side. The Ministère de la Marine was in pre-Revolution days the _garde meuble_ of the Kings of France. Splendid jewels, including the famous diamond known as le Regent, were stolen thence in 1792. What is now the Automobile Club was for many years the official residence of the papal Nuncio. L'hôtel Crillon, built as a private mansion, was for a time the Spanish Embassy; most of the beautiful woodwork for which it was noted has been sold and taken away.