de Bailly, with a gentle obeisance. "King Henry IV. gave the
Parisians the perpetual privilege of having the park of the
Tuileries open to them always, and free to be used in their walks.
The palace of the Tuileries was, as your majesty knows, originally
built by Queen Catherine de Medicis, after the death of her husband,
for the home of her widowhood. All sorts of stories were then
current about the uncanny things which were said to occur in the
park of the Tuileries. They told about laboratories in which Queen
Catherine prepared her poisons; of a pavilion in which there was a
martyr's chamber; of subterranean cells for those who had been
buried alive; and all these dreadful stories made such an impression
that no one dared approach this place of horrors after sunset. But
when Queen Catherine had left Paris, and King Henry IV. resided in
the Louvre, he had this dreaded Tuileries garden, with all its
horrors, opened to the Parisians, and out of the queen's garden he
made one for the people, in order that the curse which rested upon
it might be changed into a blessing."
"And now you suppose, Mr. Mayor, that it would change the blessing
into a curse again, if we should want to close the gates that Henry
IV. opened?"
"I do fear it, madame, and therefore venture to ask that the right
to enter the Tuileries gardens may not be taken from the people, nor
their enjoyment interfered with.
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