The tapestry manufactory of the Gobelins family was received into royal favor by Louis and then as now did its work only for the government. Its products to-day, painstakingly made by skillful workmen who have given their lives to this task as did their fathers before them, are never sold, but are used for the decoration of public buildings and as gifts for people whom the state wishes to honor.
Of comparatively small houses belonging to this century the best remaining instances are the Pavilion of Hanover, in which is the Paris office of the New York Times; the Hôtel Mazarin which now contains the fine collection of books known as the National Library; the Hôtel de la Vrillière, now the Bank of France, with an échauguette (observation turret) by Mansard; the Hôtel de Soubise, used with the Hôtel de
HÔTEL DES INVALIDES.
SAINT SULPICE.
From a print of about 1820.